Tayls of Life, Love, & Babies: Summer 2014

Summer never seemed to get too "summery" but we still had fun. We went to the county fair where Gabs loved riding all of the rides. Oliver was somewhat happy just playing with the dirt. He did get to go on his first rides - the giant slide he rode with me on a blanket (several times - he had a very hard time when it was Gabs turn...., and the carousel - he giggled continuously for the first half and seemed bored the second half.

We also went to the lake a few times. Oliver does not care for the lake whatsoever. We did make progress though - Memorial day he would cry most of the time when he was outside and would only stand on grass with his socks and shoes. By end of the summer he would stand at the edge of the water in his sandals and throw sand into the lake. Watching Gabrielle at the 4th of July was incredible.....I could never describe how she did this, but during the entire fireworks show, she pretended that she was making the fireworks appear by her magic. She stood for the whole 45 minutes and used her arms and entire body to sort of dance and command each firework that happened. It was just magical and she had so much fun!

Gabrielle got to go to the Princess Party again this year and loved it. I thought she was going to have a stroke when she saw and got to talk to the "real" Elsa and Anna.

We went to Mooville - Oliver didn't care too much, but he REALLY wanted the ball with was in the pig pen. We had a big party at our new house in July and that turned out great - lots of people came by and there were tons of kids that had a blast.

We went up to Alpena to see my family for a few days and both kids had a really great time. Oliver actually enjoyed the vacation a lot - it was great to see him have so much fun. They both loved playing with balloons at my Aunt Joyces house and had fun at the huge park on the lake. Gabs and I got to swim in the hotel pool for a couple of hours while Oliver napped.

We go to the park a lot. Gabrielle loves underdog pushes and can pump herself like a pro and is liking monkey bars this year. Oliver likes to walk up and down stairs, does any slide, likes to hang on bars (so funny!), and of course likes the baby swings.

We went to the parade and kids day at the end of the summer in Charlotte. The kids did well at the parade and they both had fun at kids day. Gabs did an inflatable maze, sand art, got face painting, got a balloon animal, and played the "throw the ball in the fishbowl game" - luckily she didn't win :) Oliver didn't get to do too much....he missed his nap for the first time ever that day, and he actually laid down on the stomach and wanted to sleep in the bounce house at the park with all the kids jumping....it was so funny - I had to reach in there and pull him out before he got too trampled.

Gabrielle took 3 dance classes for the summer session which covered ballet, tap, and her first jazz and hiphop classes. She really wants to do dance, gymnastics, and swimming in the fall......so we'll have to see what we can come up with as far as scheduling......We are trying a new studio this year that is closer - she is doing ballet and tap back to back one night.

The kids started their new school in the middle of August and Oliver did great from the beginning - he really likes it and I like the toddler program. Gabrielle was not a fan so much - she loved her other school and it's taking her some time to warm up to this one. Also, one of her teachers is a boy here and she doesn't like that at all of course. It's Gabrielle's last year of preschool - next fall it's the big K! I think should probably would have thrived in kindergarten this year, but she's just too young. Hopefully she really like the transition next year.