July 4th Weekend

This July 4th weekend was filled with a couple of firsts for the Taylor kids. Every year since Jackson was born we've spent New Years and July 4th in Leakey with Leslie, Ross' sister, and Philip. Every year there has been a burn ban because there hasn't been enough rain. This July 4th weekend was different though! The area has had enough rain that we were able to do fireworks and float the Frio river!

We arrived the afternoon of the 4th, and I managed to capture a few pictures of Jackson and Audrey before the celebrations began. The top pics below were taken at our house the day before, and the bottom pics were in Leslie and Philip's front yard.

Leslie and Philip provided some poppers to play with on the driveway, and Grandmother provided some cupcakes to celebrate America's birthday. The kids had fun pulling the strings and watching the streamers fly, and they especially loved throwing the little poppers on the ground or stepping on them. In the end, they were covered in icing and sawdust, so it was a perfect time to send them to the pool!

All of the kiddos had fun splashing around in the pool throughout the weekend. They dove for rings, practiced holding their breath and swimming, and took turns jumping off the diving board!

As if that weren't enough fun for one day, fireworks were next on the agenda! Neither of our kids has ever seen fireworks, so this was an exciting moment for them! I loved watching their reactions. We started with some little ones, which got them over any potential fears. Then we moved on to some that went into the air, which amazed them. Then we let the ones who were brave enough play with sparklers, and as it began to get darker, the bigger and higher fireworks came out. Of course, the big kids (a.k.a. the Dads) enjoyed lighting these just as much as the little ones were in awe watching them.

I also have to admit our kids were awed by the stars out there. Living in Houston and going to bed pretty early, our kiddos haven't seen very many stars. It was a perfect way to spend the 4th of July!

Friday morning we made our way down the road to float the river. The kids helped pick out their tubes, and we caught a shuttle to the drop off point. The water was cool, but it felt great on a hot summer day. They had fun hoping in and out of the tubes to swim and float down the river. It was relaxing and fun most of the trip. It ended up being a little longer of a float than originally planned, which left everyone a little tired and hungry by the end, but Jackson and Audrey did great despite ending well past lunch time and ultimately at the tail end of nap time!

Saturday morning was the Leakey July Jubilee Parade. We arrived just in time to check out the local helicopter that provides life flight services and watch it take off.

We then settled into our spots and waited for the parade to start. We were all grateful to have found some umbrellas in our cars to provide a little shade while we waited and had snacks.

The parade started with the Star Spangled Banner, the waving of our flags, and a tribute to the soldiers who protect our freedom!

Then there were cars and floats throwing beads and candy and toys! This also included a special appearance from Tow-Mater!

Everyone got a little more patriotic...and silly as the parade went on!

After the parade we found a local spot for lunch. Then Philip and Grandmother took the kids home for a nap while the rest of us did a little shopping at the Jubilee festivities. We brought home funnel cakes to reward them for their good deed.

While Audrey and Mitchell took naps, Jackson got to spend a little 1-on-1 time with Grandmother at her house. They rode the Polaris and went to visit Granddad.

When they got back, we were back in the pool! Jackson quickly joined the fun, and they splashed until they were exhausted. After dinner, Uncle Philip had a special treat. He let all the kids go for a ride on the backhoe, and Jackson got to drive!

It was a great July 4th Weekend! There are a few more pictures in the album.

Stone Family Reunion

The annual Stone Family Reunion was held over Memorial Day weekend this year, and just about everyone was able to make it this year. It was great!

Before the actual family reunion festivities kicked off, Ross and I made our way to Mudbug Madness with Leslie and all of the kiddos. I used to work at Mudbug Madness with my Dad when I was growing up, so it was fun to be in town while it was going on. We enjoyed some great food and music and look forward to future years when JD is able to participate in more of the kid activities. Having a broken leg kept him from being able to do some fun stuff. He did get to make some sand art and get his hand painted though, so he did have fun! The festival plaza was packed, so we ended up finding a shady spot on the ground by one of the bands to eat our food. The kiddos enjoyed some fried fish while the adults had some crawfish. Then we introduced them to gator-on-a-stick, which was a hit! Audrey especially loved it. Here they are just before we left. I think they were all tired and full!

Saturday evening the family reunion fun began. The schedule of events was the same as previous years. We had dinner at Aunt Dottie and Uncle Jim's on Saturday. Then we had brunch at Susan and John's on Sunday morning, and we headed out to Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Laura's for an evening of swimming, soccer, food, and karaoke! There were a little over 40 family members in attendance this year with almost half that number being kids.

Jackson's favorite part of the weekend was the puppet show Aunt Carol and his cousins put on. Jackson got to be a cow and a pig, and Aunt Carol was sweet enough to let Jackson take his nap with the pig that day. Audrey's favorite part seemed to be swimming. This was her second time in the pool this year. Her first trip was a little cold, but she LOVED it this time! Here are a few pictures from Saturday including one of Ross' Grandfather, Jim Stone, who is the head of this incredible family. There are more pictures of the puppet show and other fun activities in the album.

A Walk in the Park

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Shreveport for the Stone Family Reunion (Ross' Mom's side of the family). It's been a wonderful tradition for many years, but this year was a little different. There were a few people missing for different reasons, but most notably was the absence of Ross' Grandmother. She passed away in July, and since we also always celebrated Ross' grandparents' wedding anniversary during this weekend, she was greatly missed.

Between the big family gatherings the Taylor family spent part of the morning walking together in the gardens behind the Norton Art Gallery.

Jackson had fun wandering down all the paths even when Mom made a request for him to stop and pose.

Audrey was all smiles most of the weekend. If you look closely here, you can see her two new teeth that cut through this week!

The water features in this garden are beautiful and very intriguing to the little ones.

There are several sculptures throughout the gardens that caught the kiddos attention. Here they had fun riding the mountain lion!

We all took a little break by the pond and snapped a few more photos.

Of course, we had to take advantage of the opportunity to get a few photos of our adorable nephew! He's another happy baby!

There are a few more pics from the weekend in the album.

I didn't take hardly any pictures at the big family gatherings this year, but here's one of the boys splashing around at the pool party.

It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and to see how much the kids have grown and changed. We are so grateful for this opportunity to see everyone every year!

Backyard...Done!

The latest kid news is at the end...

After over a month of working on the weekends, our backyard is done! At least mostly...we have one more plant to get, but they didn't have any of it this weekend. I know I posted some pics from last weekend, but I thought I'd put the before and after shots here. Every time we complete a project like this our house feels more like OUR home. It's a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. As I said last week, we moved 7 yards of dirt to create these flower beds, which required renting a sod cutter to remove the grass before that. We planted a grand total of 162 plants over the last two weekends alone! It's been a lot of long hours in the HOT sun to get it done, but I love the finished product. I imagine it will look wonderful once everything begins to fill in...assuming we can keep it alive! Of course, I'm not sure we would have been able to get it done so quickly had we not had help with the kiddos from my mom and dad. Thanks to you both!

From the patio...

Before...

In work...

The finished product...

From the side of the yard...

Before...

In work...

The finished product...

There are more close up pictures that show the plants better in the album. If you don't care about plants, you can just skip to the next paragraph. The back fence is lined with hibiscus, varigated ginger, and pitosporum with a row of ixora and plumbego in front of them. Then there is a border of caladiums and lantana along the edge. The side beds have indian hawthorne and agapanthus, and under the loquat tree there is another ixora and hibiscus along with a few bottlebrush. The bed by the house has bottlebrush and pentas with a huge iris that's in bloom. The plant we're currently missing there is the scavola, which will go around the iris. Under the orange tree we have some dwarf philodendron and green ginger.

The next project will be putting together Jackson's swing set. Hopefully, we can get that done soon and enjoy our new backyard! I only got one kiddo picture this weekend, which was of Audrey and Pop becuase their outfits coordinated so well. :-)

In addition to the yard work this weekend we also got to have a little fun. We spent some time with our friends. We had a nice dinner out with the Fullilove family Friday night, and got together with several of the families in our life group to hang out and do some grilling tonight. My dad also stayed with the kiddos Saturday night so Ross and I could go on a "date". We went to get ice cream and then went to the grocery store...does that count? Whether it does or not, we had a good time...we're exhausted, but pretty content.

Jackson and Audrey have both had pretty eventful weeks. In the last post, I mentioned that Audrey had rolled from back to front once. Well, now she's a pro. She flips over all the time now. She also likes to rock onto her knees and scoot backwards already. I have a feeling she's going to be an early crawler...not sure if I'm ready for that!

Jackson finished his swim lessons this week, and I was a super proud mom when he climed out on the side of the pool all by himself the last day! A new sudden interest of Jackson's has become the movie Cars. He's addicted to the movie, it's case, any related toys, and anything with a picture of the cars in the movie. I can't decide whether to encourage this or let it pass...only time will tell.

Catching Up...

Since we last posted Jackson has gotten to play at a carnival and be a lion in a circus at his school, as well as starting swimming lessons, Audrey has started trying to sit up and roll from her back to her stomach (ok...this has only happened once so far), and Ross and I have been busy working in the yard.

The carnival was lots of fun. They had a little ferris wheel, a carousel, and a train. Jackson wasn't so sure about the ferris wheel, but he loved riding the horses and train along with eating snow cones! Here are a few pics, but there are lots more of the fun in the album

The next week Jackson's school put on a circus for all of the parents. It was a blast! Each class was a different animal or act. They had everything from strong men and clowns to tigers and trainers to lions. Jackson was one of the lions. His teachers made felt tails and ribbon manes and painted their faces. They were adorable. I didn't get any good pictures at the circus itself, but here is picture of Jackson at home after the show, and there are more in the album.

Last week Jackson started swimming lessons at a local indoor pool. The first day was awful. Jackson was in the terrible two's mode. He wanted to do everything by himself and didn't want Mommy to hold him. Since he didn't have floaties, that wasn't exactly an option, so we struggled our way through the first lesson. Day two was a dramatic change. I think he was less tired and better prepared for what to expect because he laughed and smiled through the whole lesson. He kicked and jumped and dove and rode his bike (treading water) and did big arms upon request. His favorite parts have been doing the hokey pokey and getting his towel at the end. Somehow we were unknowingly smart in letting Jackson pick out a towel when we were in Florida. This has become HIS towel. It has prevented many meltdowns when transitioning from a water activity to something else. The lessons are four days a week for two weeks, and we're now into week two. He's doing great! Now if we only could finish this yard work so we have some free time on the weekends to take him to the pool again!

So what yard work are we doing? We are pulling out almost all of the existing plants, expanding flower beds, and planting new plants including a tree! These are some before pictures.

All but 4 plants and the existing trees were removed. Maas nursery planted a Summer Maple tree for us and delivered 7 yards of dirt last Friday, which we then moved one wagonful at a time into the yard...that's a lot of shoveling, trips, and spreading of dirt. These are some "in work" pictures. We've actually started putting some flowers in the beds, but I don't have any pictures of them yet. It looks really good though!

Audrey is growing and changing fast. She is now on formula and doing great. She's almost 15 pounds and was at the 66th percentile at her 4 month appointment. She can almost sit on her own. Every day she seems to get stronger and be able to do more. She's a very observant baby. If there's something going on around her, she's likely to watch and study it. She seems to have really good hand-eye coordination. We put together her jumperoo this weekend, and to my amazement, she's already figured out each of the toys on it! This has also shown us what the future holds with Jackson and Audrey "sharing" toys...something for us to work on. Jackson is still adorably sweet with her. Even when getting upset about the toys on the jumperoo, he's usually just wanting to show her how to play with it.

We've had a busy but productive couple of weeks. We hope to finish the yard soon and get Jackson's swing set put together so we can all start having some fun back there!

Playing in the Water

We had a fun weekend of playing in the water. Saturday morning we washed my car. Jackson LOVED getting to help. He spent a lot of time dipping his rag in the bucket, walking over to the car, and rubbing the car for a couple of seconds before starting the cycle over again.

Here I think he's wondering why I won't put down the camera and help...

He also enjoyed spraying water in the bucket, which wasn't an easy task for his little hands.

Taking a well deserved break.

Saturday afternoon our friend, Bekah, and her two boys came to play. Quintin is 2.5 years old, and Zachary is 2 months old; so both Jackson and Audrey had someone close to their age to "play" with. We set up the kiddie pool, and Quintin and Jackson splashed around. They threw every toy we had in the backyard into the pool, which was just hilarious to them.

As we were getting ready for church this morning, Jackson decided to read Audrey a book (from memory, of course). It was pretty sweet.

After church and naps today, we headed back outside to play in the pool more and to wash Ross' car. Jackson just can't get enough of the water!

These pics are a little overexposed, but they were too cute not to post anyway.

Audrey sat in the shade looking cool most of the time. She loves the water too though.

My three favorite people in the world!

Two of Ross' favorite women.

There are more pictures of Audrey from this weekend in her album, and more of Jackson in his album.