We finally did it!!!

Yes, we chopped Kaeson's hair off.  At only four months old, he already badly needed a haircut. So, the day after Christmas, I conned my mom into cutting it for me.  We didn't know what we were doing, but we did it anyway.  

So the first two are the before:

And here is the after.

I was way sad to see it go--I love his hair so much!--but it definitely needed done. I miss the long hair, but I was about to start braiding it down his back! ok, not really, but it was bad. We cut about an inch and a half off.  I tried to keep the length as much as I could.  We just trimmed the shaggy long hair that was growing over his ears, eyes, and down his neck. It kind of changes the way he looks, people tell me a lot that he looks more like a little boy instead of a baby now.  

Winter Wonderland

Sorry it's taken me so long, but I still have more to catch up on from our Christmas break.  

While we were in Star Valley, it snowed pretty much every day for two weeks!  They accumulated a ton of snow while we were there.  It just kept piling up!  It was so cold, we didn't get out much in it, but the last few days we were there, it finally reached into the 30's so we took Parker out in it a little bit.  

We tried to take the kids sledding, but Parker isn't the most adventurous kid you'll meet, and he didn't much care for it.  He would laugh the whole way down the hill, and then as soon as the sled stopped, he said, "I'm done." I told him if he went home, he was going to take a nap, and eventually he just said he wanted to go home, even if it meant taking a nap. So we went home. We tried again the next day, and Dave pulled them behind the snowmobile in my parents' backyard, but Parker still just wanted to play in the snow.

Here's Parker and Lance getting ready to go Christmas caroling.  My dad and Lance decorated this trailer and the side by side four wheeler, and used a generator to keep all the lights going. So me, Lance, Parker, Gina, Hallie, Mom and Dad all went Christmas caroling.  We needed more people, especially singing voices, but the kids both really liked it. Thanks Grandpa!

When it is constantly snowing, you are constantly shoveling, so Parker thought it was his job to make sure the driveway stayed shoveled.  He begged to go out and help every time Lance went to shovel.  It was pretty cute to watch him try to push that big shovel all by himself.

#32

While we were home for Christmas, my younger brother Brandon had a couple basketball games that we were able to watch.  I spent hours the night before his first game painting some shirts for the boys to wear to his game only to find out my parents were having some T-shirts screen printed for the kids.  So my homemade shirts looked extremely homemade, but the boys still looked pretty cute.

Here's the kids in the shirts my parents had made for them.  They say Star Valley Braves on the front....

...and 32 on the back.

And here is the Great Uncle Boskey with all the kids Christmas morning.  Parker loves his uncle Brandon so much.  He still asks about him every day.  Boskey is so great with the kids and we all love him (even though we don't love all the things he teaches my child).  Love you Brandon.

These are the sweet homemade T-shirts.

Christmas Pictures

I have a lot of catching up to do, so here goes.  Here are a few pictures of our Christmas with the Taylor Fam

Here is Parker's gift from Santa.  He kept asking for a car toy with  two cars that go round and round (it's a toy they have in nursery that he supposedly plays with constantly in there) but Santa was all out of them, so this was the next best thing
But of course, it didn't matter what Santa brought, because Grandma and Grandpa outdid it with this cool geotrax toy.  He loves this thing.  It amazes me that he never gets bored of watching the airplane go around!

This was our sad 2 man nativity this year.  Kaeson fell asleep just a few minutes before we were ready to start, so we didn't even have a baby Jesus.  Parker wasn't overly fond of the towel on his head, but he was a pretty good sport.

Cousins, Cousins, Everywhere

Over the last few weeks, we have been able to spend a lot of time with family.  Parker loves his cousins, and has had a great time playing with all of them. 

We even had 9 of 12 grandchildren all together for a weekend at Lance's parents' house.  It was a zoo! With 4 new babies, and 5 other kids between 8 and almost 3, silence was not something we had much of for a few days!  But it was so much fun.  We definitely missed the cousins who were not able to be there!

Avery and Kaeson.  Avery is the oldest cousin and she takes such great care of all her cousins, especially the babies.

The four babies.  Marcus, (6 months) Teeka (4 1/2 months), Kaeson (3 1/2 months) and Compton (5 weeks)

We have spent the last week with my family.  It has been wonderful, also a bit of a zoo at times, but still great. We wish Ryan and Jess could be here with us, but Jess was a little tied up having a baby on Christmas Eve.  We missed you guys!
Kaeson and his cousin Peyton, who is one day younger than him.
Hallie, Peyton, Parker and Kaeson, in their adorable Christmas clothes from Grandma and Grandpa.  Talan and baby Camryn are missing.  

What's a big brother for?

For burying

I was cleaning and I could hear Parker playing in the other room, but I had no idea what he was up to.  A few minutes later, my parents came home for lunch, and Parker ran to them and yelled, "grandpa, I'm playing cars with Kaeson!"

For smothering
Parker getting right in Kaeson's face is a very common occurrence around our house.

For playing "Do as I'm doing"
Parker likes to act just like Kaeson, so one day, he climbed right up on Lance's lap, laid down right beside Kaeson, and started sucking his thumb just like Kaeson was doing.

For Teaching
Their conversation in the tub a few days ago:

Parker: Kaeson what's this letter?

Kaeson: (silence)

Parker: It's a G like Gina, Kaeson.

and so it went through about ten more letters.

For offering comfort
I got in the shower and told Parker as I always do, to come tell me if Kaeson started to cry.  When I stepped out of the shower, I could hear that Kaeson was, in fact, getting a little fussy.  Rather than come get me, as he usually does, Parker was standing by his side, and offering a comforting hand to Kaeson's shoulder.  It was one of those great melt your heart moments of the day.

For keeping warm
When I asked Parker what he was doing, he responded with, "Kaeson was cold mommy"

I'll bet you had no idea that being a great big brother entailed so much hard work!!! As you can see, Parker meets the job description quite well.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

This year we spent Thanksgiving with a few great friends in our ward.  This is the first year since Lance and I have been married that we have not been with family for Thanksgiving.  My very favorite thing about the holidays is that it gives you a chance to be with family, so I was a little sad about not being home.  Luckily, our good friends the Clowards so kindly invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them and the Wyatts and we had a great time.  The Clowards are the sweetest, most caring people, and we feel honored to be invited to join in their traditions. 

All of us playing Bingo.  Brad must not have been having a very good game, because he doesn't look very happy here!

Megan admiring her Bingo prize.

Megan somehow convinced Heather and I to get up early and do some Black Friday shopping. I have never lived in a town where there was anywhere to go shopping on Black Friday, so I wanted to go, just because I could. When the alarm went off, I thought we were crazy!  We ended up having so much fun and finding such great deals, that it was totally worth braving the crazy crowds and even worth getting up at 6 am.  

All our goods we found at Kohl's.  Don't worry, mine was only those few things you see on top.  

As soon as I got home from shopping with the girls, we headed right back out as a family to do some more shopping and let Parker see Santa.  He was so excited, and talked about it nonstop until we got there.  I wasn't sure how he would actually do once we got there.  While we were waiting in line, he started trying to get away, and I was a little nervous, but when it was his turn to go, he marched right up and sat right on his lap.  I couldn't hear what he told him, but he says he asked for a car rug and a car.  He kept begging the rest of the day for a car rug.  Apparently, he thought asking Santa for it meant he should get it right then.