It's a rare thing

That the 4 of us are ever in any pics together anymore, but we took a few minutes to do it Sunday while we were all here. It's not the greatest, but better than nothing.

Brandi (31) Heather (28) Clint (27) Tyler (24) ----------

All the Cousins. It's more of an outtake pic with the faces we were getting, but it was the best we could do at the time. We tried to arrange them left to right by age and they are in order, but Tyson and Aiden were trying to leave the picture early. They did NOT want to stand still.

LEFT to RIGHT - Shelbie (7) Shianne (7) Taylor (4) Jillian (2) Kaleb (2) Tyson (1) Aiden (1)

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My Little Nephew Kaleb. I hadn't seen him in person since he was a baby because they were in Hawaii so long. Now that they are back in Illinois I hope to see them a lot more often.

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Aiden.

This was the first time I had seen this little dude. I was on a mission to get him to let me hold him by the time they left to go home and I would say I accomplished my goal and even got a couple kisses.

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My Brother Clint and his wife Jasmina. So glad you guys came down to celebrate. He was quite proud that he made it to the top of the play thing at the park and made Jaz join him for a pic.

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Clint at the top of the Infinity Climber at the park.

Taylor's 4th Birthday Festivities

We had birthday celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. It was a very busy weekend with lots of fun.

You'll always be my baby girl no matter how old you are...I Love You Taylor Michelle

Happy Birthday

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One very dirty birthday girl. I hadn't even had the chance to take a pic of her before she was covered in sidewalk chalk and dirt

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Mommy and Daddy got her a Barbie ATV and it was a huge hit. She was taking all her cousins for rides around the yard. They rode it from the time we brought it out till the time the battery died. I see lots of use in its future. ----------

Her loot. She is so careful opening presents and she was sooooo serious. I couldn't believe it. Thanks Aunt Brandi, Uncle Robert, Shelbie, Shianne, Jillian and Abbi. Thanks, Uncle Tyler. Thanks, Uncle Clint, Aunt Jasmina, Kaleb and Aiden. You all made her birthday super special. We are all glad you came to celebrate with us. ----------

Taylor with Cake number 2 for her actual birthday. Ice Cream Cake from Cold Stone Creamery. It was devil's food cake with a layer of chocolate and a layer of vanilla ice cream with M&M's mixed into the ice cream. It weighed a ton and was soooooooooo yummy! ----------

SATURDAY JULY 25, 2009

Birthday Party number 1

The guest of honor trying to hide behind a chair, but finall gave up and let me snap a quick pic. ----------

Taylor and Tyson together. He's ready to party. ----------

Who can resist this face. I'd say he will be a future heartbreaker, but right now he's a momma's boy. ----------

Saturday's cake featured Marble cake with whipped cream icing and choc/vanilla ice cream on the side decorated with Tinkerbell. It was so moist and yummy! I'm going to have to take a break from birthday's or I may turn into a cake. Thanks to MomMom, PawPaw, Uncle Mike, Katie, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Linda, Jon, Chris, Aunt Lorraine (Honey), Uncle Kerry (Bubba) and Aunt Marilyn for making Taylor's birthday special and celebrating with us. ----------

For the last year or better one of Taylor's favorite things (among many) has been penguins. Her MomMom (grandma) made this for her and it is one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. Thank you for such an awesome gift-Love, Taylor. ----------

I have a hard time leaving Tyson out of picture posts because he loves to cheese. I thought this pic turned out super cute. This boy has got lashes to die for.

Missing You

It was 7 years ago today when our lives were changed forever. I can't believe its been that long already. So much has happened since you have been gone, but I know that you have been watching from above and I know you will continue to watch over us and keep us safe. I wish you were here. I Love You and I Miss You...FOREVER!

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I've used this pic before but it seems to be the only one I have on my computer. I am going to have to make it a mission to find more.

Session I Progress Report

Today Taylor got her first ever report card. It was for her first session of swim lessons. She did great the entire 6 or 7 weeks.

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Taylor and her Progress Report

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Pike Level for 3-5 year olds

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Her evaluation. She completed everything on the list and got all smiley faces on the things like confidence, listening to instructor, following directions, accepting constructive suggestions and demonstrating carind, honesty respect and responsibility. Her teacher's personal comment said she is fun and has a lot of confidence in the water and that she is almost ready to move to the next level, but she suggests she remain at the same level to work on swimming farther on her own. Overall I'd say it was a complete success and the new session starts next week. (If I could figure out how to make it so you could click to enlarge it would be readable, but I haven't figured that out yet)