She makes my heart smile

A forever etched into my memory moment.. this weekend London and I were playing in the yard, she sat down beside me, and we both laid back in the grass and looked up at the trees. It only lasted a few seconds, but I will never forget laying there in the grass beside my sweet, joyous child! Thank you, sweet Lord for these precious moments!

Yes, we know the grass needs cuttin'!

On of my favorite things- she eats alot. So we have to tell her, 'You can have 1 more'. She will put both of her #1 fingers over her mouth, bat her eyes, and say '1 more, mommy!' I love it! So very cute! I'll try to get a video of it! We also had her saying 'Ohhhhh yea-yahhhhh' last night! It was hilarious! I tried to get a video in the car this morning but it's so shaky it looks like were in an earthquake! I'll try to get a better video of her!

 High- steppin'

And I finally got a video of her walking backwards! This is old hat now, but I've been trying to catch it on video for forever! Sorry for the super obnoxious singing, but we sing a lot at our house. It seems to encourage longer activities. 1.5 year old's have a crazy short attention span and singing seems to draw it out a little longer! 

Internet Gold

I am a sucker for the American Dream. All of these reality shows that give some lucky, everyday person the chance to 'make it'... you've got me hook, line, and sinker. I know it's smut tv, but still, I get so wrapped up in this stuff! We've been watching the X Factor.. here's my favorite audition so far. I feel like this is a Milli Vanilli scam and the real Beyonce is going to step out from behind the curtain, but no, this girl sounds JUST LIKE Beyonce. Singing a Beyonce song, here's Melanie...


And I stumbled across this guy from a twitter post I read. Holy Cow. How is this guy not Super Star Famous?? Unbelievable.


More:

a glorious weekend

Londie Lu and I had a girl's weekend this weekend and it was awesome! We missed Powers and Renny and the out in-laws :) but teeny tot and I had a blast together! We played and visited with friends and both laughed our heads off at each other! I love this kid! She is so much fun! We were playing on the floor together at one point and I literally doubled over with stomach pains from laughing so hard! GOOD TIMES, LONDIE LU!!

These pictures aren't all that great, but we spent some time running around the yard Friday so I grabbed my camera and tried to get a few pics...

 Things I love about this precious child: 1. She LOVES to be outside. All the time. Praise the Lord. 2. I taught her how to put rocks in her pockets (I've become more mindful on laundry days!) but she didn't have any pockets this day so she stuffed MY pockets full! :) Dear, wonderful, adorable child!

 Mad at Mommy :)

 So big! Where did my baby go? 

Then Sunday, as promised, we went to Tay Tay's!! Woo hoo! Saturday we had a breakdown with London beating the back door down screaming 'Tay Tay La La' over and over! So I quickly promised we would go visit! :) And yes, La La has now officially become an obsession point too! We include Lala in every conversation about Tay Tay! 

These kids are awesome! I love them so much! They are so big and funny and fun to be around!

Pink, with a side of pink, bordered in pink, with some extra pink thrown in for good measure? Yes Please!

 I'm not sure why every picture I take of this handsome young man makes him look lack he lacks all melanin in his skin! He is a normal looking, semi tan little kid! He's not an albino! 

 Lizzy took this pic! Cute, huh?

 Lu Lu in a bean bag taco

 LOVING our new chair that Aunt Melanie sent us! She carries it all over the house so she can sit in it wherever she is! Thank you Melanie and Brooklyn!!

Sorry this is a mash up video of all the video's I've taken this week. I've figured out a way to import movies that is MUCH MUCH faster, but I haven't gotten all the exporting options figured out just yet! In due time! 

This is a video of:

1. London jumping

2. Lizzy dancing like a beautiful ballerina 

3. Caden doing... something.... that he calls a headstand!

4. London saying 'Hotdog' and 'Potato' for the first time clear as day! So proud!

In other news:

London is learning so much at daycare! I can hardly believe it! The past two weeks they have been learning the letters A & B, numbers 1 & 2, their colors, and their classmates names. She is actually LEARNING these things too! Amazing to me! She can look at the letter 2 and tell you it's a 2. We call most everything 'blue' first, but if you tell her to try again, she can sometimes tell you the correct color of the object.  I'm so proud of her! Here is the artwork they sent home from school last week!

These are her sweet little thumbprints that they made into apples! Cute!!

 Finger painting the number 1

 Beautimus

 Dad's Birthday Card

 Im pretty sure she had a little help on this one, but I love it either way! 

In other OTHER news, Charley had her very first High School homecoming dance this past weekend! I haven't heard any details about how it was, but her Mom and Dad both sent me pictures of her looking super fly! She is so beautiful! 

Here's her boyfriend, Mason, who i have yet to meet. Travesty. (Is that how you use that word? I just dictionaried it and it seems wrong. I'm meaning SHAME that I haven't met him yet. Correct me (Mom) if I'm wrong!) 

No Bake Energy Bites

I found this recipe at www.smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com. We made these tonight and they are relatively healthy and were really good. Plus, it only took about 10 minutes total. They are really rich, so just a dab'll do ya, which is my favorite kind of dessert! I thought these would be good for Powers for breakfast as a quick bite on the way out of the door, but these would really be good anytime!

No-Bake Energy Bites {Recipe}

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

(I'm not sure what the best way to mix these would be... the mixture is really sticky so a metal spoon didn't work great. I used my hands, which was messy but it all mixed together well!)

Reading the whole dang bible!

Our church recently did a series to refresh areas of your spiritual life that was FANTASTIC. One of the messages was on reading the Bible. It spoke life into me so I decided for the first time in my life I was going to pick up the Bible and read it like a book. How have I not done this before? I've read a number of books here and there but never read the whole dang thing straight through. This book is AMAZING. I don't have any guidelines set to reading it, just read every chance I get. It may take me years to get through it, but that's okay! I'm just committed to finishing the task! (Unless Jesus comes before then, which in that case, COME QUICKLY BLESSED HOPE!!)

This book is amazing! I have been so engrossed in it. The scandal, the history, the goodness and favor of God, the obviousness that God uses for REAL sinners to achieve his good works! Some of these people are off the charts crazy but God chooses them! His redemptive plan is woven throughout all of history and it's amazing to watch his master plan played out. Rape, murder, lies, betrayal, competitions of the wildest sorts... it's all in Genesis! The very first book! I can't wait to read about all the things to come!

I'm including this on Ye Ole Family Blog to encourage anyone who has never read the Bible through, jump on in! The water's fine and you'll have a blast doing it! However, if you need a reading companion, check out The Whole Dang Thing blog. (click the name of the blog and it will redirect you). The author, Ben Emerson is blogging about the bible one book at a time. He brings hilarity and clarity to the Bible. His blog is hilarious and I've used it as a daily resource to bring these stories into more real world terms. I look forward to my daily reading because I know I can go to Ben's blog and have a great re-cap laugh on the imaginative spin he has taken on each particular chapter!

Anywho, just my two cents on why reading the B-I-B-L-E has been the most fun decision I've made in some time!! Praise the Lord! His word is alive!

Video's of the Munchkin

I'm getting to the point where I love taking video's of London. I've always loved it, but I've felt like they've been more for my pleasure. You know... she's so cute when she lays there still as a log. Not much fun for anyone else!! :)
BUT, the performer is emerging. Sentences are starting to form. Songs now have dance moves. She likes to move it, move it.... MOVE IT!

Just for a mid-day dance break if you'd like to partake... Renny, I'm looking at you! 

This video isn't the best. She wasn't at all interested in putting on a show for me, but here's London making a bunny face (trying to scrunch her nose...) I wouldn't want to perform for this nagging voice either! Ugh, i talk so fast and the sound of it is like nails on a chalk board!! Yowzers!

Untitled from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.

Reminds me so much of this: 

Here we are practicing some words on the way to school. She's got most of the family members down!

Have a great rest of the week! I love you all!

The Cuteness

Sorry so much blogging this week, but cute things keep happening and I don't want to forget these memories!

London nailed 'Andaddy' today! We've been practicing it, but it's hard to say! :)

So, we hollered 'Andaddy!!!' the whole was to school! We even called Ole Chuck to let him hear!

She also put all of her people in order all by herself! I thought is was pretty note worthy! From the backseat:
'Poppi, Nana. Andaddy, Booper. Mommy, Daddy.'
Pretty good, huh? Smart girl!

We also feel like we may be ramping up towards potty training. She tells us every time she 'poops'. And sure enough, she's always right! Our pediatrician suggested we start telling her that tee tee and poo poo like to go in the potty! (which is a hilarious conversation to me!) So we talk about it ALL THE TIME! I'm motivated! I am so ready to be done with diapers!

So, I was changing her dirty diaper yesterday and we were talking about how Elmo poops in the potty and how poop likes to go in the potty! It's fun!! And she wrinkled her brow, started fussing at me and said, 'NO NO NO, NOT POPPI!!' So I clarified that Poppi was her grandfather and Potty is were poop likes to go and we were okay after that. :)

Remembering 9/11

I only have a second but Powers sent me the below pictures and I had to post them! Our church, Church of the Highlands, is doing a series called 'At The Movies'. They show current movie clips then give the gospel message through out the clips. Sunday they showed Flight 93 and it was one of the most emotional experiences I've had in years. I was devastated by it. In a good way. The correlation they made between the movie and the sacrifice Jesus made for us just slayed me. I boohooed the whole way through the message. It was one of those experiences where the magnitude of it all just stays with you. I cried when I picked up London from childcare, lost it in the car, then we went to visit an awesome friend of ours who is a firefighter and I couldn't even say hello to him because I was babbling so hard trying to tell him I was thankful for what he does for a living! Basket case! Anyway, here are some cute pictures from London at the firehouse!

Timmy- one of the greatest guys you'll ever meet!

 Driving the fire truck!

Figures of Speech

I texted my mom a little london funny the other day and she reminded me that the blog is the perfect spot to keep up with these things!

Wednesday's are long days for us. London had been in daycare/childcare for almost 12 hours straight, so I rewarded her with McD's for dinner. When we got home she ate and ate and ate then got distracted by her toys. I handed her a french fry and said, 'London, put that french fry in your belly.' She immediately responded by pulling her shirt up and sticking said fry in her belly button! :)

They learned the letter 'A' in day care yesterday! Isn't that unbelievable? My baby is such a big girl! I wish I could see her during group time... sitting cross legged in a circle! I bet that's adorable!

We have added 'Apple', 'Apple Sauce', 'Happy', and sometimes 'Andaddy' to our speech repertoire this week.

We've also been practicing tay tay's real names (Caden and Lizzy). Here's how the convo goes down every single time.
Me: London, can you say 'Lizzy'?
LL: 'Tay Tay'
Me: Can you say 'Caden'?
LL: 'Tay Tay'

Classic, kid, classic.

We have also woken up every morning this week and the first thing she's said is 'Tay Tay?'. I'm assuming she asking if she can play with them today. Monday night London woke up screaming bloody murder in the middle of the night. I picked her up and calmed her down but she was NOT going back in her crib. So, I put her in the bed with us. (genius, i know!) The first 10 minutes of running through our words and slashing around in the bed were adorable! The next hour and a half were miserable. I finally sat up and said in a screamy whisper, 'IF YOU DON'T LAY DOWN AND GO TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW I'M PUTTING YOU BACK IN YOUR ROOM!!!!'. She hit the deck and was still as a statue for about 5 minutes. Then she rolled over and got right in my face and whispered, 'Tay Tay?'

So off to London's room we went!

I love you all! Have a great weekend!

Videos from the past few weeks

Frudy Peddles from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.


At Railroad Park... the greatest park ever!

lu lu doing pull ups! from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.



dancing kids from Taylor Lane on Vimeo.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

Ahh. Labor Day weekend. I may have my facts wrong (which is known to be the case 99% of the time) but I believe my mom said this was our 13th Annual Labor Day dove hunt. Not as many participants this year, not as many birds, but it all seemed just the perfect amount! Maybe the growing number of grandkids evened out the few less hunters... who knows! It was a wonderful weekend! Renny was with us for most of it, we had Charley for 24 hours, and Powers for about 10 hours.

My weekend was great, but I saw this picture and thought it summed the weekend up nicely.. We're officially on the go. Run here, run there, laugh laugh laugh, play play play, we whined a little more than normal, but all in all those little legs were going!

I put a blockade in front of the stairs that was hard for the adults to get past and I still seemed to find her at the top of the stairs twice. Whew. 18 months = exercise for anyone who can catch her! Still, my favorite stage so far!

And here we go! Rhea/Lane family carpool to C-town. A little face making to get us kicked off...

 Very nice. 

 (She is a fish... just in case you can't tell!)

 London liked to hold Lizzy's hand during the trip... Lizzy, not so much! Also notice the size difference between Lizzy's car seat and London's monstrosity of a car seat! Holy moly! Wish I would have shopped around a little longer! :) 

Now for the rest of the weekend... most of the grandkids at breakfast

 One of Lulu's favorite places to be... elbow deep in the sink

 Hunter's preparing for next years feast! Cleaning birds. 

 Isn't he adorable? He loved hunting with his dad!

 Watching the clock chime.... which is apparently serious business! :)

 Caden and Renny... right before they got caught in a yellow jacket nest :( Bless their hearts. Caden went to the tree line to find a bird and kicked a yellow jacket nest. He started screaming and Serenity... my brave, compassionate little girl... went running in after him to help him out... not knowing what was going on. They got after her too. Caden had 12 stings and Renny had 8. Poor kids. Sweet Renny said through tears, 'at least I got to go get a couple of birds!' I think all in all she counted it worth it! 

 Favorite quote from the weekend from this little guy. We're at dinner and he's telling us about school and he says, 'I have a new friend named Ian. He walks on two legs.' Thank you, sweet boy, for that memory that I will hold on to forever! He also surprised his dad last week with his very first knock knock joke! 'Why did the chicken cross the playground?  To get to the other side!' I love him!!

 The Ladies, minus Charley who was hunting

 The Jr. Hunting Team

 The Sr. Hunting Team

 Could she be anymore beautiful? Absolutely gorgeous!

 I love this one!

 Archie found a mud hole and was so dirty! Dad turned on the sprinkler system and Archie snapped and snapped at the water trying to bite it! So funny!

 Powers and Trey found the secret to the Rhea house. The sunroom couches are the BEST napping couches ever made. Well done, guys. Barry and I have kept that secret for years!

 I was proud of London... we went down to the Sunday afternoon hunt and I was wondering how she would do with all the gun shots. She apparently thought someone was clapping whenever a shot would sound because after every shot she started clapping her hands!

 Oh how they love group bath time!

 London montage time.. Sorry there are so many pictures, but my grandmother made this dress for me when I was London's age. I thought she looked adorable in it so I took lots of pictures! Din din, isn't this sweet?!? Thank you for making such precious clothes for me! 

I have a few video's to post but I'll get around to that. 

Booper and Andaddy, thank you for a wonderful weekend! Labor Day is one of my favorite weekends and I can't wait for next year already!