Taryn & Santa

Santa came to work this week, and Taryn got to see him!

She enjoys saying "Santa Claus" (with a slightly german accent) and point out Santa's whereever she sees them, but getting too close to the live thing ... that's a little much. :)

She was able to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas though. In line, we discussed what she was going to ask for, and she was debating between "babies" and "cookies," but finally settled on "candy canes."

Holiday Gift List

Taryn made her first holiday gift list for 2008! Taryn picked out all the items on the list herself! This selection is all from Target.

Mommy and Daddy are getting Taryn the doll house at the top left in the picture. There are plenty of accessories for the house, and I even saw DINOSAURS living in the display house at Target last night! Dinosaurs! (GROWL!)

Update:
Gifts that have not been bought:
* Doll house accessories - Target
* Yo Gabba Gabba! Dance Mat - Target
* Little Tikes LITTLE TIKES POP TUNE GUITAR - Target
* Rescue Pets Swim to Me Puppy - Target
* Magnetic Draw - NEED to confirm which one! :)
* Puppy in a purse - NEED to confirm which one! :)
* Wooden Letters and Numbers - like this one from Target
* Sesame Street: Abby in Wonderland DVD - Target

Gifts that have already been bought:
* Fisher-Price Elmo Live - Target
* Doll house - Target
* Baby Alive Learns to Potty Doll - Target

Little Builder

Here's the little builder this morning. The sun is coming in through the windows giving the creation somewhat of a glow. Such focus while connecting the pieces. So proud of the column she created! Jenn created the stacked platform, and Mia, just off-camera, is doing the same thing Taryn is doing! I think it's time for the first set of starter Lego/Duplo Bricks in the play area!

Taryn goes to a Halloween Costume Party and Trick or Treats!

Taryn was Abby Cadabby for her costume party at Grammies house this year. Mama was Abby's mom! They both had freckles on! For Halloween trick or treating Taryn was a pirate! Arrrr! She was unbelievably stoic and adventurous when we went from house to house. She even walked through a "haunted" garage and made friend with a talking skull (holding mama's hand, of course). At the end of the night, the joys of "candy booty"! Mmmmmmm! Chocolate!

Pumpkin Time with Nana and Grampa

A few weeks before Halloween Taryn went on a wagon journey to a small field of pumpkins near Nana and Grampa's. After sitting with all the pumpkins, and having fun walking on all the pallets the pumpkins were placed on, she picked out her very own pumpkin. Nana helped her draw a face on it! Taryn went on a few other "pumkin patch" trips too, which has become one of her favorite things to say!

Bless You

I went grocery shopping with Taryn this past Friday. We met all the nice people that were there shopping too. Taryn's awesomely cute that way. So, we're just going along, picking up things from the list, and ooooh!, some things not from the list! She's looking all around, like an old pro, you know? When next I sneeze! She stops what she's doing, looks at me, says "bless you", then goes back to looking around. She did that to me twice in the store. How cute is that???

Word

Taryn's vocabulary is growing large! It's neat to see her recognize objects and associate a word or sound with it. She knows the sounds a cow makes when she looks at the picture. It's also amazing to see her cognitively think... putting a set of words together and then completing the thought! For instance, she knows how to converse on the phone: "Hello. OK. Bye." She also knows when she's going to see Nana and Grampa (which I'll say to her), then she'll say "Aunt Sue!" (which Taryn says to me)

Some of Taryn's recent favorite words are: Um, Airplane, Mommy, Daddy, ah-ee (Anthony), Mia, exer (Dexter), Brad-ee (Bradley), Moo (she says this when she sees a horse crossing sign near our house), Aunt Sue!, lillard (lizard), No, S'that (as she points to something she wants), Juice, Aunt mananananana (Aunt Bananas), Grammie, (and if you whisper it to her) Aunt Tina! :)

Funny time with Daddy! :)

Airplanes

Whenever Taryn hears an airplane, she stops what she's doing, says "airplane" and looks to the sky. Here's a picture of one of the planes she heard and saw today!

Swimming with a monkey!

Aunt Sue had a special surprise for Taryn today - a monkey pool to cool off in! Taryn loved it, even braving the banana water slide!

Swim Lessons

Taryn's been taking swim lessons for a couple weeks now. She timidly likes the lessons. Well, she hesitates when she sees the instructor and cries during the lessons. But both mommy and daddy are there for moral support! When Taryn's not 'in training' she loves having fun in the water!

Every day's a party!

This week Taryn discovered a stack of party hats leftover from New Years'. She insisted on wearing at least one the minute she got up in the morning, and was not very happy taking it off before bed. Most of the time, whomever was around her also had to wear a hat.

At breakfast, she'd point to the blue hat, and then point to Mia. She's quite the party director.

Grammy and Dexter, part of the party too. ;)

"Daddy, you need to wear this hat while you read to me ..."

First Pigtails

(I think she looks a little like a baby-girl shrek. :) )

Moneky Joe's

We took a trip to Monkey Joe's ... we met some friends there, and had a blast!

Taryn jumped and ran around and really wore herself out.

This is Taryn giving Ellie tips on crawling.

Rain Worshiper

-

It also rained pretty hard at Grammy's house on the 4th. Taryn waited outside with Peepaw and loved listening to and "catching" the rain.

Sweet baby.

4th of July!

The Zoo!

Fireworks!
(ooohhh)

It's Summer ...

And time to swim!

Taryn still loves the water. LOVES it.

We'll be signing up for swimming lessons in the next few weeks.

Adelaide, Taryn, Aunt Bananas, & Isabelle in the pool at Uncle Richard's home-resort.

Taryn's First Haircut

Yes, I made a hair appointment for my baby.

She had to wait a week to get in to see Roxanna.

She held so still the whole time.

And now, she feels so beautiful, and she lets me put hair clips in her hair ... and keeps them there!

Have a goodday.

Joe got me an cool green iPod for Mother's Day. I've been downloading songs. Mainly ones that I like listenting to, but never wanted to buy the whole album.

There are songs for everything. I have a song for Taryn & I. It's a hawaiian man's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." It's just so sweet and whimsical.

http://www.amazon.com/Alone-IZ-World-Israel-Kamakawiwoole/dp/B00005O4UG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1211476765&sr=1-2 (scroll down and you can hear a sample).

Last night, I laid Taryn down in her bed, kissed her head and said "night, night, I love you." As I was turning out the light, she said "buh bye, hafa 'ood 'ay" (have a good day).

Sorry no pics this post. There's plenty, and we'll put some up soon. :)

Gaspacho!

Last Wednesday we made a fresh gaspacho soup for dinner - Taryn's first tmk. She loved it... and she loved playing with it and the spoon! (There was a bowl with soup in it at the beginning of the meal, honest!)

Going to the Garden

Taryn, Grampie, Daddy and Aunt Sue went to the Garden this weekend and had a picnic! We found out Taryn loves egg salad sandwiches. We also saw squirrels up close ("So that's what my dog is barking at all the time!"), woodpeckers, cardinals, large and small butterflies, flowers, dogs and said "Hi." to other families. We even found a tennis ball to kick in the picnic area! We walked around and got pretty hot and ended the trip with a nice, refreshing shake from McDonalds. (They still had Shamrock shakes! Aw yeah!)

Naptime!

Taryn and Daddy had a full day today! Lots of walking around. She was so sleepy and was very tired right before nap time. Who knew Daddy would need a nap as well!

Beach Baby

Taryn's first trip to the beach! It took her a little time to figure out that it was much bigger than her sandbox at home.

An there were waves! Grammy helped her jump over the waves and she loved it!

Tarynzilla

This reminded me of how I remember Godzilla appearing out of the ocean. Just pops up, shakes some stuff up, disappears...

A Fine Day Out

Taryn and I went on a hike through the neighborhood. We saw lots of flora and a few lizards! She had a great time, and held onto the leaf the entire journey.

The Slide

Taryn's got a slide in the backyard thanks to Creepaw, Mama and Daddy! Here she is having more fun.

For my next act...

"... I will make my hand disappear... Watch closely..."

Life is Good

"No more photographs, please!"

First Birthday Party!

Birthday Girls have to accessorize for their parties!













So many friends! And they love to help open presents (convienent if you're not into opening them yourself)











Cake Exploration is a must.


















You can work off that cake in your new play yard! (Check out that fab outfit!)












And of course, don't forget your beauty sleep.

Birthday Cupcake!

Yeah. This was some good birthday cupcake. "You want some?"

McDonalds!

Today was Taryn's first time at McDonalds. She wasn't really thrilled with the burger (it wasn't bacon-wrapped) but she loved the fries! Afterwards she tried out the fun play area!

Birthday Hat!

Here's Taryn in her birthday hat, before venturing out for the day.

Abby Cadabby!

Taryn got her first birthday gift from Aunt Shannon and Uncle Glen - Abby Cadabby!

Note to Aunt Shannon and Uncle Glen: she wasn't too excited about her name on the gift label, but she got over that quick!

Here she is when Abby Cadabby speaks to her!

Taryn's First Valentine's Day

Where's Taryn?

After a fun time crawling around, Taryn played peekaboo!

Out of my way!

Taryn was crawling around on the floor earlier this week when she came across a pair of shoes on the floor. (To be honest, I took them off and hadn't put them away yet!) An obvious obstacle, yet they were no match for Taryn! She calmly grasped the first shoe and put it aside. The second shoe, as you can see, was delicately placed on top of the first.