Trim the Tree

It's tradition at our house to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, so that is what we did. The boys were so excited when we pulled out the tree and they had so much fun decorating.

It didn't take Will very long to realize that they apple, and pear ornaments were not real, although he still tries to bite them occasionally. Since then, the bottom of our tree has been decorated and re-decorated many times.

Thanksgiving

We were so grateful to have some wonderful friends to spend Thanksgiving with. And we enjoyed quite the feast. Thankfully, Zach had suggested that we have a ham in addition to our turkey, because I prematurely removed the bird from the oven and we had to stick it back in to finish it off. Other than that, the day went without any hiccups.

Summer made these cute hats for the kiddos. Joe was feeling sick or anti-social or something when we first started, so he was just hanging out downstairs.

We had two tables in our living room, and the kids and the food in the kitchen.

Joe finally decided to grace us with his presence after dessert was pulled out. Don't worry, I took the whipped cream away right after the picture. I certainly didn't want him inhaling any funky proppellents or something.

Curious George Visits the Library

Once a month we visit the library with Joe's preschool/playdate group. Joe really looks forward to going every month. Every few months they have a special character visit. December's visitor was Curious George.

This was before Curious George even got there. Joe loves the story time. He also loves bringing home new books to read. He usually wants to read his borrowed books a lot the first week we have them at our house.

Will likes it too, but his attention span is much, much shorter.

After story time, they also do a craft. On this day each kid got to make a Curious George monkey out of a toilet paper tube.

Mama's Boy

Will has been pretty clingy lately. He has actually improved in the last few weeks. At the peak of his attachment phase, he would cry when I left to use the bathroom. Last night we put the boys to bed and I hurried out the back door to go a grocery store (that closes at 8) for some milk before it closed. When I came home Zach told me very shortly after I went downstairs Will suddenly started crying, freaking out. Zach went in to see what was wrong. Will was standing up looking out the window as I drove away. Zach was able to get him to calm down, but it made me laugh. What a sweet and funny boy.

*The other night at dinner Will rested his head on his hands like this at started staring at one of the missionaries that was over.

Little Astronauts

Will has been able to climb onto our chairs for a while now, but recently climbing onto the chairs is not enough, he has to then get on the table. He needs to learn that's not okay, but sometimes to just avoid the issue altogether I put the chairs down on their sides. The boys decided this was their rocket ship. They had fun playing in it while I cleaned up dinner.

Joe and Will have been playing more and more together and are becoming better friends. It's really cool to watch them grow closer. I think that is just going to continue as they grow up. I am so glad they have each other.

First Snow of the Season

Last week we had our first snow of the season. I was up in my room when Joe came running up the stairs excitedly informing me that it was snowing. The flakes were huge and beautiful. It really was pretty, I just didn't have a desire to go in it.

Later in the day though I took the boys outside and they loved it! They were going crazy playing and slipping in the snow. If they had this much fun playing in such little, wet snow, I'm excited to see how much they will love when there is a little more.

Fall Festivities

The other night we got together with some of our friends for some fall fun. We started off making pizza.

The boys all thought it was delicious and I would agree.

Then the boys (big and small) carved or painted pumpkins. Painting pumpkins takes concentration.

The grown boys finished products.

While the boys worked on their pumpkins, the girls made caramel apples. Yum! The pictures do not do them justice. We used kraft caramels for half of the apples, and made a caramel from honey for the others. The honey recipe was so easy and tasty, I think I will use it again next year.

Trick or Treat!

The boys had a lot of fun trick or treating this year. It only took Will a couple of houses before he figured it out, and once he did he was booking it from house to house.

They also got to see their Dad and school and trick-or-treat there, too.

Will was a giraffe at Zach's school and Zach persuaded him to wear the dinosaur costume Halloween night. Joe was Spiderman. I can't figure out how he even knows who that is seeing as he has never seen the movie, but he thinks he is pretty cool.

Preschool Halloween Party

This fall Joe started a little Preschool with his friends. We aren't super structured (some may call it more of a play-date), but once a week each mom takes a turn to teach all the kids a little lesson or do a little activity or craft. I have loved it so far, and so has Joe. Last week we all got together and had a Halloween party.

The kids got to pin the smile on the jack-o-lantern,

read Halloween themed stories (how cute is Joe with his arm around his friend),

go fishing for goodies,

enjoy a Halloween themed lunch,

and decorate pumpkin cookies!

I think the party was a success. Joe had a blast (despite the fact he refused to wear his costume).

More Visitors

We were so happy to have a second set of visitors come in October. My friend and former next-door-neighbor Allie, and her boy Easton came to visit.

The trip included a visit to the Zoo. Unfortunately, Will didn't even last two seconds and we had to leave early, but Joe stuck around with his buddies.

Lot's of playing with Easton. These two got along so well together! Sometimes Joe's idea of "playing" (usually some kind of chasing or roughhousing) isn't appealing to a lot of kids, but I think Easton actually enjoyed it.

And lastly, a visit to Wheatfields for their famous Creme Brulee Waffle. I had never had it before and it was delicious! We are so blessed to have such great friends!

Kissin' Cousins

We were so lucky to have Jerry (Zach's brother) and Ashley (my sister) and their kiddos come visit us last week. Someone told me that our kids are called Kissing Cousins, I always called them double cousins. Whatever we call them, we had a blast while they were here. We took a trip to the Zoo, Winter Quarters Temple, Vala's Pumpkin Patch, and on a rainy day, the McDonalds Playplace so Zach and Jerry could have a little jam session uninterrupted at home.

We were having so much fun I hardly took any pictures. I tried to get the kids attention while Zach took these pictures of the four of them. I thought if I asked them where my belly button was I could get them all to look, and maybe get a smile out of them too.

Joe thought it was more fun to find his own belly button. It took only a second for all four of them to catch on.

This turned out even better than what I was hoping for.

The rhinos were all hiding when we were there so this is the only one we saw.

Joe thought the turtle was pretty cool.

It's hard to get a picture of these two together, at least one of them wants to be on the move almost all the time.

Getting ready to feed the goats at Vala's.

The kids got along great, except for a few minor tiffs. Joe and Sarah were pretty funny and would have little arguments. One recurring one was about Joe's name, which Joe pronounces wrong and Sarah doesn't. It was pretty funny. Sarah also liked to tease Joe that Jeremiah's name was Winnie the Pooh. Such silly kids.

Pregnancy brain must be in full force because the night before we had church I told Jerry and Ashley that church started at 9:30 am. Sunday morning I again told Jerry the same thing. As Zach and Jerry were leaving with the older kids I told Zach, maybe Ashley and I would make it for Sunday school as well (we were just planning on going to sacrament meeting with the baby.) Zach assured me that we wouldn't since it started in half an hour. I insisted that Relief Society was more than thirty-minutes, and what was he talking about? Zach reminded me that our ward starts at 9:00 am not 9:30am. Oops. I'm not sure why I had 9:30 on the brain, we've been going to church at the same time since January!

Another highlight of their visit was getting some cuddle time with sweet Jeremiah Jr. He did great on the trip. It was great to be able to meet him at one month! The next time we see him he will be eight months old, and we will have a three month old! We are so thankful for our wonderful visitors. Thanks so much for coming to see us!

So Long Summer

I know that technically, summer is not over yet. But I think we had our last day of hot weather two days ago. Today I even dressed my boys in their long sleeves and pants! So goodbye Omaha Summer. Joe will miss you.

*May 2011

What We Know About

What we know about is boys. And we are having another one! Zach had a patient scheduled this morning, but she cancelled. So, this morning Joe, Zach and I got to see little baby boy Taylor. He looks healthy and strong and we are so excited to meet him a few months from now.

Joe's Percy Song

Several months ago Joe started requesting I sing him "The Percy Song" before bed. I had no idea what he was talking about so I had him sing it to me. Apparently, it is a Joe original. Although it has changed from when he first sang it, he still sings it to us and then requests we sing it back.

*Sorry, the background noise is louder than he is, you might have to crank up the volume a bit

Summer Trip - Utah

I did not take nearly as many pictures as a should have while we were in Utah, but we had so much fun.

Before the men left we went to Seven Peaks. Will only lasted an hour before I had to take him home to nap, but my sweet mom listened for him so I could go back and hang out with Zach, Joe and everyone else. Joe had so much fun. As soon as we got down a slide he would ask to go down again. We had a double tube, so after I got back I took Joe down a couple times. I didn't realize that Zach had been holding Joe on his lap even though they had a double, so I just went down with me in one side and him in the other. His hands couldn't even reach both handles, but he did great. Over a month later and he is still talking about the big water slides.

While the boys were on their fishing/camping trip the wives hung out with the kiddos. One of the nights we decided to get babysitters and go out to dinner. It was so fun. We went to this newer restaurant in Provo at Riverwoods called La Jolla Groves. It was yummy. I was a little bit worried how our kids would do with the sitters, they haven't really had anyone but Zach or I put them down at night for a long time. Additionally Will had been quite the pill around that time so I was nervous how he would do. I ended up not giving Joe and nap that day and put him down before we left so the sitters would only have to worry about Will. So they tried to put Will down and after he cried for five to ten minutes they went in to get him. This only made him more upset. They realized that he was happiest when they put him down and watched him from the other side of the room. So that's what they did. Eventually he fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor and they moved him to his crib! I guess Zach and I need to go out more often.

Zach walked in to check on Joe in the bathroom one day and found this. What a goofball. He sometimes finds it necessary to strip completely when he uses the bathroom, and he couldn't quite get his shirt off this time.

Joe and Will had so much fun playing with all their cousins. I wish I had taken more pictures of all of them together.

Will and Lily decided to throw the ball to each other across the table one day. No one had played this with them earlier, they just came up with it all on their own. I wish these pictures could capture how much fun they were having.

We are so thankful for our wonderful families and grateful we were able to spend some time with all of them this summer. We miss them already!

Fish Lake Boys Trip

While we were in Utah, Zach, his dad and all the brothers/brothers-in-law went to spend a few days at fish lake. Of course, they did a lot of fishing, they went to Richfield to golf one day, and just hung out. On the last day they were there Zach's uncle Joe and his boy Harrison joined them. They had such a great time I think they might make it an annual tradition.

Sean caught this rainbow trout. Zach says the picture doesn't do it justice and that it was a beautiful fish.

All the men on the trip.

Jake

Papa

Jerry

Justin

Zach

Adam

Fish Lake is a beautiful place that holds a lot of memories for the Taylor family. I am so glad they were able to go spend time there. I will admit though, that I was relieved when the dad's got home. The kids and moms missed them.

Summer Trip - Idaho

Our next venture was Idaho. We hadn't been to Zach's hometown since his sister Aubree got married two years ago. We have seen his parents since then, several times, but we wanted to go spend time with them at their house.

Joe swung a bat for the first time while he was there and he loved it!

He also loved playing with the Micro-Machines, Heman, Ninja turtles and all the other action figures.

Grammy was happy we were there.

This is an everyday occurrence at our house. The boys love to wrestle, well, Joe loves it all the time and Will only sometimes.

These boys were so excited to play every morning. It was so fun for both of them.

Joe wearing his hat Papa and Grammy got him that Papa picked out. He also got a Lightning Mcqueen tackle box that he took with him on his first fishing trip ever. He loved it! When he got back, I asked him "What did you catch, Joe?" and he responded "worms." Haha. So it was fun, but not successful regarding the catch :)

I didn't get any pictures of it, but Joe also loved working out in the yard with his Papa. He would help water their awesome garden and watched Papa mow the lawn.