Midweek Confessions!

Time for some midweek confessing! I'm linking up with E today from E, myself and I.

1. I want a minivan SO badly! Like so badly that its embarrassing. I have a great SUV. It's paid for. Kid friendly. Has 115K on it but it's a Toyota so that's only like half it's lifespan... and I feel guilty for wanting a new car when I have a perfectly fine one. Maybe if it were a gift I wouldn't feel so bad. Anyone want to give me a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Sienna? It would be rude of me to turn it down.

2. Tonight my husband was supposed to work so I already made plans with the DVR to watch Pretty Little Liars and do some sewing. I know I was supposed to be excited when his work project got canceled and now we get to "spend time together tonight".... but I'm disappointed about pushing back "my date with myself" until TBA....

3. Avery LOVES shoes which works out nicely because now that her feet have FINALLY grown out of 6-9 month shoes (which as a side note are SO hard to find for a child who walks!) I have gone baby shoe buying crazy! :) Think polka dots, bow, fun colors! Oh the fun shoes out there for little girls!!!

4. Recently, I've started ebaying some of Parker's clothes (that make it past one season on a 3 year old boy) and lots of Avery's clothes. It has become such a fun game for me! It's funny to see what people start bidding wars over and what people completely pass over. If you want to check out what I have listed, I'm taylorlwise on ebay. I usually list in groups of 10-12 items because it's time consuming to post items! If you have an "Avery" or know of one, you can score some great monogrammed stuff right now! :)

5. Last night at prayer time, Parker thanked Jesus for "Super Why." Amen, Parker... Amen.

Parker with his great grandmother's newspaper reader. He was SO intrigued with how big everything was!

6. I don't watch a ton of TV but I am a very faithful follower of a few shows. Army Wives is almost over FOR GOOD and I may slide into a slight depression until Modern Family comes back on to distract me from my Sunday night loss. 

7. It's almost football season! I am more excited about dressing my kids in "spirit wear" than I am about the actual games.

8. I'm STILL nursing... Avery is 15 months old... I thought weaning would be easier.... heck, I even went out of town for 3 1/2 days and we started right back where we left off within 5 minutes of me being home. Sometimes I'm SOOO over it.... particularly when she self serves in public (yes that happens... almost daily) and other times, I'm still glad we're doing it. She's my baby... she's tiny... and I'm a sucker for this face.

Avery with her great grandfather

Confession #9 should be the condition of my kitchen but as opposed to confessing it's disarray, I think I'll just go clean it! To the bookclub dishwasher! (super why fans.. did you catch that?!)

Zoo and Zeke!

On Wednesday the kids and I hopped in the car and headed 2 hours south to Greenville, South Carolina to visit my college BFF, Erin and her 6 week old preciousness Zeke! She lives in the cutest little old home on a tree lined old street in a sweet part of Greenville BUT that cute little brick house also has a cute little brick fireplace. Avery + brick fireplace most certainly = ER for stitches so we opted to meet at the Greenville Zoo. 

Erin went by Chick-fil-a (AKA Chick - a - lay to Parker) and met us at a big park outside of the zoo. We downed some Christian fried goodness and embarked on our tour through the zoo. The zoo is tiny but well maintained. We shared the zoo with about 15 other people so the kids really got to see the animals without being rushed. 

The zoo was a perfectly place to sport her new "lil sis" t shirt and hot pink pettiskirt! Tutu cute! Funny story... I was making this shirt and accidentally started making one that said "big sis Avery" and FREAKED when I realized my mistake. The seam ripper and I had a date and I quickly fixed it to "LIL SIS" but whew.... Seeing "Big sis Avery" sent my heart racing! Lord willing, Avery will remain "Lil Sis!" 2 Avery's would surely send me to an early grave!

"Big Bro" excited to see the zebras.... which come to find out they don't have at that zoo but the ducks (shocker, right) fully made up for the lack of zebras!

ELEPHANTS!

Sweet boy, Zeke! He's PRECIOUS!

Love that sweet smile! Smiles like these make 4 hours in the car totally worth it!

Checking out the giraffes!

Pretty mama and her cub checking out the giraffes

The kids really enjoyed seeing the lion because it was up against the glass. Poor lion was super depressed, alone and in a tiny habitat. It needed a friend... or antidepressants.

Other zoo highlights were the snakes (eww!), monkeys, leopards and toddler playground. I took lots of cute pictures of the kids playing on the playground with my phone to send to Daniel but haven't uploaded them to the computer. Overall, it was a great day. The kids were well behaved, the drive was easy and pretty quick and I really enjoyed seeing Erin and Zeke. We ended the day at the Carolina Place Mall for a few fall clothes, Jessie PJs (HUGE HIT!) and then home for baths and bed. Days like these make me feel SO blessed to be a stay at home mom!

15 months old!

Avery Madison, you are 15 months old going on 2 1/2 years old in a 9 month old body! You had your 15 month well check today and the results are in... (dramatic pause)...

The calm before the storm.... buckling her into her car seat is an Olympic sport

You weigh a whopping 18.4lbs (1%). You are 29.75 inches (24%). Your peanut head is 45cm (22%).... so basically, you're perfectly petite. The doctor is a bit concerned that you eat 3-4 meals a day plus 3 snacks and are loosing weight instead of gaining but if he spent 30 minutes with you at home, he would see you just NEVER SIT DOWN! We're monitoring your weight and reevaluating at your 18 month check. Some possibilities were thrown around that really shook me yesterday but I've decided to not even entertain those thoughts. You're just a busy peanut.

Averyzilla

On September 4th you start toddler tumbling! We needed to figure out how to harness your energy and insane climbing skills so gymnastics it is! I couldn't find any actual gymnastics classes for children under the age of 2 so this will do until next May. I seriously think you would be a wonderful gymnast. You're petite, insanely strong, have no fear and climb and jump off anything you can.

Asleep on the boat

You climb the side tables and jump onto the couch. You can climb into your highchair but not out which scares me to death! You try to jump from the ottoman to the couch and are successful 50% of the time. Your brother taught you jumping off the slide is way more fun than sliding down it so that it your new trick. I have to admit, your abilities are impressive but life with these new skills has proven to be stressful! I see ER visits in our future.

Puzzle fun at Parker's school

You are smart as a whip! Often when you need a diaper change, you'll bring me wipes. You respond to request such as "Avery go get Parker's shoes." You don't speak much but you "sing" all day and even in the correct melody. If I sing "Jesus loves me," you'll sing babbles in close to the same tune. You clearly say: mama, dada, braba (brother), that, dog,  thank you and yeah. The word "yeah" and "that" along with your pointer finger has made meeting your wants much easier.

Shoe Obsession

Girlfriend, you've got a temper. I compare your temperament to your brother at 2. If you don't get your way, a meltdown follows. I think this is because you know what you want and can't always communicate it. When you can communicate it but don't like my answer you are inconsolable. Like, drop the groceries, leave the cart, get you out of the store awful. Lately, you don't like shopping carts and want to walk but you're a distracted little shopper so I either have to shop quickly, do it when you're asleep and I'm wearing you in the ergo, send daddy shopping or wait until the weekend and go alone. One day you'll be my shopping buddy again!

Avery decided to pull clothes out of her drawers and try on some different options

You and your brother have started playing together a lot lately. You guys like to climb together, roll on the couch, crawl through the tunnel and play color changers. You also fight! Parker has recently started putting you in time out when you bite him or pull his hair. Its hard not to giggle! He doesn't like to share his toy story toys but loves dressing you in his woody jammies. You guys are so cute playing "buzz and woody!" You wake up 1st in the morning and can't wait to run into Parker's room to get him up!

Sweet kisses

You are obsessed with shoes. You know whose shoes are whose and if you find a pair around the house, you take them to the owner. You love wearing shoes and are especially fond of any pink shoes. You do not like bows any more... I still put one on you in public and keep putting it on you until I give up. I think when you have enough hair to clip it to you'll be better about wearing one.

No, they don't pee pink and blue... my kids love bath tub color changers by Crayola!

You will eat anything I put on your tray but blueberries, mac and cheese, spaghetti and cheese are your favorites. You wear size 12 months clothes and size 4 diaper. You usually nap twice a day for 30-45 minutes unless you're in the car. You nap longer then. You still LOVE bath time and then sleep from 7:30-5 and then again from 5:15-6:30ISH. Your nightly sleep patterns still baffle me. You can sleep "through the night" one night and then get up 5 times the next. It is getting better though! You're down to nursing 2 times a day and we're working on cutting those even though you are not happy about it! You have 6 teeth and 2 molars.

Couch nap!

 You are either happy or livid. There isn't much in between! Most of the time, you are a complete joy! You love to give kisses and quick hugs... then you're off and running! Snuggles are frequent but quick! I love watching you learn new things everyday! You're so full of wonder and love for life. You're smiley and know how to work a crowd. You haven't met a stranger, unless they try to hold you. You are loved, cherished and such a little sunshine! We couldn't imagine life without you!

It's like Where's Waldo except way less fun since I had to clean up this mess!

Happy 15 months!

4th of July (only slightly late)...

I love America... I love red, white and blue.... I love food... not so much fireworks but I tolerate them this one day a year... I like parades... I love my friends... any excuse to dress the kids in coordinating outfits...INDEPENDENCE....  so basically I'm a fan of the 4th of July.

This year we choose not to head up to the lake with the rest of Charlotte and stayed close to home, celebrating with our new neighborhood friends. We started the day with coordinating patriotic outfits and a fruit flag.

We tailgated for the city of Waxhaw parade which I had NO idea was a big deal but man, people love parades. Right as it was about to start the 10am train came through town much to the delight of all toddler boys...

...Except Parker who thought it was too loud and was disappointed that it wasn't Thomas or Percy.

The parade was filled with local politicians, dance teams, boy scouts and businesses... the registrar of deeds even got her own convertible... the typical cute, small town parade.

My favorite "float":

How cute is that car?!

And my least favorite float was covered in boys with water guns. Can you see my displeasure?

 Princess Taylor in full effect right there!

Avery was SUPER difficult to get to sit still and Parker spent pretty much the entire parade in the wagon covering his ears and closing his eyes... I don't think we'll do the parade for a few more years.

After the parade we went home, put Avery down for a nap and quickly decorated the wagon for the neighborhood parade. I thought the wagon was precious!

I Parker was really into it, can you tell?

I had to bribe Parker with my phone just to get him in the wagon. He heard the word "parade" and was totally uninterested! These kids; however, were ADORABLE and loved it!

In the afternoon, we went to the pool and Daniel tried to get the kids involved in the "prescot summer Olympics" but lets be honest... my 14 month old is an impressive swimmer for her age but certainly is no gold mentalist compared to a 9 year old! haha. Oh but bless her heart she tried. Daniel brought home the silver in the water balloon toss because he ditched me as a partner in favor of an athletic man.... I'm so proud... haha

Daniel and the kids in the "opening ceremonies!" So cute!

This 4th of July celebration was a bit too much for the kids at their ages. They were exhausted and asleep by 6:30. I had a good time but I learned my lesson.... I drug the kids from event to event that I thought they would like but it was really more about me forcing memories on them and fitting too much into a day too early. You know what I mean? They were tired, cranky and overwhelmed... SENSORY OVERLOAD! Next year I think we'll just do the neighborhood parade and play by pool in patriotic swim suits.  Easy Peasy :) Happy Birthday, America!