Gymtastic!

Ava has been going to gymnastics with her friend Gabby for several weeks and she LOVES it.

Anyone who has been around us for 5 minutes knows that Ava has a VEHEMENT opposition to pony tails. She has been known to scream "just a bow" for the better part of an hour. So, this was a big day in our household. She actually requested, two ponytails. That's right. Our life is changing...now if she would just sit on the potty without similar tantrums, we would have real progress!




Maybe a future in interprative dance?!

Of course they always wrap things up with the crowd favorite: ring around the rosey.
Ava and Gabby just chatting on their phones at lunch after gym. Typical girls.

30x30

That was Mark's weight loss goal for his birthday, but I think it may have also been the number of guests we had in relation to the occasion...which I LOVE! Mark's parents (oma & opa) came to finish out the celebration activities. She was so nice to decorate the house with streamers and balloons after we went to bed!

Brought Ava a pumpkin cookie from the dutch bakery. Of course, like her mother, Ava likes all refined food and was beyond pleased.
Ava and Opa working on puzzles. Thankfully Sheriff was close by to help.
Oh, it's that zoo book again. Notice it is ALWAYS someone else reading it. :)
Pumpking Carving!!!
Drawing a face...



And Kaiya sporting one of Dad's birthday cupcakes. She was a little more into that than her own birthday cake!
Thanks for coming Oma and Opa! We had so much fun with you. :)

30!!

Happy 30th Birthday to Mark. Last year I wrote about how much fun Mark is. And that is so true. But this year the qualities that made me love him more had nothing to do with fun.

I'll never forget him walking down the hospital hallway as I was standing outside Kaiya's room and just grabbing me. Never forget the words he said. Never forget watching him cry by her bed, and both of us cramming onto the single chair/bed for 14 nights so that we could be there with her. Then we got home and he spent the next month doing demo in our house...working full days of work, and then working full nights at our house. I almost burned our house down. We lost pictures. He opened a new account and had to be working 6 days a week, but still made time to be the best Dad/husband in the world. He lost 22 pounds. He is a rockstar.

We did have fun this year...but also so much more. I have never been more proud to be married this cute 30 year old. God has given him more character and integrity and strength than I ever knew. We love you!

Gone to Carolina in my mind.

Last weekend Mark and I got away for a quick work related event. Thankfully, some of our best friends live right by work :)-so we got to spend a fun couple days with the Kish's. Don't worry, our girls were WELL loved. See here for the fun they had!
I won't reinvent the wheel by talking about our friends, since I've posted about it before and will instead move on to talking about fair food.

That's right, we went to the fabulous North Carolina state fair, and oh was it yummy. Below might be one of my favorite all time pictures. This clearly displays our undying love for the funnel cake. Just wish Marky was in it. :)
Mark won the money bat when the guy incorrectly guessed his weight. (He got that free bat for a mere $4 guess fee! What a steal!) Also: Justin eating a turkey leg, "they're really really big!". You just can't beat it.
Fried pickles and ranch. Don't judge us.


Saturday night was the actual event. I was banned from obnoxious camera use, for which I am normally guilty. So the only picture we got was this LOVELY one from afterwards.
Nice stomach shot. Yep, it's big. Amazing what happens when you have no stomach muscles and 3 babies in not so many years.

SURPRISE!

Last weekend I had a two-fold surprise party for Mark. Several of Mark's buddies were able to come in from various places...(Seattle, North Carolina, Milwaukee, D-town, thanks guys!!) and so Friday night they were the first round of surprises. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep Mark from going for a run RIGHT before the first round was supposed to arrive. Mark came back super sweaty, but totally shocked to see his friends in our house! So much fun!


Then Petey came later, this was Mark's face when HE walked in the door. Fun, fun. And our precious friends from the East came, too-but I didnt' get enough pictures because well, he knew they were coming. Sorry guys...we couldn't love you MORE and thanks for helping me plan and feed and pull off this party weekend!
All the Taylor boys on their way out to stock up on Wii supplies.
The next day after they went golfing, they came back to the rest of the party already in progress at our house. Surprise again!

A few nice party moments. We had a lovely Mexican Fiesta. So much fun to have so many people we love in our house. :) We even got Grandpa playing archery on the Wii!! A truly special day.
And of course what kind of Fiesta is without a pinata?! No way that could happen at my house. The 3 and unders had a little trouble busting it open though so eventually Dave resorted to pitching it to Mark. Success. Clearly my child has a slightly unhealthy love of sweet things.
The rest of the weekend we just hung around and had fun. (ate) I made sure to get a picture of the double tv setup-one for Wii, and one for football. Crucial. Megan,Christina and I even got to go out and shop for a bit. And get McDonald's Diet Coke. I'd say it was a win win.

Happy Birthday to my favorite person in the world! More on how much I love him on his real birthday. Thanks to everyone who came for the best weekend ever! We love you!

Dear God, have Aunt Jill come back at Ava's house.

That was Ava's prayer after Aunt Jill came to visit us last week. Ok, she didn't really come to visit US, but more to watch my rock star nephews (who are the #1 seed in their flights in all of Michigan) play tennis, but she got to stay with us, and we took full advantage of her during non-tennis time.

She has 5 girls (in basically that many years), so it's always handy to have her around for discipline and child rearing expertise. And most of my childrens clothes are generous donations from my pretty nieces.

Anyway, Aunt Jill we LOVE you and miss you already! Thanks for coming at Ava's house. :) And thanks for all your help in the preparations for topic of my next post!

Isn't she pretty? I hope I look like that when I grow up.

Peanut Butter and Honey! (Happy Birthday, Kaiya!)

That's right angel. Welcome to a whole new world. Peanut butter will change your life.

Kaiya turned 1 last Wednesday. I am late to post, I think because it's hard for me to articulate how thankful I am for her life. Her life most certainly has changed my life, and the way I look at life. Sometimes I truly feel like I have survivor guilt. I know there are MANY people in far worse situations than we were...or people who deal daily with kids with special needs and cancer, and not knowing. And while our story lasted a much shorter time, it was still long enough to change us.

I learned how much comfort God gives to you, and can't imagine going through something like that without him. Even in the days where we didn't know if she would live, somehow the peace that transcends understanding really did fill us. I learned that our children really are not ours, and what a great blessing it is to get to be with them for however long we get to. I learned that people you have known for a short time can sustain you, and old friends 1,000 miles away can make you feel so loved you would think they were in the room. I learned what a fabulous man I married, and we have a family that should go down in history.

I feel differently now when I wake up in the night, or early in the morning, or when everyone is crying. (Although don't get me wrong, I still can often barely get out of bed!). Of course every life is a gift, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity I had to grow and appreciate that so much more.

I will stop now. And thank you for the chance for therapeutic writing. :) I am determined not to be one of those people who constantly refers to it in relation to everything, so this was my piece, and now I can be done. Happy Birthday to Kaiya! We love you so much baby girl.

The girl hasn't stopped smiling since she started. The first night after she was off the ventilator I was feeding her at 1:30 in the morning and she smiled at me. I called the nurse. :) I really believe she knows to smile for the camera. Such a happy girl!
We had a little party for her last week. She was really indifferent about the cake. Hmmm. She looks like her dad, so we know she IS ours, but that was weird. Eventually she fed herself some with a spoon. So lady like. Ava made up for her in cake consumption. We had a great day. We love you Kaiya!