The Box

Today T received what I hope is his last box of birthday gifts in the mail. He is always so excited to get mail that is addressed to him. For the next couple of months any box that is delivered to our home Taye will automatically assume is his. Here are some pics of him celebrating as he unwraps birthday presents for the FOURTH time!!!!

Bob the Builder stickers!!!

I've never seen a kid so excited about new socks.

Great Grandma Caughey sent an automatic bubble blower that is capable of 10,000 bubbles per minute. T was sooooo excited.

Here is a shot of a small portion of the bubbles. It looks pretty close to 10,000 to me.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Treanor and Great Grandma Caughey for the awesome birthday presents!!! We love you all.

Party Time

Today we had a birthday party with most of T's friends and their parents. T wanted a Spongebob Squarepants party (of course). We got everything put together and we all had a blast.
Here is T anxiously waiting for all of his friends to arrive.

Here's a shot of the gang. We love these guys. We don't know what we would do without them and their families. We've all become such good friends over this last year.

T's Spongebob cake. We had a blast frosting it.

As we neared the end of singing to T, the circle of children kept closing in on the cake. Right as we finished two or three kids helped Tayeson blow out his candles. It was totally cute.

We had a pinata for the kids. After about 15 minutes of trying to break Spongebob open we finally gave up and pulled the strings to release all of the candy. That was one durable pinata. The kids had a blast though.

Here is a shot of all of the candy tumbling out of Spongebob.

The kids were so funny. They calmly went through the candy and picked out what they wanted. There was no mass hoarding at all. I was really surprised.

Here is everyone helping T open his presents. Thanks everyone for celebrating this special day with us!!!

4 Years Old!!!

I can't believe it has been four years!!!! Today was T's official birthday. We had a great time together as a family and we were even lucky enough to have some of the missionaries join us for the celebration. As usual, T made off like a bandit and was so excited about everything. Last night I decorated the house with some balloons and streamers. When T came down this morning he was so excited. As we were eating breakfast together he kept looking around at everything and then he would look at me and say, "You did a good job Mom." I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have to have him in my life. Over these last four years I have laughed and loved more than I ever thought possible. I am so grateful for the joy that he brings into my life and the things that I learn from him daily. I truly am blessed that the Lord sent him to me.

T wasted no time getting right to it. He was so excited he could barely sit still.

He was soooo excited about this truck. Thanks Grandma Culbertson.

T loves Eric's blue basketball shorts. He will put them on, hold them up, and wear them around the house all day. When he can't find them he will search the entire house looking for Dad's "blue." Now he has a pair of his very own.

We were lucky enough to have the Elders over for dinner and cake. We love having Elder Fohr around and we look forward to getting to know Elder Mensah as well.

He always gets the cutest smile on his face when you sing Happy Birthday to him.

With there now being four candles on the cake, it took a couple of extra tries to get them all blown out.

Success!!!! I love the look on his face in this pic. This is truly characteristic of Tayeson. He is such a sweet and happy boy.

There are few things in the world that are as good as a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake. Mmmmm...

The Naked Chocolate Cafe

So last night we all gathered at the Naked Chocolate Cafe in downtown Philly to say goodbye to Lori. Finally her husband is finished with his surgical fellowship here in Philly and is ready to practice on his own. We're so excited for them but this means that they're leaving us!!! We had a great time hanging out last night (without the kids!!!!) and I must say we all LOVED the Naked Chocolate Cafe. I can't say that I'm too disappointed that Lori is leaving because her husband has expressed some interest in offering Eric a job. In January we will head out to Billings, MT for Eric to rotate and interview with Lori's husband Zach. We're so excited to get to see them again soon but until then, we'll miss you Lori!!!
The girls left to right: Me, Lori, Amanda, Carrie, Liz, Kay, and Sage.

Doesn't this look awesome? Its a frozen hot chocolate. It was soooo good!!! Try not to think about the calories.

Its Done!!

I finally finished the second quilt I've been working on. I know I said I was going to make a little boys quilt but I really wanted to finish this one. It turned out much cuter than expected. Now that its done I have all of my fabric for my boys quilt and I'm ready to get started.

Sand Flower Gardens & SANTA!!!

Today we decided to beat the heat and head for Wildwood. We picked a great day to go down the shore. We had a great time playing in the sand and the water. We were even lucky enough to have a surprise visitor. Just as we were getting ready to leave Santa Clause rolled up in his truck with his entourage of junior lifeguards and his brass band playing some Christmas carols!!! We were lucky enough to work our way through the hordes of children to get our picture with Santa.

This is the sand flower garden that Eric made for me. Before Tayeson found it there were half a dozen flowers in the garden. You can see the remains of one on the top right. Oh well.

Here we are with Santa. And you thought I was kidding didn't you? Check out Santa's shades! T was a little confused that Santa was at the shore. Honestly, I'm pretty sure we all were.

T having fun playing in the sand. Notice that he is completely covered in it.

He loves this little truck that Aunt Jeni gave him. Its good for so many different things.

See I told ya. Its great to ride in.

He was a little uncertain about sitting in it while there was water coming in from the bottom.

Here is T hard at play. Again, notice the evenly distributed coating of sand.

Here is T adding water to his wagon full of sand to make...

...this. Here is T's creation. He was so proud of himself. Of course Dad helped a little with the layout.

For those of you who have never been to the Jersey shore, what you're looking at is a group of three small planes that are hired to fly banners all up and down the shore. They're constantly coming by with different ads. My favorite was one for NutriSlim. They really know their audience.

Pocahantas?

Okay, I took it twice just to be sure. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed its not Cinderella. Sigh...

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Adoption Isn't Selfish

College Girl!!!

So last week I decided that I was ready to go back to school. I applied to the University of Phoenix and was accepted today. I start my class on July 28, in two weeks!!!! I'm really excited to be able to work on getting my degree while I stay at home with T. I figured since T has to start preschool this year (sad) I would take the opportunity to go to school with him. It will also give me a great distraction until our new little one shows up and even when they do I'll have something to do while they sleep. I'm so excited to finally be able to pursue my love of psychology.

Picasso Jr. In The Making

Even though Dad worked 26 hours yesterday, he still made time to have some fun with Tayeson today. They spread out the canvas and pulled out the finger paints. T had a blast playing with Daddy.


Dad and T hanging out.


Masterpiece in the making.


He finally got brave enough to stick his hands in the paint. After that we weren't able to keep them out.


Believe it or not they actually got even messier. I wonder how long they'll be stained in that pattern.


There's those hands that I love so much, immortalized in finger paint. I love having things like this to remember how small his hands once were. They seem to grow too fast.


The finished product. Its definitely going on my wall!!!

Spongebob Squarepants

Ever since we visited my family in Idaho T has had this obession with Spongebob. I'm so ashamed to admit that my son loves Spongebob!!! You're probably asking yourself how could I let this happen. I'm pretty sure it started with my Dad, who is a Spongebob fanatic. No, he really is!!! I'm pretty sure there are very few grown men that come home on their lunch break, grab some food, and turn on Spongebob. While we were there the only thing that changed was that along with his lunch he would also grab his grandson. As if this wasn't bad enough, my brothers would watch Spongebob every chance they could get. Guess who was right there with them. Yep, Tayeson. After three weeks of endless brainwashing I now have a Spongebob fanatic of my very own!!! :) While I was at the grocery store today I noticed a box of Spongebob fruit snacks and decided to surprise T with them. (I know I shouldn't enable him!!!) When I pulled them out of the bag he was so excited. Unfortunately, I had to stifle the excitement by letting him know that he had to wait until after dinner. Not 30 seconds later I hear a loud rip and find T with a huge smile on his face proudly showing me his accomplishment. At least he can't open the package yet. :)

Pass the Torch

Digital Scrapbooking Memories is having a great event to help celebrate the Olympics. All you have to do is pass the torch for a chance to win some really great prizes. I'm all about free stuff. Besides, I haven't won anything since... well, NEVER!!! So I guess that makes me all about the IDEA of free stuff. Oh well. Wish me luck.

Taste of Philadelphia

Yesterday we braved the crowds and headed downtown for the Taste of Philadelphia at Penn's Landing. There are a ton of restaurants from all over Philly that come down and cook up some of their most popular dishes. This is a huge event they hold every year. The crowds were crazy!!! They were also having the Super Scoop Ice Cream Festival, which raises money to help find a cure for leukemia. For five dollars you can have all the ice cream you can eat!!!!! We had a blast walking around and listening to the live band. We were also able to go see Elfreth's Alley, which was established in 1702 and is one of the oldest and longest surviving working class neighborhoods in Philly. The homes are beautiful!!! It really feels like stepping back in time.

T enjoying his Blue Raspberry water ice (when pronounced with the Philly accent it sounds more like "wooder ice"). "Wooder ice" is unique only to Philly and tastes like a denser, creamier slushy. T's favorite part is that it turns his tongue blue.

A shot of the masses of people down at Penn's Landing. Everyone came to enjoy the free entertainment.

A look down Elfreth's Alley. Yes, cars can and do regularly drive down this street. Honestly, minus the poles this is a pretty typical street width for Philly.

A closer look at a few of the homes. They are so beautiful and well maintained. Quite a few of them still have people living in them.

Me and T down a little side road off Elfreth's Alley.

Proud New Owners

We are now the proud new owners of two original paintings by none other than our good friend Ryan Muldowney!!! The Muldowneys hosted a totally fun silent auction to clear our some of Ryan's artwork. They are preparing for a move across the country and figure the less to move the better. This provided an awesome opportunity for us to score some of his work and enjoy some great bidding wars. Here are the two that we were able to make off with. We're sad to see the Muldowneys go but at least we'll have something to remember them by. Here is the link to Ryan's website in case anyone is interested in checking out more of his work. http://www.ryanmuldowney.com/

Some Serious Catching Up To Do

Okay, so the last couple of months have been a crazy whirlwind. Between all of the traveling and visitors I haven't had much of a chance to blog any of our experiences. It started in mid May as we prepared to head to San Antonio for a week. The day after we returned from San An my three brothers came to visit for 10 days. When their visit was over I traveled home to Idaho with them for a three week stay with my family. T and I came home the last day of June and we plan to have an uneventful summer from now on!!!! So now I have some serious catching up to do.

Baby Quilt

Here are a couple of pics of the baby quilt that I finished. My good friend, Shanda, quilted it for me. She did such an amazing job!!!! This is the first quilt that I have ever made. Now I just need to make a baby boy quilt. The question is will it be done before he or she gets here?