Daddy, Don't Go!

Ethan and Katelyn didn't want Daddy to leave and go to work. : )

Having fun in the sprinkler!

Ethan loved the sprinkler, but Katelyn was a little upset about getting wet!

Playing, Playing!

Katelyn and Ethan playing in boxes.

Here the box is a boat and Katelyn has the oar!

"What's that sound?" Katelyn's favorite question! In this case, it was an airplane. We were outside playing in the sprinklers.

Splashing in a mud puddle made from the sprinklers. Unfortunately, right after this Ethan got bitten by a huge ant all of his legs!

Ethan and Katelyn refusing to let Daddy go to work (video to come later!).

Eating after swimming in the pool of a youth group member.

Ethan and Daddy in the pool! Ethan found the squirt gun and was in love.

Grandpa reading Katelyn her new favorite book--Incredible Me. She even sleeps with it!

Katelyn wanted to see her cute pigtails in the mirror and then Ethan wanted to see himself too!

Smiling for Mama! I finally got all of Katelyn's hair up!

Enjoying summer!

It's been a great couple of weeks beginning summer! I haven't taken many pictures, but we've been busy. We've gone swimming and playing at the lake, swimming in the pool in Toccoa, gone to the library (yesterday they had a magician show!) and had fun at home. We've been reading lots of books. We are doing the Catching the Reading Bug at the library and the kids get prizes after I read them a certain number of books. Ethan likes every time I write a book down on his list (though Katelyn is ahead of him because she isn't as picky!). We've even played in the sprinklers.

I can't believe it, but Katelyn is turning two in a couple of weeks. She's turning in to such a fun little lady. She talks so much now and is such a happy girl. Yesterday, Nana and Grandpa came over and we took the kids to the lake to go swimming and play in the playground. Katelyn was so excited that in the car she kept giggling and and kicking her legs. She's such a happy girl! She's obsessed with Dora, but calls her "D-D-D-Dora!". We're just doing a small family party for her this year since she's still so little and with Ethan always around, she's never lonely for kids anyway!

Ethan and Katelyn are really starting to play together. It gives me a nice break every once in a while, though they mostly want me to play with them. Ethan is blowing me away with how smart he is. The other day Ethan was playing with his legos and he built this tower/rocketship in perfectly coordinated black and red. It was amazing! I wish I had taken a picture of it!

I'm loving being on break. It's amazing that you don't realize how busy you are until you have a moment to yourself. I was running on empty a bit last year! This summer has been so refreshing!

Back from vacation from Myrtle Beach!

I am under the colorful umbrella with the kids. We spent a good bit of time just playing on the beach which went a lot like me chasing them as they ran in different directions and me building them sand castles that they stepped on! It was fun though!

When we got back, we put Ethan's bunkbeds up and he really likes them. Now he actually has room to play with his toys!

This is at Broadway at the Beach an outdoor shopping area. It has everything though--Build a Bear (which Katelyn loved), rides that Katelyn and Ethan really enjoyed, IMAX and even a place to feed fish.

At our favorite place to eat--Japanese!

Ethan showing off his new Cars toy at the Japanese restaurant!

Amy, Nana, DaddyBob, Uncle Kelly and Uncle Mikey!

They really enjoyed the lazy river at the hotel.

As you can see, I didn't actually take many pictures. Nana took the best pictures, that we got copies of but don't have for the blog. It was a great week with lots of fun and shopping and good food! A week isn't long enough though!

Ethan's bunkbeds

We just got the bunkbeds last night that Nana is getting for Ethan's from someone at our school. We didn't have time to put them up in Ethan's room last night, but you can tell from this video that he is very excited about them.

At the circus

Last Friday night, Janice and I took the kids to the circus in Clemson. The kids really enjoyed it. The show was great with elephants and tigers and jugglers (oh my!). It was amazing what these people could do! Ethan really liked the jugglers and giggled and clapped with delight. Katelyn mostly liked the lemonade and the toys! : )

Katelyn watching the show with Nana!
They really enjoyed the elephants!

The best time was when they got all sorts of fun stuff like crazy hats and monkeys.

Don't they look adorable?

Ethan's elephant toy

Ethan clapping for the jugglers

Ethan and Katelyn's School Pics

Been busy...

I don't have any pictures to update with, but Mother's Day was lovely. Tracy got me an iPod and we spent most of the weekend figuring out how to use it (and then having my students at school help too!). We went camping with our youth Friday night and Ethan and Katelyn came for a portion of it. Ethan caught his first fish! He was really excited though I think he was more interested in the worms than anything else. Unfortunately, the video and pictures got deleted off of our camera. : (

Tomorrow night we are taking Ethan and Katelyn to the circus for the first time. This time I will make sure the photos do not get deleted. I can't wait to see how they react to it all. It will be a late night for Katelyn, but, as much as she loves animals, I know she's going to love it!

I only have 6 more days of school left and 7 days till vacation! I cannot wait! This will be Katelyn's first time to the beach (last time she was a newborn and we didn't take her to the beach part). Next weekend is also Tracy and my 6 year anniversary! I'm sure we will go to the movies or something--I really want to see the new Narnia movie! : )

A very weird commercial

Anyone who knows Tracy, knows that he loves to watch Ghost Hunters and other weird TV shows. Someone sent this to me, and so, in honor of my husband, I thought I'd put it on my post. Enjoy, all you paranormal lovers!

This video is from a commercial that was filmed in Europe. When the commercial was finished the editors noticed a white mist floating around the car after it came out of the trees. It is difficult to see but if you look closely you can see the mist that caused the commercial to be pulled. Click below to watch.

Ghostly Car Commerical

This week has been such a lovely week. The weather has been nice and I've had a good time in the evenings with my babies. Ethan has become quite the question asker. Everything is now "Mommy, what's that noise?" "Mommy, what are you doing?". Last night after we put the kids to bed, Tracy made some brownies. Some time after Tracy took them out of the oven, Ethan called for me and said he needed to go potty. As I was taking him to the bathroom, his eyes got really big and he said, "Mommy, what's the smell?? I think Daddy is making cookies!". I wish I could let you hear how he said cookies, because it was so cute! It wasn't long after that Ethan decided that he was hungry and needed a snack aka a cookie. It was too funny so we gave him a small brownie and some milk.

Another cute thing that happened was the other day coming back from Ethan and Katelyn's "school" (that's what they call it), Ethan was talking about how naughty Chick from the movie Cars is. He said he needed to go to time out. Katelyn upon hearing this started saying, "Ethan! Time out!" Actually she says "Etan"! : ) Ethan got very offended by this and said, "No, not me, baby Katelyn! I'm a good boy!" She was in turn offended that he yelled at her started crying and Ethan felt bad and said, "Katelyn--you want to be my friend?" Katelyn yelled an adamant, "NO!" It was so funny. I can tell you that they quickly made up though. They play together so well and Ethan is so gentle and watches out for her all the time.

Katelyn is talking so much now--she even says sentences believe it or not! Last night while we were sitting at the dinner table, her and Ethan decided to get under the dinner table. Katelyn yelled, "Daddy look at me! I'm under the table!" Of course, that wonderful sentence was probably only intelligble to Tracy and me!

Tonight I am going to a one-night conference near Helen. I'm very excited to be focusing on something spiritual and look forward to the fellowship. My friend who invited me is a friend I met in college 14 years ago! It's so hard to fellowship when you are watching little ones. Of course, it's hard for me to be away from them even one night because I miss them so much. They'll be at Nana and DaddyBob's though so I know they will be happy.

The last couple of weeks have been a neat time with the Lord. I've been as busy as ever, but I've been learning that it's the short times during the day when I remember the Lord and turn my heart towards Him that can be the sweetest. It's neat to remember that I don't have to be completely stopped to fellowship with Him (though it's wonderful when I do!). We've been talking more and more with Ethan about spiritual things and the other day when it was storming, he told me he was scared. I asked him, "Who is with you always even when your scared?" He yelled out, "JESUS!" (Of course this is always his answer to anything that has to do with the BIble!). I then told him how God is always with Him and he can ask Him for help. It's so neat to see him beginning to understand these things.

Katelyn eating a cupcake!

They took this picture at school and sent it to us! They always take their shirts off when they eat things like that! Isn't she adorable?

Enjoying the nice weather

I love playing with my yogurt--it makes a great hair gel!
Katelyn looks so precious in her little dress. We were going to Tracy's first wedding (in a park).
Me and my cuties
At the park where the wedding was--it was beautiful.
Blowing dandelions

Ethan smiling for the camera before church. You can see his lip is still a little sore but is vastly better than earlier last week when he got Katelyn's virus.
She finally got to wear her Easter dress, but wouldn't give me a smile for the camera! : )

The weather has been beautiful and we enjoyed a very busy weekend. Saturday Tracy performed his first wedding which went well. It was in a beautiful park and we had fun, although it was difficult chasing the kids around the park while wearing heels! That night we went out to eat and got the kids some summer clothes from Target. Sunday started our revival at church which Professor Collier from TFC spoke at. It was so awesome to sit under his biblical teaching again and I was challenged again to get in to God's Word and to really learn. One thing I really need to do is read more spiritual books. I have been reading Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart which is an awesome book about biblical parenting. The chapter I was just reading talked about how parenting your child and teaching them about God's principles needs to be our priority since we only have them for such a short time. It's so good to be reminded of these truths because it's so easy to get caught up in busy schedules and not invest in what is eternal. Does anyone have any suggestions for books I should read that have really impacted your walk (especially in relation to being a mother/woman etc)?

My new Avon website

I just became an E-Rep which means that anyone can purchase Avon products at my website 24/7. The address is www.youravon.com/tclaytor. You can even do an anti-aging beauty profile questionaire when you click on the Anew products. Let me know if you have any questions! : )

Ethan and Katelyn are doing well. Ethan has a virus that Katelyn just got over which causes sores in the mouth and a really sore throat, but he has been doing pretty good this evening and is even eating and drinking. This last month has been a sick month, which I'm going to blame on the season change. Only 6 more weeks of school and then summer! Whoohoo! I can't wait to have every day with my babies!

Dora and Diego

Katelyn is obsessed with Dora now and Ethan only likes Diego (he used to like Dora more!).

Kids painting their faces--I gave up trying to stop them!

Easter and Spring Break Photos

We're on Spring Break this week and Wednesday was our only pretty day! We spent a lot of time playing outside!

Ethan and Katelyn look too cute watching a show together.

One morning they both decided that they wanted to play in the laundry baskets.

In Bermuda, we have a tradition where we fly kites on Good Friday. Ethan and Katelyn really enjoyed doing this.

Katelyn even tried!

Katelyn finding eggs at Nana's house.
They were proud of their Easter eggs!
I bought them some paint the other day and wasn't prepared for the mess they would make! : )
She's got a bunch in her hair too!

It's been an uneventful Spring Break. We had exciting plans to go to the zoo, but the weather hasn't been too great and Katelyn just came down with a virus that causes sores in the mouth and throat. Terry has been really sick too, but is getting better. It's been nice just to be at home though. : )

I've been tagged!

Jenn Kozak tagged me: http://kozakfamily.blogspot.com/

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2.Post the rules.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag at least 3 people.
5.Make sure the people you tagged know you tagged them by commenting to them.

Here's mine:

1)I do the same routine every morning when I work--I get up I wash my face and brush my teeth, get dressed, put my hair in rollers, put my makeup on, make waffles, eat, take rollers out and go. I love a routine! I even have one for when I get to school.
2) I love to sanitize things. I get teased at church because I go around spraying the kids' toys (I work in the nursery) and giving the kids hand sanitizer.
3) I love having my babies in bed with me (my husband does too). We put them to bed at night in their own bed, but our favorite times as a family are in the morning when they are all with us.
4) I can't stand long nails. I have to cut them or they make me nuts.
5) I'm addicted to Avon catalogues. I could look through them forever because I always see neat things. I guess it's good that I sell it now!
6) I'm obssessed with lip gloss and hand lotion. If I had to get rid of all of my makeup, that'd be fine, but I couldn't live without these two items.

I'm tagging Christa Goodwiny Christy Harner and Kelly Glupker.

Some more video of my cuties!

Blowing bubbles outside--Katelyn's favorite thing to do!

Ethan and Katelyn playing together--I'm so glad they get get along! : )

More pics (I've had more time this week!)

I just love this ensemble--Spiderman slippers (that Grandpa got her--don't ask me!), her Easter purse, her Easter hat and pajamas!
Ethan and Katelyn singing--see video below.
Closeup on my cutie pie--he's been sick, but feeling better today!
Blowing bubbles is one of her favorite things to do.