Taylor and Grady's Place: May 2008

Warning....if you get squeemish watching dogs lick people in the face, then you might want to skip the first couple of photos!! We're a dog-kiss-you-in-the-face family, so Taylor doesn't know any better! All we have to do is to tell Belle to give Taylor a kiss, and Taylor knows just what to do....she leans in and gives Belle her own kiss (hence the open mouth....that's how Taylor gives kisses)!!

Belle's face is pretty funny in this picture!

Ok...this one's even too much for me! But Taylor doesn't seem to mind...crazy kid!

And another kiss from Belle

Taylor likes to pull on Belle's ears. Thank goodness Belle's a good sport about it!

Taylor climbs over Belle all of the time....as you can tell, Belle doesn't seem a bit bothered by it.

Belle makes a good pillow!

The two sweetest girls that I know!

What a fun week we just had! Mimi came to visit us for a few days before we headed to Houston....and she got to see just how crazy her granddaughter is!! Crazy in a good way, of course! I know that Taylor had a great time playing with her Mimi, but she was most surprised when Mimi told her "No!" I think up until then, Taylor thought only her mom and dad said that horrible word.

We got to Houston late Thursday night when everyone was asleep, so Taylor was excited to find out that her cousin Jackson was at Nana's house when she woke up the next day! She hadn't seen him since Christmas time. It's kind of funny how things change. Last time they saw each other, Taylor was all about giving Jack her loving. This time it was about Jack giving Taylor his love!! Taylor's just too much of a busy-body right now to stop and enjoy the love!

Taylor, Jackson, Nana, Doodah, Tyson and I went to Galveston on Friday to play in the sand and eat some yummy seafood. It only took a few minutes for Taylor to realize that playing in the sand was fun. She wasn't too sure about the waves. The water got her once, and Taylor tried to crawl away from it! She had fun playing with her daddy....they would run from the approaching waves! And I remembered why the beach isn't that fun----Taylor got sand EVERYWHERE!! Every inch of Taylor had sand. Needless to say, she got two baths that day!!

Saturday was a busy day for us. We got up pretty early, played with Jack, and then Tyson, Taylor and I headed to the Beaumont area to visit our friends, Mark and Kassie. They have such a beautiful piece of land and their house is so cute. Taylor had fun chasing their cat around, and she had fun playing with Mark's musical instruments. She even had fun playing with Mark...it just took her some time to warm up to him!

When we got back to Pasadena, we immediately headed to Aunt Marsha's and Uncle Alan's house. It's always so fun to see them, cousin Steffanie, Taylor's great-Pepaw and the kids, Vayley, Sadie and Luke. Taylor went swimming with her daddy and the kids, and she had the best time. We started her off in the shallow end (they have one of those beach-entry pools, so it was really, really shallow), and then Tyson took her out to the main part of the pool. Taylor absolutely loved it. By the end, she was jumping off the slide into Tyson's arms!! She would cry every time we took her out of the pool.

On Sunday Taylor's great-Granny and Poppy and her Aunt Donna and Uncle Jimmy all came to visit. Taylor's kind of going through her shy phase, so for the most part while everyone was there, Taylor was acting shy! By the end of their visit she started warming up, though! Aunt Kelley and Uncle Doug came over that afternoon to get Jack, so we got to visit with them as well. Taylor had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Doug while he pushed her on the bus (a walker/rider toy). Doodah bought the kids a little blow-up pool, so they got to go swimming that afternoon. The water was really, really cold so poor little Jack wasn't loving it! He stuck it out for a few minutes, but after that, he was ready to get out! Taylor didn't heed Jack's warning...she wanted to swim, so in she went! It took her a long time before she would actually sit down in it. But once she did, she was good to go!

We didn't do a whole lot on Monday because it rained most of the day. That night, we ate at our favorite Mexican food restaurant and then went over to Aunt Donna's and Uncle Jimmy's house to visit some more. Little Jimmy, Tiffany and Jacob were there, so we got to see them as well. Jacob is such a hoot....we love listening to his stories (and jokes!). Donna and Jimmy have several grandkids, so they have the ultimate kid room with lots and lots of toys. Taylor was in heaven. She was most fond of a small piano that Tiffany had when she was little. I remember playing with it when I was a kid! Taylor just loved banging on the piano keys. She put on a little concert for all of us!

We got up early the next day and headed back to Lubbock. Thank goodness we have a DVD player in the car now. It sure does make long trips easier!! We just watched Taylor's Baby Einstein videos over and over.

Taylor's on the verge of walking any day now. She tries to walk all of the time....I think the most steps that she's taken so far is eight. She's definitely getting close! She's really working on her balance right now. I think once she gets it, she's never going to stop!! Aaagggghhhh!!