Let's go to the Movies

Lately, Taylor has been begging for some undivided attention. So Adam and I thought we would take her to see Toy Story since it's in the theatres. I was alittle nervous about it and actually gave Adam a pep talk. I didn't want either of us going with high expectations. If we had to leave 45 minutes into the movie, then we would.

So Saturday morning, Nana watched Kendall and the three of us headed to the movies. Taylor caught a catnap in the car. We had lunch at Wich Which where Adam let Taylor concoct her own sandwhich. I opened it and thought "oh my what have you done." Surprisingly, she ate it. It was a BLT on wheat with mushrooms, olives, pickles, mayo, ketchup, mozarella,salt, pepper, oregano and I"m sure I'm leaving something out. Again, she picked everything on it and she ate it.

After lunch, we headed to the movies. She played outside by the "mountain" (fountain) and we let her "play" some video games out front.


We tried to take her in at the last minute possible. We took several potty trips and after findind seats, I took her out in the hall to get her 'runs out'. Running that is. (there weren't any people around and it was half the hallway).

I'm not sure who was more excited me or Taylor. Surprisingly, she sat through the entire movie. She did GREAT! We talked about how she would have to sit real still and talk softly. She was so proud of herself afterwards saying that she sat still. She only left the theatre twice... once to get popcorn and a second to go potty. Another real trick (for us) was that we didn't get popcorn at the beginning. She asked for it probably 45 minutes into the movie and it offered a distraction per se for the second half of the movie.

She only had one meltdown and that was before the movie even began... because I carried her down the steps for a potty break. She wanted to do it herself. It was a great outing and I was SUPER proud of her.

Beach 2010

We took our first family vacation in two years this May. We rented a condo in Garden City. We normally go to Cherry Grove, but waited too long to get a condo at our regular spot and we needed a two bedroom condo, which were way expensive and not ocean front. This condo wasn't exactly ocean front but the price was too good to beat. (Thanks Kristin) It was our first time at Garden City and there's really not much to say about it. We usually took the 30 minute trip to Myrtle to visit Boardwalk and Barefoot Landing.
The night before we left, I told Taylor we were going to the beach. She replied, "yea animals," confusing it with the zoo, I assumed. I told her "no, zoo has animals. Beach has sand and water." Her response, "sand and water, not cool." She thought otherwise when we got there.

We had a rough start to our vacation but it ended well. We left Saturday and got a late start. Kendall woke up with a nasty cough and nasty runny nose. I decided to take her to the doctor instead of waiting and having to take her at the beach. It was a good call b/c she ended up with an ear infection. By tthe time I got back from the doctor, her rx filled and the car packed, it was 1:30. About 40 minutes down the road, the sky dropped. It poured the entire way to the beach (except for last 40 minutes). It was a nasty storm and I was tense the entire way. Luckily the kids slept for some of it. Taylor woke during the rain and screamed for her umbrella. I don't blame her, the rain was that hard. So depsite my better judgement, I let her have her umbrella in the car.
We arrived at the condo at about 5:30. After we unpacked, Adam left to get dinner. Taylor was eating on round cheese balls, that she's enjoyed a hundred times. I'm not sure what happened after that (something I played over a hundred times) but Taylor ended up choking. I mean REAL choking. She ended up where she couldn' tcough, she was trying to 'hack' it out and I wasn't sure whether or not to do the heimelech. (They say if they can cough leave them alone). She started turning colors. I had her in the position and looking for a phone at the same time. After about 60-90 seconds, she spit it up, covered in blood. It was so scary and I've thrown out all the cheese balls since then. I was in tears by the time Adam came home. To add to the night, there was a water main break and we didn't have water that first night. Welcome to Garden City.

Luckily the week wasn't as eventful as our first night. The kids seemed to have a blast. Taylor more than Kendall. Taylor loved playing on the beach. She didn't like the water but spent her time digging. Here's her first reaction to the beach water.


Kendall didn't like the water either. She wouldn't let us put her feet in with out cries. She did seem to like the sand on her toes and spent her time just pacing the beach. She did spend one afternoon seashell hunting. Literally, she walked the beach with a bucket and put broken shells inside. It was too cute. She would get pretty fussy outside. But as long as she had a food in her hand, she was content.


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One evening at dusk, we walked to the pier. Again, we really enjoyed doing this and it was such a nice night.

We enjoyed going to Barefoot Landing and Boardwalk on the Beach. We visited the Aquarium which was cool but extremely over-priced. Not sure we'll do that again.


Taylor rode dinosaurs at boardwalk at the beach, while Kendall slept. Taylor also enjoyed (but didn't finish) her first lollipop).


We spent time at the pool and lounging at the condo.



Some cool sights of the beach were a lady walking her bird... literally. It hung upside down or sat on her shoulder while she walked the beach. The picture is of our 'beach neighbors' from Pennsylvania. The girl, Jourdan, and Taylor played together on the beach.
It rained everyday we were there except for Thursday and then we were chased off the beach by high tide. When tide was high, there was no beach. The storms were vicious and had heavy down pours. They gave us time to nap and take a break. The beach and condo area was not crowded at all. Not sure it was the time of year or the location, but we enjoyed the lack of business. All in all it was a good trip. I think all of us were glad to be home except Taylor. She was upset when we arrived home and realized we weren't going to the beach. The first couple days of school, after picking her up, she would say "I ready to go to back to beach." Poor girl, we'll have to take another trip sooner than later.

Kendall's First Birthday

May 13, Kendall turned one year old. We celebrated that night by eating strawberry cupcakes, which is a big deal for her considering her wheat free diet. She loved the cupcake and had no problem getting messy.
On Saturday we celebrated her birthday at Mt Horeb on their playground. It was a nice sunny day, though alittle on the warm side. The kids enjoyed making sun-visors. Kendall especially enjoyed wearing hers.
The playground had a lot of area to play, slide, and swing. We even set up tents to help with shade control.


Cici made the cake. It was too cute. It was her first experiment with foundant icing. Though it looked good, the icing wasn't as good as 'traditional' icing.
Kendall had a ball opening her presents. Surprisingly, she seemed to know exactly what to do with them. She even opened a few herself. She received alot of fun presents.



Thank you to all who came out and made Kendall's birthday special.

The following day, we enjoyed having pictures taken with Katie Pollard and the family. The girls were so good and smiled for the camera. We took one year old pictures for Kendall, which was only the second time since she's been born. I hope to have pictures to put on the blog soon but those will come later.

Kendall wrapped up her birthday celebration by going to the doctor for her one year old well visit. Doctor says she is doing great. She weighed 20.5lbs and was 30 1/4 inches tall. This is very similar to what Taylor was at this age. She has been walking since about 10 1/2 months and is all over the place. She's our dare devil, crawling and jumping off of things face first. She shows no fear. Her favorite word is mama. She's learned to shake her head (no) and knows what it means.... and means it. She's doing the baby sign language for 'more.' She is a big eater, most of the time, though isn't a big veggie eater (different from Taylor at this age). Her favorite toy is probably a babydoll that her and Taylor share. It's actually one of mine from when I was a child. The doll is as big as Kendall is but she manages to drag it around, hold it on her shoulder and even pat it's back. It's hard to believe she's one. I look back and don't understand where the year went. I assume the next 20 years will be the same. It's hard to enjoy life in slow motion with young children going 100 miles a minute.