5FF-Vol 9

Tonight I am:

1- Hearing the sounds of Parker with her new hula hoop. She used her birthday money to buy it for herself at Kings.  And she rocks it. (Pics to come)
2- Smelling dinner- EASY- pasta with corn, ground beef, tomatoes and marinara.
3- Watching the NCAA tourney with Scott.  We have our picks and are sticking to them.  (We are currently tied at 22 right picks a piece.)
4- Thankful that my Grandma came over tonight to show me her scrapbook and is staying for dinner. She colored pictures with my kids and read them stories.  I am thankful they know their great grandma.
5- TIRED!  It's been a long week.  Here's one picture, that I couldn't resist putting up.  I have a whole Piper post, and a St. Patty's day post in the works.

5FF-Vol 8 Presley edition with bonus afro....

Presley is such a funny girl. She is a FIRECRACKER, to say the least. Here are some of her ongoing traits at 3 years 7 months old.
1. She changes clothes more often than anyone I know. And it's frustrating. Her room is constantly a mess because of the constant clothes changing. Dance clothes, dresses, leggings...all of it.
2. She is the pickiest child when it comes to her hair and clothes. She loves to have her hair in ponytails, or down, or curled-but she always knows how she wants it. She picks out her own outfits sometimes coordinating, most times not. She also has to have her blankets put on in a certain order-always different-and can't sleep if they come off.
3. She makes very dramatic faces while speaking. She is matter of fact and shakes her head, almost agreeing with herself as she talks. Her voice is also very high pitched. VERY.
4. She is the most shy of our children. She stands back in new situations and isn't quick to be the center of attention. Once she is comfortable though-she will jump right in and stand out. She takes a while to acclimate to new surroundings or experiences and to warm up to new people.
5. She is very sweet and loving. She loves her baby sister and she and Landon are the best of friends, always playing some made up game. She is "Emma" and he is "Jake". Why? No idea-but it's funny to hear them calling for each other.
And now, the bonus AFRO pics. One day she wanted me to put her hair into curlers after seeing me do it for Pacie. They were only in a few hours and I was very surprised how curly her hair turned out. She was fighting mad for the first hour or so after the curlers came out. It took MUCH convincing that she looked beautiful, but once we had her convinced she was finally happy. I had to coax her first, out of her closet and then tease her greatly to even get a smile. We love our little Darlin'.

The above outfit is a case in point of dressing herself.  It's a battle I usually choose not to fight anymore...it's been going on for quite a while now.  So I just sit back and not let it be a big deal....:)

Picture of the day

I love that my kids have "the stamp" on them.  They all definitely look like Scott& Jill Taft children and I love it. 

5FF-Vol 7 (On the Job)

I was thinking....about my job.  Well, job(s).  I do many.
Firstly my preschool.  I love teaching.  Always have.  In fact, I think I always knew that's what I wanted to do "when I grew up".  My other job is being a full time mom.  Greatest job in the world.  And I honestly feel that way.  My last job is being the secretary at Infinity Dance Studio, where my girls dance.  One of my best friends decided to open a dance studio 5 years ago.  I enrolled both Parker and Pacie to start dancing.  After the first month, Gretchen called me and asked if I'd be willing to trade the girls tuition for secretarial hours.  Absolutely!  Since then, she has grown to well over 200 students-keeping me super busy there.  I mostly work when the girls are dancing (Tues, Wed, Thurs) so it's quite a lot of time.  But I like it. I like being involved and being there when my girls are.

That being said, I think there are a few other things I would've liked to try out.  And they are random.
1- Hairdresser.  I've always thought it would be really fun to go to school to learn to do hair.  And now, four daughters later, maybe I should have.

2- Photographer.  I have talked about this one before.  I love pictures and taking pictures and posing pictures....I guess I am an amateur photographer.

3- Chef.  Cooking school has always seemed like so much fun.  My sister in law Sarah graduated with a degree in culinary arts.  I was always amazed by her knife set.  And the way she cuts red onions.  And this chicken, lime and orizo soup I need to get the recipe for. She is an amazing cook and made an amazing wedding cake once for her final in baking.  Pretty cool.

4- Baker.  Maybe I just need to invest in one of those giant mixing bowls and massive scales that they use on cake boss.  Something about measuring butter by the pound speaks to me.  I love to bake-and would love to learn to decorate cakes.

5- Probably the most random-Librarian.  I love being in bookstores and libraries.  All of those books!  I don't know how well I would do this job though-because I would probably spend more time looking at the books than shelving the books.

So-my five random facts Friday... I know it's never too late to try something new. 

 On the hairdressing front...here is a hairstyle we tried last week. Stay tuned for the results of these lovely blue curlers....(And it's a good story too!)

Flashback

These are pictures taken when Piper was not even a week old.  I love them.  And I mourn for her newborn days.  She is completely mobile now. I found her clear across the room this morning and right by the stairs too.  Time to put up a gate.
I just got the pictures the other day and even though my baby looks so much different now-here she is at just a few days old.

 (This is the outfit we brought her home in)

She still sucks her bottom lip in like this when she's sleeping.  I love it.

5FF-Vol 6

Rough and Tumble, Dirty Birds and Magic Fingers

We've had a crazy week at our house.

Here is a short version for my Five Facts Friday!

1- Last Friday, Landon and Presley were running and playing.  Landon ran into the door jam and cut open his chin.  He came to me crying and I promptly told him "you're fine-stop crying-toughen up" and then said, "let me see it".  Well, he took his hand off of his chin and it was bright white.  Yuck.  I am not a nurse for a reason, people.  I calmly put my hand over the cut and took him to see Scott, who by the way will debate my calmness.  Then it finally started to bleed and we had the debate.  The one where the wife thinks it for sure needs stitches and the husband thinks he can just get the super glue and take care of it at home.  Well this time the wife, me, plead my case and Scott agreed that a facial wound probably should be looked at by a doctor.  We loaded him up into the car and headed into Community Care.  It did require attention-medical grade super glue.  Did we both "win" this time??

Landon was so brave!!  He didn't fuss at all.  He did pick off all of the glue in about two days time.  These pictures were taken from my phone-so they're not the greatest-but they kind of show where and how it looked.  Hopefully there won't be too much of a scar.  But as his dad said, "Chicks dig scars.  You married me didn't you?"  ;)
2. Piper also had a head bonk this week leaving her with a lovely yellowish bruise on her forehead.  Of course, she is still all smiles!

3.  I love seeing my kids play together.  I was down in bed sick on Monday and Tuesday so Landon and Presley were left to play/destroy the house.  I took a few pictures of them and then realized how DIRTY they were!  It's kind of funny-but I did quickly throw them into the tub after seeing these pictures.

4. Speaking of friends and tubs...I love bathing my kids and seeing them fresh from the tub.  Presley and Piper are becoming quite the little buddies.  Presley is usually a huge help/hinderance and loves to baby Piper.  She talks to her in this voice that is 10000 decibels higher than normal humans can hear.  But Piper seems to understand....

5.  Last of all-magic fingers.  The older two girls had their second piano recital on Thursday night.  Pacie played "Robots Marching" and "Cops and Robbers".  Parker played "Waterfall" and "Canon in D". They both practiced and worked really really hard to memorize both pieces of music.  They did amazing!  We had a crazy day with dance pictures the two hours right before the recital-so they both had residual make-up on.  We were all a little frazzled.  Well, mostly me.  So I was very proud of them that they could focus and play so well.  Mamie and Gramps and Grandma Landon came to listen to them too.  Piano is one of those things... It's hard!  It's hard to fit in practice, but it's so worth it.  This is Parker's third year playing and Pacie's second.  I am grateful that they are dedicated and they are both really talented.  I am determined to keep those magic fingers playing! Here are a few pictures from their night.

With their teacher, Meggan

Changes...

My little Piper is changing so fast. Her hair is coming in. Her teeth are coming in. She's becoming very mobile. It's all happening much too quickly. She is 8 months old, tomorrow!
Part of the reason I was panicking over the missing camera was missing these stages. As you will notice in the following pictures (which were taken by the video camera-hence the yellowish color and not great quality) Piper's teeth did not grow in "normal" order. She didn't get her front teeth first-she got the two next to her front teeth. Landon's did the same thing...
Anyway-I knew it wouldn't last long-and it didn't. Her two front teeth are also now securely in place.  Here are a few recent pics.  I can't get enough of my sweet smiley little baby.

Ya gotta love it!!!