The Copacabana

Merry Christmas to all!  

We had a great Christmas at our house this year.  Now that we have a big enough house to hold everyone, we wanted Christmas to be here this year.  My parents and JT's parents came in town on Christmas eve, where we all went to Christmas Eve Candlelight Church Service that afternoon.  We got Taylor all dressed up in her Christmas dress (I wore maternity jeans, ha!) and brought her into the service with us (she normally goes to the nursery) and she did great. 

 Of course, she did have a candy cane to munch on.  She spent most of the time on Nana's lap. 

We came back home, had dinner and put her to bed.  Then Santa's helpers had to finish getting her  presents ready!  And did she have a LOT.  With a birthday in December it's an avalanche of gifts for her.  We don't buy her many things throughout the year, unless they are cheap little toys or something, and we did not hold back on the gifts this Christmas! 

Santa brought her a slide and play kitchen!  One of JT's aunts had a rocking horse made for her!!!  

On Christmas morning I was up before Taylor was!  That is the one day a year that I actually get up before she does.  Normally, I sleep until she wakes up because a lot of times it's pretty early.  But she slept until 8 am, which is really late for her - she did that last year too, we consider it a Christmas gift to us.  

Here is her initial reaction to what Santa brought.  It's about 3 minutes long.

And some pictures with her gifts from Santa

We then tore into all of the gifts under the tree - and there were a ton.  

This keyboard with microphone was a big hit with Taylor.  She is loving music lately.  

Emma Kate!!!  

We plan on calling her Emma Kate, rather than simply Emma.  At least that is the plan, we'll see once she actually gets here.  

27 weeks

What we didn't know was that everyone in the state of Louisiana would be there.

Natitoches is a fairly small town/city, mainly known for where Steal Magnolias was filmed and for the Festival of Lights.  There is really only one way in and out.  Lots of people and lots of cars.  It was fairly painless to find a parking spot, we randomly turned where we saw lots of people coming down so we assumed there was a parking lot of some sort.  The parking lot was a grass field off a real parking lot.  It worked.

We get to where all the lights are, and it was pretty cool.  I didn't get many pictures because it was SO crowded and Taylor wanted to be carried.

There were lots of lights along the Cane River, the other one I took came out blurry.  I think I might be in need of a new camera.

Anyways, we saw that the restaurants were PACKED and the few food stands had LONG lines.  So, I told JT to wait in line and I would take Taylor to see some lights and hear the band playing.  

We found a spot under the big Christmas tree and camped out waiting for him to return with fried food goodness.

See, blurry.

Taylor thought it was fun to take pictures of ourselves.  Whatever keeps her entertained! 

JT came back with a footlong corn dog! 

Taylor actually ATE it.  She normally won't eat the hot dog part (I know, what kid doesn't eat hot dogs?  This kid) and will just eat the cornbread on the outside.  I blame it on it being dark and she couldn't see what it was.  I might try that with other things she won't eat.  Anyways, he got a couple of their famous meat pies (seriously, they are also known for their meat pies) and a chicken strip basket and fries.  I can just hear my arteries clogging up.  

The fireworks started as we were finishing up eating.  Taylor was in awe.  

That is, until the end when it got really loud.  Then she got a little scared.  

All in all it was a successful outing.  If we do it again, we will go earlier bring lots of blankets, food, and just camp out by the river for the afternoon.  That is what most people did.  

The lights were a sight to see, it was just hard to see them with all the people trying to push through.  We were glad we went because Taylor enjoyed it so much.  

Now that birthdays are over (until my mom's on the 27th) we can start thinking about Christmas!  And that means getting and decorating the tree.

The year Taylor is old enough to be interested (for about 2 minutes) in helping decorate.  I bought some shatterproof, plastic balls to go on the tree since we have a tile floor (for now, I want to get carpet) and a 2 year old.  Remember, her favorite toy is still a ball.  So what did she do with the glittery, fits oh-so-nicely in the palm of her hand?  

Took that thing and CHUNKED it at the wall.

Oh dear.  All I could do was shake my head.

To her it's just a ball, and what does she do with balls?  Throws them.  With authority.  

I said, 'No, no no Taylor don't throw those they aren't balls.'  Then I thought, well they ARE balls.  How do you explain it to a 2 year old that they are in fact balls, but you can't throw them?  Sheesh.

Anyways, I did ask her to go over by the tree and hold it up, this is what she did.  Sorry its blurry.  

Well, she did what I said.  That's just not what I had in mind.  

She did help a little, but quickly lost interest.

Here we are the last 3 Christmases decorating the tree

Our tree! 
Next year will be interesting with a 3 year old and a 9 month old that I am sure will be very mobile if she's anything like her sister.  Sounds like an adventure that I can't wait for.  

Our girl Taylor turned 2 years old!  Seriously, where does the time go?  I was determined (like I can control it) to not let Taylor get sick this year for her birthday party, because if you remember last year - she was sick as a dog and we had to postpone her party.

But wouldn't you know it she got an ear infection 2 days before her party.  She still had a fever the night before so most of the party goers opted out of the party, so it was mostly family that came - we all had a great time!  Taylor seemed to feel fine and had a great time in the Sesame Street bounce house that we rented! 

With her 2nd cousin, Ethan and Nana.  My cousin Jennifer and her family (including 2 young boys) traveled from Houston to come to the party!  

And of course Taylor's favorite person (I'm not kidding she is attached to her) Aunt Linda came from Houston too! 

We had an Elmo and Big Bird cake that was a hit! 

Taylor and Ethan decided to eat from the cake rather than the pieces on their plates.

The next day was her actual birthday, we tried to get some family pictures but Taylor was super cranky from not sleeping enough the night before so she wasn't having any of it.

Since it was her birthday we got her a Happy Meal from McDonalds (we are BIG spenders).  She was thrilled.

During her marathon nap, I made cupcakes for her class at school - I felt like such a mom!  After her Happy Meal she had MORE cake!  

She ate bites with icing on it and left the rest, I finished it off for her :)  

Even though she was sick again on her birthday she didn't care and had a great time!  Happy birthday sweet Taylor, we love you!

Anyways, we got our Christmas card picture taken!  Thanks to Todd for being a great photographer and Jennifer and Baby Kevin to being great distractions for Taylor!  

And last year's

JT and I look the same (I think we always do) but Taylor looks so different to me!  Kids sure grow up fast. 

JT and I have been married 7 1/2 years and this is the first Christmas we are able to hang stockings on the fireplace!  The houses in Hawaii obviously do not have or need fireplaces, and our house in Fort Worth for some reason didn't have one.  Every year it was difficult to find a place to hang them where they would be seen.  This year we finally have a fireplace and somewhere to display our stockings!

On Friday evening we got brave and all went to the Christmas candlelight service at our college, Centenary.  I remember going to it as a student, and it was weird to be back enjoying it as a wife and mom!  

We, of course, sat in the way back on the aisle in case we needed to make a quick getaway

But Taylor did just fine.  JT did take her out a couple of times just because she wanted to walk around, but she understood that we had to be quiet so she whispered - it was pretty funny.  Here is the one picture I got when she sat still for a mere 10 seconds while eating goldfish.

At one point I could tell she needed some entertainment so I whispered to her, 'do you want to read a book?'.  She looked at me and replied immediately with wide eyes whispering, 'YES!'.  As if to say, that would be the best thing in the world!  

She looked at her book for 5 seconds.  Oh well.  

There was lots of singing, but also lots of readings from the Bible - so Taylor wasn't too interested.  Every time they would stop singing she would say 'more'.  She is really into music lately.  

She enjoyed the candle light part of the service, where they turn off the lights, sing Silent Night, and everyone lights their candle.  We even let her hold one while it was lit, she did great with it.

That is, until we had to blow it out and give it back.  Again, oh well.  

After the service they had some refreshments and Santa Claus was there.  She did NOT want to see Santa, but wanted the candy cane.  I even asked her the next day if we saw Santa, she then replied with, 'candy!'.  Yes, he gave you candy.  Crazy sugar loving kid.  

I really do love Shutterfly.

I have had a Shutterfly site for all the pictures I take of Taylor since she has been born (and it's a LOT).  Click here to see it (www.taylorsara.shutterfly.com - if you want the address).  They send me free prints all the time just for uploading pictures!  And they are sending me 50 (yes, 50) free Christmas cards just for blogging about them!  It's a promotion they have going right now that I think rocks.  If you blog, click here to get your 50 free cards!  It's a really good marketing strategy that they thought of, I think.  

I make a calendar out of the best pictures from the year for my mom for Christmas - I know it's her favorite gift.  It really lets me be creative and is pretty cheap ($20) considering I don't have to go shopping with the masses - it comes right to my door.  And it's really easy since all my pictures are already on their website, I don't have to upload them all as I make the calendar. 

There are tons and tons of products to choose from for gift ideas and you don't have to have a shutterfly site to get one.  Just have to upload the pictures that you want.   

When Taylor was born I ordered birth announcements from them and will do it again when baby Dos arrives.  I also think I will start a new Shutterfly site once Dos comes to house all those pictures I will take of her!  So many pictures, so little time.  

I canNOT wait to order our Christmas cards for this year!  I order some from them every year because it's very easy and fun as it lets me be creative.  I already made some for my mom (I really like doing it - messing around with different pictures, fonts, layouts) and waiting to order ours until we take a family picture (which will be tonight when some friends come over to be our photographer).  I have already found a couple of cards that I like, and messed around with different pictures.  I like the ones that you can put more than one picture on it - again, I have so many.  

I really like this one (don't worry the pictures on the cards aren't actually of us - just examples.  So, no, JT didn't put on a bunch of weight and we didn't adopt a little boy like the first card indicates :)

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving Taylor and I headed for Fort Worth to spend the rest of the week with Nana and Bapa.  Taylor didn't have school all week and we were having some painting done in the house, so we headed out!  

Taylor must have been going through a major growth spurt because she ate A LOT while we were there.   Here she is with Bapa at Jason's Deli partaking in the free ice cream.  I just love this sequence of pictures.

Just getting started and already its on her shirt

OK, now Bapa can have some too

Nope!  Spilled some more.  Taylor thought it was quite funny.  And so did I as I snickered from the other side of the table taking pictures of it all.  

We had a lot of fun.  

Watching movies with Bapa.  (especially Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Monsters, Inc - Taylor's favorites these days)

And visiting her old flame, Hendrix!  (who will be a big brother in June!)
Ironically, I didn't get any pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner.  Taylor slept through the ENTIRE thing!  I still can't believe it but she slept from 1 pm until 6 pm!  AND I had to go in there and wake her up so she would go back to sleep for bedtime.  She must have been so tired, because it took her a good 45 min to wake up.  She was like this with Nana for a long time.

Craziest thing I have ever seen.  

Once she got up she had a few bites of corn casserole.  After I shoved it in her face for probably the 5th time trying to get her to eat more saying 'it's corn, it's corn, you like it', she finally stuck out her finger pointing at the corn and said very emphatically, 'NO CORN!!!'.  We all cracked up.  Even my mom heard her from the other room.  OK, the girl doesn't want anymore corn.     

On Friday we went to Granbury Live for a Christmas show!  Taylor loves music and dancing so we knew she would absolutely love it.

Trying to get a group shot of Nikki's kids (who came to the show) and Taylor.  This is the best we got. 

A family shot

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of fun.  I will leave you with Taylor wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!