The First Day of School

Okay, so I'm a little behind. The first day of school was almost of month ago. But enjoy nonetheless!

Nate. It was somewhat chilly so the kids had to wear jackets, gloves, and hats. Later that day it really warmed up, thank goodness!

Pretty Haley Baby!

For awhile, Nate was the only boy in his class line. I caught him here saying "I'm the ONLY boy!" He's so cute that I don't think the girls minded!

Haley's "I'm tired of getting my picture taken" smile.

Andy. Andy didn't start school until Sept. 9th, 2 days after Nate and Haley. Their school likes to have Kindergarteners ease into school. I tried to take a serious picture and this is what he did.

Success! A serious but sweet picture!

My baby's in Kindergarten! It's always hard that first day! It was raining so Andy had to line up inside. When I ask him what he did at school, his usual reply is what they had for snack and whether or not they played outside.

Michael had to get in on the action as well. All summer he said that he was going to be going to "Baby School". I'm not sure what that means.

Michaelism

I couldn't verify, but I swear I heard Michael say, "Yo, Nate, what you having for lunch?"

What kind of 3 year old says "yo"? Probably the same one who says "holy cow" and proudly announces when he passes gas at the dinner table.

Those Lying Aliens

On the way home from church today, Nate made the following observation:

"Dad," he mused, "isn't it weird how aliens always say 'we come in peace', but, like, ten minutes later they destroy your world?"

And this from someone who has never seen "Mars Attacks!"

Manners

A couple of Sundays ago, we were driving home from church. We pulled up to a stoplight and the missionaries pulled up next to us. The kids got excited to see the missionaries. Then I hear Haley from the backseat: "Mom, I thought missionaries were supposed to have manners. One of them is picking his nose!" She was totally grossed out!

The Big Reveal

Any guesses?

It's a Girl!!!! We are so excited, I thought about plastering the baby's bottom on our blog so that all could see, but I thought that might be a little inappropriate. Haley was so excited that she made this double sided sign. Girls are rare in the Taggart Family. Our baby girl will be John and Marilyn's 4th granddaughter, along with 12 grandsons (one to be born in December).

Nathan wanted to tell the kids in a creative way, so he bought these cupcakes. They have pink and purple frosting with princess tiara rings on each cupcake. He took them out of the fridge and asked the kids to guess what we were having by looking at the cupcakes. The kids just looked at the cupcakes and it took a few minutes to register. Nate finally said, "It's a girl." Then Nathan and I shouted, "It's a GIRL!"

The wonderful thing about bright colored frosting is that it makes quite a mess!

Michael had to get all the frosting out of every nook and cranny of his tiara ring. The results were this lovely face.

Michael said.....

Yesterday Michael and I were sitting across the living room from each other. I said to him, "I love my sweet boy, he brings me so much joy." Michael replied, "Mom, I'm not. I'm something else. I'm a vegetable!"

Quotable Quote

Haley, after finishing her dinner last night: "Mom is there a red Starburst and green Starburst on the top of the fridgerator? ...Oh, wait, that was just my dream. Darn it! I wish those things were real."

A Great Day for the birth of a Nathan

Okay, so I'm a little late posting this.... Nathan celebrated his 35th birthday on July 4th! He is such a wonderful man! He is loved everywhere he goes! Nathan requested a cake from Sam's Club and I was more than happy to oblige that request. He loves the frosting! I love Andy in the picture below. He was helping Nathan blow out the candles!

The Wonderful World of Baby Sickness

I've been really sick with this pregnancy. Today I was looking around and saw the results of an unkempt house.
Haley made this decoration one day to announce that she was the princess. It's been up at least 2 weeks on our living room window.

This is a welcome sign my mom made me when we first got married. You change the hanging picture every month. Obviously, I've been a little distracted, as this one has been up since April.

This is a drawing on our kitchen window made with window markers. Our kitchen window is at the front of our house. This drawing has been up since April as well. If you notice Haley's plant, it's also another victim of my sickness.

The layers of dust covering everything is quite embarrassing to admit! Poor Nathan has had to live in a untidy house for 13 weeks!

When I was first sick, Nathan would come home from an exhausting day at the hospital and he'd have to make dinner and clean the kitchen. I couldn't stand to be in there with all the different smells and the food that didn't sound good to me. I've gotten a little better and can make dinner most nights, but it's always something really healthy like Mac n' cheese, chicken nuggets, or Ramen. The kids love it, but Nathan's not too crazy about it. I still can't stand to do dishes because of all the smells, so poor Nathan has been on dish duty for a long time. He's been so patient with me, what a great husband and daddy! Love ya babe!

What!?!

The other day the kids and I were in Sam's Club having lunch. A man a couple of tables away, looked at me and said, "Are all of those kids yours?" I said, "Yes." Then he looked at me dead serious and asked, "What were you thinking?" I was so taken aback, I thought he was kidding, but no he was serious. I replied, "We love our kids." He said that he had 3 kids and then he mumbled something about patience. "It is a lesson in patience, having kids" I replied. Little did he know that I am expecting our fifth. I couldn't help wondering what he would think about that...

The Merry Merry Month of May

Whew! It's been a long time since I've blogged. Sorry to all of you who read my blog, I know how it is to wish someone would update their blog. Anyway, we had a very busy May and so I decided to just lump it all together in one blog. So enjoy!

May 3rd - My baby turns 3! Nate was so excited by the fact that it was Michael's "Golden Birthday" because he was turning 3 on the 3rd! I thought it was kind of funny. Anway... Michael wanted a "Cars" cake, so I made the #3 into a track and voila, a great cake! It was a Tae-Kwon-Do night on Michael's birthday, so we had to split the time. Nate has Tae-Kwon-Do at the Rochester Athletic Club where we are members. So we dropped Nate off at class and headed to "The Neighborhood" which is a huge play area with aero basketball, a full-size basketball court, ping-pong. air-hockey, foosball, mini golf batting cages, etc. etc. It's one of Michael's favorite places to play, so it worked out. Nathan was in a goofy mood and had me take all these pictures of him posing with the basketball. It took us a few tries to get the lay-up shot, Nathan wanted it just so.

Happy Birthday Baby!

May 9th - Mother's Day. Nathan surprised my yet again with his gourmet skills. He made a dinner of asparagus wrapped in chicken breast with this awesome sauce. The sauce was some sort of dijon mustard type and it was absolutely yummy. Then he made garlic mashed potatoes using red potatoes (his favorite kind), and then we had sqaush for the veggie. Afterwards, he took the kids out to play croquet in the front yard, yes the boys are in their jammies.


May 13th - Andy's preschool had their end of year picnic and families were invited. It was raining, so the picnic was inside. We had yummy hot dogs and chips with brownies for dessert. Andy is pictured below with his two best friends, Abel Paulsen and Isaac Thompson. We call them the "3 Musketeers" or "3 Amigos". The other pictures are of Andy with his teachers, Mrs. Sakhitab and Mrs. Kelly. By the time we got a picture with Mrs. Kelly, Andy was tired of pictures, as you can tell by his face.

May 14th - My birthday, also our ward's Father and Son's campout. Nathan took all of our kids, even Haley, to the Campout for dinner. They couldn't stay the night because he was on call, but they had a great time hanging out that night with the ward. It was a wonderful birthday present for me! I was able to wander the mall all by myself and window shop. My favorite was being able to wander Barnes & Noble all by myself and actually look at the books on the shelves. It was such a treat! Thanks honey!

May 15th - Celebrated my birthday a day late. Nathan got me an Oreo ice cream cake from Cold Stone - yummy! Nathan got me the book, "The Hunger Games". He also got me gift cards for Panera and itunes. All around a great day!

May 21st - Nate's birthday and the Elton Hills Elementary school Carnival. Nate had a blast having the carnival on his birthday. He took off and we hardly saw him, thus we have no pictures of him. Haley had never hula hooped before and she got the hang of it really quick. She did the hula hoop game several times. Andy and Michael just liked the candy. Haley also got her face painted and a tatoo. I tried to get her to look happy, but it didn't work.

May 22nd - The day after Nate's birthday we celebrated the day of his birth. He wanted a Bionicle cake. I had no idea what I was going to do for his cake, but this is the result, it turned out better than in my head. I made a "mountain" and the Bionicle are climbing up the "mountain". Nate really liked it. He got quite the haul of presents, as always! I can't believe my baby is 10! That's double-digits! I feel so old!

May 24th - Nate had another Tae-Kwon-Do testing. He passed, moving from Camo belt up to Green belt. He was way excited. He's pictured below with our neighbor, Brett, who took it for the first time and passed his testing moving up from White belt to Orange belt.

May 28th - We had Nate's birthday party. He chose a Bionicle theme. The boys made Bionicle masks, shot Bionicles off the deck with Nerf guns, guessed how many Bionicle pieces can fit in a Mason jar, and watched "The Legend Reborn" a Bionicle movie with pizza and cupcakes. We had a huge group of boys and chaos reigned, but it was fun! These pictures are of a few of his friends after Nate opened their gifts. There were too many to include them all.

May 31st - Memorial Day, we had a BBQ at the park with a large group of friends. Nathan marinated pork and chicken and made ke-bobs. The chicken was divine!