Fireworks and Silence

Taegan has been terrified of fireworks since last July 4th...and we were hoping that maybe she had outgrown it! When we went to Disney World in December she was still terrified. She cries and claws into your arms to get away from them. On Sunday we were outside in the back yard and our neighbors behind us started doing fireworks and she ran soooo fast screaming her head off to the back door to get inside. This wasn't a good sign. Last night we decided to get a few small fireworks and do them in the light with her right there to try and ease the fear. We started with pow-pows and a few fountains. These were a hit-although if they made a loud noise she immediately wanted to be held. We tried a few more tonight and she was a bit better. We are hoping by the time Saturday night rolls around(our big July 4th show) she will be okay with the noise. Otherwise her and I will get to sit inside:) Here are a few pictures from her loving the pow-pows.

Getting ready to throw them down.

The look on her face when it made noise!
Laughing and having fun.

Tomorrow I will be doing a day of blogging silence for a fellow blogger who lost their son. They will burying him tomorrow and I hope they find peace with the goodbye. You can learn more about Sweet Cohen by visiting his website at www.inthiswonderfullife.com

Whew...

Well, I think I managed to get all caught up yesterday with all the posts that I have missed! It felt good to get that done and now I can go from here. This weekend is going to be crazy busy and then we are leaving for the Mall of America. I have a baby shower Saturday morning for a dear friend from Texas and then we have our annual 4th of July party at Justin's parents house! Taegan, mom, and I leave Sunday morning for the big Mall and will be back on the 8th. I can't believe that when we get back it will be 2 weeks into July!!! Holy cow where is the summer going??? It seems like we are always on the go or have something to do and it doesn't look like that will slow down anytime soon. As much as I love doing stuff together and having fun it is fun to be lazy at home with just us 3. We are looking forward to a day for that!

As for today, Taegan woke up with a yucky cough and just seems a bit under the weather. I am hoping it is just a quick thing and she is much better for Sunday. 8 hours in the car with a sick 2 year old won't be too fun. Although, I'm not sure how much fun 8 hours in the car with her well is gonna be:) Have a good Wednesday.

Taegan's big girl room

When Taegan turned 2 we moved her to a big girl room and changed her crib to a toddler bed with a side rail. She was super excited to move into her new room and she loves the colors. She takes everyone to her room and shows them everything in there! It is super cute. Since these pictures were taken I finished the letters for her name and they are hanging on the wall above her bed.

I really love the dots-they are the stickers that I can take off and move around.
We did one wall in brown.

I didn't get a new diaper stacker because we are hoping by the end of the summer she has taken up going to the potty:)

I love the shelf we got her with the boxes in them-great organization tool for her room!!!

Vacation Bible School

In April Justin and I decided that we had found a church we felt at home at and joined Topeka Baptist Church here in town. We love the Pastor and the welcomeness(is that a word?) of everyone there. Taegan really enjoyed going to Sunday School class while we went to service and it all seemed great. The first week in June was the church's vbs and I was so excited that they started at age 2 and Taegan would be able to go!!! I signed up to help with it and was eager to see what it was all about. I had never gone to vbs growing up so I just wasn't sure what it was all about! She was in the toddler class and they got to sit up front for the beginning and ending of each night while they sang. She really liked the singing. One night they got to go up on stage and sing for everyone. Although they didn't actually sing-they were up there:)

She is in the purple skirt turned around in this picture watching Christy sing.
She is facing forward trying to figure out what to do!

She has since started singing the songs at home and saying the bible things they learned each night. I am so happy she had a great time!!! What a special memory this is for us.

Ready for the summer and the pool

We got the pool all setup in mid May and we were ready to play and swim. We waited about a week for the water to warm up and then headed out to try it! I was so excited to see Taegan play in it and see how she reacted. Last year she loved the water and couldn't get enough so we were hoping the same would happen this year.

All suited up and ready!

Riding in her sailboat
Loving the water.

Overall, she loves the water and the pool. Our only problem is that she gets bored real quick in the floats and wants to get out. The only problem with this is that someone then has to hold her. We have tried so many different vests and things for her to float on her own and they just don't work yet. She just doesn't stay up with any of them and she freaks out. She is hating the water in her ears...any suggestions?

Feeding the ducks

A few weeks ago we decided it would be fun to take Taegan to feed the ducks at a cemetary here in town! We had gone once last year when she was still young and in a stroller so we knew this time would be different. We pulled in and there were a ton in the field right off one of the roads so we just pulled over and got out. On a side note-these Canadian Geese have NO fear of humans and I had a fear of them taking Taegan's hand with them. Yikes!!! She LOVED feeding the ducks and thought it was pretty cool that they walked right up to her and ate it out of her hand(with Mom holding on tightly)! She has no fear...I like that about her, but hope at some point she gains a bit of a fear factor!

Getting started with Daddy.
Trying it on her own.

Having no fear and going after the ducks.

Showing me how close she was to the duck.

Posing with Mom after we were done.

Playing with Friends

Taegan was so excited to see her cousin Kinsley when they came to town in late May! She loved "her baby" and had a great time sharing her toys with her. Really she did share her toys most of the time, but then again Kinsley wasn't the most mobile so she couldn't come take them away:) We are so excited to have them come back in a week and a half to stay and play again. This time I think Taegan and Kinsley will get to swim together.

We also had a few playdates with The Roney clan! They came over a few times to our house to play while I was watching another little girl. It was a great outlet for Taegan because I was devoting a lot of my time to the baby! She loved playing in the sand and the water with the kids! We also got to go to the water fountains in KC with them(another post on that)!

All 4 kids in this small sandbox!
This was right before Davin decided Taegan needed a sand shampoo:)

Kinsley and Taegan meeting and getting ready to play.

Posing for the Moms!

Playing at the mall before pictures.

Taegan's First Haircut!!!!

I am really behind on blogging and intend to catch up so I can have this as part of the blog for my future scrapbook! So I will go back to a few things I have missed and then pick up from there. Taegan had her first "real" haircut a few weeks ago. I have been cutting her bangs for about a year now, but the rest of her hair has been growing and growing! I decided that it was getting a bit scraggly(is that a word?) and needed to be cleaned up. I thought I would have a much harder time watching it get cut, but really I was fine.

Here is the length of her hair before we left for Mary's(my mom's hairstylist). When it was wet it would got down to the middle of her back!!!

Up in the chair and deciding how much to cut off. She was good about putting her head down when she was supposed to. We decided to cut off 4 inches and cut it under so it would curl under like a bob.

Getting her hair blow dried once it was all cut!! What a big girl. She got a sucker halfway through the cut because she was getting a little squirmy.

The side view.

And the back.

I think it turned out GREAT!!! I love it and she looks so much more grown up...a little sad!

So long...

Geez has it really been that long since I have written? I can't believe how time gets away from me. We have been busy around the house trying to get the pool up and the yard looking nice. I also decided to have a garage sale and that caused me to want to purge lots of things in the house! So I went through every corner of the house and got rid of stuff that just wasn't being used. Feels good to have that done. Now things should start calming down and I should be able to get on here more and write fun posts!! I am having the pleasure of watching a little 8 month old girl the next two weeks and I can't wait to see how Taegan handles it! Should be interesting.

Until this garage sale is over...