So glad that I said "yes"

14 years ago, on a chilly beach in Virginia, this guy asked if I would spend the rest of my life with him. 

I am so very, very  happy that I said "yes."

He knows me better than anyone else on this planet - - well enough to buy me the perfect Valentine's gift.

Now that is true love.

Happy Valentine's Day Keith!!

I love you!

 

And so do these four:

The wonders of a Mac.

For Christmas this year, our family decided to take the plunge and purchase a new iMac desktop computer. 

As a lifelong PC user, I was hesitant.  For me, the thing that ultimately sold me on this rather pricey purchase was iPhoto.  The idea of finally organizing all of my hundreds thousands of digital images excites this slightly OCD mama more than it probably should.  So, over the past few weeks I have played around with the Mac a bit here and there, but I have not really learned how to use it properly yet.

Not the case for my kiddos.  Apparently kids these days already have a built-in knowledge of how to use all things Mac related.

Keith and I had a date night scheduled on Sunday.  We also had one kiddo at a "spy-birthday party" a baseball team meeting, and a handful of neighborhood kids at our house that day.  As I raced home after picking up one kid from the spy party to get home before the babysitter arrived, Davis asked me if he could try out iMovie on the Mac that night.    "Sure, no problem," I replied.

The next morning, the boys were up uncharacteristically early.  They wanted to show us the movie trailer that they created the night before.  Not expecting much, I filled my coffee cup to the top and sleepily walked to the computer.  I could not believe what I saw - - video clips, music, and text all in a complete and fun to watch format.  In fact, I could not stop laughing when I watched it. 

The wonders of a Mac. 

Watching this movie trailer alone made the purchase worth it. 

Dad, this one is for you.

Everytime I hear this song I imagine you singing and jiving to Lou Rawls' rendition of Little Drummer Boy.

Thanks for the fun Christmas memories!

Busy, busy, busy.

If you know me at all, you know about my crazy, over-the-top, love for Christmas.

Our schedule has been packed full this month with Christmas activities and traditions. 

* * * * *

A trip to see Santa Claus.

(actually, we have visted three different Santa Clauses, but who's counting?)

Visiting the Fashion Island Christmas Tree.

Trips to Disneyland.

(love the "snow", love the holiday decorations, love riding It's a Small World")

Christmas parties.  Lots and lot of Christmas Parties.

Baking.

A trip to the Heritige Hill Christmas event.

Christmas Choir.

Children's Chirstmas Play.

Wrapping Presents.

Newport Beach Boat Parade.

Father-Daughter Dance.

Drinking Hot Chocolate.

Christmas Caroling with Friends.

Watching Holiday Movies.

Drives to see Christmas Lights.

~ and of course ~

Decorating and Trimming the Christmas Tree.

* * * * *

I hope to find some time to blog about our Christmas advenutres in more detail, but until then,

Merry Christmas from the Taylors!

We hope you are having as much Christmas fun as we are.

Fun Friday Photos!

Photo booth pictures crack me up!

My office had a Halloween party last night, and one of the biggest hits every year is the photo booth.

Our biggest challenge is trying to fit all six of us into such a tiny space. 

Happy Friday everyone!

InstaFriday: Preparing for Halloween

It is almost Halloween! 

Our family still has so much to do:

A trip to the pumpkin patch.

Four separate Halloween parties.

Carving Pumpkins.

And of course, trick-or treating!

(boo to the fact it is on a Monday night this year)

But, we have squeezed in a lot of Halloween fun already:

Decorating the front of our house.

Baking Halloween cupcakes.

Shopping for and trying on costumes.

We were "boo-ed", complete with four sets of plactic vampire teeth.

At first, Vivian wanted nothing to do with them . . . let alone make a scary face.

(BTW, I have to admit that some of the other kiddos' faces scared me a little.

Vivan finally tried them for a group picture.
She is not really feeling it.

Dressing in black and "boo-ing" our neighbors. 
We were caught at one house, but that almost made it more fun.
Running for cover after ringing the doorbell with four kids in tow
was one of the funniest things I have experienced in a long time. 
You should have heard the giggles coming from Eliza.
Priceless.

And wearing our long-sleeved Halloween shirts as many times as the

crazy hot Southern Californina weather will let us.

What are you doing to get ready for Halloween?

Link up your Halloween photos at Life.Rearranged.

Life just gets in the way.

I am not really good at this whole blogging thing.

Life just gets in the way.  Between taking care of four little people, two big people (one of which is myself), making sure there is food on the table, clean clothes to wear, shuttling the kids back and forth to their activities and trying to juggle the demands of my job, I can never find the time to blog.

I started this blog as a type of journal to memorialize some of the little things in life that are often forgotten as the years pass by (note:  I am also really bad at journaling . . . and scrapbooking for that matter.  I love the finished projects of a beautiful photo album or a heartfelt journal, but never have time to do either).

So, since I am one of those crazy type A people who MUST accomplish all goals and MUST cross all items of a "to-do" list (I am also guilty of adding things to my to-do list after the fact just so I can experience the joy of crossing it out), I am making it a goal to blog 4 times before the end of October.

There.  It is out there.  No way I can avoid blogging now.

(query: does this post county as one of the four?)