All Aboard the Birthday Express!

Some might be thinking "Wasn't Cole born in December?" Yep, we received a huge "lump of Cole" for Christmas (almost 9 pounds!). Last year, no one could come to his party due to lots of Christmas party commitments. I never intended to have a Christmas baby--My friend has a refrigerator magnet that says "We plan, God laughs." That is exactly what happened. I feel bad for Cole to have his birthday so close to Christmas, so we decided to celebrate a month early. (I'll post some baby pics on the actual day, Dec 16, like I did with Alyssa's birthday.)

Cole's party invitation I created.
A couple of people asked what he is holding. It is a wooden train whistle. We had one when I was a kid. I think they are so fun, so we got them to give out as party favors.

He was pouting a little when I was taking his pictures. He wanted to "drive" the train, but was a little intimidated of how big the train was when I stuck him up there.

I love this one.

The cake.
I almost didn't make it. I kept thinking cupcakes would be easier. I am glad I did make it though and it turned out not to be too hard or time consuming. Cole absolutely loved it and it was a great way to use up some Halloween candy.
This morning, Cole came and woke me up and said "Mom, here I am. People ate my train cake."

With lots of help from the other kids, he tore through all the presents so fast. I had a hard time keeping track of who gave what. Its hard to manage that when you are behind the camera. It was a great party though. We had lots of family and lots of yummy food. Big Thanks to all who came. He is having so much fun today, playing with all his gifts and talking about his choo choo train birthday. We sure love our "lump of Cole", even though he came different than when we planned. He has the funnest personality and is a great addition to our little family. I can't believe he is 3, well, almost 3.

Halloween Fun

Trick or Treat

Scarecrow-Cole Makai
I made his costume without a pattern. I was happy with how it turned out, and even more happy that he wore it. I was kinda worried, because as I was sewing it and needed him to try it on, he would kick and scream. Once he had his pumpkin bucket in hand and knew he was going to get candy, he was okay with wearing it. (I made sure to have soft fabric under the straw so it wouldn't itch)

Dorothy-Alyssa Joelle
We got this dress in a bag of hand-me-downs. I found her ruby slippers at Target and Alyssa had to have her hair colored brown. I found a wig, but I think they are itchy and don't usually look that good. I got some color at Sally's that they promised would wash out. (She was a blonde again at church, so it did wash out-Phew!) We already had the dog and found the basket for $1. I was happy to have such cute costumes for such little money spent-yeah!

I just thought Cole was so cute and so did everyone we ran into. My kids totally won the Costume contest BTW-Yeah! Truth said, there wasn't a costume contest anywhere we went, but had there been, My kiddos would have taken home the prize. We rented the movie Wizzard of Oz for the kids to see, so they would understand who they were for Halloween. They have watched it several times and love it.

The fire truck came to our Trunk or Treat. Cole was thrilled.

Mark worked Halloween night, so I wore my witch outfit. Can't you imagine Mark in this pic as the tin man???

The Hitz Grandkids. Cole, Alyssa holding baby Creed and Bridger.

Alyssa thought Grandma Rhodehouse's landscaping looked like the yellow brick road.

The Taylor Grandkids get to Trick or Treat with Grandma Sherrey every year at Melaleuca.

Cole Makai, Paige, Cole Richard, Bailee holding Crew, Alyssa, Jordan, and Elly.

Sitting in the mail room, where Grandma works, checking out their loot.

Friday night, we had Alyssa's school carnival. I really wanted Mark to be the tin man, but he wasn't feeling it. I had it all planned out. I was going to put dryer vent hoses on his arms and legs and tie a funnel to his head, paint his face silver.....we ended up borrowing jailbird costumes from my parents. Mark was happy there was a costume plan B.

Feeding the elephant.

Alyssa had a Halloween party at school on Wednesday. They weren't' allowed to wear their costumes, so the night before I whipped up this Halloween shirt so she'd have something festive to wear. I used some left over fabric scraps to shape into a witch's hat with that sew-able iron on facing and zig-zagged around the edge. It turned out pretty cute.

The kids had fun and got tons of candy. So much, that Alyssa stayed home from school today with a sore throat. I tried to limit how much they ate, but as fast as it goes into their trick or treat bags, they sneak as many pieces into their mouth as they can. We didn't carve pumpkins this year, I was hoping the kids wouldn't realize, but Alyssa just brought our pumpkin inside and wants to carve it. Darn.

Alyssa Joelle Turns 6

This is my old college roomie, Mel and I, six years ago. Our due dates were just days apart. Can you guess which belly is mine... The big one on the right. And it even was bigger with Cole. They seem to get a pound bigger every time. Yikes! It will be scary if I ever have another baby.


Our sweet baby, Alyssa Joelle, was born September 17, 2003. She weighed 8lbs. These pictures are when she was a couple of weeks old.

First Birthday

Terrific Two-Year-Old

Three-Years-Old
I sewed those roses in her hair. I don't know what I was thinking. We were late for the photo session. She was such a stinker when we got there. She wouldn't smile, unless I gave her quarters. She made me give her one for every smile. You can't tell in the picture, but she has them in her hand.

Four-Years-Old

Five-Years-Old

Six-Years-Old
I took this picture the other day, in our back yard. She was so funny. She definitely likes to do things her way. Most of the pictures we took, she is doing funny poses. This time I had to bribe her with ice cream, if she would smile and cooperate. I try not to do bribes, but for pictures, we do what ever it takes.

Here is a little bit about Alyssa:
Alyssa is really pretty sweet most of the time. When she gets to pick a prize at school for bringing in her boxtops, she has been picking a boy toy to bring home to her brother, Cole Makai.
Her favorite color is pink.
Her favorite foods are banana waffles, and broiled shrimp.
She enjoys helping in the kitchen.
She loves her long hair and won't let me cut it.
She loves to watch Hanna Montana and the Barbie Movies.
She doesn't like to go to school, when she knows her Dad has the day off.
She loves to take trips to town with just her and her Dad in the Honda.
She loves her cat she named lovable.
She likes to play games, like candy land and butterfly bingo.
She loves to do craps (crafts)-(Actually, she says it correctly now).
She doesn't really like side pony tails, or when Mom picks out her clothes.
She really likes her new Hello Kitty alarm clock, "except the part when it rings and I have to get up."

We had a family luau for her birthday party. It was so windy, so we had to do it inside. She wanted a coconut bra and a grass skirt. I made her a flip flop cake. She liked it, but was disappointed that she didn't make it, so she made the cake on the right. We had yummy skewers and Mark made the tastiest pina coladas for everyone. After we ate, we let all the kids break a pineapple pinata. We had a lot of guests, including a swarm of flies. It was rather disgusting. I still feel embarrassed when I think back about how bad they were. We have been battling them since a manure farm started up across the street. With so many people coming in and out of the house, all the flies came in. There have been lots of complaints, so hopefully they will move the manure and not do it again next year. (knock on wood, fingers crossed) If they don't move it, we will probably be moving. Which is sad because we really like how our place is turning out. Everyone please pray that they move the manure. Okay, back to the party...

hum...not sure what happened to Cole's pants.

After the party (Cole was asleep).

She was so happy she got a pink "ipod" It was a pretty fun party. Mark wants to have another luau next summer so he can roast a whole pig in the ground.


One of the main things Alyssa wanted was a party with only girls. You can't really do that with a family party. So we let her have some friends over to play on our play set after school. Mark had the day off and even let the girls take turns riding Alyssa's four wheeler around the yard. They had a good time.

I still can't believe my baby is six-years-old! Oh, how time flies!

Kindergarten... First Grade??

Okay, so we just had Alyssa's first parent teacher conference. The first thing the teacher said to me was "Is Alyssa board?" I kinda wondered, but it really makes me worry if the teacher is noticing it too. She said that there are three kids in the class that are at a higher level and Alyssa is the highest. The teacher doesn't seem to know what to do about it. I think it makes it even harder for Alyssa that kindergarten is a full day. She always asks the teacher, "How many things left until it is time to go home?"I wonder if she should move up to first grade. Oh, how I have been weighing the pro's and con's all day about it. I just don't want her to be board at school and decide that it is stupid. I just want her to be challenged and enjoy learning. She has always been excited about "school" I will often find her in our school room, working in workbooks. When I tell her it is time to.....(insert any task here). She says "Mom, I have to do my homework" She gives herself assignments and pretend homework. Everything in kindergarten just seems too easy for her because she already knows it. I figured that would be a problem and so this summer I didn't push her at all with her "school". She just turned 6 years old. So she'll either be the oldest or the youngest in her grade. Either way it is kinda a bummer. Oh, what to do?????

Alyssa Starts Kindergarten

Alyssa missed her first day of school because we were in Bear Lake. School started early this year and I had planned our trip before I knew. No big deal, it's kindergarten. Most Mom's get all teary eyed when their babies start school, but not me. She was ready to start last year and we were both were counting the down the days. I am a little bummed that she is stuck in kindergarten and is the oldest in her class. I couldn't believe when I dropped her off that they only get red crayons as they are introducing one color at a time. Poor Alyssa knows her alphabet and the sounds they make and is putting words together so to only let her have red crayons??? I hope they move quickly and that she doesn't get too board. I picked her up from school because she had an appointment with the orthodontist to get her retainer. A retainer for a 5-year old??? I thought it was crazy too, but one of her baby teeth never came in because it is fused to the bone. The retainer is to move the other baby teeth out of the way so they can dig it out of the bone. We saw from the x-ray that her permanent teeth up above are a mess-One is laying sideways. Getting her stuck baby tooth taken care of will make her braces easier. I guess we are getting a head start on all of that. She got a pink retainer with sparkles. She wears it 24/7 and even eats with it so we don't have to worry about loosing it. She just takes it out to brush. It doesn't have a wire across the front, so if you don't know, you can't even tell she is wearing one. She has been really good about wearing it. Good Girl!

Her second day of school is when she got to ride the bus. What a big girl! So far she likes to go to school. And if you ask her what her favorite part is "Recess", of course.

Bear Lake Continued

Day 4-5

We spend both days at the beach and playing on the boat. I decided to face my fears and try water skiing. Ryan had a nose plug that he let me use, otherwise I would have drown. They pretty much drug me around the lake for 45 minutes. Mark said that I was up a couple of times, but immediately crashed or the other time I couldn't quite stand up. I guess my legs were too tired and cold. Basically I butt skied. When I crashed that was it. I am not sure if anyone will be able to talk me into trying it again. I am just accepting that I am not a water person. I do better staying on land and making sand sculptures. I really enjoyed sculpting in the sand. I thought a lot about what tools would make the job easier (like a paintbrush to brush off the flaky sand) and imagined mixing in some type of glue so the sculpture could support itself a little better. The next sculpture I made was a frog.
It wasn't quite like I wanted, but the sand around its head kept sloughing off. There wasn't much underneath to support it. This is were I was dreaming of glue.But 15 minutes later, non of that mattered. You know how little boys love to destroy things!! Which is why I am totally amazed that the sea dragon and turtle sand sculptures that we made on Monday, were still intact by Friday. I couldn't believe no one or the elements had touched them. They even inspired some other people to make some. There was another turtle with spikes, a big snail, and a Bear Lake Monster.
I wanted to get a picture of all the kids with their names written in the sand. Aparently non of them thought it was very cool, except for Elly. Isn't she a cutie?Alyssa had her own idea, and wouldn't let me pose her or take more than one shot. I guess she had to get back to playing with the kids.Mark and Britton buried Ryan in the sand standing up. We all were laughing at Ryan and the gay guys that set up camp right next to us. It was a very entertaining afternoon. Ryan and Britton thought that they would share a romantic moment way out in the lake. Mark and I were laughing because we could see their heads way out there and we also could see this surfer guy headed right for them. I couldn't help but use my camera's awesome zoom to snap this pic.

Day 6

We went to the Minnetonka Caves.

The kids thought it was really neat that we were under ground. They all did really well will all the stairs too.Cole Makai wasn't feeling well. The poor kid had a fever, he didn't even care about the choo choo train rock in the cave.
That night we went to a demolition derby at the Rich County Fair Grounds. It was the funnest Derby we had ever been to.
We were an hour early and were lucky to find a seat in the bleachers. I was wondering why they kept selling tickets, when all the seats were full. Well, its because the people just sit on the mountain side. There was even was a kid in a wheel chair up there. (And at one point he fell out of his chair-poor thing) This is one of those events that pulls all kinds of people out of the wood work. Makes for some great people watching.Poor Cole still not himself. But feeling a wee bit better after some Tylenol.
We liked this car because it said "Hi Taylors". The kids had fun picking which cars they liked the best and watching them crash. They threw out lots of prizes to the crowd and did lots of fun games between the rounds. The kids got frisbees and Britton got a candy bar. We were laughing that we want to plan next year's vacation around this Derby--It was a blast! Perfect for our last night there.

Day 7

Time to pack up and head home. We stopped in Georgetown on our way home to see Grandma Weaver. She made us some yummy soup and a huckleberry dessert. It is always fun to see Grandma Weaver.
We are happy that Ryan and Britton wanted to share vacations with us. We all had a great time! Too bad more family couldn't have joined us though. Maybe next year.