Christmas!

OK, so hopefully this post will wrap up the Christmas posts and get me back on track. 

Christmas Eve, Rachel M. and I hosted, what has morphed from our families’ Christmas Eve celebration into a Christmas Eve open house of sorts.  I love love love to bake between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I bake up a storm and Rachel typically contributes the savory finger foods (and some sweets too).  We invite anyone who doesn’t have anything to do on Christmas Eve.  We always think not many people will come, but it ends up being 6 or 7 families and just the right number.

Of course, we work around the awesome Christmas Eve service at the church. 

I’ll tell ya, the service is one I look forward to every year.  It’s not long and it’s all family, so I wasn’t sure how Kylie would do.  But as expected (since we went to the 2:00 service), she fell asleep and slept right through the best part…

It’s an awesome quiet time right before the mass chaos of Christmas.

Christmas Eve, we let Jenna open up one gift and traditionally, it’s always pajamas…usually Christmas themed.  This year, there was a little twist and it was a big hit!

Footies!  And to top off the excitement of the day, right before we left for service, Jenna comes in with this…

Good thing the tooth fairy and Santa know each other! 

Christmas morning, Jenna managed to sleep until about 7:30 or 7:45.  I woke up before her, of course, and got presentable.  When everyone was up, we traipsed downstairs.

This little scooter thing was Jenna’s gift to Kylie.  She saw it somewhere (on tv, online?) and paid for it herself.  It is like a 360 ride on toy and so it’s very easy to maneuver and Kylie LOVES it.

I love this but still haven’t found time to put photos in it.  In time though…in time.

Jenna took money and bought both of us stuff and she is getting really good at picking out thoughtful gifts.  For instance, because Steve volunteers at the gun range, she picked him out a Wii paintball game.  But the biggest “Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle” gift this year was for Jenna.

So Jenna reads the riddle (there were numbers underneath but for privacy, I cropped them out) and she’s trying to figure out what it means when the box starts vibrating.

Now before I catch heck about giving my 11 1/2 year old a cell phone, an iPhone no less, let me explain…this is my old iPhone 4 (part of our early Christmas to each other was that Steve and I upgraded to 5s) and because of our shared minutes plan, it only cost me $10 more to put Jenna on the plan AND I am under no contract and dropped our $30/month mifi, so still saved $20.  Anyway, we wanted to see how responsible she would be while we have little to lose and lots of control.  In this day of instant contact, I like being able to reach Jenna when she’s at a friend’s house or across the street/outside playing.  Anyway, it has been a good thing for us (the best way to get her to listen is threaten to take away the phone!) and the phone did come with a list of rules that she had to agree to before accepting the phone.

Anddddd…that’s her reading them.    But all in all, she’s been good with it and I loved her excitement.

Later in the afternoon, we went for the Taylor family Christmas and how wonderful it was!

My niece Alex and her family weren’t able to make it in town but this is the rest of the crew.  I love these folks.

After that, we went home and exchanged with the big kids which I always enjoyable.

This is Steve with his gift from Chase.  I can assure you, he didn’t smile like this for ANY gift I got him  Humph.

We bought Gage a Wii which was his big surprise.  He didn’t really get too excited over it here, but Micah says they play it all the time so I know he is glad to have it.

It was a good Christmas.  Not too chaotic…I wished the weather had been colder.  I’m a fan of white Christmases, but that definitely wasn’t in the cards this year.  Maybe next…

And that concludes the Taylor Family Christmas of 2012.  Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Happy Birthday Chase!

Today, I want to take just a moment to say Happy Birthday to the "token male" in my family (other than Steve!!)

I've been fortunate to be part of Chase's life since he was 6 years old.  He is as laid back and easy going now as he was then.  I always said Chase acted like he could take it or leave it. And that was true for everything and everybody.  Of course, I know now that he really does care about people and things but back then, I wasn't so sure.

Chase runs his own store here locally and we are VERY proud of what he's done with his life.  He still knows how to punch my buttons, but I quite enjoy the time I get to spend with him.

Jenna and Kylie both call him Chasey and think he hung the moon.  He is the world's best big brother.

Chase-Happy birthday!  We are SO proud of you!  May this be the beginning of the best year ever!

30 Days of Thanks - Day 9

Today I am thankful for my son Chase.

Like with Micah, I met Chase when he was a wee one.  Around 6 years old, I think.  For years, I thought Chase could take me or leave me.  As in, he was cool that I was around, but I always thought he'd be cool if I wasn't.  What I have learned is that he is just that kind of laid back.  When Jenna was born, Micah was enamoured and in love, Chase was like "Meh.  Does she do anything other than eat, sleep and cry??"  (Let it be said that Jenna loves both of them like nuts now!)

Chase was very good at arguing and I'm a little surprised he didn't end up as a lawyer.  He'd certainly make a good one!!

Anyway, several years ago, Chase was working a job near me and we were having lunch one day when he said, "I don't want to work a $10/hr job the rest of my life."  My advice to him was, "Then you need to do what you have to do NOW, while you have few responsibilities, to ensure you don't HAVE to work a $10/hr job for the rest of your life."

A few weeks later he joined the Marine reserves and went off to boot camp.  I was terrified for him, but he blew through boot camp like a champ.  After training, he came home and got a job as a mechanic.  Fast forward a few years and he now runs his own tire/battery store here in the area.  And yes, I'm proud to report the boy probably makes 12454 times what I do for a salary.  I'm hoping for a real nice Christmas present this year.  :)

At any rate, I love this boy more than I thought possible.  And I love talking to him.  I'm so proud of him.

I am thankful.

Family Photos!!!

A few weeks ago, we met my good friend Samantha at Samantha Byers Photography, for some long overdue family photos.

The best thing about these photos is that they had my BIGS in them!!!  I love my big kids like nuts.  They were 10 and 6 (almost 7) when I met Steve and so I've been privileged to be part of their lives for a very long time.  5ish years ago, Micah gave birth to a son, Gage, and made me a "Mimi" at 33.

Now that they are grown, we don't see Micah and Chase as much and I miss them.  This is the first time Micah had even met Kylie and as I suspected, she took right to her.  So without further ado...the photos that will soon be hanging in my foyer...

 My handsome big boy, Chase.  He's gonna be a catch for the right girl.  He's motivated and a super hard worker.  And yeah, likely already makes 3x the salary I do.  I hope he remembers me when it's time to pick out my nursing home.  :)

Kylie is at the age where it's a big difficult to photography her because her attention span is about 2.534 seconds.  She really liked this chair though and was showing us how to say her prayers...and then saying "cheeeessseeee" at the same time.

Micah and Gage.  I know, right?  She can't deny him for sure.  And she is so pretty...always has been. I love this girl.  She is the best mom EVER.  She never ceases to amaze me.  And lemme tell you, both my bigs love Jenna to bits and pieces.  And Jenna is crazy about them both too.  To her, and now to Kylie, they are Sissy and Chasey.

Gage and Jenna.  I think he might like her a little.  This girl is the BEST with children.  She's gonna make a heck of a Mama some day.

She looks 15 here.  I don't wanna talk about it.  At first I was really frustrated with her hair and how it looked unkempt and not all smooth like how it looks best.  But you know, I decided I wanted to remember her just as she was at this age (which is ELEVEN, not 15!) and so I just let her be her.  I think she does a pretty good job of it.

There just aren't words to say how much I adore this photo.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  I have been blessed with some dang good lookin kids...only one of which I can take biological credit for!

Sigh.

 

So if you are local and you want to capture your family like I did, click away on Samantha's link above and tell her I sent you.  Also, remember these?

Yep, that was Samantha too.  She has a special for adoptive families, so if you are local and adopting, click on because these homecoming photos are more valuable than almost anything I have for Kylie.



My Girl(s)

Something happened recently that I cannot wait to share with you all in great detail.  But until I can do that, I'm going to share with as much detail as I can.

Ever since Kylie has been home, I have had the intention of getting our family together for a family photo. 

And when I say "family", I mean our whole immediate family.  Which includes our two Bigs and my one Grand.  The last whole family photo we had was probably when Jenna was little.  When they both agreed, I was ecstatic!!

I set the date months in advance, but then we ran into snags because the sun is going down sooner now and we had to move the time up which created a problem with the Bigs getting off work in time to get ready and get all the way across town.  But thanks to our fabulous photographer (more on her in a later post), we worked out a new location closer to them.

Here's a sneak peak while I was getting ready...

Kylie has a thing about chairs and so when our photographer pulled on out, it was good times...

This was, believe it or not, my Big Girl's first time to meet Kylie.  I wasn't sure how she'd react to Micah, but as you can see, it didn't make any difference.  This girl has pointed at Micah's photo in our foyer for 7 months now, so she took right to her.

 

I can't wait to see the pictures of my Bigs.  CAN'T WAIT.  Micah is about as gorgeous as you can get and she takes a mean picture.  Chase is so good looking and I can't wait to post all the pictures here.  There are 3 16x20s of each of them, plus Jenna, hanging in our foyer.  Chase's is his Marine graduation (um, OLD) and Micah's is of her high school graduation (she's been out of there for nearly 10 years), so it's HIGH time I get those replaced.

 

Can you tell these two girls are related???



Finishing up Christmas...Finally!

Sorry the Christmas stuff has drug out so long.  The last bit of our Christmas came Christmas Day afternoon spent with the Taylors.  It's one of my favorite times.  This year it seemed to go pretty quickly and I'm not sure why.  But nevertheless, it was fun.  I got to see my grandson Gage, who is about to turn 5 years old.  I love him so much.  It was so good to see him and Micah (his mom).

Jenna got a little more Beibs...

And more cute clothes...

Then we exchanged a few gifts with Chase who got Jenna a practical art studio!  She was very happy and we were glad to spend a while with Chase...I think Jenna likes him...

Happy Birthday Chase!

Today the little boy I met at 7 years old, turns a whopping 24 years old today.  We are SO very proud of him.  He has grow into just a wonderful man.

Happy birthday!  We love you!!

4th Day of Christmas-HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE!

Well, today I'm going to honor the big birthday boy, CHASE!

Because I know there are some readers that visit from Facebook, I feel the need to give a smidge of background on Chase...who he is etc.

Chase is my all-grown up step-son.  I met Chase when I met Steve.  Chase was 6 years old.  As you remember a day or two ago, I told the story of meeting Steve through Micah.  Well, Micah and I were super close.  In fact, for her, there were times when she was jealous...not of Steve's time spent with me, but my time spent with anyone BUT her.  It was very sweet.  Micah and I were close (we still are, but in a different, grown-up way).  Chase...well, he always acted like he could care less about...almost everything.  He was very laid back.  If I was around, he was OK with that.  If I was not around, he was OK with that too.  And he'd argue with a brick wall.  We always got along, but the relationship was different than with Micah.  Maybe it's the difference between girls and boys.

Anyway, before I knew it, Chase had grown up and turned into a MAN.  And a handsome man at that.  He went to Marine bootcamp this year and graduated with flying colors.  He's now a Private First Class in the Marines and about to graduate from his occupational specialty school.  He also turns 22 years old today

And I am very proud of him.  He's taken control of his life and I could not be more...surprised?  No, no, I mean HAPPY!  And I love him like crazy.

Happy birthday Chase.  I'm so very proud of you.