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)

Sprinklers

After a long weekend I figured taking the kids out to run in the yard would help them recover from being in the car for so long, so I bought a sprinkler and we headed out to set it up. Taylor was a little unsure because she just didn't understand all she had to do was run through the water. I really think Tyson enjoyed himself more than Taylor did. He stood right next to the water batting at it and laughing. Taylor spent a lot of time spraying him. It was a good purchase, but I think they were just tired from the weekend.

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So this is a sprinkler huh? ----------

Taylor trying NOT to get wet by ducking under the water
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Tyson having fun and stopped to say Cheese for the camera
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Tyson completely willing to let sissy spray him
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Trying to spray me while I was taking pictures
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I guess I should point out he was crying and mad because I took something away from him that he wasn't supposed to have
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Taylor on the other hand was pouty because she just didn't understand that all we wanted her to do was run through the water, get wet and have a good time

Indy

This past weekend we traveled to Indianapolis to see my Grandma. Not long ago she broke her humerus bone in her right arm and had to have surgery. She now has a plate from elbow to shoulder along the bone with about 50 screws in it. She's currently rehabbing and so we decided to drop in for a quick visit. The kids did awesome on the drive over and back. We took advantage of the hotel pool 3 times, but I have no pics since I had to be in the water holding Tyson. We ate dinner with family Saturday (18 people total) at one of the places we went many times when we were younger and lived there, MCL. I will post the group pic when I steal my sister's because the guy taking it cut the whole left side off with my camera.

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The recipient of MANY surprise visitors, Grandma!

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Tyson saying Cheese and smiling real big

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Taylor and Tyson together while visiting their great grandma
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The big girl and her goofy smile

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Me and the kids with Grandma

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*a portion of the great grandkids at dinner saturday night*

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My Uncle Mike (dad's brother) also known as ... Uncle Melon, Uncle Melon Head and The Melon

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We had a great weekend and look forward to seeing everyone again, but this time I hope it doesn't take a year for us to all get together again. We just don't do it often enough.