Fishy Fun

The Pool Party we planned to go to today was rained out. Darren and Corrie had the great idea to take all the kiddos to the aquarium... unfortunatley so did everyone else in the Tampa Bay area. It was REALLY crowded. We had a really good time visiting the animals and playing in the outdoor water area.

Here are my happy boys!


I think this picture is really funny. Noah does NOT look happy to be dumped in the middle of this photo! I love the rays swimming over their heads in the background.



Danny was SO cute. He had such a good time. He was waving and talking to all the fish and animals. This is the look he had on his face all day... so cute!


Matt is always full of smiles too! He was a little less interested in the fish but could not wait to "play water".


Brian and his boys


A "fishy kissy"!

Kirsten and Malia were WAY too busy to pose for any pictures. They had a great time playing together all day.

Poor Matt and his determination... Matt was SO determined to climb this rope net. I kept trying to distract him and pull him to other areas because I thought it would be too hard for him. Finally Brian said to let him try, that he would go rescue him if he needed too. Well, Matt did not need any help at all. He was shivering and worked SO hard to climb this net. He made it about 80% of the way up when the lifeguards saw lightening and had to close down the water area. Brian had to pull him off the net kicking and screaming. We felt so bad! After working so hard and using so much focus it must have been sooooo frustrating not to finish!

Kirsten's First Communion

Kirsten celebrated her first Holy Communion last Sunday! It was such a wonderful day. The church service was really, really nice. They did a great job of making it really special for the children and their families. Unfortunatley there were no pictures allowed during the mass... but we more than made up for it during the rest of the day!



Kirsten was thrilled with her new dress and shoes (which her Godparents Aunt Maureen and Grandpa generously bought her)! ...And I was thrilled that she wore part of the veil I wore at my wedding. I told Kirsten on Sunday that she is the daughter I've dreamed of since I was a little girl. She is truly the answer to a prayer and my living, breathing blessing.


Kirsten and her Godmother, Aunt Maureen. Maureen and Ryan brought little Luke for his first trip to St. Pete. We were SO excited that they all came!


Each family was asked to make a banner to decorate the church. Our banner-making expereince was a little stressful. We brought the banner with us to the craft store to measure and managed to lose it there. I had to swallow my pride and go back to the church to ask for another one... (this was due the day of Greg's wedding... that's my excuse.) There was some late-night banner making in the Taylor household! Then the morning of the retreat I was at the doctor with the twins so Grammy took Kirsten up to the church and they FORGOT the banner! So I had to swallow my pride AGAIN during the week and drag the kids up to the church office to turn it in late. Ugh. But isn't it pretty?




My mom was nice enough to host the communion after-party (Thanks again!). The celebrants included Brian's parents, Jeff, Sarah, Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Jimmy, my parents, Maureen, Ryan, and Luke. We had a great time.

Here are all the cousins together for the first time.


Everyone is in love with little Luke.


Look at those eyes!! Isn't his sweater vest the cutest thing ever? I am so in love with that baby!

Me and my girl


This is what happened at the end of the day when I tried to steal a quiet moment alone with Brian. Obviously there is no such thing as a "quiet moment alone" anymore. I wouldn't trade it for the world! We are so incredibly blessed. (If Brian looks a little stressed it's probably because the ENTIRE family is sitting on his lap!)

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter! We started the day at 9:30 mass where the boys actually behaved!! (Well... pretty much). Actually, I guess Kirsten and I "started" the day when she woke up at 12:45 am because the Easter Bunny "woke her up". There was no getting her back to sleep... so at 1:47 I took her out to the living room to look at her basket and try to calm down. We got back to sleep somewhere in the 2:30 am range... then we got up for the day at 7am. We took SO many pictures today that I'm having a hard time sorting through them... this may have something to do with the early wake-up times... So I'm just going to post my two favorites from the day.

Here is our family before church this morning

Danny loving Easter!


We woke up this morning to Easter baskets and another egg hunt. Matt danced to all the music during church while Danny ate 500 raisins. After church we had my parents, Brian's parents, Brian's brother, and my Aunt and Uncle over for lunch. There was ANOTHER egg hunt, MORE Easter baskets, and lots of fun!