August Updates

School began.  Hard to believe how early it came this year.  :(   Sophia went back to preschool full time.     

 

Sophia, soaking in the last few summer nights with dinner outside

 

Giving Daddy a homework break and listening to one of the newest Linkin Park songs.  Yes, she knows some of them, and has a favorite...!

Josh and Carly got word that they would be making a move to Oregon.   A move that still makes me tear up at times.  

While dog sitting Molly and Zoe, on one of Carly and Josh's home-hunting trips in Oregon, Dad found a cute little pup on their porch.  We watched for the weekend and no one claimed her, so we scooped her up, in hopes of finding her family.  We put up notices on craigslist, in the local paper, checked with the SPCA and the pet stores,  and had no leads.  So after 2 months of having her here, we registered her as ours.   Meet Sadie.   The newest member of the Taylor family!

 

 Speaking of the newest addition!   Baby is growing right on track!  We got a more clear picture of the growth, and if you look carefully ( and know what you are looking for!) you can can see the baby's head on the upper left part of the ultra-sound.

 And while Baby grew, so did I.   :)    It's amazing to me how 2 pregnancies in the same body can feel SO different.  With Sophia I never got sick once.  I only had a smell-aversion to Bandit's dog food, nothing else bothered me.  And I felt like I gained my weight all over my whole body.   This pregnancy is so different.  I had morning sickness that started very late in the pregnancy, and lasted until about 23-24 weeks!  I feel different in the way I am carrying the baby too...all belly compared to to last time...!

 And my only real craving:  Sugar Snap Peas...at least it's a healthy one, right!?!

I honestly have these on every grocery list I make.  

 And as quickly as school started, we got a 3 day weekend for Labor Day.  We decided to take advantage of the extra day off and take Matthew's family up to the cabin.   They had never experienced the beauty of Miranda and all it's surroundings, so we packed up and headed up to Miranda. 

Little Miss Independent walking through the redwoods.

 

Continued...July Updates

July came and went so fast.  The whole summer did actually.

 

 
Carly and Josh hosted the 4th of July this year.  It was a relaxing evening;  swimming, bbq, and fireworks.

Sophia and I spent most of our summer days the same.  We started the mornings with a walk before the heat set in, we'd color, paint, go outside and play with Bandit, and get our errands done all before lunch and a nap.  After nap we'd usually head over to Tita and Uncle's house for a refreshing swim with Tita and Addison.

 

 

Most mornings Sophia would help me with my "cake up" and hair :) 

 I think we're in trouble in 12 years!

Monday's were our designated "Picnic Park" days.  Tita came up with the idea to try a new park each Monday of the summer.  So we'd pack up a lunch, and then play until Sophia was out of steam.  It was a fun weekly tradition to look forward to!

 

 

Sophia LOVES her cousin.  She's always wanting to hold her "Baby Addison" so we sit EXTRA close on the couch and help her hold Addie tight.

 

Sophia got her Big Girl Bed this summer!  It was a big deal!   We'd had the crib converted to a toddler bed for a while, and she was doing great!   So we told her if we could get 3 weeks of her staying in bed, she'd earn a big girl bed.  She did it!

 

So we took a big shopping trip to pick out the new bedding.  Sophia picked princess sheets & an adorable comforter.  

 

Happy Girl in her new bed!

 During a visit to GG and Papa's, GG helped Sophia do her make up.  She LOVED lipstick, wanting to put on more and more!

At the end of July I took Sophia on a mini-vacation up to Miranda.   Matthew had to work, so it was just us girls.  It was a ton of fun!   We went to the Eureka Zoo, had a picnic lunch in Sequoia Park, strolled around Old Town Eureka, and took several walks down the hill.  Aunt Pam and Uncle Bill had the cabin looking so good, it felt like old times.  And I was so excited to be able to share that with Sophia.  

 

The Tree Slide at Sequoia Park

More Lovin' on Baby Addison

 

And it wouldn't be summer without an appearance at the Bass Annual.  We decided to spend our Family Vacation time with the Taylor's this year, but we did take a couple days to make an appearance at the lake too.  Matthew and Josh both had work so Carly and I did the "single mom" thing for a couple days and headed up to the lake on Thursday.  It was such a tough time without the guys.  Sophia was testing every last limit.  Addison was teething (or so we thought...)  And I don't know that either of us will ever do it without the guys again!  :)  

However, it was great to be there for a couple nights.  On Thursday we had the Dutch Oven Cook-Off.  Everyone created a dutch oven recipe to contribute to dinner.  And of course, it was a competition.  Everyone's dishes were amazing!  Such a good feast! 

Matt and Josh made it up on Friday night (after the Bass Feed )   :(  But it was good to have them there for the weekend.  The resort was supposed to have wifi available, which meant that Matthew could still get his school work done while we were there, but it was down.  Of course.   So we got an early start home.  And even though it was a quick trip, it was great to be there.  All of the cousins were there this year, and it was so fun to watch Sophia play with her cousins Maya and Isaac.   Fun times for sure!  It does make me a little nervous about how it will go next year with 3 year old Sophia and an infant....but I'm sure we'll manage!

Weeeee're Baaaaaack!

Ok, so the question is...who still checks our blog?

I've been terrible about updating.   Seriously.   And I don't really have a great excuse.

So instead of writing for 4 hours to update you on the happenings in the Taylor house since June (JUNE???!!!!) I'm going to do a picture update, with as many captions as possible.

And I vow to get better at this...especially since I have a feeling some of you will be looking for updates again come February!
 

***I tried last week to do an update that included over 120 pictures from June until now and it would not load...So I'm going to do several updates to get you up to speed!***


JUNE

 

Sophia and Auntie Al in the Gingerbread Man's House! 

Mid June we took our first family vacation with the Taylors.  For years we have been spending one week out of our summer with my side of the family at our annual camping trip at Trinity Lake.  But last year we started thinking about our summer vacations a little differently.  We have Sophia now, which means that we need to be establishing traditions and memories for her, so we decided to alternate each summer vacation with both families. 

So this year, we planned a trip to Tahoe.  We were really unsure where to stay at first, but we got online and started searching for places to rent and we found an adorable cabin.  After getting the cars all packed, Sophia insisted that she wanted to ride with Grandma and Bocka.  In fact, the very FIRST thing she said to me when she woke up that morning was, "Mom?  I ride with Grandma and Bocka today?  You ask them?"   It was so cute.  And of course they said yes.  So we hooked up the lifesaving DVD player and she did great. 

When we finally arrived in Tahoe, and pulled up to the house, we were in for a little surprise.  New Construction.  Right next door.   :)    Honestly though, it wasn't so bad at all.  The noises were barely audible once inside the house.  (But showering and using the bathrooms created a whole different problem as the bathrooms had no window coverings!  And there were construction workers on the roof....!  Thankfully, Whit engineered some towels to work as window coverings during our stay!)

 

Sophia helping make (or eating??) the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

We spent the time in Tahoe going on picnics, taking Sophia to the park, watching her ride her trike around the big deck on the front of the house.  Watching the birds eat left-over crumbs, hunting for "pine-pones", taking a visit to the lake, and going on a mini-golf adventure.

 

Sophia swinging with Grandma and Bocka on the playground.

 

Daddy teaching Sophia how to swing her mini-golf club!

 

Taking a stroll down to the lake with Grandma and Bocka.

It was a nice time.  For us.  I'm not sure that Whit and Sue will want to go on a vacation with us again....Sophia wanted NOTHING to do with Matthew and I.  So everything fell on Grandma's lap.  I know that she enjoyed every second, but I'm certain that this was a vacation that she needed a vacation from!

 We discovered Sophia's LOVE for baseball after a night to a Sacramento Rivercats game with Whit and Sue.  She was SO funny!  She watched the crowd and mimicked whatever they were doing.  She got into the wave, (a little delayed each time it came around), she LOVED the cat, Dinger.  She wanted to watch him dance and said she wanted to talk to him, but when he came near, or we saw him at the Dugout Store, she did not want to get close at all.

 

And like all summer's in good ol' YC, it was HOT.  Sophia loved to spend her time in the pool or running around the backyard in the sprinklers before dinner.   We took a "Mommy and Me" swimming lesson class the 1st week of summer and Sophia's confidence in the pool grew this year!  Look at our little water bug!   She swam with her swimmies and no help all summer!  Hopefully she'll take after her water-lovin' momma!

 

And...We found out in early June that we are expecting Baby #2 in February!

This was the 1st ultrasound picture, so we were able to confirm the pregnancy, but it was much to early to see the shape of a baby in there.   SO EXCITED!

 

 And Sophia is so excited to be a BIG SISTER!

Our 100th Post! and time for some updates

Oh April feels so long ago, and I'm feeling horrible about not getting on here sooner.   But now that summer is upon us, I'll have more time for the updates....or so I plan!   :)

May:
May brought Mother's Day.   And this year Matthew and Sophia spoiled me silly.  Thursday morning as I was mid-teaching, 2 office-aide's walked into my room with a large purple box.  "Is today your birthday?"  One of the teens asked me.  "No...?"  I answered, and as she handed over the box, I understood the question.  It was flowers!  I opened the box to find 2 dozen beautiful bright pink roses and what must have been 2 more dozen lilies.  Gorgeous.   My students were so excited to see the beautiful flowers and hear the message on the card that our lesson stopped.   :)  Matthew and Sophia had surprised me, big time!

For Mother's Day, this year we had the boys plan the morning.  At first, none of them were excited by the idea.  But as Carly, Mom and I reminded them, we shouldn't be planning our OWN Mother's day...right?  Josh took the lead and designated Matthew with a coffee cake.  Matthew, the non-cook that he is, was a little apprehensive about finding a recipe, so I did help with that detail, finding an overnight coffee cake, which I thought might take some of the pressure off the busy morning if we made it the night before.  Or if HE made it the night before :)  It was DE-LI-CIOUS!   My mom has already called for the recipe, and coming from my mom, the master chef, that's a HUGE compliment!   :)  So we had brunch at mom and dad's and it was so fun to celebrate with Carly on her 1st Mother's Day.  We were all some spoiled Momma's;  All 3 of us getting gorgeous jewelry.


Sophia had her first school performance.  Noah's Ark held their annual Preschool Graduation, and though Sophia is not graduating (Thank Goodness!!  Time is going by so fast that we know this day will come soon enough), all the preschool classes participated.  Well, kind of. Sophia's class was up there, but in true Sophia form,  she stood up at the front and did not say a word.  Not one.  :)   She did so good though, I thought for sure she would be running to us in the audience when she saw us, or she would start bawling her eyes out, but she did so good.  She stood with all of her classmates and watched the audience so intently.  At one point she was craning her neck so high to see where we were, that she almost fell off of the step...!   After the performance we came home and had a bbq.  Or as Sophia calls them "Party!"

At school, Open House fell on one of our busiest weeks at school, but it was fun!  I love having the kids take ownership for their learning, and showing their parents and families everything that we have done through the year.   We raised frogs again this year so we had a Frog Map that families followed to make sure they saw everything there was to see about 1st grade.   It was so much fun.

Matthew actually got a little break from his school this month.  With the Tee Up For The Huskies Annual Golf Tournament, he was maxed out.  So it worked out well that he got some time off to focus on the tournament, without having to worry about keeping up with his course work.  We are less than a year away from his completion.   It's going so fast!  April 2013 will be here before we even realize it!

And a new car!   After Matt's beloved Jeep took a dump back in 2009, we replaced it with the Nissan Pathfind with the intention that it would be our "family car" since Sophia was on her way.  This meant that Matthew inherited my Nissan Altima.  My 1998 Nissan Altima.  It was a good car.  Matthew would probably argue otherwise because he was the one who had to drive it everyday.  And notice how I said "had to" drive it.  Matthew did not think that this inheritance was so great.  It was 14 years old.  It was getting to the point where the repairs and parts that were needed were going to cost more than the car was worth.  So, in true Matthew fashion, we did research  and we found a great deal at CarMax and a great car-loan rate at Golden 1.  So we got a new car.  Or Matthew got a new car.  You might laugh, but it's also a Nissan Altima.  Only this one has all the bells and whistles.  Leather seats, a moon roof, and a Bose sound system. 

And with this school break came yard work too.  :)  Of course.   So we're on to more work and more plans and as it happens, we'll post pictures.  Basically, we're finally working on the Back-Back Yard.  The space that appears to be dirt.  Soon to be leveled/graded, treated so weeds won't grow, and ready for actual space planning.   Turning our vision into a reality...one step at a time.

Sophia got her 1st set of wheels!  A new tricycle.  She tried it out in Target and did AMAZING!  And we haven't been able to get her off of her "motorcycle" ever since.  She LOVES it!

 

June


SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMER, SUMMERTIME!  It's finally time!   I am SO looking forward to my summer with Sophia.  This year we will have Tita Carly and Addison to spend our time with too.  It will be great!  Pinterest has given me several ideas of things that I can do with Sophia, crafts I can do, recipes to try, and ideas for school.

We're starting our summer off with a celebration for Matthew's birthday. (Just after Little Miss wakes up from her nap,) We'll be heading up to Chico to do some Mini-Golfing and then eating dinner at a place we used to frequent when we lived there, Smokin' Mo's.  Yummy, southern style BBQ with all the fixin's; Cornbread with honey butter, beans, and coleslaw.   Good Stuff.

Our Tahoe vacation with the Taylor family just happened too, so as I promise all the time, another update will be up soon!  Only this time I mean it!  I'm going to get better at this!