Coming Soon . . . To a Mailbox Near You!

For the first time in my life, I am going to send out Christmas cards. I know, seriously. Yes, seriously. I don't know why I've never done it, I just haven't. So, now that I have two fun and frisky kiddos, it's time. We went for a little family photo shoot with Mark and Amber last weekend, and ended up with some decent shots. Help me pick which one to use for our card . . .

No 1

No 2
No 3

Halloween

Ok, these are my comments on Halloween. First, her costume is up for debate. No, it didn't have a name when I bought it. I thought it was a fairy. Due to the lack of wings, Kent said she was a wood nymph (?!). And Grandma, well she thought she was a flower. I think any of the above are reasonable guesses. Wanta take a shot? The other thing is - we took at least 30 pictures of her on Halloween. She does NOT stay still, nor does she tolerate hats. These are the only 2 halfway decent photos of her costume. And what an interesting expression she has on her face. We had a fun afternoon and evening, visited some grandparents, and did just a little trick or treating. Whatever she was, she was a cutie. Happy Halloween!

Paw Paw's Birthday

We celebrated Grandpa's birthday at Tepanyaki's this year. We were hopeful that Taylee would be impressed by the exciting cooking demonstration! Not so much. She was however, very impressed by the noodles.

As usual, we adults were impressed by the cooking demo, and Kent was the only one to succesfully catch the flying shrimp.

After dinner we enjoyed dessert at the restaurant, and again at home!! We love us some dessert! Happy Birthday Paw Paw! Love you

Backyard Football

Our house has recently become the sight of many an after school backyard football game. It's fun to have all the fun and excitement at our house. Skyler has only recently become a social butterfly, and we dig it. The only problem we've encountered is feeding this hoard of hungry teenage boys. These football games were originally tackle football, but since the inclusion of Skyler's friend JR (who is a little behind the others in the growth department), they've switched to flag football. Probably safer that way anyways. Unfortunately the flags they invested in tear about 4 times per game. Each one has been stapled back together multiple times. Taylee LOVES to stand on the back patio and watch the action. The boys call her the ref. She just likes the attention and excitement. Skyler is hoping to try out for the football team next year. I'm thinking he better hit the weight room! Maybe next fall we'll be enjoying some Friday Night Lights at Syracuse High . . .

15 Months

Taylee had her 15 month check-up today. She is a healthy girl, and she got a couple shots, as well as her flu shot. ;( The only major topic of discussion was our continued concern over her speech development. If, at 18 months, she still is not saying 3-5 meaningful words, the Dr wants us to pursue an additional avenue of speech therapy. (Besides Early Intervention). By meaningful words, she means saying mama and meaning me, or saying milk when she wants a drink, or hi when she sees someone. Currently she is saying a couple words, but it is basically just her babbling. She walks around saying no no, hi, and mama, but none of them at specific times or directed at specific things. They are just sounds she makes, with no more meaning than ga ga goo goo. Don't be confused though, she definitely knows how to communicate. She uses a series of grunts, whining, and pointing to tell us EXACTLY what she wants. Maybe I am enabling her by being TOO responsive to her needs? Anyways, she is doing well, and as always, Dr. Strasser likes to comment on how much personality she has. I take this as a compliment . . .

And the stats (for posterities sake)
Height: 30.4 inches - 49th %
Weight: 21 lbs 6.5 oz - 27th %
Head 44.6 - 16th %

Hoarder?

I think Taylee may be a hoarder in the making.

When she gets up from her naps she insists on

grabbing every single blanket from the chest

next to her crib. Then she goes to her closet

and collects 2 or 3 stuffed animals.

She gets very upset if you take her

from her room before this ritual is complete.

She has also found a corner of the living room

where she likes to stash her toys.

Then she sits among them and surrounds herself.

It's pretty funny.

Here she is with a few of her favorites.

Yogurt Anyone??

Taylee has some texture issues with feeding. We try to follow the advice of the developmental therapists, and let her play with her food sometimes. This goes against our instincts.

Hmmm, I wonder why . . .

I'm not so sure it's helping, but she sure has fun!

Orange Sunday

We headed out to Denver (Again!) for the game last weekend. This time we went without the kiddos, and with Mark & Amber. It was a VERY different trip from last time. We arrived Saturday afternoon and had a BIG lunch at Ted's Montana Grill. After checking in to the hotel we headed down to the sports bar for happy hour!! After running into several very large men wearing NY Jets gear, we pieced it together that the Jets were staying in our hotel. Ok, yes, this means we were fraternizing with the enemy, but to football fans like us, this was VERY exciting!! It seemed most of the players were sequestered behind black curtains giving pre-game interviews on Saturday night. We headed out without laying our eyes on anybody we recognized. ;( After a long drive (in circles), we arrived at our intended dinner locale, Lime. It was average Mexican food, but they had the best tortilla chips I've ever had. Since we now knew where we were, we made it back to the hotel in about 4 minutes. Amazing how that works! We hit the local pub and the boys bonded over a few beers, and Amber and I cut a rug. We had so much fun dancing to some 80's cover tunes.
Sunday arrived with sunny skies and warm temps. We got some breakfast and scoped out the Jets team buses out front. When we headed upstairs, we were joined in the elevator by LADANIAN TOMLINSON! OK, so I may not have recognized him at the time, but I was very excited afterwards!! Kent, in his infinite knowledge, knew just who we were riding with, and asked him "not to do too good today." LT looked at us like we were crazy and tried to get as far away from us as possible in the tiny elevator. Poor guy, we must make an intimidating group of Broncos fans in a very small elevator. Maybe he thought we were going to jump him? Anyways, about 20 seconds later our brush with fame was over, and we prepared to head out to the game.
This Sunday was officially ORANGE SUNDAY, and the boys dressed accordingly. They even served Orange beer! (Yes, I know my husband never smiles in photos. I don't know why . . . He claims to have had a great time!)

They had an amazing halftime presentation, honoring breast cancer victims, survivors, and families. I actually got pretty emotional. Good thing for sunglasses!

The game was so much fun, and if that dang ref had just left his little yellow flag in his pocket, the broncos would have pulled off a pretty impressive win. Unfortunately, the fates weren't with us, and we lost. ;( It was still a great game.

We are so glad Mark and Amber were able to join us for the weekend, and of course we are so grateful to Taylee's wonderful Grandma's for taking such great care of her while we lived it up. We came back rested and ready to jump right back into real life!

Hot Potato!

The past couple of years, my dad has purchased Idaho potatoes from a co-worker for a school fundraiser. These potatoes come dirty as can be, straight from the ground to our doorstep. Another thing I've noticed is that they are kinda big - Holy Potato! Look at that thing! That sad little thing next to it is an over-done stuffed chicken breast. The best part? They are delicious!! I thought I would polish this guy off in no time because I am a CARB LOVER, but I didn't even make a dent. I think that in the future, we may share one of these puppies.

Randomness

A few pix from our month so far . . .

Every time we pull into the garage and I

release Taylee from the torture

which is her car seat, she must

immediately go outside and explore.

Because it was rainy today,

we explored the garage.

Now that winter is approaching,

this could be our new favorite place . . .

Once we made it inside, I was doing

laundry with my back to her.

This is what happened . . .

My kiddos lounging together this weekend

Did I mention they LOVE each other?!

Don't you just love her scrunchy nose, look at my teeth smile?