Taking Dane for a Chest Xray....

Before your worry too much, the Xray turned out okay. We did take Dane to St Francis hospital imaging for a chest xray to confirm he didn't have pneomonia! He has had a nasty cold for ten days, no fever, just coughing and losing his voice. So the Dr. ordered a chest xray which turned out fine, so this was excellent news. Being at the hospital was scary with the threat of H1N1. Elliott had to wear a mask to cover her mouth/nose, which she looked so adorable, I just had to share!

Birthday Party in Fort Wayne

Makin Cake with Grandma.... and taking lots of taste tests!

This is what I wanted, Elliott exclaimed as she opened.... and you can tell by the million dollar smile!

Blowin out the candles!

Grandma Taylor took the two big kids for Fall Break... and what a nice break it was! It was so peaceful and quiet for the two days they were gone. And Dane was home, but quiet, too, since the poor baby had lost his voice. But then again, it was heart breaking to hear is hoarse cry because it had to of hurt his little throat. I was able to get a few things accomplished around the house! Seth and I went up to visit on Saturday. And then on Sunday we celebrated Elliott's birthday with Seth's family. Elliott was so excited about her balloons, eating cake, and opening presents!

And of course I had to share these adorable pictures of Dane! My baby boy is getting so big...

Lots of new kits just posted, taking preorders for 101 Easy Sketches...

Wow, October has been jammed packed with new stuff for Project Scrapbook. I just uploaded over 20 new kits to the website, and I am going to post a slide show here for you to view - as they many not always make it into the What's New folder! There are kits for school, Christmas, Halloween, Travel and more!!! You are sure to find something you need for your scrapbook albums!

Also... I am now taking preorders on a new book I will be publishing (myself). The book is titled 101 Easy Sketches, and will contain 101 black and white two page sketches. Each sketch is jammed packed with photo spots and is sure to provide endless inspiration. Preorder yours today for only $10.00. You have until November 1st to take advantage of the fantastic offer. The book will ship on November 10th or you can pick up at November 20&21 crop in Carmel. After November 1st the book retail cost will be $12.50.

Visit www.projectscrapbook.net for book preorder and all the new kits!

Lovin Resale Shops....

Okay, so I've never had much sucess with selling things back to second hand children's stores. And truthfully, I've never had much luck finding decent items at decent prices! However, yesterday was my lucky day! I have been looking for a jumparoo (of course I had one for Elliott but sold it in a garage sale), and didn't want to buy one brand new because of the expense. I happened to be out at the right time, I popped into the Kids Kloset at Stop 11 and Arlington. And to my luck they had the rainforest jump a roo and in good condition, so I got it! It was an instant hit with Dane! Enjoy the pic.
This also brings me to share my Christmas Gift exchange idea. Times are tough for many of us, and with Chrismtas season approaching fast, we aer all thinking about gift giving. I know this year we will have very little money to spend on gift giving, so instead of not giving at all, I have asked my brother's family if we could 'Re-Gift' toys to each kid! He has three kids and we have three kids, so it can be expensive to give gifts to everyone. However, we all do have a surplus of toys, so this year we are going to give each child a gently used toy from our kids collections! I'm super psyched about this idea, and truly my brother's kids will get much nicer gifts! And another toy gets to live on through an other child!

Family Meeting, Establishing the Taylor Traits

Every Sunday we aim to have a family meeting! why, you ask, since my children are so young? I read a book some time back called 'Honey I Wrecked the Kids, When Screaming, Bribery and Timeouts don't Work Anymore.' And it was all about raising children in todays society... which is a tough one as we live in a 'I want everything my way' type of mentality! One of the chapters in the book discussed having family meetings every week, and so we started this a few months back, and have seen awesome results. Every Sunday the children are aksing for the meeting! Sometimes even reminding us to have the meeting! We have an agenda each week. First we discuss Appreciation/Encouragement, then go over Old Business, present New Business, share Calendars, and then do a family activity. Eventually a section on Chores will be added, probably pretty soon, I think the kids are ready to start taking on a bit more responsibility (I can't wait for the day Elliott gets to clean the bathrooms like I did as a child!). And at the end of the meeting we do a family activity. This is where we play a game together, watch a movie, or do a craft! Today I must share we discussed 'Taylor Traits.' Characteristics that would make us great Taylors! It was rather amuzing to hear what the kids came up with. Myles came up with 'Funny.' Which is rather funny since he is the family jokester (next to his father of course). And Elliott said 'helpful.' Which is also fitting because she is helpful in many, many ways (most of the time, she inconveniently helps, I have to tell myself to let her do it anyway as she is wanting to help even if it means splashing water everywhere as she washes the dishes... it will clean up). The rest of the traits were Friendliness, Love, Healthy, Leadership, Honesty, Listening, Manners, and Integrity. These are on little tags, and eventually I will make a poster to hang them on! It was a fun activity, and the kids really enjoyed brainstorming ideas on what makes a good person! Since this is a post about the family, I will share a picture a I took last month with everyone but me, of course!

Star Student of the Week

Myles was chosen as the Star Student of the week from his class! He showed outstanding 'Tiger Traits' and got to sit in a special seat all week! He was so thrilled about his special chair! When he brough his certificate home, I said we'd take him out to dinner for his special award (this was on Monday). Thursday morning, he came down the stairs and said 'I can't wait for tomorrow', and 'I asked What's tomorrow', and he said 'It time for El Rodeo.' I had totally spaced it that I said we'd take him out to dinner, and here it was Thursday and he obviously was counting down the days in his head, so funny! Needless to say, we went out to dinner Friday night as a family, and I just had to capture a photo to document the occasion!

Goodbye, Jiggy....

Oh man was today a tough one..... we have been dog sitting my parents dog for about ten days now (they contemplated even going on vacation since they had a sick dog, but I offered to care for her while they were away). And she hasn't been doing so well since she came to our house, she recently was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and had a tumor removed. Needless to say it came back almost instantly. For my parents, she had been relatively normal, and in the first few days with us, she was normal, too. However, over the weekend when I was changing her bandages (we did have to keep her underbelly wrapped tightly to prevent bleeding from the tumor, and it is tough to wrap an 85lb black lab) her spot was deteriorating rapidly to the point it was as if her insides were going to fall out, poor dog. So I took her to the vet, and on the way there braced Elliott that we may very well not bring the dog back home with us. Thank goodness my husband didn't go in to work this morning wo he could be there with us. And once the vet saw the damage, he said it was Jiggy's time to go.... so sad to see her pass away. In conversing with Myles about it when he got off the bus today, we talked about somet of the things Jiggy liked to do; like great us at the door, bark, swim in the lake, and so much more. Myles said 'I'm gonna miss those times.' And at one point he said, 'mom stop talkin about it, I'm gonna cry.' And this evening I was looking for a photo to share of this precious dog, who is actually my parents, and I found a great one of Myles when he was just about one-year-old and Jiggy. Jiggy was such a great companion to my parents. The loyalty she showed towards them was greater than anything I've ever seen! She was obediant, dominant (in the best ways possible), active, and caring towards all the new children added to her life! Jiggy had a fondness towards the UPS and FEDEX men (they may not be so sad she has passed), as I recall one time she ran after one of the delievery men and I'm sure scared the living 'xxxx'out of him! Anyway, she was a well loved dog, and will be missed by all of us. It definately will not be the same at Grandma's house without the big black dog greeting us with her kisses and tail waggin!
Oh and I must add, Jiggy was one of Elliotts first words... so that alone lets you know just how important this dog was to all of us!

Scrappersfest Weekend Retreat!

Wow... what a whirlwind of excitment it has been leading up to the weekend retreat (this past weekend). The event planning began last February... however, most the planning took place in the last month! Of course, I was thrown for a loop this past Monday, when my original hotel let me know my meeting room was double booked! I had to scramble at the last minute to find a new place, and I did, and it was even better than the original hotel... so t hrilled for this. This week consisted of putting together the last minute details, seat gifts, event program and more. Friday was the beginning, thanks to my husband who dropped my stuff off on his way to work Friday morning (he likes to tell me I need a lighter hobby), however, loved the support. And Friday morning I was able to sneak in a few hours of setting up, and then the afternoon the ladies consistantly showed up one after another! And surprisingly, most everyone was there before 5 (a weekend retreat first). The weekend was off to a great start and continued with great momentum through Saturday and Sunday. It was filled with scrapbooking, food, games and more! We even had a 'Scrapbook Newbie' and she embraced the hobby with such enthusiasm and creativity! What a brave women to designate a weekend to something new (thank goodness she liked the hobby). It did help she was surrounded by some pretty creative ladies. Of course Sunday came too quick (probably not quick enough for my husband, who did have help for the weekend thanks to my inlaws who came to stay for three days). As always packing up is no fun! I do want to shout out a special thanks to all the crop attendees, Jana for coming down from Michigan for massages, and the LaQuinta Inn and Suites for picking up our group at the last minute. Oh and of course thanks to my husband and inlaws for helping out on the homefront! I look forward to hosting another retreat in the near future!

September American Girl Trip

Okay, so the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement, crops, festivals, planning for future events and so on, this has lead to very little personal time to update fun things like my blog! My apologies! For you readers out there I will try and do a better job and have more frequent posts, as baby Dane is changing so very much (he's almost 7 months now) and of course Elliott and Myles are always into something new!

This post is about our recent trip to Chicago, a yearly tradition. This marks our fifth visit! This is what my mother enjoys gifting to Elliott for her birthday! I think Grandma (and me of course) enjoy the trip just as much as Elliott. It is always so exciting to see what item Elliott likes the most, last year it was the baby toilet, and this year it was the double stroller! And of course she wanted the babies to go with it! She picked out the babies she wanted, and we were off on our way. After, of course the lady put the stroller together! So Elliott was able to walk out with her double stroller, babies and lunch boxes! My husband wasn't nearly as thrilled as Elliott - you could see by the way his eyes popped out of his head as we walked to where they were waiting for us!

Did you like bringing home a baby brother?

That is the questions Myles likes asking Elliott on occasion, and I think this is his way of firguring out how to 'deal' with a new baby in the house! You plan and talk and plan and talk all you want months before the baby is born, but what do you do afterwards! I am learning it is just as imporant to talk now about how a baby changes your daily routines and the feelings you may have towards having a new person in the house! I have been a very, very fortunate mother to have two very, very accepting children! They both have welcomed Dane with open arms and love him each and every day! I am sharing a picture in which you can see the genuine joy Myles has for his siblings. Myles is a caring, loving child! Enjoy.