Fun Music...

I picture says a thousand words.... What you you think this one says? I think it sums up their relationship quite nicely. Rugby is Emerson's hero and Rugby likes it that way.

My kids love to jam to music. I turn it on all the time. We cook to it, clean to it, drive to it and sometimes we turn it on just to dance. I love to see my kids finding their dance groove. I makes me giggle.

If you want to get your groove on too my kids have a few suggestions...

Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing (John Legend)

Mi Swing Es Tropical (Nickodemus & Quantic featuring Tempo)

Merry Happy (Kate Nash)

Funkytown (Lipps Inc.)

Work This Out (High School Musical 2)

Bulletproof Dress (Cheri Magill)

Lollipop (MIKA)

If you want to return the favor, tell us about some of your jam tunes too. We always love new material. (If you are looking for these songs, they are all available on itunes.) Happy Dancing!

For Coco's Eyes Only...

This post is completely devoted to you Coco. You asked for it.... All I can say is-- at least we didn't mail it this year!

Ok, I admit we were just getting silly at this point but you've got to admit that the Coco egg is dead on. Notice the hair-- nice and spikey. The eyes-- very googly. Pretty creative-- huh? Happy Easter buddy! We love you!

Happy Easter...

Happy Easter to all! The E.B. brought lots of fun things to the kids this year. They each got something that they treasured all morning long.

Breckyn got a ribbon wand. She has been trying to construct one herself for months with numerous failed attempts. (Scotch tape, a stick and ribbon do not work-- who knew?)
Z got Uno because she has spent the last several days playing games from bed. She has become a master of crazy 8's so the E.B. thought she was ready to step it up with a little Uno. Tim spent the rest of the morning playing with her before church.
Rugs got this cool new Spiderman hat that could not come to church with us this morning despite his keen fashion instincts on the subject.
Emerson didn't care what he got. He spent most of the morning eating candy in all of his glory. Mom and Dad actually let him eat whatever and the power went straight to his head. He was running circles around the room on the biggest sugar high of his little baby life.
Here is Rugs testing out Breckyn's ribbon. (All I have to say is-- "get in shape girl... you've got to move it... get in shape girl.... you've got to prove it!) (We had something like this in blue growing up with a matching work out tape, leg warmers, the whole deal-- I know you guys remember it!)

The E.B. was also kind enough to bring a present that makes them all work together as a team. That fluffy little guy is so clever. This was one of my favorite units in gym class--the parachute. That's what I call team work!

What's Easter without a new pair of sunglasses?

All ready for church. The girlies insisted on wearing their white dresses so they could be as fancy as possible. Happy Easter!

The Princess Bride...

We let the kids watch The Princess Bride with us the other night. It was a pretty hilarious blast from the past. They really got into it. We had a lot of pretend sword fights by the end of the day. They got the lines a little mixed up...

Bowling...

Today we went bowling as a family. Our skills have improved over the years. This time Tim only had to go get 2 balls that had stopped in the middle-- that's progress! This is one of the kids most favorite things to do. (and a very Wisconsinish past time might I add) (I even had bowling as a unit in gym class growing up-- no kidding.)
Our super stylish shoes...sorry to say they were only rentals. The kids kept asking if we could keep them because they were so cool....ahhh, no. I videoed all of the kids and their funny bowling throws. There is nothing funnier than a kid chucking a bowling ball with all of their little baby might and watching it drop straight to the ground only to roll slower than a run away Cheerio at church. Just watch, it's funny...

Our littlest man who was guilty of the 2 ball stopping incidents. He'll grow into it.

Rugby really enjoyed himself (you can tell by his little dance he did every time it was his turn). He made me promise to bring him back before we could leave.

Z and her mad skills. This is her first time out since her surgery. She spent most of the time drinking ice water and sitting down to rest. She's not all there yet, but we're working on it.

Breckyn really has her skills defined as our resident big girl bowler. She is the only one that really noticed or kept track of the score. She is getting to be so savvy.

colored eggs...

Today was the big colored egg day at the Taylor house. We got out all of the supplies and went to it... (The only thing I don't like about egg dying is that Tim will be eating all of these over the next few days and there will be no more fresh air in the house until they are gone! If you know what I mean.)

They were all trying for the perfect combination. Rugby started complaining that he couldn't get the middle stripe filled in just right. Ah, the pains of the perfect egg. Breckyn was trying for perfection (of course). Emerson's fingers were more colorful than his eggs by the end.
Here are our final master pieces.

Emerson Joined the Club...

Warning: Tim says that the following is way too graphic for the blog.... you've been warned! (I figure-- we're all mom's and this is just part of the job.)

Well, I know some of you felt bad that Emerson was left out of the sick club yesterday. I'm here to tell you that today he joined up. He had the most explosive poo-poos that have ever come out of any little booty. He started pulling his pants down in the hall (yes, over the carpet). It exploded all over the hall, including a new pile of clothes I had just got in the mail from Gymboree and hadn't quite put away yet. (and it was on sale too!) He tagged the bathroom and the toilet and everything he was wearing. Once I got him all wiped up, I put him into the shower and began the long long clean up process involving several cleaning agents, a lot of Clorox wipes and a steam cleaner. What can I say? When it rains, it POURS! I'm taking a much needed special edition of girls night out tonight and we'll start fresh again tomorrow.

The Triple Whammy Day...

As most of you know, today was the big tonsil day for Zoey. She was scheduled to go in for surgery at 7:30 this morning and all went well. She came out of surgery a little loopy and a lot drugged up. She was super good and kept thanking everyone in her drunken stupor.

Here she is right before they took her in. She was in such a good mood. She was a real trooper.
They gave her this bear that she named Strecher (I'm not sure why. I was pushing for Bob). He kept her company the whole time.
Here she is just out of the recovery room. She was crying because she was out of it and didn't know what was going on. A little snooze and a few popsicles did the trick and we were out before lunch.
While we were at the Elkhorn hospital Tim was at the Milwaukee Children's hospital with Rugs working through an ongoing problem he is having. Those appointments are really hard to get and we couldn't switch it. So we learned that we might be having a quick outpatient procedure with Rugs. Ok, two kids, one day, two hospitals.... and it gets worse.
When I got home with Zoey I get a phone call from my Mom that went something like this...

Mom: "Umm... I need your help with something..."

Me: "OK...."

Mom: "I'm going to need you to sign some release forms so we can take Breckyn to the emergency room....."

Me: "What?"

It turns out while Tim and I were at the hospital appointments, Breckyn hurt herself on an exercise bike at Jodi's house. I had my mom and dad come over to watch Z buzzed out on drugs while I got Brecky and took her to urgent care. Three and a half hours later we found out that B has bruised her bone and needs to take it easy. She wouldn't walk so I carried my 60 pound 7 year old to and through the doctors office like a big old baby. She is fine and we are icing and elevating.

The three of them have taken over my bedroom and made themselves quite at home.

Oh yeah, Rugby's freaky pirate hat is from a happy meal that he got on the way home. Warning to all parents-- if you go to McDonalds you will have to endure this weirdo hat until they lose it. It could be days for me because he thinks it's super cool. Yes, that is a fake gold plastic chain hanging down from the side. It really finishes off this fine piece of work. Thanks McDonalds.

Easter Bunnies?

When we got home from church today Breckyn asked if she could change. She was looking for something "springy" to wear. I basically tuned out and told her that pajama pants sounded "springy" enough to me. A few minutes later she comes down wearing this....
She dressed herself in all white to look like the Easter Bunny and had Grandma working on a pair of ears for her to wear. Always the drama with this little girl... She couldn't be satisfied with something as mundane as pajama pants-- BORING!
Z tried to give it a go too. She made these ears herself. Could you tell? She came up with the whole taping idea by herself too. I'm pretty sure she lost some eyebrows when she tried to remove them.

Happy Easter!

Family Fun...

Today was a day of family fun. Z is going to have her tonsils out on Monday and we wanted to fit in some fun spring break activities before she is down and out. We decided to go to a place near us called Bounces R Us. It is a giant warehouse filled with huge jumping pits. The kids had a blast and so did we.

This was a huge spiderman obstacle course that was the crowd favorite.
They even had the princesses for the girlies.
Breckyn was in total jumping heaven.
There was one that was a huge slide that we all took a few turns on when the crowd starting thinning out. (I'm pretty sure the parents weren't suppose to go on the jumpies but Tim and I couldn't resist. It was awesome and we totally have the plastic skid burns to prove it!)
We had so much fun we are going to do it again soon and drag the Barlows with next time. I highly recommend it if there is one in your area. The kids were sweaty, thirsty and pooped by the time we left. It was the perfect family outing.

My Little Sloshers...

It's starting to be spring around here. Hopefully the weather will stay long enough to get rid of the rest of our snow. In the meantime our backyard is a little flooded because of the melting snow and the still frozen ground. The boys found this to be in their favor today. It was perfect "sloshing" weather.

Emerson in little boy bliss...
Rugby has found his calling in life-- he is going to become a professional slosher!


The big fall...

More action...

Rugs was a little emotional today but after a nice long bath he was just fine.

This morning I made B and Z's classes a spring treat. It turned out really cute and the kids were super excited. I just mixed chocolate and regular Rice Krispies and made them into Rice Krispie treat nests and added chocolate eggs and peeps to make it look just right. I cranked out 63 with the help of my trusty side kicks (a.k.a- my mom and dad). It was fun and very rewarding. Happy Spring!

For a closer look...

My lovey boys...

These two guys are really really lovey. I call the little one my lovey muffin because he needs to have his "love quota" met for the day or he is not a happy camper. He needs to have more hugs and kisses than the average kid. He snuggles his preschool teacher, his primary teacher, his grandparents but his favorite person to snuggle is the big guy. He likes to follow Timmy around and just be by him. Sometimes in the early morning, before anyone else is up he sits on Tim's lap and just watches him work. That's love...

Here is the tough guy pose... (really tough-- I know) Lovey Muffin... One kiss down and 3,872 left to squeeze in today... I just love these guys!

just a few things I like...

Messy faces get me every time... its just funny.

Flowers are perhaps my most favorite thing on earth second only to food.
..see, it's just funny...
I got a super deal on this dress and found another in blue for B (matching hair piece and all).
Ice cream... and I don't even need to say why...

Blog Secrets Revealed...

Perhaps you have noticed my funky new template and you are wondering.... hmmmm.... how can I get a template just like my favorite person Aleca. Well, funny you should ask. I just happen to be able to hook you up (thanks to my great friend Melissa). If you click on my newest link "new templates" off the the right here..... you will connect to another blog that has a list on the left hand side along with step by step instructions of how to upload new templates. I suggest you open a few windows to make everything go a little smoother. Good luck and happy down loading!

Biology by Emerson...

Emerson is an interesting boy. Nothing is ever dull with him around. Tonight I noticed that he had a big scratch in his ear and I asked him what the deal was. He instantly began digging in his ear. I said, "What are you doing? Get your finger out of your ear!" He says, "I'm trying to get to my brain Mom!" I tell him that you can't get to your brain through your ears and that he'll just end up hurting himself. He says, "Why not? It's two holes with my brain in the middle. I think I can get to it." Rugby quickly adds in his encouragement that it can't be that hard and starts digging himself. (sigh) I give up. At least they didn't try to enter through their nose-- that would be messier.

Creativity Conference...

Tonight was the big creativity conference at school. The girls were bursting with excitement. They each put a lot of effort into their projects and everything turned out nicely.

Breckyn named her cookies "Breckyn's Messy Lemon Cookies" and she handed out recipes to everyone (even little kids). (It's a cake mix (she wanted lemon-- I like funfetti), 2 eggs and 1/3 C. of oil mixed and baked at 375 degrees) (I had her melt some frosting and drizzle it on top-- hence the "messy" part)
Z named hers "Zoey's sweet strawberry cake." She handed out quite a few pieces and she even made a few people try the crumbs towards the end. She wanted to make sure everyone got to enjoy her sweet treat. (She finished off the rest of the crumbs in the car on the way home.)
Maddie did a winter sports display. She worked really hard and sacrificed a few Polly's for her big project.
Max enjoyed Breckyn's display...
Even Breckyn enjoyed her own display...

Here is Breckyn's dramatic portrayal of "I ripped my pants at school today."

Zoey's presentation of her favorite story "Knuffle Bunny" by Mo Willems was a little too long to post. But all went well there also.

Baking "practice"

On Monday the girlies are entered in a "creativity conference" at there school. They are entered in a performance category and a talent category. Breckyn will be reciting a poem and Zoey will be reading a story. For their talents they both wanted to bake. They kept telling me practice makes perfect (when it's something they like) and so we baked.... and baked... and baked...

Breckyn is making lemon cookies (her favorite).
Zoey is making a strawberry cake (of course) with pink frosting (double of course). I think I've had all the practices I can handle for one week. The big show is tomorrow and I'll be sure to post all of the exciting events then.