Saturday in the Park

Actually it was the lawn outside of the Kimble Art Museum, but same thing, right?  

I guess the weather gods got the message!  It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 60's.  Ahh.  It was just too nice to stay inside.  So, we headed down the street to enjoy the weather.

It was even warm enough for short sleeves!

Taylor enjoyed playing in the rocks

And then showing them to Daddy

Daddy then decided to play with the rocks too

We are looking forward to more warm, sunny Saturdays to play outside!  Come on Spring!!!

The Blizzard of 2010

I know this is 2 weeks old, but it was such a crazy time here that I need to post on it.  

Winters in Texas are supposed to be mild.  Maybe an occasional flurry or two, and call off school if it ices even a teensy weensy bit!  

Definitely not like this

It was reported that we got over 12 inches!  12 inches!!!!  2 or 3 inches here apparently warrants the news stations to constantly give us weather updates, with live shots from poor reporters standing on a bridge over the freeway showing us the 'accumulation'.  

The 12 inches shattered the previous snow record that I think was 6 or 7 inches.  It was so hard to believe that Texas got that much snow.  

We were leaving for Shreveport that day, so we didn't fully enjoy it  (the roads were just fine, and the temperature was above freezing).  It was almost too much snow to enjoy, it was hard to walk in it.  

JT made a snowman.  He asked for a hat and scarf, naturally I brought him a Rangers hat - I am ready for baseball season!

Here you can really see how deep the snow is

I will probably never see that much snow in Texas in my lifetime.  We took plenty of pictures to document the momentous occasion.

When it was snowing again here earlier this week, I put Taylor in a St Patrick's Day shirt that I bought as a message to the weather gods that The Copes are ready for spring - and more importantly, summer!

Silly kid.

I hope the gods got the message.

Just For Fun

We don't watch TV in the evenings before Taylor goes to bed.  This is why

What can be more entertaining than that?!  If that won't bring a smile to your face, nothing will.

14 Months

I know I am a few days (ok almost a week) late posting this, but we have been busy.  Taylor doesn't go back for another 'well check' until 18 months, so I don't have any stats.  But I can tell you this much, she is growing!  She can now climb on the couch and is very proud of herself when she does.  I guess that means we will have to hide the remote controls, cell phones, etc somewhere else besides on the back of the couch.   She has figured out how to safely get down from the couch too - before she just wanted to take a swan dive.  

Her reach increases on a daily basis.  She can reach all the way up and grab something that is close to the edge on the kitchen counter as well as the kitchen table.  Everything now is smushed to the center.  We have been calling her Taylor Too Tall Cope.  

She has a wicked arm!  She loves to throw balls to you - even at point blank range.  I really need to get this on video.  For a 1-year-old she sure can throw hard, far and with pretty good form!  What can I say, it's in her blood.  Oh, and she is right handed.  We can already tell.  Bummer.  (JT and I are both left handed).  That's OK, we (I) will teach her to hit left handed, all the greatest hitters swing from the left.  

She has just started getting more interested in feeding herself with a spoon (right handed, if you put the spoon in her left hand she immediately switches it to the right).  Which, of course, turns into a big mess.

She still just has the 6 teeth (4 top, 2 bottom) that she got real fast a long time ago (relatively speaking), but just today I saw two molars coming in on the top.  I have heard the molars are really painful for them.  But, they have already started to break through the gums and we haven't noticed any difference in her behavior or sleeping.  We'll see though.

She will do lots of things on command, like clap, wave bye-bye, do an assisted forward roll (she puts her hands down and tucks her head and just waits for you to come and flip her over), come give you kisses, go into the bathroom to take a bath, and bring something to you.  She knows and will point to where her mouth, hair, feet, nose, and of course belly button are.  She struggles with ear and eye, but we are getting there!  If you yell 'touchdown!' she will throw her arms straight up in the air like the refs do at a football game.  She learns so incredibly fast!

Here is her monthly picture

Her hair/mullet is looking a little better.

Of course there are always a handful of these trying to get a decent picture

Happy 14 months sweet Taylor! 

Trip to Shreveport

Last weekend we took a road trip to visit our good friends, Todd and Jennifer, who live in Shreveport.  Todd went to college with JT and I and was on the tennis team with JT  (Todd is now the head tennis coach at Centenary!).  They have been best friends (BFFs!) since their freshmen year and were each others bestmen in the others wedding.  Jennifer and I have becomes great friends as well, we have a lot in common.  Jennifer and Todd went to high school together, but never dated until after college.  They got married in May of 2007 and are expecting their first child in late August!!!!  We are so thrilled for them!  So, we packed it up and took a trip so they could 'practice' life with a child.  :)  

Taylor did amazingly well there.  She took to Todd and Jennifer (especially Jennifer) really well.  Sometimes it takes her awhile to get warmed up to people, but not them!  I was a bit concerned on  how well she would sleep in the pack n play, but she slept great!  She did wake up earlier than usual on Sunday (6 am), but other than that she slept just fine.  

Todd and Jennifer have 3 dogs, so needless to say Taylor was in heaven.   They have 2 chihuahuas, Maggie and Minnie, and a black lab, Mugsy.  Quite the combination, don't you think?  They all get along surprisingly well - except Maggie likes the pick fights with Mugsy (I think she thinks she is bigger than she is).  Taylor loved all the dogs, but especially Mugsy.  

Even sharing his water with Taylor

On Saturday night we went to the men's basketball game.  We didn't stay too long since it was past Taylor's bedtime, but she thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Especially the offensive, ganster rap they had playing during warm-ups.

This girl loves the shake her booty.  

She really didn't like the loud buzzer that they sound every time the clock stops, but other than that she loved it.  Lots of action going on.  

On Sunday everyone except JT (he was taking a nap since he got up with Taylor at 6 am) went for a nice walk.  

Todd and Jennifer with their 'practice child'   :)  

*notice the beads Taylor has on.  It was Mardi Gras weekend and there were some rogue beads on the ground on our walk, so of course I snatched them up - she loved them.   

Jennifer and Todd were nice enough to get Taylor an awesome toy! 

A lawnmower, bubble popper thingy!  (whatever you call it).  She had a blast with it.  

And then of course I had to get a picture of her with Todd's tennis racket.

But she was more interested in the tennis ball.  

Her diet consisted of cheese (pizza and lasagna that Jennifer's mom made that was amazing!) and fruit loops (which she loved).  Needless to say, she was pretty amped up all weekend.  

We all had such a great time, and can't wait to go back!  Thanks Todd and Jennifer for such a great weekend. 

First Haircut

Sorta.  I really needed to cut Taylor's bangs since they were getting in her eyes and her hair grows so straight that it won't go to one side or the other.  I called a kid's haircut place just to see if you needed an appointment and how much it cost - $17.95!  WHAT?!  To cut a 1-year-olds hair?  No, thanks.  

I have been JT's barber for some time now - I learned how to cut a 'high and tight' to save money when he was active duty since they are required to have their hair cut once a week.  A pair of haircutters scissors came with the shears, and back in college my best friend, Rachel, and I used to cut each others hair on a regular basis.  

So, how hard is it to cut some bangs on Taylor? 

Apparently, really hard!  I gave her  a mullet.  Poor kid.

I knew I only had one shot, so I just went for it and it ended up like this.  I am very tempted to fix the parts that are slightly longer, but afraid I will make it worse.   Oh well.  At least she is too young to care what her hair looks like.  And it will grow back - I hope! 

Hendrix

I have mentioned Taylor's friend, Hendrix, a few times but wanted to show a few cute pictures of them.  Just to refresh your memory, we met Hendrix and his mom, Cassie, at Little Gym as they were in the same class with us.  Through the wonderfulness that is facebook (go ahead, laugh) Cassie and I got connected outside of class and decided to get the kids together for a playdate.  Taylor and Hendrix are basically on the same schedule, which makes it easy for us to get together.  We have had several playdates and the kids have a great time together.  Taylor especially likes going over to Hendrix's house....they have 2 dogs.  

Enjoy the pictures! 

Same facial expression.  This was in Taylor's 'Bam Bam' stage.  Check out that post here

At Hendrix's birthday party with another one of his girlfriends

'Lady, put the camera away!'

I think Hendrix got the raw end of that deal! 
Cassie with the kids at a Halloween party at Little Gym

The Stock Show

Yesterday we took Taylor to the Fort Worth Stock Show!  She had such a great time.   As I am sure everyone knows by now, she absolutely loves animals so we were really eager to take her to see all the farm animals.  She was so overwhelmed with excitement, she  didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

First, we started in the Children's Barnyard where there were pigs, chicks, turkeys, and goats.  She would go back and forth between all of them just going nuts.  She liked watching the cute little chicks.

"Oooh, what's that over there?"

Right outside the barnyard (which was really just a big room) were roosters and rabbits in cages.  The roosters would 'cock-a-doodle-doo' off and on - Taylor wasn't too sure about that.  She DESPERATELY wanted to touch the rabbits.

We then headed over to the petting zoo, where we knew she would just be beside herself.  I thought the animals would be in cages, and would stick their heads through a fence so we could pet them.  No.  It was a just an open space where you just walk on in and have at it! 

There were mostly goats, with a few ducks, chickens and rabbits sprinkled in.  There were even llamas!  

Taylor did great!  She wasn't scared at all, and went right up to all the animals. 

Even this 1 1/2 week old goat!  She was very gentle with it, which was surprising since he looked like a puppy and sometimes she gets overly excited and flaps her arms around ultimately hitting them.

I even got to feed them.  The lady working said 'You might want to watch out because the goats are pretty hungry, so they will be agressive'.  Oh boy, can't wait.  

She wasn't kidding!

We stayed in the petting zoo for a long time, then headed next door to ride a pony.  She wasn't too sure what to think about it, but wasn't crying so I guess she liked it.

We had such a fun time, even though it was raining (just light drizzle) and cold - Taylor sure didn't seem to mind!  Probably because we had her in 3 layers of clothes. We really didn't either, it was so much fun to watch her get so excited with the animals.  The kid just can't get enough of animals!