Turning 3 in this house

We are a proud pacifier-using household. From 0-2 it's pretty much at the beacon

call of the babe. From 2-3 it's only available when the toddler is lying down. The day of the 3rd birthday, the pacifier goes in the trash. The prep of the toddler for this day begins weeks ahead of time.

It includes much reassurance and perhaps a few, "if you want a birthday party, you have to throw it away" phrases.  Jillian did well with just a few tears for a couple of nights. Camille's was much smoother.  With the moral support of Jillian, Camille didn't (and has yet to) shed a tear over the loss of her paci.  Siblings are the best.

 

(birthday before deed)

 

(after deed)



Camille earned her party. We had friends and family come by. With a bounce house, slip n' slide, water balloons, trampoline, and x-box kinect all who came was entertained. Of-course we launch the traditional birthday balloons.

A few days later we celebrated Jeff's birthday early as we were headed to Hawaii.

More on that later.



Headed to preschool

(back in May) Jill and Camille made it through joy school with flying colors.

They both memorized The Pledge of Allegiance.

Jill will be starting offical preschool next month.

Not sure how Camille is going to cope not having sister around.

They are joined at the hip.

easedropping

We found ants in the bathroom this morning. I vaccumed up most of them and then the girls brought in a shoe to "pop" any lingering ants. This is what I heard:

Camille:  Heavenly Father?

Jillian:    He hears you. Say what you have to say.

Camille:  Sorry we have to pop the ants.

Jillian:    It's okay, He knows they shouldn't be in the house.

yesterday,

seven years ago was the greatest party of my life.

CAMILLE!

This little treasure turned three today.

Camille is the class clown around here.

Always looking for a laugh.

Even at inopportune times.

She has lips to kill, and isn't afraid of handing out kisses.

She is incredibly sensitive, and sweet;

never wanting to hurt feelings.

She loves animals and playing princess.

Above all else she loves her sister and wants to be around her all the time.

We are blessed to have this one in our lives.

Mother's Day 2011

The flowers are in bloom.

The garden is growing.

The chicks are roaming.

I get goodies at church.

Best of all, I get to celebrate my two wonderful mothers,

and reflect on the last 5 years of being a mother.

This is the best time of my life.

Easter 2011

Easter came and brought two little chicks.

Jill named hers Chickee-chick, (is now calling her Sleepy Head).

Camille named hers Sunny.

We are excited to embark on pet ownership again.

This time with half the amount of last.

The head-dress and Easter dresses were a hit with the girls.

On Saturday we dyed eggs,

and then headed to the temple for the pageant.

We arrived 2.5 hours early to secure seats for the family.

The ushers were very persistent that there was NO SAVING SEATS.

After the third usher physically picked up all my

blankets and moved them I decided to abide.

Me and my girls found three front row seats.

We spent the time awaiting the pageant, exploring the temple grounds.

The girls were very concerned for Jesus during the pageant.

Jill even about cried.

Camille did actually cry, but because she lost a pacifier.

Good times.

With the temperature on the rise

the girls and I have become reacquainted with our swimsuits and the water.

But before we hit any crazy heat records

(as always seems to happen around here),

let's reminisce about my 'snow fix'. 

A few months back the news was predicting a late season big

snow storm for the Arizona high country. I knew we had to go.

 

We booked a quaint cabin style hotel in Flagstaff,

that was nestled among the Ponderosa Pines. 

 

The girls couldn't wait (including me) to "go snowin' " as Jill and Camille call it.

As we arrived tears arrived too as there was no snow in sight.

Jill and Camille were confused as they had to wait even longer to

go snowin'. I prayed that night for the snow storm to arrive

as I didn't want to devastate the girls.

We awoke to a winter wonderland.

First on the agenda: hot coco.

Then, finally, at-last, it was snowin' time.

After a few hours of pure white bliss and perma-grins we had to

force the children into the room to thaw out.

The snow was coming down thicker and the roads were getting dangerous.

We decided to descend (slowly, albeit) back into the valley of the sun.

Until next year and my yearly allowance of snow, my snow fix.

focus on the positive

camille is impassive.

jillian is spastic and has a weed coming out of her head.

i have a triple chin, gummy smile, and nose issues.
if you look closely, the piano has a few minor cosmetic problems. 

at-least jeff looks super handsome,

and dang, i think my hair has never looked better.

gotta LOVE family picture sessions.

kill me now.

new things in 2011

jillian has graduated sunbeams and entered the CTR classes.

she received her ring and has to wear it every sunday.

she even gave the first talk of the year in primary and didn't cry.

(a huge deal for the one who still cry's as she enters the

primary room)

hears to choosing the right and 10:00 church!

(in the 5 yrs we've lived here church has been held at two times: 8:00am ((lame)) and 2:40pm ((lamer))).

jillian also starting going to a co-op

Joy School with a few kids from the ward.

we swap weeks teaching and we are LOVING it!

look at the pure excitement on the first day of school:

Camille didn't deal too well watching Jill go to school without her.

After a few weeks I caved; Camille got her way.

Camille also started Joy School and is doing very well.

2011 has brought with it a new love of make-up for Camille.

These are just two of the many times I have found a mess of make-up on the floor

and a very decorated camillian face.

At-least she does a pretty well job matching what she wearing.

I started teaching Zumba at the YMCA in Jan.

Since then I have had two other opportunities to

teach at other gyms but had to turn them down because I

am still picking up hours at the hospital.

I'm hoping to get a couple exercise-related certifications

in 2011.

Jeff has been working from home and each month is

more successful than the last.

Hopefully 2011 will bring continued success on the 

self-employment front. 

Speaking of me and Jeff,

our Valentine's Celebration was great.

On Saturday night I took him to a nice

Japanese restaurant (he loves sushi).

After, I finished the BEST teryaki chicken of my life

we heading to the local skating rink.

we had a blast once the DJ starting playing some

old-school top 40's that jeff and i knew.

Gotta' love it.

2011...it's going to be good.

a story about a snake

within the bustle of returning items after christmas jill spotted a toy snake.

there were plenty of other toys in sight, we were in-fact, in the

toy aisle at walmart, but she honed in on a snake.

she carried that snake throughout the rest of our shopping trip.

she would cuddle it, make it slither, kiss it, make it lick camille.

she quickly loved that snake.

any other day i may have just bought that snake for her.

after all, it was just one dollar in price.

however, christmas was just a week ago and she had plenty of new toys.

there was no room for a snake among all the new

princesses, horses, and books.

so i thought.

at check-out the tears began to come and the negotiation began.

she held the tears back like a big girl and promised to clean her room

without mom's help (and keep it clean). this would earn her one

dollar bill and thus the snake (if she even remembered about it the next day).

the next day came.

i was awakened by jills sweet voice,

"mom, i'm gonna clean my room and get a snake today. you fremember?' (jill-bonicks)

sure enough, she earned that snake and even paid for it herself in the self-checkout.

i think i'd better lower the allowance price to 10 cents a day.

the shoe tree

have you ever seen this:



i have.

it's called the shoe tree.

my first recollection of this tree is as a junior high student.

driving along route 50, "the Loneliest Highway",

to and from different sporting or church events.

it was always a fun sighting during a long drive.

the tree is a large cottonwood, the only sizable tree for miles around, and there are shoes all the way to the top.

a few shoes have even begun to stray into a nearby smaller tree.
Local legend says that a young couple had an argument on their wedding night and the bride, in a rage threw one of her shoes into the tree.

somehow, this started it all.

now, it's over.

someone cut it down.

i feel sad.

i may just throw a pair of shoes on the next tree i see

in memory of the shoe tree.

2010 wrap-up

christmas each year is more and more fun.

as the girls are growing and learning i can't

help but share their joy of the season.

we focused a great deal on the birth of the savior.

camille has since named all her babies and dogs "baby jesus".

jill has contined to drawn the nativity scene, complete with the star.

i love this little family jeff and i have created.

their favorite new song though is "jinger bearrs"

christmas eve pjs from Alisha on Vimeo.

the year ended with a bang, literally.

jeff contracted with a couple large firework companies

and had three tents selling fireworks for the new year.

big shout-out to jeff's family.

each of them helped tremendously and he couldn't

have succeeded without you.

this is the first year in over 55 years (perhaps longer) that arizona

has allowed any type of fireworks.

the girls had a blast with the sparklers and jill even managed to

burn a hole in her new sweater.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to you and yours from me and mine.

JAJC TAYLOR 2010

(big thanks to Jessica from jessicarichardsphotography.blogspot.com

for the last minute and hugely successful photo shoot)