Mother's Day and Play Dates!

I'm catching up! Now I'm up to Memorial Day weekend with this post. ;)

Upcoming topics for later posts: first bike ride, Taylor and Al's trip to Kansas and some fun miscellaneous shots and videos.

PLUS, we are going to Colorado next week so expect to hear about that trip in, um, August?? ;)

Ok, here's Mother's Day first.

We started out the day meeting my parents for a wonderful brunch and then headed to one of the city lakes to walk around the rose garden. It was a little chilly that day and the roses weren't blooming yet, but they had beautiful tulips blooming and some other spring flowers.

Best Mother's Day present ever, a little cuddle from my sweet baby girl.

Sharing a kiss with grandma at brunch:

Then being a little goofball:

The "moms" and Taylor:

Family shot at the Japanese rock garden:

Our little monkey with grandpa:

Taylor checking out the bright flowers, I'm so glad my camera picked up the color!

Grandma and Tay:

The moms and Tay with the tulips:

Another family shot with more tulips:

A kiss from my "baby":

Riding the trolley with grandma and grandpa!

Alrighty, now to fast forward to Memorial Day weekend. I was visiting my sister in Tuscon this weekend so Al and Taylor had a busy and fun weekend with some buddies.

On Saturday, Al and Taylor drove up a north a little to hang out with Al's coworker and her family. Her daughters are such sweethearts and were so good with Taylor. They all loved the trampoline at the cabin!

Here is Taylor with Olivia (O-ie) and Bella.

Then on Sunday, they met up with Taylor's best bud from daycare, Olivia (Taylor calls her "E-a"). They had a lot of fun with Olivia's new summer toys! These two are so cute together. Whenever we get them together outside of daycare, their eyes light up and they call out each other's names. Tay says "E-a!" and Olivia says, "Tay-tay!". It's so cute. They've been buds since the infant room and even transitioned to the toddler room together since the teachers knew it would make it easier for each of them. It seems they do everything at the same time (developmentally) and feed off of each other all the time (monkey-see, monkey-do). Both Marni (Olivia's mom) and I have visions of their first sleepover years down the road. I sure hope this becomes a long-lasting friendship, it's so sweet.

The girls on the slide, "airplane!":

Taking a stroll down the sidewalk. They took turns pushing each other. They even tried to both sit in it at first. This ended up being more fun.

Check out how they both learned to put their feet up to make the ride "smoother":

Taylor's turn to push:

Now E-a's turn:

Taking a water break and telling secrets, at least it looks like that, doesn't it??

This is my favorite picture ever, I can see us using it on their highschool graduation photo collages. ;)

The little ladies with Olivia's daddy, Gal:

Here are some fun videos. Marni had them mimicking her like a pro, so glad they have video of this!




A little car action:

Austin fun!

Hello everyone!

Many apologies for the long absence. We have A LOT to catch up on. First, I need to post about our trip to Austin back in April. I know it's almost June, but since this is the closest thing I have to scrapbooking right now, I want to make sure everything is covered. Coming up later...Mother's Day, play dates, first bike ride.....stay tuned!

In April, after tax season and in between semesters for Joni, we took a long weekend trip to DFW and Austin. On these extended weekends, we fly into DFW since we have a lot of friends there now and it's a lot cheaper! We spend one night there and drive down to Austin. It was a great trip as usual, but much too fast as usual. We miss all of our friends and family down there dearly and really cherish these trips that we try to do twice a year. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality and good fun!

On to the pictures!

I had to post these first two because they were just too funny. Poor Taylor, she was over-tired after the flight (past her bedtime) and became really upset because Daddy was in her car seat. Al was installing it and sat in the seat to make sure it was tight enough and she was not happy. She kept saying, "Dada out!" and swiping at the seat. She started bawling....so what do good, kind and sympathetic parents do? They take pictures of course!

Our first night there, we headed over to our good friends, Keith and Suzanne's house so Taylor could see her buddy Nicholas. Suzanne was still out of town, but fortunately we caught her at the tail end of our trip.

Here are the two little monkeys trying to break their way into the staircase:

The next morning, before we headed to Austin, we stopped by our friends Shane and Whitney's house for breakfast. Their sweet boy, Austin, was very kind to let Taylor take over his toys that morning.

Here is Taylor trying to find a way to get closer to their cat, Max:

Taylor thought it was really exciting that Austin had the same barn yard magnet toy that she had!

Taylor and Austin sharing a puzzle:

On our way to Austin, we stopped at an outlet mall and hit up three different kids-clothing stores. Our best buy? A $2 purple baseball cap that Taylor insisted on wearing backwards. She was practically strutting! She still loves it and will say "Puple hah" when she sees it. Such a funny little girl:

Once we were in Austin, we met Kolin, Alexis, Kevin and Amanda at Chuy's for some good Tex Mex. I noticed after this trip that we didn't get many pictures of other people besides the kids. Partly because Taylor was being shy around EVERYONE and partly because we just plain forget when we have a clown to keep our camera busy!

Here's Taylor checking out the menu:

I think she liked what she ordered!

And even shared a bite with Daddy!

On the way back to the Bradley house (Scott, Tanya and Samantha's place) we stopped by Shady Grove to meet the Bradley fam for a few minutes of live music on the lawn. Al took Taylor up to the front and she was mesmerized by the singer/guitarist. He even gave her a little shout-out!

The following day, we headed to Dripping Springs to visit with Mimi and Mawlene (Al's grandma and great-grandma). Taylor with one of her only pictures WITH someone else. And she smiled! ;)

On Friday evening, we had a really fun night planned. Kolin's family was all in town including his mom (Karol), dad (Steve) and brother (and our other great friend), Kacey. They were celebrating Steve's 60th birthday with a crawfish boil. It was both mine and Taylor's first time and it was a lot of fun! We both tried it and actually liked it. That's a huge deal for me especially since I hate shellfish!

Miss Taylor Jean in her skull & bones outfit (from Kolin):

The Howell boys, Momma Howell and Alexis preping the crawfish that was going to be frozen for future use:

It was such a treat to see all of them for the first time in years. Aside from Kolin, none of them had met Taylor yet so that was pretty special. Al and I consider them our Texas parents/siblings so it's always great to spend time with them. It's one of the many things we miss about living there. :)

Cute shot of Taylor and Samantha primping in the morning:

Playing around at Austin Java Co. after brunch:

We decided to take Taylor to Eeyore's birthday festival. This is a shot of the drum circle. I don't think she was really into it (even though there was a live donkey there!), but now we can say she's been once. ;)

Saturday night we met our great friends Jon, Michelle, Mike and Ann Marie for a nice night out. Mike and Ann Marie just had a baby girl, Gracie, this past November. Again, no pictures of anyone else except the babies...and Al of course.

This is another classic torture picture. For some reason, Taylor was NOT happy about bath time with Samantha. I don't know if it was too deep, or she was cranky, or what, but I had to take a picture of course. The best part is Samantha having a good ol' time in the background, ha!

Brunch our last day in Austin at one of our favorite places, Hickory Street, with a little live music action:

Back in Fort Worth Sunday night and we met our old neighbors, the Overman's, my cousin Ryan, and Keith, Suzanne and Nicholas for dinner. Here's a picture of Nicholas, Evrett (Taylor's old buddy from daycare in Minneapolis) and Taylor. Not pictured, Brenden, Evrett's new baby brother.

Hey, there IS a picture of me and Taylor with someone else! Me and Taylor with my cousin Ryan. He, his wife Angie and 2 daugters live in San Antonio now, but Ryan just happened to be in Dallas for a month while we were passing through. So great to see him! Hopefully next time we'll see the whole family. :)

One last time to play before we leave in the morning. These two were having a good ol' time before bedtime!

Hope that helps give everyone a fix for a little while. Mother's Day photos are next!! :)

Happy Earth Day and Easter!

In honor of Earth Day on April 22nd, we wanted to do a quick post to document Taylor's first movie experience "Earth" by Disney. Al and I had heard about this movie coming out and really wanted to see it. It chronicles three "families" (Polar Bears, Whales, and Elephants) as they go through a year in our ever-changing environment. It also has many co-stars of birds, monkeys, lions, penguins, etc. My dad happened to win some sneak preview passes for Sunday morning, so we took advantage of them!

Side note: Disney will plant a tree in your honor for every ticket purchased opening week. The movie comes out April 22nd and is a great one for kids of all ages! :)

Taylor was so tired when we got there even though it was a 10am movie. She had too much fun partying with Great Aunt Joan and Great Uncle Bryan the night before! Thanks again for watching her, she had a blast!!
She became alert though the minute we walked into the theater and saw grandma and grandpa. When the movie started, she was a little nervous (because of some loud music), but she soon got really into it. She would do her signs and call out the animal names. Luckily there were other babies and kids in the theater so no one was annoyed. Actually, I think grandma and grandpa were louder than Taylor making funny noises at her and calling out the animals. I actually "shushed" them more! Too funny. :)

She made it through the whole movie and traded laps between everyone. She would tend to go into Al's lap during parts where there was intense music, but seemed to enjoy it. She ended up passing out with about 20 minutes left and woke up right at the end. We really had no idea how she would do since she doesn't watch much t.v. right now, but overall, it was a great experience!

Relaxing in daddy's lap after her quick snooze. We actually gave her the Nuk for two reasons, 1) it quieted her down a little and 2) we kind of wanted her to nap a tiny bit.

Not the best picture of everyone, but we had to capture the moment.

Family shot at Mall of America (outside the movie theaters):

For those of you who have never been to MOA, here is the indoor amusement park. Taylor was in awe the minute we walked in. I think it was too much for her to take in, maybe in a year we'll check it out.

Now for Easter!

We started the morning with grandma and grandpa and had breakfast out:

Then headed to Rochester to spend Easter with great-grandma and extended family.

Sweet face..one of the rare times that we get a smile out of her for the camera!

Taylor Jean with her cousin Benaysay (Joni's cousin's daughter) who will be 3 in May:

Frankie (Joni's cousin Matt's son), Taylor and Benaysay..guess who the loud one is??

Sweet hug after sharing the eggs from the egg hunt:

Common face she makes...I think I have some like this when I was her age...

Family shot, it was hard to get a good one with Tay, but this works!

Four generation picture:

Funny video of a duck that does the funky chicken (how does that make any sense?). My aunt Ann bought it for Benaysay (her granddaughter) and Taylor was really riveted by it. You see Benaysay coming in at the end to reclaim her toy. Hehe.



Ok, just for fun, I had to add this photo that my aunt Mary found of me a little while ago. I was about 2 and could really see Taylor in this photo...we have the same glazed look apparently. ;)

Coming up....our trip to Austin happening this weekend!!

18 Months....and 3 weeks

Hello everyone!

Now that Taylor is almost 19 months (will be on March 16th) I decided it was about time to post her 18-month stats and some pictures. ;)

You guys will love the "mom" moment I had at the doctor. While the nurse tried to measure Taylor the first time, Taylor was being fiesty and the nurse kind of rushed it. When the doctor came in, she noted that Taylor's height had dropped off from her normal 95th percentile. I didn't think anything of it because I figured it would happen someday. Then after she had finished her exam and left the room, I looked at the sheet and it said she was in the 55th percentile! That just didn't jive with me considering 3 months prior she was in the high-90s still. So at first I was going to let it go, but then knew that it would bug me. I know these things aren't an exact science, but that seemed way off to me.

When the nurse came back into the room to give Taylor her shots, I asked her if she could measure Taylor again. She kind of looked at me surprised, but did it anyway. Sure enough, she had shorted (no pun intended) Taylor by 3/4 of an inch! I know, I'm being one of "those" moms, but I had to. 3/4 of an inch is a lot in 3 months! So here are Taylor's stats after I made the change on our take-home sheet and looked up infant height stats online. Hehe.

Weight 25 lb 10 oz (70th %ile)

Height 32.75in (75th %ile) (was noted as 32 inches and 55th %ile on the doctor sheet)

Head 19.25in (96th %ile)

Other than that, we had a pretty good appointment. She still had an ear infection that was left over from her double ear infection two weeks prior, but everything else looked great and we got her some more antibiotics for that ear!

Some little tid-bits of Taylor at 18 months:
- She is still very much a daddy's girl. I think that will be a permanent trait and I find it endearing now. Unless she is pushing me away from Al as I try to hug him, then daddy has to let her know that's not cool...which he does. ;)
- Her favorite foods are fruit (especially bananas and strawberries) and cooked carrots and cheeeeese! Oh and of course bread. She eats at least a half of a piece on the way to daycare because she sees Al give the dogs their medicine in bread. When she eats her fruits and carrots, she sometimes sounds like the Tazmanian devil because she is so frantic to get them all eaten.
- She is giving "real" hugs and kisses now. It's so sweet to watch her give her daycare buddies big hugs when she greets them in the morning. They all greet her too, "Tay-Tay!"
- LOVES saying "No". I guess that's just her age though.

I have to admit, it’s been increasingly difficult to get good pictures of Taylor. She is not camera friendly lately and will not “ham it up” for us. Silly girl. So here’s what we have!

One day after a nap, Al started putting her stuffed animals in her crib. She loved it!

Ok, this is not the most attractive picture of Taylor, but I had to show you her "No" face when she is really emphatic. It's kind of funny. You'll also notice her new couch from Aunt Joan and Uncle Bryan. She loves it because it's her size! Oh, and the hat is a clown hat she made in daycare and wanted to wear around the house:

Climbing into the laundry basket, another favorite pasttime:

Taylor with her buddy Chewy:

We have also been going out for breakfast on Sundays a couple times a month. Taylor does pretty good and chows down on her fruit and pancakes:

Funny girl:

I LOVE this video. Taylor loves putting on gloves, especially if they aren't hers. She apparently walked into the bedroom with one of Al's goalie gloves on and asked him to put on the other. This made her night!

Here's one more quick video. We really don't let Taylor watch much t.v. unless it's Texas football or KU basketball. There is the occassional "Jack's Big Music Show" for a few minutes in the morning, but she normally turns off the t.v. which is funny. Anyway, this past Saturday, Al recorded the KU/UT basketball game and we thought it would be fun family bonding to watch some of it with Taylor before her bedtime. She even got to stay up a little late!

Poor girl is going to be so confused with her daddy's college sport teams. For basketball, he will always be a KU supporter, even if they play his Longhorns. So for those non-Jayhawk followers, whenever KU has free-throws, the fans hold their hands in the air and if the basket is made, they bring their arms down and make a "Woosh!" sound. Here is Al teaching Taylor this very important move. You can't hear it, but she actually tries to make the sound too.

Some "firsts" - Basketball and Pigtails

I should be doing homework right now, but I started this post a couple of weeks ago so I want to get it finished!
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Al's firm received a lot of free tickets to the Timberwolves game. We decided to try to take Taylor even though the game was at 7:00 and her bedtime is usually 7:30. As usual, she did great. She really likes the environment of places like this! As long as there is action, she is up for it.

Here is a picture of daddy and Tay...yes, the Lakers were a MN team back in the day (see the statue)..hence the name "Lakers". ;)


Our good friends Matt and Stef were able to come with us. Taylor was loving Stef's lap!



Here are some fun videos from the night.

Our seats were great because the stairs ended at our row so Taylor couldn't really go anywhere. She had a blast sitting on the bottom step because it was just her height.
There was a set of grandparents in some rows up top who were enamored with Tay. They had thrown her their program so this is her retrieving it and being a bit perplexed. :)



First walk through the skyway! These are lifesavers in MN!!





Now for the other "first". Pigtails!!! I had just gotten done trimming Taylor's bangs (not an easy feat) and decided her hair was long enough to try the piggies.
She LOVED it! She likes looking in the mirror when she has pretty things in her hair.


And LOVES to chew on her toothbrush.

Tagged!

Ok, this is just a quick post because I was "tagged" by my friend Jane in her blog. The rule is, you have to pick the fourth picture out of your fourth picture file and post it.

Surprise, surprise, my picture is one of Taylor! It was fun to look back about 8 months ago and see these pictures. This one was taken on May 29th in our backyard. She was about 9 months old. You could see one small curl forming on the right side of her head. Who knew that would turn into a whole mop of curls on her head!

Ok, so if you haven't done it yet, it's your turn Suzanne, Beth & Whitney!

Christmas Day

Happy New Year everyone! I started class again today so before the semester gets out of control and Al gets crazy busy with tax season, I thought I would at least get our Christmas pictures posted!
Christmas was in MN this year and we realized it was the first time we have had Christmas in our house even though we moved into it in 2006. It was a relatively nice and quiet holiday break for us which was good. We all needed some R&R and time to recoup for the new year!

A quick festive picture of our fireplace with Santa toys laid out (the Nutcrackers are not for Taylor..those are part of our collection). Even though our family room is decked out in wood paneling and old-school ceiling tiles, it's actually our favorite room in the house. It is so cozy in the winter with all the Christmas decorations up. Al and I were commenting the other day that our house looks best during Christmas. ;)

Taylor with her first taste of present opening since her birthday in August. She was pretty excited about it for the first couple of presents.

Her big Santa present was set up in the basement. Our basement is actually not ideal for hanging out in. We plan on refinishing it in the next few years, but until then, Al did a great job of clearing out some space and cleaning up a good spot for Taylor to have a play space. That's where her new tunnel toy was set up. It's four tunnels, an intersecting part and two tents. It's so big that we couldn't put it all in the same space. She LOVED it. I wish we had taken a picture of the whole contraption put together!

Later that morning, we made the 90-mile drive to spend Christmas day with most of my mom's side of the family in Rochester. Not everyone lives in MN, but we had a pretty good number show up.

Four-generation photo with both Grandma Kneeskern's:

Taylor loving her Santa hat that great-aunt Mary let her wear!

The Kneeskern/Voigt women, Grandma, Taylor, Joni and Katrina:

Some of the great-granddaughters, Taylor, Bianca, Mia, Megan and Benaysay:

Almost 50% of the great-grandchildren with great-grandma:

The day after Christmas, we had our immediate family's Christmas dinner and present opening.

Here's daddy helping Taylor clean off her fingers! These two are always cracking me up!

Taylor helping Grandma clean up the turkey. The outfits were a coincidence!

Here a just a couple of additional fun photos of Taylor post-Christmas.

I just bought her some barrettes for her bangs because she won't let me trim them. She looks like such a big girl when she wears them! This is also another classic "cheese" face of hers. ;)

Taylor loves her "ba-bas" and they seem to like her a little too. Here's a picture of her and Chewy hanging out one morning while we were trying to get her dressed.

One of Taylor's most recent Christmas gifts from Mimi (Al's grandma). She bought Taylor her own rocking chair and the first one we received wouldn't go together correctly. So we had them send us another one and just received it on Friday. She loves it!