Taylor Family

5x7 Folded Card

2011-11-30T15:41:00.001-08:00

Dazzle And Shine Christmas Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Frio River 2009

2009-08-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind.... these are from July 5th through the 8th at the Frio River. The 1st and last pictures are from a little disposable camera - so they're a little grainy. Jackson LOVED the river - his favorite part was sitting in the water and throwing rocks....

Ugly Bug Ball!

2009-07-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't the "fanciest" birthday cake - but it was for a 2 year-old - who happens to like creepy crawly things. It was so fun to make an "imperfect" cake that could just be silly. I only had to bake a bundt cake and cut it in half to make the 's' and then my sis Ashley helped me decorate!

Here is the birthday boy blowing out his candle. This was a big improvement from last year where he GRABBED the flame the instant his poor mother turned away. (Note the arms being restrained)

These were awesome! They're "ugly bugs" because my grand idea of a platter of beautifully decorated bug cupcakes went out the window pretty quick.... It was a nightmare to use even the finest pens and be "fancy." Kuddos to you cake people. So we just got messy and my sisters Ashley and Courtney helped me get 'em done in time. They're not going to win any awards but they were fun to make and yummy to eat.

This is the birthday boy's big gift from parents and grandparents... a new swingset! Little does he know he'll have to share it soon, but for now he LOVES it. Thanks to Daddy and Uncle Patrick for their 12 HOURS OF LABOR to get it all together!

Its a ..............DUCK?!

2009-06-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

We showed Jackson the sonogram pic from 7 weeks and he pointed, smiled, and said "Duck!" Can't really argue once you see the sonogram. You convince a 2 year old that the picture is really of a baby.........

Summer Fun!

2009-06-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

Easter 2009

2009-04-20T22:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of my favorite Easter shots - - -

Call Me Cheap

2009-04-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

I'm part of a really cool consignment sale going on in Corpus Christi this week! It's called Katie's Klothesline and it's a great opportunity to buy children's ANYTHING (especially clothes) for a great price. The sale goes on through Saturday and Saturday is the half-price sale!!

Check out the website for the 4-1-1: www.katiesklothesline.com

8 Years and Counting!

2009-03-10T11:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Anniversary to Me!

As of 6:00 tonight, Jason and I will have made it 8 years. He even sent me flowers :)

Mammy is coming to get Jackson and we're getting gussied up for dinner....

Guadalupe Days.....

2009-03-10T10:40:00.000-07:00

This was taken in Spring Branch a few weeks ago.... Jackson LOVED being pushed around in his car by the older kids who were fighting over who got to push him! The little sweetie in the pic is Anna and her grandpa, "Bobbo" watching on.

Momma's Little Cowboy

2009-03-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

I got a little carried away at Cavendar's in the kid's section..... My little baby is becoming a little boy way too quick!!!!

Our Caribbean Cruise

2009-02-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

We left Houston at 11:50 a.m. on Saturday to board the cruise ship in Galveston by 2:30 p.m. No problem right? It should have taken ONE HOUR. We sat on I-45 at a stand still for over an hour. Thank God that my brother-in-law Matt agreed to drop us off and knew Houston traffic - he hopped on a side road and went out into some woods and thanks to the handy GPS ended up on I-45 again a few miles up the road and it was MOVING. I was calling Carnival Cruise Lines and asking when the last possible second was that we could board. We ended up checking in at exactly 2:30........and the adventure begins.

I started getting seasick the next day - our "fun day at sea" and stayed that way most of the day and into the night. The water in the swimming pools was splashing out onto the deck because the boat was moving so much. The weather and wind slowed us down so much that we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico 2 hours late. When we got there though - it was so worth it......

The beaches were so beautiful......and I took so many pictures of the water. The pictures don't even do it justice. I could have sat in this spot and looked at the water for hours, BUT we only had until 6 to be back on the ship so we did some sight-seeing.

I just thought this was really cool. I dragged Jason to the museum (really - I'm THAT person) and when we were coming out I noticed that every single car parked around was so colorful just like everything else there. They also were decorating the streets for a huge festival the following week.

The next day we woke up in Progresso and we REALLY liked it there. It wasn't as big of a tourist area as Cozumel and we were completely relaxed. We found a little restaurant with huts on the beach and ate great food, drank Mexican beer, and shopped. It was great - all the people selling things just came to you - all you had to do was sit there. (pretty cool I think)

These are our friends Arnold and Joanne. Joanne is an occupational therapist that I work with and we were going to post this in our office to rub it in that we had such a great day while everyone else was working, but I guess that wouldn't be too nice.

Over 5 days - we had one smooth day and 1 smooth night. Other than that - LOTS of people were seasick including myself. The grand finale is that on the very last night at 3:00 in the morning.......our a/c unit in the room shut off which immediately woke me up. I woke Jason up and we heard all this commotion in the hallway. He opened the door to look and then asked "why do all those people have lifejackets on?" WHAT!!!! Just before I had a full blown panic attack - the ship captain came on the overhead speaker and said that they had extinguished a fire a couple of floors below us and our wing was one place where people were evacuated to.

Needless to say - we're not recommending any cruises, but we definitely want to go back to Mexico at some point........in an airplane.

My husband's other love

2009-01-19T14:01:00.000-08:00

When Jason isn't home he's off chasing these beauties. That's what he calls them anyway..... Finally after a long summer - he's having some success.

My excuse for being so behind.....

2009-01-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas Jackson started wheezing a little. We weren't very worried because he had done that a little bit last winter and we already had a nebulizer for breathing treatments at home. We gave him a breathing treatment and he sounded a little better but not much. So - we made a doctor appointment and the doc gave us an inhaler and some steroids and said he thought he had asthma.

The next morning, I was at work and Jason called me in the morning and said Jackson STILL wasn't better. We called the doctor back who said to take him straight to the emergency room. After a few hours of being in the emergency room, getting an IV, getting oxygen and breathing treatments - the doctor finally came in and said that we needed to stay in the hospital because his oxygen level wasn't staying up. We were there for a few days and finally got to leave CHRISTMAS DAY around 4:00pm. We went home for a few hours before taking off on a speedy holiday tour of various family members over the course of a few days......

So basically - I'm posting these as proof that we were incapacitated for several days and THATS why I'm so behind and why Christmas cards did not go out this year.

Maybe next year!!!
Pretty excited about his "BAY-YOUN"

Look at all those lines! Hard to keep untangled!

I was tagged (a while back)

2009-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

I was tagged by Alex!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Go to your 4th folder

2. Pick the 4th picture

3. Post it

4. Explain it

This is my little baby in the bathroom sink taking a bath. Sorry if there is excessive nudity for some of you.

Cuddly in Camo....

2008-12-18T04:34:00.000-08:00

These tough guys in their camouflage aren't fooling anybody...... I love this picture :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2008-12-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

Yeah! It was a very big deal to actually put long sleeves on and hurry outside to play. Actually - I also wanted an excuse to play with my new camera (VERY Merry Christmas present from Jason that I begged to have early for the holidays!)

I'm still playing with some settings on the new camera. *Thanks for the recommendation, Alex*

Turkey Day in the Taylor House

2008-11-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

That was Sunday, November the 23rd for those of you that didn't know.

The meal was a big success. I decided on the turkey recipe from Alton Brown and I DVR'd his special "romancing the bird" and watched it about 4 times. We soaked the turkey in a brine and it really did make a difference. I think the only thing I'd do differently is to leave it at the high setting a little longer or take the little cover over the breast off earlier so it would have gotten browner on top. Other than that - it was juicy and great - not too bad for a 1st attempt.

Besides the bird hoopla, it was really fun to be with my husband, son, mom, and sisters. Everyone pitched in and the food was great. I blew my "diet" but I'm back on the wagon again. At least until Thursday when we do it all again at my mother-in-laws.

My first (and maybe last) TURKEY

2008-11-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's finally here. The day is fast approaching when I will cook my first turkey. I don't feel prepared at all...... It may seem odd, but it's true - in my 30 years I have never even attempted to cook a turkey. I've cooked a little chicken before, but even that didn't turn out so great.

Sunday (yes THIS Sunday) my family is coming over and I'm making Thanksgiving dinner. My mom is helping of course, but when we were discussing the plans, I heard myself volunteering to take care of everything including the turkey. What was I thinking?

Anyway - Jason (who is a great cook) has volunteered to help and I've been researching some faves at www.foodnetwork.com, but any great tips or helpful hints some of you more experienced chefs can give is very welcome. Take advantage - I don't ask for other people's input very often ;)

And the wife of the year award goes to.......

2008-11-12T05:48:00.001-08:00

Well - it's safe to say not me ;) BUT - I deserve to be nominated for this. For those of you that don't know, Jason is a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan and he's NEVER been to one of their games. So this little lady picked up some home health patients on the side for extra $$$ and bought these tickets to the LAST cowboys game in Texas Stadium EVER! I won major brownie points for this :) So look for us December 20th on TV!!!

Is it Fall Yet?

2008-11-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

As you can tell, we haven't gotten around to raking our leaves yet. I like to use the excuse that we are 'saving' them for our child to make happy memories in.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-04T04:21:00.000-08:00

Jackson went trick or treating for the 1st time Friday night! I came home early from work so it would still be light out......and he fell asleep and took a nap when I was so ready to get him dressed! Finally he got up, we got him dressed, and he started seeing the kiddos come to the door which he was LOVING.

We only took him to one of our neighbors' houses which is basically across the street (that journey took about 15 minutes) He wanted to run, then pick every speck of anything off the road, then run back towards the house, etc, etc. When he finally got there he took some candy out of Chris' big bowl and put some in his little pumpkin bag. He must have thought that he took too much - because then he put a few pieces back in the big bowl. :)

We made it through without injury or tears which I'm happy with! *I know the top pic is blurry but his face was too cute....he was so excited running down the driveway!*

Making Halloween Memories......or Emotional Scars?

2008-10-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

I sure hope Halloween goes better for Jackson than the preparations for the holiday..... We started with making some pumpkin shaped sugar cookies (many thanks to the Nestle corporation.) Well soon after this happy pic - Jackson somehow managed to fall off the chair he's standing on. He didn't hit his head, but tears were plentiful.

THEN - a few nights later we decided it was time to carve the pumpkin. I found a really cool haunted house design online (I'm not paying $5 for a picture) and Jason bought a strobe light to go inside. Jackson was into it and we were letting him use a PLASTIC spoon to scoop out some seeds. He managed to slice his finger on a little sharp edge that only he could find. More tears, a band-aid, and some kisses.

Here is the final result - we were pretty proud. (Jason did all the work) Hopefully tomorrow will come and go without any tears shed. Wish us luck!

My 1st blog: Catching up on shots!

2008-10-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here goes nothing - my fledgling attempt at blogging:

Today Jackson got his 12 month AND 15 month shots since he was sick when I took him for the one-year check-up. (Yes - I'm just now taking care of this - please don't judge) I was working this morning, but since Jackson was traumatized at the doctor with FOUR SHOTS and the ordeal of an "ear bath" I decided to call in the rest of the day and let him sleep it off at home. I'm starting this web-page while my little angel is in his peaceful tylenol-induced slumber.

Speaking of the doctor - Jackson weighed 27 pounds, 4 oz today and was 32 1/2 inches tall - the doc said he was in the 81st percentile! He was also showing off for her......pointing, talking (saying words I KNOW he's never said before) and so she was very impressed. He's such a performer.....

I had to literally pin him against the french door for this pic - I wanted to see the band-aid on his arm (1st shot in the arm) and of course he smiled which made it too cute.