Dinner at Chez Taylor

Last night we had a lovely dinner of chicken ceasar salads at Chez Taylor.

The very proud owner and her daddy.

A very eager patron, dressed like she's going to school.

Daddy providing the entertainment, best $.49 cents ever.

Setting the table!

I cannot believe how big she is getting!

Bar-b-que Drummond Style

Monday night we joined the rest of the country and bar-b-qued out on the deck. We had some great people over and as always had great food.

Daylan in a rare candid photo.

Taylor getting ready for the party.

Andrea making the first Smore of the night.

Elijah and Andrea, who can resist a Smore?!

Mini Tom, a.k.a. Danny trying out Taylor's highchair.

Paige's Special Date

Like the tatoo?
On Monday we decided to surprise Paige and take her to see Chronicles of Narna: Prince Caspian. Let's just say she had NO IDEA. We parked in the theatre garage, no clue, dropped Taylor off at Tom and Andrea's, no clue, went back into the theatre and waited in line to buy our tickets, still no clue. Once we handed her the ticket, she decided that she needed popcorn, but still no clue that we were going to see Narnia. Once she finally clued in I think she was very happy. She sat with Daylan most of the time because she was cold. She was really looking forward to seeing the scene where the bear chases Lucy...Disney Channel previews.

I'm glad we were able to take Paige out for some special alone time, although I think she might have been just as happy staying with Tom and Andrea too!

Grand Neighborhood Block Party

On Saturday our neighborhood association shut down our street for a block party complete with hot dogs, popcorn, performers, bouncers, Blues Brothers Car, and booths a few offices. We took advantage of the Secretary of State's office setting up in the bottom of Paige's school and got the girls state ID cards. It's nice to be in a "neighborhoody" area.

Two by Two

Two By Two (Tag Survey)
Two Names You Go By: Tanya & Mom
Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Jeans and a sweater
Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: Sports and shop
Two Things You Want To Do Very Badly At This Moment: get rid of this headache and eat some lunch
Two Favorite Pets: Dogs & Fish
Two People Who Will Fill This Out: Carlye and mom
Two Things You Did Last Night: Watch the playoffs and made pigs in a blanket
Two People You Talked To Today: Paige and Daylan
Two Favorite Holidays: Christmas and Halloween
Two Favorite Vacations: Arizona in 8th grade & Nauvoo (the time I went with Charity and we saw the City of Joseph Pageant, memorized the songs, almost died when my uncle drove in the middle of two lanes of traffic, and listened to my cousin sing, "I said YEP! what a concept..." over and over and over again!)(charity I still have your cd)
Two Favorite Drinks: Water & any type of juiceTwo People I Tag: Carlye and Mom

YIKES!

Daylan: Why do you have a jacket on?

Paige: I'm trying to look fashionable!

A week in pictures!

Taylor's favorite place in the house, looking out at the playground.

AHHHHH!!!
I have NO clue!
Telling trying to get ready to ride Paige's bike around the house. (notice the knee pads)
Paige dressing up as a "clown" to go out to dinner.

It's Official

After nearly 3 years in our wonderful city we are finally pure Chicagoans, well atleast I am. We have had our Chicago home phone for a while now, in February I finally got my Illinois drivers license (barely, after the paperwork from AR for our marriage license wasn't the way it's supposed to be), and yesterday we FINALLY got Chicago cell phone numbers. I am very happy to not get weird looks anymore and have to explain to people that my old number was from Arkansas and we couldn't change it...blah...blah...blah. Now if only Daylan would get his new drivers license!

CAUTION: Mom in training

Paige has become so grown up lately. She fixes her own breakfast every morning and always asks if it's okay if she feeds Taylor...EVERY meal! It is such a huge help for her to feed Taylor while I'm cooking so I know Taylor's not going to run up to the stove or crawl up in the fridge or dishwasher for that matter (one of her favorite places). Paige also really enjoys getting to do the dishes and laundry, I think that just might be the one way we differed from when I was that age.
This weekend Daylan and Paige planted trees in pots at the bottom of our stoop and even dug up and framed in a flowerbed against the house where the grass doesn't grow so well. She is such a big help and I love her so much for it. While I am excited for her to start school in the fall (I seriously can't wait to take her school supply shopping!) I am going to miss my little helper around the house...luckily her school gets out at 1:45!

My Taco Bell...Oh How I LOVE Thee!

I have always thouroughly enjoyed Taco Bell. But on Saturday night, I think I officially fell in love, yes, L.O.V.E! Upon walking through the parking lot I noticed a new static cling in the window that announced that they now had a form of slushies. Now if you know me very well, you know that when it comes to food I love Taco Bell and Slushies. When you put these two things together you get Tanya wiggiling within her own utopia. I was so excited I could hardly remember what I was going to order for the girls. As always the food was terrific and as usual we had a new person taking our order (we have never had the same workers at our favorite TB in Chicago). I think they must have been going for tips, which I GLADLY would have given except I think Daylan would have gotten on to me. Why they deserved a tip:

• They brought our food out to our table for us.
• Came by twice to ask if we needed anything and if the food was okay.
• Appologized to us for the distraction when they were changing out the trash cans.
• Talked to the girls.
• And were just plain ultra friendly the whole time.

Daylan thinks personal blogs are silly, and that they are more for technology people to post helpful ideas, but I was quick to point out during dinner that this visit to TB was VERY blog worthy!!!

Where did the past year go?!

Last Thursday our little Taylor turned 1! I can't believe it, this year has gone by SO fast. Taylor went for her one year well visit at Dr. Luu's and has grown to just shy of 31" (90th percentile) and just below 19lbs (10-25th percentile). She handles shots like a pro, crying is done as soon as the needle is out of her leg, if only I could say Paige handled shots that well, or ever handled Taylor getting shots that well.
The girls love running errands with me, so while we had the car we ran to the post office and Jewel Osco, and out of pure laziness, we stopped on the way home to get some McD's because I didn't feel like cooking lunch.
After Taylor's nap we had a playgroup/birthday party. We were very happy to have everyone over, and I think everyone had fun.

Cupcakes, YUM!
An Old Pro!


Bryker and Charlie

Here we go again!

So, I'm starting anew again on my blog. I was unable to make my old blog private, so I decided to join the dark side and use google, just don't tell Daylan! I hope you'll still be able to keep up with the crazy lives of our family of the 4 worst nerds ever as we live, laugh, and love in the wonderful city of Chicago!