Gratitude Campaign for the Troops‏

Our friend Gary sent this to us. Please check it out...

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

PS- It looks like it was filmed in our very own SeaTac airport.

My Future's So Bright, I Got To Wear Shades

I only have time to post these two pics...

What a ham!!

It's Official

Just wanted to do a quick post to let you all know that Matthew's adoption was finalized on December 19th. The agency in Michigan just got the papers late last week (the court sends them in batches). Needless to say, we are thrilled. God has blessed us greatly.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Cutest Baby of All

Scott took these great shots of Matthew after he discovered a mirror on our closet. He really had a good time trying to figure out who that other baby was in the mirror.

We are continuing to enjoy the final days of Christmas. Matthew is having a ball playing with all his new toys. I think some days he doesn't know where to begin. Scott returned to work yesterday, but has a two week stretch off after this coming week of work. We're all looking forward to that. Other than that, it's life per usual at Casa Taylor.

We've heard from our friends in Kenya (via a text to a mutual friend). It sounds like things are getting worse and they had to cancel their reception, although they are hoping to be married on Saturday. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going thru.

Well I hope everyone is enjoying the new year. Take care.

Quick Update

For all of you that know our friends Joseph and Beatrice, I just received an email from Beatrice and they are safe. They had traveled to Kenya for their wedding this Saturday. With all of the recent unrest in the country, we had been very worried about their safety. But they are safe and planning to go ahead with the wedding. Please keep them in your prayers.

Happy New Years!!

May the new year bring you new joys, new blessings and new beginnings.

May God bless you and your family in 2008!

Love,

Scott, Cheryl and Matthew

A White Christmas in Gig Harbor

We had a little snow for Christmas in Gig Harbor (an event that doesn't happen all that often). So it was nice to see some of the white stuff to add to the holiday spirit. Matthew really enjoyed his first Christmas and was spoiled like crazy by many of our family and friends. I don't think Scott and I will need to buy any toys for the next few years ; )

More later....

Cheryl

Merry Christmas!!

Matthew's First Visit with Santa

As you can see, Matthew really enjoyed his first visit with Santa- NOT!! Actually it wasn't that bad. He calmed down when mom and dad sat with him. So we got some great pictures of the three of us that was totally unplanned (my hair was a mess because it was pouring out that day).


Sorry I haven't been able to write much with our posts these days, but our life has been pretty busy. Matthew has now learned how to crawl, pull himself up on things and crawl up the stairs. So my day is pretty much spent following him around making sure he doesn't kill himself (we've had little time to throughly baby-proof as well). I've also had a few unexpected things pop up that have really thrown a wrench into my holiday preparation this year. But I had a great insight the other day in the grocery store. I was turning over a bunch of things in my mind and really stressing out about them. I started my shopping and picked up a bottle of Tums that Matthew decided he wanted to play with. He began shaking them and laughing hysterically. Then it dawned on me, all the stuff that I had been stressing about really doesn't matter. All that matter is keeping this little guy and my family happy. Thus begins the education of mom and dad by Matthew.


So as I mentioned, Matthew is definately getting more mobile. He's also discovered the joy of making raspberries and all kinds of sounds as well. He's starting to do all kinds of new things. After his afternoon nap the other day, and he had pulled himself up in his crib, pulled his mobile down and taken all the sailboats off and half of them were on the ground by the time I got to him. Completely harmless, but very entertaining. He's also found that he can pursue the cats now. Caesar is pretty quick and just runs from him. Cleo on the other hand has been a champ with him and lets him pull her tail and grab fist-fulls of fur from her and only whines a little bit. We're working on the concept of "gentle" now. She still loves Matthew to death though. He had fallen asleep on my lap the other day and she jumped on my lap to join him and nudged herself under his arm.

She loves her Matthew!

Well I've got to run for now. I am taking a neighbor to the airport and picking up my parents while I'm there.

Take care and Happy Advent!

Scott, Cheryl and Matthew

Childproof Drawer

My mom sent me this. Now if we could only get Cleo and Caesar to do the job.

A Boy and His Binky (and Binky, and Binky)

Yes, the boy has three binkies. What started out as an attempt to keep Matthew happy at bedtime has turned into an interesting routine for him. Matthew has about 2-3 binkies in his crib at any given time so that if he wakes up during the night he can usually feel around and find one to soothe himself back to sleep. The funny thing is that now he likes to have all of them around him when he sleeps. I went to check on him one night shortly after I put him to bed and he was feeling around his crib to gather all of his binkies together. Very cute!!
PS- The white one isn't jabbing him in the eye even though it looks like it is.

What? Looks Straight to Us.

Starring Matthew as St. Nicholas

Check This Out!!!

Okay- For a hilarious site that little Ms. Gracie Brill put together, click on http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1131841080

You will laugh out loud...
Matthew was "dancing" with his grandmother and grandfather today!

Then he danced with Mom and Dad...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1131931550

Happy Half a Birthday Matthew!!

Happy six months baby boy. It's hard to believe we're already halfway to your first birthday. Everyone keeps telling us to enjoy our time with you because it goes fast, and boy it does. We love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives. We look forward to watching you grow over the years.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Just Like Daddy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving and that you were able to share it with ones that you love. At Mass this morning, Father Hung read George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation from 1789. If you haven't had a chance to read it before, it's definitely worth checking out. Without a doubt, Scott and I have a lot to be thankful for this year. But I think that this little guy below tops the list....

Thanksgiving jammies

Thanksgiving sweet potatoes

Matthew doing a little yoga move- downward dog

He's All Boy

Despite my attempts to work on Matthew's femine side today by taking him to the scrapbook store and to the bakery, this is what he did when we got home....

The Difference Between Mom and Dad

Can you guess which feeding was done by Scott and which was done by Cheryl? Which one do you think was more fun?

Matthew's in Training

Well it looks like it's time to get Matthew in shape. Ok, maybe it's really time to get Scott and Cheryl in shape. So we're in training again and hoping to run a half marathon in January. So wish us luck. Although Matthew is doing his part and working hard at his jogging stroller riding skills as well. And it must be paying off because......

.....yep, this is Matthew sitting up by himself. And it looks like crawling isn't too far away either.

I've also included a picture from his last swimming class. This is Matthew and daddy doing "reach and pull" exercises.