Blog Candy

If you are a stamper or scrapbooker you HAVE to go enter for a chance to win some great candy over at this blog! Plus take some time to see all her beautiful creations!

Taylor Tuesday

I love watching when Taylor finally figures out how a toy works. Since Christmas we have had to open the toys for her and then she closes them. Today Taylor figured out how two of the buttons work. Today was stay in our pj's day for Taylor so you gotta give props for rockin' the Daddy pj's for the blog.

Love,
Wendy

Almost done

If you live in Austin, then you know that the weather was off and on rainy this past weekend, but that didn't put a stop to the building of the BAP. If you are unfamiliar with BAP then you can go check out my first post about it for more info. Promptly at 10, Chris headed out to start on the BAP rain or shine. Luckily the rain decided to hold out and gave way for a nice day to do some construction. My job was to corral the kiddo and take pictures, so since it was naptime I headed up to scrapbook until there was something more than dirt(or weeds with a little grass) to take pictures of. After a bit the first reinforcement showed up to lend a hand and play with power tools. Then one by one the help showed up and things started moving along pretty fast. Be prepared for LOTS of pictures!

Trying to figure out if a couple engineers and a financial analyst can do this

Multitasking: mixing concrete, putting a top layer on, and drinking beer

Carter wanted to help build, but the water hose looked like more fun

Can we come up and play in the fort too?

Uncle Jefe securing the bottom platform

Taylor was not happy that a)Mommy stopped the wagon rides to take pictures
and b) that she had to share her wagon with Nick.

So she decided to pull the wagon herself. I must have done 100 laps around the yard Saturday. (self note:buy a pedometer!)

I wonder who can put a roof on faster?

Day Two of construction, not much left but no helpers

One happy Mommy and little girl!

As I started working on this post I realized that I do not have any pictures of the entire playscape finished. Well we do have a couple pictures of me playing with Taylor on the playscape, but most include me from the backside and are not photos that I want out on the web, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pics of the actual playscape. Taylor and I are very lucky to have such an awesome man in our lives that would spend all weekend putting together a playscape so that we can swing everyday! Plus we are very lucky to have all the friends that came over to help(and ones that were going to travel to help but couldn't due to weather)!!!

ps. I got to try the swing out before Tay got up from nap and had forgotten how much fun it is to swing. If you haven't been in a while, go enjoy one of these beautiful spring days at the park! You're never too old or young to swing!

BAP

Last summer I got a call from Chris telling me that Sam's Club had this awesome playscape on sale and we should buy it for Taylor. Keep in mind that she was 3 or 4 months old and barely knew how to hold her head up or roll over. So I take our tiny infant down to Sam's to look at this MUST HAVE playscape and fall in love with it! But the rationalist in me kept thinking how we don't need something like this for 1-2 years. Well fast forward to 9 months later and we are now getting ready to put that must have playscape together. Taylor has really been enjoying the swings at the park and we thought it would be a good time to put it together before Taylor is running around asking Daddy when it will be finished. After bugging Chris for several months to pick a weekend(or two to be more realistic) to put it together an Evite showed up in my inbox Monday. Chris actually sent out an Evite to all his guy friends inviting them to come work on the BAP(Big A** Playscape). In my mind it will be the ultimate big boy lego set. Here is a preview of Chris, with Taylor's help, after he opened the first box tonight. (look another plant I've kept alive!)

Stay tuned for pictures that will come after our weekend adventures of watching the assembly of the BAP.

~Wendy

Daily Adventures

Chris and I always joke that I sit around all day eating bon-bons and teaching Taylor to fetch the remote, but my days often consist of more than that. Here's a glimpse into Taylor and my daily grind and this beats out any day I ever sat in a cubicle!

We walk around the front yard. Today I hoped to blow bubbles, but Taylor had more fun just carrying the container around. Taylor can walk on her own, but prefers my help in the uneven yard.

Stopping to pet the kitty.

Another video for Nana

Most of the time my thumb is green from getting ink on it while stamping, but I am doing pretty good at keeping my new flowers alive. This is a picture of the rose bush that came with the house and I have been able to keep alive for over 6 years. So Taylor and I water the plants everyday while we are outside trying to find the kitty.

We also walk down to check the mail. Thanks to Nana I now pull Taylor in her wagon to check the mail. Plus we do a few extra laps around the yard for fun. It's hot outside in Texas right now (already 95 degrees) so we head indoors to play with all our new toys. (yes those are her bunny ears from Easter)

And we LOVE to press the horn(and then plays a song) on our Little Mermaid push car. Thanks Aunt Kirsten and Uncle Ricky!!!


So that's a day in the life of Wendy & Taylor. Hope your days are filled with as much fun as ours are!

Love,
Wendy

Taylor Tuesday

Sorry this one is coming to you so late, but this is so much easier to do after Taylor goes down for a nap. Yesterday helped us continue all the little celebrations of Taylor turning one. To most people this would not be a big deal, but we turned Taylor's carseat around so that she now looks forward. I can only imagine all the wonderful things that she can now see and I think she likes it. She has been pretty vocal on our past two car rides and I'm hoping this will make long distance car trips more fun for her.

Love,
Wendy

One Year Old

As usual I am a few days behind on this, but I have been very busy getting ready for a BIG party to celebrate a little girl's first birthday! I can't believe our beautiful baby girl is one! This past year has been so wonderful and I've been very lucky to be with Taylor the entire time. Together we have grown and learned so much along the way. She has such a curious mind and loves to figure things out. Peek-a-boo stands as an all time favorite game and can get some of the best laughs out of Taylor when peeking out from around a corner. It amazes me how one day Taylor was cruising from place to place holding on to a surface to flat out walking. I've been watching her crawl everywhere(with her right leg in a funny position) that I'm still getting used to seeing her waddling around the kitchen upright. I love the excitement that Taylor gets from being able to walk. Taylor LOVES cats! She squeals with glee when she sees any cat and immediately wants to try to pet it. Her version of petting is touching the animal once. Taylor has finally started to show a greater interest in our dog Sadie. Sadie has always been the person that Taylor feeds her food to once she is done, but now she will actually go over and pet Sadie. Taylor is really good eater and will still eat most of the foods you give her but there is now way this kid is becoming a vegetarian.



Here are a few things that I've learned in my first year as a mom:
- diaper changing can be a competition between you and baby, and only gets harder as they get older
- you will do anything to get a baby to laugh again, even if it is the strangest noise
- those laughs melt your heart everytime
- babies require lots of 'gear' to go anywhere(this gets better as they get older)
- footie pj's are the cutest things ever(and I miss Taylor in hers)
- sticky little hands are capable of finding all sorts of things
- the dust buster is a mom's best friend

Taylor Tuesday

Today is not only Taylor Tuesday, but our little girl's 1st birthday!!! This time last year I was watching the family fight over who got to hold her next and now I'm watching our little girl toddle around the house. This week's picture was very hard to pick since we got tons of great pictures of our little bunny over the weekend. Chris' Aunt Adie gave Taylor some bunny ears when we went to visit on Sunday and Taylor left them on the entire time. I guess wearing all those bows was training!

I had to throw this next one in there because I love the bunny ears.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Love,
Wendy

Egg Hunt

Taylor got her first experience at an Easter egg hunt yesterday. Good thing she has been practicing her walking skills so that she was ready to cruise around looking for eggs. First off Taylor pretended to be like her Daddy and cruise around the yard in a golf cart. Don't forget to stop for a beverage break!(and for those of you thinking about reporting us to CPS, we only did it as a joke. She never actually drank the beer)

Next, Nick came along to give Tay a ride in the jeep. Nothing better than having someone else drive you around for a bit. Taylor was helping to pick out the music for the ride.




Now for the hunt!
On your mark... get set.... GO!






Taylor did so good with only a *little* help from Chris and I on finding the eggs. She even 'found' the grand prize egg that was worth a giant chocolate bunny so we put that one back for someone else to find. I'm not ready for Taylor to have a giant chocolate bunny just yet!


I think Taylor had more fun taking her eggs in and out of her basket than finding them. One of the eggs she got is sidewalk chalk and I can't wait for her to try it out! Hope everyone is having a blessed Easter Sunday!

Wendy

Walking

Taylor has been taking four or five steps at a time to get around the house and I was having the worst luck trying to catch it on camera. Yesterday Taylor decided to walk more than ever, starting with chasing the kitty, and I was finally able to catch our little girl crusing on her own.



Sorry for the abrubt stop in the video but I had to give lots of hugs and kisses for her walking. I'm sure there will be a day when I want her to slow down, but I am one proud Momma! After hugs and kisses, Taylor then decided to keep walking over to Sadie in her crate. This time the video got cut short because the darn memory card was full! Guess all those other times of trying to catch her on video were eating up too much space. Time for a bigger memory card!

More Stamping

I definitely helped that I cleared off my desk to get ready for my Stampin' Up workshop a couple weeks ago and now I have the stamping bug. I find myself thinking of card projects when I should be working and then I look for any free time to get into my craft room to ink some stamps. This past weekend we were invited to Graham's first birthday party and so I got a chance to make boy birthday cards. The invitations had a giraffe on them so I decided to pull out my animal stamps and stick with his theme. I really need to remember to not take pictures at night because the lighting really doesn't do justice for the colors in these cards.



I had so much fun making his birthday card that I went ahead and made a set of thank you cards to match. I just loved stamping with the giraffe and the polka dot paper was fun.

All supplies are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted
Stamps: Wild About You, Much Appreciated(retired), Say it with Scallops
Ink: Pacific Point, VersaMark
Paper: Pacific Point, More Mustard, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, polka dot paper is unknown
Other: White Embossing Powder, Heat tool, Wide Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon
Inspiration for this card came from: http://jill031070.blogspot.com/2008/11/another-baby-set.html

Taylor had so much fun at Graham's party. She loved riding in the wagon, chasing their kitty, trying out animal crackers, and checking out Graham's new toys. Graham is one week older than Taylor and so it was very exciting to see how our little ones have grown and changed. Graham is walking all by himself and so I was hoping that he might inspire Taylor to take more steps. She is walking but only 4-5 steps from one object to another. I have not been able to catch her on video yet :(


Leili is also part of our 'April Babies' group and was born one day after Taylor. And no Taylor doesn't look like a giant next to Leili, she is bigger size wise, but Tay is sitting up on her knees in this picture.


I hope you enjoy my crafty posts because I have several other projects that I've made in getting ready for Taylor's 1st birthday! I'll try to post you some sneak peeks later on!

Wendy

Easter Basket

So what's a mom to do when her one year old gets invited to an Easter egg hunt and

a) no basket yet,

b) stores are picked over of baskets,

c) most baskets are bigger than Taylor

Well I went searching through my overstocked craft closet for a basket that might work for just this one occasion. I found a stack of Christmas baskets in the back that I keep holding on to ‘just in case’ I need them even though I rarely decorate with baskets anymore and gold is not my thing. Over at Thrify Décor Chick and Just a Girl these ladies are constantly updating unwanted items with a little bit a spray paint. I have some other projects in mind that will use spray paint, but for my current dilemnia it was a life saver. Here is a picture of a basket like the original that is a size bigger and my finished project.(I promise the bow doesn't look so huge in real life) Isn’t it amazing what a little spray paint can do???

Supplies:

Basket from closet – free

White, quick dry, spray paint – free (found on hubby’s work bench)

Ribbon - $1.97 from Walmart, but bought originally for a different project

Basket Grass – free, saved from previous Easter’s

Taylor Tuesday

I finally figured out that Taylor says 'ti-ti' for kitty. She loves to go to the front door and watch for Tessa(our outdoor kitty) and I found her there yesterday saying 'ti-ti' over and over. I love it!

Weekend Projects

I figured I better post pictures from this past weekend before Mel sends someone down from Washington to track me down! I admit that I've been a bad blogger lately and have only been posting Taylor Tuesday and monthly posts. I promise I've been taking pictures, just haven't posted them.

Here are a few from last week's hail storm that we had here in Austin. It only lasted like 15 minutes, but did quite a bit of damage in that short time. The storm didn't really bother Taylor, but she was mad that I kept running around the downstairs to take pictures instead of having snack time with her.

This is our driveway and the cul de sac.

Don't look at my toes(I was in the process of changing colors),
but I used this as a way to show how big the hail was.


This picture shows our backyard and a preview of our new addition to the deck.
Stay tuned for pictures after we get it stained!

And the best part of a daytime rainstorm is God's beautiful rainbow that follows!
(Noah's Ark is my favorite bible story)

Okay Mel, here's the part you've been waiting for...
I'm a Stampin' Up demonstrator and this past Saturday I had a workshop at my home.
Here are the projects the attendees had a chance to make:

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Sincere Salutations, Polka Dot Punches
Paper: DSP Walk in the Park, Baja Breeze, Whisper White
Ink: Baja Breeze
Tools: Corner Rounder, Oval Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: DSP Walk in the Park, Basic Gray, Cameo Coral
Ink: Versamark
Tools: White Embossing Powder

Stamps: Polka Dot Punches
Paper: DSP Walk in the Park, Whisper White, Cameo Coral
Ink: Cameo Coral, Basic Gray
Tools: 5-Petal Flower Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, magnets(to make this a bookmark)

Stamps: Wow Flowers
Paper: DSP Walk in the Park, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Ink: Baja Breeze
Tools: Scallop Flower Punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, 1 3/9 circle punch, sticky strip









So Saturday night Chris and I decided that we didn't have enough projects around the house and ventured into Home Depot. We came out successful, but didn't attempt any until Sunday. Taylor found the dolly so fascinating, but not nearly as exciting as 'helping' Daddy install a new sink in the powder room. BTW, if you live near me and want our old pedestal sink let me know. There's nothing wrong with it, I just wanted storage area in this bathroom.


After helping Daddy for a little bit I was able to distract Taylor with Cheerios. Oh.. completely forgot to let you know that Taylor is starting to walk. She took a few steps for Chris a couple weeks ago. Then on Saturday I got to see her in action myself. She now cruises around the house barely holding on the furniture and normally carrying her snack cup, bunny, keys, or her spatula. I've tried to catch her on video walking, but have been unsuccessful. Looks like Taylor and I have a mission to catch her on video this weekend. I'll leave you with a picture of our girl with her snack cup and some yummy Cheerios!



Love and miss you Mel!