The Taylor Spot

Lord willing, we will close tomorrow on our new house. We will move Wednesday. Melissa’s father is arriving tomorrow to help us with the move. Ready or not, moving day is upon us!

We had a great trip to Arizona. Phoenix was temperate in February. We spent an afternoon in Sedona, where the famous red rocks reminded us Georgians of our own red clay. But Sedona’s rocks are much more striking. Here is one behind Melissa.

From there we went north to Williams, southern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway. We spent the night at the GCR Hotel and then rode the train north to the canyon. It was a relaxing way to get there.

At the canyon we took a bus tour along the South Rim. The canyon is too stunning to describe. Pictures don’t capture it well. Only being there, looking at the North Rim 11 miles distant across the vastness, can one appreciate the wonder and majesty of it. Here’s a picture you’ll only find on our Web site–me, blocking a view of a mighty deep gorge. Melissa didn’t like it when I struck this pose.

The temperature that day was somewhere below 25 degrees on the canyon rim. Wind gusted over 30 miles per hour and snow flurries were frequent. It was not weather for the faint of heart, but it rewarded me with the chance to see a snow flurry raining down on the canyon, while on the rim we were catching glimpses of the sun. I took this picture, which completely fails to capture what we experienced in seeing it. The downward motion of the snow is missing, making this look like nothing but a cloud. Oh, well. It triggers a memory for us.

We hope to go back with our whole family one day and spend more time in Sedona. It has more easily accessible adventures: quick hikes and numerous activities, plus an interesting history as Hollywood’s stock location for on-location filming of western movies. We heartily recommend Arizona, though perhaps in March rather than February.

I’m hoping now that I can avoid this

which has seemed to be the perpetual state of my van as I go back and forth on our dirt road and drive way!

Matt, just after his first day riding the bus, loves his new adventure, although, He still gets a little timid when he hears how loud it is. His bus has carseats on it, and the driver told me today that Matt needs to work at leaving his buckles alone! Unfortunately, I can’t say that surprises me at all. I told him if he will leave them alone, that tomorrow, he will get a blow pop when he gets home. We’ll see!

Also, I had the bus scare of every mother’s life today. I thought that Matt was supposed to be home at 11:30, but he wasn’t even here by 11:45. I didn’t want to be perinoid, but I could already see his bus in a ditch somewhere, and so I called the school transportation number. Just after I had explained who I was and that I wasn’t trying to be perinoid, the bus came into view. The driver informed me that Matt will be home approximately 45 minutes after school dismisal on Wednesdays instead of 30 minutes after like he was the day before!

This is a very exciting time. The appliances, counter tops, and faucets were installed in the kitchen this week. The heavy dust is from the floors being sanded. You can see the double ovens and an amazing stunt by Drew.

Then there’s the microwave drawer, right at Matt’s height-what were we thinking?!! Well, if you want to know, we’re hoping to avoid Drew and Alex’s climbing on the counter to put in and get out popcorn, and we are assuming that we can teach Matt and Tori that it is absolutely off limits!

I’m excited about having two dishwashers. They aren’t installed yet.

And yes, there are two different finishes on the cabinets. I really liked glazed white cabinets and cherry cabinets and couldn’t decide which one, and my designer told me that I should have one finish on my wall cabinets and one on my islands, and after combing through countless kitchen design magazines, I suddenly “just had to have two finishes!” Another feature that my designer suggested was copper sinks-something that I never would have thought of but suddenly just HAD to have!

Does this look at all odd to you? Well, it certainly does to me. The two sides of my sink are only 12″ wide each and they are separated by at least six inches of counter! I was just sick when I saw this. My beautiful copper sinks are not looking very functional! I’m the one who ordered the sinks, and I did of course check the measurments, and the OUTSIDE dimentions match my current, perfectly useable kitchen sink. I just guess that I never checked the INSIDE dimentions. I even asked my cabinet guy to take a look at my sink supplier, but I don’t think he ever did, so I’d like to shift a little of the blame to him, but I really know that I should have been more careful. Leanna Tomlinson, who just put a major addition on her house a couple of years ago told me that no matter how hard I tried something would probably not turn out the way that I expected it, and she was right. I never dreamed that my mistake would be my kitchen sink! I’ve been packing up some of my kitchen this week, and I keep measuring pans as I’m packing them to see which ones will and which ones won’t fit in my new kitchen sink! Chris said that after we sell our current house, we will try to fix this problem!

I just can’t hold back the tears.  I had no idea how EMOTIONAL this day would be for me.  My first baby ever just got on the school bus!  Matt was so excited.  We waited in the foyer. 

Drew and Alex were excited for him, too. 

Chris took on the job of camera man, and I ran to rescue Tori from her high chair.  I didn’t manage to get socks or a coat on her before Chris announced, “Here it comes!”  I grabbed Matt’s hand, and we ran down the side walk. 

All of a sudden, Matt heard the LOUD motor of the bus, and then he wasn’t so sure that he wanted to ride it after all.  With Tori on my hip, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.  Daddy came to the rescue and easily coaxed him up the HUGE steps.  His bus driver and the monitor seem very nice.  I coudn’t see into the dark windows on the bus or through the tears streaming down my face, but I know that they buckled him in his car seat and off they went.  I so wanted to follow him and see who he was sitting beside-if anyone.  I just wanted to sneak onto the back of the bus and follow him all day.  So much for making sure that my make up was “perfect” for the occasion-I’m now covered in mascara!

MATT LOVES PRESCHOOL!  We are so thankful and thrilled with his experience thus far.   Last week, he crawled through a tunnel looking for a groundhog, and he made a letter “G” book.  He is doing lots of tracing, and his favorite activity right now seems to be “check my schedule.”  The students have a velcro picture schedule that helps them know what to do when, and he seems to love that.  He cannot wait to ride the bus like all of his friends, and tomorrow is his first day!  I hope to get a great picture, but that may depend on what Miss Tori is doing at 7:20 a.m. tomorrow!

Tori got way too hot in church this weekend, so I took off her tights. I could not have even imagined myself how many kissable rolls those tights had been hiding! Thank you, Melissa S., http://sillypizza.blogspot.com/ for capturing this moment!

At the Taylor Home School, we STAND in our desks-BACKWARDS!