Christmas in Ohio

We're ready for our presents now! Taylor with cousin Braun man.
Braun (14 months) Taylor (27 months)

Taylor with her Papa John

We are back in Texas after 10 days in Ohio. We are happy to be back, but miss family already. We had a great time, even though two nights it happened to dip down into single digit temperatures!

Taylor made out like a bandit like always, and Joe and I couldn't have asked for a better time spent with family and friends. Taylor got so many gifts - and the ones that made the top of her happiness list was a princess dress from cousin Ellen that she wore for two days, a toddler-proof camera from Grandma Nosy (we tried to call my mom GMA Nezzy, but Tay had other ideas for her name), and a Little People's town from Mamaw and Papa.

Taylor was absolutely perfect on the plane ride home Monday - falling asleep on my lap after each take-off and waking up as we landed!!!!!!! I think she was detoxing from all the sugar and candy her grandmas kept feeding her!! I'll get you both back some day! :)

Happy New Year!!

Love,

Katie

Our non-racing trip to Dallas.....

We headed to Dallas this weekend. Orinignally we planned for cousin Emily from Ohio to come to Midland to help take care of Taylor and Joe after Joe's toncilectomy on December 10 while I raced in the White Rock race in Dallas. Everything changed - Joe cancelled his surgery, and I got sick and had to stop training just two weeks before the race. BUT, we still had Emily come down and we all decided to take the trip to Dallas, support the team for Mr. Will and get some Christmas shopping done! We had a great time and here are the pictures from the past few weeks....
Emily and Taylor on a break from driving!

Taylor hanging some ornaments from Aunt Jane!

Drinking and driving on a fun new toy a coworker was so kind to give to us!

And this is currently how our potty training is going. Yes, she sat on the sidewalk and peed. Oh, and this doesn't show how about an hour later she poo-d on the living room floor. Thank God for sidewalks and tile!

fun weekend with the starkey's!

random pictures from this past weekend...

make sure she gets the last drop of cheerios and milk!!

getting caught!!

hanging out at fiddlesticks with the rest of ConocoPhillips.

joe and taylor sliding down the slide!! she loved it, joe was a bit scared!

playing in the sand!

CHRISTMAS!!!!

yes! we put up the Christmas decorations early so we could enjoy them!!taylor helping us out - having great conversation with joe during the assembly!

we found this barbie doll during the unpacking process! she loves it! thanks aunt kathie!

drinking hot chocolate and loving every second of it!

long leg taylor enjoying the "leg lamp" christmas story ornament! :)

the candy day.....

i LOVED halloween growing up because it meant eating tons of candy. right?! well, as a parent of a well-aware toddler, i dislike this day very much. however, after her sugar rush, she slept 12.5 hours. the down fall - all her teeth will fall out in the near future. just kidding. we dressed taylor up for our office trick or treat party this year. they created a safe area where the kids could walk around to each office and we got to take a few hours to socialize with our coworkers and their kids. we dressed taylor up in her flower girl dress and added hot pink wings, hot pink tights and her white striderites, added a tiara and woala - she's a punk rock 80's fairy! enjoy... taylor, our little fairy

"cany, cany, cany!!!!!"

still time for a conference call in between tricking and treating.

ah yes, the joe dirt wig made an appearance last night as we were getting ready for bed. she so looks like the real little joe dirt!

Random Fall.....

i found some random pictures when getting Taylor's halloween pictures up here. enjoy...

taylor wearing her cool new horse turtle neck from aunt jamie. fortunately we were able to run into lyndsy dunn's family at HEB so of course, we'll be getting one for josiah now too. he was quite fond of it.

taylor sleeping in the car

taylor and mommy on the slide

taylor on her new bike... she'll be able to ride it in the next few years!

new shoes, and stuff

taylor's grandma jeanette sent two new pairs of tennis shoes that arrived yesterday! i had taken taylor's diaper off and let her run around the house as we are attempting to potty train again. so, i have this naked butt that wants to try on her new shoes while doing a webcam with grandma jeanette. after a few minutes of chatting taylor ran off and this is where we found her - she had climbed up onto one of the dining room chairs and had grabbed a banana and sat there just like this until she finished the entire thing. classic...

Pumpkin Patch!

sunday, joe, taylor and i checked out the pumpkin patch at st. luke's here in midland. it was quite the time! taylor loved it. we would have bought her a large pumpkin, but they were super expensive, so taylor got to bring home the cheapo 75 cent gourd. she loves it all the same!

what is happening!?

such a crazy week here in the starkey home! it started out with me returning from a great weekend women's retreat in NM to joe and taylor sick - taylor with the stomach bug and joe getting strep. joe went out of town on monday so T and i were venturing out on a week where i didn't know how she would feel and if i would be able to go to work. well, we didn't miss a day of school nor did we have to go to the doctor, so that's a blessing.

miracle #2 - taylor was placed in the 2-year old class this week (tear of sadness that she is getting bigger!). the first day in the class, i went to pick her up after work and the teacher said that this was a potty-training class and that taylor didn't need her diapers anymore. i shrugged it off remembering the horrifying first attempt joe and i had with potty training a few months ago and told her that T wasn't ready for that. her reply..... "taylor has used the potty all day with the other girls and boys and tells me when she has to potty. she also wants me to pull down her diaper like the other kids." UM, WHAT?! that's NOT my child! apparently, watching the other kids go potty encouraged her to as well. Yay for not torturing my child anymore at home on the potty!

so, i thought that if she can use the potty at school (we purchased big girl underware and pull-ups for school) then she will do it at home, logical, right?!?! not. we were getting ready for dinner last night and were in the bathroom trying to potty and washing our hands. taylor sat on the potty, but produced nothing to flush. however, stole some toilet paper and put it in the potty before i could stop her. moments later, she and i were in my room and i was changing for my oil painting class i had later that evening. the pants i wear to class are old with lots of paint stains on them. she took one look at my jeans and said "ewww mommy" then she ran off. i finished getting ready and ran out to the kitchen to finish dinner when i saw taylor running towards me with what looked like ice. as she got closer, i saw that it was the piece of toilet paper from the toilet she had thrown in..... and then she proceeded to wipe my pants where my paint stains were. i was in a state of "what do i do".... yell because she put her hand in the potty which is a no-no, or thank her for trying to clean my pants?! needless to say, i couldn't stop laughing as soon as it was all over!

pray that our potty adventures go well and that T uses the potty as a potty, and not as a potty AND a sink! :)

rockin' out with the 80's!

my sister abbe sent me this site - i couldn't find a picture of me (likely story, right?!) so i uploaded a picture of taylor, and this is the result! she looks so good as an 80's chick, don't you think!! :)

www.yearbookyourself.com

stats

we went for taylor's well-check on monday and here are her 2 year-old stats:
weight - 27lbs (we got to stand on the real scale this time!) and in the 60th percentile. height - 35 inches (90th %). and if it rings true that you double this for adult height, she'll be as tall as her momma - 5'10"

we didn't have to get any shots but decided to get her the flu shot since we had it last year in january and still got the flu. we'll see how this works this year!

other than that we are back down to just the three of us. she is into pretending everything! it's so much fun - especially with the new baby doll grandma nezzie gave her. she will wipe her face, burp her and have her sleep... "baby seepin!" she is also having fun immitating joe and i, with the ocassional finger point followed by a smile and "no, no, no!" oh the things to look forward too!

happy second birthday sweet taylor....part 2

taylor sweeping before her party. such a hard worker!


joe, me and taylor on taylor's second birthday...


taylor taking the party to the bathtub with her!


random picture of taylor when her cousin braun came to visit! 11 months.

happy second birthday sweet taylor....

taylor's birthday!
opening presents with grandma nezzie on her birthday.

kissing our friend peyton - who made this super cute card for taylor. she would make a special (weird growl) sound every time she saw his face! love, i'm sure.

playing with ms. dora, a special gift from aunt abbe!

testing out her new dora pillow from aunt jane!

getting ready for her party. our little baby looks like such a little girl now!

grandma nezzie made taylor a strawberry cake...

birthday and such.....

taylor bug is turning 2 tomorrow!! yippeee!
my mom is in town and i'll post pictures from our day and party with her.
i can't believe how fast these two years have gone! she has the best personality, she gives the best hugs and kisses, and we love watching the person she is turning into. we are truly blessed!

so much.....

long time no post! here's a cute picture of taylor turning off the light! she had just finished a chocolate covered strawberry!
for my 26th birthday (8/26) joe was out of town. however, he was sweet enough to order a dozen chocolate-covered strawberries to be delivered to me from edible creations! they were the best! i shared with taylor and she was more than thankful that it was my birthday and we both got such a treat!

other happenings in the starkey household:
1. taylor screamed everytime we put her on the potty during our potty training labor day extravaganza. once joe and i realized that she was obviously NOT ready, we cut our loses and decided to try again later. note: she LOVED the potty before we started, but once it was an every couple of minutes issue, she decided to pee on the kitchen floor, bathroom floor, mommy's leg, daddy's lap, the sofa...... and this was in the first three hours.
2. taylor the comforter - at daycare taylor has a sweet friend her age named jillian. in the mornings they sit in the cafeteria before class. the last few weeks, jillian has been crying when we get there. taylor will always go up to her and say 'it otay' and give her a hug! so sweet.
3. becoming a girly. taylor actually sat still enough and wanted me to paint her toes AND fingernails the other day before our friend will's birthday party. she even blew on her fingers while they dried! last night she ran in and grabbed the polish because a few of her nails were chipped! oh my.
4. safety taylor. taylor knows not to go in the road on our walks, but to stay on the sidewalk.... last night during our walk, joe was walking beside us, but he was walking in the road. taylor stopped and said 'daddy, help' and offered him her hand so that he would get back up on the sidewalk! joe decided to see if she'd do it again and stepped back down into the road. sure enough, taylor had him get back up on the sidewalk!

taylor turns 2 at the end of the month (9/27) and we are just enjoying how wonderful this age is. yes, the terrible twos have found their way into our home, but we are having such a blast with taylor.

Our entire San Francisco Trip......

SAN FRANCISCO!!!

We are back from our awesome adventure to San Francisco and Santa Cruz, CA! We have many stories to tell and lots of pictures to share. But, that will have to wait until we have rested some!! Upon arriving home a day late because of Hurricane Eduardo, we came home to a dead car battery in the airport parking lot and a dead deep freeze at home. Which left a DEAD smell in the house. Yuck. So, once we have recovered, we'll share our awesome memories!!!

But for now...
Stopping the waves with cousin Coleen in Santa Cruz
Chilling (literally) out on Fisherman's Wharf. Yes, her hat say's "Alcatraz Swim Team!
Cracking us up at lunch on Fisherman's Wharf

HAIR!

time for haircuts!

this past weekend, taylor and i got our hair cut at the same time! it was a fun adventure. joe took care of taylor and she did great, just like her first hair cut. she's stylin' now! i also decided to get my hair cut - at least 6 inches! it was getting too hot for the long hair! here are our before and after pictures!

dress up time..

joe brought back some clothing items from my mom's house for taylor. my grandma made smocks for my twin and i when we were growing up. i put one on taylor and needless to say, it was TOO big. i actually tucked it into her diaper!


and here is taylor in an apron. mom sent this too and taylor decided to wear it with her sunglasses while watching veggie tales. too cool for school...