Taylor Time

Now that Thanksgiving is over Taylor is all decked out for winter and the cold weather that has started rolling in. Taylor was clued into the shopping madness that is "Black Friday" last year and jumped into her shopping cart ready to join Mom on her shopping blitz this year. Needless to say she was a little disheartened when she found out Mom wasn't going to be taking her along. Hanging out with Dad worked out alright - we went to Sears, bought some tools for work, and then drove over the Tacoma Dome to watch her first live football game. Cascade Christian, Dad's old football team, was playing in the state semifinal. She slept through the 3rd quarter, but enjoyed being up close to the action as well as clapping and cheering along with the crowd.

"Working" with Dad Kevin is starting a job next week at the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal so Taylor and I went with him to check it out. Here we are on the beach. Taylor thought sand might be yummy so she took a bite. Oops - apparently it DOESN'T taste good. Do you think it stopped her from trying it again???? Taylor suddenly laid down and started making sand angels, it was pretty funny! Rocks! Taylor LOVES rocks! Random Taylor facts: She has 15 teeth now. She learned to say yes this last week and it is ADORABLE! She even uses it correctly. She named her pacifer "paci" She is in the 97th percentile for her height (2' 8 3/4") She weighs 23 lbs. 14oz

Mt. St. Helens Sarah & Rebb, Meredith & Eric, Kevin & Taylor Taylor celebrating the end of a long car ride. A little hike for a better view. Taylor was told to stay on the path... The weather was wonderful, but not the best for picture taking. Here she is Mt. St. Helens Taylor learning about lava. A couple of weekends ago we took a day trip down to Mt. St. Helens with some friends. Our trip was inspired by the permanent closing of the Coldwater Visitor Center (due to lack of funding) plus the Johnston Center was closing for the winter. We had a great time. The only thing Taylor wanted to do was play in the rocks! She was distracted for several minutes by a grasshopper, but then she went straight back to the rocks. This would have been okay, but technically that is against the rules! Everyone is supposed to stay on the path. It was challenging for Taylor to understand!

Look who we found wandering in our backyard - ELMO Taylor was decked out in muppet fur and ready to go The only problem was an empty bucket Don't worry, she quickly figured out how to fix that problem - Nothing's better than candy from the King The afternoon ended with a full bucket and an exhausted daughter We started the afternoon up in Des Moines with her cousin Zach. The local businesses all hand out candy and Taylor was quite the trooper. She walked door to door (over 10 blocks) and quickly learned that she was supposed to reach in, take some candy out, and put it into her bucket. She can say trick-or-treat, but got gun shy around strangers. Who would have thought - she has no clue what candy is - but that didn't stop her from this joyful quest. The evening ended at a harvest party at my parent's church. Here the goal was to work yourself around the gym from carnival game to carnival game and the prize was always candy. The only problem is Taylor was now "...