The middle of July...

We had very special visitors the middle of July...Tom's big brother Pete, our sister in law Tammy, and our three adorable, sweet nieces Katrina, Bekkah and Olivia. We had a great time with them and were so grateful they got to come and be with us! The first night they were with us, Katrina (she's 8) sang a cute song about Grandmothers. After her little performance, Taylor decided she had to perform too...so the next few pictures are of her singing and dancing and Max holding her hand dancing (there's a video at the bottom of this enourmous post ;-). While they were visiting, Taylor had her 4th birthday on July 15th; so she had a super special birthday and celebrated with her cousins!

A fun day in Denver (catching up from this summer)

We decided we'd take a vacation day and have a fun, family day in Denver so we took the kids to the Children's Museum, Casa Bonita and the Butterfly museum. It's always so much fun to do special things with them and watch them have fun!

taking a little break (Cam's napping).

I know the above pic is a little blurry, but it's Taylor's picture of a butterfly. It was so cute, she'd take a picture of a butterfly and then turn the camera around so the butterfly could see the picture of itself! We were getting a big kick out of her!

Taylor is wearing her 'butterfly dress' for the occasion. and this is Max's favorite hat...his "monster hat". It's my favorite too! I actually paid full price (something I NEVER do--it was only $5 though) because I thought it was pretty stinkin' cute! ;-)

holding Rosie the spider again...this is our second time visiting her and last time Taylor and Max both held her...this time neither did! funny kids! ;-)

yes, a little late posting these pics (she's actually 7 1/2 months) but oh well!

It's Moving Day!

I really have a bazillion other things to do, but we won't have internet for a few days and I just had to get the pics of Taylor and Max being oh, so affectionate up for you (these pics just crack Tom and I up!). It's been a whirlwind of a summer though with a lot of ups and downs. This move was pretty unexpected; but it will be good. Here are some pics of the house from the day I first looked at it. The landlord was there working on it. Since that day, brand new carpet and kitchen and bath floors were put in, which is a big reason why we decided to move into this house. we are SO excited for this backyard! It will be our first official fenced-in backyard!

and yes, we're an affectionate family :0)

oh, they are going to love this picture when they are older! ;-)

kiddos!

Miss Cambri!

Once again, my friend Sarah delivered some great photos...I'm a little late in posting these. This is Cam at two weeks old. Better late than never though, right?

Potty Humor

We're in the wonderful process of potty training Maxwell...oh, the joy! We're pretty non-aggresive in our approach. I'd rather just fork over $13.79 for our big box of size 4 target brand diapers than have poop and pee on the floor and have fights over going to the potty. With Taylor, once she was ready and we got her a brand new pack of princess underwear; it seemed like we didn't have to do any training at all...it really was wonderful!

A few months ago I was on the phone and I went to check on Taylor and Max. They were in the bathroom and Taylor had Max on the little potty and had a slew of books lined up for him on the floor and had all his pullups lined up on the floor next to the books. I chuckled, walked away and came back in a few minutes later to see that the books and pullups had been picked up and Taylor was on the big potty, Max was on the little potty and they were having a nice little conversation with each other (I love it when they do that--it's too cute and funny!). On my third visit to check on them (just a few minutes later) Max was standing up, and Taylor was standing on a stepstool getting ready to clean out the 'bowl' of the little potty because Max had peed and POOPED in his potty for the first time ever! Needless to say, they both got a special treat and I was super impressed with both of them!

She's still working on him...GO Taylor!

Why is it?

Why do you gain weight when you start working out?!?

This is a great article!!! Perfectly stated and explained...the moral of the story is to never, never, never give up!

It seems like I'm always having ladies feel frustrated because of this issue. I think the most important thing is to continue strengthening, stretching and working your body so as you get older you get

stronger and healthier! Rather than the typical...vice versa.

Also, if you read the entire article; then you read the part about the importance of what you're putting into your mouth...food is such an important part of human life; it's what gives us fuel and energy (or the lack thereof), it's often how we celebrate and it can literally heal us!

Need some inspiration to eat healthier? Check out one of my favorite books:

50 Secrets of the World's Longest Living People

TO GOOD HEALTH!