Happy Birthday Little Nevie-girl!

Baby Tay smiling at Nevaeh, wishing her a Happy 2nd Birthday!

We started off celebrating our daughters birthday with some family time and a small BBQ since her actual party wasn't until much after her actual birth date.

Mommy baked a yummy cake in the morning. We put a cute little pic of her in a Winnie-the-Pooh cake topper photo frame. Very cute!

Daddy took Neve and Moka to the park while Mommy made a yummy breakfast. They played fetch, chased each other, and played on the playground.

We ate dinner with Pop-pop, Auntie Ally, and the Roberts Family. Kaleb put the BBQ to good use, making hamburgers and hot dogs. The best part of the night was when we were all trying to get Cole to eat his dinner, too. He refused to eat any until Nevaeh came to stand next to him and started clapping and shouting, "Good job, Cole! Good job!" when he took a bite. Of course, after that kind of encouragement, he cleaned his plate!

After dinner, Nevie enjoyed her birthday cake, or at least the sprinkles on top of the cake. Then she opened presents. Her friend Cole was there to supervise, and lend his helping hands, too.

Kaleb and Corie

Since I have pretty much updated everyone on our girls, I thought I'd let you know what the mommy and daddy are up to...



Kaleb is busy with work. I think he really enjoys it, although it is very stressful. He does a great job of leaving it at work, though, and plays hard with Nevie while he's home. He is also playing in a softball league through the city's Recreational League. He likes it, even though he says he's not very good. We are still trying to convince him to pursue playing/singing for the worship team at our new church.

I am staying busy with the girls. With all the diapers I am changing I decided now is the time to potty-train my "big baby" Nevaeh. She is in her first pair of Pull-Ups as I type. I'm also doing a Beth Moore Bible Study with my friend Sarah. I think I was first attrascted to it when she told me they offered free child care during it! :-) I am also doing a Bible Study called Discipline Them/Love Them through the Mom's group at church. It is really nice to get out of the house one night a week and talk to other moms, plus each week people bring snacks and they always provide coffee, a necessity to me now. Kaleb watches the little ones during that time, and he is realizing that staying home is not as easy as he thought...last week Taylor gave him an earful for 45 minutes. He's always been appreciative of what I do at home, but now I think he has an idea of how hard it can be. And why I have this newfound coffee addiction, and it is always prepared for me when I wake up. Still working on my thesis, but nothing new to share there. It's just very challenging when there are so many other things I'd rather be doing.

I hope to hear from you all soon!

Some favs...

Here is one of Taylor, so cute and small. Nevaeh put her Pez dispenser (she calls them babies), next to Mommy's new baby. So funny.

Nevaeh relaxing with her baby on the couch.

Trying to be a grown-up and baby all at once.

Big Smiles, in a Harley Davidson shirt from Auntie Jen aka "Nenny"


Jamming with Daddy

Loves fruit, almost as much as her Mommy. This is a yummy peach. I wish you could see the juice dripping down her chin and chest.

All smiles
She loves powdered donuts.
Ready for church with Nenny.

These are just a few of my most recent favorites. Since I just got this thing up and running, I wanted to share a few.

Winne-the-Pooh and Friends

Nevaeh has a new obsession...

Winnie-the-Pooh, more specifically, Eeyore. She has two at home, and a singing one at Grandma and Grandpa's. But, she also carries a "Baby Pooh" and talking "Big Pooh" around the house, along with Tigger. She'd probably tote Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo if we had them. Our smart little two-year old knows them all by name. I must've known she'd love them when I picked out her nursery decor, even before she was born. Above I posted reminder pics of what her nursery decorations look like. I only have a picture of it at the old house, but I'm sure as I organize my house I'll post a "virtual tour"...but for now, it is far to messy to allow you in.

She has to sleep with her Winnie-the-Pooh characters every night. And apparently, after we leave the room she arranges them to sleep just like her, from head to toe. I'm so glad I snuck in to see this, even though I risked waking her up.

Big Smiles

My first daughter, destined to be serious and studious like her mommy didn't bless us with a smile for months! Taylor, on the other hand, gave us these bright faces after less than two months!

See for yourself how cute!

I love my sister!

Nevaeh has loved her "Baby Tay" since before Taylor was even born. It is so cute to see them together, and I can't wait for them to be able to interact even more. Kaleb joked yesterday about video taping Nevaeh saying her new word, "Yeah!" when we ask her "Will you always share and play nice with your sister?" Then, save it and show it to her in a few years. Think that will solve the fighting between them?

I repeatedly tell people that the hardest part about having two babies is making sure Nevaeh is gentle and doesn't pick Taylor up by her arm and carry her around the house like she has a tendency to do with her doll babies. But, in all honesty, I love their moments together. Here are a few of my favorites...

First meeting

Still at rental house while ours is getting move-in ready...

At new home, just hanging out...

Helping Taylor with Tummy Time!

We love our kitty, Diogie!

Taylor and Rialto

With my sister, Jen, living in Texas, and other family members all over the country, I decided to come back to this blog I had started earlier this year. I thought that with two little girls I'd be too busy for a blog, but now I realize that this might be the easiest, and quickest way to keep everyone updated.

So, here it goes...

In the past couple of months we have undergone great changes. We bought a house that was a forclosure. 4 bedrooms and a playroom made it the perfect size and layout for our stedily growing family. Right after we closed escrow on the house we had our second little girl, Taylor Jean. She was born August 1, 2008 at 1:01pm. She was 7lbs 10oz, and 20 in. long. She was born with, and still has my mom's dark eyes and dark brown hair. So, with a newborn we proceeded to rip out all the flooring in the house, paint the whole inside, install new carpet and tile, and replace most of the light fixtures. Kaleb is definitely becoming the "handy man" since becoming a homeowner. But, we couldn't have done it without the help of family and some wonderful friends.

Now the inside of our house looks great, we are just working on organizing the garage, and saving money to landscape the backyard, and fix the landscaping in the front yard. It is definitely a lot more work than we imagined, but it is also a lot more rewarding seeing the girls comfortable in their first home.

Here are some pictures of the tile being installed in the entry, and down part of the hallway, and the kitchen...




Before that could be done, though, we had to rip out all the old flooring, scrub the walls, and paint. Here are some of our wonderful helpers getting it ready. This is the living room on the left, dining room straight ahead, and kitchen on the right.

My friend, Sarah and her mom painted Taylor and Nevaeh's rooms. The blue one is Nevie's, the green one is Taylor's.

Soon after that work was done, this little darling made her appearance. Here are some of her first pics with Mommy and Daddy.

Hope you all stay tuned through our adventures and I hope this blog serves to minimize the miles between us all.

Love,

Corie