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| {SUNDAY} Grandma Carol and Grandpa Don came over tonight. They were good sports to play a few games of CandyLand with the kids. Good times! |
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| {MONDAY} Landon and Ryland play well together. They love to play peek-a-boo and hide and seek around my china cabinet because they can see each other through the glass panes. |
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| {TUESDAY} I didn't realize until later in the day that all three kids were wearing stripes. I thought this was a cool photo and it captures them watching Dora. All three kids are into Dora these days. |
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| {WEDNESDAY} Today was the Grandparents' Tea at Taylor and Landon's Montessori school. The kids were able to show off their classrooms and their "work stations". Unfortunately, my mom was very sick so my parents didn't make it to this special event. |
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| {THURSDAY} This day is one of my favorite days of the year. It's a day to reflect on the things for which we are grateful and to verbalize our gratitude. And, the food of course is the best meal of the year. I love a Thanksgiving feast! |
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| {FRIDAY} Today we all put the Christmas tree together while Ryland napped. Taylor especially wanted to decorate the tree by herself. Landon helped out a lot too but was easily distracted by the singing snowman. Who could blame him! I tried hard not to rearrange all of the ornaments because I didn't want Taylor to feel like she wasn't doing a good job. So certain parts of the tree are really decorated and some aren't. Taylor said this was her favorite memory of the day! |
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| {MONDAY} Ryland has such a fun personality. He's independent, adventurous and a bit crazy. He just turned one and he's scaling rocks, jumping out of cribs and playing in the sprinklers. He's the life of the party! Ryland has a cute way of holding on to his milk bottle yet playing at the same time. |
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| {TUESDAY} Every time my mom comes over, she brings treats for the kids like cupcakes or cookies. Taylor knows full well that when Oma is coming over, she will be getting something. This time my mom brought over not just baked goods for Taylor, but some new clothes. Talk about spoiled.... |
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| {WEDNESDAY} Today Taylor made a Thanksgiving wreath at Gymboree. Her teacher has asked Taylor to list things that she was thankful for and then the teacher wrote them down on leaves. Taylor glued all of the leaves to the wreath and now we have the most precious wreath ever...the thankful wreath. This year, Taylor was thankful for Mommy, Daddy, Ryland, shoes, bed, kitty, shirts & pants, toys, Landon, and my teacher. This wreath is definitely going in the scrapbook! |
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| {THURSDAY} Taylor made a pilgrim hat today at school that read "I'm thankful to be an American." She came home from school and plopped it right onto Ryland's head. He does make one cute little pilgrim. In fact, I think he could pass for an Amish baby! |
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| {FRIDAY} So I forgot to take a photo of me hanging out with two of my girlfriends this morning, and I also forgot to take a photo of Bunco night that I hosted. But thankfully Landon came through for me and gave me something worthy of a photograph. The poor boy was so tired, this is how he fell asleep. I guess he never made it into the bed all of the way. He is definitely the craziest sleeper I've ever met. |
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| {SATURDAY} Today we had our Fall photos at Sahuaro Ranch Park. This place was fabulous! I can't wait to go back sometime and experiment with photography myself. We have a neighbor friend who is just starting off her photography business and was looking for families to photograph. We'll have to wait and see how they turn out. I know we gave Lorie a run for her money. At any given moment, one child was wandering off or looking anywhere but to the photographer. But the kids did look pretty adorable! |
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| {WEDNESDAY} Taylor's latest favorite pastime is coloring. She can now color neatly within the lines. Or sometimes she'll choose to draw freehand on a blank, stark white piece of paper and turn that page into a colorful masterpiece. Her creativity continues to prove itself as the days go on. |
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| {THURSDAY} Tonight I took Taylor to Rozlynn's 4th Birthday Party. Rozlynn and Taylor are good friends at Sunrise Montessori. This is the second year that the girls have been in the same class. The party's theme was Tinker Bell. Taylor has never seen the movie, but was happy to become a "princess" with the face paint. |
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| {FRIDAY} Hank and I were fortunate to attend a wedding for a couple we met here in Vistancia. We met Matt a couple of years ago through small group. Laci was the most stunning bride ever...I wish I had a good photo of the two of them. Such a great reminder to hear the wedding vows and to be reminded of what unbridled love looks like. |
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| {SATURDAY} Seriously, we've only had this board game in our house for a couple of days and the kids are addicted. They want to play it over and over. And what is so funny, it that either Taylor or Landon win every single time. Hank or I have yet to won a game! |
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| {SUNDAY} We ended up changing up plans for today. Somehow, I pulled my back muscles and have been in pain for most of the weekend. The stubbornness in me doesn't like to take medicine. I get it from my mom :-) Anyway, we did take the kids to a local park and let them burn off some steam. I love this photo of Taylor and Landon running after each other in different directions. They are truly best of friends! |
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| {FRIDAY} Today I took the kids to the local library. The library has a cute little set-up for kids outside. We ended up playing there for awhile and Ryland had a blast. And of course we came home with 11 DVDS and 1 book. I think that is a bit backwards. But we have so many books at home and the kids really prefer their Bible stories over anything else these days. |
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| {SATURDAY} Hank spent his birthday money on us. Such a generous man! I have been wanting to attend an "Intentional Living" conference for awhile now as living intentionally is my mantra. The one-day conference was wonderful, but the 24 hours away from the kids was heavenly. Not that we didn't miss our little ones.... It's just that we got to talk in peace, eat our food at our pace, and sleep through the night. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for taking them overnight. You can have them back anytime.... |
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| {SUNDAY} Landon's breathing was stressed. We noticed is Friday night and gave him breathing treatments at home. I was hoping the treatments would hold him over until he could see a pediatrician on Monday morning. Around 11:00 pm on Sunday night, we ended up taking him to urgent care where he was diagnosed with croup and strep throat. Yikes! |
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| {MONDAY} Since Landon was recovering from being sick and we had a long night with little sleep, I decided to keep both Landon and Taylor home from school. We relaxed all day. Our library movies sure came in handy! And I made an "intentional" effort to get down on the carpet with the kids and play throughout the day. The room was a mess, but the kids had fun so that is all that mattered. |
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| {TUESDAY} The weather has really cooled off. While I was making dinner, I let the kids play outside only if they wore their sweaters. They will probably get sick now that I notice they didn't have shoes on in the picture. |
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| {FRIDAY} I packed up the kids and our lunch and met our friends, the Pollings, at a local park. We ended up staying at the park for a couple of hours and had a really good time. The nice weather allows for more trips to the parks, and the kiddos love that. |
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| {SATURDAY} Today was a super busy day from taking Landon to soccer tots, getting the car's oil changed, to Harvest Daze, and then a Young Life fundraising banquet. This picture cracks me up because Taylor has a posed smile these days and it is anything but relaxed. |
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| {SUNDAY} Taylor and Landon really enjoyed trick or treating this year. Hank ended up cutting them off after 20 homes because he didn't want them to get too much candy. Here is Spider Man and Sleeping Beauty (I think that's her name.) hitting up a neighbor for more candy. |
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| {MONDAY} Taylor has such a sweet heart. She spent some time today loading up her Noah's Arc with all the animals she could find. While she was eating dinner, I went to move the Noah's Arc toy and put it away, and she quickly cried out, "No mom, you can't take it! I am protecting the animals from the flood." I was like, "OK Tay that sounds good although I don't think there is any chance it will be raining today." Love this kid! |
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| {TUESDAY} I work every Tuesday, for a half day, marketing in Scottsdale. So when I came home from work and took my heels off, Taylor quickly grabbed them and said she was putting on her work shoes. Landon wanted to wear them too, but I gave him his cowboys boots and he was happy. |
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| {WEDNESDAY} Tonight our family was celebrating Aunt Kendrie's 30th birthday. The bowling and dinner didn't start until 6:00 at night, so Ryland and I stayed home. One good thing about Ryland is that he is so ready for bed around 6:30 and doesn't have a problem letting you know it. So rather them tote around a grouchy baby, I kept him home and let the big kids bowl with the adults. They had a great time and were sound asleep on the car ride home. |
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| {THURSDAY} Today I started a "tea group" with a couple of neighborhood friends. Adra and Brenda came over and we shared our hearts, read some verses together, and prayed for each other. It was a sweet time that we hope to keep up every other week. |
