First Round of Christmas

I wanted to have our own little 'Christmas morning' before we head home and are bombarded with family and so many things to do and places to go. I gave Taytum and Josh their Christmas presents. Taytum figured out wrapping paper pretty quick so it didn't take us long but it was so fun to watch her open her fun presents.

Good Morning Daddy!

She loved her Tinkerbell bubble bath!

Oooh, what is in here?

Look at what I got Daddy.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

You better watch out, you better not cry...

Some where I got this vision of my adorable 15 month old daughter in a cute little Christmas dress sitting on Santa's lap and smiling for a wonderful picture. What was I thinking. Instead I got a dose of reality. Arriving at the mall at a little before noon with our friends, getting our number (number 74 and they were serving 38),and doing a lot of walking, eating lunch, taking our lunch to wait in line, walking some more, dealing with three cranky kids,two poopy diapers, and seeing an amazingly cool and funny puppet show (best part of the whole day)we finally got to stand at Santa's toy shoppe first in line. We waited for Santa to arrive at 2:30 to get our picture, at 2:30 we had three semi happy kids. Santa did not arrive until 2:45 when those three kids started to lose it. Then Santa had to settle in, and we waited until the photographer showed up. Finally at 3:00 we got to see Santa.We were told we would be able to take our own pictures but the dumb photographer stood in our way. My daughter was crying because she was beyond ready for a nap, and the oldest of the three threw herself on the ground in a screaming fit. At least we got a few pictures that we will be able to show our children when they get older. They will probably laugh at the fact that they were crying at Santa and we will warn them that what goes around comes around so watch out.

Taytum's new moves...

...dance moves that is.

The fish off my own back.

I have been making a quiet book for Taytum's christmas gift this year and she loves to sneak into my bedroom and reek havoc so I have been letting her play with it. I like to think of it as a test drive. On one page are three velcro fish i.e the one on my shoulder. I certainly hope this got their after I went to Walmart to buy groceries because I didn't notice it until like six o'clock. So if you want I will give you the fish off my own back.

If you give a girl a banana

If you give this girl a banana...
She will want to eat it in the car..
Then you will need a hose to wash her off...

Like a Dalmatian

Remember Lucky from this movie-

He did a lot of this -

She has the spots and everything-

Ode to October

Oh man October was such a fun month. We did so many things in the VanBuskirk house. We did parties, a 5k, the pumpkin patch, the Arboretum, and spent alot of time with our friends. Enjoy the slide show filled with October fun.

Little Thief

We have a little thief on our hands. This sneaky girl managed to find ten dollars and thought she would stash it away for herself.

We need your Votes!

So all you readers of the VanBuskirk Family Blog know how absolutely adorable and beautiful our sweet little Taytum is. So we entered her in a casting call to be the next Gap Model. All you have to do is register and you can vote until November 17. Please go vote again and again for Taytum.

Pumpkin's Galore

Yesterday morning we ventured to the pumpkin patch. It was a blast, I had so much more fun this year than last. I got tons of great pictures of Taytum and her friends Emma and Karli in their costumes, but won't post them or you might get picture overload.I am so glad we went yesterday because it was hot and sunny. The only down side of the day was the massive amount of bees.We had so much fun even Taytum gave it a thumbs up!

Pumpkin Dash

This morning we did the Pumpkin Dash which is a 5k run in our neighborhood. Josh got second place in his age group and said he finished eighth over all. I am so proud of him he did such a good job. Taytum and I walked/jogged with our friends and finished in 49min. Even though there was no costume contest and carnival after like we thought there was going to be we had a really good time. It was nice to get out and get some exercise on a BEAUTIFUL fall morning. Enjoy the pics!

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

On Wednesday my good friend Lisa and her two girls, a girl she was babysitting, Taytum and myself ventured to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. Despite the fact that is was freezing cold at least for Dallas's standards and we were not quite prepared we had a blast. The gardens were beautiful and it was raining/misting all day. Lisa commented that it was like we were in Pride and Prejudice. The flowers and gardens were so amazing and they had the funnest pumpkin house and piles of pumpkins and really fun photo ops. I got some pretty good pictures of my little sweety loving the pumpkins. I will only post a few and later will compile a slide show with pictures of all the fun and exciting things we have planned for the rest of the month. I am so excited for Halloween, and getting to spend more time with Taytum and Josh.

My Little Mover

Taytum has become quite the little mover lately. She has until today been crawling, climbing, and getting into everything she can. The other day I got a good deal on this walker toy at Kid to Kid and she was so excited when she woke up from her nap to find it. This afternoon after church I stood her up behind it and she took off to find Daddy. It won't be long now until she is flying solo.

P.S Thanks again Alison for the adorable outfit.

Oh Josh,

Josh has been taking Taytum to get the mail the past few days to give me a few minutes of baby free time. Josh also lets our little monster crawl around outside in what ever she is wearing not really caring if she has shoes, pants, etc. I keep telling him that Texas has evil fire ants that bite but I think he will have to learn that one the hard way. So yesterday I noticed that they had been gone for a while so I grabbed my camera and went looking for the two troublemakers. This is what I found...


Her skirt and the mail in the grass...


A shoeless, pantless baby crawling around on the sidewalk barking at the dogs.


What will I ever do with you two?

Dallas Museum of Nature and Science

Thursday morning Taytum and I went with some friends to the Museum of Nature and Science. It was perfect for the little ones and fun for the moms as well . They had a two and under area that was full of mats that the kids could climb on and Taytum could have spent all day there. She did not like the fake animals in the farm area but she loved planting the seeds (dropping wooden balls through holes). I had a blast making giant bubbles and learning about the body. It was a fun day and needless to say we were both worn out by the end.

Update From Green Chile Land

Since Beth has been away from a while and shirked her very important blogging duties, I thought I would fill in for her since I really have nothing to do this morning besides enjoy an appointment-less day here in Farmington (This is Josh, by the way.).

I've been on break for about a week and was able to fly into Durango, CO last Friday to meet up w/ my mom and her family, and then meet up w/ Beth and Taytum, who I hadn't seen for almost three weeks. It was a long separation for me, but passed quickly because my trimester was coming to a close and I had lots of studying to do in preparation. Beth and Taytum had flown back home to go to her brother Brent's wedding in Utah, and then to help out w/ the reception in Farmington.

Here are the new things Taytum has picked up since I've been gone:

- Her recognition had improved greatly. I noticed that she could respond to certain stimuli the same every time. All four legged animals are now "dogs," in that she makes a barking sound when she sees a dog, cat, deer, or even a warthog (my dad is a great white hunter and has a zoo mounted on the walls of his house).

- She has bumped up the speed on her crawling!

- Her phonation improved, which it always seems to do when she gets tons of girl time w/ her G-ma, Aunt Hillary, and mom. :)

- She has jaws-ed out and busted through three teeth when I was gone! Luckily she doesn't totally look like Jaws, they are still just little teeth barely poking through, but they are there nonetheless.

- The Stink Eye. I don't know how this started, but it is the most hilarious thing ever. She gives people this mean look, and then cracks up laughing after. See the pictures below - she squints her eyes and glares.

So it has been a blast to get to hang out w/ all my family again. I've been out at my dad's clinic a couple of times and we've really had a good time w/ the people. He has great staff and I look forward to be able to help out out there. Beth's side of the family has just been a hoot to hang out w/ as regular - they always have absolutely delicious food and hilarious conversation, it's a good combo by me.

Enjoy the pics, and see most of you in a few days back at board reviews, OHHH! -Josh

Taytum is making me proud. We are starting her Halo training young so that she can have a professional career in the MLG and win one hundred thousand dollars a year.

Taytum's sweet moves

This is for Josh's brother Aaron and for my mom because I have been desperately trying to capture this on video for a while.

Can you believe it?

Can you believe that this girl is almost one. She has grown up so fast. I absolutely love this age and am having so much fun with my little crawling terror.

Silly Girl

This little girl makes the silliest faces.

Fritz Park

So a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a free petting zoo not too far from where we live. It is called Fritz Park and it is a volunteer run small petting zoo/farm. We decided to try to load up our kids in the morning so it wouldn't be too hot but it was scorching. All the other kids had a blast and it was hard to get them to leave. But my Taytum is one hundred percent girl and hates animals.Oh well it was good to spend time with friends.