More Easter and Etc...

Here are some more pics from Easter. Matthew's favorite Easter treat was a box full of plastic eggs that Scott bought at the grocery store. We've really been getting some mileage out of them. He especially likes to use them in his dump truck. He also enjoyed his new Elmo DVD's. Especially "Elmo Visits the Firehouse". Thank you Easter Bunny!!!

Lately, Matthew has been a little Jekyll and Hyde-ish. One moment he's fabulous and the next- look out. I took him to the grocery store on Saturday. I was totally prepared for some unpleasantness (especially on a Saturday), but he really surprised me. He just walked along pushing the cart with me and was helping me put things in the cart and etc... He really did a great job. The next day at church- he cried for 20 minutes because he saw the playground and wanted to play. He really has a one-track mind sometimes and has a tough time with re-direction. I guess this is the start of the "terrible two's". Here's a shot of him trying to get the camera from Scott (we're seeing this face more frequently these days).

We went to the Puyallup spring fair this week and saw lots of animals- cows, chickens, horses, pigs, goats, lizards, snakes and turtles. But one of the really cool things was DockDogs (http://www.dockdogs.com/). It's basically a pool that dogs dive into and retrieve duck decoys. It was really fun to watch. Matthew really enjoyed watching "doggie swim". He also took a spin on the carousel while we were there.


Another recent thing that I've been doing is asking him what his favorite part of his day was or what did he like the most that day. He's had some really humorous answers. On Easter it was "eggs", the day of the fair it was "chickie"- a.k.a chickens. The funniest one though was the day that I took Cleo to the vet to be treated for a UTI, his favorite thing that day was "pee, pee". I think it's because we had to take a urine sample in to the vet with us.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter everyone! He is risen!!!

This year Easter has been a little boring for us. Unfortunately, Scott is working nights, so no big plans for the Taylor family.

Matthew went to see the Easter bunny earlier this week. He wasn't to sure about the whole event. Maybe one of these days we will have a picture of him with Santa or the Easter bunny that I don't have to be in it to keep him from screaming. The best part of the day for Matthew was playing on the rides at the mall afterwards...

We had friends over on Tuesday to color Easter eggs. Irina was definitely the "color master" and came up with all kinds of interesting color combos. Matthew loved playing with the stickers and usually put about 3-4 all on top of each other in the same spot. At one point, he decided to break open one of the eggs and thought it was "yucky".

It's been great now that the weather is breaking here and we're all healthy (for once). We've been able to have a few meals outside on the deck and have seen the mountains for a few days in a row at a time rather than the rare glimpse. I can't wait for summer!!!

Helping with the Dishes and Other Fun

I went out with a friend of mine last night who said that she gives her son a "helper chair" to stand on and help her with things in the kitchen. So we tried this tonight. Matthew decided that he wanted to help with the dishes...





Speaking of dishes, he's also found a new push-toy these days...

He also loves to share noodles with daddy....

And Playdoh has also become a new source of entertainment...

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

I LOVE YOU DADA!!!!

Boy in the Bubbles

I just love this pics. Matthew is totally into bubbles these days. Whenever we're heading upstairs for a bath, he points to the bathroom and says "babbles". As much as he loves wearing his "babbles" he also loves plastering them all over mom or dad's face while we're giving him a bath and then just laughs away.

He's also really into Elmo and Cookie Monster lately. If you ask him what Cookie Monster says, he'll say "coookkkie". It's really darn cute.

Funny YouTube Video

A very funny youtube video passed on by Hiram Cuevas- Our close friend in Richmond...  It's called "Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy"

It's worth a laugh-

More to post later...

Bathtub Crayons

Whoever invented bathtub crayons gets a big kudos from us. Matthew loves them and is quite proud of his work. It's getting to the point that he would take his bath at 3:00 in the afternoon if he could. I'm just hoping that he doesn't think that this means he can draw on the walls. We're going to have to make sure that he can make that distinction.





We're enjoying having "dada" home for a while now. Scott is off for a few weeks so Matthew will have lots of time being tossed around and roughed and tumbled. We're staying close to home to try and get some things done around the house- like unpack the boxes in the garage from our move (yes, almost one year ago). It's amazing how little a toddler will let you get done ; )

Matthew continues to be quite the ham. He does something funny just about everyday. Like- I was giving him his vitamins yesterday and afterwards he looked at me with a scowl and said (totally unprompted) "yucky" (I'd have to agree, they smell horrible). He started gymnastics once a week and loves to do forward rolls, walk on the balance beam and hang from the uneven bars. The class is total chaos with about 20 kids running all over the place, but he loves it. He's also still in swimming class and is starting to form something that looks like a front crawl. But if it were up to him, he'd just have toy time with Miss Kim all day.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry that we haven't posted in a while, but our computer crashed. We just got it back, but it might take us a few days to figure out what gets plugged in where (there's some serious spaghetti there). So stay tuned.....

Next up- Nashville!!

I forgot to mention that Scott and I ran the Phoenix half-marathon with our friend Marc a few weeks ago. I just got the photos from AZ today. It was a great course and we really enjoyed it. I've turned into quite the slacker since then and haven't been training much. However, it was back on the band wagon last night. My goal is four half-marathons this year. Nashville is next and only a few months away, so time to crack the whip.

Potty Time!!

Just thought I'd share some big news- Matthew used the potty for the first time tonight!! We had bought him an Elmo potty chair a month or two ago because he was some interest, but nothing ever became of it.
I was getting Matthew ready for his bath tonight. I got him undressed and laid out his PJ's and a clean diaper. He grabbed the clean diaper and tried putting it on himself (very cute to watch). I asked him "Do you have to go potty". He nodded yes (not that I'm totally convinced that he knew what I was talking about). I said "Let's go use your potty chair", took him in the bathroom and put him on it and he pee'd. Yippee. Then he would get up, look in the bottom of the potty chair, sit back down and try and squeeze out some more pee. It was very cute! He also wanted to go again just before bed and he did it again. I know it's probably a fluke. But very exciting all the same.

Fun with Finger Paints

In addition to truck and cars and anything with wheels, Matthew loves to color and do other "artsy" projects. He recently has found the joy of finger painting. Needless to say, he needed a bath after this event.

A Few Funny Pics

I was just browsing through our pictures on the computer this evening and found these. I decided that they were a "must post".......

Visit with Nana and Grandad

Scott's parents left on Monday. We had a great time, but now it's back to business as usual in the Taylor household. The PF Chang's Rock and Roll half-marathon is in Phoenix this weekend. We haven't been very good about our training, so this should be interesting. Hopefully, we will cross the finish line in one piece. We're also looking forward to catching up with some friends while we're there as well- the LaMar's, the Brinkman's and Marc Mickiewicz.

Other than that, there really isn't much new. Sometimes no news is good news : )

Merry Christmas/ Happy New Year!

We hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas/New Year holiday. We certainly have been (as you can tell by no recent posts lately). Christmas was wonderful once we dug out from the snow. Matthew was completely spoiled by Santa and had a blast. The two big hits this year are his Thomas the Train table and his new fire engine riding toy. And in true Matthew, multi-tasking style he managed to combine the best of both worlds....

He also had a great time with Grammy and Grandpa.

They left for home on Tuesday and we are now awaiting the arrival of Nana and Grandad this coming Tuesday.

New Years Eve was somewhat uneventful. Scott and I watched the fireworks display from the Fox Island Yacht Club (you can see it from our house) and on TV at the Space Needle. We were asleep about 15 minutes after they finished. I know- we're such party animals.

We woke the next morning to the sound of Matthew throwing up all over himself, our bed and daddy. So New Years Day was a little more exciting. Not the way we were hoping to start the new year. Oh well, it can only get better from here.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow

So as my dad puts it, in Michigan when it snows they say "Oh *&%#" in Washington we say "Oh yeah". We got about 6-8 inches of snow yesterday (which is pretty unheard of here) and people got a little crazy (ok, maybe us included). Here's some pics from all of the fun....

It was loads of fun. The weather also put a bit of a crimp in my mom and dad's day of travel to get here. They flew from Detroit to Baltimore to Chicago to Seattle. And then their luggage got lost on top of it all. But they are here safe and sound and enjoying the snow as well...

Did I mention our power went out from about 10pm to 3am last night? We've heard horror stories that during outages, power doesn't get restored here on the island for days. So we are very fortunate to have our electricity back.

Well got to run for now. We still have decorating to do and a Christmas menu to plan.

A Rude Awakening

We returned from Hawaii this week only to find ourselves in the now-frozen tundra of Washington. Ahhhhh....only a few days ago we were basking in the sunny 80 degree weather. Now it's in the 20's with snow- yes snow. The grocery store was packed with people buying supplies for the "Big Storm". Schools were closed, Matthew's swimming classes were cancelled, lots of people stayed home from work. Did I mention that we only got 1-2 inches? As a former Michigander I found this really quite humorous. But things are different here than in Michigan- no plows or salt trucks. So I guess it is a big deal. We've definately got the boy ready for the weather though....

Anyhow, Maui was fantastic. A great rest and recharge for all of us. Although traveling with an 18 month old is a bit busy. We did a lot more take-out than we're used to on vacation. But Matthew couldn't have been happier. He went swimming at least once a day and got to chase the waves on the shore. We didn't let him get into the ocean because the seas were really rough. It didn't matter to him though, as long as he got to go in the pool, he was happy.

We went to a luau one night and he was totally hypnotized by it all. It was really fun to watch the amazement in his eyes. He loved the dancers, especially the Tahitian ladies.

He also got to practice a little hula before the big show...

Our last day before we left there was a big storm with lots of rain and wind. With the rain, the red soil from the mountains washed into the ocean so the water was stripped with blue, green and red. It was really a neat thing to see. Oahu had the most rain and set records previously from 1970's. It was really pretty the night before as the storm rolled in (not sure if you can make out the rainbow in the pic).

It was a great trip and we really enjoyed the time together and getting a chance to chill a little bit.

Now we're just preparing for Christmas since I had absolutely nothing done before we left. We are looking forward to celebrating with friends and family. Four of the six of Matthew's grandparents will be visiting in the next few weeks. As well as Scott's friend Joe and his wife Anne. We can't wait for all of the festivites and fun.

Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)!!

Aloha!!

Stay tuned for the adventures of the Taylors in Hawaii....

Bob Marley Breakfast

Well Matthew's latest obsession is music. And the boy loves to dance. He listens to Bob Marley every morning while having breakfast. He will dance in his high chair as he's eating, but the funny part is that he dances for about the first 30 seconds of each song. It's almost like he forgets that the music is on until a new song comes on. It's really quite humorous. He continues to be a constant source of entertainment.

We made a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo while Scott was off this past week. I really love these two following pics. I think they really captured the expression of amazement on his face as he was checking out all the animals.

He also like all of the peacocks that were wandering around as well...

Sorry for such a short post, but we would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. May your day be filled with many blessings including family, friends, food and fun.

Love,
Scott, Cheryl and Matthew