Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Clone of a Cinnabon...a Family Tradition

For as long as I can remember Mom always made the most WONDERFUL homemade cinnamon rolls at Christmas time to give to family and friends. Of course we always made sure there was enough for us to enjoy as well! It is a long process...really and all day event to make them but the end result is SOOOO worth it. If you have every eaten a Cinnabon cinnamon roll then you know exactly what I am talking about! The entire house smells of cinnamon while they are baking. I always have plenty of volunteers around the house to taste test the warm cinnamon rolls as they come out of the oven and to eat the leftover cream cheese icing...one of life's pleasures! What a wonderful day...making memories!


Friday, December 16, 2011

December 2011

Last Sunday our "pocket" for the day was making gigerbread houses with our good friends, the Boggs family! They kids created 2 houses (a little short of masterpieces) but they had a blast doing it!!! We ended the wonderful evening by going to the live nativity in Elizabethtown. Claire's favorite part was the canimal (aka the camel)! Oh and I almost forgot we also went through Christmas in the park for like the 3rd time already this year...they kids so enjoy the lights and I do too!


Double Trouble "the two Claires"








Claire petting the "canimal" aka camel
Oh I almost forgot to mention...as we were getting ready to leave for the live nativity here comes Claire out of her room dressed in her rain coat. I asked her why she was wearing a rain coat and she quickly replied "Conner said the Canimals (camels) will spit on you and I don't want to get wet!" She keeps us laughing...love those sweet babies of mine..so blessed beyond measure to have all 3 of them!

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Pocket Calendar


SORRY about the picture quality (Blogger is having issues)

For as long as I can remember one of my favorite Christmas traditions has been "The Pocket Calendar" Everyday of December my sister and I were able to run to our calendar and read a slip of paper that would let us in on our "treat" for the day. Now some of them were little treats we had to go find around the house but our favorites were things as simple as watch Christmas movies while drinking hot chocolate and stirring it with candy canes or going to look at Christmas lights.

I am so excited to be able to keep this tradition alive with my kiddos. Grancy made us our very own special Pocket Calendar. The kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!! Talk about MOTIVATION when it comes to getting up in the morning!!! The kids fly out of the bed and get ready as fast as lightening in order to read their "pocket" for the day!
Here are a few things we have planned for pockets this year:
(shhh!!! I would not want the kids to know...the suspense of all the surprises each day of December is SOOOO much fun! It is like Christmas morning EVERYDAY of December!)

Write our letters to Santa (I bought the cutest little "Letter to Santa" sets...the Kids loved them

Have friends over to build gingerbread houses

Go to Christmas in the Park

Peppermint marshmallows and candy canes to have a Hot Chocolate and Christmas movie
night

Slumber party in the living room by the Christmas tree

Shop for our Christmas Angel

Make Christmas Cookies

Family game night with a new game to add to our collection

Make our Teacher's Christmas Gifts

A new Christmas ornament for each kiddos tree

I have bought plenty of their favorite little treats for other days such as:
orange drink for Conner (in the glass bottle of course), lip gloss for the girls, new markers and coloring books, bubbles for bubble baths, peppermint Oreos, Reeces trees, Chocolate Santas....

On December 24th the Pocket is ALWAYS new Christmas Jammies to wear (made especially by Grancy)

We love this time of year...Holiday Traditions are the BEST!!!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pictures with Santa

We went up to see Santa at our favorite place....BASS PRO SHOPS! What an exciting time...we got to visit with Mrs. Claus while waiting and then we were FINALLY able to see the BIG MAN and tell him all our Christmas wishes. He looked into each kids eyes to see if they were on the good list...ALL three Taylor kids made the list for 2011!!!!
What a wonderful day! The kids can't wait until Christmas!












Happy Thanksgiving

My boys started Thanksgiving morning off with their annual Duck Hunt and then we headed to Papaw Tony's for Thanksgiving Dinner. The girls looked so cute in their Turkey shirts! We spent the following Saturday at Grancy's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.





Halloween 2011

I am a little behind on blogging...sorry just can't seem to find the time.

W had a WONDERFUL Halloween this year the kids wanted "classic" Halloween costumes this year: 2 witches and a vampire! We of course Trick or Treated our family and friends, went to Aunt Diane's annual Halloween party and went to truck or treat at SJS! We got plenty of candy to say the least!!!




Saturday, October 8, 2011

I got my ears pierced!

For Claire's 3rd Birthday we took her to get her ears pierced "just like Kennedy"!She showed up and told the lady who was to be piercing her ears "My name is Claire and I am 3 and I am NOT going to cry!" We all thought it was too good to be true but sure enough she never batted and eye and was SOOOOOO proud of her new earrings!




My baby is growing up! I just think she looks so much bigger with those ears pierced!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Going Bananas....Claire's 3rd Birthday Party!

This past Saturday we celebrated Claire's 3rd Birthday with a "Little Monkey" theme.


I'M THREE


JUNGLE JUICE served in Monkey cups




Keeping with the Monkey theme with had a Banana Split Bar with all the fixings!!!








Homemade Banana Pudding YUM!!!

I LOVE cupcake Towers...I think this one might have been my favorite yet!


Everyone left with a loaf of homemade Banana bread for their party favor!

THANKS A BUNCH FOR A WONDERFUL PARTY!!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Claire's 3rd Birthday Letter



Things are very hectic around the Taylor house as we prepare for yet again another birthday party! Our little Claire Bear is going to be turning 3 in just a few days. I can't begin tell you how excited she is about her "Monkey Party"! (pictures to come for sure!)
Of course another birthday means another Birthday Letter as well so here it goes...

My Sweet Girl,
I have tried and failed no less than a dozen times this week to write down how I feel about you my precious Claire. This is what I finally have to say…..
When you were born, I was so taken by your blonde hair (what little there was of it) and those chocolate eyes; I couldn’t bear to look away. I forced myself to let other people hold you, if only to spread the joy that seeped from your pores. I now find myself having a similar experience. While you have grown from a helpless infant to an “I can do it” toddling toddler to the independent little treasure you are becoming, I have often held my breath, hoping I would know when to hold your hand and when to stand behind you with a little push. Please bear with me as I am still learning to do this!
I once read that motherhood is a constant journey of grieving and celebrating the transformations our children go through. I know you see and feel me grieving a bit when I try to hang on to you too much, to keep you my little girl forever, but I hope you also hear me celebrating too… celebrating you. ALWAYS know I am your biggest fan!
So much has happened over these last 3 years. I just don’t want you to grow up anymore. I’m looking forward to our future but I’m so sad for our present is turning into our past. I don’t want to miss any part of your life and the idea that I just want to sit and revel in every small moment with you knowing I can’t hurts. What doesn’t hurt is knowing you are in my life and that the last 3 years will surely lead to many, many more equally amazing years ahead. It is true you’ve taught me so much in the last 3 years and I hope that one day you may think I’ve taught you just as much. You were in my dreams just over 3 years ago and now you’re in my world, my life, and my heart. Words will never fully describe what you mean to me and how much you are a part of me. I can only hope that one day you’ll know this not because of what I say but because of what I am, what I do. You are this beautiful little soul. You have taught me that the amount of love that the heart can hold is endless…that just when I am certain that I couldn’t possibly love you more, you make my heart nearly explode. Everyone that stumbles across your path confirms what I believe. Your love completes us as a family of 5.
Happy Birthday Claire Bear!
Love,
Mommy

Saturday, August 13, 2011

First Day of School











I can hardly believe my little princess started Kindergarten this year and my little man is in the 2nd grade! Annual first day of school pictures...

The kids have WONDERFUL teachers once again this year at SJS so we made them little gift for the first day! The kids loved picking out the lotion for their teachers!















































Hello Blog....We have missed you!

It has been a whirlwind of a summer for the Taylor family! We have FINALLY moved into our new house and are LOVING it but unfortunately by blogging has been lacking! I wanted to make sure to post some of the fun happenings this summer:

Ben and I have stayed very busy running the Rinyville Ball park! Ben coached Kennedy's t-ball team and Conner's baseball team which took up most of our spare time this summer.

CHAMPIONS!!!


Everyone enjoyed the annual 4th of July party at Uncle Phillip's house!

MY girls in their handmande 4th of July skirts!


Kennedy and I had a girls day with my good friend and her little girl! We headed to Club Tabby and the girls got Extreme Makeovers!!! They loved every minute of it!


It sure is hard to believe the summer of 2011 is behind us!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Thank You Teachers

It is so hard for me to believe that I now have a 2nd grader and a Kindergartner...the last day of school has arrived!!! We have had a wonderful year filled with great teachers so of course we wanted to make them something special to thank them for all their hard work this year.I ran across the neatest website some months ago and after playing around with it a little I thought it would be perfect for a teacher gift.

http://www.wordle.net/

All you have to do is type in the words you want to be in your word cloud and it creates it for you. The more you type a word the bigger the word appears. So I sat down and went to work. I typed in each kids name in the class, the school name, the year, the teacher's name and a few other words like learn, play, friends and I printed it out on card stock and framed it. Ta da...what a wonderful keepsake for a teacher to remember the year! Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL summer!


I failed to get a picture of Conner's...I guess you can't remember everything!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Conner's 7th Birthday Shark Party

We had a wonderful time at Conner's 7th birthday party. Pizza, cupcakes, ice cream, and swimming with all your friends...does it get any better than that?! Not according to Conner! He said "Mom, that was the BEST party ever!"



The whole gang (minus a few)


The favors: shark water squirters, shark bubbles, shark gummies and OF COURSE a shark tooth necklace


Shark fin cupcakes


The BIRTHDAY BOY


Shark Bait (aka goldfish)