Princess Ball

Our church put on a Daddy-Daughter Dance called the Princess Ball.  They are there right now. I hope she is having a good time with her daddy.

Mother's Day 2009

Mother's Day Tea at the Preschool

Commentary to come....

Multi-Cultural Fair at the school

Commentary to come...

Road Trip Part 3

Commentary to follow....

updating the vacation posts with pictures!

See below.

Still have to post about our last couple of days.....

Still CrAzY.

Day 5 (Tuesday).  Packed up at the Pismo RV Resort Campground in the morning.  While I showered and packed, Luke took the kids to the campground mini golf, but it sucked and the kids were fighting.  We pulled out of camp around 12:00, and drove about 20 minutes before we realized neither of us packed the stroller.

  Turned around and went back for it, to discover Zeke had pushed it to a neighboring campsite, and parked it at the door of a really nice motorhome. Maybe he was trying to upgrade?  Sorry dude, you're stuck with us and the old, seen-better-days trailer.

   We drove to LA, hoping to spend a little time with our friends Monica & Trevor who had a new baby boy 6 weeks ago.  

Visit was nice, we spent a good amount of time trying to figure out where we could park the trailer close to Knott's Berry Farm so we could be close in the morning.  In the end we decided to just stay parked in front of their house and drive the hour in the morning.

Day 6 (Wednesday).  

KBF didn't open until 10:00am, and we were told we would hit less traffic if we left between 9:00 and 9:30.  We were pretty on schedule with only a slight hold-up when Zeke got locked in the trailer bathroom.  After trying to stick some pointy objects into the lock, Luke finally decided to remove the handle on the door.  Zeke was freed, and we were on the road. 

 We circled the park a bit trying to find the RV parking, and finally got in the gates at about 11:00.  Right off the bat Luke & Dane hit a roller coaster (the only one Dane was tall enough to ride - but a real roller coaster none-the-less).

 

 Genevieve, Zeke and I went off to explore (for what turned out to be about an hour) while we waited.  Zeke was having tantrum after tantrum, and was being a little hellion to tell the truth.  By the time we met back up with Luke & Dane, I was about done for the day.  Zeke is definitely a 2-parent kid.

  We had a good day, the highlight being the log ride.  The kids loved it.  Zeke tolerated it the first 3 times or so, then was pissed the last 2. 

 The big surprise of the day was when we were eating dinner.  Genevieve saw another roller coaster.  A big one.  The kind that goes upside down about 4 times.  I would say similat to the Demon at Great America.  She said she wanted to ride it.  I told her she wasn't tall enough.  She ran over and measured herself, and she was an inch or 2 too short.  She insisted that she was tall enough.  

Finally I told her, she could wait in line and see what the ride operator said.  Luke was off buying food during all this, and I had the 2 boys, so I couldn't go with her.  About 10 minutes pass, and she still wasn't back.  Luke came back so I ran up the exit to see where she was.  Well she was in front of the line, ready to go.  I couldn't believe it.  This tiny little 6 year old about to ride her first real roller coaster (and a doozy at that!), and she was going to do it by herself.  I still can't believe the confidence she had.  So I took off running to join her.  I enjoy roller coasters less the older I get, and I had no desire to do this one.  But I couldn't let her do this by herself.  So we did it together.  And she was hooked.  We've got ourselves a little adrenalin junkie.   

The last couple hours at the park there were virtually no lines, so we got to ride a bunch of rides.  Minus the outrageously over-priced food, I think the park is a good bang for your buck for a family like ours.  We didn't budget for Disneyland, and you can't do Disney in one day.  KBF was a great fit.  I'm sure it was a highlight of our vacation for our kids.

After we left the park at almost 10pm, we drove a couple hours south to park at our friends (the Berry's)  house in San Diego.  

Day 6 (Wednesday).  We woke at the Berry's, and enjoyed a leisurely morning catching up.  As leisurely as it can be with 8 kids running around.  Yes eight.  You might remember the Berry's from my other blog, where I explained how they were adopting 5 year old Ugandan twins.  So the Berry's had their (now) 5 kids, and us with our 3.  Actually for 8 kids, it wasn't that chaotic.  We all went to Coronado beach, where it was altogether too windy and not nearly warm enough for a beach day.  Somehow we still manage to get burned.  I was a bad bad mommy who brought, but completely forgot to apply the sunblock.  

We came back, showered, and unsuccessfully tried to get Zeke to take a nap.  We had plans with to get together with a friend of mine form college for dinner, but she completely flaked on me.  So we yet again imposed on the Berry's and they were gracious enough to feed us =).  It was a sweet time that I'm glad we didn't miss.  We got to look at some photo books that Brian made from their 2 trips to Uganda, and Becky & Billy (the twins) were right there getting so excited about the pictures.  They have been here 2 months, and know soooo much english.  Apparently they came over with quite a bit, and are picking up the rest at a rapid rate.  In fact, we couldn't get them to speak Lugandan to us at all.   Anyhow, all the Berry kids are absolutely adorable, and we are really enjoying our time with the whole family.  Tomorrow we are going to the San Diego Zoo, and it will be the twins first time.  Should be exciting! 

Okay, done for now.  The only new trailer news is that when Luke plugged us into the Berry's extension cord, he got shocked when he touched the outside of the trailer.  We were plugged in all night, and he got a pretty big shock this morning.  That one is much scarier than a leaky roof or even a flat tire.  So um, yah, say a little prayer that we don't get electrocuted in this heap.  =)

Yep, we're certifiably cRaZy.

We're on a road trip.  All 5 of us.  9 days.  One truck.  One trailer.  Tight quarters.  

But we're trying to build memories on a budget, so this is what it looks like.

When we pulled Grandpa Bob's trailer out of the storage lot last week we got a flat tire 1 block from the yard.  Luke put on the spare, then later that week took the tire in for replacement.  That's when we found out that while the tires didn't look too bad, they were in fact 13 years old.  So we replaced them all.  Except the spare.  

The day before our departure it rained.  That's when we discovered that the back of the trailer had a leak.  When Luke got up there to caulk the "spot", he discovered there was actually a huge rotting "portion" of the roof.  Thanks to Luke and his dad the roof was repaired, and all was well.

Day 1 (Friday).  We thought we would head out of town around noon on  Friday, catch the Good Friday service at church, and get on the road.  I think we actually pulled out of town at 5:00pm.  No service at church, and Jack in the Box on the road, just trying to put on a few miles.  We ended up at Big Sur Campground.  Did I mention we didn't make reservations anywhere?  Yes, we know it's a holiday week.  But we're like that.  Sometimes.  Fly by the seat of our trailer. Luckily we got a spot - although a little pricier than we had hoped.  

Luke took the kids for a little hike in the morning and let me sleep in.  I hadn't slept very well the night before.  Maybe it was the bed.  Oh yeah, this is funny.  The last time we used the trailer we were a family of 4.  Genevieve was about 3, and Dane was 15 months or so.  Luke and I took the full-size bed in the"bedroom" (I use that term loosely), and we put Genevieve on the couch with a little bed rail, and set up a pack'n play next to her for Dane.  That whole trip we apparently never pulled out the couch into an actual bed.  So we didn't know that it was actually what Luke calls a "California Twin"  Maybe a hair wider than a twin.  I'm pretty sure it is the same width as a twin, only shorter, so it appears it's wider.  Anyhow, we assumed the bed made into a full, and only discovered the teeny tiny bed after we had  tucked all 3 kiddos into the full-size bed in the "bedroom".  

So we laughed.  And laughed.  And laughed some more.  Then we each hugged our corner of the bed, and tried to get some sleep.

Day 2 (Saturday).  Only a few miles out of Big Sur, we hear a clunk - clunk - clunk..... outside.  Luke pulls over to find that all 4 (5?) lugnuts on one of the new tires on the trailer are tearing up the rim.  So he jacks it up and puts the spare on (you know, the one tire we didn't replace).  And we spend the rest of the day looking for a tire shop.  Nobody has that rim in stock, so we have them take the new tire off the ruined rim, and put it on the rim of the spare (old) tire.  

Following this?  We are on our way, however we don't have a spare now, and we still have to find someone who carries that rim.

Along the coast we see a beach with tons of sea lions on shore. The kids really enjoyed watching them, but it was super duper windy, so we didn't stay long.

After being told there's "no room at the inn" at a couple campgrounds, we end up at Morro Strand State Beach Campground in Morro Bay.  Picture an asphault parking lot 'sort-of' on the beach - with no hookups, or campground showers =).  We have a shower, but don't know how fast our holding tank will fill up.  This place was kind of depressing.  But the kids were tired of being in the truck, and we told them we weren't going to move for a whole day.  So we dyed some eggs and called it a night.  

Day 3.  (Easter Sunday)  The Easter Bunny came.  The kids were thrilled with their meager easter baskets,

and we broke the news to them that we were in fact "moving" that day.  We hid eggs, and while they were hunting, we quickly got the trailer hooked up and ready to move.  




We promised we were just driving a tiny bit.  We ended up at Pismo Beach at a nice campground, and to the kids delight we snagged a campsite next door to a little playground.  

The campground is on the beach, but unfortunately when we got over there it was crazy windy and chilly.  We were told it is like this every afternoon.    Later we walked downtown, watched the surfers from the pier,  

ate at a  yummy BBQ joint (can' t remember the name), and finished off the evening with some self-serve yogurt & toppings.  



Zeke was seriously delirious as he only had about a 20 minute nap for the whole day (not from lack of trying).  Luke and I retired to our teeny tiny bed, only to have Zeke come paddling out of his room and insist on sleeping with us.  Yes, that meant that Genevieve and Dane were living large in the full-size bed, while the 3 of us were all cozy in our "California Twin".  I finally got up and slept with Genevieve and Dane with my feet hanging off the bed (we had put them in the bed sideways so they would all fit).  Another night of less than average sleep.  

Do I sound negative?  I don't mean to.  We are having a good time.  It's just been somewhat of a comedy of errors.  And this trailer has proven too small (and too old!) for our family of 5.  

Day 4 (Monday).  Are we already on day 4?  Wow.  We are still at Pismo Beach.




 We decided to have a day where we are not moving.  Although the beach is much to be desired here, the kids seem to enjoy being here (they love the playground and meeting all the kids who come to frequent it all day long).  Right now Zeke is going on a 3 1/2 hour nap (hallelujah!).  The kids are starting to complain that they're bored.  We are heading south tomorrow, although not sure where.  We're thinking of doing Knott's Berry Farm (because it's relatively inexpensive, and can be done in one day).   But camping/RV options don't look great in LA, so we'll see.    Would love to find a nice campground with a great beach.  Have spent quite sometime looking for that, and have come up dry.  I can find nice campground/poor beach access, great beach/parking lot campground.  And nothing is close to KBF.  We are willing to skip KBF if we can find a great beach destination.  But between here and San Diego nothing looks great.  Can you believe that?  I had no idea.  

Okay, off to get ready to do something when the baby wakes up.  And yes, at 21 months he's still my baby.  And probably always will be.

******Unfortunately no pictures until we return =(.  I grabbed the wrong cord for my camera.

It's not only a name

For those of you that thought "Taylor Trash" was just a cute little 'play on words' with our name....

Using the Force here at Taylor Trash

Our little Dane Luke is turning 5, and wants to ring in his birthday Star Wars style.

So we are knee-deep in Darth Vadar, r2d2, light sabers, and jedi training prep.   Should be a yoda fun. Get it? Yoda, instead of loada, or load of....

I crack myself up.

Invites....

My homemade stand-up in progress.  In this picture I haven't attached it to the cardboard yet.  I have to say I think it turned out really cool.  It's probably 6 ft tall.  I found a program that lets you turn any high res picture into a poster that you can print out in 8.5 X 11 sheets and put together like a puzzle.

She's our star

But she also happened to be star of the week last week in her first grade class.  

We didn't have much direction on what to do.  I'm assuming the teacher sent something home at the beginning of the year, but since we're new to the class we didn't get it.  

Anyhow, we made a poster.  Okay, technically I made the poster, but Genevieve helped by filling in the little questionaires I made about her "favorites". 

***Hint- if you click on the pictures you can see them in more detail =)

We are entering sports, starting with tee-ball....

Dane is on the Little League Giants.  They don't keep score.  Every player has a turn at bat every inning.  They don't get "out".  They get to run a base at every hit.  

So it's pretty much not baseball at all.  But they get to wear the cute uniforms, swing a bat, and run.  Can't be all that bad.

Cute towel, wrong name

I decided to make a little hooded towel for our cousins new baby Grace Loren.  Only I thought her name was Loren Grace.  Notice the "L"?  

Bummer.

I need to make her a new towel. Not sure what to do with this one.  Don't think I have any friends expecting little girls whose name starts with "L" right now.  Maybe she will just get both.  And her parents can have a good laugh about it.

Soiled SUV

My friend Wendy is having a contest. A contest I should be embarrassed that I'm a contender in. But there is something liberating about airing your dirty laundry, or "Dirty DMV" (Dirty Mini Van). The one last cool factor that I still hold onto is the fact that I don't drive a minivan. Luke and I made a pact, even before we were married. There would be no minivan. Ever. Not to say I don't drool over the lower vehicles with automatic doors and whole slew of make-your-life-easier-with-small-children options. I do. But a pact is a pact. And to tell the truth I realize there is nothing cool about SUV's, unless you're a mom and you're proud that you held out from the minivan. Then you think you've still got an ounce of coolness left. But really you're just holding out on practicality.

I digress.

Back to the competition. I'm entering my Soiled SUV. Last week when Wendy announced her competition I was so bummed because I had just driven on a field trip so I had "cleared" out my SUV. Notice I didn't say "cleaned" out. Wendy replied "give it a week, and submit your pics". I thought, 'oh no, not this time. THIS time, I am keeping it free from junk. No more STUFF. I'm taking everything in every time I get home.' Well here we are 10 days later, and I'm a contender. And probably a pretty strong contender.

The pictures don't really do it justice, but here goes.
#1 - The dash - We've got a NKJV Bible, 3 diapers, 2 preschool projects, and a bunch of bandages/ointment for Zeke's newest burn.  Further down out of sight is a hat of Luke's.

#2 - The passenger seat.  Always the first to collect all the crap.  We have clothes I need to return to my SIL, about a weeks worth of mail (because that's how often I check our box at the end of the road), my giraffe purse, an empty lemonade container, another preschool project, and who knows what else underneath.  In the consol thingy is another diaper, an empty Hansen's can, a hair clip, mailbox keys, DVD remote, and probably some garbage.

#3 - The passenger seat floor - A McD's bag, a Toys R Us bag with a couple birthday gifts, and the backing to 200 postcard stamps.

#4 - the 2nd row - 1 jacket, 2 sweatshirts, a sweater, 2 teddy bears, a dance costume, an old (probably moldy) sippy cup, a pack of stickers and a lid to a missing cup.

The "trunk" of the car has actually been uneventful.  There are a couple pieces of cardboard for a project and a stroller.  Not Taylor style at all.

Luke wanted me to disclaim that he doesn't even like to to ride in my car.  I told him not too worry, as that seems to be the general rule with most husbands regarding the family car.  

It is, what it is....

when I grow up

Genevieve is 6 1/2.  Many days she tells me what she wants to be when she grows up. 

Today: "When I grow up I want to be a Professional Jump Roper."

Sweet.  I guess your dad and I should start building the little cottage in back that you will surely be living in when you are 45.  =)

And here she is being a monkey in her little jungle scene that she created.

My Valentine's Day gift to Luke

This was my Valentines Day gift to Luke.

(turn off or pause the music player at the bottom of the blog)

It is only the last 7 years of our life because that's when we went digital.  Scanning the previous 7 years will be a monstrous task.  Someday maybe.

I realized Luke and I have very few pictures of just the 2 of us.  I felt a little guilty cropping our kids out of all the pictures =)

Fun in the snow

Dane had a ski lesson over New Years break, so this time he was a pro going up the rope tow and coming down the bunny slope.

Genevieve went to Ski School this time and did pretty good.  

And Zeke just made a cute snow bunny

Lynda & Danny's  Twain Harte cabin with lot's of snow.  Gotta love the generous in-laws who share their cabin with us.

The King Family came up for a couple nights after they got over the flu.

Dane & Sam sledding in front of the cabin.

Genevieve & Grace making their way up the hill.

And a little winter hot tub fun.

Valentines Fun

I love having the kids make their own valentines day cards.  I don't go crazy, but I usually get some cardstock, do something cute with a picture of them, and have them add stickers.  Simple, but homemade.

Sorry about the picture of Danes, my camera was a little flash-happy.  His preschool class is the monkey room, thus the monkey stickers.

Cute little Dane-ism-

I was getting out the stuff for the cards, and he kept telling me "mom, there are 5 gils (can't say his "r"'s still).  And I told him we were making the cards for everyone.  And he asks "for the boys too?"  Then when we were putting heart stickers on them he tells me again "I need 5 'hawts' for the gils".  He couldn't believe that we were putting heart stickers on the boys cards too (we don't address the preschool cards).  

I just think it's funny how he knows it's a kind of a "love" holiday, and wanted to just give the girls the cards.  How cute is that?

Genevieve's turned out really cute.  Hers are in spanish because she is in the dual immersion class.  They didn't have to be, but I thought it would be fun.

And these are the treats I made to go with the cards.  White chocolate dipped pretzel rods with sprinkles.  Yummy and EASY.

Cutesie cake

I made this little cake for my friend Kelli's birthday last week.  I used a tiny little round pyrex dish and it was a personal little 3"-4" cake.  

more water

Can't stop thinking, and talking and doing water.

At the other blog

I so need to combine these.

need to combine blogs

So it's apparent that I can't keep up 2 blogs.  If I'm updating one, the other stands stagnant.  I'm thinking there's a way to marry the two, but not sure what that is. 

Any ideas?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Computer & Mexico

Update on the crashed computer:

I found a guy via a friend of a friend who was able to retrieve all my data off the hard-drive. It cost $125, which I felt was a great deal considering my quote from Drive Savers for $2500. I then took my computer to apple so they could replace the hard-drive. Just got a call from apple, that it appears my hard-drive is working, and that something else was wrong with the computer to make it impossible to access the hard-drive. Ummmmmm, it would have been nice if they figured that out and told me BEFORE I went and PAID MONEY to have my data retrieved. THANK GOD we did not go to Drive Savers. Could you imagine if I paid $2500 to retrieve my data only to find out that it was never "lost" in the first place???? Apple just lost a few points in my book. They are the ones who told me that my HD was bad and to retrieve my data before I turned it over to them. 

I will up the computer tonight or tomorrow and will know for sure what the scoop is. I am also learning that "backing up" my data gets a bit more confusing and involved because I am running Parallels and Windows. The only reason I am running these programs is because Quickbooks Mac is a crappy program, and won't do everything we need it to do, so I am forced to use the Windows version. 

Way more than you ever wanted to know I'm sure.

Mexico! I realize from the different comments and e-mails that I never really explained WHY I took Genevieve to Mexico. Our elementary school has a Dual Immersion Program where students are taught in spanish starting in Kindergarten. It is a highly sought after program, and only half the school participates in this program. Priority is given by how many years you have lived in our town, and is open to the whole district, not just those who are supposed to go to our school. 

We have had Genevieve on the waiting list since Kindergarten, and she JUST got a placement half-way through first grade. We got the call right before Christmas Break. So I had this crazy idea of taking her to Mexico to give her a little boost in spanish before throwing her into her new class. You know, since she will be A YEAR AND A HALF behind the other kids. Well my crazy husband supported my crazy idea, and it became our crazy reality. Our business is technically closed between Christmas and New Years, so Luke was able to be home with the boys while us girls went on our little mother-daughter adventure.

It was a great trip. The town of San Miguel de Allende was beautiful. The language school was top-notch. But the best part was seeing Genevieve in a new element. Wow, the difference without siblings to bicker with! It was great. I'm secretly planning our next mother-daughter get-away, because I truly enjoyed our time together like no other. 

So Genevieve has been back in school for 2 weeks and she's doing great! The transition is going much smoother than I (or her new teacher) anticipated. I'm hoping that we can go somewhere this summer as a family to help keep up the spanish over the break.

A plug for the 'ol biz

Back it up!

Now.  

Stop what you are doing, hook up your computer to an external drive (if you don't have one, go out and buy one), and BACK UP YOUR STUFF.

I'm the queen of reading these messages, and saying to myself "yah, I gotta do that....later".

Well later never came and my hard drive CRASHED.

NO WARNING.  9 month old computer.

ALL of our business information & customer accounts are on that hard drive.  Our LIVELIHOOD.

All my pictures from the last  9 months.  

I am a self-proclaimed IDIOT for not backing-up.  

Right now I don't know what (if anything) will be salvaged.  To send it to a professional data-retrieval place is between $2000-$3000.  We MAY have to go that route.  And we still MAY not get anything back.  

Trying to have peace.  These things throw me into such a tailspin.  I have to remember that God CAN fix this problem.  So if He chooses not to, I'm supposed to learn something from this ordeal.  I'm pretty sure it is not supposed to be "panic" or "stress".  I have to keep my eye on the bigger picture.  Our lives may get really difficult for a while because of this, but they will not end.  

One more lesson in PERSPECTIVE, that's for sure.  

So why are you still reading this?

GO BACK UP YOUR PRECIOUS FILES!!!!!

Is it Lupus?

My friend Danika has a new blog.  Well, she's been blogging for a little while now, but her husband designed a new blog for her with different sections, and it's really cool.  She talks about her journey with Lupus (which she is currently battling right now), and how that journey has affected her drive toward healthy eating, a healthy lifestyle, her parenting, her marriage, and her relationship with God.  You should definitely check it out.

Is It Lupus?

need to update!

Hopefully tonight!