What to do with an extra 5 minutes?

Needless to say we haven't had much of a schedule since Miss Taylor Rose arrived - we've been able to relax and take the mornings slow, no rush to get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and be out the door, it's been nice. Sunday's have been our exception because church really does have a starting time, especially when we are going to my Grandma's church that's an hour away, we needed to be on the ball.


So I must have rushed around a bit, because I found myself with an extra 5 minutes and guess what I did..........

and you know what.....I got most of it on her toenails, although when you have a three week old that's moving all over the place, I don't think I had a chance of missing her toes completely.

Riley's were a bit more exciting, her toenails had three colors and then we discovered when she took a shower shortly after that the polish washes off with water, sigh, Riley wasn't too terribly disappointed, but I kinda felt bad for her since they didn't look quite as cool as before she got in the shower!

It's A Tradition

Every since I can remember, we have gone to the Lamar Fair, it's where my mom grew up, most of her side of the family still lives there - and it's the largest free fair in Missouri so what's not to love. Now as I got older, I have to say I've missed a few years here and there as there were schedule conflicts sometimes, but I really want my kiddos (kinda weird to have that plural - I'm still getting used to that) to grow up with it too. There are rides, animals, food, games and all kinds of good stuff - and Great Grandma Mary Ruth always gives the little ones money for an arm band so we'd hate to disappoint her and not let them use it (she is really the best grandma ever - she even gave Taylor money for an arm band and she was only 2 weeks old - not that she has to give us money to be the best, that's not what I meant at all)

It was a little extra special this year because it was Daddy & Taylor's first year, I'm not sure how Joey has never been before, but I guess he's been on call or working or something when we've gone so it was fun for him too - here are some highlights.

Snow Cones - and Riley had to have her very own even though she took all of three bites and was finished - I'm pretty sure her and Joey could have shared, but I'm kind of a party pooper like that.

Have you ever seen snow cones where you get to put the flavors on yourself - it was pretty cool and you could get as much flavoring as you like and mix-and-match to your hearts content. Of course my two were boring and each only got one flavor - blue for Joey and red for Riley

Then Riley really "needed" some cotton candy - needed it real bad and her daddy is a softie so of course she got it ;) I won't tell you not 20 minutes later she "needed" a carmel apple and got that too - she did eat nearly all of it though.

The carousel is always a hit - although I was surprised they made Aunt Sarah stand beside Riley, and she's 3 1/2 but safety first is a great motto!

Then they rode some dizzy dinosaur thing and Riley wasn't quite so enthusiastic - she didn't necessarily want to share the dino with anyone else and she had to - she was scared they'd spin to much - but they were the awesomest girls ever and totally let Riley decide how fast or slow they should spin - I love sweet, good mannered, strangers!

Can you tell Riley is wearing down?
The cars/trucks were fun, last year she wouldn't ride them by herself, this year she rode like a pro!
And last but not least, this is a lousy picture I know, but they had this Rocking Tugboat or something like that that spun in circles and went up and down like you were riding in rough water or something - and I was sure Riley would hate it! In fact she only got on because Aunt Sarah was, and her cousin Kase, but wow - she loved it and I'm pretty sure she rode it nearly 10 times in a row. This was her way of letting us know she liked it and was going again (and again).
Taylor's first fair was rather unevenful - that's a good thing when you are two weeks old!! The biggest thing for her was she pooped on her original outfit and got a new one just before we got there - didn't Daddy do a good job picking out a new outfit!!

Everything is better with sprinkles

Riley loves to cook - so much in fact we are probably having a cooking birthday party (how fun will that be by the way, I'm excited!!). We made rice krispy treats today and while she was a little disappointed with how quickly they were all finished up and how few ingredients she got to measure out, she loved adding the sprinkles, and really if you ask her they just aren't the same without the sprinkles!!

So we used every type of sprinkles we had in the house (except the stars because "they come out too fast" Riley says) and we had to do each one twice - wow - especially there in the middle, that's a lot of sprinkles!!

Papa's a good sport

Joey's dad has the luck of, well someone who doesn't have much luck, when it comes to getting scratches and scrapes on his arms - he was a pretty good sport when a scab fell off the other day and he needed a band-aid. You may have to click on the pic to see the humor in it all - but I bet a 70-something year old probably didn't expect to get one Dora band-aid and one Barbie band-aid to fix his boo-boo :)

Isn't she just the sweetest

You don't really have to tell me how sweet she is - but man, she sure does melt my heart!!!

Taylor's First Shower

Yes - this is totally G rated.

Riley was about the same age (2 weeks) when she took her first shower - and surprisingly they both loved it - I guess because they are getting snuggled and it's all warm.

Look at those chubby cheeks!! Don't you just want to kiss them - I know I do!!

Yeah Yeah Yeah

It's kinda sad when your sister happens to live like 30 hours away, especially if something exciting, like a new baby, is coming because that means she can't really be here in a flash. So my sis planned her trip back to MO for 2 weeks after my due date just to be on the safe side, which was great, except for they induced a week before my due date which meant that Taylor Rose (and Riley too - because we were seriously counting down for over a month) was anxiously awaiting Aunt Sarah's visit for 3 whole weeks before you got to meet her for the first time.

But guess what - she's here now, and she's moving way way way closer to home in only 2 weeks, and we can drive an hour to see her way easier than we can drive 30! Seattle, we know you'll miss Sarah Rose, but we're glad she moving back to MO!!

Taylor, this is Aunt Sarah, she loves you a whole lot!!

Aunt Sarah - you're here, you're really here!

Yeah - they are silly - totally silly, especially when they haven't seen each other in several months!

Getting some big snuggles from Taylor

And when Aunt Sarah comes, Andy usually comes to (Aunt Sarah's boyfriend) -and Riley happens to adore him!!

Someone's Having A Birthday!!

Best Buddies - Cousin Cayman and Riley

Cousin Hope, Cousin Cayman and Riley

Riley, Me, Taylor and Cayman - yeah getting everyone to look at the camera is a lost cause!

The Birthday Boy and Taylor
It was also Taylor's first birthday party (and she went to her 2nd just a few hours later - happy birthday Olivia!) - but she didn't have a clue, she just knew she was being held and she was happy!

Riley's Definitely a Little Fashionista

I've blogged about it many times before, but Riley is definitely a little fashionista! She loves to dress up, and while some of her outfits are not necessarily what I would put together (like here) or when she went to the grocery store in snow boots........in the middle of the summer, that's ok, it's fun and I love that she has such a great imagination to go with these outfits! Today was no different - I think this was probably our 8th outfit of the day (and no I'm not exaggerating at all!) but she was just having so much fun and really hamming it up for the camera!

No we didn't go out in public with all that belly showing

Sleeping Beauty

Pretty Princess

Daddy get ready - I can hear the boys knocking already and I'm not sure I'm ready for that!!

Our World

Talk about the sweetest big sister there ever could be!! Riley just adores Taylor and we are so lucky!!

Nice to Meet You

Hi Great Grandma Mary Ruth - I love you!!

Snoozing

Shhhh - daddy and sissy are sleeping, we have to be quiet or we'll wake them up - and please don't tell Daddy we posted a pic of him with his glasses on, I'm sure he wouldn't like that at all.

We are SOOOO blessed

We have been so blessed with people bringing food for us - thank you everyone, it's been nice to not even think about dinner each night, and lunch for that matter since we've had plenty of leftovers to choose from!!!

I just couldn't resist posting a pic of these ginormous cupcakes our friend Jeana brought with dinner tonight - I've never seen cupcakes quite this huge - and well they tasted just as good (or better) than they looked - thank you!!!

Seriously - Riley had to hold it with two hands because they were so big and yummy!

Riley really enjoyed hers if you can't tell by that face - hehehe