My 8, 2011

May 8, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great day.  This morning the kids gave me the little letters and poems they wrote at school.  Kara’s was a cute poem about how I was special.  It is on a cute paper that was laminated.  Matthew’s was cute about how I was a great mom, and I played good April Fool’s jokes.  My April Fools joke this year was pretty funny.  We had Taco Soup for dinner the night before (which my kids actually do like), and we had just a tiny bit left (not even enough for one person maybe).  So, in the morning I got out bowls and put one tiny spoon full of cold beans/taco soup in each bowl .  Then, I called the kids down for breakfast and lectured them about not wasting food and how we were going to be better at eating leftovers.  The kids did not want to eat beans for breakfast.  They complained a bit.  Then, Brian came down and figured the joke out and said the blessing on the food.  He specifically mentioned blessing the yummy breakfast.  When we were done, the kids were just looking forlornly at their cold beans, and I said April Fools.  Then, we got out the cereal, and they had a good laugh. 

Anyway, Lindsay’s card was cute too.  She wrote about what a great mom she has, and that she is pretty sure I am 32 years old, how my favorite food is Cheese Tortillas (I do make that a lot, but it isn’t my favorite, but I like it), I am stronger than a chair, my favorite place to go is the store, my favorite TV show is Extreme Home Makeover (HGTV is what I do watch a lotJ), and I love to play card games with her (Also true).  They were cute cards, and choked me up a bit because I did see how much they loved me. 

Brian fixed breakfast and dinner for the kids (I fixed lunch because I stayed home from church with Seth, who has a fever, but isn’t acting very sick, but did take a nap- so I did too).  He also surprised me with a Cricut- which I have been wanting for a long time.  The kids and he also got our chocolate fountain out and we had a fondue dessert.  It was a fantastic day that I know they worked hard on. 

I know the older I get, the more I appreciate my mother and Brian’s mom and what they did for us.  It Is a sacrifice to be a good mom.  I have been blessed my whole life with such good examples. 

Other than that, this week was not uneventful.  Brian made some stilts for cub scouts.  Wednesday, Matthew was playing with them, and he leaned them against a tree to go see if his friend could come play.  His friend came over and pushed one of the stilts, somehow it bounced back and hit Matthew in the head.  He wasn’t really hurt, and they ran in and ran into the basement to play pool in the basement (Did I mention someone gave us a free pool table, and Brian set it up in the basement- it has been so fun).  Anyway, Matthew noticed that his head was bleeding, and he came and had me look at it.  It wasn’t bleeding very much, so I cleaned it up, and tried to decide if he needed to go get it looked at or stitches or something.  I was thinking that it wasn’t bleeding very bad, and I know head wounds usually do, so he was probably fine.  Anyway, my friend was coming over to drop her kids off (because I was going to watch them), and I had Matthew come out to show her and get a second opinion.  As she was getting out of her car, I asked her if she would look to see if I should take him in to see if he would need stitches (there was my mistake).  I looked back at Matt, and he had a funny expression on his face.  I tried to talk to him, but he wasn’t responding, so I walked over to him and got there just in time to catch him when he fainted.  I think the knock on the head, and being scared of stitches was what made him faint.  Then, our fate was sealed we took him into the ER, they did scans.  No stitches, and no concussion, so we were fine.  Matthew was thrilled to have that experience to share. 

So, Kara is turning 8 this summer.  We are thinking  we will baptize her the 17^th, 18^th or 19^th  of June.  Everyone is invited.  Please just let us know if you would like to come, so we can figure out sleeping arrangements. 

So, I went to the Dr. Wednesday about being so tired, and also my hands being sore lately.  They are going to check for RA (because I have a funny bump on a couple of knuckles that are sore) and lupus.  Hopefully it is just that the tendonitis I have had since I was in Jr. High is flaring up again and possibly spreading.  But either of those things would explain the tiredness (or having 5 kids would explain the tiredness, tooJ).  I think we will get the results of the tests back this week.   I will keep you all posted. 

I have been reading the Book of Mormon sort of backwards.  Not verse by verse, although that might be interesting, but book by book, so starting with Moroni, then Ether, etc… Now I am in Alma.  I have noticed more the ups and downs and how quickly “the pride cycle” cycles.  Sometimes I think, wow, that amazing thing happened, and just a few years later the people are forgetting or getting distracted or explaining away the miracles that happened just a few years earlier.   Now in my own life, I am seeing how life changes so much in just a few years.  I can see how people can forget things, if they aren’t humbling themselves constantly and keeping their eyes pointed in the right direction and making sure they are constantly open to the Spirit- by just the simplest things like reading scriptures and saying prayers.  It makes me try to be better at the basics. 

Well, we love you all and hope things are going as well for you as they are for us and that you are recognizing the many blessings in your lives.

Love,

Brian, Martha, Matthew, Kara, Lindsay and Seth Taylor

May 1, 2011 Letter

May 1, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been ages since I have written.  I was going to be so good at my blog this year, but it seems so daunting, so I am not going to do that this week.  Maybe next time. 

It has been busy at our house.  Matthew started soccer again.  We were disappointed to find out that half of his games are on Sundays this spring.  We won’t be signing up for soccer through the Kickers any more.  He still really enjoys soccer and goes to practices and has a lot of fun.  He also is enjoying scouts.  For the pack meeting last week, they launched model rockets.  It was the Webelos and 11 year old scouts, but he launched his that he got for Christmas.  It was pretty cold, but the boys didn’t care.  They chased the rockets in the muddy field and had a blast (no pun intended).  He is also really good with Elise and his other siblings.  What a blessing it is to have him as my oldest child. 

Kara is getting tall.  She is getting to be a really good reader.   She is venturing into longer books.  She just is finishing the Molly Moon series, and she has enjoyed the books.  She also learned how to ride a bike.  She caught on really fast.  In the past few years, we tried a few times to teach her, but she just wasn’t interested.  This year she was interested, and she did it. 

Lindsay also learned how to ride a bike the same week Kara did.  She loves it as well.  We love our driveway and our little coldesac.  It is perfect for the kids to ride bikes, scooters, and other fun things.  Lindsay is also enjoying school.  She is also reading really well, and enjoys reading her chapter books that her teacher gets especially for her.  She has fun playing with the neighbor friends. 

Seth is so much fun to have at home.  I am so glad he is home with me right now.  He is such a good helper and loves to play with Elise.  They have a good time chasing around and playing fun little games.  He is also reading a little bit.  We have these little Dick and Jane books that have just a few words in them, and he can read the first few.  He enjoys it, and I know if I would sit down with him a little more, he will catch on quick.

Elise is so fun.  Her little personality is coming out.  She is quite a determined child.  She knows how to voice her opinion.  She is also really good at saying “No.”  Surprise, surprise…  No is actually her answer to any question posed to her.  If you ask her if she wants to go to bed, she says, “no.”  If you ask her if she wants candy, she will say, “No.  Candy, Candy” (and be shaking with excitement for candy).  She says plenty of other words too.  I bet she says about 100.  She says, names, foods, socks, shoes, body parts, places, etc…  She will sometimes mimic people too, which is fun for the other kids. 

Brian is enjoying his job.  He just started a new job.  It is called Senior Manager of Business Intelligence.  I tease him that it Is like the CIA, it sounds so fancy.  It isn’t really that fancy- it is the same level as his old job, just in the business reporting instead of inventory management.  He is enjoying it so far.  He also is getting into road biking.  We live in a great place for road biking, and it is something he could do for exercise that he would enjoy (he does run sometimes, but it isn’t so fun for him).  He is also over the Webelos in cub scouts, and has a fun time doing that.  This coming weekend, he is going to be in our ward talent show with a little band that is getting together.  It should be a lot of fun. 

I am tired all the time.  I am going to the Dr. this week to see what is up.  Other than that, I am busy with the kids, laundry, cleaning, errands (as I write that, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does keep me busy).  I have been going to the YMCA to exercise.  Seth and Elise love going to the kid care, and I love exercising and not having them stuck in front of the TV, or waiting until night time or nap time to exercise.  We go about twice a week, and I do my other errands, like library or grocery shopping, etc… 

I feel like this is more of a Christmas type letter, so maybe I will attach our most recent family picture just for the fun of it.  And Happy May Day instead of Christmas. 

Love,

Martha, Brian, Matthew, Kara, Lindsay, Seth, and Elise.  

Christmas 2010

We had a really fun Christmas. The kids woke up not too early (maybe around 7am or so). Seth has a train set he loves. And, you can see in the background the couch that Brian really surprised me with. Here is another cute picture of Seth and his trains. Here are the girls playing with Dolls. They were happy all day long playing with Dolls. Well, Kara played all day long and built a house in the family room and was in heaven. Lindsay played with Kara for a long time, but she also played games on the Wii with Brian and Matthew as well. Elise had a great day on a scavenger hunt. We really didn't give her much candy in her stocking because she is still a baby, but that didn't stop her from finding the candy the other cute kids left on the floor or dropped or they so lovingly shared with her. She was cute. Here is Matthew with his Kung Zhu hamster.

Here are Brian and Matthew playing Worms on the Wii.

Here is another picture of the girls and their Dolls. Seth also played with them some.

As you can see it was a really fun filled day with lots of playing and lots of fun. It wasn't quiet, but it was really nice to have the whole day to play.

Christmas Eve 2010 with the Stewarts

Our friends the Stewarts invited us over to their house for Christmas Eve. It was really fun. We had yummy ribs for dinner (as well as lots of other goodies), the kids played together and had a great time, and we acted out the nativity in the evening.

Brian and Abby were shepherds, Eliza was the angel, Katie was a sheep, and Daniel was the narrator. Elise was our wanderer.

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I just thought this was a super cute picture of Elise in the sheep hat.

Matthew and Andrew were the wise men.

Seth is a cow for a minute.

Actually Seth decided to be Joseph, Lindsay was Mary, and Kara was the donkey. Of course Mary had to ride on the donkey to get to Bethlehem.

This is everyone except for Daniel. He was nice enough to take pictures.

Can You Believe It?

Yes, I know, a post from me. One of my new years resolutions was to do better at keeping in touch with our families better, so here I am updating our blog.

Here is a cute video of Seth and Elise. They love to take the mattress of Seth's bed and sit on it and pull out all their books to read. It is a mess, but cute.

Here we are at the favorite birthday place for Seth's 3rd Birthday. I think we went there for every birthday this year instead of big friend parties. We had a great time.

The KaZoo

So, Sethy calls the zoo, the "KaZoo." He says "when we go out to the KaZoo." Or we went to the kazoo. It is Super Cute. I have a video that I will try to upload later with him saying it. My videos haven't been loading that well though, so we will have to see how that goes.

This trip is with my friend Laura and her girls. It was a fun time.

Britney Winkler Remembered

Wow, I just found out that a friend died last week. We did a group preschool together (like joyschool- only better:) with a few other moms. We also were in the marriage and family relations Sunday school class and the infant Sunday school class, together with her and John. Anyway, they both always had amazing insights into the topics that were discussed. I think they had a great relationship and love and respect for each other. They were true examples, and our prayers are with their family.