Family Fun Day

This weekend Matt had a smaller work load from his classes (no Hebrew take-home test! Whoo Hoo!!) so we actually got to see him for a bit! Hooray! =) Life is so much better when Matt's around.

So, since Matt had some free time, we took this afternoon to go play and explore parts of Dallas.

First was a trip to the Children's Hospital, to see the model train they have running around in part of the hospital. The kids watched the train and then played on the playground outside and we wandered around the little garden they had there. It was nice.

Then it was off to downtown Dallas where we went to the park where there is a cattle drive in statues. The kids had a blast running around and looking at the cattle and climbing on to their backs to pose for pictures.


There was also an old cemetery right there, and I loved getting to wander thru it and look at all the gravestones. Sadly, it wasn't well taken care of, so many of the headstones were broken off, or missing altogether. Most of the graves were from the late 1800's of men who had fought in the Civil War, and their wives and oh, so many babies and young children. I love history and would love to time-travel back to the pioneer periods, but it's easy to glamorize those periods and forget that life back then was so similar to village life in PNG now: no electricity and running water, much higher infant and child mortality, etc. It makes me thankful for all the comforts we do have now. (but it would still be fun to travel back for a short period of time!) =)

This monument was built back in 1896 by the Daughters of the Confederate soldiers. I know that's not really all that old, compared to castles and such you would see in Europe, but still, it's been standing right there for over 100 years!

My Firstborn Son

As I was doing school with Nathan the other day, I was thinking about how proud I am of him in so many ways. Yes, my last posting was a ranting of how very frustrated I can be with him, but at the same time, he's a special little guy.

By the way, as far as the whole pants-wetting stuff is going... we've been doing a slight bit better. (I am reminding him to go more often, as it seems like if I don't he just doesn't think about it at all).

Anyway back to school. I must say that most days I love teaching Nathan. He loves learning and works hard. Usually. This week he finished his Kindergarten math book. And we didn't even start it until late November! He just seems to be naturally good with numbers: he's going to take after his Daddy who is great with numbers (and well, just about everything). It's been fun to see him catch on to new concepts: counting by fives, adding, subtracting, time, money. But now I need to figure out what to do for the rest of the school year. I found another Kindergarten book that has some more worksheets on money, time and adding, so I may just continue on reinforcing those even better. I don't want him to get so far ahead that he will be bored in 1st grade, so maybe I'll just work to make sure he's got everything down pat.

He's also doing great at learning to read. During school on Thursday he read several books to Justin and I. It was fun to listen to him sound the words out. He's getting faster and faster at reading words. I love to see my kids develop a love for reading. Kaitlyn didn't really care much for reading, and could barely read until halfway thru 1st grade, when something clicked. But Nathan has reached that point already. Reading opens up so many fun adventures and I'm excited for them both to be able to access that. I guess this stems off of my love for reading, but I love it when my kids can read.

My Wit's End

What do you do when you've reached a point where nothing makes any difference at all, and while you desperately want to see change happen, nothing does?
I am currently at the point of desperation regarding potty training my almost 6 year old! It's been an on-going struggle for the past 3 1/2 years, and I am just sick to death of potty training.
This week I had it with all the reminding my almost-6-year-old to use the restroom, asking him if he needed to go, forcing him to go, berating him for peeing his pants. I'm just tired of all the nagging (and I'm sure he is too).
So I sat down and talked it through with him and told him that from now on, the ball is in his court. I'm going to quit (or do my best to) all the reminding, nagging, demanding on my part and leave it up to him. I was hoping that maybe it's my nagging that's holding him back, and maybe he just needs to be left alone to do it on his own.
I made up a "Privileges Chart" listing all the various privileges he's given (sweet drinks like juice, movies, playing outside, having dessert, etc) and gave each a "yes" (he's allowed) or "no" (he's not). My hope was that seeing the direct correlation between having accidents and losing privileges, (or not having wet pants and reaping the rewards) would be a good thing for him. The idea is that if he stays dry all day, his privileges will all stay on "yes". If he doesn't, at the end of the day he'll lose something until he earns it back (by a dry day).
Well, day 1: adios privilege #1. Day 2: hasta luego. Day 3: same old story. We finally saw a glimmer of hope and a dry day, so at the end of the day he had earned one back. But that was short lived. =( Nothing, even the losing of privileges, seems to phase him in the least. (If you ask him why he went in his pants, as opposed to walking the 10 feet to the bathroom, his most common answer is that he just didn't want to bother with stopping whatever it was that he was doing. So it's not like he doesn't realize he needs to go, or lacks some muscle control or whatever. He's purely lazy. And that's what drives me looney.)
But, obviously, after a few days of doing our chart, it's having zero impact on him. So what do I do now? Stick with something that's obviously not working, or try something new? But what?

HELP!!!

Fun Day

Today instead of doing much schoolwork, we did fun stuff: painting, eating donuts, going to the library. Here are some pictures of the kids and their creations:






Then, it was off to the library this afternoon to pick out some new books and videos! It was hilarious when I brought out the camera to get this picture as Julianne immediately started saying "Eeeeeeeee" (her version of 'cheese').

Racing, riding and rejoicing

This weekend I've really been enjoying my children. Not that I don't usually enjoy them, or being around them (well, granted, there are occasional moments when I wish they would just disappear for a short while). It's just that I've had several opportunities to watch them grow and learn new things and just interact with eachother.

The first event of the weekend was with the kid's AWANA group. They started going to AWANA at GBC while we were in California. So we wanted them to continue while we are here in Dallas. Both Matt and I grew up going to AWANA and we love it and want our kids to have the opportunities to be involved in it as well, and learn that memorizing God's word is good, and a fun thing to do. Anyway, after searching online for a nearby church with an AWANA program, Matt found one he thought would work. So our first week here in Dallas he took them. THAT was NOT a good experience. Basically the AWANA program at that church was totally chaotic and was the babysitting program for the Wednesday night church service. So the next week they tried a different church and it was a good experience, and that's where they're staying.


Anyway, all of that to say that Friday night was the "Grand Prix" car races. The kids got to race cars that they picked out and painted. It was fun to cheer for them as they watched their cars race. And it was especially fun to see Nathan's car keep doing well. He made it to the final round and finished 6th place with his car. Go Nathan!



Today was a beautiful day. After several freezing cold days and rain, it was wonderful to see the sun, and have a warmer day. The kids got to go outside and play, and Matt worked with K and N, practicing riding bikes. And today was the day! All these days when K has been so scared to try something new, and always was saying "I can't do it", she finally got over that and rode her bike! It was so fun to see how excited she was, and I was so proud of her for continuing to try until she got it.

Because of the beautiful weather the kids spent a lot of time outdoors today. Hooray! I loved to see them all playing happily together, pulling eachother (Julianne included) around in the wagon. So many times they are competing with eachother, or arguing over toys or something, so it was beautiful to see them working and playing together.

Then they came in and spent hours playing together with one of Matt's board games. They didn't have a clue as to how to actually play it, but they had fun putting all the pieces around the board and creating their own games. I love how my children can be so creative with whatever they are doing, whether it's playing a board game, or crawling around pretending to be dogs, or running a bus route on the sidewalk.

Happy Birthday Baby!

So yesterday we celebrated Julianne's first birthday. I think I'm in shock that she could be a year old already. Wow. It wasn't that very long ago I was hiking up mountains around Madang while on staff at POC, and then in Cairns to have her, then back in PNG and in the village for our house-building trip. I guess having a lot going on in the last year and a half or so can make the time fly.

I am so thankful for this sweet baby girl. I have always hoped to have four children. Two girls and two boys. But I really did not expect Julianne to be a girl. I figured, what with the Taylor family genes and all, that we would be having our third boy. But I prayed specifically for a girl, and I know that friends and family were also praying for that. And God answered our prayers! What a great, loving God we have!

So just over a year ago, in a shower in the hospital in Cairns, out came this little girl. I think it took me a day or two before the truth that we did have a second little girl really started to settle in.
Julianne is such a joy to have in our family. She's already such a character. She can make the silliest faces, just because she knows you are watching her. She's got a strong temper and hates to be told "no". She loves getting into anything and everything, and tries oh-so-hard to keep up with her three older siblings.

Just yesterday I found her in the bathroom, flushing the toilet over and over. Crazy baby. At least she's not walking quite yet. Then nothing will be safe.

Better Late Than Never

I have never ever in my life given up anything for Lent. Some years it is because I am not even thinking about it and don't realize when the whole season even started. (ie: Easter is so far away it's not even on my radar screen) But for more years than not, it's simply because I'm just too selfish. The thought of giving up/fasting from something that I enjoy does not even tempt me for a second.

So this morning when I woke up, my brain turned to Lent. Why? I have no idea. I think on Wednesday I must have seen some comment somewhere about it being Ash Wednesday. The start of Lent. Obviously it didn't phase me in the least on Wednesday. But how strange to wake up thinking about it on Thursday. So I gave it a little more thought. Why not? I mean, after all, fasting from something for a few weeks is rather pathetically simple when compared to how much God gave up and sacrificed for me. I decided to go ahead and give up something this year. Only one day late: better late than never, right? But what would I do? It's tempting to "give up" something that doesn't really hurt. Maybe something that I wouldn't miss. But that kinda defeats the purpose. So I took a deep breath and committed to giving up chocolate for the next 40+ days. Ouch. Especially since Julianne's 1st birthday is next week and I already know that all the rest of my family is going to request chocolate cupcakes. Like they would want any other kind. So it's going to be a test of my committment, and definitely a fast from something I like. So here goes!

But, on a happier (?) note:
Today we went and played as a family at a local park. Matt's weekend began today (whoo hoo!) and it actually got up into the 60's, so we were all ready to get outside for a bit.

There is this super cool park in Duncanville that I was excited to take the kids to again. It's a playground that was built back in the old days before all the lame, have-to-make-sure-no-one-could-possibly-get-hurt-and-sue plastic playgrounds came along.

So we climbed all around (much harder to do when you are over 5' tall and carrying a baby) and then had fun sitting and watching the kids race around. It was fun to see how Justin went from being a little nervous about all the maze-like areas to just racing around with Kaitlyn and Nathan and having a blast. Julianne sure was disappointed that I wouldn't just let her down to have at it as well. Well, maybe once you learn to walk, kiddo. =)

I'm sure we'll have some more fun trips here during the four months we're here in Texas, especially since the weather should start to get warmer before too long.