Happy Halloween From the Taylors

 No monsters here!  Just cute little ballerinas and Princess Belles

 Oh boy, do we love being silly!

It's the GREAT PUMPKIN!  Thanks to Daddy for doing all the carving.

An avid biker himself, Daddy decided it was finally time to get his girls some bikes (moving to a place that actually has sidewalks also aided in the decision).  A. & P. were thrilled!  They've been out riding in our cul-de-saq nearly every day, even joining their Daddy for an early morning jaunt this week.  (And yes, Alexis is, in fact, riding a boy's Jeep bike tricked out with a princess basket.  Apparently, none of the girls' varieties of bikes in her size met Jay's meticulous standards.)



A small lake forms in the corner of our backyard after an unusually large rainstorm.  A. & P. quickly take advantage of the soggy conditions to get themselves good and muddy.

SEDONA, ARIZONA!

 Aunt Ya-Ya invites Mommy, A. & P. to join her for a week in Sedona!  (Daddy couldn't come--he had to work.)  We had a terrific time.  Thanks soooo much Aunt Ya-Ya!

 Aunt Ya-ya and the girls cool off their feet at Montezuma's Well

 Aunt Ya-ya, A. & P. sliding down the very aptly named "Sliding Rock Canyon."  The river bottom is covered with a fine layer of moss an algae making it incredible slippery and creating numerous natural waterslides.  It was SOO much fun--we could have stayed there all day.

 A. proudly displays the trout that she caught at a nearby trout farm.

 P. cowers in front of the twitching trout that she likewise caught at the nearby trout farm.

Another breathtaking view from Sedona

It's time for school!!

A.'s first day of Pre-school!  Though P. is still too young to attend, she prepared herself nonetheless by donning her purple Tinkerbell backpack and clutching her favorite used-to-be-pink blankie.

Did we ever mention that Arizona gets HOT!!!  Here are a few pics of what we have to do to stay cool!

 Dad sprays A. & P. with the hose while they jump on the tramp.

Running amok through the sprinklers.

And when it does happen to rain, we take full advantage of it by rolling around in the mud as much as possible.  (1/3 of our backyard has yet to be landscaped making it the neighborhood's largest sandbox/mudpit much to the messmaking joy of our little girls.)

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.

  

Homeowners again!  In April our house in Tucson sold, freeing us up to purchase a new home in the Phoenix area. 

And it appears that we're going to be needing the extra square footage--the same day we signed for the house we also found out our family is going to be getting one person larger.  Welcome Baby Taylor #3, due in March 2011!

A FEW FUN FOTOS

 A. decides that she'd rather sleep on a pillow, in a laundry basket, on her bed rather than just getting under the covers.

 P. couldn't be more ecstatic about the cute little rosette clips that Aunt Amy sent her.  And they actually stay in her hair (now that she has some)!

 It was superheroes day at the library and these little avengers got to decorate their very own hero masks, which, due to the rather wide sizing of the eye holes, they really couldn't see out of at all and ended up running into a lot of walls and tables as they raced around the apartment.

Just being silly.

Gee, I wonder what color the girls' Easter dresses are going to be this year?

Happy 2 years old to P.!

Yummmmm, this cake tastes pretty good!

Even A. scored a birthday gift on P.'s big day--princess night-night dresses with matching slippers and fluffy pen wands from Grandma M. These little girls' dreams truly have come true.

Rainboots?! Who needs rainboots? Thanks to old grocery sacks, rubber bands, and their mommy's recession inspired ingenuity, A. and P. are able to enjoy the enormous puddles produced by a rare series of winter storms in comfort and economic style.

It appears that 2010 is the girls' year to be 'pink' (as if 2007, 2008, & 2009 weren't?!) Here, A. & P. display their Pinkalicious jammies and Pinkalicious dolls while holding the pinkalicious cupcakes their Mommy and Daddy made for them. We're happy to report that the only things to turn pink thus far are two little tongues and our apartment carpet.
The girls proudly display the Sleeping Beauty dress-ups that A. purchased with her birthday money. She made sure she had enough to buy P. one, too!

Since it didn't work out for us to get a real Christmas tree this year, we decided to color one instead.

Ta-da! Our beautifully colored Christmas tree complete with crayon-colored ornaments and a construction paper garland.

Playing with (and wearing) a few of our Christmas presents. Thank you so much to all the Santas out there who made our holidays so special.

A few of the shots from a recent Family Foto session. Many thanks to our good friend Liz Dorathy for taking the pictures for us. If you're looking for a good photographer you can see her work at www.elizabethdorathy.com

A. turns four years old!! We celebrate with a cake she made and decorated by herself.
Thanks for all the presents, everyone.

Jumping on the couch is always more fun after dumping out the entire bag of Toasty-O's first

The Tucson Taylors just couldn't leave the Old Southwest before taking a trip to Old Tucson Studios, an old filming location turned amusement attraction where movies such as "The Three Amigos" and numerous John Wayne flicks were shot.

The homemade rolls Mom made for Thanksgiving dinner 2009

All the rest of the food that Junious and Carmen Ross, our wonderful, magnanimous, angels-in-mortal-clothing friends who live across the street, made for our Thanksgiving dinner 2009. Thanks so much for inviting us! It was delicious!