Candy Land

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One of my favorite traditions around Christmas is making sugar cookies and gingerbread houses. The kids thought the best part, by far, was the frosting.






No cookies were actually eaten- just frosting licked off of them :)

Isaac's first sport

Isaac started a gymnastics class at the YMCA. We had been at the Y playing and saw a class of older kids going on. Both kids sat and watched the entire 30 min. class. So I looked into it and they have a Parent & Tot class for 2 &3 y/o. Isaac LOVED it. They do all sorts of tumbling, balance beam, bars, trampoline and just pure fun. Brooklyn can't wait to join him soon :)

Only downside so far: Isaac has learned how to say & do what they call "TaDa" before and after every move

Decking the Halls

We had a blast while we were in Kansas for Thanksgiving. Hobby Lobby had a fantastic assortment of shatter proof ornaments. Our tree looked amazing!!






Lady even got to choose some to put on the tree. (We REALLY miss having our dog with us while in Nebraska)

Little Explorers

The museum has a great hands on exhibit for kids with a tee-pee, pioneer house, and working waterway that teaches about irrigation. The favorite, by far, was the dinosaur dig.




And just because she's so cute....even when stuffing her face




















And at least somebody liked Brooklyn's Halloween costume

Fall Fun

Painting pumpkins- both kids did a great job covering every square inch.

Miraculously Brooklyn didn't even try to eat the paint!

Attempting to feeding the ducks at the lake.
It was a windy day, but I thought this was a good location for pictures.

Though our house leaves a lot to be desired, the yard is great! We've had tons of leaves to play in and there is a fun tree in the backyard that weeps down making a perfect hiding place.

Halloween

Well we finally have gotten internet at home, so {hopefully} you'll see more postings here.

Halloween was fun this year. Aunty Becki sent us books about fall & Halloween last year. This year Isaac loved them and re-read them a lot. He especially liked the idea of getting candy! But he would not wear his Thomas costume....until we saw the preschool kids at the YMCA trick or treating to the different desks/offices and getting candy. Then he was all for it!! Brooklyn, on the other hand, did not like the tu-tu I made for her ladybug costume. And Halloween was no different- all we heard was screams as soon as she saw it. So she went as Brooklyn in Black {I did shover her into it to at least get one picture}




Our street had only one neighbor with lights on, so we went there. Afterward our coversation walking home went like this:

Isaac: That Daddy so kind to give us Candy
Sarah: That was kind. Do you want to trick or treat some more and get more candy
Isaac: We trick or treat, but I have enough candy.

He is such a sweet little guy!! We went to a church that was doing trunk or treat just in time for them to be finishing up. Which was fine because all the kids wanted to see was the firetruck & ambulance. The police that were directing traffic had there lights on so we may have sat on the curb and watched them for a while. Then we headed home to eat "trick or treats".





Even Champ got a treat for being such a good boy. It was a lot of fun & I'm hoping next year will be even better!

Sing'n in the Rain

Isaac has taken to singing throughout the day, and usually at a very loud volume. I love the way he repeats the songs he's heard over & over.

The favorite by far is Old MacDonald. It's on one song repeat in the car, because that's all they want to listen to. Brooklyn requests "E-I-E-I-Oh, E-I-E-I-Oh" over & over again as fast as she can say it until you agree.

{last week she fell asleep in the car and when I woke her up to bring her in,
she said "E-I-E-I-Oh, E-I-E-I-Oh" in a questioning tone
before she even opened her eyes}

And according to Isaac Cows are always the first {and sometime only animal} allowed on "Old Ick-Donald's Farm" Brooklyn always requests a pig.

some of my other favorites:

Itsy-bitsy pider when up the water spout. Down came the rain & washed the pider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy-bitsy pider went up the water spout. Down came the rain & washed the pider out....... {poor spider never gets back up}

Twinkle Twinkle ittle star, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle twinkle ittle , like a diamond in the sky.....

Unplugged

I really want to tell you all the good things that are happening in Hastings with the Taylors!! This week I've had a whole new perspective on how the next 9 months will be. And I will share all of that. Unfortunately our internet services is not on the good list & and I'm occasionally able to steal from an unknown neighbor who has an unsecured wireless provider {thank you whoever you are}. But they're good at being on for a few minutes, and then closing down. So... that's the quick & dirty. More to come when I can squeeze it into my neighbor's scheduled computer time, or get our issues worked out.

Nebraska Move Recap- pics to come

According to Molly, if I’m going to move I have to keep my blog up to date more. I agree! However, “If you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all” kept popping into my head every time I thought about writing of our Nebraska adventure so far. Not to say there weren’t a few good things to talk about, I just didn’t want to. So here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

We had a friend volunteer to watch our kids last Sat. for us so we could pack up without them under foot. AWESOME!! (a huge thanks Anna!!) We spent 1-2 hrs. packing up the essentials from each room on Friday night after Zach got home so we had a good amount of things ready to head straight to the truck. Zach & his Dad loaded it all up while I packed up a few other boxed up. It only took 2ish hrs- WOW! I was amazed. We picked the kids up, made sure we had everything & headed North. We were hoping the kids would take great naps in the car and sleep a good amount of the time. Might have happened, but it didn’t. Brooklyn slept an hour, then woke up screaming and woke up Isaac. They did well on the trip- thanks to a foresight to buying a dual screen DVD player. Yes, I can drive, change DVD’s on the head rest behind me, and hand out snacks all at the same time. It was a long drive, but overall not a complete disaster.

We let the kids stay up a little late and swim in the hotel pool. And they went to sleep fairly, despite hotel noise. We headed out to our rental house and started unpacking. It is cozy {tiny} but defiantly livable. Well maybe until #3 arrives, then we’ll see. It looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in quite a while, so I was feverishly vacuuming our bedrooms so we could set up beds at least. A good amount of elbow grease had gone a long way, and I’m much more hopeful about being here now.

How it came that Zach packed our kitchen, I’m not sure, but there are a few thing I would have considered ‘essential’ that didn’t make his cut so we’re slowly stocking up on every trip to Wal*Mart. Other than that, I think we did well downsizing. We didn’t bring any dressers since we knew the space was small, so our clothes are still in boxes as I figure that one out.

The kids and I have checked out the Y {and got a sweet deal on membership, thank.you.very.much}. They have a huge kids climbing deal (similar to monkey business), a 5 & under play area with a wooded house, bank, store, and all sorts of toys, a small gym area and trampolines to play basketball on in addition to all the regular gym ‘stuff’. The kids loved it & we played there for over an hour Monday. Tuesday we went to the Library in the morning and the Museum in the afternoon. I thought I was taking them to the children’s museam-wrong. But with an hour before everything closed I decided we’d try it out anyways and the kids had a BLAST! There were tons of animal displays to look at and a pioneer/Indian/Dinosaur dig hands on kids area. Lots of fun!! Wednesday we went to the Children’s museum. They had all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. And we were the only ones there the whole time. While this was nice for the kids, it had me scratching my head wondering, “We’ve gone to every kid friendly place in this town and I’ve yet to see any other stay at home moms- what gives?” Thursday morning MOPS met, so I knew there had to be other moms there. I had a great time. The ladies I met were so welcoming and friendly. Their next meeting is a craft fair so I’m going to show my Taylor Belle products. If I don’t make any friends by showing my stuff, hopefully I’ll make some money ☺ And the sun came out for the first time since we’ve been here. The kids and I spent the afternoon exploring the backyard, digging in the mud, finding ‘treasures’ on our walk around the block, and waving to every car that passed.

Zach is working long hours, but I think enjoying being busy instead of twiddling his thumbs sitting in cubicle land. And he loves having his family to come home to and not an empty hotel room.

The kids are doing as well as can be expected. Isaac, who has always had a difficult time with change, is coming around. Less tantrums, but requesting to watch movies a lot more. I’m trying to stay on top of ideas of other things to do and burn some energy.

Me…well maybe that should be another post, this has been long winded enough.

{Hope you approve Molly ☺}

Reality Check

Well my long lost friends....here I am again.

Our trip to Western NY to visit my Nonnie & other family too went so well. The kids were perfect on the plane (thank you to fun snacks mostly). We were able to visit with my family, who loved seeing the kids. I got a decent amount of time to spend with Nonnie between naps and her radiation treatments. I also was able to tell my family in person that we're going to be adding another member to our family next April! That's right folks- the Taylors are having another baby!!

Which leads to where the heck I've been lately. The last two days of our trip were the first two days of me feeling nauseaus, nasty, pregnancy sickness. I made it home & crashed. Literally. I ended up having strep throat ontop of the normal pregnancy whoas. But boy did it land me flat on my back for a few days until the antibiotics really took care of things!! But, as has been the case with both my other pregnancies I am in barely functioning mode right now as I try to break off my intimate relationship with the three toilets in our house. Unfortunatley this time around miracle drugs are not working.....so the reality check is that blogging is going to be put on the back, back burner for now. Things like cooking, cleaning, and changing diapers to name a few is quickly filling up what time I'm not in the bathroom. I have a sono tomorrow afternoon to get an due date & see the heartbeat {yeah!}. I'll let you know how it goes when I can.

Until then!

Family Evenings

We've slowly been attempting to take walks as a family...without our stroller. We tried walking on a path in a local park so that there was not traffic nearby to worry about. And we've even moved on to walking to the park near our house.

Surprisingly, Isaac is the one who wants to be carried & Brooklyn hoofs it the whole way. Not so surprisingly, they all have ended in meltdowns requiring assistance back home or to the car.

I love the cheesy grin on her face!

We're so blessed to have so many choices for fun & free
places nearby for our family to enjoy our time together!

What does your family enjoy doing during the evening to spend time together?

What's Better?

What's better than lounging around on a lazy summer day? Being with Daddy!! Nothing's better than that!

I love seeing the relationship between these two develop! She lights up whenever he enters the room. She's started realizing that when the garage door opens it means Daddy is home. She runs to the door, waits with her arms up in the air and says, "Da Da. Da Da" over & over again. The only one who is envious of Daddy loving on Brooklyn is Isaac.

Helpful Hints

We can't be the only ones who are looking for creative & new uses for those pesky shoes you have kicking all around your house. Lucky for you Isaac has diligently been working on coming up with helpful suggestions for you!

They make great containers for snacking on the move!



Storing extra toys. This time it was wooden blocks. I've found balls, puzzle pieces, and crayons too. I am now in the habit of checking my shoes, not for bugs, but for hidden treasures.



And my personal favorite: Why not use your rain boots as a cozy to keep your milk cup or other favorite beverage cold?












On a side note- it is very frustrating when you drop your lollipop in your rainboot & can't get it out again. Equaly frustrating when you eat it & get a mouthful of boot 'fuzz'.

Hope that helps you get more use out of your shoes!