The Holidays

Merry Christmas

 
We had a great Christmas celebration this year.  Gma and Gpa Taylor spent the night and we enjoyed watching the girls open their presents.  Then had more family over for a delicious dinner and rowdy gift exchange. 



Evelyn was not so interested in the presents.  She was happy just eating her Fruit Loops. 

 
 



 Audrey was more interested this year but still wanted to play with each gift instead of opening all her presents.


 

She loved her umbrella. 

 

We then drove all night to visit family in South Carolina.  Had a good time playing with cousins and their millions of toys.  Thanks for the hospitality!

 

 

Happy 2015!

 

 

Thank you Bree! for the beautiful dress.  I don't think Audrey will ever take it off. 

Evelyn's new year resolution is to sleep through the night and to learn how to say "mama" (or maybe that's mine*)

We wish everyone a wonderful 2015!

Illnesses and a birthday

My poor girls aren't feeling well.  Fever and cough.  Audrey's Christmas party is tomorrow, so she says she is feeling better.  Evelyn is irritable with a fever but is eating like a horse.

 

Miss Bessie, the Destructor, turned 1 yesterday.  That was the longest year of our life :)

We bought her a new car with new seatbelts to chew through.

 

She is terrified of the camera.

Visit with Santa

This past weekend, the girls stopped to see Santa.  They screamed in horror- even though they knew it was Uncle Mike. 

We tricked them into a picture - they didn't know he was behind them. 

 

15 months old

Evelyn is now 15 months old.  How time flies!  She is a great baby.  Very smiley, loves playing with her big sister and is sleeping through the night almost all the time (excluding whenever we spend the night at Mom and Dad's).  She got her check-up yesterday.  Didn't even flinch when they poked her finger, but screamed just to lay down on the table.  Weight 22lbs (62%), length 30.5in (48%).

 

She loves bananas

We got a backsplash put in.  We think it looks great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  Dad turned 60! (Yikes)  Enjoyed playing with all of our cousins in the fanciest playroom ever. 

 

Evelyn took one look at this plate and decided it was naptime (or maybe I just wanted to eat my meal without interruptions)

Audrey eating at the kids table

Grandpa Stevens and descendants

Making cookie dough

Audrey helped me make chocolate chip cookie dough tonight.  She was a good helper, though we probably have a second batch on the floor :)

 

Fun Saturday

 

 

I took a very similar picture of Audrey at this age.

I took the girls to the Children's Discovery Museum in Bloomington.  We had a good time.

The smock did not keep Audrey from getting soaked

Audrey performing surgery one-handed.

Evelyn enjoyed "wandering".  I couldn't find her for a minute and discovered her at the water table.

Driving the combine.  You can see that Evelyn got soaked at the water table also.

Then we took Avanti's to Daddy for lunch. 

Hopefully this is not something we have to worry about in the future.

Audrey was "sleeping" while I made dinner.

Halloween trick-or-treating

It was a cold, windy Halloween night, but Audrey and Brian braved the weather with her cousins and uncles.  They got lots of treats!  Probably because they were among the very few who were crazy enough to be out ;)

 

It was impossible to get them together for a pic.  Audrey was an ear of corn and Evelyn was a tomato.  Thanks Mom! for making their costumes :)

I dressed up as Doc McStuffins for my half-day of work, but, of course, saw no kids that morning.

The brave ones that left the house; Batman Daniel, Ninja Chuck, Elsa Emmie and Audrey

Pumpkin Party

Brian took the girls to the Cropsey Halloween party on Monday.  They had a really good time.  Audrey loved her pumpkin full of goodies.  They both liked the cupcakes they got to bring home. 

 

Evelyn trying the ring toss

Audrey playing twister - she did surprisingly well

Pumpkin farm - take 2

In preparation of my girls' weekend, I took the day off today.  Decided it was a good morning to go to the pumpkin farm.  It wasn't too crowded and had good weather, finally.  We had a good time - Audrey's favorite, once again, was the giant pillow (picture not included).

 

Playing in the corn

Spider web

Duck races

Tractor tires

The post office

Riding on the caterpillar

Pumpkin carving

We carved our pumpkin tonight.  Planned on going to the pumpkin farm today but the rain spoiled our plans. 

 

Audrey is really scared

Audrey would not help scoop out the seeds; it was "yukky".  Evelyn wasn't afraid to dig in.

Cupcakes!

As promised to G&G Taylor, here is a picture of the girls eating a cupcake you brought.

Thanks for picking them up today!

 

Go Illini!

Evelyn really likes climbing

We went to the Illinois football game today.  The game was delayed for lightening in the second quarter and we got caught in a downpour.  Found a tent to stand under but it was blowing sideways so got wet anyway.  Gave us a chance to visit with Aunt Linda and Mike.

Mad I didn't get a picture before/during the game.  Audrey had cute pigtails and ribbons and an Illini sticker on her cheek.

Hanging out in the rain

Worn out

Audrey found a toad in the driveway this morning

Great vacation

We have returned from vacation at Isle of Palms and Tim's house.  Had a great time.  Evelyn turned 1.  She took two steps and is getting several more teeth.  Our goal now is to get her to sleep through the night.

 

Evelyn was too busy crying to enjoy the ocean or pool.  She only had one day when she was happy.  Some little boy came along and threw sand at her - we're going to have to teach her self-defense.

Anyone see anything interesting in the background?

We had a proper one-year-old cake eating once we got to Tim and Michelle's house.  She loved it, of course.

Evelyn turns 1 year!

Miss Evelyn is 1 today!  We went all out and flew her to the beach to celebrate.  Didn't bring the computer so can't upload any pics.  Took her out for pizza; she had a breadstick (loved it) and had ice cream for dessert.

enjoying summer

Bessie is 52lbs now and just got spayed.  Still a nuisance but getting better