The Taylor (Walker) Twins

A few weekends ago Matt and I snuck away to Fort Worth for a quick overnight trip to see the newest additions to the extended Taylor family. Katherine Collins and Martha Cunningham were born to my cousin and her husband on July 1st. They are absolutely precious and Blair and John seem to be taking parenthood in stride.

Another exciting event that had just occurred a few days before we arrived was that my other cousin, Leigh (Blair's sister) got engaged! We met her fiancee for the first time and really liked him. They plan on getting married in Santa Fe on May 5th. It will be quite the shin-dig I am sure.

It was just so fun sleeping in, riding in the car with Matt and seeing family we had not seen in awhile.

Blair feeding Katherine, me feeding Martha

Baby Martha is so tiny! She is still a few pounds behind her sister.

Martha and Martha

Leigh and her fiancee Michael with baby Katherine

Aunt Jerry admiring her Granddaughter

Me and Leigh

We had a yummy brunch at the Modern Museum

Matt loved the architecture. I wish we could have visited the whole museum

Cousins!

Grandmother and Me

Dada Day

Every Saturday has been named "Dada Day" by Alivia and Will. It starts with doughnuts at either Super Donuts on Far West, Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts. Then they hit the Dollar Store and possibly a quick trip into the pet store to take a look at the dogs getting groomed and eye the future guinea pig that will join our family "when Remy dies." I happened to join them today for the fun along with John and also hit a few other places. We are in the process of slowly transitioning John out of his morning nap which makes it so much easier to do something fun as a family in the mornings.

I relish these Saturday mornings with no agenda or plan!

First Day of Kindergarten for Alivia!

Today was the big day. Alivia's first day of Kindergarten at Veritas Academy. Matt's alarm did not go off so we both awoke at 7:10 in a state of panic. Thank goodness we had Alivia's uniform all ready. Mimi came over and helped get her breakfast going and Matt and I frantically packed her lunch. We took a few pictures of our precious girl and were out the door at 7:35 am.

We usually will have 4 other boys joining us in the morning for the carpool, but today everyone came with their own families.

There are 7 boys and 4 girls in Mrs. Foulkrod's class. When we arrived, Alivia walked confidently into the room, found her chair and the round table and began coloring. She hardly looked up again. That girl is focused! I waved and slinked out the door with a few tears in my eyes. I stayed in the hallway a few more minutes and peeked at the activity. She is sitting with 3 other boys at her table (there are 3 tables with 4 kids each).

When the boys and I picked her up she said, "I am tired. Today we played freeze tag. I was the only girl who did not get tagged!" Some other comments were, "The boys made funny faces and I laughed at them." "I made a friend with another girl who is not in my class." "We had Spanish class today." She also started rattling off the months of the year by memory. I was amazed!

Tomorrow will be our first day of homeschooling. This is quite an adventure. We get our homeschooling assignments for the week a few days before it starts and there is a communication folder that travels back and forth between the class and home. She already has some work to turn in next Monday.

Alivia was bummed to realize that she won't be able to go back to school again for FIVE more days. She wanted to celebrate her first day of kindergarten with a party, but settled for some Amy's Ice Cream after dinner. What a special day!

Mrs. Foulkrod

We went to Veritas on two separate occasions today to become more familiar with the routine, attend a parent orientation, and to meet our new Kindergarten teacher! Her name is Tonya Foulkrod and she has 4 girls who all attend Veritas.

When we walked in to meet her this afternoon, the first thing she said to Alivia was "I have been praying for you Alivia!" I was so touched I almost started crying. It was just another reassurance that we were in the right place.

Matt and I went to a Parent Orientation this evening while Alivia had another chance to meet some of her classmates and become familiar with the classroom. When we picked her up she seemed thrilled, gave Mrs. Foulkrod a big hug and in the car said "I can't wait to go back."

I know Veritas is different. I know it will be hard. I know it is counter-cultural and seems really really weird. But we feel called to be there and despite all of the inconveniences it poses (distance, unusual schedule, homeschooling) I feel good about our decision and am excited to see where God takes our journey this year.

Here's to you, Alivia. My KINDERGARTENER! Yahooo! Here we go!!!

Swagger Wagon

We got our new Honda Odyssey. I have to admit - I LOVE it!

We told the kids!

Alison encouraged us to tell Alivia and Will about their new sibling. So after dinner tonight Matt told them that he had a surprise. They were both thrilled to learn they were going to be a big brother and big sister again. Alivia immediately said "I hope it is a GIRL!" to which Will chimed "I hope it is a BOY!"

Matt and I think we will take them to my 20-week ultrasound so they can find out the gender of the baby with us.

I am already trying to explain that the baby will not arrived for a long, long, loooong time but it is hard for them to understand. Only about 24 more weeks to go! :-)

TCU Lake Weekend 2011

We had a blast. Everyone came this year (except Jackson who was finishing up his camp term at Kanakuk). Here are the cast of characters:

Red and Brian with Baker from Shreveport, LA

Anna and Sam with Catherine and Samuel from Denton, TX

Mandy and Shane with Birdie and Elle from Austin

Alison and Jason with Mollie Jane and Smith from Springfield, MO

Everyone arrived on Friday and we all had yummy Papa Murphy's pizza. It was so great to see everyone. The girls had seen one another in April in Vegas but we had not seen the kids and hubbies in awhile. The kids had a blast with one another and swam and swam. On Saturday all the grandparents and Alison's sister and brother in law and Anna's sister and brother in law all came out to see everyone and celebrate baby Elle's 1st birthday with a circus-themed party. We threw bratwurst and hot dogs on the grill and all the grandparents brought the sides. It was so fun! There were so many people there but the lakehouse holds them all with ease.

With most of the kids gone Saturday night (except Baker and Elle), the adults had some good margaritas and lemon drops courtesy of our bartender, Matt Risinger.

On Sunday we all slept in and Matt and I celebrated our 12th anniversary! He surprised me with some beautiful yellow roses. We all hung out with one another and I stayed in my PJ's until about noon and then went down to sunbathe in the water with my best girlfriends. It was heaven. For dinner that night we had the famous Shreveport steaks from Fairfield Grocery in Shreveport that I am still dreaming about as well as Brian's wonderful twice baked potatoes. We all sat around the table together and laughed and enjoyed each other's company.

I love each one of you girls and am thankful you are in my life.

Everyone got an early start home on Monday. It is always so hard to pack up and head home after such a fun weekend. We are already planning our next get together this October!