Key West

Well, half of Key West anyway. My camera broke halfway through our trip. The rest of the pictures will have to wait to until my mom's camera gets home.
So...Key West. Where to begin? We woke the kids last Thursday at 4am and drug them out into the cold. They were both confused and later cranky. I'll spare you the details of the flight, but at the end of it, at about 12:30pm all four of us were ready to see my parents. Within the hour my mom had made lunch and the kids were in the pool and our vacation had begun.
The next day we took advantage of the sunshine and headed to the beach. To say that Lilly loved the beach would be an understatement. To say that Jack even liked it a little would be a lie.
Jack didn't mind the beach actually, he enjoyed digging in the sand and picking up small shells and debris, but as soon as the waves came up on the sand and touched his toes he was done.

Lilly, however, did everything on the beach that you would expect out of a three and a half year old. She ran down towards the water and then away from the waves. She collected rocks and shells and coral. She dug a hole in the sand, filled a bucket and dumped it on Bryan. She even walked out into the cold water, with a little help from her Papaw. And, of course, Lilly showed off her beach style with her sunglasses.

After the incident with the water on his feet Jack found some refuge with his Grandma and she kept him safely out of the water.

See, into the water with Papaw.

In the shade, up by the picnic table Jack decided that the beach could be fun. All you need is a couple of shovels, and to stay clear of the water.

No problems with the water in the pool, though. Must be the waves that Jack doesn't like. Cause he sure loves the pool. Even on the day when the rest of us thought it was too cold to swim Jack wanted in the pool.

So, we all went to the butterfly conservatory instead. The kids, and because of that the adults, had a great time with the butterflies. It was almost like there was too much to see with only two little eyes. Jack was pointing and asking, "Oh dees?" and before you could answer he was pointing somewhere else.

Lilly charged ahead, trying to see everything that there was to see and then backtracked to catch what she missed.

This butterfly attacked Jack. I got my video camera out, but it all happened too quick. The butterfly was circling Jack and he was turning and turning and twisting trying to see it, but it was moving too fast.

Our only family photo. Yep, this is just about as good as it gets. Bryan's talking, Jack's fussing, Lilly is smiling, but not at the camera, and I, of course, look gorgeous.

This little fence was the perfect height for Jack to peak over.

My own little butterflies.

Butterflies really wore these guys out.

Sunset and sailboats off of Mallory Square.

Jack really started to embrace the laid back Key West lifestyle. He decided that during each activity he should be as comfortable as possible. On the bike ride back from dinner one night he took his shoes off, through them down on the street and then put his feet up.

Then, after his bath he kicked back to enjoy his milk before bed.

One cold morning Lilly and Bryan headed out together for a trolley tour. I'm not sure how much she learned on the tour, but she sure enjoyed riding on the trolley.

That same cold night we made the trek to Duval Street, the main drag (no pun intended), had dinner and did a little shopping...Lilly's new favorite hobby.

During said shopping trip Lilly somehow convinced Daddy the sucker to buy her an activity book with scissors. Here you see Bryan supervising the use of the scissors. Lilly spent the rest of her vacation cutting paper into small pieces. She cut up so much of her little notebook that she had to convince Papaw to buy her another one, or two.

Lilly, Jack and the giant sponge man.

Again, Jack took on the Key West lifestyle because that is, actually, a monkey on his back.

Lilly insisted on this picture with the turtles outside of the restaurant where we ate lunch.

This is about the time that my camera broke. We had a great time in Key West and hope to go back again (hint hint Papaw and Grandma). Hopefully, in a couple of weeks when my parents get home I can post some more pictures because there was a lot more fun to be had!

Super Bowl

As I am sure you aware we, not Bryan and I, but the city of Indianapolis, hosted the Super Bowl this past weekend. Evidently that is kind of a big deal. So, Bryan and I, experiencing a lack of babysitters, sat down like adults and argued, dickered, negotiated and bargained for time so that we each could be involved in the week long party that our city put on. Don't worry, I'll spare you the day by day, hour by hour schedule that we came up with and I'll just touch on the highlights.

On Friday night, after much wheeling and dealing, Bryan went downtown with some friends to see the Super Bowl Village and just walk around downtown. Zionsville, in an effort to cash in on some of the Super Bowl dollars, hosted some fun activities of their own, and even provided a free shuttle from downtown to the village and back again. The main attractions, for kids at least, were an inflatable toboggan run with a bounce house underneath and a synthetic ice skating rink. Tania and I took our kids to this while our hubbies partied it up downtown.

Like I said, the ice skating was synthetic, hard white plastic sprayed with some kind of oil. It was similar to actual ice skating, but seemed to be less slick. This was perfect Lilly and Avery. They could more easily step, and eventually slide, without losing control. They both did really well and we think the girls might be ready for real ice.

Lilly got a little cocky and even tried some of the moves that she saw at Disney on Ice, even attempting a slow spin.

On Saturday I met Brecq and Everette at Super Bowl Village, and Kristy joined us later. Of course, I had these plans for over a month and of course, Saturday is the only day that it was not 55 degrees and sunny. Oh well, the weather seemed to thin out the crowds and we were able to find an escape from the worst rain in bars and restaurants throughout the day.

Here we are on the circle, if we had turned even slightly the big XXVI that was on Monument Circle would have been behind us. Oh well, everyone has that picture.

But, only the Giants and Brecq and I got to get our picture taken with the Lombardi trophy!

I wanted to include some pictures from Bryan's escapades downtown, but he didn't take any...or at least he didn't show me any. And, I guess there was even some big football game on Sunday.

Disney on Ice

Last weekend Tania and I took Lilly and Avery for a girls' night out. We had dinner and went to see Disney on Ice. It was a great night and all four of us had a lot of fun.
The girls had no idea what to expect and were a little confused about who exactly would be ice skating. More than once Lilly reminded me that she didn't have any ice skates. But, after we got our must have $22 Rapunzel hair we found our seats and the show started. Neither Avery or Lilly, who are very outspoken little girls, had much to say after that. Tania and I had to laugh because both girls watched the entire show, wide eyed with mouths agape without moving or saying a peep, from our laps.
This picture was taken during intermission and as you can see we could barely keep their attention even then. Without a sports photographer and professional camera it was hard to get good action shots of the skaters because they moved so fast, but I did manage to snag this one of Cinderella.
Finally, after the show was over and the crowds began to thin, I was able to get Lilly to pose for a picture with me. But again, she had a hard time peeling her eyes away from the ice for even a second.

"What about Jack and Dylan?" You ask... Well, Nathan was out of town so both boys stayed with Bryan. The house was trashed, but both boys were fed and in their jammies when the moms got home. Bryan said they watched Mickey Mouse cartoons, rode together in Jack's car and even shared some teddy grahams. Although, Jack doesn't seem too excited to be sharing his snack. When Bryan sent this picture to Tania and I the caption read, "Um, excuse me, but would you mind getting your hands out of my f-ing teddy grahams?" It seems like he guessed pretty well what Jack was thinking.

Thanks again for inviting us Avery and Tania!

Oh Deess?

When I first started my blog my intent was to share my family's day to day lives with you and record the normal events of Lilly's life. However, I have kind of gotten away from that and have recently noticed that I have only been posting when our family does a special outing or event. I'm going to try to remember what my original goal was and include more of Lilly and Jack's normal lives and because poor Jack has kind of been left out of the last few I will make this one about him.
At 14 months old Jack is the comic relief of our house. He is a good natured little guy who rarely gets upset, and when he does it's usually because he's hungry. And, that's rare since he spends most of his time eating and snacking. Some times the eating gets pretty serious and he has to wear his new bike helmet. I got it for him the other day in preparation for our trip to Key West, where he'll spent quite a bit on the back of my bike, but he wanted to wear it all the time. He's actually eating breakfast here.
But, clearly the helmet is warranted because this is how Jack lets us know that he is done eating and ready to get down.

He's also a very helpful little boy. I had separated my laundry and was getting ready to do a white load when he decided to help by spreading all of the separated laundry around on the floor. Actually, he entertained himself for over half an hour loading the laundry into the basket and then spreading it around, and doing it all over again. So, of course, I let him.

One of Jack's favorite places to play is in Lilly's room. The strangest thing about this is that she really doesn't mind. In fact, she will often find him in there and play nicely with him.

Jack has four teeth now, two on top and two on bottom, and he will rarely let you see them. You have to be quick with the camera to get a picture of them, and I am not. That's why you can't see them in this picture, but I thought it was cute anyway. He's carrying his old fashioned lawn mower toy through the living room and evidently it's pretty heavy.

Jack also enjoys a cruise around the house in his car. He doesn't seem to mind who pushes him. In this picture Jack isn't wearing any pants and he is drinking while he drives so maybe it's best that Lilly is actually in control of the car. She pushed him into his room, came around and opened the door for him and then parked the car while I put his pants on him. The title of this blog, "Oh deess?" is Jack's trademark phrase. He points at, grabs, or indicates any number of things and says, "Oh deess?". As far as we can tell it means, "What's this?" or "May I have this?" or "Hey, have you seen this?" It almost always seems to be a question and Lilly even has started asking Jack, "Oh deess?" when she wants to play with him.

I know that eventually he'll learn to talk and, as I've discovered with Lilly, talk back. So for now I'm pretty happy with "oh deess" and "mama". Thanks Jack-A-Roo for making us smile.

Dancing Queen

As you know, Lilly has been taking gymnastics classes at Interactive Academy for well over two years. What you may not know is that for most of the last year Lilly has looked longingly from the gymnastics floor to the dance class area. She has watched 'Angelina Ballerina', made up some of her own moves, and even dressed as a ballerina (technically a butterfly ballerina princess fairy) for Halloween. Bottom Line: Lilly wanted to dance.
Only one problem. IA didn't offer dance for anyone under four. Well, not anymore...they added a dance combo class for girls ages three and four. We were in! They do a little bit of tap, a little bit of ballet, and a little bit of gymnastics. And, best of all she wears a cute little dance outfit and will have a recital in May! But, let's not get ahead of ourselves, tonight was only the first class.
Here's Lilly all ready to go, her dance outfit is under the sweatsuit and her shoes are in her dance bag.
All dressed and ready to break it down in her tap shoes.

What makes a dance class even better? Taking that dance class with your best friend!

Just hanging out with attitude.

Ok, I can't give a play by play of what's going on in all of these pictures, but I couldn't stop taking them either.

Tap-a-tap-a-tappa...

They're just like the Rockettes.

They're supposed to be getting instructions for gymnastics, but all they can talk about is dancing.

Lilly had a great time at her first dance class and couldn't wait to show her daddy what she had learned. Unfortunately, when we were all home and I was telling him about her class Bryan started asking some questions and calculating how much, after tuition, the leotard, tights, skirt, tap shoes, and ballet shoes, the class was actually going to cost. He started getting pale and seemed a little nauseous until Lilly came in, beaming, still in her leotard and wearing her ballet shoes, stretched out her leg, pointed her toes, and said, "Look what I learned tonight, Daddy!" The paleness and sick face went away immediately and I think he has forgotten that we even have to pay for the class.

The Night Before Christmas

...and the next morning.
Christmas Eve was a day of questions in the Traylor house. Questions about Santa, how he would get into the house, what he might do while he was here, when he was coming, how the chimney worked. All sorts of questions. We explained things in the best way we could, by telling Lilly that Santa is magic. When that explanation led to more questions we gave up and admitted ignorance, explaining that no one really knows how Santa does it, that no one has ever seen him because he simply won't come if you are awake or out of bed.
This led to a quiet panic. Lilly, who usually is anti bed time, brushed her teeth, used the potty and climbed into bed without a word of argument. It was about that time that we realized that Bryan and I realized that we had forgotten to leave Santa some cookies. We got Lilly out of bed to make a plate for Santa. She seemed really uneasy about the whole thing, looking around like maybe he was already here, and putting the cookies and carrots on the plate without any nonsense. As soon as we set the plate down on the fireplace she was back in bed quick as could be. Then, a true Christmas miracle occurred: Lilly went to sleep without any requests for drinks, potty trips, stories, songs, band aids, etc. She even asked us to close her door so that she wouldn't accidentally see Santa.
Cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.

Bryan and I were lucky enough to get some pictures after Santa came, but before the kids got up.
Jack and his new car and track.

Lilly loves to brush, comb and style hair. All hair other than her own, obviously.

Even though he got quite a few new toys Jack is still partial to his puppy.

Opening a present.

Jack may be the first Traylor ever to dunk a basketball...or even make a basket.

The best part of Christmas when your only one? The pile of trash.

Santa also visited Grandma and Papaw's house. He left a horse there for Lilly, Jack and Samantha. Clearly, Bryan doesn't trust Lilly to keep Jack from being bucked off.

Please note: Lilly received her very own camera for Christmas so there aren't many pictures of her as she preferred to be the one taking them. And, she rarely held still long enough for a picture.

Thanks to everyone who thought of my kids this year at Christmas. They are very fortunate for there are many, many people who love them and help to make their holidays and every other days special. And, for this, Bryan and I truly grateful.

Merry Christmas everyone. Until next year....