Tree Time!

Today is our annual Christmas tree hunt. We go cut down a tree every year the day after Thanksgiving and the weather was good to us this year. We enjoyed the 30's-- yeehoo!

Tim was "helping" Barlow cut down the tree. Brotherly love is the best.

The gang watched in suspense as the tree fell.

This was the quickest year on record for aimless wandering. We were in and out in less than an hour. It was a Christmas miracle.

Rugby found his own baby tree that he carried the entire time.

Snooty came along to watch... (Tim said she looked too "Chicago" and he wouldn't walk by her.)

Her son chose to reflect the same look. Cool guy Max!

More Christmas cheer to come. The boys are out putting up the lights outside. It should be interesting.

sleepy Chloe...

For those of you who do not see this kid on a regular basis, you are witnessing a very rare moment. This girl is literally a human tornado. She is so cute and bursting with life. On the other hand she is also bursting with curiosity.... a LOT of curiosity. So treasure this pretty picture. You may not be seeing something like this for quite a while.

Bemerson...

Em had a great week. He figured out that he only had one day of school and he was in heaven! For the last preschool day they had a feast. He, of course, chose to be an Indian. He wore this lovely thing the entire day. Needless to say, we got lots of snickers. You gotta love a good head piece.


You may have noticed that I haven't been posting a lot of videos lately. The reason is simple-- Emerson. Every time I start to take a video he yells, "Dad pooped his pants!" It never fails. When I am taking the kids pictures and they won't smile, that is my phrase of choice. Em has also started to tell a lot of jokes and the punch line is always-- "poop!" I can't get him to stop and frankly it gives me the giggles (so I'm not trying very hard). So here it is people... Em in all of his poopy glory-- uncensored!

World Peace...

I know that most of you are wondering how good my frosting can really be. Well, I'm here to tell you that it is the stuff of legends. Here is it's official unveiling...

1 stick of butter (softened)
2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 C. milk

You can play with the powdered sugar and milk to make it thicker or thinner. If you would like to make chocolate frosting just add 2 heaping tablespoons of coco powder. If you'd like to make a flavored frosting just take out the vanilla and substitute the same amount in the desired flavor (like almond ect.)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. No more canned junk for you!!!

Extra Help...

I'm trying to put together my Christmas cards and I'm missing a few addresses. If you have moved or think I might not have your address could you email me it pleeeeeeease. My email is taylors@genevaonline.com . Thanks for the help!

So, I wasn't so off base dressing him as Paul Hamm a few Halloweens ago. He's got skills people! Maybe Tim's Olympic dream is still alive in Rugby!

It's been a while-- I know. So I'll give you the quick run down...

1. Zoey left her entire ipod (headphones and all) in her pocket and it took a ride through the wash. It's toast...
2. Tim's been traveling... a lot.
3. I have figured out the secret to cheat yourself the perfect Thanksgiving turkey (it involves a crock pot).
4. Emerson has mastered the art of throwing a ginormous yelly fit. (it's really pretty)
5. I think I'm done with a very modest Christmas list and I will succeed in making it a modest Christmas if I can convince myself to stop shopping. (But, have you seen the sales people-- I can hardly contain myself!)
6. Is is wrong to just give your children just Legos for Christmas? Are we required to give in variety?
7. My Christmas cards are here and ready for delivery but they aren't going to address themselves-- ugh!
8. I have found the "perfect fit "(and seriously they are) jeans at Lane Bryant. My bootie is so happy (and comfortable).
9. Chocolate cake solves almost all of life's problems and I have the perfect frosting recipe that might even bring us world peace.
10. I just got a totally awesome new phone called the "quick fire." It rocks and I am officially a smokin' cool texter. (It was one of my goals for 2009 to become a texter and I'm totally an over achiever and took care of it early.) Try it-- text me! I love getting and giving texts. It's my new addiction!
Finally, I thought I'd include some of my favorite art for you.

This was Em on a good day. Cereal and eggnog... it doesn't get any better for him. (After this moment of bliss he threw a fit over nap time...)
Zoey's pretty butterfly.

Emerson's little guy. He's getting pretty good at writing his name.

Rugby has been practicing writing whole sentences. His stuff cracks me up.

This is one of three million turkeys that we have hanging up. I think every teacher loves a good piece of turkey art.

This is one of Rugby's writing webs. He gets to make sentences using the special words of the day.

When Rugs gets home he likes to draw a lot. This is one of his drawings of me. He even revealed my age along with my sweet eye for smooth dressing. He gets every last detail with uncanning accuracy. If you haven't seen me lately my head has swelled up to the size of our house and my body has shrunk to the size of a crayon. I have also received plastic surgery on my nose because blue triangles are all the rage now.

Every year the kids' classes do a themed basket to raffle off at the Holiday Concert. Each class picks a theme and then the parents donate stuff to fill the basket with. Z's class did Packers (of course). I put it on my list and when I got to the store everything looked a little blah. So I decided to make a Packers cape instead. I printed out the logo to copy, a little cutting and sewing, and TA DA! I made the world's first Packers cape. I thought the kids of Packers fans would like this (or maybe a few crazy parents would too).

Dinner Talks

Every night at dinner we take turns talking about our days and what the kids learned about at school. Last night Breckyn told us that they learned about veterans and Veterans Day. She said that they talked about the "Golf War." "You know, the one where they threw golf balls at each other. That's why they call it the golf war-- right?" She had a hard time trying to tell the difference between a gulf and golf. I love when kids think of things like that. It makes sense almost... but not quite.

Pizza Friday!

It's Taylor Family "Pizza Friday!" Tonight we got to spend it with the Barlows. We had some good pizza and a good movie together.

Chloe and Em grabbed Timmy first on the good spot. They both just love this guy. Chloe spent a good portion of the movie terrorizing everyone with her Nerf gun. (somehow a gun and a passy just don't look right together)
On the way out we discovered this shocking Barlow secret. It seems that no one is too young for a little hard work at the Barlow house. (highly suspicious if you ask me)

crafting again...

The girlies bought these dolls the other day with their own money. Since then they have been plotting to make and create things for them. Breckyn asked me for some of my extra fabric so she could make her doll some new clothes. Yeah, not that simple. So tonight with a little help from me, we made them some sleeping bags and pillows.

The girls sewed on the buttons on the front for extra beauty.

They even stuffed their own pillows. They were very excited for the new stuff and I'm sure I'll be roped into this again very soon.

Don't forget to vote...

Em came bounding out of preschool this morning with a voting pin. He told me I needed to remember to vote because it was important. I asked him who he was going to vote for and he said, "John McCain!" I was surprised that he even knew anyone's name no less a first and last name. I asked him why he was voting for McCain and he said, "cause he has a cane in his name and that's cool!" So whether you vote McCain or Obama-- don't forget to let your vote count. May the best man win!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was good to us this year...

My super scary spider. Em wore this costume all day. He had so much fun pretending.

The boys decided to trade outfits. (because of the previous "helmet" troubles)

Breckyn and Caleb (the super spy).

Fe-Fe the dog. She was totally into the free treats! She was such a cute little puppy!
The highlight of the night was the loot counting and trading.

Happy Halloween!