Whaaa!!

Half of our little family have been sick with the wretched flu and the other half have been busy taking care of those with the flu. Well that's not entirely true. Kennedy didn't help much other than helping the sick ones smile every now and then. It has been a long and sad week for Nate and Taylor. Other than a weak attempt on Nate's part to go to work, and trips to the grocery store for more medicine...we haven't left the house for 7 days!! We have felt a little disconnected with the world while we have been quarantined in our house trying to get everyone healthy again. You would think with the modern luxuries of Internet and TV we could survive one week with little contact with the outside world and not be left out of the loop. Surprisingly (as we learned at what we thought was 8:30 pm but really 9:30 pm) we have missed one major yearly occurrence as winter ends and spring begins. Tonight we rounded up the girls, bathed and put them to bed, same as any day. We were both hard at work surfing the web, as our usual routine after the kids are down for the night, and still it didn't hit us that the world had moved on with out us by one hour. We did think it a bit odd that Extreme Home Make Over wasn't on at its usual time (we missed it) and that the evening news came on one hour too early. How could we miss something like day light savings?? It really made us feel strange that we lived one whole day one hour behind all of you! If Nate hadn't checked the time in the bottom right hand corner of his computer and caught our mistake we would have began another day the same way. It may not seem like a big deal, and really its not, but it was a strange feeling to know we were so disconnected with the rest of civilization.

The Butterfly Pavillion-a family outing

She held a taranchula and got a sticker to prove it!

Getting a close up of bed bugs and such

We got a close up when one landed on my arm
Kennedy more interested in the flower
The main attraction

So Big!

Kennedy has grown so much so fast. In about one week she went from the beloved army crawl to the officially crawling and now pulling herself up to standing. She also learned how to go up stairs. Is there any such thing as a development growth spurt?? So with that said it should be no surprise that she is into everything and goes everywhere. Mostly she loves to follow Taylor and I around the house. Next month she'll be 1 and I can't believe how fast this first year has gone.

Happy Presidents Day

I am always thankful for those random Monday holidays when Nate doesn't have to go to work. With half the year's Saturdays being dedicated to YW sports on my part, we don't have a lot of time to do many fun things as a family. So a free Monday together is a good thing. We wanted to get out and enjoy the snow, since it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon, so we headed up to Evergreen to go ice skating. Taylor was very excited to go and did surprisingly well on the ice. It took her awhile to get the concept that the point was to stand up on her skates and not lean back into Nate's arms. We went up with Jami, Spencer, Crew, and Jaclyn (Jami's sister) and had a fun time. Crew was even nice enough to give Kennedy a turn in his sled. She loved being pulled around the ice by her dad.

Kennedy all bundled and so cute in her one-piece snowsuit
Learning to balance via a folding chairResting her legs
Spencer helping Taylor
Taylor during one of her many breaks The girls: Jacyln, Jami, Rachelle, and Kennedy

Taylor and Crew getting escorted back to the car

The boys: Nate and Spencer

Taylor's Birthday fun

Taylor turns 3!

Taylor has been looking forward to her birthday since the day after Christmas. When asked how old she is she would reply "I'm going to be February 12th!" That much anticipated day finally came and she couldn't have been more thrilled. We decided to have a jungle themed party and started collecting all the necessary animals including 7 of Taylor's friends from her play group and nursery class. Next step was to transformed our basement to look and sound like the jungle. We had a so much fun getting things ready for the party. Seeing Taylor's reaction the morning of made all that hard work worth it. The kids made monkeys, caught butterflies from a elephants trunk, did a cake walk (Taylor's favorite game), and had elephant birthday cake. She got so many fun new toys that she has a hard time committing to play with one because she loves them all so much! After her party it was unthinkable that the day of her actual birthday was still a day away. We should have just ended it there but we had promised some more fun and she was looking forward to them. Enter February 12th. She woke up to more presents, this time from mom and dad and grandparents, got to go to lunch with her dad, and later that night she got to go to build a bear and pick out a new furry friend. Can you say spoiled? Yes, I admit it was a little over board but sometimes I can't help myself. She loved every moment and I think having a birthday lived up to all the hype. We want to send out a very sincere thank you to everyone who helped to make Taylor's birthday so special!

My Little Superstars!

I wanted to dedicate some (more) blog space to my favorite superstars. Having these two little ones means that there is never a dull moment. Taylor is our drama queen and is bound for a stage. It doesn't matter what kind, as long as she is in the spotlight she is happy. She loves to sing, dance and is always making up situations for her dolls and stuff animals to play out. She is a sweet heart and is always quick to give hugs and never forgets to say "I love you so much!" a few dozen times through out the day. Kennedy is my little stinker and most of the time I absolutely love her detremined spirit. She is as stubborn as can be, but with one look of those beautiful blue eyes and all is forgiven. She loves to scream. Be it a happy, mad, sad, or just for the fun of it, she can squeal with the best of them. She loves Taylor and Roxy, if they are in the same room as her she has be be situated so she can see them at all times. She is definitely a momma's girl, but there's no denying she loves her daddy as she squeals with joy and bounces up and down when he comes through the door. Needless to say I love my sweet little girls!

Kennedy and what I call her "sexy pose"

Taylor trying to steal the show, always wanting to be the center of attention

Bath time is always so much fun