Evan at 5 months…

• You are wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes and some of these clothes are too small.  Your Daddy retired some of your sleepers because he said they looked more like wet suits than baby sleepers.  It’s those little chunky legs of yours :) 
• You drink 5-6 ounces of formula every 3 to 4 hours.  You have also started eating rice cereal.  You make the funniest faces!  You immediately stick that tongue out and most of it comes back out of your mouth. 
• You have found your feet and try so hard to eat them!  Actually, anything and everything you can get your hands on goes straight in your mouth.  I’ve said for weeks now that I thought you were cutting a tooth…nothing yet!
• You’re no longer the best little sleeper anymore.  You will fight so hard not to go to sleep!  You make the funniest grunting noises and rub those little eyes as hard as you can.  For a couple weeks, you woke up during the night hungry…you must have been growing (that’s why those sleepers are too tight now!)
• You roll all over the place!  I put you on your play mat and before I can turn around you’re on the floor.  The other day I walked into the kitchen and when I got back to the living room you were under the ottoman! 
• You are such a happy baby and that smile and laugh of yours is so sweet!  You smile all the time even when you have that paci in your mouth :) 
• You love your Big Sister!  When she walks in the room and you hear her voice  you smile so big!  I hope this continues for many, many years!!

…has eyes for his Mommy!  That’s right…I’ve got myself a Mommy’s Boy!  I love when I walk into the room and he hears my voice and then immediately turns looking for me.  Mimi asks him if he has eyes for his Mommy and he just smiles!  It melts my heart!  I just can’t get enough of that sweet smile and those big blue eyes!!

 The grader has started digging up tree stumps and preparing to dig our basement! 

Future Taylor Family home site… 

Hopefully, we’ll sell our current house soon and then we’ll be moving in with Mimi and Paw-Paw Jeff until our house is complete.  I hope they’re ready for this crazy Taylor bunch :)

Ella was the hostess of her preschool class Valentine’s Day party today.   For several years now, Ella has referred to Valentine’s Day as “Love Day.”  So, we’ve all started calling it “Love Day” and you get “love cards.”  She has been so excited about this party (yay!  I think she’s going to love party planning just like me!).  On Sunday afternoon, we went to Walmart to pick up the cupcakes and remaining party supplies.  She thanked the lady in the bakery a million times!  I let her pick out the other snacks she wanted to take to preschool and this is what she came up with…cupcakes, Color Blasted Goldfish, bananas, animal crackers, Juicy Juice fruit punch, and Puff corn.  Sounds like a wild party, huh?!  When we got to the car, she said, “you’re such a good Mommy and I’m going to have the best party ever!”  So sweet!!!

We spent Sunday night making Love Day treat bags for Ella’s classmates complete with bubbles, a heart straw, Play Dough, Reece’s peanut butter hearts (my personal favorite!), and Fun Dip (pure sugar…sorry Moms!).  I thought they turned out really cute!

The party was a hit!  Ella called me from school to tell me that she and all her friends were having fun at the Love Day party!

It has been a great Valentine’s Day!  I am so in love with my big Valentine and 2 little Valentines!!  We gave lots of love, hugs, and kisses today! 

We hope your day is filled with lots of

LOVE, HUGS, & KISSES!

This weekend we celebrated Cory’s 34th birthday!  I asked one of Ella’s classmate’s Mom to make a fire truck cake for Cory and this is what she created!  She did an AMAZING job!  It looked so good that it was hard to cut into!  She even put real lights on the front of the truck!

I made Cory one of his favorite meals…chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes, homemade mac n’ cheese, and green beans.  It was yummy even if I say so myself :)  After dinner, it was time for cake and ice cream!  Ella loves singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles (even when it’s not her birthday!)…

…from the looks of this picture you can only imagine what happened next.  Before anyone could grab Ella, her hair flew right into the candles.  Luckily, Cory was right there and pushed Ella out of the way before her entire head went up in flames!  It only singed a small section of her hair, but scared all of us!  Ella cried for a minute but a little cake and ice cream cheered her up fast :)  She even wanted to relight the candles and blow them back out (with her hair pulled back of course!).  I’m just glad we didn’t need a fire truck for this party!!  This was the only picture I got because I practically threw my camera when I saw Cory grab Ella.  She told me today that if you blow out candles you have to have your hair in a pony tail! 

Evan has been a huge fan of his swing since he was born, but lately, he seems to be bored swinging unless he’s sleepy.  My Mom took him to see his cousin Connor (who is 2 months older) and he played in Connor’s jumperoo and loved it.  When my Mom told me, I couldn’t believe he was big enough to get in an activity center already!  I think I’m in denial that he’s growing so fast but I did give in and Cory got in the attic and got our jumperoo out.   Evan is mesmerized by the blue frog that hangs on the palm leaf.  He can’t get to it yet, but when he can I think it’s in trouble!  My baby is growing up way too fast!!

Tonight after Ella and Evan went to bed, I was working on cleaning up my computer’s hard drive.  It’s a vicious cycle…My computer gives me the “low disk space” warning, I transfer pictures to an external hard-drive, I delete pictures from my computer, I download more pictures, then get that darn warning again!  Despite the “limitations” of my computer, I keep taking pictures and I don’t see myself stopping!!  I came across some pictures tonight that made me laugh out loud!  I love looking at “old” pictures!  It’s amazing the memories that come back when you see a picture.  I can’t believe there’s already things I have forgotten in the last 3 years!  Here’s a couple pictures that made me laugh out loud…(more to come!)

These are typical Ella pictures…play clothes on accessorized with pearls and a tutu!

Ella looking like her Mimi :)

Evan is always happy and smiling (except when you don’t get him fed fast enough…must be a “man thing” because Cory gets cranky when he’s hungry too!)  Ella used to HATE to be naked, cold, and have her clothes changed.  Evan loves laying on his changing table and never fusses when you change his clothes.  In fact, he’s all smiles :)  While I was pregnant, everybody kept telling me how different the second child is from the first.  I heard, “they’ll be as different as night and day” a million times!  I think they were right!  Evan is much more laid back than Ella was at 4 months.  The minute Ella wet a diaper she was fussing to be changed.  Evan, on the other hand, will be absolutely soaked before he makes a peep and even then he just grunts.  Maybe it’s just the difference in boys and girls?  Either way, I love my high-maintenance Princess and laid-back Prince :)

I love that sweet baby smile!

If he can get a hold of it, it goes directly into his mouth! 

Thank you so much to my fabulous pharmacy school friend and Mom to the beautiful Lil’ Miss Gracie, Laura Vandiford, for giving me the stylish blogger award for “Favorite Picture Blog.” 

Here are the rules for acceptance of the award:
1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award other bloggers.
4. Contact bloggers and tell them about the award

So here’s 7 things about me…

1.  I am the proud Mommy of Ella and Evan and they are my world!  I have been blessed with an amazing husband that jumps right in there and does what needs to be done!  We have an awesome family that helps out so much!  God had blessed our family so much!

2.  I love, love, love taking pictures!  I take THOUSANDS…maybe more like MILLIONS!!  I have 2 external hard drives that are full and my laptop keeps giving me the “low on disk space” warning :)

3.  I’m a “Medicine Mama.”  My first and most important job is being a Mommy and my second job is being a Pharmacist.  I LOVE drugs!  (No, I don’t do drugs…in fact, I rarely ever take a Tylenol or Ibuprofen when I’m feverish or in pain.)  I love talking to other Moms about medications for their children.  I know how scary it can be to give your child something you know nothing about so I love helping these parents.  Ella tells everyone that her Mommy gives people medicine so they feel better :)   I have been blessed with a great career that is very rewarding!

4.  I am a late night blogger!  I love to blog but rarely find time to during the day.  So if you look through my previous posts, you’ll see that most were posted in the late hours of the night (and some in the early hours of morning!).  And I complain about not being able to sleep?!  Blogging is my “online baby book.”  I love documenting all the fun, some sad, and important things that are happening in our lives.  And as much as I love blogging, I love reading my friend’s blogs too! 

5.  I love parties and party planning!  Planning birthday parties is my favorite!!  Ella’s birthday is in June and Evan’s is in September and I already have themes picked out and locations secured :)  Crazy, I know?! 

6.  I’ve started taking Zumba classes and I’m addicted!!!  It is a great workout and the hour flies by because we have so much fun!!  I laugh at myself numerous times because I know my hips just don’t shake like Shakira’s…haha!  But it’s fun and this Mama is shaking off that left over baby fat :)

7.  I am an Etsy addict!  I have bought SOOO many things on Etsy!  Cory fusses every time he sees a PayPal purchase on our bank statement.  I love handmade things!!!  And I don’t see myself slowing down anytime soon…haha!!

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I am passing this blog award along to some pretty amazing ladies that I enjoy keeping up with…

1.  Funniest blog-Pamela Mathis-Presnell & Meredith Urban  (These ladies are hilarious!  Both are very good writers and I love reading their posts!  They have both been blessed with beautiful children and post the funny moments in life!)

2.  Favorite family blog-Crystal Johnson  (She has 2 boys and a new baby girl and they are just the most adorable family!)

3.  Most updated blog-Emily Elrod  (I love her new blog…in January alone she had 30+ posts!  I love keeping up with her adorable kiddos and the best deals out there…thanks Emily!)

4.  Favorite newbie blog-Jennifer Humphrey (She is a new Mom to an adorable little guy that I love reading about!)

5.  Super Mom blog-Kristen McKay  (She has 3 beautiful girls, works full time, teaches exercise classes, and has time to be such a great Mom!  Kristen you amaze me!!)

And no post is complete without pictures of my adorable kiddos….

We’ve danced ALL day!  Ella had dance this afternoon then we came home and danced some more :)  One of our favorite things to do together is dance with the music cranked up loud!  Before my Zumba class tonight (which I LOVE!), Ella taught Mimi how to do the Cha-cha.  She would stomp those little feet of hers while saying, “step out then in and CHA-CHA-CHA!”  She would fuss if Mimi didn’t do it right :) 

Ella was watching TV tonight and next thing I know…

She was all danced out!

I love listening to Ella say her prayers!  She thanks God for everything and everybody!  Some nights she prays for 10 minutes just naming off her family and friends.  It’s so sweet to hear her!  The other night, after she thanked God for everybody, she thanked him for the potty and hand soap :)  I tried so hard not to laugh!  But, I think we’ll all agree that we are thankful for the potty and hand soap!