Princess Taylor Turned 3!!

Hello everyone - sorry it has taken me so long to get the birthday party pics posted. We have had a crazy week. The party was wonderful - Taylor had a great day with her friends and family. I think we had 28 at the party - lots of kids (older and younger) and they all had a great time together. She really liked the castle cake that Mommy made her (first time people - please don't judge my cake decorating abilities). It was yummy despite how it looked. :)

She asked Mommy and Daddy for a Cinderella dress to wear at her party. I think she's the cutest brunette Cinderella I've ever seen!

Praise the Lord that it didn't rain once the party was underway. It was 34 and snowing last year, so we were thankful the kids could get out and play and Daddy didn't have to grill outside in the snow this year. :)

By far the most special part of the day was the fact that ALL of the Smith family were able to attend the party. Conner had not spent any time with Taylor since last summer and he had never held Bryce - what a blessing to see him looking so healthy and enjoying time with my kids again. Needless to say, we had to break out the tissues for this special moment!

So, there you have it! Fun was had by all and our little girl is another year older. We love you Princess Taylor!

More later...

Signs of Spring

A new neighbor built her house in our backyard this spring. We noticed the nest a few days ago and had a long talk with Taylor about not disturbing the momma bird and her babies.

Well today I noticed that she was in the nest and look what we found a little while later.

Taylor has had a fun-filled birthday week. Clayton came today for a playdate. Of course the new sandbox kept them occupied the majority of the afternoon.

Kelsey also came for a visit today, which was an extra special treat since we have only had 2 visits with Kelsey the WHOLE winter. Kelsey is very special to Taylor and has been missed dearly. Kelsey is Conner's sister (many of you know that Conner had a bone marrow transplant last year) so we have had to be very careful about germs when we visit any member of the Smith family and since our family couldn't manage to stay healthy during this past winter we have seen very little of them.

Taylor doesn't know it, but Kelsey is coming back over tomorrow night (after Taylor is in bed) to help me finish decorating the cake and preparing for the princess party on Saturday. I'm sure Kelsey will help give everything the perfect touch for our little princess. Thanks for all of your help Kelsey - you're the best!

Okay, I need to get myself to bed. Lots more to do tomorrow for the party and Ellie is coming to spend the day with us. Never a dull moment. :)

On a side note, please keep my Aunt Linda in your prayers. She is battling cancer right now and is back in the hospital due to some complications. We also want to wish Karen a very happy birthday tomorrow - 29 right?!

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Happy 3rd Birthday Taylor!!

Our baby girl turned 3 today - hard to believe.





We spent a quiet day celebrating - the big party is this weekend. We will be celebrating like royalty with a fantastic Cinderella party on Saturday. As for today, Taylor enjoyed the day playing with Mommy and Bryce. Pawpaw Fink, Nanny Fink, Aunt Linda and Nanny Austin came over this afternoon (after Daddy got home from work) to visit and then we all went out to dinner together. We planned to end the evening with ice cream, but Taylor's tummy wasn't feeling so good (I'll have to post about that another time) so we postponed ice cream for another night when she's up for it. We did wrap up the evening with a very exciting gift from all of her grandparents - a new sand box! She played and played until she had to come in for bedtime......needless to say, she cannot wait to get back outside tomorrow and play some more.

Taylor, we love you very much and hope your birthday week is as special as you are. We thank God that he chose us to be your Mommy and Daddy. "Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord." Psalm 127:3

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Tribute

This was the last quilt my Grandma Fink hand stitched (in 1974 - the year I was born). I was pregnant with Taylor when Grandma passed away, so she never met my children. Therefore I decided to create a tradition to keep her memory alive for my kids. Each year we are going to take our kids picture with the quilt on Grandma's birthday (March 31st). She was a wonderful woman who dearly loved children - we love her and miss her.

This is "the shot", but I love the next one too. :)

There were no words (just tears) when Aunt Linda gave me this precious gift 3 years ago. I never imagined that I would be lucky enough to own one of these special quilts. Thank you!

Hope everyone is having a good week.

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Children's Museum

Taylor made her first trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum last Saturday and oh what fun did she have. We spent about 6 hours there and that wasn't nearly enough - we didn't even make it to the 3rd level and half of the 2nd. She did have some favorite areas:

She spent a great deal of time looking in each room of the huge dollhouses (this was only one of them). We had fun pointing out interesting objects in each room.

Choices, choices.....she is trying to decide which animal she wants to ride on the carousel and Daddy is being very patient. :)

Serving tea in the play houses.

Neal and I are guessing that we spent at least an hour in the boat area. Anytime this girl can play in water (and not get in trouble) she's happy.

Bryce just hung out and went with the flow all day. He is such a great baby. Easy going and always happy.

We finished the day at the Curious George exhibit. Taylor has just started watching Curious George on PBS lately, so she enjoyed it even more. We could not get Bryce to look at the camera for nothing. Taylor said "Bryce trying to get that monkey!". Too cute! Can you tell that she is completely exhausted? She crashed in the van on the way home.

All in all we had a great day and Taylor's first museum visit was tons of fun. She wants to go back very soon and "play with more boats".

More later...