The Taliaferro Family: July 2012

What?! I've made it to June!!!

Why yes, yes I have! Is it sad that I'm so excited I've made it to June postings when it's almost August?!

Well probably! BUT with a two-year old and an almost seven week old...I will count it as a successful blogging day :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Making Memories on Memorial Day!

I love that we have such amazing neighbors who are now wonderful friends! So what better way to spend Memorial Day evening than letting the birthday besties have a little water fun while the adults got to hang out, cook and eat?!

Chillin' in the pool!

Before they were totally soaked :)

Hanging around while the girls splash!

Love that smile :)

SoSo needed a juice break! I just love her!!!

Little Lala

The dad's looking on at their girls :)

And when I said the adults were cooking, I really meant Kevin was cooking :)

Though I did make french fries inside later on!

I love days like this...when you don't do anything "special" and yet, it's some of the best memories you will ever make. Hope everyone had an equally relaxing and memorable Memorial Day. And while "thank you" will never be enough, THANK YOU to all the men, women and families who have fought, are fighting and will fight for our country. In my eyes, you are all the true definition of heroes.

My Little Fish!

Kevin and I finally enrolled Sophia in swim lessons a couple months ago. I won't lie. Mommy was nervous. One of those, "I am not in control" situations which make me realize I can't protect my child from everything. But the truth is, I was more nervous about NOT enrolling her.

You see, my kid has no fear of water...and when I say no fear, I literally mean NO fear. Even when she was barely a year old and we took her to Port Aransas, she went straight for the water. Who needs Mom and Dad? She had this!

So with all the pools in our neighborhood and her love of water, I knew it was time to make sure that she learn the basic survival skills. How to climb out, how to float, how to hold her breath. And if I was lucky, maybe she would develop at least a healthy fear of water. Note the word healthy. I don't want her to be scared of water. I just want her to realize that it can be dangerous. That she can't simply leap in and take off. It just doesn't work like that. So lessons it is ;)

I knew she would love it. That I didn't question. But boy, does she LOVE it!!!

I think it's safe to say that Daddy has a little water buddy on his hands. Maybe even a future scuba diving buddy! Mommy will just wave from the beach and enjoy a little R&R :) Now to start convincing Lilah to be my beach bum buddy...

"I remember my mother's prayers...

and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." ~ Abraham Lincoln

For so many reasons this was a special Mother's Day for me. For starters, I have the most amazing, precious, loving two-year old angel I could ever imagine. Second of all, I was in my last month of pregnancy with my sweet Lilah Elizabeth, anxiously awaiting her arrival. And finally, we had the honor of witnessing our best friends dedicate our darling nieces back to the Lord. I mean how blessed are we?

Some moms do getaways and take a day to themselves. I totally support that ~ all of us mommies need breaks on a regular basis! But my perfect Mother's Day is just being with my babies. I don't need lavish gifts or special dinners...I just need my babies!

Mommy and her girls!

A few weeks later, Lilah was no longer a "bump" ~

crazy how this seems like yesterday and yet, so long ago at the same time.

This sweet family means the world to us! It's not often that you have friends that love you so unconditionally and support you with an undying faith. At this point, I don't even bother to correct people when they refer to Jaime as my sister. She is. Maybe not by blood, but in every other way imaginable. So what joy we shared with them on this day...a day we had all waited for, prayed for, and anticipated with a faith in our Lord, knowing one day He would provide this amazing couple the desires of their hearts. And boy did He! Times two :)

As special as this day is for me, I can only imagine how special it was for my dearest friend. A long journey this couple endured. But one in which she showed amazing strength, bravery and most of all love and faith. Watching these sweet babies be given back to the Lord who gave them to us, was truly one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My heart truly rejoiced and the presence of the Lord in our lives was obvious. Because how can you look at these precious, chubby, blue-eyed angels and not know that the Lord is good?!

Emeri Faith and Avari Hope ~ You are loved beyond words sweet girls. Not only by your amazing parents, but by so many others. And even with all that love, always remember the Lord loves you MORE! To the moon and back baby girls ~ always and forever!

And of course, we had to do a mini photo shoot afterwards! We wouldn't be us if we didn't :)

Sweet family!

And add in a Nannie and Nana :)

I say this a lot, but I do wonder what next year's photo will look like :)

Is it even possible to get FOUR girls to look at the camera?! At the same time????!!!

Cause you see, I can't even get ONE to look at the camera!

At least Lilah cooperated :)

And Emi and Avi did too ~ at least this time! Love these girls :)

So yes, this was clearly a very special Mother's Day. And I hope one day, my girls will say the same thing that President Lincoln once did...

"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life."

Doing a Little Rewind...

Funny how quickly I can get behind on blogging :/

So now that I've blogged the most important thing in our lives recently ~ you know, that adorable, precious, perfect, little blue-eyed girl I just can't get enough of ~ yea, so now, we are going to do a little retro rewind...all the way back to April!

And truly the entire month of April can be summed up rather easily ~ birthday parties! Several of Soph's friends have birthdays right around hers. Sweet Haylie lives a few houses down and was born a week before Sophia. Precious Lauryn (aka Lala) lives next door and is exactly one year younger than Soph ~ birthday besties! And darling Avarie (our Pearland Avarie) is a week younger than SoSo.

I clarify "our Pearland Avarie" because we have several :) We have our Pearland Avarie, our Katy Avery and then our beloved Avari (aka Avi). It's a good thing they are all spelled differently or it could get REALLY confusing around here :)

I bet now you can see why come April we were some partying fools! And we love it :) Sure it's hectic! But I am so glad that Soph has such amazing friends who we love dearly!

Sorry Haylie, I didn't actually take pictures at your party. Blame it on a forgetful pregnancy moment. Or the fact that it was HOT, and I was a little too lazy to walk the three houses it would have taken me to go back for the stinking camera!

But here are a few from our precious Lala's party evening!

Birthday Girl!