Halloween back in America

In Scotland, and most other European countries, there is only one holiday - Christmas. They claim that "all those other holidays are just created by Americans to make money".

Okay so maybe we spend a lot of money on silly holidays like Halloween - but its so much fun! I had forgotten that so many people decorate their houses for Halloween - on the inside and out - with lights and inflatables and scenes like this one here. And there are so many parties to go to! Luckily Lydia has no shortage of costumes, so she was Rapunzel for her school party, then Snow White for a church party, then Bo Peep for the Trunk or Treat.
Here we are at the church's Halloween carnival. Lydia worked on the pumpkin for about 5 minutes then left the rest for daddy. He did a great job :)
Then Claire... oh Claire... she hates dressing up. She just couldn't be bothered with it. We tried and tried to at least get a fairy skirt on her, but she'd take it off. So she went around the party like this - no shoes, not playing any games, just looking for food to eat. But Lydia was a great sport and played all the games...even though she cheated on some of them. This year we went with the Toy Story theme for Halloween (like many others I'm sure). Here's the cast:




And how did we get that Mrs Potato Head costume on Claire?? Josh held her tight, I shoved it on her, then grabbed her up in my arms and Josh stuck some candy in her mouth. Done. Then as the trunk-or-treating started she forgot she had it on. We only have 3 girls ...the pink batgirl is Addie, one of Lydia's friends, who wanted to be in the picture too! And you can see that we forced poor Scarlett into a sheep costume. Lydia loved having Scarlett as her sheep.She was the CUTEST Little Bo Peep ever! And many thanks to my mom for her adorable costume.

...Till we meet again

Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a tornado that just won't stop spinning. At 8 months pregnant I learned we were moving across the ocean back to the US. That was stressful. We moved, lived in a temporary house while all our stuff was in transit, had a new baby, started a new preschool, bought a house, and then the week that our stuff arrived from Scotland I learned that my dear grandfather had a stroke and wasn't doing too well. My sister and I booked a last minute flight to California... and I left Josh to handle the move on his own while my mom watched Lydia & Claire.

Sarah and I only had a day to spend with grandpa, but it was well worth it. The stroke left him unable to speak and barely able to move, but he was still fully aware of his surroundings, and was able to nod yes or shake his head no, and make silly faces. I arrived at the hospital really early so that he had no other visitors, and I remember that when he first opened his eyes and saw me he just started crying. He tried so hard to talk. it broke my heart. So I just did all the talking. I told him all about my girls and about Josh and his new job, and our move from Scotland. I told him about church and our callings. Then i felt like that was all pretty boring, and he was pretty tired, so i sang him some hymns.

I had Scarlett with me, and against my better judgement I brought her into the hospital amongst all the germs, but was able to shield her pretty well. I introduced her to grandpa. Scarlett is 6 weeks old, and the 25th great-grandchild. Lydia was born the same week my grandmother passed away 4 years ago, and never got to meet her. I'm glad grandpa got to see Scarlett.

We were in and out of the hospital all day. Here's what I love about my grandpa - even when life was slipping away he was still trying to make me smile. He always wants to make people smile. We talked to him about dancing with grandma, and then he tried to wiggle in his hospital bed like he was dancing! And then he gave us a wink and his trademark sly smile. He still had his swagger.

Grandpa passed away on Tuesday afternoon. He left this world the way i want to...at home, surrounded by his four children who have insurmountable love and respect for him, and who never left his side until he took his last breath.

He is surely happy now that he is with the "Queen of his castle", my grandma Bettie Jean. But its the rest of us who are at a loss because there is only one man I've ever known that is so happy, forgiving, full of love, and downright hilarious as Lawrence Edward Taylor. They just don't make men like that anymore.

I love you so much grandpa, and I wish you were around longer so my girls could get to know you for the great man you are. But I know you'll be watching us.

Pondeleros!
(that's Spanish for "Till we meet again")

and only a Taylor will get that. ;)

Aunt Sarah comes to visit

My sister Sarah came to visit for the weekend! She moved up to Riverton Utah to teach just the week before we moved to Midland. Since we won't be with my family for Thanksgiving, she decided she couldn't wait until Christmas to see the girls again, so she's here!And of course she had to bring BYU gear for the kids :) This weekend Sarah has done a lot of babysitting for us, which we really appreciate as we've been getting things sorted at the house and running errands without kids. The girls have been to the duck pond and watched movies together, and this weekend we went to the Halloween party at the library.

The only dress-up costume I packed in Lydia's suitcase was Princess Tiana, so that's what she went as to the party. Then when we got there she wanted her face painted as a kitty cat. Sure, why not. Claire didn't have anything for a costume except high-heeled dress-up shoes, which only lasted 15 minutes and then she put on her crocs. So yeah, we were a little unprepared (I mean, Halloween is still a couple weeks away!), but the girls had a blast.The girls got balloon animals, but we had to wait like 15 minutes in line for them. All this time Lydia is striking up conversation with every kid around her, and meowing like a kitty-cat.Then we went to the craft room and made treat bags, so we could go all around the library trick-or-treating!
Thanks Sarah for a fun weekend!

Almost there...

This Wednesday, the 2oth, the moving van arrives! We've been busy painting, cleaning, and fixing up the house we just bought, and we're ready to finally call this place a home.





I just have to include this picture because it made me laugh. The house comes with a huge pantry, and the previous owners had labeled every shelf! Who is that organized?? Not me. And only an American would have shelf space dedicated to Jello.

Sneak Peak

Little Helpers

Lydia and Claire are my little helpers. I just love these two munchkins. They are still so little, but they try to be so grown up, especially around Scarlett. They always want to hold her, and help burp her and bathe her, and they even speak to her in baby voices. They are little mommies, who love miss Scarlett as much as I do.

They are also little helpers around the house. We give them some small chores to do, but they always want to take on big projects, like painting.But we know better than to trust them with paint, because inevitably they'd start painting like this:Our family is growing, and growing up. But occasionally there are moments that remind me that my girls are still babies. Claire especially likes to do things to remind me that she is 2...
..like plaster herself and her toys with the "bum medicine."

Scarlett meets her sisters

Miss Scarlett

Scarlett Lillian Viets

Born September 15th at 4:31am

7 lbs 2 oz
19 inches long

Miss Scarlett wasn't supposed to make an appearance until today, the 19th, but she and I were definitely ready. The funny thing is, my mom had just come home from Utah that same night, on Tuesday, and within hours of her being home, I had to call her to come watch the girls so that we could head to the hospital! My Father in Heaven knew I needed her here.

My birth story really isn't all that exciting - I woke up at 1am with some painful contractions, got to the hospital and had my epidural by 2am, then watched TV and rested for a couple hours. They called my OB when I was fully dilated, he got there about 4am, I pushed through 3 contractions and she was born at 4:31am. Easy!

We were so excited for Lydia and Claire to meet their new sister. All they want to do is take turns holding her, and they are actually very good with her.
Although the "taking turns" part really tests their patience.
Josh and all his ladies :) He's definitely gonna need another pay raise!
And as for the name....
My favorite name has always been Isla. I heard it a lot in Scotland and just loved it. I wasn't going to give in to Josh, who wanted Alaina, which was a name we had both liked when Lydia was born. But then when we moved here, I realized that every American pronounces Isla "EES-la", which is the Spanish pronunciation, instead of "EYE-la". And so at the last minute I had to
surrender my favorite name, because I didn't want her to grow up as EESla.

I wasn't entirely sold on Alaina, so I went back to the books and came up with more names. We had 8 that we liked! Then after she was born we narrowed it down to 4. It wasn't until that afternoon when I knew her name. The nurses had taken her away for a bath, and when they brought her back to me they had put on her head a bright red bow. I knew then that she was my little Scarlett.
Lillian is Josh's great-grandmother's name. We originally had plans to give our girls names from the Taylor side, and boys names from the Viets side... but at this rate I think we will only have girls! If they are all as great as my first two, I'd gladly have a few more. We are so very blessed with these little princesses!

Repatriation

We've only been away for 3-1/2 years, but there are still some things that have come as a "culture shock" to us as we learn to be American again. I really thought we might have a hard time living among the selfish, wasteful, and materialistic Americans again... but the more I think about it, I think these expectations were just fed to us by the British all these years! Not that they were entirely false... but the truth is the people here are wonderful. Especially Texans.

Having said that, there are still a lot of things that we hate and love about being Texan.

1. HATE the water here. Even a tiny sip of water for sacrament on Sunday leaves a raunchy taste in my mouth. In Scotland we could bottle the water right from the tap!
2. LOVE my washer and dryer. They are freaking enormous. I could get away with only doing 2 loads a week!
3. HATE how expensive everything is for kids - preschool, dance, swimming, soccer... nothing is provided through a community center, its all private, professional, and competitive. And costly.
4. LOVE American music. Brit-pop was so annoying, we only ever listened to talk radio. Or a Disney CD.
5. HATE that I come home with 15 plastic carrier bags every time I go grocery shopping, but LOVE the fact that they pack your groceries, take them to your car, load them for you, then say "have a good day, ma'am!"
6. HATE the scenery here. It's so dead and flat. But we LOVE that big Texas sky at sunset with all its shades of purple and pink.
7. HATE how drained I feel every afternoon because of this heat. But we LOVE the sun and swimming.
8. LOVE how easy it is to go out for food. Good food.
9. LOVE the enormous grocery stores here, but HATE that it takes a whole afternoon to get through it sometimes.
10. LOVE having a Pediatrician for my girls, and an OB/Gyn for myself. I can't think of anything I hate about my health care here - except the paperwork, and waiting for an hour for an appointment.

I LOVE the space here. We actually have walk-in closets, and a laundry room, and a garage that will actually fit more than 1 car. Even the roads are so spacious compared to what we're used to in Scotland. Our neighborhood roads are wider than the highways that went through Glasgow.

I HATE temporary living. Midland is such a small town, there's no corporate housing available for people like us, who need a furnished place while all our stuff is in transit internationally. So we had to negotiate to lease a house for only 2 months, when most leases are 12 month minimum. Then we had to rent furniture, and then we raided my parents house for cookware, linens, towels, tools, cleaning supplies, and bedding! So in the end it worked out fine...but we are still missing our own stuff. Here's a few pics of the rental house. Another big shock to us was car shopping. In Scotland it was so easy to shop for used cars, but here, if you get a car that's older than 2 years its got 100,000 miles on it! And I HATE that cars are such a status-symbol, especially in Texas. Every Texan owns at least 2 vehicles, and one of them is a truck. And not just any truck, it has to have a lift-kit, 4wd, chrome wheels, and a V8 engine. Minimum. And there's not a mountain for hundreds of miles!

But we LOVE how cheap the fuel is here. I filled up my car for $40. In Scotland we paid well over $100 every time we filled up.

I'm glad I lived in Scotland and learned to be more practical and less materialistic when it came to big purchases. Four years ago I would have never bought this:But now I must admit - I live in Texas...and I drive a minivan. I still haven't seen another one in Midland that is driven by someone younger than 50, but I LOVE this car. The doors open with a remote control - definitely my favorite feature.

But to compensate...Josh drives a Tundra - the Texas Edition (hence the blog header).

We're fitting in just fine ;)

Summer in September

We are BUSY. But for some reason I can't help but feel like I'm on vacation, because of the great weather! There's hardly ever a cloud in the big Texas sky, and the temperatures are in the 90's. My girls are in heaven - they've been in the pool every other day, and are getting very good at swimming around on their own and jumping off the sides.

Pretty soon we'll need to get these girls in swimming lessons and take off those armbands!

What about a NAME!?

Yesterday I just realized that I am 38 weeks pregnant. That's basically full-term. This baby can come any time now, but its freaking me out because for the first time I am NOT ready! We've been a little busy moving, buying a house and cars and getting our new life figured out...that we don't even have a name picked for our little girl!! Every time we try to discuss names, it just ends up in an argument, so we change the subject. SO....as much as I hate to do this... I'm doing a poll for baby names. These are our top 4 (on the right). Josh has his #1, and I have my #1....and we are too stubborn to give up our favorites. But maybe this poll will sway our decisions. Or maybe not! Worth a shot though.