Happy 11 Months, Sweet Tay-Tay....

I cannot believe you are ELEVEN months old! The minutes, hours, days, and months are totally flying by and you are getting to be such a big girl, Miss Taylen Jae!

You are continuing to pull up on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and absolutely love cruisin' around the house "walking"....aka holding onto your daddy's fingers high above your head and wandering arounf the house with him. You are blowing kisses and have mastered, "Mom-Ma." You've still been cycling through the hacks and snotts, but seem to be getting over them a little quicker each time. You are currently taking antibiotics for your first full blown ear infection and have had three, outfit changing "blow-outs" in the past 36 hours. (You can THANK the lovely medicine for those.) You are still our human vacuum cleaner and we are all getting really good at making sure all things tiny are picked up off the floor. You have tried just about every type of fruit and veggie and seem to really LOVE blueberries. You still use the Binky and are drinking your bottles...although we've been working in the sippy cup as much as possible. I still can't believe you will be using that thing full time in about three weeks. You love watching Trey and Ty and mocking their every sound. You've really mastered the, "I'll drop it, you pick it up" game and I'll continue to play that with you until your heart's content! You love to log roll every time I change your diaper and you've gotten quite good at sleeping through the night. Your smile continues to light up our lives and your giggle is absolutely contagious....

We love you LOTS and LOTS....

~Mommy

A little Valentine's Day gift....

has totally turned into my "Awww..." moment of the day.

Tonight as Jason was going through Trey's backpack, he came across Trey's little SpongeBob journal that I had given to him for V-Day. Ty and him both LOVE to write, draw, and color, so I wasn't able to pass up the little dollar journals I came across at Walgreen's V-day morning as I grabbed goodies for my 5th graders. Trey has taken his to school and has been randomly writing in it in the back of the van. I hadn't gotten a chance to glance through it until tonight.....

The inside cover....(LOVE!)

Awwww...LOVE you too, Buddy!!!

I think someone has a little Kindergarten crush!

So, thanks Trey (ahead of time) for letting me peek through your journal. I know you'll someday be annoyed with me for putting this on the blog...but I just had to capture this moment.....

It's moments like these that melt my heart....

Manner Marbles....

Thanks in part to a great post from my good friend, Marta Vee....we have started a family "Manner Marbles" Jar around the Weite House....

Marta definitely hit the nail on the head when she talked about it being our job, as parents and role models, to work hard, put forth our maximum effort, and TEACH and EXPECT our kids to treat others with respect. Everyone knows that parenthood isn't all bells and whistles and that, many times over and over, your children will test you and push you. Push you to the point where you think you're going to break and nothing sounds better than throwing in the towel....but, it's up to us to lead them towards being the kind of people who bring out the best in not only themselves, but everyone else around them.

Trey and Tylee are already LOVING the idea and are really embracing the use of kind, caring words and getting the chance to drop a marble of their color of choice into the family jar each time we catch them using kind words and/or actions. We have definitely had our fair share of "sassy pants" and "smart mouthing" around here over the past few months, so Jason and I are also LOVING the way the kiddos have been talking to one another already. It's not to say everything is going to be peachy all the time, but there's no losing in a situation like this.

So, here's to hearing lots and lots of marbles making their way into our jar.....

Stylin'.....

is Tylee Jean's new favorite past time. Not only is she TOTALLY into picking our her own clothes, but matching is her new favorite, NO-NO!!! She's quite the fashion-ista!!!

Have fun mixing and matching and ALWAYS remember that it's not what you wear, it's how you ROCK it! 

Below is just a little glimpse of one of her latest combinations..... 

Ty--you always look GORGEOUS!!! Love you and I'm so excited for all the fashion trends and issues ahead! (Although, I'm sure I'll blog about the opposite at some point in the future...like when she's a teen arguing with her father about what's appropriate and what's not...LOL!!!)



10 Months Old & a....

Sippy Cup Master.....

Miss Taylen has caught on quickly....and has also managed to flood her highchair at least a dozen times. I think we are ready to put the valve back in the cup.....

What a 10 month old CUTIE!!!

Chewing on it is just as much fun as drinking it...."Oh, it feels so good on my new set of chompers!"

Along with mastering the sippy cup, Tay-Tay, you have really begun to PULL UP on EVERYTHING. The crib is officially lowered and you're all about reachin' for anything and everything you can get your hands on. (We are sad to report, that a vase has even been knocked over....don't worry....we glued the chipped off edge right back on and no one was hurt.) You have three teeth all the way through on the bottom and still just two on the top. You are growing like a weed and wearing 18-month clothing. Chewing, chomping, and drooling are still your favorite things to do and you've become quite the stinker. The second your Momma walks out of the room, you start a whinin'....some might say that means you're spoiled, but you Mommy thinks it's because you just can't get enough of her ;) Speaking of Momma....you can officially say "Ma-Ma" now and are super, duper close to mastering the sign for "More, Please!" Your giggle is absolutely ADORABLE and you even have a little SASS in that personality of yours. You have your sister's and brother's tongue talent and you love to grunt and tell them both to, "get out of my face," in your own little baby talk way. Waving bye-bye is a very common thing and you LOVE any sort of fruit and veggie. Your still sipping on the bottle and sucking on the Binky. We've had a rough go at sleeping through the night. It seems as if sharing a room with your sister has prevented you from "crying it out" for a couple of nights like your two older siblings did. You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE holding Mommy's or Daddy's finger and that soothes you like no other. You continue to brighten each and every day and have the cutest little way of "rocking dancing" to any and every type of music. Continue to laugh and be happy....and know how much we LOVE you!!!!

XXX's and OOO's

~Mommy

What's a little ball fun without the tongue hanging out?!?!

You LOVE playing ball....

Crawling shot....but PLEASE notice the TONGUE...again!!!!

You could DEFINITELY double as a VACUUM CLEANER. Remember, everything you find on the floor is NOT meant to go into your mouth ;)

Pulling up....even on the sliding class door....it won't be long!!!

See...look at that sass! You have no problem telling us what's on your mind ;)

Just a motorin' around....so fast that I can barely catch you on camera!!

Happy 10-Months, Taylen Jae!

B-Ball Time....

and Trey J is LOVING it.

(Great defense #11.....)

He's playing with a group of kindergartners through a program called Upward Bound. It is affiliated with a church up here, so they do incorporate verses into group huddles...nothing too over the top, but more geared towards sportsmanship, effort, friendship, team spirit, etc....

In short....MANY great life lessons! You should see the pumped up environment filled with "Jock Jams" being played over the loud speakers, players being announced on the mic, and a huge scoreboard tracking each and every basket. The kids truly have a ball.....

Along with a game each week, they also have a weeknight practice, with each practice highlighting just a few fundamentals of the game. Last practice they talked about double-dribbling, learned about man on man defense, and practiced passing and receiving passes.

Now, for those of you who knew me way back when, b-ball was never really my forte. I did play my sophomore year in high school, but my playing time was always reserved for when we were down to the the last few minutes and trailing by a good number of baskets. I specifically remember the coach kneeling down by me on the bench and telling me that my only job in the last few minutes was to throw up as many three-pointers as possible, (Which usually left me with enough "bricks" to build a house...LOL)

Needless to say, when it came to running plays, dribbling without looking down, and shooting free throws, I was not among the starting five, or even the top 10 for that matter. So, finding a great program to not only teach Trey the fundamentals, but also create a solid teamwork foundation built on life skills he'll use forever, has been a true blessing.

Our only goal for the season is to learn something new each practice and game and HAVE A BLAST!!!

Trey Jacob--Keep working hard and remember to always have FUN! We've had a blast watching your first couple of games and will always be in the stands cheering you on.....

Dressing up is so much FUN!!!

Miss Tylee Jean is loving her new dress up chest. It's full of outfits and tons of beautiful jewels....which happen to be her favorite. It's so fun to watch her prance around and pretend she's the princess of the far away kingdom....LOVE!!!

Ty, keep having a ball, and know that you make the prettiest princess!! (But, beware....Daddy says that he's not letting your prince come around for a long, long time....)