Eighties Craze

One of the things I love about working at Baylor is that I'm off for almost all of the same holidays as Tay. When we were off for MLK's birthday last week, we had a day full of fun. First, we headed out to Claire's because that is truly Tay's favorite place to shop these days.

She had a $10 coupon and I agreed to buy her a couple of items thinking we'd walk out with hair accessories, cute earrings and maybe a bracelet. I was, however, completely off base. It seems that many of the fads from the '80s are making a comeback and my precious child loves every single one of them!!

While I have to admit that she looked really cute, I kept having flashbacks to Madonna's early music videos, my mother's old Jane Fonda workout videos and a couple of my 'fashion don't' photos that survived from the era.

Seriously, what's next? 

This pretty sums up the whole fashion experience, doesn't it?

You have to look really closely but the earrings she chose are just multicolored wire wrapped into a big ball. What?!?!

Ok, so I realize these are a bit more Jackie O than '80s but she's still in the wrong decade :-)

Yes, those are genuine Airwalk hi-tops. They are plaid and the black flowers on the sides are crushed velvet. The socks actually go up to her knees and she asks to wear them every single day...

The piece de resistance - remember those gloves from Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson?

The Most Magical Place on Earth

We booked our summer vacation this week and are all very excited about going to Disneyworld! I went when I was six so I'm sure it's changed a bit in 24 years. Dave has been once as well but spent most of his time at what used to be Pleasure Island (shocker, right?). 

We have been talking about this trip for years but wanted to wait until Tay was old enough to remember it. She's also old enough now to participate in the planning and, let me tell you, she has some definite ideas! She has decided to attend Mickey's Backyard BBQ, Chef Mickey's character breakfast and a kids only Pirate Cruise. She's going to order her autograph book soon and is doing research on the Hidden Mickeys as well. At least that's what she's got so far...I'm sure the list will grow. 

We had planned to stay for 4 days and 3 nights but they have a promotion going on right now that allowed us to purchase that vacation and get some extra days/nights free so we'll actually be there for 8 days and 7 nights. Wow, that seems like a long time when I look at it in writing. Perhaps we'll need a vacation when we get home from our vacation :-)

Of course, we have to discuss these plans every night at dinner, we have maps of each of the parks to plot out the best course to hit the rides/shows/parades, and Dave even found a few planning books that I order last night off of Amazon. Needless to say, it's become an obsession in our home recently. But we're super excited and Tay's already doing extra chores to earn Mickey Money :-)

Only 143 days to go but who's counting?

Taylorbug

Miss Taylor and I had a great 3-day weekend and have lots of pictures from the Mayborn Museum and the movies that haven't yet been downloaded...but are coming soon, I promise!

In the meantime, we're super happy to report she made a 93 on her TAKS math simulation test last week. She's taking the reading simulation today so I'm praying that ones goes well too. She's not much of a test taker (too much of a perfectionist and gets frustrated when she doesn't 100% know the answer to a question, which throws her off for the remainder of the problems) but she's been working really hard so we're very proud.

She's also decided to enter the Woodway Elementary Science Fair, which will be held on February 5. She wants to be a veterinarian (and has since she was  wee little thing) so science is her thing! She takes after her Nana Bev in that respect so, after getting some input from Nana, we have decided on a project and are doing research. Unfortunately, I can't share what it is because she wants to keep it a secret until the big unveiling at school but we will definitely post pictures from that night.

Not much going on in other Bowers family news. Dave's working an incredible number of hours this week and then has a big meeting about the move to the new Hillcrest Hospital in April. Apparently he'll be riding in the ambulance back and forth with the babies from the old to the new place. I seriously don't know how he does his job but am thankful he enjoys it and likes the people he works with now.

Oh, I almost forgot, but Tay's spending the night with Nana and Boppy on Saturday so we're going to have date night. It's been a while so I'm super psyched. Of course, most of the time we end up home early and catching up on sleep. :-)

State Bound!!

As you may (or may not) remember, Taylor took some photos at the HOT Fair last October and entered one of the ferris wheel into the PTA Reflections contest at her school. We hadn't heard anything about it since and, quite frankly, I finally came to the conclusion that maybe there were others that exhibited the 'Wow!' theme a bit better.

Well, I am happy, happy, happy to announce that I was W-R-O-N-G and Miss Tay's photo is headed to the State Competition! She was really excited after she finally remembered to tell me. She was so focused on her fun tumbling class that we were halfway home before she made the big announcement.

THE photo...

One thing that was kind of funny is she had no clue hers had been chosen until they said her name on the morning announcements yesterday. Apparently, she was stunned and her class gave her a round of applause. 

I asked her what this means (thinking we may need to actually go to a competition, submit additional info, etc.) and she said 'I have no idea.' :-) This mom will be inquiring about next steps today...

Anyway, we are so proud of you Taylorbug and we love you bunches!

(She reads her blog on the weekends so I had to give a shout out...)

The New Hat

During the Christmas holidays, Miss Tay informed me that she wanted a hat. Not just any hat, mind you, but one that "fit sideways." After I figured out what she was talking about, we set out on a shopping trip. 

I must admit that I thought it would be an expedition and was pleasantly surprised - thank you, Lord - that we found one in the half off bin at Claire's. It is now Tay's favorite obsession! She doesn't even think she needs to brush her hair when it's on her head, which just thrills Dave (Mr. Hair Hygiene) to death :-)

Things have been relatively quiet this week compared to last week's plumbing issues. My doctor is playing with my blood pressure meds as they weren't working after he had to half the dosage due to side effects. Taylor is doing her first TAKS simulation today and, I must say, that I'm not a big fan of these tests thus far. 

Children, such as mine, who are incredibly bright but suffer from test anxiety sometimes aren't measured effectively, in my opinion. But that's just my opinion and, since it's a state requirement, we're bucking up and studying hard. My thought is that the more comfortable she is with the types of questions and setting, the less anxiety she'll experience. Oh, how I pray I'm right about that :-)

Other than that, I'm working really closely with Baylor's Kappa Delta chapter as they're doing recruitment next weekend. The current girls are good but they're suffering the effects of a few pledge classes who got a bit lazy. I'm praying, though, that the National Officers who are here will help them to right the ship, though.

Oh, and I almost forgot, our house is now all decorated for Valentine's Day as is Miss Tay's blog. I got my present really early - Dave found someone to come in and clean our house every other week and I could not be happier!

BLORA

It just wouldn't be the holidays in our family if Tay didn't get to go to BLORA (Belton Lake Outdoor Recreation Area) to see the Christmas lights. This is an area run by the military and they have the most amazing display. 

In the summer, it has water slides, a kiddie car wash, several parks, cabins and beach access. During the holidays, all of this is transformed into a winter wonderland. Lights on every single structure, a giant display of the Twelve Days of Christmas, Santa playing numerous sports, crazy light tunnels and jumping gingerbread men just to name a few of the highlights. As you can probably imagine, none of this photographed very well but we did our best...

Tay also got a giant beanie baby, which she named Cherry. She says its nose looks like one so that's his name. They made a terribly cute picture together...

Barkin' Ball 2008

Dave and I rang in the New Year at Barkin' Ball, which benefits Fuzzy Friends Rescue. This is the only no-kill shelter in Waco and I did some design work on their Christmas newsletter. In return, Betsy Robinson (the founder and, for my Baylor friends, the namesake of Robinson Tower) graciously provided us with tickets to the ball.

It was really a ton of fun but I must admit that we left at 11pm because Dave's bad knee was hurting so badly that he broke out into a cold sweat. Next year we'll remember to bring the Advil!

While we were there, Tay went to a sleepover at her gymnastics center. She had an absolutely blast flipping and flopping all night long. When I say all night, I really mean it because the child had gotten NO SLEEP when we picked her up the next morning. Needless to say, it was a lazy day around our home on New Year's Day :-)

It's not a party without a roulette wheel, right?

I loved this flower arrangement and lounge area...

Our table...

Dave really doesn't have a lazy eye...he scratched it with his contact when we were getting dressed...

Oh white chocolate fountain, if only you could have gone home with me, we could have been such good friends...

Guitar Hero

Dave really got good before long and Tay enjoyed it although she looks SO SERIOUS in the pictures. I, however, couldn't play that darn game for the life of me. What's really ironic is I'm the only one in the family with musical training and I was totally lame!! While my ego was a bit bruised, it was still a lot of fun.

After playing the game, watching The Dark Knight and gorging ourselves on pizza, nachos (with homemade queso), chocolate covered strawberries and cheesecake, we had family game night. Tay had gotten Yahtzee and Apples to Apples as gifts and wanted to try them out. Can I just say that Apples to Apples is so much fun!!

Like my new hat? I love it and wear it all of the time!!

Special Letter to Santa

Tay has really gotten into making things lately...well, actually she's always been a crafter but she's into making cards right now. Dave and I both got homemade Taylor cards when we opened gifts on Christmas Eve.

When we put out our cookies, milk and carrots fo

r 

Santa (and the reindeer), Tay showed me the very special note she'd prepared for him. In it, she noted that she left carrots last year and wanted to know if the reindeer enjoyed them. She actually wrote this afterward:

Answer: ________________________________

But told Santa only to answer if he had time. Then she added a signature line at the bottom:

Sighn: _________________________________

Again, only if the big guy had time...she was ecstatic that he did and now says she will 'treasure his autograph forever!'