I Still Feel You

I Still Feel You

By: Mark D. Taylor

I still feel you all around me in quite moments when I wake

Your laugh and smile are with me

In every sunset mother nature takes

Sitting, laughing, crying and talking late into the night

I remember you my brother

Together, your illness and it's demons, we vowed to always fight

I still feel your acceptance and the love you always gave to me

You taught me about forgiveness and told me I was tough

Then carried me when I was bleeding in places no one else could see

You shared your thoughts of God, his understanding ways

Then exercised more faith in expressing honest doubt

Never really losing the Son’s warmest rays.

I still feel your acceptance and love never feign

We confided in each other

We shared a common pain

I can still feel you my brother, your wisdom and embrace

I thought that I could save you, and hope you will forgive

My failure to act differently, to change your course and pace

I remember you existed, long before you came

I know you would have stayed if you could undue the past, even with you gone

Your forever in my heart, my brother, friend and confidant, always just the same

In loving Memory of my brother Sean D. Taylor

Sean, I kept a piece of you when you left this world;

and you took a piece of me with you. I miss you Paco!

Lesson Learned!

 I was looking through pictures today so that I can FINALLY update my blog and I found these pictures that were taken at the beginning of the year.

I LOVE these pictures...they make me smile and laugh every time I see them!  I remember the moment so well.  The giggling and laughing so hard that you can't breath, the squeals of my cute delighted children, the physical energy it takes to (try) and man-handle a twelve year old boy and the pure joy of just being silly with my kids!

It all started when we were in the kitchen and Matt said something that made me so full of motherly pride that I said, "Matt, you just made me so happy I want to kiss you!"  Being a twelve year old boy, he immediately objected which only made me want to kiss him more!  

As I leaned over to smooch him on the cheek he pushed me away and yelled for his siblings to come to his defense.  I chased after him, unwilling to be defeated, only to be met by "The Band of Taylor's".  I put up a great fight but, in the end, my lonesome self was not enough to overcome  the force of brothers and sisters working together to overtake their mom!  Secretly I think I was just laughing so hard I couldn't fight anymore!

Somewhere amidst all this, Mark found the camera and started snapping away.  We were all oblivious to the photo shoot, but grateful to have the memories!

The problem...I don't remember what Matt said that was so wonderful I just had to KISS him! 

 

One thing my kids need to learn:  In the end Mom ALWAYS wins!!! 

Later that night I had Mark hide the camera behind his back and call Matt into the room as if he needed to talk to him.  I pretended to be preoccupied, then turned around and STOLE MY KISS!

Anyway, my lesson learned...blog immediately...or you'll forget!!!

Lucky Leprechaun Day!

We love "Lucky Leprechaun Day"!

Our tradition of going out for pizza on St. Patrick's Day is something we all look forward to! We also look forward to coming home from pizza and finding a trail of candy left by the Lucky Leprechaun that always leads to a fun treasure!

Jackson, Maya and Mark at Sweet Home Chicago Pizza
Jamie, Macie and Matt enjoying fun family conversation!
YUM!!!
Rushing through the door to follow the trail...
We LOVE that the Lucky Leprechaun knows that Dove chocolates are our FAVORITE!!!
So many to collect!
Jackson spies the treasure!
Maya and Macie are more concerned with collecting the most chocolates!
Fun!
Everyone is happy...except for Maya...apparently the Lucky Leprechaun didn't bring what she was hoping for!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Birthday Catch Up

We had quite a few milestones with birthdays this year! Here are some of the highlights!

In May Matt turned twelve...old enough for young men's...crazy! We were actually in Disneyland on his birthday so he got to celebrate with the family a few days early! He also had a party with a "few" of his friends. A girl from his class lives down the street and she was having a birthday party, too, that night. Before I knew it both parties were at our house and our yard was filled with about 25 twelve year olds! They had a great time playing night games and just running around having fun!

This face is telling me, "I know what I'm getting!"

Yep, an ipod! (Spoiled!)There are WAY too many candles on that cake!

In September Jackson turned 10...double digits! He wanted to go to Chili's for his birthday so we just decided to have his party there! We were a large and wild group, but tons of fun for a party! Jackson also had a birthday party with his friends. They had a great time eating pizza and running around playing night games!

"Finally, an ipod!"
Boys...need I say more?!
Money and IBC root beer...everything a kid could ask for!True happiness!
Definitely Jackson!

At the end of November my baby officially became a big girl! Macie insists that at five years old she is no longer the baby! She had a great day! First she got the dollhouse she had been so desperately wanting. Then she had a party with her friends. She had wanted to go bowling for her party, but I didn't know how well that would go over with a circus of five year olds so we decided to have our own bowling alley in the basement! She absolutely loved it! That night she wanted to go to Texas Road House for dinner so she could sit on the saddle while they sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She was so adorable!

So fun!
Taylor Bowling Alley
Definitely having a good time!
Loving the pinata!
Mae designed her own cake!Macie's famous picture face!
Birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse!

Maya turned 17...I mean, 7 and she loves it! She had a party at the house and invited every girl in her class and then some! It was "totally" fun! Maya absolutely loves art and is constantly creating! Her portfolio and art supplies were starting to take over the house so we got her a new desk and hutch that she absolutely loves! She had no idea she was getting it, but knew it was something big because she could hear Daddy building it. She was so shocked when she saw it, she was screaming and kept saying "I'm shaking, I'm so excited!" It was so cute! Of course she chose Texas Roadhouse for her birthday dinner and thoroughly enjoyed the spotlight during the birthday song!

One very happy birthday girl!
The party cake...made of cupcakes!
Party Girls!
Pinata time!Fishing for party favors!
"The" desk!So excited!
Awesome!
Loving Texas Roadhouse!
Maya's "custom order" cake from Aunt Kellie
One year older and wiser, too!

Is There Anything Better?

Today's perfection:

Jackson, Maya and Macie bustling around the kitchen putting away their lunch dishes as quickly as they can. The conversation consists of the amazing creatures that will transform outside in mere moments as their "shapeshifting" begins. As I start to load the dishes into the dishwasher Jackson begins to belt out his rendition of "We All Live In a Yellow Submarine" and soon we are all singing at the top of our lungs.

The moment is perfect.

Yes, there are about 50 loads of laundry waiting for me upstairs, sheetless beds needing to be covered, crumbs all over the floor because our amazing "vacuum" dog has decided he would rather munch on ice than crumbs, 4 different places I need to be to tonight (all at one time, of course!), filing and organizing that NEEDS to be done, I'm already about four hours behind for the day and dinner really should be an actuality at this time rather than a dream, but for now the moment is perfect.

I can say in all honesty that it doesn't get better than this and I am truly grateful!

Thank you, thank you, thank you honey for making it possible for me to have such perfect moments as this!

Monster Bashing!

Macie LOVES boxing with Matt. Though, she has yet to get the correct terminology, she thinks it's called "Monster Bash", who knows why!

Thankfully, Matt is an awesome big brother and a great sport because he just basically has to sit there and let Mae beat on him! When she first started punching him he would yell out, "Augh" and try to fight back. She informed him that he can't do that, the rules are that when she hits him he has to fall over and "die"! What happened to my "girly girl"?!