Happy Happy Birthday Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, intelligent, remarkable, thoughtful, caring, loving (I could go on and on) daughter Taylor Elaine Eichler today!! Born on this day September 26Th, 1994. Yes, that is 16 years ago!! No one ever told me it would go by THIS fast. It seems like it was just yesterday that God placed her into my arms...all 8lbs 3.6oz, 21in long of pure joy! At exactly 7:59am this world was blessed by her appearance. She decided that the world would wait on her arrival as she was 2 1/2 weeks overdue. She is one of the BEST blessings that I have ever been given in my life. She is a beautiful person both inside AND out, and I am very grateful that I was chosen to be her mother. I could not imagine life without her in it.

I am sorry the pictures are fuzzy. Remember, these are pictures of pictures (no digital camera back then). And since I don't have a scanner the quality is not the best...so I will make due with what I have. September 26, 1994, 8lbs 3.6oz, 21in long, the day God graced this world with her presence







Finally going home from the hospital (after a quick stop at the BX)





The first time we visited Anchorage, Alaska

Here we are at Balooga Point in Anchorage, Alaska

Waiting to leave for the first day of Kindergarten

Walking to class



Waiting for class to start (and for me to stop taking so many pictures and to stop my crying) I have MANY more pictures, but since the quality is not very good I will not put them on here.

Happy Birthday beautiful girl!! I hope all your dreams come true!! And thank you for all the joys you have brought to my life!! I LOVE YOU

Exactly one week, OR 7 days, OR 168 hours, OR 10,080 minutes until we leave to see Daddy!! Can you tell we are getting a little excited? I may have gone a little crazy with the minutes but it is better than saying months or weeks! We can't wait to see Daddy!! Only one more phone call AND it will be on Taylor's 16Th birthday!! Next Wednesday, September 29Th, can't come fast enough!

Silas got another letter in the mail yesterday, Thanks Ra!! It really does brighten his day. Everyday he will ask "is there any mail for me?" It was funny, yesterday I asked him who his letter was from and he replied (in a "duh Mom, you should already know" voice) "Uh Mom, you know it's from Ra"! He really loves opening up the letters and seeing what magnificent surprise is in there!

Silas has built up quite the collection of "Silly Bandz" over the summer. I have bought so many packages of them I have lost count, Taylor has given him some
AND Ra has sent some in his letters! We have helped that company make a few dollars!! Just for fun, and out of curiosity, I asked him if he would put them on. I was hoping he would put them ALL on, but he said this was enough of them!


Homecoming is right around the corner, October 8Th, the weekend after we get back from our trip to see Daddy. We have found the perfect dress and the perfect pair of heels. Hopefully Taylor's date will make the night perfect, fingers crossed!! She deserves to have a perfect night after all the "teenage girl drama" that has been going on here lately (I thought it was awful when I was her age, girls now-a-days are just plain mean and ugly). I will put some pictures up here later, so stay tuned...she looks amazing in it!! It is kind of hard to see her look so grown up, to me she will always be my little girl!! Boy, I thought this whole mother gig would get easier the older they got, I must not have read that page in the handbook!

I hope everyone has a great week! I am off to finish my countdown and watch all 604,800 seconds go by! haha

Welcome Fall!!

My goodness we have been busy! It feels like we have been running from here to there and doing this and that! Oh well, it makes the time fly by faster for our trip to see Daddy graduate from Army BCT! We have officially begun the countdown, 13 days until we leave!

Our search for a car for Taylor has ended. We finally found one! She has a nice and shiny, fire-engine red Chevy Cavalier! Thankfully that chore is done with, and that WAS a chore! I thought trying to find a decent car for her would be cake...BOY was I wrong. And then adding her own input into the mix ("I don't like it", "It looks like an old lady car") just added to the already stressful job of finding one. But like I said, thankfully we found one!

On Sunday we went to my sister Megan's house for a BBQ in honor of our Mom who is leaving for Canada tomorrow. We all had a nice time. Taylor really liked their dog Scooby, who is bigger than Silas and STILL growing. Silas wasn't so sure about Scooby since he is a horse compared to our little Trooper, and Scooby kept trying to gnaw on his arm (he is still a puppy).

Taylor had a big project for her Spanish II class. She had to make a 2011 calender. She did a GREAT job on it and I am sure she will get an A! Here is Taylor working on it while Silas is coloring a very pretty picture for Daddy.

Wal-Mart is just now starting to put out its Halloween decorations and costumes, so while Silas and I were there the other day we decided to take a quick look. They didn't have very much out yet BUT Silas managed to find something that he COULD NOT live without. I am very proud to announce that I now have "Cowboy Sheriff Silas" living in my house! He has put on his "outfit" everyday since we got it and has worn it everywhere we have gone! His outfit is complete with a cowboy hat, "bendena" and badge (the best $5.00 I ever spent). Watch out everyone, there is a new sheriff in town!! Here he is saying "howdy partner". Here Cowboy Silas is telling me that "cowboys don't like their pictures taken a lot". Never thought a Cowboy could look so darn cute!! He is patiently waiting for a movie to get over so we can return it to Redbox.

I absolutely love this time of year (minus the allergies)! I have pulled out all the fall decorations and put away all the summer ones. I LOVE the cooler temperatures, the wind blowing leaves off the trees, the changing colors of leaves, being able to wear sweatshirts with shorts or tank tops with jammy pants and the smells of "fall" candles!! This is my favorite time of year! I have a new door decoration, I am not sure about it but Taylor loves it, any thoughts?

I hope everyone has a great finish to the week AND has a wonderful weekend!! I am off to clean my house in my "newly pulled out" jammy pants and set out stuff to make chili for dinner....have I mentioned that this is my FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR?!?!?!

Sticker Fun!!

Silas got another letter stuffed full of stickers from Ra!! These stickers didn't last very long. As soon as he opened his letter he put them on

Silas got out his train tracks the other day and had lots of fun He even built a tunnel for them to go under


He wanted me to include this picture as well

He got a postcard in the mail from Dylan. They just got back from Disney World and BOY was Silas excited!! He has carried this around the house and has a "special" place to put it (so it won't get messed up)!!


We have been actively looking for a car for Taylor. Let me just say that car shopping is not one of my favorite things to do by far, especially with Wayne being gone!! I have recruited my brother-in-law into helping us as well, so that is a plus! I have forgotten how many pieces of junk are out there. I wish there was a website that sold only the crappy cars and another that just offered the good ones. I really think there should be these out there!! On top of trying to weed through all the junk cars, Taylor is hell bent on wanting a Ford ZX2. I am trying to persuade her into other types of cars, but as you all know she is one headstrong individual!! I am glad she has her own opinions, but it does make for some VERY interesting conversations (if you want to call them that)!! As my Mom said over the weekend, gotta love "the Mother curse"!! I don't know how many times I have appologized to her, and probably will for several years to come too!!

We are getting very excited for our trip to see Daddy the end of this month!! His graduation is October 1st, and I couldn't be more proud of him!! We look forward to being able to see what he has been doing and to see all "the Army guys" (per Silas)!