My newest projects

My newest projects have involved pillowcases, ribbons, thread, and a sewing machine. I have come to despise patterns. The last time I used a "pattern" I ended up with a skirt that flapped open during church with Allen sitting next to me going, "Honey, is it supposed to do THAT???" No more patterns for me.

These pillowcase dresses are so simple. Go buy a pillowcase. Measure your child, a girl preferably, from her shoulders down to where you want the dress to hit. Measure the pillowcase and cut however much from the top (closed side). Cut out armholes. I made Taylors about 3" deep. For older girls you might go 4". Fold it and cut out a J, pretty much. Make a casing at the top, front and back about an inch thick and string some 1/2 " elastic through with a safety pin. Then grab some double folded binding and sew it up and down the armholes leaving about 10" on the top of each to tie. See? SO simple.

Now if all that made no sense I would be happy to make one for your little princess too. ;)



This one is a little different. I just added casing in the middle and strung the ribbon through and shortened it a bit since Taylor was having a hard time crawling in the longer dress. Still very simple.

A Yummy Recipe

Just thought I would share this chicken recipe because it's SO good and SO easy and has ingredients that any girl would have on hand. It's great served with baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. Let me know if you try it!


Garlic Lime Chicken
Serves 6

* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
* 1/2 teaspoon thyme
* 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 4 tablespoons lime juice

In a bowl, mix together first 7 ingredients. Sprinkle mixture on both sides of chicken breasts.

In a skillet heat butter and olive oil together over medium high heat. Saute chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Turn down the heat, remove the chicken (keeping warm) and add the lime juice and chicken broth to the pan, whisking up the browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Keep cooking until sauce has reduced slightly. Add chicken back to the pan to thoroughly coat and serve.

First Steps

Taylor Joy took her first steps this morning. I set her down to walk with her and she seemed sturdy so I let go and she took a couple steps toward me (lunging). So I turned on the camera and tried it again, the second time she wasn't the most happy but she still did it. It was more like running! Check it out!

I love me!

A video of Taylor Joy "kissing" herself in the mirror. Once she saw that we thought it was funny she kept doing it. What a ham!


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Little Copycat

A video of Taylor Joy "copying" Aunt B's cough and thinking it's hilarious...


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More Firsts

So many firsts in the last couple of weeks for Taylor Joy! Where do I start?

First signs (besides bye bye): she started doing signs for bath and more

First imitations: she has started trying to clap when we say "YAY"! She will imitate what we say and what we do. If we say "ah" she says it, if she sees me dancing, she bops, if she sees my foot moving, she'll move hers, etc.

First words (besides bye bye and dada): she said bubble last week when we were at Babies and Books at the library and the teacher was blowing bubbles. I was like, "WHAT did you just say? You are 9 months old!" She's said it only a couple of times since then. She attempts to say many other things like Angel (my parents dog), ball and tee tee.

First time walking with one hand only! I have a feeling she'll be on her own REALLY soon!



Here's Taylor in her Cinderella dress from Heather's wedding this weekend. She went to the reception and made her way walking all around. What a silly girl! Everyone loved her!

9 Months and Counting

Our little one turned 9 months on Saturday! She's such a big girl! All she ever wants to do it walk. She has to be holding your fingers, of course, but man she really goes!

Lately she has been doing this face where she squishes up her nose when she smiles or even without smiling, it's hilarious. Here's a good shot of it.



She went to the doctor on Friday for her 9 month checkup and we found out her stats. She's 17 lbs, 1 oz. (25th percentile) and 30 1/2 inches long (WAY off the charts tall!) Everything went great except we had to wait at the lab for like 40 minutes for them to take blood. We seriously had to hold that girl down, and it was so sad. She hated every minute of it. I honestly would have preferred having the shots. She does way better for those.

We went to visit my grandparents and Taylor's great grandparents this weekend and she had a blast. This is Taylor with the other great grandchildren, Kendra and Brooklyn.




She thought she was so big sitting in that chair all by herself. Looks like we'll be getting her one of those!

Apparently Taylor didn't win Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby contest...oh well, she's the MOST beautiful baby I've ever seen. How could they turn down this face???

Flashback

So...

I've been going through the HUGE CD Tower of all the CD's I've ever owned and never wanted to do anything with (Allen has suggested at least once that I go through them). Some happened to just be the cases, there for display, no CD to be found. And SOME made me LAUGH OUT LOUD. Get ready...


Boyz II Men, my VERY FIRST CD. Because it's sentimental I kinda don't want to get rid of it. Think about all the hits: On Bended Knee, I'll Make Love to You, 50 Candles, need I go on?




Snow...Informer, anyone? In case you were like me and never knew what he was saying just kinda said "watermelon, watermelon" to the music, I looked it up and here's the lyrics:


"Informer, you no say Daddy me Snow me I'll go blame,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Detective mon said Daddy me Snow me stab someone down the lane,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Informer, you no say Daddy me Snow me I'll go blame,
A licky Boom Boom Down.
Detective mon said Daddy me Snow me stab someone down the lane,
A licky Boom Boom Down."

Is this supposed to mean something? I really don't know...



This one was one of my all time favorites when I was younger. Me and my friend Misti used to make up dances to it and even did the Karoake Video thing at Six Flags to "Whatta Man". That's right. The one and only... Salt n' Pepa.

After looking at the names of some of these songs, this has to go IMMEDIATELY. I'm just glad I didn't know what some of this stuff meant then...



One of me and Allen's favorite CD's from high school...funny, right?



Where did this one come from... I seriously have NO idea. I have never listened to this before in my life.



Blaque? What in the world was I thinking?



Who is this guy? He's like an Native American country singer!?!



What happened to this girl? She's so cute!



And lastly, I'm a little embarrassed to say that I really did (do) like this CD. Ha!



Go on and make fun of me or call me if you want to come over and reminisce over "Somebody's Gettin' On My Nerves" or "Shoop"!

Job and a Book Recommendation

No, not this kind of job...




Nor this kind...







Actually, I'm not even referring to a "jahb" at all, but good ol' "Johb".

I've been reading Job for about a week now and I'm realizing so much about our God.

We don't deserve a thing.

We don't deserve blessings that He pours out on us.

We don't deserve to live an easy life.

We don't deserve understanding when we do go though trials. How presumptuous to think that we do!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 4-7


Circumstances pass. The Lord is always here for us to rejoice in more than any understanding that we desire. Sometimes we do understand. God graciously shows us how he has used difficulties for our good. Give Him the glory. You didn't figure it out on your own.

Job had no idea what was going on in the heavenlies while he was down there suffering. God and Satan were having a conversation. God was bragging on Job because he was blameless. Satan said the only reason was because God had blessed him so much. Satan asked if he could take everything away to see who was right and God gave him permission. He lost family, wealth, land, animals, health...and you know what?

Job still praised Him. He said this:

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"


Another favorite verse in the book of Job is 13:5:

"If only you would be altogether silent, for you, that would be wisdom." (how often might silence be wisdom for us???)

This is actually Job talking to his friends who are trying to get him to reveal some horrid sin in his life that God is punishing him for, but because they have no idea about the "conversation" they don't know this is totally false.

How often must this happen in our lives? God is up there planning, maybe having conversations with Satan, hopefully bragging on us, protecting us... but we have no idea. Often we don't look beyond ourselves when things are bad. I hope that we can. I hope we can see His perspective...or at least understand that we can't understand it all.


A book I have been reading is called, "The Message of the Old Testament" by Mark Dever. It's amazing. Really.

If you can't read the whole book of Job or Isaiah in a day, like me, this is great. It gives you the big picture instead of snippets that are nearly forgotten the next day. It gives you the history and background of each book, the rituals and traditions that play into the text. I highly recommend purchasing this book. I think it might be pricey. It's worth it. Allen says the New Testament one is just as great. I'll leave you with an excerpt from Job: Wisdom for Losers in the book.

"God intends to display his glory in your life and in the lives of everyone around you. You can be certain of this...in the context of Job, we can see very clearly that he intends to display his glory in the lives of his children as they continue to serve him amid life's trials. And if you are a child of his, reconciled to him through Christ, realize that your very suffering can exquisitely display the glory of God as you serve and worship him in a way that simply defies the world's comprehension and abilities. If you, Christian, are presently enduring a season of suffering, it may be that God is sitting in the heavenlies right now and saying to the heavenly host about him, "Have you considered my servant?" and then pointing to you. Could it be that one day you will watch as God shows to all creation the presently unrevealed glories of what he has done by making you in his image and then remaking you as his child!"

Shampoo Mohawk

Taylor's hair is getting so long!

I just couldn't resist "mohawking" it one night.

She thought it was funny, too!

Best Friends

Taylor Joy's friend, Ryleigh, came to visit her last weekend. They had fun together at the learning table and most often they would try to touch each other and then inevitably one of them would end up mad! Getting up in each other's business...Isn't that just what friendship is all about?

On another note...Taylor is feeling MUCH better and is almost back to being her crazy self. Thanks for the prayers! They were heard and she is healed!

Sick as a dog

Have you ever wished you could really kiss a boo boo and make it all better?

My sweet Taylor Joy is as sick as I've ever seen her and all I can think about is I wish there was some way for me to take it away even if it meant me being sick in her place and still having to care for her. I can't stand to see her this way. She's as chill as I've ever seen her, downcast, glum, no smiles or giggles...the opposite of the Taylor we all know and love.



As wild as she normally is and as on my feet as I always have to be, I want my Taylor back. I want to be running back and forth, here and there. I want to see that precious dimply smile on her sweet little face. I want to hear squeals and dadada all day long instead of her being totally conked out in her bed.

The one amazing thing about this is that she's cuddling with me. She is so sleepy and the medicine so strong that she literally just falls asleep on me while we are sitting somewhere and I get to cuddle with her all I want. She slept on my chest for like an hour last night when she woke up at 4 am.

I can't tell you the last time that happened.

A Tribute

It breaks my heart to be writing this. Our precious Taylor Falligant, close friend of my family, Taylor Joy's namesake, and like a little sister to me, passed away on Monday morning, January 15th. I just want to take a couple minutes to remember her short but well-lived life, and the lasting impact she made on so many.

As a baby she was probably the cutest ever (along with another Taylor I know...). She grew up in our house since my mom took care of her and we felt like she was our sister from day one. Those bright eyes, and precious smile...we all knew she'd be a knockout and were we ever right!

My family and I still talk about some of her most precious sayings like, "pur danden" (Poor David, who happened to be sick), her songs like, "skimarinky dinky dink skimarinky do, I love you!," and a million other things that make us smile to this day.

I googled Taylor to see if I could find some other pictures of her (and I did) but before I did there was about 4 pages of her accomplishments. Gymnastics meets, track meets, band qualifying events, etc. She was literally GREAT at everything she tried. The girl could also sing and play volleyball, cheerleading, any other school sport, but she had to narrow it down for time's sake.

Taylor was the apple of everyone's eye. Sweet, smart, gentle, kind, beautiful (thought she never let on), talented, humble, the girl you love to be around...

Here's an article about her: http://gazetteextra.com/falligant011507.asp

Taylor, you are loved abundantly, cherished richly, and missed constantly.

Dance with Jesus for me. I know you'll be great at that too.



Please keep her family in your prayers.

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

The Mobile Tot

Hey everyone...in case you haven't heard our Taylor Joy is now crawling! She began a couple of weeks ago and I had been meaning to put some footage of it up. So sorry for the delay, but here it is!

This video doesn't capture our true reluctant crawler who cries the whole time while she's crawling. Usually she is so frustrated that she wants mommy or the toy that mommy is holding that she cries the whole time and it cracks us up. She is actually much better at crawling these days. That was only like the second time she had ever crawled!

In the video I was holding my cell phone which plays music and Mercy Me was motivating her to keep moving. So funny!



In other news, Taylor Joy will be 8 months on Wednesday! What a big girl! Not literally...she weighs about 17 lbs and hasn't gained very much in the past couple of months but has been eating TONS! Guess she will be just like dad in that sense. She says, "dada" all the time, as well as, "buh", "lala" and "gaga". Still no "mama". Oh well. Soon enough. She's pulling up and starting to scale things. She is very proud of her newfound mobility.

How we wrapped up 2006...

A wonderful end to an amazing year...



Sweet time spent with our families... Taylor Joy just keeps getting spoiled by all her sweet aunts.



We were blessed to be able to visit the Bridenstine's in NC over Christmas. We love them SO much and miss them and joke all the time about how the Lord is going to bring them back to TX...or so we are praying!








Seeing old work friends...



Hanging out with Ryan and Cate all weekend... such a FUN & CUTE couple!



New Year's Eve at Jon and Stephanie's wedding (they were sweet with the wedding cake, no mashing it in each other's faces)



My three favorite guys having fun on the dancefloor...



Happy New Year, dear friends and family! We love you!

Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas all!





2006 has been amazing...here are some highlights:



awaiting the arrival of our little one



seeing the Bridenstine's in January



the joys of being pregnant




the anticipation of our growing family



our early anniversary trip to San Antonio, and the deep love we share for each other, there's no way I can even put into words!




falling in love with the Lord more everyday

being blessed by so many people with baby stuff, mommy advice, and being covered in much prayer



Taylor Joy's arrival into the world! 5/17/06



growing more and more dependent on the Lord as parents of this little girl




being a mommy and a daddy and discovering how amazing this parenting thing really is!

Storey and Graham's wedding! What a blessing to be a part of that special day with special friends!



My mom's side unoffical "reunion" to see everyone again after several years (for me at least)



our relaxing vacation in the ruidoso mountains...talk about rejuvenation!




Britt's graduation! Congrats to my sweet sis on getting her masters! She's AMAZING!



All of Taylor's firsts: smiles, laughs, teeth, sitting, food, half birthday, Christmas, etc.



Another amazing year is coming to an end. I pray that the Lord will use 2007 to blow us away and make us even more like Him. We love you all! Christmas blessings to you and your family!

7 Months of much Taylor Joy

Our Taylor is now 7 months old...what a big girl. Sigh. It seems like only yesterday we were at the hospital and cuddling our tiny little redhead. Now she's about as squirmy as they come, the poster child for "active alert" baby. Some highlights for the month include eating all kinds of new things: peas, carrots, greenbeans, pears, apples, bananas, prunes, sweet potatoes, peaches, and more (She loves ANY food!), being so close to crawling, pulling up from sitting (yesterday) and just being so stinkin' cute.

Taylor and I celebrated Christmas with my mom's family this weekend. They were all so excited to see Taylor again since some of them hadn't seen her since she was just 5 weeks old. Here's a picture of Taylor playing with my Paw Paw.



After the drive back on Sunday morning Taylor got dedicated at church. Dedication is basically the church body's way of saying we're in this together and will come alongside ya'll, as parents, to raise this baby to love and serve Jesus Christ. It was neat to see everyone stand and agree to do that. It encouraged my heart to what I already knew of our amazing church.



Taylor was definitely the oldest one up there since the last dedication came a couple of days before she was born. She wanted to stand so bad she was wiggling around like crazy...if you saw it you know...I've got my work cut out for me.



A picture of my sweet fam.