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Hello, all! We are still settling in and I'm trying to finish out a VERY LONG year at school. School is out at the end of May and I am sooooo looking forward to having time at home with the kids and getting our house finished. We are still unpacking (well, actually we are at standstill- I am officially not unpacking anything else until school is out) because what we NEED is already unpacked and everything else is obviously not missed as of yet. :)
The trial for the drunk driver that killed my sister has been postponed until July 14th. Part of me is relieved that the defense attorneys asked for a continuance. Last week I was struggling and I don't think I was ready for that type of emotional distress on top of what I'm already dealing with surrounding her death. I miss her everyday and think of her often. Its the little things in my day that remind me that she is gone... something I see that I think she would like, printing the kids pictures and thinking that I should send her one, seeing her name pop up automatically when I type in "A" in my email address box, not having my class call her this past Friday to sing her "Happy Birthday"... I guess those little things will become infrequent as time passes.
Emmaly's preschool program is next Friday, May 9th. She went to see the play Peter Pan this past weekend and had a ball. She loves watching plays and gets so wrapped up in them... I guess when Tinkerbell asked if anyone still believed in fairies Emmaly yelled, "I DO!!" and the audience chuckled... We need to work on those theatre manners. :) She starts tee-ball soon which should be interesting. Cooper is not quite old enough to play yet, but he gets plenty of practice around here. He loves playing with footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, etc. He is 100% boy! (except for those times when he gets emmy's dress up dresses out...)
Well... dinner is calling... blog you later! :) Love you all!

We are settling in!

We are finally settling into our new home! We are OVER the boxes and the unpacking of them, but I am soooo grateful to be in a newer, larger home. The kids have adjusted well and Emmaly has now declared herself a BIG GIRL and can put herself to bed. Of course she gets up a few times to hand out extra kisses and hugs. :o) Cooper (a control freak) adjusted really well and I was surprised. I figured he'd be all out of sorts. We really played up the new room thing and let him pick the one he wanted. That helped. Shawn is in Spring Football Practice during the month of April and May, so that adds some extra "busy-ness" for us. Cooper is healing up from having bronchitis/pneumonia last week. The poor thing seems to be sick every other week. Hopefully the summer will bring us healthier days.
For those of you keeping up with details surrounding the tragic loss of my older sister, April McBride, this past October- the man who killed her (Reynaldo Perez) is set to go to trial April 28th. April's birthday is the Friday before, the 25th. She would have been 34. It will be a really hard week next week and the weeks during the trial. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. They offered the man 25 years if he pleaded out, but his attorneys advised him to go through with the jury trial. So, that said- he is facing life in prison as it sits right now. He has 14 felony counts against him (one of them murder) and is technically facing the death penalty, but we know that won't happen. I think they'll look at it as he was intoxicated and made some irrational decisions that resulted in her death and injury to several others. Either way, I just want justice for my sister and for her kids (Jacob -11 and Zoe -6). He intentionally ran April down and I want him to stand up in court and show remorse. That is the number one thing I am looking for- I want him to understand what he stole from this family and what we can NEVER get back. Hopefully we find some peace over the next few weeks as everything unfolds. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and keep Jacob and Zoe in your thoughts and prayers as they continue their journey through this. Remember- tell those that you love that you do and give hugs as often as possible. Those moments are the ones you, and they, will hold onto. Love you all!

MOVING!

The inspection of our "new" home went very well today. We are all set to go. We close next Thursday, but hope to move in earlier than that. The house is empty, so we are hoping the previous owners allow us to slip in before closing. We'll see. I will try to send everyone our new address via email sometime in the next week. I've been emailing or calling people as I remember to let them know we'll be moving. I'd hate for someone to show up for a surprise visit and find a new family in our house! Wouldn't that be a crazy surprise! We'll keep you updated.
Shawn is in Alabama right now for a fishing trip with his dad and brother. He'll be home late Friday night. I talked to him today and he seems to be enjoying himself. No fish, though. :) The kids are doing well. Emmy was sick earlier in the week and I stayed home with her- gave me some time to catch up on laundry and pack up some more things. Trying to balance work, kids, and homelife is TOUGH! I'm ready for summer so I can get rid of the "work" part of that scenario. Hope you all are doing well. Blog you soon! :)

Pack 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out

Well, life as we know it just got a little crazier. We accepted an offer on our house last Tuesday, but they need to be in our house by next Thursday. We scrambled this weekend to try to locate a house to buy or to rent if we can't find one we like. We have an offer out there right now on one... waiting to get the counter offer. Hopefully that goes well. The house is still here in Franklin and already empty, so we can move right in which keeps us from being homeless next week! Hopefully we get it and can get it in there ASAP. It has twice the square footage we have now, so I am grateful for the extra space. The kids and their toys are dominating our small 1500 square foot home now. We were thinking about turning it into a Toys R' Us!! lol
We should know by Wednesday if we'll be living in a POD in a parking lot somewhere or if we have a new place to call home. I'll keep you updated. Love you all!

2008 Update

We have had some ups and downs the past year. Emmaly turned 4 and started preschool. Cooper turned 2 and turned into a wild man. We are soooooo understanding the terrible twos. Emmaly never really went through that phase. Cooper is definitely teaching us a thing or two about turning two. :) We love our little man, though! He is such a sweetie! Emmaly is a wonderful big sister. She loves school and gymnastics and is becoming more of a little girl every day. Where did our baby girl go????
Our Fall was pretty rough this year. My sister was killed by a drunk driver the day after Emmy's 4th Birthday. We miss her everyday and take comfort in knowing she is in Heaven. As Emmaly so sweetly puts it... she's up with the stars and the moon. We send God text messages every so often with Emmaly's picture. Emmaly is convinced that God has a cell phone! :)
We are in the midst of selling our house and looking for a newer, bigger one here in Franklin. It's amazing how much space two little people can take up! I am going to try to blog often to keep everyone updated on our comings and goings. Thanks to the Nichols Family for sending us their blog. It inspired me to create one for our family. Love you all!

March 2008 Update- Birth of the Taylor Blog

We wanted to share our family with you. Life goes by way too quickly and we sometimes let too much time go between conversations, get togethers, and updates. Hopefully this will help with keeping everyone in touch and up to date on the "goings-on" of the Taylor Family. Shawn, Emmaly, Cooper, and I hope you enjoy reading about our fun times and checking out our pics. We are blessed to have such a wonderful life together...