themcalisters.net

Happy Halloween

This year of holidays is going to be the most fun yet. Taylor grasps the concepts of "Halloween" and "birthday parties," making these days so much more fun.

Friday night, Taylor and I went to "Boo at the Zoo," which meant standing in a 40-minute line to get in, then wandering aimlessly around the zoo, hitting up booths manned by "family-friendly businesses" from the area as we walked. It was a chilly night, and Taylor refused to wear the hat and gloves, so she was a frozen little sleepy girl by the time we got back to the car (around 9:00). Taylor loaded up on candy, and I loaded up on the advertising pamphlets that volunteers were giving out as well.

As I write this tonight, Taylor and Elizabeth are getting ready to hit the streets of Gardendale in search of yet more candy. I get front door duty, hoping enough kids come by to rid us of the bowl-full of candy we bought.

To celebrate Halloween, here's Taylor in her Blue's Clues costume, ready to hit the streets in search of "candy tweats"

It's Blue!

Looking to leave a pawprint clue somewhere.

Taylor loved this hat - for the first 10 minutes she wore it.

Wagging her tail.

Enough pictures, bring on the candy

Comments on "Taylor Poses"

The one with Taylor in bed with a bee and Lion was taken shortly after our trip to GA for Mimi & Papa's anniversary. The bee was a new addition and earned a coveted spot next to Lion. Please take note of Lion's mane in that first picture. Now scroll down to the pictures of Taylor in daddy's chair with Lion. Notice anything odd about his mane? Well, Taylor got sick one night and Lion was a casualty - he got washed and dried. Apparently we should've air-dried him as he now sports a very nifty afro. :)

The one of me & Taylor with afghans was taken shortly after Taylor received an afghan in the mail from Gigi (or Aunt Judy... I can't remember!) a few months back. Yes, we're that behind on pictures.

As for the one with Taylor's hair splayed out everywhere... I have no clue, but I like Brian's captions!

Weekend with Mimi, Papa and Alyssa

Weekend before last, as Elizabeth has previously posted, we got a weekend away while Mimi, Papa and Alyssa came to visit. Here are pictures from that weekend, as I begin the long process of catching up on pictures that have long since needed posting.

Fun in the tub.

Mimi tries a revolutionary approach to haircare.

It's a slumber party!

Pancakes for breakfast? Yum!

Taylor shows the love of mornings she obtained from her father.

Nothing beats lounging around on a lazy Saturday morning.

Mimi asks, "How long until Mommy and Daddy get home?"

By Sunday, Taylor was missing her parents and Alyssa was awfully homesick. Time for a trip to the playground to ease everyone's minds.

Alyssa is the best, most patient cousin in the whole wide world.

Who needs Mommy and Daddy when you have ice cream?

As Lauren would say, ice cream makes everything better. I have to concur. There is no bad time to eat ice cream.

Taylor poses

I don't remember stories from all of these, but September's pictures featured a variety of Taylor poses.

Hiding from the camera.

There's Mommy!

Taylor, in her Wiggles sheets, with her lion, her bee and her very cozy stars blanket.

Taylor and Mommy show off their afghans.

In case you haven't noticed, Taylor's hair has gotten long.

Either that, or she's practicing kissing power outlets.

Daddy's recliner is a favorite place to crash when we get home from school.

I remember when this chair dwarfed her.

"No daddy, you can't have it back."

Katrina comes to Gardendale

Told you we were way overdue for some pictures. Here are a few pictures I took around Gardendale the morning after Katrina, in August.

Power line to neighbor's house came down. This presumably is what took out our power at midnight. Mucho thanks to Alabama Power, as we had power back on by 8 the next morning. Our ice cream didn't even have time to melt.

Close-up of neighbor's house. The wind alone - not a tree or anything falling that I could see - ripped the power service line off of the house, and took out the gutter in the process.

Two identically-made signs, one of which fared far better than the other.

The awning in front of Gardendale Jewelry. It originally was up above that twisted light, right at the top of the building.

The canopy at the Citgo gas station down the street. Amazingly, to this day, it's still this bent. Even more amazingly, people pull under it every day. I sure wouldn't.

An aluminum shed store did not fare well. I couldn't get a better picture thanks to a lack of places to pull off, but this place was hit pretty hard as you might imagine.

I don't know much about the workings on top of a power pole, but I'd think it would work better if all these pieces were connected. I bet my neighbor would agree.

Taylor's Airplane Ride

First - she got a "First Flight" certificate! I'm planning on framing it - thought about making some big thing with pictures from the trip too... we'll see if I'm really that adventurous.

She was a little hesitant about handing over her Strawberry Shortcake suitcase to "the nice man" but did it. She sat by the window from BHM to Detroit. Thoroughly enjoyed the tram and moving sidewalks at their airport. She slept through takeoff on the Detroit/Hartford leg and woke up 5 minutes before landing. On return, she fell asleep just after takeoff from Hartford and we had to wake her up in Detroit. Again, she enjoyed the tram and moving sidewalk... repeatedly. She mostly sat in the middle seat, but frequently got views out the window once the seatbelt sign was turned off.

She thoroughly enjoyed staying with Uncle Charlie and Ms Kay - she read their books (Ant & Bee... really really long, but cute) and playing with their toys (we're rethinking her Christmas list!). She also enjoyed meeting and visiting her Gigi. Oh! And Paige, Theron, and Baby Sylvie were a hit as well!

One aside on the toys.. they were blocks and cars. She's line up some of the blocks and drive the cars over them, sometimes jumping. We asked, "What do you say when the cars jump?" She said, "Yee ha!" Yep, she's been watching too many Dukes of Hazzard reruns with her daddy! LOL

She had a big week - flew in airplanes, road a school bus (the shuttle from airport to car rental place), met new people, watched squirrels play, climbed mountains and rock walls... *phew!* Wears me out just thinking about it! There are pictures coming - I promise!

Taylor's weekend without mommy & daddy

A couple of stories on this that I forgot to post...

My mom told me that on Sunday, Taylor opened the door from the house into the garage at least 3 times. One particular time mom said something to her, Taylor said, "That's grandpa's car." Mom told her it was and Taylor said, "I don't want grandpa's car. I want daddy's car."

One other story that tells us she's not quite over our leaving her this past weekend (other than the fact she's been very clingy at drop off) was when we reminded her last night that grandma and grandpa were coming over tonight (Brian's parents). She cried and said, "I don't want grandma & grandpa!" Brian said, "It's okay, honey. We're not going to leave." And she quit crying. That's when he brought her back downstairs to look at the pictures on the fridge so she could see who we were going to visit. For Aunt Kay - you might be "Ms. Kay" to Taylor for a bit... we're working on it.

And this morning we were talking it up, telling her about her plane ride tomorrow. Well, she's still learning the whole "tomorrow" concept. I turned in to her daycare and she whined, "I don't wanna go to school!" I said, "Honey, you have to go to school today. The plane ride is tomorrow." Still slightly whiney, "Okay." I think she's excited.

We don't know yet if she'll be in the window seat or not - she told me she didn't want to watch the clouds go by then told Brian later that she did. We'll see.

Taylor Stories

First - the weekend. Taylor did very well over the weekend with Mimi, Papa, and her cousin Alyssa. Mom tells me that it wasn't until Sunday a.m. that there were any cross words between the two of them. Considering this trip was a first for Alyssa and a first for Taylor, I think they did VERY well!

Taylor has some letters and numbers that are made of some material that, when wet, sticks to the bathtub walls. Taylor & Alyssa were in the bath together and throwing them at each other. Every now and then Taylor would giggle and say, "We naked." For the record: I have no clue why she's in this "I naked!" phase! Even when she's in her night shirt she'll say, "Mama, my legs are naked." I'm wondering how much of the Adam & Eve story the daycare is teaching them! :)

Anyway, her first bad moment was when mom brought out the materials for the weekend project - placemats with our pictures on them. Yep. Taylor saw our pictures and started crying. Alyssa did a great job of distracting Taylor and they were back on track. Oh, and mom told me that Taylor's favorite word for the weekend was, "No." heheh. Needless to say, Taylor was very happy for us to get home and Alyssa was very happy to get home to her family as well.

Next - Taylor's first knock knock joke!!! She was knocking on the wall while we were getting ready for bed. She said, "Knock knock." I said, "Who's there?" She said, "Taylor McAister." Hey, I didn't say it was a funny knock knock joke... :)

Beautiful butterfly

During our last trip to Huntsville, we went to the Botanical Gardens there, and walked through the butterfly house exhibit. We found this park bench and after some coercion, got Taylor to pose for this picture.

Why we're not Methodist

Taylor's new seat & other stories

It's official - we got her a booster seat this weekend. We'll get one for my car next week. She is thrilled with it, though she learned the down side. Her carseat was in the middle. She could see through the windshield and took great delight in pointing out green lights and red lights. The booster seat can't go in the middle - it requires a shoulder belt. At one point this weekend, I said, "Taylor, what color is that light?" and she says, "Where? I can't see it!" Brian & I both went, "Doh!"

On the flip side, we know she still really likes her new booster seat. She had to ride in my car this morning and when Brian opened the door, she saw her old carseat and whined, "I want my new seat!"

Now we're having to work with her on sitting up straight and not leaning over in it. That was the good thing about the harness straps - she wasn't moving ANYWHERE. The regular seat belt doesn't offer that, although I think it can be locked in some of the newer vehicles. We've also turned off the power window switch for the rear passengers and will be flipping the switch on the door so that she can't open it from the inside. Ah the joys of inquisitive almost 3 yr olds.

Other stories:
She got her flu shot this past Saturday. We coached her on the way: "Taylor, when you see the nice lady, ask, "May I have my flu shot, please?" And we got her saying something very close. We walked in the door, she looks up at the nice lady and then grabs my leg and hides. Shy?? Yep. I did paperwork, Brian took her back and they gave her her shot - no problems, no side effects. She jumped at the needle stick and loved her bandaid to the point that she wouldn't let Brian or I touch her unless we promised not to take her bandaid off.

After dressing her in a summery dress on an unseasonably cool day, I decided to get her a couple pairs of pants, size 4T (keep in mind that I now buy her shirts & dresses in the girl's dept!). Apparently, her bottom half hasn't caught up with her top half. The pants are baggy and she was walking around this morning and pulling them up. I decided to take a chance. I grabbed a pair of her 3T jeans from last year - they fit! So she's a 3T bottom (for probably another month or 2) and a small-medium top. I guess this is part of the payback my mother told me about... (For Ariel: Don't worry, we'll still be passing on the vast majority of Taylor's 3T stuff. We'll keep 2-3 pairs of pants, but the rest goes to you! And there's 3 or 4 that are complete outfits and I don't believe in breaking up outfits. :) ).