ABBY & SANDY & MOSHI

Our neighbor Abby comes over often after school for playtime with Sandy in our backyard. Sad to say Abby will be moving to Texas in June. In preparation for her departure she is collecting pictures to make a memory book. She requested a few of Sandy so today I let her friend take some pics of Abby & Sandy during "playtime" . . .




After Sandy and Abby finished playing in the yard, Abby went home for dinner and Miss Moshi joined US for Taco Night. Miss Moshi's mother (see her very own Blog appearance in my 2/16/08 entry) sent the girls an M & M counting book. I am sure once PEW sits down to read with her favorite chocolate candy, we shall take some in action shots!

HAPPY EASTER

Daddy & Mommy went on a "date" last night to the Easter Vigil. This allowed us to drink soda sooner AND get a little more sleep today prior to our Easter festivities.

We had a delicious breakfast at Grandma & Grandpa Wu's home. Taylor still thrives on Uncle Craig:

Here is a "cousin photo" taken prior to our meal:

Peyton reached for a few of the higher-hidden eggs:

Grandma Wu served as Taylor's makeshift crib :-) Listen to the audio and you can discover how nothing wakes this napper. We were making the dogs bark by ringing the doorbell in order to conduct this experiment with our sound sleeper. Ironically she actually is a light sleeper because occasionally at night when I tip-toe into her room to put laundry away, she'll pop her head up and laugh and then plop back down to sleep.


Auntie Karen found Taylor a Walt Disney World encyclopedia book published in 1985 with some wonderful photos of all her favorite characters. It was precious to hear Taylor point to pictures and try to communicate to Karen. . .

After a brief stop at our house to let Sandy outside for a while, we headed over to Gung Gung & Papa's for an early dinner. After dinner Taylor took her dalmatian for a walk around the house:

. . .and Papa taught Peyton how to do connect-the-dots:

...here comes Peter Cottontail...

In response to a recent request for proof that Sandy IS indeed still a part of our daily life, here is a shot of her sitting in her favorite outdoor napping zone:

Peyton helped Mommy with some baking today . . . and I shall just say "it was a bit messy in the kitchen" . . .

Mr. Frank (a.k.a. Easter Bunny courier) hopped over with some gifts from him and Miss Louise including personalized mugs for each of the girls. For Christmas they gave them the identical plates so Peyton proudly ate milk & cookies from her "Peytonware" this afternoon:

Here is Peyton acting like a "The Price Is Right" model displaying her set:

Taylor liked holding her big girl mug but I could not quite trust her to drink out of it :-)

This clip was taken last night during dinner:

Miss Louise Strikes Again

Another holiday and another musical gift from Miss Louise. We are so lucky to have such wonderful neighbors right across the fence line :-) In case the picture does not explain, Peyton is holding the new musical Easter chick.

The girls had a "lollipop break" in between their trip to the park and our other errands. Taylor sits like a little lady with her ankles crossed but it looks like I must continue to "work with" Princess Peyton:

Here is their new chick in action:

A Tribute to Miss Moshi

This shot of Miss Moshi reading a story to Taylor reminds me SO much of "B" with Skip & Strick....many years ago Moshi was a Nanny named "B". . .

Another MAGIC HOUSE day

We enjoyed a rainy day indoors (along with hundreds of other Spring Break kids) at The Magic House. Miss Jhansi fed Taylor some scrumptious plastic pizza in Peyton's Pizza Parlor:


Peyton & Tubbles paused to pose:


Peyton enjoyed some fishing in the pond:


Here is a CLASSIC clip of Taylor splashing water on herself and reacting as if to say "Who in the world just splashed me?!?!?!?"

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Peyton posed for an early morning shot just before departing for school. . .


Taylor TRIED to refrain from pulling her white & green shamrock clippie bow out of her hair all day but it was close to impossible. I did manage to keep the bow in for this picture. . .

Then after getting Peyton and visiting Gung Gung, I found Taylor's hair accessory from last year's St. Patty's Day and she actually kept it on her head :-)

The h2O Mop

The infomercial most intriguing to me in the past year is the infamous "H2O Mop" and my husband and girls bought me one today :-) It really does work as easily as they make it appear on their commercials. . .

Since we are all about 94% healthy we went to The Magic House. Taylor and Peyton ran the Pizza Parlor while Daddy & I watched in pure amazement:

Taylor enjoyed the "Baby Area" for kids under 2. . .


Daddy & Peyton liked the Waterworks Area (for "kids" of ALL ages):

Taylor felt extra special in her "lifeguard" chair poolside:



No visit to the Magic House is quite complete without some HAIR-RAISING action:

Taylor was scared of my hair but then she relaxed as soon as she realized we were both still alive:

Peyton shook her head vigorously and the results are visible:


Taylor was MOOOOOved by the barnyard doors. . .

Performing Peyton with sidekick Taylor

The girls are still on their road to full recovery but they did manage to have enough energy to dance with The Wiggles today:

recovering

Our household (yet again) is in recovery mode from a nasty round of fevers/aches/pains. I think I personally hit "rock bottom" yesterday as I laid in bed just about all day trying to rest (as prescribed by my doctor). Tonight I feel about 90% but sound about 80% (due to a rattly cough which remains).

Every now and then I reflect on past American Idol runner ups who were #1 in my voting record. Tonight we can think back to 2006 when Ms. McPhee should have defeated Taylor Hicks. Here is a clip that was taken the day we saw Katharine perform in front of "Peyton's Castle":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRKCir3jfQo
And here is the edited version for TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDbnwEgm2ew

SNOW

Daddy is getting plenty of use out of his plow attachment. We got 10+ inches of snow today between 10a.m. and 3p.m. - it was quite a blizzard.

Peyton sneaks a peak of Daddy in action. . .

When I first let Sandy out after about half the snow had fallen, she was shocked and was obviously trying to figure out where the deck had gone. Here is a clip of her taste testing the snow:

Peyton and Taylor stayed in the warm house and had lollipops for their lunch dessert:

Peyton finally got some snow-time just before dinner. To my surprise, she marched through the 10 inches of snow all the way out to the swing set, climbed the ladder and then came down the snow-covered slide. Upon impact, one of her boots fell off. Needless to say, Mommy had to run out there and rescue her :-)

While Peyton braved the elements outside, Taylor had her appetizer (an apple) :-)


After dinner, Taylor and Sandy enjoyed some singing, dancing, & taunting. Listen carefully and you'll hear PEW singing in the background!

Incredible Pizza Company

We celebrated a few birthdays tonight at the Incredible Pizza Company. I had been there a couple times this summer and it had never been very crowded. Well tonight it was WILD and quite crowded. We met the family around 4p.m. for an early dinner but Peyton was too busy watching Mary Poppins on the big screen in the Starlite Room to eat very much. Taylor eats anything at anytime these days so she managed to have the early dinner. After dinner, Taylor hopped in a cute car for a spin around the track:

While Taylor rode her mini car, Peyton was riding a rocket ship with added excitement care of Daddy:

Peyton was looking forward to the riding in the race car with her Daddy all week. Unfortunately, she and Daddy lost to Uncle Brian & Kaitlyn's car (The Home Depot car) AND Uncle Craig's!

Taylor was content with her bunny while Aunt Karen & Danielle investigated the prizes.

Peyton took a ride upon "Mr. Snickers". . .

All the playing and wandering around the game room got Peyton and Taylor hungry so Taylor had a "second meal" while Peyton ate her late dinner in the "High School Gym" room while watching Blues Clues on the big screen:

Trivia Night

We assembled a team for this year's Maryville University Trivia Night and our team effort resulted in a 7th place finish out of 30 teams. This year's "rookie" member of the team was my "T.M. Grandma" (a.k.a. "A.W."). A.W. injected plenty of knowledge and we really enjoyed her on the squad. Thank you Granny for the recruitment effort :-)

Here is Kia during his favorite round....it was a "Bob the Builder" type category. Each table received an envelope containing 10 ziploc bags. In each Ziploc bag were a couple construction items and our team had to identify the items. Kia scored an A+ needless to say :-) By the way, he does NOT have a thyroid problem, he simply wanted to act ODD for the camera and Granny liked this pic.

Joe bought about half the auction items and he was not even on the team :-0

Wonder what our highly complimented team name was? In honor of Marcella B*. . .

Happy Birthday Aunt Tina & Daddy!

Today is Aunt Tina's birthday but last night was Daddy's pre-birthday (tomorrow is his b-day)celebration. . .complete with a birthday serenade from Peyton:


Miss Moshi paused to pose with me and the youngest cousins:
Lady X and Joe are still in love and a DARLING couple:


Checkout this snapshot of Colleen and Taylor. Somehow I managed to fit them both in the picture without an adult holding them in place! Constantly moving around these days. . .oops, I take that back, I just noticed Potsou's hand holding Colleen idle.


Here is Daddy's infamous FREE birthday cake. Originally we ordered a 10" round Rams cake but they messed up our order...then I switched to Cardinals and they messed it up royally. Finally we received a half-sheet Pirates of the Caribbean cake and it was free! It even included pirate rings for the girls to wear. Due to the ordeal with the bakery I was a bit preoccupied with getting the correct cake that I inadvertently grabbed candles for my soon-to-be age (34). Luckily, Peyton had taken a"?" candle so I got by :-) with "3?" on the cake this year:

Goose entertained Taylor in the ball pit:

Auntie Al posed with Moshi and Potsou after dinner: