a cheer up bribe

So... Ella's birthday party was on Saturday 9/20. Taylor was super excited ALL week to see Ella, so it came as a huge devastation when Taylor woke up at 5am on Saturday morning feeling sick, with a fever! Despite Taylor's best efforts to pretend she was "fine now" we made the call to stay home and avoid getting other people sick. She was really upset (and kept saying she just needed to drink a glass of milk and then she would be ALL better - not sure where she got that info).
Feeling terrible that she would miss the birthday party, we wanted Taylor to still have a fun thing to do over the weekend. We took her out to lunch and 'back to school' shopping, which was a bust! The poor girl was definitely feeling miserable. The only thing to perk her up was the idea of painting pumpkins and going to the bookstore (which we saved for Sunday).
Turned out to be a 24 hour thing as she woke up feeling great on Sunday - and after a quick breakfast she was ready for the pumpkin painting! It was by far the happiest we had seen her in the past 24 hours.

Why limit herself to pumpkins when faces need painting too!

Caley didn't know she was missing out on a fun birthday party, but she was more than happy to get in on the pumpkin painting. Much better results this time (last year we did pumpkin painting for Caley's birthday party and she didn't love it).

painting babies

Caley and Josie slept through most of Ella's birthday party, but we didn't let them miss out on the opportunity to paint. Caley is kind of an intense painter...

Josie is a much more laid back painter...

Happy Father's Day

Yesterday we did the Hublein Tower Hike again (we originally did the hike on Father's Day 2011 when Taylor was 6 months old). We skipped it last year, as i was pregnant with Caley, but we are thinking it may be an annual Father's Day hike. The temperature was perfect, low 70's, but it was quite muddy from all the rain we have had lately. Overall, the hike was a success! We started out a little slow as Taylor was very intrigued with the fact that we were walking through the forest. (We told her she could call it the woods or the forest, and she chose forest) Throughout the (2 hr) hike she made comments like, "oooh a doggy in the forest, oooh a baby in the forest, ooooh a big rock in the forest... etc". She walked for a good part with an exception for the mud puddles we had to go 'off roading' to get by and up steep parts where the rocks were large and wobbly.

Father's Day weekend also included delicious breakfast (almond french toast) and a father-daughter painting session. Caley didn't join in on the painting, but she was cheering Patrick and Taylor on.

HAPPY Father's Day, Patrick! We love you!! xoxoxo