This little boy put together an outfit-- sure that he looks JUST like Iron Man. Yesterday when we went to pick up Samantha from school, Collin wanted to wear just the helmet because he thought that everyone would say "Hey, it's Iron Man!" unfortunately not everyone has the same "vision" that Collin has. When we walked up to the crossing guard the following conversation took place:
CG: "Hey look, it's a Roman Soldier!"

C: "No, I Iron Man!"

CG:"Oh, I'm sorry!- Iron Man

(walking away, saying in a disappointed voice) C: "Ahh man, I not a bad guy, I Iron Man, I a Super Hero"

It broke my heart! It looks like we are going to try have to figure out a way for this guy to earn a real Iron Man costume!

OUR OWEE is ONE

December 29th Owee-Onus Bajonas Taylor turned ONE! Man do we ever love this little guy.

Who is Owen Robert Taylor at the age of ONE?

-So very cuddly

-loves to hold onto his mom's hair

-loves a little lion whose tail takes the place of mom's hair at night and during naps

-loves to listen to music and dance (dancing is either bouncing or swaying back and forth)

-LOVES to watch and play with his brother and sister

-likes to look at books

-gets SO excited when Dad comes home

-LOVES to take baths

-Is NOT interested in walking anytime soon :)

-he's a screamer- he has just recently began screaming "MOM!!" (oh the joy)

-he really is such a pleasant, easy-going, happy little guy

-ABSOLUTELY loved and adored by his family.

This year we were still in Utah during Owen's birthday. We just had a low-key party with our families. Poor Collin and Samantha ended up with stomach flu mid-party- which was definitely a downer-- but it was still a great night!

At first taste, Owen looked like he was going to take it easy----

-----but he didn't-- He went to TOWN on that cake! I finally took it away, worried that we'd have child #3 throwing up too. After I took the cake away, Owen raised both hands in the air as if to say "TA-DAA!" Unfortunately even with 2 cameras and a video camera present-- we missed that cute- perfect moment- but we'll still never forget it.

All cleaned up after a quick necessary bath, ready for the presents!


Our present, to Owen, was back in Ohio- so Owen had to wait until we got home-- and from the look on his face, you can tell that it was worth the wait!

A 3-1 Smart Trike

Christmas

Lucky for us, my parents made it possible for us to go to Utah for Christmas. It was so great to be "home" during the holidays. We had a great time, although we did miss our other family members who were missing (i.e. Jonathan, Bree and the girls, Nathan, Julianne and Addison and Elder Taylor, who comes home in less than a month!) We filled our time with...

Playing in the snow, building a snowman...

Hugging the snowman...


Seeing Temple Square with the Anderson's





-Swimming at the Bountiful Rec Center
-Seeing Tangled (LOVED that movie)
-Relaxing
-Playing Quelfs (funniest game EVER) and Are you Smarter than a 5th grader
-EATING
-Hanging out in the craft room
-Family Christmas parties
-Trip to the Temple and afterwards Mandarin (a MUST)
-Playing legos (Collin's new interest)
-And just being together


Christmas Eve
(watching Polar Express)

Acting out the Nativity scene

Sprinkling "Reindeer Dust" (Thanks, Carson!)

Writing notes to Santa and leaving cookies and milk

Christmas Morning!

(like so many other years, I wish I would have taken more pictures---maybe one year I'm going to do it better....maybe) We had a morning full of Zhu Zhu Pets, Barbies, Super Hero's, MobiGO, Elmo and Weebles....Super lucky kids

The girls in our family have a LARGE sweet tooth :)

He is OBVIOUSLY thrilled with his Spiderman and Iron Man

love this little face! He was SO excited for his Elmo--- so cute!

Our 6 year old

Samantha had a great birthday-- She was so excited to turn six. She loved being able to take treats to her class and have the principle say her name over the speaker on morning announcements. (this girl LOVES school)


Before the spoiling....



Opening her art set from Gra and Papa to support her new addiction to writing,drawing and creating



Opening her favorite movie(and book) Ramona and Beezus



Wearing her birthday shirt, already for school!

After school-- before we cut the cake--

The Nutcracker with Dad
Mike was on a rotation with a Doctor who annually took everyone in his office to the Nutcracker for Christmas. He has everyone over for dinner at his house and then they take a limo to the ballet. He invited our family to come along. Since it ended up being on Samantha's birthday, Mike thought that it would be the perfect daddy-daughter night.
Needless to say-- Samantha was so excited!

Man, we love our six year old!

Naughty....or Nice?

All I Want For Christmas Is....

Thanksgiving etc....

We had a really great Thanksgiving break! It started off with Samantha's school Thanksgiving party. I thought it was an adorable idea--the kids watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and then for the snack-- they had what Snoopy made for their Friendship Feast-- Buttered Toast, Jelly Beans, Pretzels and Popcorn.

Below is Collin pestering his sister during the movie. (He was So excited to be with her)


The Feast





For Thanksgiving this year we were lucky enough to have some good friends come over-- The McClure's (we knew them in Kirksville) and the Child's (friends from here). To be honest, I was a little worried that we would be super crowded in our little house-- but it all seemed to work out just fine. The food was delicious, the kids had a great time and it was just fun visiting. Of course I didn't get a picture of the adults-- meant to--but nope.
Adult Table

Samantha helping with the kid table

Kids Table

All the kiddos

The day after-- we brought out the Christmas decorations. With going to Utah (Yay! 2 weeks from today-Thanks mom and dad for making it possible!) for most of the month we didn't get out our big tree-- we just got out the smaller ones-- let each kid decorate their own and I did one as well.


After we were finished, we brought out the air mattress and watched Home Alone 2 (the kids Loved it--- I don't think I have ever heard Collin laugh so hard)

(Owen teasing Collin---happens alot!)

The whole weekend was wonderful--just being together and relaxing--loved it.