Taylor's Birthday and First Time at Disneyland!

We've had a busy week! First, and most importantly, my sweet little Tay Tay turned 6 years old!!! Can you believe it?! It seems like yesterday she was placed in my arms for the first time. Taylor has been a joy. She is so funny, beautiful, and smart. I am so thankful for the time that I have had with her and look forward to the many years to come. Happy Birthday Taylor!!!

I wanted to take her picture before school on her birthday and this is what she came up with...always the poser!

We had my best buddy and her family over for dinner on Tay's b-day. The kids had so much fun and the big people had a good time too. Taylor said that is was the best birthday ever!!!

I love the look Taylor is giving Ellie here. Her body language is totally saying, "Don't even think about it!"

On Wednesday, after school, Taylor and I headed down to my mom and dad's. Loni was also there. All us girls left Thursday morning for...dum da da dum...Disneyland! Taylor was sooo excited!!!

My mom and Taylor ready to go!

The tram ride

Taylor's first roller coaster ever was the Matterhorn. She was SO nervous...can you see it in her face?

Feeling a bit more confident...

Ready to go

Taylor LOVED the roller coasters (except the abominable snowman on Matterhorn, oh yes, and Indiana Jones was WAY too scary for her...she buried her face in my arm the whole time, poor thing, I had forgotten how intense it was)! Her favorites were Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was so fun to spend the day with her, she was so well behaved and was a trooper about all the walking we had to do. Her only disappointments were not seeing the princesses and Tinker Bell fairies, the lines were CRAZY long!

Autotopia was another hit! (See Loni and Tay peeking through the back)

Face painting was also very exciting!

Feeling goofy while waiting for lunch.

Thunder Mountain...here we go!!!!

Taylor loved the carousel...especially checking herself out in the mirror!

TEACUPS!

It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world! :)

We went to "Honey, I shrunk the audience!" Taylor hated it...it totally freaked her out!

DUMBO!

All in all, it was a great day and Taylor had so much fun! She was completely pooped at the end of the day and fell asleep within seconds of getting in her car seat. Thank you Mom and Loni for going with us, it was so fun to spend the day with you too!!!

We returned home Friday to find all well with Daddy and the babies. Saturday morning Taylor had Primary Program practice and then cheered at her first game! She was so cute! They haven't gotten their uniforms yet, but they had matching "cheer bling" shirts to wear. I will post pictures when the full outfit arrives. Today was the program and Taylor did great! She memorized her part after reading it about 4 times, she is such a smarty pants. Also, Dakota didn't bite anyone in Nursery today! Go Koty!!!

With the Good Comes the Bad...

We'll start with the bad. Poor Richard is having massive complications from his recent vasectomy. Not good, not good at all. He will most likely have to surgery to hopefully correct all the problems and pain he is experiencing (though that is not guaranteed!). He is not able to work much, if at all, so it is a stressful time for us right now. If any men out there are planning a vasectomy, I suggest you do a little research on possible complications as we did not know that this was even possible. It doesn't happen to everyone, but if you are the unlucky minority...it STINKS!!!

Now to the good. There is a lot of good lately too! First and foremost, are you ready for this...I made a really good friend! I am so excited! We are having tons of fun and I am actually getting out of the house either with the kids or just us girls. Awesome! Maybe this was the reason we felt impressed to stay in the ward. Richard thinks I am such a dork because I am so excited about this new development, and maybe I am, but it really has made life a whole lot more fun for me and it's been great for Dakota too since her daughter is the same age. Good times!

Another fun thing...our little Coopy-man is starting to walk! So cute! He is doing it more and more and is improving rapidly. We also finally got his hair cut again so he looks like a total little stud. He is such a love bug and I enjoy my little man so very much!!!

He got a balloon during his haircutting expedition! He is so good and actually likes the clippers :)

Bath time!

Taylor is doing GREAT in school! She absolutely love it! Her teacher is fabulous and she is learning so fast. Her reading skills are amazing, she is one smart cookie! I actually have been able to help out in her class this year. I am the book chain mom. The kids pick out a book on Monday, practice reading it at home all week long. On Friday they bring their book and read it out loud to me. We make a little chain link with their name on it and they also get a treat. With each kid, the chain gets longer and longer and by the end of the year, it should zigzag across the whole classroom. Very exciting stuff! She also started cheer leading which is just plain adorable!

Dakota has been a bit coo coo again. Very frenzied and throwing the kind of tantrums where she acts as if she is trying to crawl out of her skin. We try to remain patient...some days are better than others. She is such a cutie though. So full of personality and silly as can be. As exhausting as she can be sometimes, I love my little Koko-loco and couldn't imagine life without her. Hopefully, with time, she will begin to work on her impulses and get some more control. Poor little thing! She had decided to be done with naps, but ends up falling asleep at some point in the day.

Sleeping Beauty

Just a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Taylor is so good with her little bro. He is so heavy, I think his internal organs are made of lead, yet Tay still tries to carry him around. We'll see how much longer she can do this as he seems to get heavier every day!

I always check on the kiddos before I go to bed at night. I always go in Koty's room first. As I began my rounds, something was missing...Dakota! She was not in her bed or on the floor anywhere. After a bit of searching, I finally found her...in Taylor's bed. She is so sneaky, Taylor didn't even know she was there. So cute, they definitely look like sisters when they sleep. I love these girls!

Never a dull moment...

Dakota, Cooper, and I had a great playdate this morning with our new friends. When we got home, I put Cooper to bed and Koty was sitting on the couch. All of a sudden, Dakota started screaming and freaking out. I was having a very difficult time figuring out what the heck was wrong with her. She kept sticking her finger up her nostril and saying, "It's bweeding, it's bweeding!" Then she said, "There's a bee up my nose, I put a bee up my nose!" It didn't make any sense at all. I thought maybe a fly had landed on her nose and that she thought it flew up there. Then I thought that maybe she stuck a dead bug, that she could have happened upon, up her nose. Regardless, she was screaming and something was up her nose. I tried to get her to blow, but all she did was inhale. I didn't want whatever it was to get lodged up there further, so we stopped that and headed to Urgent Care.

She had calmed down significantly, so I wondered if whatever it was had gone away. Then I pushed on the side of the bridge of her nose and she freaked out again. While waiting for our turn, it occurred to me that she wasn't saying, "bee," she was saying, "bead." Then it all made sense. She had found a bead in the car that she and Taylor had been playing with the other day. When we got home from our playdate, she picked it up and brought it in the house. While I was putting Coop to bed and filling Richard in on my fun morning, I totally forgot that she was playing with that bead.

We got in to see the doctor and he shined a light up her nostril and something was sparkling up there. He asked Dakota what color the bead was and she told him that it was purple. She did not want him sticking tweezers up there and would not hold still for the doctor. He went and got another nurse to assist in holding her down and once we had her pinned, he was able to get it out in a jiffy! We were all surprised to see that it was indeed a purple bead! :) Dakota was thrilled to have it out of her nose and thanked the doctor over and over again. As we were walking out together, she again said, "Thank you, Doctor, for getting that bead out of my nose!" As we were driving home, Dakota suddenly started sniffing and breathing in and out her nose really fast. She exclaimed, "Hey! I can smell again!" She also made up a song that included the fast nasal breathing and the lyrics, "thank you doctor...sniff sniff sniff...thank you doctor...sniff sniff sniff!" She is such a cute little trouble maker!

(the dime is for size reference, fortunately that was not stuck up her nose too!)

Exhibit A:

Taylor's First Day of First Grade!

Monday was Taylor's first day at school.  She absolutely LOVES it!  She has a fabulous teacher and I think it is going to be a really fun year for Taylor.  She is excited to go to school every morning and is happy as a clam when she gets home in the afternoon.  She is getting way too big way too fast!!!  Wasn't she just born?

Sporting her carefully picked out hairdo and outfit.

"Are you guys ever going to leave?"

Ready to learn...I think Koty had to go potty ;)

Koty's reaction to the first day of school...she misses her playmate.

I don't think Dakota retained the whole concept of 'DON'T PUT THINGS IN YOUR MOUTH THAT YOU FIND OUTSIDE!!!'  At least this is only chalk.  Oh child of mine, you are something else!

Wash it down with a tall glass of...liquid wrench?!!!

Dakota's done it again!  We were at Gene/Millie's yesterday and the kids were playing outside.  Dakota came in with a look of panic on her face.  I assumed she just really had to go to the bathroom until she said, "I just swallowed something."  She was talking weird and coughing strangely and her breath REEKED of gasoline!  I freaked out, Rich ran outside and grabbed the bottle, and we drove to the ER in a flurry (I didn't even have shoes on!)!  Liquid Wrench is designed to loosen corroded metal or metal parts that are stuck together.  We got into the ER, they called poison control.  They wanted to do a chest Xray and observe her for 6 hours.  She also had to stay in an upright position.  By the way, this all went down at about 6pm.  The following day was supposed to be Taylor's first day of school.  Dakota and I hunkered down in her room and enjoyed a Scooby Doo marathon.  She was under the care of an excellent nurse who kept her entertained as well.  

Richard headed back to his parent's house to get Cooper and Taylor situated for the night.  Dakota was doing so well and her chest Xray was clear so they sent her home after about 3 and a half hours.  It was around 10:30pm, we decided to throw the kids in the car and head for home so that Tay could attend her first day of school.  We got home at about 12:30am.  Dakota woke up and said, "I'm going to be sick, I'm going to be sick!!!"  I ran her into the bathroom and she threw up (the smell of gasoline filled the bathroom).  We followed up with her pediatrician today and Koty received a clean bill of health.  Thank goodness!  I am so grateful that she is okay, it could have been REALLY bad.  Oh Dakota!!!

Birthday Boy

I'm such a bad mama, I didn't do a post for Cooper's birthday!  

(Pretend it's August 4th ;))

I can't believe that my little man is a year old already.  Time sure goes faster with each kid.  Cooper has been an absolute joy.  The world's best son.  He is so sweet, easy going, and quick to smile.  He is affectionate and his giggles melt my heart.  I have enjoyed my little fella so much and can't wait to see the man that he grows into.  Oh yes, and don't forget his dashing good looks, the kid is so stinkin' cute that I have to restrain myself so I don't gobble him up!  Happy Birthday Cooper!  :)