Blog Worthy!

Hooray for Sam!!! He has a "new" to us truck! I am beyond thrilled for him.  He has been driving my 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee for several years (we clunked his vehicle back in 2009 with the Cash for Clunkers program).  And the Jeep was a great vehicle, but it had seen its better day. In the middle of the bitter Missouri winter temps last year the heater went out, it leaked, made crazy noises, often overheated, and the list went on and on.  Sam kept a myriad of tools and fluids in the Jeep in an attempt to be as prepared as possible for whatever else could go wrong. I never let him drive the kids around in it either! He definitely took one for the team...he never once complained about it (not even when driving in below freezing temps with snow coming down and no heat!) and has always made sure that I have a good, safe vehicle to drive.

But the day had finally come for us to let the Jeep go and find Sam a good, reliable vehicle. He has always wanted a truck and after hours spent looking on car lots and online, he landed the perfect truck and the perfect deal! We are all excited and proud...and we can all ride in this one!

Mac's Special Day

On each birthday, the birthday child gets to choose what they would like to do for the day.  Since Mac's birthday fell on a Tuesday, which is a school day for us and the first soccer game of the season, we celebrated Mac's special day on Monday.  The day began with cinnamon rolls, one of Mac's favorites for breakfast.

Ready to go out for a fun day! He chose to head to McDonald's for lunch and play inside.  Then, go to Tupelo for fun at Chuck E. Cheese. We also went to the mall so they could play on the indoor playground and ride the train, and we finished up that night with shakes and snacks from Sonic. It was a good day!

Ready in her jeggings and Twinkle Toes.

At McDonald's...I'm kind of a germaphobe mess up in that place! I try not to dwell on the nastiness of that play stuff. A prayer, hand sanitizer, and lots of sweet tea for survival

They just figured out that good ol Ronald is the namesake of their fav "restaurant," yes, I use that term lightly!

Virtual coaster at Chuck E.'s. For a long time we were seriously the only people in the place. It was great!

Hanging out, doing what she does best :-)

This is Mac on his actual birthday. I still cannot believe I have a 5 year old, a pretty darn cute and sweet one at that!

Still has a major obsession with Angry Birds, especially Angry Bird Star Wars. These jewels will join the collection of other stuffed toys on his top bunk.

Random Happenings

Here are some things that happened at the Taylor Household in September:

We pulled out the "cage" for our on-the-move Clara! 

Looking up at big brother Drew, who adores her

L.O.V.E. this!!!!

Ready for another day at school, where they play together at every recess. I'm told by teachers that they find each other on the playground, run to exchange hugs, and then play together the whole time with some other friends. Game of choice-Superheroes

Always, always, always smiling and laughing. People always comment about how happy and friendly she is because she always smiles.

I attend BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) on Wed mornings. There is also a great class for the boys where they have learned so much. Unfortunately, there was not a class for Clara at the time so for about 9 weeks I took her in class with me. This is our view from the back of the sanctuary during lecture time, all of her gear sprawled out in hopes of keeping her occupied and quiet!

BSF selfie :-) I'm thrilled that this week there is now a class for her to go to!

(and I'm sportin my "teething" necklace that Clara can chew on.  It's super! She loves it and its pretty cute. Win-win!)

Dress like a pirate day at Krispy Kreme...scored them each a dozen doughnuts! They were ALL about this, pirates and doughnuts make for a great combo for boys!

Their loot! We shared some with our neighbors because there was no way we could have eaten all those doughnuts!

New Hope High School football game. 

Before church one Sunday morning

How do you make a little boy who gets second-hand soccer cleats feel special??  Buy him shoestrings of his favorite color, and they are good as new! (well, unless you look too closely! haha)

Lovin on sis.  Drew often has to be reminded to not be too rough with Clara. haha

You Know, Back In August...

Well, seems I took a sleeping break from the blog for quite awhile, so I have lots I could catch up on...like the time in late August that I figured out the pack-n-play can indeed be used for containing playing children. And then the sweet child fell asleep

Also in late August was the first State ballgame.  We had  all planned to go, but the rain had other plans.  My family ended up coming to our house to "tailgate" and Sam was the only Taylor represented at the wet game. This was also before Clara had her own maroon outfit :-)

With the cousins

CeCe and PePaw with their crew...Clara was very interested in the action behind her

The Taylors

The Hills

And Clara's sweet foot propped up on a ride in the car

Hailstate

It has been so great being back in Bulldog territory during their #1 ranked season!! We all love our Dawgs!!

This is our Jedi pose...life with boys!

Catching up with The Bayles' and Hewitt's at a ball game. 

Passing on a love for football...or trying at least! ;-)

Silly Drew, what more can I say?!?!

Mac cheered loud and proud, along with his cowbell

Clara slept almost an entire half at her first game. Cowbells don't bother her! 

Drew has discovered how to cross his eyes. It's hilarious! However, not as hilarious when you're trying to take a real picture and he's saying "I see two bulldogs!" LOL

Another blooper :-)

We Love Food...Not Skates!

At 8 1/2 months eating her first "real" solid food, bananas. She loves real food!

This one right here also loves food! Any and every kind! Right now his favs are "boy salad" (just regular salad), "burritos" aka Doritos, carrots and dip, and mac & cheese. He'll choose healthy options over junk almost any day! Now if only a tiny bit of that would rub off on Mac...both currently have the favorite restaurant "Samuel McAllister Taylor's", which is McAlister's Deli. Oh, and McDonald's!

She had bananas everywhere!

While we love to eat, we recently discovered that we hate to skate!  

One of Mac's friends from school had a party at the skating rink.  Sam was out of town, so I decided to load up all three kids and go out for what I anticipated would be a fun morning.  I could not have been  more wrong! All was good while the boys had their skates on on the carpet, but the second, and I mean second, that we stepped onto the actual rink floor, disaster struck.  To get an accurate image of what occurred, you must also picture me "wearing" Clara in a carrier on my front and helping two boys on skates with the little walker deals for them to hold on to. Step onto the rink and both had feet flying out from under them and landing on the floor.  Drew's shocked face soon turned to an all out cry as soon as he heard the wail of his older brother!! Both were dramatically crying/screaming, and I was doing my best to get both back on their feet while feeling embarrassed at their outcries!  Kind strangers, who were parents of other kids that I had never met, came to my rescue to help us all back on our feet.  I had to force them to stay on the rink in hopes of conquering their fears.  Drew soon gave up and took his skates off.  I insisted Mac keep his on and held out hope that he'd start enjoying it after watching his friends skate around.  But that never happened.  He hated every single second.  And neither wants to ever return...but we shall go back and conquer skating.  But next time I'm taking Sam!!!  I wish I had a pic of all us but with the above told story, you'd understand that I was never able to get my camera out!! (I quickly snapped the single pic of Mac)