Spring Flings

This weekend was jammed packed with activity. Emilee went to her sophomore class "Spring Fling"...it's a fund raiser to make money for future events in her high school life. There was a newly formed Christian rock band made up of LU students that performed for the kids that had Emilee wanting to skip the rest of high school and move on over to the university and get to know guys like the ones in this band (two more years, girl!).

Taylor had a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon - her friend Sophia turned 6 - before Emilee went to her event on Saturday evening so there was LOTS of driving done on Saturday. I anticipated Sunday to be a day of going to church and relaxing all Sunday afternoon. but nooo....

On Sunday afternoon, Tom decided to take Taylor and Emilee (and me along, to hold the camera I guess) fishing. Taylor caught her first fish! I don't understand the lure of fishing (no pun intended haha) but Tom really likes to go when he gets the chance and wants to share this activity with his girls. Taylor loved catching the fish but when Tom asked her if she wanted to touch it, she screamed like a, well, girl, and said "NO..that fish scares me!". He gently unhooked it for her and released it. I don't think he's got a great fishing pal in this one.

another month - time flies!

It seems like a month goes like a week - I don't know where the time goes. Taylor has been in our family 8 months - we're going to this Chinese restaurant that's supposed to be great on Sunday to celebrate another month of being a family - Taylor doesn't care why I like to remember each month as a milestone, she's just happy to chow down on some good Chinese cooking!

Emilee has her license now and can "fly solo". She has a great part time job that will be full time through the summer and we need her to be able to drive herself - I'm spending so much time getting her to and from her work place that we decided to help her get a used vehicle and she is now the proud owner of a little red truck! She plans on "dressing it up" with a Washington Redskins steering wheel cover and floor mats - I let her drive to work by herself yesterday for the first time and literally walked the floor and prayed the whole time til she called me and told me she was at work safely...it doesn't get any easier as they get older!

Sara and Chuck have decided that they are going to raise chickens and have their own organic eggs so they bought 4 little chicks. I'm waiting on that quiche, Sara! Sara loves these little ones, their names are Rosa, Harriett, Lucille and Lolita. They are living in her house right now in a large rubbermaid container while Chuck builds a chicken coop...he'd better get busy before they learn how to fly!

Easter Day

Taylor's first Easter... the time is flying by and she's had a great week learning all about this wonderful and special day. I love to hear her tell me the Easter story, and today was a beautiful day for all of us. Sara and Chuck came in to share in Taylor's first Easter and the day was full of fun and me having to yell at Sara and Taylor to behave themselves as they are both so crazy (at one point Sara threw Taylor's shoes off the deck and threatened to spit on them, but Emilee retaliated on Taylor's behalf and threw Sara's flipflops in the back yard and tried to spit on them for Taylor. By the way, Taylor was very grateful to Emilee for this :)

Taylor went to "big church" and stayed through the service with us and was so good and we told her how proud we were of how quiet she was...much better than the little boy sitting behind us! NewSong was on hand for the special music and she loved that part - she definitely will get the chance to take piano lessons when she's a little older - that girl loves music!

Slinky had to go to the vet this week and he's now a whopping 5.4 lbs. - all the kids are growing so fast LOL

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail...

Sara and Chuck came into town this past weekend and we went to the mall to look for an outfit for Emilee to wear to her sophomore "spring fling" at school. Taylor and I had separated from Sara and Emilee and we were looking for them when we rounded a corner and there was the Easter Bunny. The look on Taylor's face was priceless. I could just see her thinking "what now...a giant rabbit...these American traditions are goofy!" Sara and Emilee spot us and Sara being the nut she is drags her two sisters over to the bunny to get their picture taken together. Sara had to practically bribe Emilee...Taylor was too stunned to protest.

There's been so much commotion I haven't even had the chance to ask Taylor what she thought of the bunny or to formulate an explanation for why a giant rabbit would be hanging out in the mall and having his picture taken :) Taylor thought it was scary to consider Santa Clause coming into our home, I'm not sure I want to know her thoughts on Peter Cotton Tail!

just another day...

Yesterday Tom and I had to go down to Virginia Beach to field measure for a church job. It was just too close to the ocean not to catch a glimpse and breath the salt air. Just seeing the waves refreshes my soul til I can go down for a real visit.

Taylor drew a picture of me and gave it to her daddy to give to me. She told him it was me out in the yard cleaning up dog poop with a shovel. I've got to give her a little more positive spin on what I do around here!

Just sharing some pictures of all my children...that's Emilee with our pastor and church's worship leader - they are awesome role models and I'm glad that Emilee thinks Charle's music rocks. Only two more years and Emilee will be wearing an LU hoodie on campus! The middle picture is my boy. Well, he's really Emilee's child but I sure do a lot of baby sitting! He's so cute, I don't mind. And then there's Sara and Taylor (aren't they just weird LOL).

7 months and rolling!

I can't believe we are at 7 months and I didn't post for a whole month! Taylor is just settling into our family in leaps and bounds. She's still feisty and temperamental but then that's just a couple of the reasons we love her. She's learning what it means to be in a family, to cooperate, to wait for others to be first at times (something she's still got to work on), to accept we're not perfect but that we're the perfect family for each other.

Taylor is learning to read! I can't believe that she is sounding out words and wanting to read to me...she is amazingly smart. I asked her the other day what she liked to do when she wasn't in school, what did she like to do for fun (we were playing like we were meeting each other for the first time). She answered "dress up, and be pretty". We're going to have our hands full with this one when she's a teenager.

Emilee has been taking first aid at school and is still working at the daycare where she wrangles 4 yr. olds. It won't be long til school is over and summer is here! Emilee already has a full time position lined up at the daycare for the summer so that will help her have enough spending money to finance taking care of her little mini dachsund - he's a handful, the cutest dog I've ever seen, now if he would just learn to go outside (he hates the cold and would much prefer to use the bathroom indoors, thanks a lot).

Sara and Chuck are busy renovating their house - they tear up a new room every day, but they are making headway and it will all look pretty cool once they get it done. Sara is staying busy keeping a toddler and is trying to add a couple other kids to the mix (whew!). They haven't been in for awhile but will probably be here soon as Chuck and Tom need to go fishing really badly (or so I hear).

During this past month we got our first big snow in a long time and Taylor picked me her first bouquet of flowers to her mom.

We are so blessed to experience life with all our girls.