The Little One Walks!

For those of you interested, Taeya is now officially walking. She started walking the Sunday before last. She was determined to get a ball across the room and kept starting at the bed. She would walk towards the ball, topple over, crawl back to the starting point and try again. With lots of cheers from Mommy and Daddy, she kept at it for quite awhile. I think it gave her the confidence she needed to take off. Just the next day she was carrying her large sized toys around the house with her while attempting to walk. She does pretty good most of the time but still has some falls here and there. I took a bunch of pictures yesterday but I'm too tired to upload them right now. I'll work on getting them on my blog soon. I've been crazy swamped between tutoring, swim lessons, being a wife, mommy, caring for an older neighbor, dealing with house stuff etc. etc. My life is full right now. I'm happy and tired but content.

Both Phil and I are so excited about our house. Things are moving along well. We signed the contract this week. Our closing date is tentatively set for June 30th. I'm guessing it'll take longer than that but we shall see. The windows are all in and look great. Roof is on and siding color has been picked. It should be arriving soon I think. We met with the cabinet guy and all cabinet choices have been made except for the master bath. He didn't have what we were looking for so we either change our choice or find it elsewhere. Have I mentioned that I'm excited? My kitchen won't be huge but it'll be bigger than what I have now and I'll have an ISLAND! I've always wanted an island! I'll also have a tutoring room where I can neatly store all my teaching materials and have them handy rather than in storage boxes in the loft! I'll put up some more pictures soon. I have pics of the house with the windows in. They look awesome.

A BIG Step

As many of you know, Phil and I have been talking/thinking/wanting to move out to the Denver area eventually where the market for a house is a bit more affordable than where we currently live and it's easier (and more affordable) to see family. So far, the Lord hasn't opened the door for us to move there and has continued to show us that this is where He would have us stay for the time-being.


At this point, it looks like we'll be staying put in this area for a bit longer. Phil and I have an opportunity to purchase a home that is currently under construction. This home was quite litterally just recently dropped in our lap and although we didn't think we'd pursue it, we agreed to take a look at it. After walking through it, and the contractor's home (which is nearly identical to the one we're looking at, just flipped) we both felt excited at this opportunity. After talking it over and praying about it, we'd decided to pursue the purchase of this home. Although this home may or may not be ours someday, I wanted to share it with you, my blog readers, in-part to ask for suggestions. Since the structure is already up, we can't make changes to that, however, we will be able to choose many inside options as well as the outside paint colors. We haven't the foggiest idea where to begin as we've rented places since we were married. (Although we've talkked about what we'd like in a home someday...it's not quite the same). I know we'll have a lot of decisions to make in a short amount of time...if we do end up signing the contract which at this point, we're planning on doing.


So, my question is, do any of you have any suggestions of things we should look into? Things you have in your home that you absolutely love or hate? Paint colors that you love. This is a three-floor single-family home. Main level, upstairs with 3 bedrooms, and basement with one bedroom, a large open space and a laundry room. Oh, and let me know if you have any warnings/information for first time homebuyers.

This is the side-view of the contractor's home. Nearly idential to "ours" but flipped.

The side view of the home under construction.

Front-view of contractor's home. We can pick the siding color but it would essentially, look very similar.
Front-view of "our" home.

Another First

Taeya got her FIRST haircut on Tuesday, March 10. I did it at home with the help of Daddy, Clifford and cheerios. It turned out pretty cute although I need to trim one little section that is still a little too long. She's never had much hair to cut but I didn't like how raggedy it was getting in the back. Now, it's a nice cute little bob that will hopefully grow in a little thicker and less straggly. Pictures to come later as they're still on my camera.

Our Little Snow Bunny

Living in Colorado, snow is one of the blessings that we get each winter. I really wanted to take Taeya out to experience snow for the first time this winter. I convinced Phil to join us for our brief adventure outside.

Hanging out with Daddy.

I placed her on the snowbank and she had fun studying the snow and trying to figure out what all this white stuff was.

Enjoying a moment in the snow. (She didn't enjoy much of her first time playing in the snow!)

Walking with Mommy. This was Taeya's favorite part-checking out the evergreen tree.

Look Mom!

Okay, I'm not having fun sledding. Get me out of here!

As you can see, she didn't enjoy sledding very much. This was BEFORE she got tipped out in the snow. Right after this, the sled hit a small bump and dumped her on her side in the snow. Poor kid.

Family shot.

Taking her first taste of snow. She didn't quite know what to think of it.

Again, not super excited to be in the sled. Maybe next year will be more fun.

After we got inside, she told me all about her sledding experience...
...and then she had to call some friends and let them know how it went.

A Bit of Fun in Virginia

When I was in VA, one of the places we visited is the land of the large mouse. Yup, Chuck-E-Cheese. Phil's sister, brother, Taeya and I went for lunch one afternoon and it was fun to see Taeya's reaction to everything around her. This was her first visit to Chuck-E-Cheese and knowing her father, I'm sure it won't be her last.
Taeya was a little nervous about meeting Chuck-E (how do you spell that? Chucky, Chuckee?) but she gave him a little pat and didn't mind the introduction too much.
This is Taeya's face as she watched the Make-Believe-Band play onstage.

This is a fun little game we taught to Taeya. Look Mom, I can do it myself!

She enjoyed watching Aunt Sarah catch the bumblebees.

And she especially liked driving the fire truck. Possible future fire(wo)man?

Okay, this isn't Chuck-E-Cheese. Uncle Timmy likes to hang out in his room. Taeya had fun going in to visit him. He was a little indifferent to her but she enjoyed visiting him and stealing borrowing his favorite toys if she could get her hands on them. He tried valiently to keep them away from her grabby sweet little hands.

Happy Birthday Taeya...Very Belated!

Well, I think I'm about ready to get back to this blogging thing. I was out of town for over a month which is why I had to stop blogging. I blogged once from VA but it's just not as easy as being on my own computer with my pictures.


Grandma Z reading to Taeya on her birthday.




The day after Christmas, we celebrated Taeya's first birthday! It was a relaxing day and we just had a little party in the evening for her. I made a chocolate cake with pink, peppermint frosting with chocolate chips. It tasted good and Taeya certainly entertained us as she ate her wedge of birthday cake.


She was definitely spoiled by her grandparents and received many fun things between Christmas and her birthday. From Mom and Dad she got a baby doll for her birthday which she enjoys playing with, kissing and poking at the eyes on occasion.

Taeya always gave Grandpa these coy little smiles. If she was crying and he called her name, she would almost always stop crying and stare at him.Cake and decorations. Great Grandma bought the My Little Pony decorations and Mommy made the cake.Happy Birthday sweetie! Here's proof that you can eat your cake and wear it too!! Oh, that's not how the saying goes? Oh well.

One of the first tastes. She started slowly just picking at the cake.Next, she tried bending over and biting it. Then came picking it up with both hands.Yum, yum! I love the frosting.The whole thing is too heavy. Maybe I should just eat half of it at a time.
This is great stuff!
Can we do this every day?

I love Mommy so much, I think I'll smear her with frosting.My, this cake sure got heavy.
Clean-up time!
You can use the cake as a fun hat! Or eat it too!

It's really fun to play peek-a-boo with. Daddy fashioning a new hairdo for Taeya...a frosting mohawk.Time to eat cake again.
All done! (Doesn't Taeya look triumphant like she conquered her cake or something?)

Bath time!!!! There were lots of chocolate crumbs floating in the tub.
The lovely white birthday outfit from grandma and decorated by Taeya. Thankfully, I was able to get all of the frosting out of the shirt and it looks as good as new again.

All-in-all, we had a wonderful time celebrating Taeya's birthday. I took pictures of her (me) opening presents but can't seem to find them. I think they got left on the VA computer.