the worst mistake I could have made...according to Taylie

I was doing some laundry tonight (I mean really, what else does it seem like I do, right??) and I grabbed Tay's blanket and her favorite lovey named Stanley and threw them into the wash. This does not seem like such a big deal but the job has to be done without Taylie knowing or she freaks out!! While I was changing the stuff from the washer into the dryer Tay came over and saw what I was doing and had a meltdown! She freaked out and demanded that Stanley be pulled out of the dryer but I told her that he was all wet from his bath and had to be dried. I could only stand the crying for about 10 minutes before I caved and pulled him out. This is what she was doing the whole time until I pulled him out:


she carried him around wet the rest of the night and took him to bed that way too.

helping with laundry: Take 2 !

I pulled our laundry baskets out into the hallway to get going on some laundry and guess who else came to help....

she just started grabbing laundry and putting it into the washer without me asking or telling her what to do, I thought it was so cute of her to want to help me so much

after she loaded up the washer, she got on top and turned it on, set the cycle...

and pressed start to get it going!

how awesome is that??? :)

another trip to the dentist

No cavities again!! YES!! She got all her teeth checked, brushed (or tickled as we called it), and some fluoride to finish it off. She did great and her favorite part was when they gave her a bawoon (you know, balloon) and tied it to her wrist. I am so glad that she lets me take good care of her teeth and loves the dentist :)

6 months old (and a little bit)

Luke turned 6 months old in May 19th! I am a little behind on the update but here it is: when he went in for his check-up on May 29th he came in at ...
weight: 21 lbs 5 oz
length: 27.5 inches

He lengthened out quite a bit more than he chubbed up this go around. Instead of his weight being completely off the chart he is in the high 97% percentile and instead of his length being in the 50-75% percentile, he shot up to the 90-95%!!

His appointment was a few weeks ago but here are some of the milestones that he has currently been working on. He is sitting up really well (as you can see). He wants so badly to crawl and gets so close! He can push up on his knees and push up on arms...just not at the same time. If he is on a cushy surface (such as a bed) he can sit up all on his own. He has really taken to solid food over the last week and a half so I am expecting that chub to really build up now! He has been rolling for a long time now, so that is not too new. Unless you didn't know that and in that case...yea he rolls! I would have to say my favorite one, it is not an official milestone anyway, is that he absolutely adores his sister and she loves him back! They played for about 45 minutes together with very little intervention from me. They share toys and Taylie loves to make him laugh by dancing around and playing peek-a-boo. For some reason when Taylie bounces a ball off her head it makes them both laugh... I am so glad that they love each other, so far anyway! When one cries, the other is visably concerned. They both seem to nap together too, when one wakes up the other is not far behind. My favorite would have to be now that he can start to eat some additional "people foods" Taylie loves to sneak her snacks to him. I have found several a "fishy cracker" (you know, goldfish) hidden in his little hands that she has given him cause he is, what she calls, "hun-gy". I love my little boy!!! I can't imagine life without him now!!!

when Taylie helps with laundry...

Whenever I go to do laundry Taylie is always more than willing to help. Her favorite is to push the buttons on the washer to get it started, and she gets it right every time too! She can turn it on, set the cycle, and push the button to get it going. Not to mention she knows how to add the soap and where it goes. I had already done the wash cycle and was going to put it into the dryer when she ran up more than willing to help.

This is how she decided to help:

It's summertime!

The pool is officially open for business! Technically, it has been open for a few weeks. It is finally not deathly cold and is okay to be in for more than a few seconds. This was on Memorial Day, it was still pretty cold, so all they could do was sit on the side and kick their cute little feet and splash each other. You can tell Luke is really diggin' the experience...

Now that Jacob is back to work at nights for the remainder of the summer, I took the kids over to Pop-pop's to do some swimming now that it is warmer. Warmer. Not warm enough for me to get in, but warm enough for me to feel okay sending Taylie in with another willing soul. Enter: pop-pop!

Tay and my dad swam around for awhile and then I brought Luke out to kick his feet in the water. After a few minutes he ended up getting in too. This was his expression most of the time. Again, I think he is totally into it.....right?


and then getting out. He for sure didn't appreciate the hood covering his cute red hair


I cannot believe that this is our 3rd summer swimming with Taylie! She is growing up way to fast. It has been so fun to watch her progression from year to year. Now, she climbs up the ladder and waits, as patiently as a two year old can, for you to come and get her so she can swim around. I think I need to do a fashion show of her swimsuits from year to year, I do manage to find cute ones if I do say so myself!

She is getting more and more daring every year. Her first year she was about 6 months old and she braved the infant floaty, last year I believe she tolerated water wings for all of 5 seconds before demanding they be removed and she would walk around the edge of the pool while holding someones hand and then hop into the pool, and this year she is jumping off the side of the pool into grandpa's (oops! I mean pop-pop) waiting arms all by herself with no assistance needed.


This is Slyvester the shark. He is on patrol keeping the pool clean with help of an attached chlorine bucket. Taylie likes to tell him "hi" and then give him a little smooch.
and again with becomeing more daring...she didn't want to wait for pop-pop because he had Luke, so she grabed my mom's finger from around the side of the lader and decided to jump in. Luckily, my mom had a good hold of her and Tay has strong muscles so she was able to pull her up just after she submurged herself and just float her over to the side. As you can tell, no permanent damage done and Taylie thought it was pretty cool!

I just like this picture...

Luke's baby blessing

We had such a nice gathering for Lucas' blessing. We are so lucky to be around so much family and have such a great support system! Here are some of the pictures that I have managed to get my hands on so far...

here we have my dad, Jacob's dad, my hubby with my precious baby boy, snoozing away!

here we have (in order from left to right):
Becca (my brother's fiance), Jeremy (my brother), Me, Lucas, Jacob, Craig (Jacob's brother), and Rachelle (Craig's wife)

and of course there is Taylie "walking" her elephant, which is tied on a string, while riding a longboard while being pulled by Jeremy and Becca after swiping Becca's jewelry

Thanks to all of our friends and family for coming in support of us and out kids! We love you all so much!

the pools is open !

So grandpa has gotten the pool all opened up and ready for the summer, now all we need is for it to warm up! My brother Jared was in cleaning and vacuuming out the pool and of course my little Tay baby wanted to jump in with him. He was so great and held her for a minute or so until she was freezing (the water was only 70 degrees!!) and I MADE her get out because she was shivering. She was pretty bummed that I made her get out.

just chillin' by the pool...hoping someone will let her get in!

I have decided that I have the most spoiled children alive. My brother and sister-in-law called and begged me to bring Tay over because they bought her a slipin' slide!! Wow. They really spoil her rotten! Jeremy tried to get her sit down so he could push her down but she wasn't really going for it, she just wanted to play in the water.

so then Jeremy tried to demonstrate how it works...

and that still didn't work so then auntie Becca came to try and help...


she let them push her, maybe once, and then just wanted to splash in the pool and have a grand time. Like I said, spoiled, but so very loved!! We love our aunts and uncles!!

coloring with markers, take #2:

You think I would have learned my lesson the first time, but apparently one year worth of growth was not quite enough for Taylie:

I had to take her to the doctor when she was sick a little while ago and the doctor said that since she was sick and couldn't go play with any kids he would give her the roll of paper from the table so she could go home and draw. Draw she did! On herself, and the kitchen floor, and my freezer, and oh yeah, there was some on the paper as well! She had a good time even when she had to help clean up her own mess.