Day after Christmas

I took the day off because we always go shopping the day after Christmas. My husband thinks I'm crazy because I love to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas. I don't do it necessarily for any special deals, I just love to get up early and go shopping. We didn't get up at 4am Friday morning like we did the day after Thanksgiving, we got up at 6am. I think that my moms think I'm a little crazy too for making them getting up so early for these shopping trips, but you know, they always get up and go with me. We didn't take Taylor with us that morning, but came home at lunch and got her. Nathan and the dads wanted to go play racquetball, so I told them we would come get Taylor and take her shopping with us. We ate lunch and then went to Sam Moon and Wisteria. Taylor fell asleep on the way to Sam Moon and I was hoping she would stay asleep while we shopped, but she is a true shopper and woke up the second we walked in to the store. She did great while we shopped, but you could tell she was tired. When we got home she went down for a nap and we had to wake her up to go to dinner at 5:30. We took the parents to Fogo de Chao which is a Brazilian Churisca restaurant. Nathan's parents had been before, but mine hadn't. My dad loved it! The best part was, they kept bringing Taylor plates of cut strawberries and bananas. She was in heaven! Nathan told the waitress that we were celebrating my birthday (which is in January), but this way we could kind of celebrate with our family. The waitress brought out this huge piece of chocolate cake. Oh it looked so good. For those of you that don't know, I am allergic to chocolate and so is my mom. Taylor and everyone else enjoyed my birthday dessert.

Out shopping at Sam Moon with the ladies

Nana and Poppy at dinner

Grandma and Grandpa at dinner

Taylor helped me blow out my candle on my chocolate cake

Taylor loved the flower that was on the cake plate

Christmas Day

Santa came to our house last night. I guess we were all good this year, because he left all of us presents. Taylor woke up just before 8 am and was a little overwhelmed by all the new things Santa had left her. We all got our positions in the living room, handed out all the presents and let Taylor begin opening hers because she had about 3 times more presents than anyone else. She lasted about an hour opening presents and then we decided to give her a break and let everyone else open some. Once we all finished, we finished opening hers and finally were done around noon.



Matching pajamas and Santa hats

Santa was good to Taylor this year

Getting too tired to play with her toys

She gets all new toys for Christmas and she plays with our new mixing bowls

For lunch we had some yummy tamales and then Taylor went down for nap. She wasn't very happy about that. While she was sleeping, the dads constructed the 50's diner that Taylor got from Nathan's grandparents. When she got up from nap she went straight to it and probably played with it for 2 straight hours. It is just the cutest thing!

Taylor with her new diner

There is a booth on the back side of the kitchen for her to sit at

Nathan borrowed a fryer from a friend and fryed a turkey for Christmas dinner. Neither of our dads care for turkey, so we had a ham as well. He did a great job with the turkey because it was awesome!

We open poppers at Christmas dinner every year and they have a toy and a paper hat in them. We wear the paper hats for dinner. Taylor loved her hat!

Grandpa was worn out from our super fun Christmas day

We did miss my brother for Christmas this year as he is in Moldova working at the US Embassy. He just went over in August, so he doesn't have leave till next year. Hopefully he will be able to come home for Christmas next year. We did get to talk to him on the phone which was nice, but not the same as having him here with us.

Christmas Eve

I just love Christmas time. Taylor got her first baby doll from her babysitter (Tammy) and she loves it. I didn't think she was really old enough to want a baby doll yet, but at Sunday school and at our friends houses, if there is a baby doll, Taylor grabs it and mothers it the whole time we are there. It is so precious to see her acting like an little mommy.

Nathan's parents came in yesterday for Christmas and we went over to Grapevine for the evening. There is a fabulous winery called D'Vine Wines and we stocked up for the season. I'm not a big wine drinker and neither is Nathan, but ever since we went wine tasting in Oregon last summer, we are into trying new wines. It makes us feel older and more sophisticated. Just kidding. Anyways, we ate dinner at this awesome Mexican restaurant which I can't ever remember the name of it and then watched the lights and music show at the gazebo on Main Street.

Mom and Dad came in on Christmas Eve and it really started to feel like Christmas time with both sets of grandparents here. My grandmother was suppose to come down from Oregon, but the weather is so bad, she couldn't get out. I was really looking forward to her coming down so that was a little disappointing for Christmas.

I feel like all we do this time of year is cook and eat. We have these master meals all planned out and have to make sure we start them at the right time so we can eat on time. As soon as mom and dad got here we had Christmas Eve dinner (around 3:30pm) because we had the Christmas Eve service at church at 6pm. I really thought it would take us longer to eat and that is why we started so early, but we were done at 4pm! I guess it was fine because then we had time to clean up the kitchen, get ready and take pictures. We ate so early also because we didn't know how long the service was going to be because we have a new pastor this year and we didn't know what to expect. Well, the service only lasted maybe 25 minutes. Which actually worked out good because there was no child care, so Taylor sat with us. She did great, but we wasted a ton of offering envelopes since she wrote all over them with the little pens they provide in the pews. As long as she was happy, we were happy. The service was short and sweet.

Mom made reindeer food for Taylor to put out on Christmas Eve. Mom and Dad took Taylor into the front yard to feed our reindeer decorations. It was just wonderful because she would try to throw it over her shoulders and every where, so when she came back in, she was covered with glitter and reindeer food.

We came home and got into our new Christmas pajamas. I bought us matching pajamas this year and they are so fun. Let me just say that Nathan was not wanting to partake, but as a good husband, he wore them with a smile. I loved us all matching and of course the grandparents just thought it was the cutest thing ever.

After all the matching pajama pictures were taken, Taylor went to bed and the gaming began. We have started to play this game every Christmas Eve and it has taken the place of our old tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve. I don't know if there is a name to the game, but my cousin taught us it a few years ago when we had Christmas with them in Oregon. Here is how you play the game: Every person brings 3 $10 gifts wrapped. You roll two dice to get either a 7 or 11. If you get a 7 or 11, you get to pick any present and open it. You do this till all of the presents have been opened. Then you set the timer for 5 minutes (which we have changed to 10 minutes) and you have to roll a double to steal someones presents. After the 5 (or 10) minutes, the game is over. It is really fun because you may start out with a ton of presents in the first round and then end up with only one present or vice versa. It really is fun!

Rocking the Wii

Sunday night when we got home from Brownwood, Nathan moved the Wii downstairs so we could use it more. Nathan bought American Idol karoke, so we rocked out! It was super fun to sing and dance as a family. Taylor loved us singing and decided she would sing along. Taylor and Nathan even sang a duet.

Taliferro family Christmas party

Poppy, Taylor and Nathan

Saturday evening we went over to Nathan's grandparents house for dinner and presents. Papa fell and broke his hip over a month ago and was just released from the hospital last week - just in time to be home for the Christmas party. Most of the Taliaferro family lives in the Midland-Odessa area so we only get to see them once a year at the Christmas party. Taylor loved playing with her older cousins. She tried all night to sit on top of the presents. It was precious. Time sure flys when you are having fun because we didn't leave till 11pm and Taylor didn't once act tired.

Cousins Sam and Chase with Taylor scoping out the presents

Sitting on the presents

Taylor playing with her new stainless steel pots and pans

Meeting Santa Claus up close and personnal

Friday afternoon we drove to Brownwood for the annual Taliaferro (pronounced Trolliver) Christmas party. This is the only time of year that we get to see all of Nathan's family on his mom's side. Some live in Brownwood, but the rest live in the Midland-Odessa area. The family Christmas party is always so much fun.

Friday night we decided we needed to go see Santa at the mall to get Taylor's picture taken since we hadn't done it yet and Christmas is only a week away. She was a little timid at first and had a death grip on Nathan. Nathan had to sit with her at first next to Santa, but he was the nicest Santa and Taylor quickly warmed up to him after he gave her a gingerbread man cookie. (Yes she is motivated by food just like her mother!) We got a really good picture of her with Santa and no tears! To be honest, I really thought she was going to throw a fit having to sit with him, but she did great.

He's not so bad from a distance. I don't think you can really see the death grip she has on Nathan in this picture.

Still not to sure yet, but at least she is close to him.

I don't have the picture of her on Santa's lap uploaded yet, so I will have to do that tonight when I get home from work. Check back to see it, it really is cute.

Making sugar cookies with Taylor

I have some catching up to do from last week. Thursday night Nathan was out with his group from work for their Christmas party. I decided that we needed to make some Christmas cookies, so Taylor and I made some sugar cookies. I can't really say made, because I didn't make them from scratch. I bought the ones that you can break off the individual squares and place directly on the cookie sheet. I broke off two and smooshed them together, then Taylor used her cookie cutters to make the shapes. Once she would push the cookie cutter into the dough, she would started to eat the inside of the cookie cutter. Needless to say, I had to get the cookies from her as fast as I could after she made the shapes with the cookie cutters. I hate the taste of raw cookie dough, but not my daughter. She just kept signing more, more, more after each bite. I got the cookies put on the sheets and in the oven as soon as possible so she would stop eating all the cookie dough.

She is such a good helper. It was fun to do an edible project with her. I think edible projects are the best projects anyways!

She knows what she is doing!

Can you see the holes in the gingerbread man's tummy from Taylor?

She didn't want to waste any raw cookie dough!

Brushing her pearly whites

Have I told yall how much Taylor likes to brush her teeth? It is crazy! She has four little ones on top, four little ones on the bottom and she just got one molar on the bottom last week. She is apparently working on her other molars - teething is so not fun! Anyways, she keeps going into her bathroom saying brush teeth, brush teeth. I keep having to remind her that she doesn't have to do it all day long. I guess it is a good thing that she likes to brush her teeth.

A gingerbread disaster

My mom had bought us a gingerbread house set to make every year as a new tradition to start with Taylor. It did sound fun to bake with Taylor and decorate it with her. Well, we tried it today as the beginning of a new tradition. It was a total disaster. Nathan thinks it is all my fault because I didn't follow the directions completely. I used prepackaged gingerbread mix instead of making it from scratch and I didn't follow the construction guidelines completely. It probably is my fault that it was such a disaster. The gingerbread was too heavy and soft, so the sides and the roof kept breaking in half and crumbling when we tried to make them stand up next to each other. Taylor laughed along with us as the house crumbled to the ground. We didn't get to decorate it because there was nothing to decorate. Nathan keeps asking if I am going to try again and as of right now, I have no desire to ever try it again. This may be the end of a tradition that never really started.

Before construction began

Not the prettiest house I've ever seen

After the walls and the roof caved in

Shower for Baby Stone

Tonight we hosted a couples shower for our friends Rhett and Lacey Stone. They are expecting on February 10th and are super excited. They did not want to find out what the sex is, so we decided to do a diaper shower. We did BBQ which is always good. It was really a nice, relaxing shower hanging out with good friends and some of their family who were so sweet.

Poor Taylor was exhausted because she only took a 30 minute nap after the train ride. Most of the nap was in the car on the way home. Anyways, she wasn't her usual happy self tonight at the shower. She did enjoy sitting on the diapers.

North Pole Express...All Aboard!!!!

It has been so long since Nathan, Taylor and I have gone out to a family breakfast. We had breakfast at CrackerBarrel this morning and it was yummy! Then we headed to the Main Street in Grapevine to take a ride on the North Pole Express. The North Pole Express was an old, vintage train that took us on a 30 minute train ride. All of the children wore their pajamas just like in the book The Polar Express. Santa came through the cars to see all the kids. Taylor liked him from a distance, but he scared her when he was up close. It should be interesting when we go see him at the mall for her picture with Santa.

The ride was fine, but it was past Taylor's nap time and I had forgotten to pack any snacks, so she was starting to melt down by the time we got back to the station. We were ready to get off the train, but they forgot about us. About 10 minutes of all us in our car just sitting there once we had stopped at the station, someone noticed that all of the other cars had evacuated, so we went to get up to leave and the train started moving. Finally one of the trains people noticed we were still on the train and came to let us know that they had forgotten about us. Another train had already pulled into the station, so he told us it would be 15-20 minutes before we could get off the train. Some guy said that wasn't an option because his kid was about to have a melt down, so they let us get off the train and walk back to the station. Can you believe that! They forgot about us!

Nathan and Taylor at breakfast.

Posing next to a mailbox for Letters to Santa. Maybe next year we will write him a letter.

Blowing kisses to daddy while we waited to get on the train.

About to get on the North Pole Express

Priceless!

Santa on the train with us

Where we had to get off the train

Sunday School Christmas Party

We just got home from our Sunday school Christmas party. We have the best Sunday school class in the world! We all bring something for dinner to share and then we have an ornament exchange. We do a Chinese ornament exchange where the ornament can be stolen 2 times and the third person to get the ornament keeps it. I think I had 4 ornaments stolen from me tonight and I got the football Santa ornament that has been pasted down for years. Except this year, Angie took photos of it doing various things with all of her family members and wrote me a three page letter about all the things this ornament has done and seen over the year. I was a little disappointed I got it at first and then I decided that I would have to outdo her for the next lucky person who gets him next year. Luckily I also got to pick another ornament and ended up with a beautiful one. I took a cute Santa ornament with grapes in his hair and somehow he ended up being called Drunk Santa. I swear, I just can't win! Last year our ornament was the last one left and no one wanted it because if someone chooses the last wrapped ornament, the game is over. I am going to have to do something awesome for next year. There were some interesting ornaments tonight (Shane Robert), but that is a story for another day.

Christmas by Candlelight

Thursday night our church hosted Christmas by Candlelight for the ladies. All of the ladies brought either an appetizer or a dessert and then we have a table hostess who decorates a table for you to sit at. Courtney decorated our table and it was gorgeous. I should of taken a picture, but I didn't have my camera with me. Anyways, the Coppell High School girls choir came and sang some Christmas carols that were beautiful. Then we had a speaker, Ms. Karen Hawkins from Stonebriar Church in Frisco, Texas. Nathan and I actually went to Stonebriar church when we lived in Little Elm. The pastor there, Mr. Chuch Swindal is amazing. The speaker spoke about being God's Princess and accepting yourself the way you are because that is the way God made you. It was a great topic for all women to hear.

last day of KDO before Christmas

Taylor is at KDO right now and it is the last day of it until after the new year. I am a little embarrased that I didn't make her a fun lunch like last week. We are out of lunch meet and cheese, so Taylor got a make shift lunch - poor kid. She took her teachers their Christmas presents this morning which she didn't quite understand why she didn't get to open the presents. She'll have enough to open on Christmas morning, so I don't feel too bad for her.