Mud Fun and Little Ladybug

I watched Trax and Ramzi today. After the rain we had this morning and our naps, we decided we should play outside in the sprinkler. The kiddos quickly got tired of the sprinkler, especially when they found these big mud puddles in the yard. Taylor wasn't all that fond of it, but eventually dug her hands in!

Ramzi giving Trax "the look" after he nailed her with mud

Check out how muddy Trax got!! Can you see the mudpile on his head???

Proof that Taylor DID get her hands muddy!
Afterwards, they 3 all enjoyed a bath together! The water was so dirty, we had to drain it and refill it halfway through.

I had to post these next pictures of Taylor's new ladybug bows. Dustin's cousins wife, Carla, made them and many others. I won them in an auction at a family reunion a few weeks ago. We had the perfect ladybug outfit to match the bows.

Hannah, Emma, Eli & Ellie

I had a busy Thursday afternoon! Two of my good friends from college, Amy and Stacy (who are sisters), wanted me to take pictures of their 4 kids. Amy has a 2 1/2 year old, Hannah, and 9 week-old twins, Eli and Ellie. Stacy has a 9 month-old little girl named Emma.

Amy and Stacy are the type of friends that you may not see or talk to for months, but when you get together, it feels like you were hanging out with them just yesterday. That's how it was on Thursday! It was wonderful for me to catch up with them!! I have lots of fun memories with these two, things like sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, watching re-runs of Friend's and quoting every episode, and driving to Muleshoe so their mom could cut and color our hair. Amy will remember the summer of toupee's, trees, and trampolines. I also remember when Stacy came home from her first date with her now husband, and I was already putting her first name with his last name...crazy! It's so fun to see them as Mom's now and to share that experience with them. Although, I must say, watching Amy with her twins and 2 1/2 year-old makes my head spin! Thanks for a FUN day!

So, onto the kiddos...This is Hannah. She has amazing blue eyes and a hilarious personality. You should see her "shake her biscuits". HILARIOUS!! She kept us entertained with her "fake cheese smile" and her many expressions. I think I caught some good natural smiles though.


This was the last picture I took. Hannah had gone off and found someone's lipstick. She wanted to be like the big girls!
This is Emma. She is 9 months-old and such an easy-going baby! I wish I would've had a camera behind me so you could see what her mom and Aunt Mindy were doing to get these smiles out of her! Emma loves other babies and kids. She has killer blue eyes, too!

Here are the twins Eli and Ellie (short for Elizabeth). What sweet little babies! I was there for a couple of hours and NEVER heard either of them fuss. And they look SO much like their dad...it's crazy!

Here are some group shots that we took during the day. Hannah is protecting Emma in this first one. We kept saying "we're gonna getcha." Hannah did NOT want us to get Emma.

Getting the 4 of them in one pic was a bit of a challenge!
Amy and her 3
Stacy and Emma

Update

Wow!! It's really been a LONG while since I've posted. Well, a long while for me, anyway. Lindsay and Britten were here for 3 weeks and we loved every minute of it! Taylor and Britten really had fun together. Britten is so smart and at such a fun age! We spent quite a bit of time with them while they were here. Taylor also experienced her first ear infection, which turned into double ear infections. NOT FUN! At the same time, Dustin had an eye infection, sinus infection and strep throat. So, I had two babies to take care of in the evenings and 5 kids during the day. I was wiped out and so grateful when Dustin was feeling good and able to help again!

Dustin and I had planned a date night a few weeks in advance. Pop Pop was going to keep Taylor overnight. Dustin was still not feeling well at all when the date night rolled around, but I REALLY needed a break. So, Taylor still stayed with her Pop Pop and Dustin and I stayed in, ate fast food and watched a movie. It was really pretty nice!

I have started keeping more kiddos again. They are all new kids this fall, except for Taylor and Thatcher. Most of them are part-timers. I have Mason, an 18 month old 3 days a week, Hunter (most of my blogging friends know him) a 3 year old 3 days a week, and Jadyn, a 2 1/2 year old all 5 days a week. I'm back to crazy busy days, but to me so worth it to be home with my precious baby!

Onto my baby (whose not really a baby anymore)...Taylor turned 10 months old last week. I planned to take pictures of her last Saturday at the park, but the rain kept us away. I'll try again this weekend. She is crawling everywhere and very quickly now! She's talking all the time, which amazes me and can "sort of" sign please and more. She eats pretty much anything we do and is drinking from her own sippy cup now. She really is growing too fast! Even though I spend most of my time chasing her everywhere, I love the stage she's in. It's so cool to see her discover and learn new things all the time.

Not to bore you any further, here are some pictures from today. The first few are of Hunter and Jadyn wearing sombreros. These kids are so funny!



And here are Taylor and Thatcher hanging out on the picnic table. They can both climb all the way on top of the picnic table now and have no fear of falling. I sense some major bruises in the near future...
Check out their little feet dangling under the table :)

I kept telling Taylor to give Thatcher a kiss and every time I said it, she put her arm around him and put her head on his shoulder. They are so cute together!
By this point, I think Thatcher had had enough cuddling from Taylor for one day. Check out his expression!