"The Thomas song" as Matthew calls it

It is pretty funny that Matthew knows this song considering he isn't the hugest Thomas fan and we don't watch the show very often. Lately he has been asking us to sing it to him before he goes to bed. Glen and I know most of it but not the whole thing. He has just picked it up from us singing it before bed. I love his little voice. Glen and I need help with the words right before the Toby line. I know some of you moms out there who watch Thomas a lot can help us out. Once again I forgot to hold the camera normal and so the video is sideways. If it is possible to rotate a video taken by a camera please let me know.

8 months old

TAYLOR

She wants to crawl really bad!! She is always diving for things and gets in crawling position for awhile. Once she gets on her belly though she can't move and gets mad. She scoots and turns in a circle a little bit but doesn't just sit still anymore very well. I can't leave her very long without having to come help her in some way. She pulled herself up to standing the other day and I found her standing holding onto the bookshelf I sat her by. She still loves watching Matthew and playing with him. He makes her giggle all the time. She even smiles at him after he bumps into her and makes her fall over, sometimes a complete accident....sometimes not an accident. She likes most all baby food and it is great now because I can sit her in a high chair and she can feed herself those little puffs. Taylor is mostly sleeping through the night now. She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up at 5 and I usually feed her then and try to put her back to sleep. Sometimes she goes back to sleep and sometimes she is up at 5. Sometimes she wakes up during the night but usually falls back to sleep pretty quick. She is always talking, her favorite being da da da da...or course. She says na na na when she is sad or ready for something different. She loves sitting in the swing at the playground, playing in the grass, playing peek a boo, being tickled, and is just a joy to our family. Lately she leans her head way to the side while in the high chair and will wait for me to do it too. She has this little smirk on her face and it just makes her seem so old. It's fun to see her little personality coming out more and more. She is so much smaller than Matthew was at this age. We love our little Taylor bug!

I had to throw a picture of Matthew in too

Botanical Gardens

We finally made it to the botanical gardens here in Toledo. It was so beautiful and one of the fun places to go here for free. Glen will never let me take a picture of him alone just smiling. You can see his typical picture taking face above.

We love you Johnny!!

My little brother Jonathan is heading to the MTC tomorrow. He is going to Toronto and I am so excited for him. He will do great!!

Mothers Day....I love my little girl!!! I love my big boy too!! Being a mom is great!

YUM!! Matthew always asks "whats Taylor eating tonight" and he usually wants to try. I have to say I like most of the fruit baby foods but the vegetables are not so good. Matthew seemed to like it I guess.

Matthew is always asking to go to the mall with the arthur school bus. This last time we went Matthew was really lucky because a little boy was following him around and his mom put quarters in the race car and the merry go round which they did together. I have never paid for one of those things. Matthew enjoyed it although I think he likes them just fine not moving too.

Taylor is not crawling yet but she sure tries hard to get into things and move around. We call her our little diver. She is always diving forward from sitting to reach for something. Most of the time she is pretty graceful about it but we have plently of face plants too. She loves standing now and I can't believe that Matthew was cruising all over the furniture by 8 months. That is just two weeks away for Taylor and she is not going to be doing that.

The mess around her is a magazine that she ripped up. It can keep her entertained for quite awhile

Good Job Mommy!!!!

Matthew was doing this for a few minutes before I got it on camera. I guess he was saying good job about eating our lunch. He was telling Taylor good job eating her puffies as he calls them and I ate my peas, salmon, and carrots. This voice comes out when he is being a tiger.....so funny

No more...please!!!

I guess you could say the last couple of months haven't been easy. I have had the awful stomach bug 3 times, Glen once, Matthew twice, and Taylor started throwing up a little over a week ago. Now we all have colds/allergies (when haven't we the last few months) and Matthew woke up Saturday night having a little asthma attack. GREAT!! I'm hoping this is the last of it for awhile. Taylor has also been having a hard time with her teeth coming in and sleeping through the night is not happening yet either. Taylor luckily handled her stomach bug pretty good and Matthew is also on the mend. He has to go back to taking the steriods twice a day now to control his asthma. We got out to the park today and it was great! Glen takes his last test of his second year of medical school today!! WAHOO! Sadly he dosen't really get a break for awhile. He will be studying for his first boards exam (Step 1) which he takes June 18th. After that he will come join me and the kids in Idaho for a week. I leave June 9th and will be out in Idaho two weeks before Glen. I am just grateful to have two beautiful kids who most of the time are healthy and happy. I mean just look at them; how could you not smile.

Loving the pink boots? Yeah, me too. These were a hand me down for Taylor which Matthew found the other day and has been obsessed with. They work great for playing in puddles and yes we have been out in public twice with the boots (trip to Meijer and Target). You have to pick your battles with a 2 year old.

BLONDE

I always thought that Glen and I would have kids with very blonde hair. Taylor's hair is starting to come in a little more and it is not going to be that blonde. Glen and I were both soooo blonde as kids. Most people probably wouldn't have guessed that I was ever blonde but I was for a long time. My hair just got darker and darker as I got older. When it started getting darker I dyed it blonde until my senior year of High School I decided to go natural. They are so cute no matter what color their hair is.

ZOO!!

I have been telling Matthew we would go to the zoo for a few weeks now and for whatever reason we finally went today. I love having a membership because it is so nice to be able to go just for a hour and not feel like you are wasting money. Here is Taylor squinting in the sun....it is HOT today....like 80 degrees. She would not keep her little hat on.

The tigers were sleeping today so Matthew played around with the statue of one for awhile.

I love the park right by the zoo. It is right on the Maumee river and is so pretty. We played here after the zoo for quite awhile. In the car I was explaining sunscreen to Matthew because he didn't want to put any on. While he was swinging he kept putting his head back directly in the sun. He then tells me" Mom, the sun's in my eyes; I need more suncreen." So funny! I then tried to explain sunscreen again and simply said that sunscreen won't make the sun go away.

This was last week sometime at another park

A little late

Easter I really don't like this picture of me but Matthew just makes me laugh. He is so silly and is always saying and doing something funny.

Matthew and his buddy Cohen ready to find some Easter eggs

Glen was getting them all excited before bed!! We watched cute, little Madison Snow while her mom was having a baby. She is so sweet. No, we don't have three kids!!

NEW CAR

People have been wanting to see a picture of our new car.......well here it is. You know Glen's my
"country boy." It's parked just outside our apartment and everything. WOW!! That's all I can say. Welcome to Toledo! Here is a picture of our new car. We wanted one like the one above but it didn't fit the kids too well.

26!!

Happy Birthday Glen!!

We love you!

Glen works so hard in school and I am so proud of him!

Glen is the greatest Dad! He helps out with the kids so much and I love watching him play with them both. Matthew gets SOOO excited everyday when Glen comes home.

Glen was in a band when I first started dating him at BYU and I have wonderful memories of going to their shows and thinking Glen was so gorgeous. He used to sing to me and play his guitar a lot while we were dating. Oh, those were the days!! Our first time even hanging out was a ward activity to Temple Square before Christmas to see the lights. After that night we both kind of thought something great was going to happen. I stood in my apartment looking out the window while everyone was meeting to go wondering if Glen was coming. Then I saw him walking up in his grey zip up hoodie and his converse all stars ( I loved his casual style). We managed to somehow walk alone around the temple looking at the lights and the temple. 6 months later we got married in the Salt Lake temple. Glen impressed me with what I called his quiet confidence. He wasn't flashy in the way he dressed and he didn't try hard to get attention which I loved. We were in the same Family Home Evening group and I'm always a little embarrased to say that I didn't notice him for awhile. But when I finally did notice him, I REALLY noticed him and was impressed in every way. He was so good and sweet to me then and he still is now. I can't believe we have almost been married for 4 years. Love you!

Love that smile

Last Sunday we were listening to some of conference on "the boat," aka Mom and Dad's bed as Matthew calls it. I started taking pictures of Taylor and ended up with way too many. Being the indecisive person that I am, I posted a lot although there were many more I didn't put on. Taylor had her 6 month check up today. She weighed 17 pounds, 14 ounces. She was 26 1/4 inches tall; around 50th percentile for most things. Her percentage went down in the weight category, already thinning out a little I guess. She is such a fun silly girl. We love her!!

We had a great weekend listening to General Conference and making cookies and cake. Two treats in one weekend.....kinda gross I know, but we did actually go for a walk on Saturday too, so only one of the treats really counts. We got as much out of conference as we could with two kids. Here are a couple of videos of Matthew singing Popcorn Popping and I love to see the Temple. It's so cute hearing him sing these songs. I always wonder if he sings in nursery or not.

I love to see the temple

Who's Who? 6 months old

Taylor is now 6 months old; I can't believe it. Here are some of her many faces. I love the one on the top. She is always doing funny things with her tounge. I can't get enough of this little girl. I found some pictures of Matthew around this same age. They do look a lot alike. I think Taylor has rounder eyes and her smile is a little different. The pictures of them not smiling look the most alike to me.

Matthew is on top and Taylor on the bottom up above. Right away they for sure looked alike. It's one of the first things I said after she was born.

The swimming picture is of Matthew in case you couldn't tell. Matthew was just overall bigger too. He had huge hands and weighed 18 pounds at 4 months. Taylor has such narrow feet compared to Matthew's.

Matthew around 5 months in this last picture