Name that bird...

" Seriously, Mom!!! You gotta come SEE this bird!!" ..that's what Brooks said first thing this morning. He spied this raptor atop the neighbor's roof early early. He hung out with his other little bird friend and had all the neighborhood birds in a tizzy.
Anyone know what kind of bird this is???

11 Month Old Baby...

Can you believe that Greyson's ELEVEN months old already??? Here's some pics just this morning of the lad.

Yesterday was pretty great. For starters...we went to church as a family for the first time in about a month! (sick kids..Geoff had TWO 24 hour calls the past two Saturdays...etc) Greyson didn't make it in the nursery for more than 4 minutes...so he rocked out to the music...and we spent the remainder of the "sermon" listening from the lobby tvs.

Next I ran to Kohl's...where I purchased a "dressy" shirt for the resident graduation ceremony at Brown Deer (not John Deere...I had to back up there..because I have a reallly hard time saying brown deer for some reason) We had a babysitter! Yes!!! US!!! A sitter!!! She was great...and hopefully she'll be coming back Thursday night for a party at one of Geoff's "staff's" house. (I'm gonna be needy another swanky outfit...help!) oh! and....I only spent 4 minutes in Kohl's!! that's what going without kids can do for a panicked girl that has NO time to shop or try on clothes! got a shirt...and earrings!...four minutes...no lie! and...I tried it on even!
anyways.....I'm obviously rambling! There's the Brookster...up for the day.

but...we DID go to the North Liberty pool last night! What a great little place with a zero depth entry...lots of squirty things, floaty things...and water slides..all for SIX BUCKS for the whole fam! (were you expecting pictures?? sorry!)

Happy Monday!

More Flood Stuff

The website linky deal that I included previously, www.parkviewchurch.org now has some new pics..and CNN's interview with Pastor Jeff Gilmore. Muddy!

New Post

I figured it's time for a new post. I have nothing really to say...I just tire of seeing myself and those ridiculous sunglasses on this thing. Hopefully....this
will
take


up


enough space


such that....




I won't be


greeted by that fashion blunder





each time


I


log



on!


Hope everyone's having a happy Saturday!

it's gorgeous here!!

Here I am to Worship..

Here's a couple of pictures from the race I trained and trained for since last October. As many of you know, I had felt led to do this sometime last fall..and accidentally blurted that fact out to a whole group of bible study women that I barely knew! Well...be careful about doing that, okay?? I'm not some spiritual super giant..but I have learned soo much through training for this race about giving things over to the Lord..and that we REALLY can do ALL things through Christ, who gives us strength! It was 12.4 miles...so you KNOW that was a God thing for me, huh?

and I want to super thank Anne, for all the advice, and "long runs" (even though I know I slow her down), Angie...for making me sign up..and believe I could do it!, Bev..for calling me a runner and being excited each and every time I had run my farthest, Keri and Angie (again) for the swingin' bbq..and for being at the finish line to cheer for me (thanks for getting up at the crack, Ang..to take me to the drop off place!) Geoff- you never once complained when I would take off after you'd finally get home so I could run..and I'm come back sweaty and tired! thanks for being my ever encourager! Bryn...you did it first..and were soo inspiring! I know it wasn't an Oscar or anything...but I do feel like I have soo many people to thank!

and now..for another "blurt"! I'm signing up for the Marathon in October in Des Moines. Yikes!

oh.

and this song was my theme song...cause in the beginning I hated running so bad that I decided to make it my worship.

Happy Father's Day to MY Dad!!

Thanks, dad..for being such an amazing man, husband, father. Here's just a couple of reason why I love ya!

• You work harder than anyone I know


• You are the most honest person I know


• You have very kind eyes


• You always do what's right, it doesn't even seem to occur to you to cut corners..or ever "try to get away with something"


• You love the Lord, and seek to do His will.


• You always put others before yourself


• You get down on the floor and play with my kids..even with really, really bad knees!


• You give sacrificially


• You know how to fix almost anything...or can figure out how to!


• You are extremely patient


• You never yell or curse....(do you even know any 'bad' words?)


• You love peanut butter..and sweets!


• You are soo good to mom


• You are meticulous and very organized (why didn't I get any of that?)


• You always do your best


• You find ways to help other people


• You never have to be asked to lend a hand


• You have amazing handwriting..I've always admired it!:)


• You always have good advice, but somehow wait for me to ask for it. I pray I can hold my tongue when my kids do the crazy things I've done and make some of the mistakes I've made.


• You are respectful


• You have good stories to tell


• You were in World War II!


• You age amazingly well


• You allowed my children to tattoo your leg with Spiderman tattoos!


• You have been through soo many hard times, but haven't become bitter or angry, just kinder and gentler.

thanks, dad. How CAN I thank you for being the amazing person that you are?? I love you soo much and I can't wait to see you!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Geoffrey! We just love and appreciate you soo, soo much! You work soo hard at being a doctor..and come home and put in 100% to your family! We're so thankful for the Christ-like love and guidance you lead our family with. Thanks for being you!

DEO GLORIA

DEO GLORIA

All's Well..

just for those of you who I don't talk to on a daily basis.. The Taylor house is NOT flooded...nor is it in danger of flooding (I hope..we don't have that kind of insurance I don't think!) We need to mow everyday pretty much..cause the grass is growing at an alarming rate! Click on the website for the church again...it's been evacuated and pretty much not looking too good. Geoff had to take quite an interesting and round-about route to work this morning. Luckily he made it in..I just hope he isn't stuck there! A major hospital from Cedar Rapids is being evacuated...so U of I Hospital is going to be extra bombarded..I told him to take his toothbrush!
here's one of our local stations..if you want to see more pics. I don't think we're going to brave the 1/2 hour drive to VBS this morning....it had to be moved cause Parkview's under water. Yikes...say some prayers for all the people losing their homes...
here's that link. www.kcrg.com
stay dry!

More Floody Church pics

here's a link, I hope, to some more pictures of the floody floody.
www.parkviewchurch.org

yikes!!!

More "Spatula" Tales....(pardon the pun)

so...Bev was telling her friend about the beloved "Spatula" dog. The friend's nine year old boy overheard the conversation and piped right up. ..."you know, Spatula can be a boy OR girl's name...just depends on which kind of spatula you're talking about!"

Huh?
Am I missing something here?

One of my churches is flooding...

We spent last evening "sandbagging". I must say, it was really some of the most fun I've had in a long time. I think "sandbagging" is my spiritual gift! I don't want to brag or anything....but Laura, Heather, and I have some serious skills! Where'd we get all this natural talent?? Oh..how I wish I had pictures of how savage we looked in all our dirt and grime glory!..but here's a little snapshot of the church...as I was dropping Brooks off for VBS this morning. As usual...with pictures....this doesn't come close to showing how overwhelming the water is!

More Baseball highlights

It's going to be over soon. Three more baseball games. I can't believe how fast it's flown by! Brooks has an amazing coach this year and has made tremendous strides.

Slip N Slide

Thanks, Aunt B...for the 'slip-n-slide'! Brooks and Reagan...and even the neighbor friend, Aaron..had a blast the other day! We'll be hauling that out again, soon!

School's Out!!!

yeah! Brooks had his very last day of first grade yesterday. How weird is that to type out??? yikes. The oldest boy is forging ahead and growing up so quickly!

So far. So good. We completed two math worksheets, and did a little bit of reading earlier. He has played ONE game on the play station...and that's going to be the rule: One game per day. (unless and until Geoff's home...then it's the ol' man who wants to break the rules!..naughty!)

He and Reagan have been playing together fairly nicely thus far. They whipped out some hide and seek, which was a little frustrating for Brooks because Reagan's an excellent "seeker"...she just has a bit of a problem staying quiet..and staying hidden. That's okay..we can work on that.

Going to be interesting with a ten month old who pretty much always needs to be home and in bed for his nappy! What's up with this age spread??

Spatula.....

So, Aunt "B" has some adorable new black lab pups...see??? Aren't they cute?? She decided they needed some "temporary" names until they move on to their new homes (they're available for purchase......let me know if you're interested...VERY good blood line!) Anyways, she asked Brooks and Reagan to name the boys...as Cody (Renee's three year old boy) had already named the little girl pup. Brooks and Reagan came up with Jake and Jack. What did Cody name the little girl???? Yep....you guessed it..the ever famous and over-used dog name of "Spatula". Every time I think of this little pup being called "Spatula" I want to pee my pants! Brooks came home from school yesterday and I told him that Cody had named the little girl pup..and did he want to know what her name was?? I began cracking up as I told him the name. He kinda got a little grin on his face and gave a little courteousy laugh (sp?) then he said to me, "Mom, Spatula's a funny name, huh? Cause...it's actually a boy name, huh?"

Greyson Andrew....10 Months!

Ok, so he was officially ten months old the other day..but lots has been going on, it seems! The arms up in the photo is the token, "So Big!" response. He gets a little confused sometimes and signals "so big!" for random reasons throughout the day. I pretty much want to eat him up!

To my Des Moines Peops...

I have Michelle Atkinson's kids at my house tomorrow!!! I'll try to post pics! They're such sweetie-pooh-pies!

ooops.

just a little fyi.


if you're watching someone else's kids...


and multi-tasking....


and thinking you should clean the betta's water while chatting with your girlfriend's six year old.


don't forget to pay close attention to the temperature of the water...k?

I mean...

ya use the really hot water to rinse out the bowl....and then you SHOULD add cold water and mix it all together to make a nice cozy temperature for said betta fish.

oops!
sorry "Blue".....dangit!

Full Blown Crappy Weekend

I decided to go ahead and make it a full blown craptastic weekend. Got myself super sick yesterday....the pukey, sicky kind. (no, it wasn't actually intentional, silly!) BUt!...I was down 6 pounds today! Sure..it can be argued that I'm way dehydrated..and I probably already put it back on....but wasn't it fun to know my scale knew that number??
In case the weekend was tempted to improve...we decided to shampoo the carpets. It's sticky hot already. Just happened yesterday...you might have heard of the tornado that hit pretty hard around here last evening. Not good. Anyways...I guess that probably doesn't have anything to do with the state of my carpets. They are looking better now though! tons. Maybe I forgot my point.
I'm nervous. Wayyyyy wayyy nervous for this race I've been training for. It's Saturday. 12.something miles ...and my training's been lacking this past couple of weeks with all the "junk" that's been going on around here. Furthermore....I obviously didn't run yesterday...NOR today (I hate the word "nor") I'm just all around feeling ill-prepared for TWELVE miles and some. Say a prayer k?
I guess those are my simple thoughts for now.

heavy, heavy heart.

this week has been so difficult. sometimes does it seem like you can't hear "one more thing?"
my heart is just aching for the incredible family that lost their little girl in our community yesterday afternoon. she was outside with her family, playing in the yard, when she was mistakenly run over by the woman who was reading their meter. 22 months old. it was her brother's fourth birthday.

another friend is awaiting results from her very young daughter's biopsy to find out if she has cancer.

a neighbor just shared with me that her father died unexpectedly this winter, and she and her husband went through a divorce.

another friend is having some scary and alarming neurological problems.

how could we go on if not for the hope and strength that comes from an awesome God? a sovereign God. all powerful. all KNOWING. Although I desperately want to shake my fist at Him today. to tell Him how unfair!.....what good can come from ANY of this?

I keep hearing in the back of my mind "God is good, and can be trusted." "Be Still...and know that I am God." "strength will raise as we wait upon the Lord" "I am with you always, even to the ends of the Earth"


so many people to lift up in prayer.
so many lives forever changed.
my heart is heavy.

Pardon Me!

"PsEudo"

"Psuedo Camping"

We have this thing we do that's really similar to camping. You go...set up your tent...make a campfire...grill a burger....roast a marshmellow...sit around the campfire....hike....etc...then you go HOME and sleep in your floofy bed with your down comforter and bamboo sheets. The poor kids don't know any different! They keep telling everyone that we went camping yesterday! (we did get Brooks out of school at noon...and stayed at the campeite til 10...which is WAY late in Brooksland ...okay, my land, too) Anyways..here's a couple of pics of the festivites..with apparenlty more to follow cause a reporter from the gazette in Cedar Rapids stopped by our campsite and took tons of pics of us for an article to be posted on tues. How embarassing! who looks cute to camp?? I ALMOST didn't even don make-up but decided I'd feel too nervous if I were so bold. Lucky for me. It was a great time, anyways..and if you look closely you can see the mama robin sitting on her nest...she was like ten feet from our tent that we never slept in:)