Taylor Time

Stephanie took the girls to my parents house several times before and after I was in town. A common issue with Avery was her tendency to misjudge how much leadtime she needs to get to the bathroom before she looses control. We generally keep a spare set of clothes in the car, a backpack, or under our arm just in case. Avery managed to catch us unprepared one evening and had to suit up in a grocery bag while her things were laundered.

I'm not sure how water tight the solution was, but fortunately it did the trick until her clothes were dry.

Britta takes to projects and games with intense interest. Grandma Taylor has a great gift for knowing what interests kids and how to keep their hands busy!

A favorite activity at Grandma Taylor's house was beading. Grandma Taylor keeps a wide variety of colors and shapes of beads and strings for the girls to create necklaces with.

The girls didn't have many dress-up clothes to choose from, but Eden managed to find a pair of Grandma's silver shoes!

Grandpa Taylor gave piano/organ "lessons" to the girls.

Back in VA!

Finally! The family is back home in VA! Ben was able to get a couple of projects completed around the house before the girls got home. The excitement was intense and the girls had to rein it in at times....

One of the best changes was the completion of the bunkbed refinishing project. We had received a set of bunkbeds from some friends at church. We decided to sand and repaint them (why does this always sound so easy and end up so time consuming?).

Eden and Britta are both in twin size beds now! We're hoping this will help Britta to sleep in a little later in the mornings. Her toddler bed mattress has been getting pretty beaten down and can't be comfortable anymore. For now Eden and Britta are rotating between top and bottom bunks every night. Avery has been restricted from sleeping on the top bunk until she is 4 years old.

While Eden generally tries to negotiate the top bunk, Britta still gets her fair share. There isn't as much competition for the top bunk as I initially thought there would be. After a couple of weeks, it's become apparent that the bottom bunk has benefits that the top bunk does not have....

TOP BUNK BENEFITS: (1) You get to dangle your feet and hands at your sister, (2) you get to climb a ladder to get into bed, (3) you can survey the entire room while laying down, (4) it's novel to sleep so high up.

BOTTOM BUNK BENEFIT: (1) You can grab the dangling feed and hands of your sister, (2) You can kick the top bunk from underneath, (3) the cats like to come in and sleep on the bottome bunk, (4) Mom and Dad can actually climb in bed to cuddle you.

Saturday, August 2nd - Someone turned 6!!

Eden woke up early her birthday morning (4 am?) with an upset stomach. She threw up every 30-45 minutes until around 7 am. I got up with the other girls around 7:30 and headed to the store for jello and sprite. By 8:30 am Eden's stomach was mostly back to normal. I think there was a bit of mind-over-matter involved in her healing, especially once she learned that if she was still sick by lunchtime we would have to postpone the ear-piercing outing that was going to be the highlight of her day.

I had tied a mylar balloon on the top bunk and put a princess crown and birthday card on the ladder. With her coming to our room so early in the morning she missed it all until we got up around 7:00 am. Once she discovered the surprise she donned the crown and her spirits perked up. At 8:30 it was time to open her first present! While in Texas Eden had access to her cousin Hannah's collection of Hannah Montanna books and music. Once she discovered the Hannah Montanna CD in the car we didn't drive anywhere more than two minutes away without the CD on. Very quickly Eden's birthday wishes formed around Hannah Montanna. As a result, the entire birthday focused around Eden's new favorite "rock star".

What could it be?

Hannah Montanna, of course!

We had planned for a day at the pool, but the day had started out rainy. So while I was out with Britta and Avery picking up groceries we stopped by the dollar store for some craft projects. We got some $1 birdhouses and wooden bee shapes. The girls spent quite a while decorating the birdhouses with paint, glitter glues, and spangles.

Eden made sure that every flat surface displayed a different color. I hope there are birds out there that like this much color!

Britta began with a purple square on the roof which she outlined with a green border. I was intrigued by her design. How many four year olds plan like that?

Avery didn't have time to wash the brush. Every color was represented, and every color was blended!

By lunchtime Eden was feeling back to normal. Stephanie took her to Claire's at the mall while the two younger girls and I cleaned up and decorated the house. We had prepped Eden several weeks about ear piercings and that they were likely to hurt. She had bailed on the idea a year ago, so we wanted to make sure she was in with both feet this time. For extra measure, I gave her four childrens' tylenol about a half an hour before they left the house.

Eden was excited and nervous to get started! She picked out a pair of flower earings with little crystal petals of different colors.

Stephanie reports that there was a delayed reaction after the first earing went in. After a second or two Eden turned to Steph and with a pained face said "That really HURT!" Steph was ready to tell her she didn't have to get the other one done, but instead she helped Eden rally for round two! A little shaken, Eden left Claire's with a newfound confidence in her ability to confront pain for something she really wanted.

Eden and Steph stopped for some ice cream to celebrate the victory.

When they got home the house was ready for our little family party! The second most desired present (after pierced ears) was a scooter with a certain Disney channel rock star emblazoned on it. We figured it would be more frustrating for ALL of us is we waited until after dinner to unveil this one, so we let Eden open another present.

At this point I don't think there was any question that Eden knew EXACTLY what was in the box.

Sure enough!

The scooter unveiled!

Ben took a turn taking the girls to the park while Stephanie put her feet up. After dinner that evening we sat down for cake, ice cream, and Happy Birthday wishes!

Eden picked out the perfect sized cake...

...which perfectly held the six candles!

More Hannah Montanna presents were unveiled.

Since her birthday Eden has been writing daily in what she calls her Hannah Montanna "diaries". I tried explaining the plural rule on diary. It was pretty clear that she was more interested in having a diary than learning how to correctly describe it. (So there is definitely some Anderson amid all that Taylor-ness :) )

Grandma Anderson sent some cute books on cooking and sewing (two more things on the girls' list of things they want to learn this summer)! The girls were already excited about helping out with recipes, but now they are even more excited to be able to pick out their own!

Eden picked up some latch-hook and simple stitchery in Texas with her grandparents. She is eager to get started on her next project.

Avery and Britta handled themselves pretty well during the present opening. We work with the girls on not being jealous when it's not their birthday and not their presents. Avery was doing great until Eden unwrapped the (you guessed it) Hannah Montanna lip gloss that she had helped me pick out at the dollar store that morning. She must have thought I was getting it for her.

The night ended with three happy girls that had a wonderful day. Eden kept showing off her pierced ears and began writing in her diary. Avery kept stealing the lip gloss when no one was looking. Britta kept herself busy with the other dollar store items that we had gotten earlier that morning. We all fell asleep that night with a different Hannah Montanna song running through our heads.

Stephanie and I can't believe that Eden is 6!

Vera Wang meets Cirque du Soleil

This morning Vera Wang's fall line-up was released as it hit the catwalks in Chantilly, VA! The models were fierce in their fashion forward wear! The day began hot and didn't cool down.

The theme for this fall seems to be a anything goes with a focus on the layered look with a bit of an eclectic circus theme. Red is definitely in!
People have been saying that green is the new pink and that black is the new green. Whatever the trends, pink maribou never goes out of style, especially when paired with poodle skirts and high heel "clicky" shoes.

The models take a moment to display the first showcase.

Back with their second look, it's easy to see how easily these items can be mixed and matched.

Straight off the runway - Fall Fashions!

Bedtime

The girls often keep each other company at night, usually when they're not supposed to. Giggling can really tire a kid out. Bedtime stories have become a ritual at bedtime. Each girl expects her own story, which has known to take over 15 minutes to complete. But, the time is well spent, especially when you get snuggles like this.

End of School Party (June 12)

The day before the last day of school, Eden had some friends from her kindergarten class over to the apartment. The afternoon included decorating cupcakes, painting refrigerator magnets, and ended in a game of Twister.

Britta had her friend Alyse from church over so she had someone to spend time with. (Notice our sad broken lamp in the background.)

Avery thoroughly enjoyed herself though she didn't understand what the girls were talking about half the time. Who cares! It's a party!

Britta and Alyse shared some good jokes.

Eden was thrilled to have the much-talked-about Samantha over for the first time.

Mattie (left) and Ariel (right) rounded out the party. All of the girls seemed to get along well.

The table was full that afternoon. Just enough chairs to go around.

Creative Dance Center Recital (June 11th)

On June 11th Eden had her recital for her dance class. They performed Johnny B. Goode on stage during the second half of the show. This dance studio competes nationally and has some good size trophies in the lobby. Fortunately (for our schedule and our pocket book) Eden has been content to dance once a week in a introductory tap and ballet class. That's good enough for us!
At the recital Britta and Avery enjoyed the first five numbers. After that they took turns playing with my new cell phone. By intermission they were ready to get some snacks. We stretched it until the show was about 3/4 over before Avery had her meltdown. I took her to the back of the auditorium so she could walk around. After a very long evening of dance we left for home. Dance Recitals are like trips to the zoo. Once a year is enough.

Quarterly Update

After more than two months without a blog posting, the requests for new information are becoming more bold. They haven't crossed into "threatening" territory yet, but I think it's best to not go there if we don't have to. Already I know there is a lot to catch up on, so I'll do my best to address each major event seperately.

Last day of kindergarten (June 13th)

It's over. Finished. The last day of school has come and gone.



Eden finished kindergarten today, and she's not looking back. She definitely enjoyed the school year and made lots of friends. Through the year her reading and writing has improved quite a bit. She's been to the first grade classroom regularly since the winter to check out book from their bookshelves to read every night. Whenever they have free-time activities in the classroom she is more likely to head to the reading and writing station than any of the others. Her journal has been fun to read.

Stephanie has been taking Britta and Avery to the park in the mornings and all the girls to the pool in the afternoons. Eden seems very enthusiastic about extra play time with her sisters. Undoubtedly, princess role-playing will be at the top of the list. It will be interesting to see how Britta and Avery fare with their older sister back home to claim the throne!

Ben is 30!

Today I turn 30 years old. I took the day off to spend with my family. This morning I made the family breakfast, sent Eden off to kindergarten, and enjoyed a leisurely morning ith the other girls. Stephanie and I took Britta and Avery out to Babies R Us to look for swimming aids for the girls. We stayed a lot longer than we originally planned, but had a good time looking for things for our boy. Next we hit Target for girls' clothes and Costco for free samples. (No sense in pretending, right?) I got a Costco card for me and we left with blackberries, hummus, and artichoke hearts. On the way home we got a chance to talk to my mom who is excited to see us this summer! She has picked several gallons worth of blackberries from their bushes. We've convinced them the freeze some of them so we can enjoy them when we get to Texas!

After lunch I took Britta to go pick up Eden from school before she got on the bus. We took her to Jo-Anne's fabric to get some buttons to fix one of her Sunday dresses. After that we went to one of my favorite plan places: Betty's Azalea Ranch! Though there is no azalea wrangling to be had at the ranch, there are acres of plants to explore. We love the koi pond and tanks tucked away in the back of the shrub area. We also love the water fountains and the outdoor furniture. We enjoyed the cool air and the shady locations. Now we are back home for a snack and to pass an hour until the pool opens.

Ordinarily we would have a family party tonight. However, a few weeks ago I was invited to a thank-you dinner for last year's DOI engagement teams. This year is a big year for me on the engagement, and I'm exploring the idea of a rotation in the audit practice, possibly even on the DOI team. So, I'm headed downtown for a work-related dinnner, and we'll celebrate as a family tomorrow night.

To me, this is almost a perfect birthday. The only thing I would add would be a slip and slide.