Thanksgiving with Friends

So...this past week our dear friends from med school visited the Taylor Fam. They drove from Detroit, MI..and arrived Monday morning. The kids had SUCH a blast hanging out with each other, eating too much, watching too many movies, playing too many video games, playing outside in the too cold of weather, and staying up too late. It was soo great to see them again! We just cherish them so much and their friendship has meant so much to us over the years. We love you Hollands! I'd sure post the awesome pictures we took IF I COULD GET THEM TO LOAD!! Grrr...sorry!
Anyways....we're shoveling out the house today and getting caught up on things that went undone all week. Back to reality, eating better, and running, I guess. Sad!

The Tag Thing...

I've been tagged. Here goes:

Name Five Things You were doing Ten years ago:

1. Living in Ft.Collins, Colorado
2. doing home health care
3. went to Cayman Islands with my sisters, Bev and Renee (thanks, Bev!)
4. driving a leased '97 Nissan Altima (another one of our dumb financial decisions)
5. hanging out with Anne, Crystal, and Eric most of the time.

Name Five Things you were doing FIVE years ago:

1. living in West Des Moines, Iowa
2. getting excited for my parents to come help celebrate Brooks' TWO year birthday!
3. living in Sun Prairie Apts. (ick)
4. working part-time at Mercy Hospital in the PACU
5. driving a 95 Honda Passport that we bought from Geoff's mom (notice it's five years later..and we're driving a car SEVEN years old..we're learning!)

Name Five things you were doing ONE year ago:

1. Just finding out I was pregnant with Greyson.
2. pondering ways to break it to the fam!
3. getting excited for my parents to come celebrate Brooks' SIX year, and Reagan's THREE year birthdays from Montana.
4. volunteering in Brooks' kindergarten class
5. painting my kitchen for the fourth time

Name five jobs you've held:

1. Very first job was at TCBY (we got one free small yogurt per shift...yummy White Chocolate Mousse!)
2. worked as a dietary aid in a nursing home with my highschool buddies
3. Parkview Nursing home as an activities assistant for the Alzheimer's patients in their locked unit....interesting.
4. ER and PACU tech
5. massage therapist

Name Five of your favorite snacks:

1. Baked Cheetos
2. 94% fat free microwave popcorn....100 cal bags
3. fat free vanilla pudding snacks
4. bananas
5. Diet A&W Rootbeer (we're both addicts as of late...it's a sickness around here...don't get started on it!)

Name Five things you did yesterday:

1. went to a mom's prayer thingy for the kids/staff at Brooks' school.
2. ran (more like trotted) 3 miles on the trail in the cool air a through some leaves
3. bought groceries at Fareway
4. two loads of laundry.....grr...
5. talked on the phone to friends/(and Bev, and my mom)

Name Five things you'd do with a million dollars:

1. pay off student loans/medical school loans
2. buy a house for my mom and dad..and pay Geoff's mom's house off.
3. do some serious upgrades to the sorry wardrobes of Geoff and I (the kids get all the cool stuff around here)
4. take a vacation with just Geoff and I sans kids (never been done)
5. bless random strangers with buying their dinner, paying for their groceries/gas...stuff like that...

Name Five things I hate doing:

1. when I don't control my tongue and give in to gossiping/complaining.
2. loosing my temper with my kids
3. moving
4. emptying the dishwasher
5. waking up in the night and not be able to fall back asleep

Name Five shows I like:

1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy (now on at the same time as the Office...conspiracy!)
3. almost anything on HGTV
4. Oprah..usually
5. When Beth Moore comes on Wednesday mornings

Name Five of the Biggest joys of my life:

1. being married to Geoffrey...it just keeps getting better and better...really!
2. being close to God
3. being a mom to Brooks, Reagan, and Greyson...and being able to stay home with them full-time
4. decorating the house
5. shopping/getting my hair done/massages/getting my nails done/being DONE with exercise for the day/eating out/my great girlfriends.....I could go on!

Name Five People to "Tag"

1. Christie Wall
2. Rebecca Cannon
3. Athena Grady
4. Laura McCarragher
5. Corey Ward

Greyson just hanging out...
Reagan wanted to sneak into the picture..
Greyson's favorite entertainment

Ode to MARGO!

happy birthday, Margo...

Here's just some of the reasons why we love ya...

1. You're soo real....no fakey stuff there
2. You have the best hair of anyone I know.
3. You're genuine.
4. You are one of the funniest people I know.
5. You send great/thoughtful packages to the kids...even when you can't afford it because you know how much it means to them.
6. You give the best "force hugs"
7. You know how to have fun and relax.
8. You work hard.
9. You're humble..but not a push-over.
10. You speak your mind.
11. You can type really really fast.
12. You can figure most anything out about a computer.
13. You like animals.
14. If you feel prompted to give/help someone else...you just DO it....you don't overanalyze it..you just do it.
15. You said I was "cool" on the back of the school picture you gave me when I started dating your brother...(and you were in the fifth grade)
16. you're beautiful (although we'd still like you even if you weren't)
17. You would stick up for me when Geoff and I would argue and try to help me prove my point :)
18. You love my kids to pieces.
19. You're one of my husband's favorite people....well, mine too, for that matter
20. You're up front.
21. You can remember the lines to movies like nobody's business.
22. You like to laugh.
23. You love your family
24. You'd drop everything for a trip to Target or a great coffee drink
25. I can turn to you for fashion advice.
26. You're not afraid to get dirty.
27. You're not afraid to dress all up!
28. You're willing to be transparent.
29. <----your age today:)

Happy Birthday, Margo! We love you soo soo much!

Health Check...

Yes, in case you were wondering...Greyson and Reagan are STILL coughing! Grrr....
Poor little muffins! I think we're on the mend though...(feeling a little puney myself). Geoff's been working an awesome schedule this month (I LOVE you ambulatory surgery!) Brooks is learning how to tell time, add/subtract/count by fives,tens, twos..etc. First grade is fun..and fast-paced! Reagan got lost in Target on Saturday...amongst the entire town of Iowa City. She was a "Code Yellow" and everything. A lady found her and brought her to a Target workerperson. Yesterday, I was in TJMaxx with a friend...(in Cedar Rapids, mind you...twenty minutes from my house) and a lady came up to Reagan and said, "aren't you Reagan?" I didn't recognize this woman at all..and she told me she had found Reagan in Target on Saturday! I got the details of the ordeal of her "lostness"...and was glad to be able to tell this woman that we had always trained our children to find a "pretty lady" if they ever found themselves lost. She liked that :) Long story short...Reago was lost for about five minutes....which is a sicknin' amount of time, actually. I'm soo thankful that she was found and safe...now you can be, too.
Greyson...Greyson's forgoing sleeping through the night due to his cough/cold. Ya kinda have to throw all the rules out the window when they're sick...so I've spent the past four nights on the couch....next to Greyson....plunking my finger in his mouth whenever he wakes up sad/screaming/furious/coughing. (no...still won't take the pacifier....despite enormous effort). I guess that about wraps up life around the Taylor household these past couple of days.