Thursday, March 26, 2009

My blue-eyed baby boy...

... is turning three on Saturday. I heard the older your kids get the faster time goes by & I have to say I believe it. Especially in the last two or three months Evan seems to have mastered so many new skills. Drinking out of a cup, potty-training, moving into a big-boy bed (that is a task for this coming Saturday or Sunday), & his language has improved so much. He can now follow two directions with minimal distractions, and he is really understanding what Mark and I say to him.

We were talking this evening about the new baby, and he said something really cute:

me: "Evan, you know you are going to be a big brother, right?"
Evan: "Yes. Baby come out and play with me. I be gentle."
me: "You will be gentle?"
Evan: "Yes. But we play."

I tried to explain that the baby won't really be able to play with him right away, but I don't think he got that. At least he understood he needs to be gentle to our new little one :-)

Mark was gone for most of the day (and night... he's still at work!), so it was just the two of us at home. Evan got so many cool things for his birthday, one of them being a soccor goal and size 3 soccer ball from Auntie Abby. I don't think the intention was for it to be an indoor toy, but with it only 37 degrees outside and snow & sleet coming down, playing outside wasn't really an option today. Mark helped me put it together on Monday, and Evan has been scoring goals like crazy:



I'm not sure what the funny arm thing he is doing is all about. I am definitely not the most graceful person, so he might have inherited a little bit of spazziness from his mama!

Yesterday I was getting ready to put Evan to bed and he asked me to take "pitures" of him... most importantly his eyes:


And his "whale," which is actually the uvula. Why does he call it a "whale"? I have no idea, but I think it's cute!


Tomorrow is a grocery shopping day, with a little scrapping and card making in the evening.
Thank you cards & Project 365 are calling my name!
-E

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Spring Break is over...

...and we are home! Our trip was packed with parties & shopping & eating at restaurants we don't have in Pullman. I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would... I was too busy being "in the moment" during our trip. For me, that's okay. So many times I am behind the lens, not really participating in events. My mom did snap one photo of my baby shower:


I am so blessed to have many, many wonderful friends and a loving, supportive family. Once again, I was more than spoiled! Thank you to everyone who was there & all the adorable gifts for Baby T. Only 5 weeks left...

Evan's birthday party the next afternoon was a huge success. We kept it really low-key, and invited some family and one little friend. One of my favorite moments of the party was singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He isn't really a center-of-attention kid when there are lots of people around, so he covered up his ears during the song and said "no!" until we finished. He definitely got his shyness from his Daddy!





I am still way behind on my P365 album, but I really wanted to get a layout done tonight, so that's what I did! These photos were taken back in January during a play-date with a friend of Evan's.

I totally scrap-lifted this from Ali Edwards. I think the July 2007 issue of CK? I can't remember right now, but I am so thrilled with the 8 x 12 photo I used. Scrapbookpictures.com does a fantastic job with enlargements.

Off to clean up my scrappy mess!
-E

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

A quick post...

We are off to the West side in the morning to celebrate a certain little boy's 3rd birthday:

Evan & Mark were shooting hoops in the living room and Evan made a basket. This is his super excited "YES!" after making the shot!


One of Evan's favorite ABC puzzles. He likes to line up the letters in order and recite them to me :-)

We have such a busy 5 days ahead of us:
*Shopping for my baby shower & Evan's birthday
*Baking/cooking for two parties
*Evan, Mark, and Grandpa Taylor are heading to the air museum on Friday so I can do some baking/cooking in peace.
*Baby Shower Friday
*Birthday Party Saturday
*Mark is golfing on Sunday with my dad (if the weather is decent)
*Hopefully Abby & I will get to have a mani/pedi afternoon, if we can find a couple of spare hours!

I don't know how much posting I am going to do from the road, but I am looking forward to playing with Mark's new iPhone during the 5 hour car ride tomorrow! This is our first trip since Evan has been potty trained, so that should add a small dose of anxiety to us parents. He is just keeping us on our toes & making sure we don't get lazy in our old age!

Peace.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

My little helper & a new layout...

I am trying to cut down on the amount of bending over I do during the day... that motion really seems to aggravate my lower back now that I am well into my third trimester. The laundry fairy apparently has not heard my complaints so I am stuck bending over all day trying to get load after load finished. Today I enlisted the help of my almost-three-year-old:



I received a huge order of photos from scrapbookpictures.com today, and I wanted to create a layout, but wasn't sure which photos I wanted to use. I sort of picked the photos that were on the top of the stack, and this is the resulting layout:


(The layout is being held up by my Design & Display board from the June 2007 CK KOTM)

A few close-ups:




And I wanted to say thank you to everyone who sent me cards & well wishes & phone calls for my birthday yesterday! I was very, very spoiled this year by my family & friends. Thank you!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

"Today You" layout...

...I thought I would share a layout I did last week using some Ali Edwards clear stamps, Scenic Route patterned paper, and a Making Memories paper flower:





Mark has two days left until Spring Break... whoo-hoo! Really looking forward to spending a few days with my hubby & not sharing him with Senior Design & Independent Study & work & resumes & everything else he has to do.
Just some time for the two of us.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

He he..., look what I found :-)

@ Target:

My Treadmill

I think this might solve our never-ending-winter problem...


Happy Wednesday, friends.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Kamiak Butte Layout...

...I worked in my studio for a bit this evening. I have so many photos from 2008 I want to scrapbook, so I thought I would start looking through my "Fall 2008" storage binder for some inspiration. I love these photos Mark took of their outing to Kamiak Butte, despite how blurry they are. Evan was doing a lot of running away from Mark, who was under strict orders to bring back a few photos for me.



The snow did keep us inside today, but we have a lunch date tomorrow so we will be braving the weather for that. I am ready to get out of the house! I now know what "cabin fever" really means... luckily Evan has been a good sport about our not-so-spring-like weather. I am hoping when we head to the West side next week the weather will be decent. Evan's birthday party is at the zoo, and I'll be damned if I am going to miss a chance to get out and walk around for two or three hours! Rain or shine I plan to see some monkeys :-)

I will spare you more train photos, although Evan's Geotrax might be the only thing keeping him from climbing the walls. I am now an even bigger fan of Fisher-Price and their age-appropriate little boy toys. Now if only they could invent an indoor treadmill fit for someone 39 inches tall...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Work & Play & Trains...

Work: Laundry for me, Senior Design and Independent Study for Mark.

Play: Finished up the "Life Tunes" album for my "A Life Well Crafted" class through BPS.



Also finished working on the January Jenni Bowlin project kit. This is one of those projects I cannot wait to show people in person. I was a little apprehensive about using pictures of Evan in a very pink book, but I love how it turned out.





Trains: Spending a lot more time w/ Geotrax today. Making new tracks, using the remote trains & the push trains. Seeing how many cars he can pull around the track before they fall over & crash. Watching the snow fall & wishing we could be outside.





Tomorrow: More snow in the forcast, so we will be staying in. Did I mention I am looking forward to Spring?!?

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Spring forward...

I always forget how much I hate to "Spring Forward" every March. Lose an hour of my day? Yuck. So here it is, 1:40am, and my body is telling me it's only 12:40am, which is not bedtime. It doesn't help that I took a nice 2 hour nap between 8:30-10:30pm, so I am all screwed up. Between being pregnant and the time change I have a feeling I am going to be really crabby in the morning. Poor Mark!

We had a completely low-key Saturday here, which we needed. Evan played Geotrax for a good portion of the morning & afternoon, with a trip to the grocery store mid-day.

After nap Evan wanted to see "grandma-grandpa-abby" (all one word!), so I sat him in front of my computer and let him watch a slide show of some Christmas pics:



And because I think he's cute, even with his eyes closed:



Watching "Charlie & Lola" before bed. It cracks me up that he sits exactly like his Grandpa while watching TV. I need to find a picture of my dad in the same position :-)


And one more for good measure. As we get closer to bringing home Baby T, it seems so necessary to spend as much time with Evan as possible. I'm thankful everyday I can stay home with him & capture these great family moments, but somehow it still doesn't seem like enough. With all the changes 2009 will bring (new baby, Mark graduating, a possible move, new job, etc.), I want to stop time and simply enjoy where we are. When we first moved to Pullman in 2005 it seemed like we would be here forever, but we have really grown to love our little town & all the wonderful people we have met. I hope Evan remembers some of his time here. I know the Palouse will always hold a special place in my heart.



Friday, March 6, 2009

Just a few updates...

1.) Okay, so I know it's still technically winter, but seriously! I cannot believe we have snow. And it's sticking, and cold, and icy, and I am so ready for spring to come:



2.) I'm officially 31 1/2 weeks pregnant, and the belly is growing:


Baby Taylor is definitely a mover & a shaker. He loves to eat, and wiggles a ton after every meal. I have been craving Key Lime pie for the last few weeks, and have consumed more than any human should during that time, but it makes baby & mama happy and that's what matters.


3.) Mark & I both had doctor's appointments yesterday so the monkey came with us. He doesn't mind waiting in the room as long as mom has a purse full of cars to entertain him. During the car ride to the doctor's office Evan made it very clear he was not the one to see the doctor:

(pointing at us from the back seat):
"Mama go see doctors & Daddy go see doctors & Evan no go see doctors, ok?"



4.) I went to a "girl's night" at a friend's, and when I returned home Evan's cars greeted me in the family room. All lined up & organized in a way only Evan understands.

5.) For those who love to get a bargain, and especially on scrapbooking supplies, Crop Chocolate is a new website I found doing a "deal of the day." From what I have read on their site, every night at midnight MST they will offer one product at a great price. Only one deal per day, and once it's gone, it's gone.

6.) A couple more cards using some new Stampin' Up! products. Both cards were lifted from their current catalog, but I couldn't resist! Mark picked out the "Wild About You" stamp set for my birthday last year, so I really like using it... and it makes my hubby happy, too! The star was cut using my Slice, but all other product is Stampin' Up!



7.) Big Picture Scrapbooking is offering a class called "A Life Well Crafted," and I signed up for their March session. One of the pre-class projects is a handmade journal. I finished mine today during naptime:


It's a little hard to see, but the book is chipboard, covered with Making Memories paper. Then the top 2/3 of the cover has a Hambly transparency over it, and the embellishments are layered on top of the transparency.

Tomorrow is Friday, which means hanging out & doing a craft project with Evan. Peace.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

T-minus 8 weeks...

... until Baby Taylor makes his grand entrance, and I am really feeling the pressure to get a few projects done. One of the projects I want to complete is Evan's "Your Life" digital album. I love the quick pages & how easily each layout comes together... it's just a matter of getting it done! I worked for a couple hours tonight and completed pages 5, 6, & 7:


The page on the left, page 4 of Evan's book, I did last month.



Seriously considering adding some captions to the photos, but we'll see. I love how clean & simple it's turning out. Words & photos & very little fluff. Oh, and notice my belly in the top right photo? I don't have too many photos of me while pregnant, so I'm happy Mark caught me and Baby T on film (well, memory card).

Crazy busy week so far, and only getting more busy & more complicated. I'm hoping the weekend will bring some time for us to relax as a family before another busy week hits us. Happy Wednesday, friends.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

New photos & new cards...

We had a low-key Saturday at the Taylor house today. Potty training is in full swing, which limits our outings. I'm not brave enough to venture out longer than about ten minutes, but Mark and Evan did make a dinner run this evening without any accidents! We decided to put Evan directly in big-boy underwear, skipping pull-ups (except at nap and bedtime), and it's gone really well; only two accidents in the last five days. We couldn't be more proud of our little guy!


A very sleepy little boy right before bedtime. Watching a little Charlie & Lola and cuddling with Mom & Dad.





Some post-naptime smiles, and "sad faces."




A play-dough date with Mark... lots of creating and mess making for Mommy to clean up :-)






A few cards using new Stampin' Up! products. The top two cards were lifted from www.splitcoaststampers.com, and the last card is one I got from the Spring/Summer preview catalog.

Peace.