April Fool's Day

Well, I made it through April Fool's Day this year with no pranks/jokes played on me by my husband. Every year Nathan comes up with something to get fool me with on April Fool's Day. This year he didn't do anything. Nathan called last night from Louisiana and said he is going to have to go back next week for the third week in a row. I kept asking him if he was kidding and that this was not a funny April Fool's joke. He kept laughing and saying no that this was not a joke. When we talked this morning, I asked again if he was joking yesterday when he said he had to go back next week and he said no. It is sad when you are hoping your husband played an April Fool's joke on you.

I hate that he has been gone so much lately. Tomorrow is our 5 year wedding anniversary and he is hoping to be home by 7 or 8pm from Louisiana. That means we aren't going to be going out tomorrow night on our anniversary to celebrate. We are planning to go out saturday night though.

Hippity, Hoppity, Easters on its way...

Don't you just love Easter? I do. I love all the pastel colors, the bunny rabbits and chicks, the flowers starting to bloom and the little Easter dresses at church. This Easter we are staying in town and the grandparents are all coming to us. I have my 5K that saturday morning and Taylor has her first swim lesson that same morning. It sounds like the grandparents have all opted to go to Taylor's first swim lesson instead of coming to the race to watch me run. I can't blame them, if I had a choice, I would go watch Taylor too.


Taylor is getting into the spirit of things. She keeps singing some bunny song they learned at church and hopping around. It's pretty cute. We can't understand all the words, but she and God know what she is singing about. I think Taylor is old enough this year to begin to grasp the concept behind celebrating Easter. It's not for the Easter basket full of presents or the Easter bunny, it's about Jesus and the resurrection.

If anyone has any Easter traditions or Easter ideas for children they would like to share, I would appreciate any ideas.

And the award goes to.............................ME!

That Toby Keith song, "Let's talk about me" is playing in my head right now! My dear friend Courtney gave me an award! Love it! Actually, she gave it to Taylor for being so darn funny, but I will accept it on her behalf. The rules are, if you recieve the award, you have to state 7 things you love and then hand out awards to 7 wonderful friends.



Let me see here, 7 things I love.......
1. My family: My life would be incomplete without Nathan and Taylor. God has blessed me with a wonderful husband who treats me like a princess and with a daughter who makes my heart happy every time I am around her. I can honestly say that Nathan is the love of my life, even though I tell Taylor she is the love of my life #2.
2. Bible Study: Oh I love our bible study! The girls are so much fun to be around and to share with. We read the best books that teach us how to be better people, wives, and mothers and to walk like Jesus.
3. Turtles: I just love turtles whether they live on land or in the water, I just love turtles. It all stems from one summer in college my friend and I went to South Padre Island for a month to work at the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center for an internship. It was one of the best experiences of my life. This would be my dream job - to live on the beach and work at a Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center.
4. Crafts: I love to make things. I try to make most of Taylor's bows among other things. I'm not that great at everything I try, but I just love making things.
5. Traveling: I love to travel. I love to go to new places, fly or road trip, and having new experiences.
6. Holidays: I love to decorate the house to get us in the spirit of the holidays. Nathan isn't too keen on my 18 tubs of Christmas decorations, but it sure feels like Christmas in our house in December. I try to decorate at least a little for each holiday. I'm not sure if I have a favorite holiday, but if I had to choose right now, I think I would say Christmas.
7. My friends: What would life be like without friends? Hopefully I will never have to know. Friends are precious and make life better.

And now I will pass the award on to 7 dear friends:
Crystal: She is such a great friend. Her precious little Somang is just the cutest darn thing.
April: This is my girl! She is on the same page in life as me it feels like. We both work, our daughters both go to the same babysitter, we go to the same church, same bible study and the same gym. Taylor and Abigail love to play together, so we get to hang out all the time.
Julie: Love her! I've known Julie since at least middle school and just love being around her. She is a wonderful friend.
Ally: She has such a good heart and her son Micah is just too cute. I got to meet him for the first time this past weekend and could just eat him up!
Beki: She has always been a wonderful friend with the energy of a tazmanian devil. I don't know how else to describe it. She can do anything and everything and I know her little Reagan is going to be just like her - which is a good thing!
Allyson: She is as sweet as sweet is. Her son Harper is a cutie and precious like his momma.
Rebecca: I am so glad we got reconnected this past year. She is so darn funny and her walk with the Lord is amazing. I would love to be able to have the passion and the knowledge she does about the Word and God.

Tea Party in Kingwood

The girls (from the left): Allyson and Harper, Ally and Micah, Taylor and me, Beki and Reagan, Bethany (expecting a little girl in August), and Julie.

All of us with our moms.

This past weekend we went to Houston to see my parents. Friday night was a little rough because Nathan didn't get home from Louisiana till about 7pm and we left at 8pm for Houston. Which means we didn't get to Houston till almost midnight. I don't think Nathan and Taylor minded - thye both slept while I drove. The nice thing was, there was barely any traffic. We ate lunch Saturday at Chelsea's which is the greatest sandwich shop on earth. It is one of those places you just have to go to when you go home for a visit.

Mom and I threw a tea party Saturday afternoon for some of my closest friends from high school. Actually, most of us have been friends since we were like 5 years old. Mom and I threw a tea party last year for the girls so they could all meet Taylor since she was the only baby. This year, there were 4 kiddos there and one on the way! It was so wonderful to get to see all my friends, there moms, and there precious little angels. The kids had a great time playing together and I had brought down half of Taylor's playroom, so there were more then enough toys for each kid to keep busy.

Taylor and Harper feeding the dogs milky bones.

Taylor feeding Micah raisins.

You can't turn your back on your child for a second. Taylor kept sneaking milky bones for the dogs - they probably had 10 each before I realized what she was doing. She would get into the treat drawer in the kitchen and get them bones, walk past all of us and go throw them at the dogs in the laundry room. She probably did this 5 times before I told her to stop. Also, when I turned around another time, Taylor was feeding Micah raisins. It was sweet and they were both happy, so who was I to stop them.

Broke down and just did it

Nathan has been out of town since tuesday and it has been raining the past few days on and off, so I couldn't go run outside with Taylor. I have been trying my best not to take Taylor to the child care center at the gym, but I had no other choice this week. I just felt like it wasn't that clean - which I have no basis for thinking this; I didn't want her in there with people I didn't know; and I was afraid of her being with older kids that might hurt her if the people aren't paying attention. Those were my fears of the child care center. Well, April said she would go with me yesterday and take Abigail to play with Taylor at the child care center, so we went. The workers were nice, the place was clean and any child's dream place. There were so many toys in there, it looked like a Toys' R Us threw up in there. The girls just ran in and started playing immediately. That made me feel a little bit better. I think it helped Taylor that Abigail was there with her or maybe that is just me thinking that.

I ran 1/2 a mile straight and then another 1/2 mile straight a little bit later yesterday. We went back today with April and Abigail and I ran 1 mile straight! It might not sound like anything big to some of you or most of you, but it was a great feat for me today. I am kind of proud of myself for not stopping before a mile. Taylor and I are head to Houston for the weekend, so I am hoping to run Saturday morning - we'll see.....

Picture Day at preschool

Taylor has pictures today at school. Let me tell you, I debated long and hard over 5 dresses for these pictures. Then I had to make sure that she had bows that matched each dress. I ended up choosing the sailor dress...who doesn't love a sailor dress on a toddler???? Anyways, I couldn't find both white bows this morning, so I had to make new ones last minute. They turned out a little large and I am praying that they stay together long enough for pictures. We have a family friend, Buddy, who use to call me a Bow Head because I always had bows in my hair when I was little. I think Taylor definetly qualifies as a Bow Head today - Buddy would be proud! I am just hoping her hair will stay looking nice long enough to get her pictures. They are suppose to be outside pictures too and it has rained the last two days and it is a little misty right now, so hopefully the pictures will still turn out cute. I know they are still having pictures because I saw the lady with some kids this morning outside the church taking their pics with all her gear. I'll post a picture of her school pics when we get them.

Here are some pictures I took of Taylor this morning:

Puppy's new hair cut

Before his hair cut.

One of our puppies, Tait is a Norweigan Elkhound and has a very thick, furry coat. We have been shaving every summer since he was a puppy. We took Tait to Cutie Pie Pets yesterday to get his hair cut and they did a great job! He looks like a totally different dog when he first comes out from getting his hair cut. Taylor was a little confused when Tait first walked out. She just kept looking at him going "Tait?", "Tait?" and looking at him like he was an alien. Too funny.

After his haircut.