Christmas in... March...

We got to spend Christmas with the Taylor side of the family and had a great time!  

We started our festivities with decorations, 

 window clings, (notice the nice weather outside--60 degrees in December in KY)

 and holiday baking. 

 Yum!

 Camden had a lot of fun with cousins this trip--they were all so nice!

 and bonding with Papa. :) 

 It was fun to watch parker tear wrapping paper. :) 

 We went carouseling :) 

 (not sure if Parker was happy or sad at this point... :) 

 more cousin sandwiches. :) 

 Lots of ice cream was had. by all. :) 

 And more bonding with Papa. 

 We went to a bounce house and the kids had a blast, 

 but even better than that, Mat took Camden skiing! And he loved it! 

 So glad we get to see family so soon again! 

What's Your Thing?

We all have our things. You know, that thing that you are willing to spend more on because the quality means more to you than the money.  Mat and I get a kick out of knowing what other people can't do without.  We have a friend (male, mind you) who refuses to buy cheap toilet paper.  He just won't do it. (And between you and me, going to the bathroom at their house really is a luxurious experience...) We tease him, but it made Mat and I think, "What's our thing?" Well, I have yet to discover Mat's, but I just recently discovered mine. Kleenex. Not "facial tissue," but Kleenex brand Kleenexes. We've gone through more than 2 big boxes of Kleenex in the last week, and no one is raw. Bless you Kleenex man, wherever you are.

So.... What's your thing?

Me and my boys

Parker is now 4 months old (how did that happen?!) and we've gotten to a "new normal". We are starting to have fun together.  Although Parker is little and doesn't respond a ton, Camden is enjoying playing with him. We even put Camden right next to Parker in the car (brave or stupid? Maybe a little of both.) and they have a good time together. 

The boys on Parker's blessing day. 

 Camden often plops himself down on the floor next to Parker.  It's actually pretty cute.  

 Parker is getting a little more interactive now and sometimes when Cam lays down next to him, Parker will accidentally hit him.  So far we've had no casualties and only laughs.  We'll see how long that lasts. :)

 Just being silly. 

 ALL of my boys. ;)

 Daddy has had a lot of fun with his boys.  He frequently carries them BOTH around (that's hard to compete with...) but occasionally I catch them like this: 

We're so glad to have another boy around the house.  Boys are fun!

Celebration Vacation

Mat finished his surgery rotation the last weekend in October so we took the weekend to celebrate both being done with two months of insanity, and my birthday. Here are a few memorable moments from the trip to Cincinnati:

We went up and Mat let me shop for a while (bless his heart for watching the kids while I did) and then we had dinner and then to a bounce house.  Camden was in heaven! 

 Mat was able to bounce with him and they were hilarious to watch!

 Needless to say they had a great time together.They spent more than half the time on this one batman slide. 

 Mat and Cam--inside an alligator. 

 Parker and I had fun too. Parker has spent a lot of time in the bjorn recently. Every once in a while he falls asleep in there and I don't even realize.  Usually someone else has to tell me...

 We spent the night in a hotel, and just relaxed the next day.  We went swimming and shopping, rode a carousel, and did all sorts of fun things.  Then we came back to Lexington for the ward trunk or treat.  Camden dressed as a policeman, Parker was a moneybag and Mat and I were bandits. 

 We even won the best dressed family award!  Cam was giddy collecting candy. 

All in all, it was a great weekend.  It was so nice to have some time as a family after such a crazy couple of months not seeing each other.  What a great birthday gift!

More of Moscow, Part 2

We had so many fun memories in Moscow that there was need for a second post.  Here goes: 

Camden was wary of the 4-wheeler at first.  My dad kept trying to get him to ride it (because all the other kids love it!) but he wouldn't.  Emma finally coaxed him onto it with her.  Attempt #1:

 It took him a couple rides to like it...

 But he finally loved it and would ask Grandpa daily for a ride (some days it was so late we were already in our jammies...) 

We showed Grandma and Grandpa our creativity in getting Cam to brush his teeth. 

 Emma holding Parker. She turns twelve this next March and is super excited to start babysitting.  She even babysat for me while I was there! (one of the best babysitters I've ever had...)

 We had a backbend competition while I was there.  

 It extended into headstands... I challenged my brother shawn... 

 but I lost!  shameful... I know....

 We have an apple tree in our yard that we never prune so the fruit always goes bad.  The kids decided to make use of it this year and "fruit ninja-ed" all the apples. 

 some used plastic swords, others mallets. 

 Jaxon was pretty good with the sword. 

 Then Annie tried a different way...

 Sam and Cam being silly.

 Jake marched in a Parade while we were there so Grandma and Grandpa took Camden and Jessa to it.  Camden had never been to a parade and let me tell you, they do parades right in Moscow.

 Camden didn't quite get it until he saw what Jessa was doing.  Then he saw the candy. 

 My mom told me that he realized that as long as he stayed next to Jessa, he'd get what she got.  She was nice enough to help him get a bunch of candy too. 

 (Bless Grandpa for filling in for Daddy while he was back home!)

 (Yes, that's right.  That was their haul from the parade...)

We had so much fun with the cousins. Camden is getting to a fun age where he really interacts with his cousins. And they are so nice to him!  He idolizes them all!  We are so lucky to have a close-knit family!  (Now if only we lived closer... :) )

More of Moscow

My family was nice enough to take pity on me during the month of September and the boys and I flew out to spend some time with them while Mat was in his surgery rotation.  It was a good thing we did! Mat wasn't home much while we were gone...

We had a blast with the family, as always!  The first afternoon we were there, we went to the fair and Camden went crazy riding all the rides!  He even rode a roller coaster with his cousin Jessa!  I've never seen a smile so big! 

 Of course, we visited the animals while at the fair--I'm not sure Camden had seen so many animals up close before...he was more brave with the birds and rabbits than the huge pigs and horses... 

 Since Parker was so little while we were there, my parents helped out a lot with the kids.  Mom often snuggled with Camden while I nursed Parker.  

 And my dad would often take Parker when Camden needed me. I have to admit, it was fun for me to see my dad play with a little baby and just make him laugh.  Parker LOVED him! 

Grandma and Grandpa were both really good to Camden and made him feel special. Grandpa took Camden on more 4-wheeler rides than I can remember, and grandma made cake pops and other fun treats and read books with him.  He felt so loved and for me, as a mom, it was so priceless.  

 Cam's cousins were really good to make him feel special, too.  Everyone oohed and aahed over baby Parker, but they took extra time to play with Camden.  The twins had Camden laughing every time they were with him, and Tyler was fantastic to always keep an eye out to make sure that Camden was never alone, and would often of his own free will sacrifice his own time to make sure that Camden was happy.  

 Jaxon even got in on the action and played with Camden a lot.  On this occasion below, I heard Camden telling Jaxon to "stay dayre" as he ran around him in circles on the trampoline.  

 The girls were all great to Camden too.  Emma and Meg held Parker for me all the time to save my arms and Jessa was awesome with Camden. She would help me not only to put Cam down for naps, but to get him things, to make sure he was behaving, etc.  She was such a fantastic influence on Cam! 

 Even the adults got in on the action and helped me so much.  Hopefully they had a little fun too...

It was so nice to be with family, not only for the help, but just to be with them. I love my family so much and wish we were closer to them.  It's always so fun to spend long periods of time with them. I already can't wait until March to see them!