&t The Taylor Family: March 2012

Saturday, March 31

Egg Hunt

Abbi brought home a little advertisement about
and Egg hunt at a park in our neighborhood. I had been trying to find good egg hunts in our area that fit our schedule but didn't find many so this was perfect. The hunt was at Valentine Park which we have been to many times and even did one of the egg hunts there a couple years ago. I took the kids over while Daddy got some work done and we found a couple friends and talked a bit. The kids all went in the bounce house for a while and then we found all the different age group and hunt areas. The kids were all spread out so I stayed with Javan and
then kept an eye on the girls from a distance. A firetruck brought the Easter Bunny over and Javan was extremely excited about that. Finally it was time to grab as many eggs as possible (it really isn't much of a "hunt"). Javan walked over several eggs to grab the one he had his eye on from the beginning and we had previously discussed. After he put it in his bucket he walked over several more and picked up another. I went and
showed him that he could just put any egg in his bucket and then he started to fill it up. When the bucket was about 2/3 full and there were still several eggs all around Javan comes over and says, "I'm done". Okay, fine with me so we went to find his sisters and got to watch them running around a little bit until the eggs were all snatched up. The girls were both proud of their buckets full of eggs. We jumped in the food line real quick while it was still short and then we found a spot in the shade to sit and eat and look at the treats. After everything was eaten and all the
eggs had been opened and rummaged through we put the empty eggs in the basket so the city could use them again next year. I let Javan keep the one he went for first because he was really excited about getting it. The girls each picked one to keep too and then we headed home.

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Friday, March 30

Fresh

Our newly mulched playground.

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Thursday, March 29

Book Buddies

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Monday, March 26

30th Birthday

Today is my actual Birthday and I turn 30. I have already enjoyed a weekend full of fun and I didn't have anything planned today. I went to work as usual and my friend, Jane, took me out to lunch (my sergeant was supposed to but he got held up so he will tomorrow). Nothing real exciting at work except I got a delivery at the station. I went downstairs to get it and found a beautiful bouquet of all my favorite flowers from my wonderful husband. They smell so good. When I got home I was happy to have a nice quiet evening with my family. My friends Joe and Jana stopped by briefly to drop off a
potted rose bush and cupcakes and ice cream. They are so sweet. Peter made dinner, BBQ chicken, corn and potato salad which was delicious and I was happy to not have to cook. I know a lot of friends who had a bit of a crisis when they hit 30 but I can't say I feel the same. I really feel that I have done a lot in my 30 years and I couldn't really expect anything more. I know and love my God and have been married to my wonderful husband for 11 1/2 years. We have 3 beautiful and intelligent children and I have carried 5 other babies for people who couldn't have any. I have a career that I love and enjoy and a church where we are a part of a large and caring family. God has been very good to me in my 30 years and I am excited to see what else he has in store for me.

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Saturday, March 24

More Birthday Fun

After Peter and I left the zip line fun we drove to Christina and Noah's house. We both got cleaned up with showers and new clothes and
then the four of us headed out to have lunch at Panera. I haven't had Panera for a meal in weeks because we gave up eating out at restaurants so this was a really nice treat. The boys went back to the house and Christina and I went across the street to get pedicures. We haven't had one since the before the cruise but both of us still had quite a bit of polish on our nails.
The pedicures were long and very relaxing and now my toes are so happy to be all prettied up again. We left just as a big storm ended and drove back to Christina's house to get ready for my party. I had a couple more things to do to prepare and Christina got busy in the kitchen preparing and putting out a ton of delicious foods. One by one guest started to arrive and pretty
soon we were all in conversation and enjoying ourselves. Christina and Noah are always great hosts and everyone always feels welcome. We had a great dinner and kept snacking and then I opened my presents. I got some really cool things that I am excited to use and put up in my home and really nice cards from everyone. Next was cake and of course I had chosen to have
an ice cream cake, my favorite. Everything was great and I had a really good time. Thank you Christina and Noah for the wonderful party and excellent food!! I am so happy that I got to spend my 30th birthday with you and my friends.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 10:11 PM   0 comments

Zipping around

Peter has been asking me for a while what I wanted to do for my birthday and I really didn't know. All I knew is that I wanted it to be something big and exciting because it was my 30th and I wanted it to be really memorable. One day I came home and pulled up a link on Peter's computer and said, "I want to do this". He got super excited and the plans were made.
This morning we got up and had breakfast at Chick-fil-a and then drove over to Florida Eco Safari in St. Cloud to go zip-lining. This is the biggest and tallest (60' high) course in FL with the longest single zip line of 682'. When we got there we signed our waiver and then waited for our ride out to the course. They take you in groups so we were with three other adults and then half of a girl scout troop that was camping out there.
We rode through the woods a bit and passed lots of wild life: cows, llamas, bald eagles, horses, and alligators and their babies. We arrived on the site and then we had to gear up. It was interested strapping everything on and tightening it all it was snug.
After waiting around for a while it was finally time to head out. We walked over to a tower and walked up 7 flights of stairs to the top. The guide decided that Peter and I would go first and the girl scouts last. He gave us a quick safety lecture and directions and then we were ready to go. Peter went first and it was pretty scary but he made it safely to the other side. Next was me and I was pretty shakey and frightened which surprised me, I
was not expecting that. It was scary to look straight down with nothing between you and ground except 60' of air. The guide hooked me up and then told me I could go. I was supposed to just pick up my feet and let gravity take me but it was really scary. I think what saved me was that the other half of the girl scouts had gone in the group before us so I figured, "if 12 year old girl scouts can do it so can I". I picked up my feet and I was off!
It was a ton of fun and it got easier each platform we went to. I think there were 9 zips altogether and a couple bridges and a spiral staircase you had to climb on one platform. The weather was perfect (though the wind did rock some of the taller towers which added to my fright) and not too hot. It took us about 3.5 hours to get through the entire course and when we landed we were ready to go again. We probably would have hung out and watched the rest of the group go but we had more plans for the day and needed to get going.

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Friday, March 23

Birthday Weekend Begins

This week at work has been one of the worst but now that it's Friday I don't have to think about work again until Monday. Peter has a great weekend for me planned since my big 3-0 birthday is Monday. This morning I did a little bit
of my weekend chores and then we headed over to mom's house where we dropped off Javan and Abbi (Bresa was already there because of Spring Break) and then we picked up a quick lunch on our way to the Prime Outlets in Orlando. We did a bit of shopping and went store to store, not really looking for anything in particular but enjoying just taking our time with no schedule and no kids. Once I had had enough Peter drove us to the hotel we would be staying at the Caribe Royal. The hotel was beautiful and had a huge pool with a waterfall with lots of tropical touches to it. Once we dropped off our stuff we headed out again to find a local movie theater. Today the movie October
Baby opened and I had seen previews for it a long time ago and really wanted to see it. We found the theater and got popcorn and soda and then found our seats. The movie was really good and it made me cry (but really, what doesn't?). We left the theater and then walked store to store around the strip mall before we went back to the hotel. We got back as it was getting dark so we decided to go for a night swim in the awesome pool. The water was a little cool for our taste so we just hung out in the hot tub for a while. It was very quiet and relaxing and I appreciated being able to let the stress and tension of the week lift off of me. On our way up to our room we picked up a pizza from one of the restaurants and then retired for the evening.

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Saturday, March 17

A day of Arts

Happy St. Patrick's Day. The girls forgot to do something nice for the Leprechaun last night so there were no surprises this morning. I don't mind though, he always leaves a mess. Usually the girls try to catch him with a
homemade trap but they thought this year they would do something nice in hopes that instead of a mess he may leave a cool surprise. They have decided they may try something tonight since the Leprechauns should still be around. After a little around the house stuff we loaded up the car and to head to Winter Park. Peter had to make a quick stop at Music and Arts to drop off a couple guitars he had repaired and then we made it to the Winter Park Art Festival. I have a connection with Winter Park PD so we got prime parking, up front and free. We got out of the car and walked around a million people so we could check out all the booths that were up. There were people everywhere and the sun was very hot but there was a nice breeze in most places. We walked and walked and saw a couple really cool things but for the most part nothing we were really interested in so we got in the car and headed towards the REP Theatre. Tonight we had tickets to see Lyle the Crocodile.
We got there just in time to find our seats and only waited a couple minutes before the play started. The children really enjoyed the show and Javan sat very still and quietly on Daddy's lap. When the show was finished we exited and got in line with our Sonny's Dinner tickets so we could have a good meal before heading home. It was a long day but we all had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of cool things.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 9:12 PM   0 comments

Wednesday, March 14

Now we're cookin'

Last Saturday our oven blew up while I was making lunch. The bottom element burned itself into two pieces and the wire that connects it fried up and couldn't be found. The knob that turns the oven on and off stopped working and Peter had to turn the breaker off to get it to stop sparking and flaring up inside the oven. Good times. It was a bit scary at first but once the power was cut to it everything calmed down a bit. We weren't really sure what to do so we went online to see what our options were. Because there were so many things wrong with the oven we soon learned it was beyond economical repair so we started looking at buying a new one. We just replaced our dishwasher so this was a
very unexpected expense but one we couldn't put off for very long. To magnify the need of the stove Peter and I had recently given up eating out at any restaurant for the 40 days that leads up to Easter. We have been doing so well for 2 weeks but now we had a new obstacle. Saturday night I made the kids some oatmeal in the microwave and heated up a pasta dish for peter and I in the electric skillet. Because we can't turn the power to the oven on we couldn't use the stove either. The next few nights we had Taco salad (electric skillet) and then two crock pot meals of Chicken and Rice Soup (perfect for Peter's sore throat) and last night was Beef Stew. Everything tasted great but I was really running out of ideas for how to make dinner without an oven or stove. We had looked at a few ranges at the place where we bought the dishwasher but the one we wanted would take 2 weeks to get in, not going to happen. Peter went online and made a few calls and ultimately ordered the one I wanted. Today when I got home I had a brand new stove waiting for me!! It is beautiful and I couldn't wait to try it out. I made some breaded ranch chicken in the oven and I made diced potatoes in garlic parsley sauce as well as some green beans. The range did a great job and I am so relieved to have a full kitchen again!

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Monday, March 12

Sisters

I came out of my room earlier and found the girls like this. Abbi is going to be a very good mommy some day.

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Sunday, March 11

Eat through a straw

Abbi is losing more teeth and I am afraid she will soon have to gum all her food. Hopefully some of her adult teeth start poking through soon.

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Friday, March 2

Brush 'em real good!

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Thursday, March 1

My Boys

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