wow...busy June so far!

Time just keeps flying by....It seems like I just posted Ava's 3rd birthday pics and now half of June is over...where does the time go? I ask myself that almost daily. There is a song that describes it well...of course it's a country song and it's "your gonna miss this when it's gone" I think that's the name of it....anyway! Here are some pictures of the things the Taliaferro's have been up to lately! We visited Mira's school in Oklahoma for her to recieve 2 awards, Academic award and an Art award. We are so very proud of her.

There are a few pics of my surprise (early) birthday present to Chateau Avalon in KC from Jason, there are some random pics of our first bon-fire with the girls and maiking smores in the fire pit. THere are a few pics of Memorial day when Jason and I and the girls headed out to Silver Lake to visit his Grandma and Grandpa Gardner (mom's parents) grave and then we headed to his grandparents in Topeks's grave, ( his dad's parents), well we all know summer is great, and I hope yours is relaxing too! Hope the rest of it goes so wonderful as well! Enjoy some of our pictures :)

This is a themed Chateau, bed and breakfast. It was a wonderful surprise from Jason. Our room was the "castaway isle" theme and the bed is actually upstairs inside the "shipwreck"! Amazing!!!!

Ava's 3 !!!!

Wow time really flies....My baby turned 3 this past week! It was a fun day. We started out with "Coach", my dad coming up to help wiht the birthday party at her preschool......that was fun! Right Dad??? Then we moved my classroom in the rain accross town...literally in the pouring rain! Poncho's and wet teacher supplies and bookcases...it was a mess! Pictures to come soon of that adventure! Then we had a wonderful ladybug party at the carousel! Thanks to all who came out to play with Ava for her Birthday! Enjoy some pictures from the fun filled rainy lady bug day :)

these 2 pictures are of Ava letting her lady bugs go in the garden! I ordered live lady bugs online and made them a little habitat for each kid to take home as the party favor, then they released them in the outdoors! I attached little magnifying glasses so the kiddos could see the bugs and inspect them...it was super cute and fun!!

Mother's Day

To all my mother friends, I hope your day was perfect, we are so lucky to get to be mommy's!

No Love like a Mother's Love



There is no love, like a mother's love,
no stronger bond on earth...
like the precious bond that comes from God,
to a mother, when she gives birth.


A mother's love is forever strong,
never changing for all time...
and when her children need her most,
a mother's love will shine.


God bless these special mothers,
God bless them every one...
for all the tears and heartache,
and for the special work they've done.


When her days on earth are over,
a mother's love lives on...
through many generations,
with God's blessings on each one.


Be thankful for our mothers,
for they love with a higher love...
from the power God has given,
and the strength from up above.
 
 
 

I have always wanted to be a mommy....it is full of smiles and tears, tiaras, and toe nail polish, purses and giggles...... I wouldn't trade one moment. I love being a mommy and a step-mommy!!! I get double the joy!!!! I love you girls :)

My favorite quote to sum of the life of a mommy:

Your kids will challenge you, bring you to tears, crack you up, and make you forget what you urgently had to do. They'll shatter the life you knew into a million pieces. Then they'll put it back together, like a beautiful stained-glass window.

new "toys"

Well spring is finally here and we sure have been waiting to get out and start our grilling season! So we took the cover off and opened up the lid and sure enough the birds have taken up residency in our grill....ugh! I guess we did get it 8 years ago....and other than the fact the it was rusting apart, and needing new parts...haa! Well Jason got a new grill and he is in love all over again :) haaaa her's a few pics of him and his big helper putting it together.
The next set of pictures is of Ava and her new "toy". Do you remember getting your first bike? Who taught you to ride? How old were you? Well the time has come for her to get to have that experience. She was so excited to get a new early birthday present. It is a couple weeks shy of her 3rd birthday but we really had to do it now. She starts having "bike day" at her pre-school before her birthday, so we gave it to a little early so she would know how to ride it. Well anyway, she LOVES it! She got to pick it out, so of course it is her favorite color....PURPLE. She wanted tassels, a bell, a basket out front a nametag and all :) I remember my first bike back in 1985, mine was a bright yellow bannana seat bike! haaaa Well I hope the memory of her daddy teaching her to ride her bike sticks with her like mine does of my daddy teaching me how to ride a bike ! Actually my dad took me to the top of the hill we lived on in Maryville Missouri and just let go....sure did teach me how to stop...and crash and burn! LOL well enjoy!

Have a great week !

I'm ready....

YES! Summer is only 13 days away for me. I can't wait. I am taking 9 grad hours in June, but I'm still ready for it to get here. This has been a very long school year for me. We have so many things were planning and I can't wait to blog about our summer fun! I hope yours is wonderful and relaxing too!!! We love you all! Here is what I am really ready for: See if you can tell by my clip art what our summer is going to be like for the Taliaferro's

We have a few vacations planned as of right now. One is to Branson MO to go to Silver Dollar City and one is to Omaha for the Zoo and Museums,  another one is to the Ozarks with 3 groups of friends and kids, and then miscelanous trips to Minnesota to see my Brothers family, trips to Wichita to see my Dad and mom, Trips to Iowa to see my mom and grandparents too!!! Wow.....

Of course I will be baking and cooking and trying out new "reciepes" on my family and friends...yummy!

Our lovely little 2 year old will no longer be in her terrible two's....on May 20th she will enter into the SASSY, MELT-DOWN, WONDERFUL, HAPPY and GRUMPY stages of the 3's ! (can't wait) 

Anyone who knows me well....knows that I can't wait for garage sale season...IT'S HERE!!!

and, yes of course there will be TONS of reading in our house....Ava and Mira LOVE to read!

This is probably one of my favortie things about summer....sunsets. (**sigh**)

Swimming, diving, dunking, tea parties, floating...any way you like it we will be swimming TONS!

Mira has her wonderful summer camp that she LOVES to go to and do all kinds of fun things at Gage Park throughout the summer....good times :)

This picture might be a little decieving...I don't really have a "green thumb" but I will try to make my yard pretty and maintained...ok I will probably plant some flowers too :)

Ava will be starting her first gymnastics/tumbling class this summer...let's hope she pays attention to the teacher!!!

This one is for Jason...he loves to grill...but sometimes I do see some serious flames coming out the sides. Haaa

We will be having lots of picnics..... especially since we live so close the lake now :)

and last but not least.....swimming lessons! I love this time of year!

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

April showers bring May flowers.....

Well Good Morning! I would like to say that this post is really not about "weather" and "showers" but really it's about life and how the "showers" that we see are really going to end up as a beautiful bloom of something very special.... if I can learn to be still and wait to see what the big guy upstairs has in store.....
You might be wondering what I am talking about. Well when I graduated from college in December 2008 I had the world in front of me, and I thought I would become this great and wonderful 2nd grade teacher....of course the economy and school districts had other ideas in mind. The way my cookies crumbled was that it just so happened that a special education position came available, so of course I took it and never looked back. Now, I must say that I have enjoyed special education much more than I thought I ever would have, but I will always want to try general ed at some point in my career. Now, that brings me to the "april showers" thing...... Recently in the news you may have heard of a little thing called our national budget deficit....well what that means for educators in many states and all accross the country is that many of us are losing our jobs due to budget restraints. Well, we knew that this would come but I had no idea that it would come so close to home. For right now I have been told that I do still have a teaching job for next year, but until I sign next years contract I will not be "counting my chickens" ya know. As for now I will still be in the same district and still teaching special education, but at a differnt school. One with much more needier children and a higher special education population. Am I nervous? Well yes of course, I dont want to move rooms/staff/kids/and schedules AGAIN! This is my 3rd school in 1.5 years that I will have been moved to, but none the less I will not complain! I am thankful and lucky! I have made some wonderful friends and collegues, and I have made tons of connections. However, I am "un-tenured" which in education means that I have not been teaching in a district for 3 or more years. Until I become tenured then I will be thankful to have/keep my job. There are thousands and thousands of my fellow teachers accross this great country that are losing or going to lose thier jobs this year. It is devistating and horrible. I can't believe that education is being so "rocked" by this budget. In my opinion if we cut back or slack off on education and funding then we are cutting back and slacking off on the future of our country.
Ok, I am off my soap box for now, but this does bring me to my "May flowers" part.......I know that there is a great plan that is ahead of us, for all of us. This will take some time and patience but I know that the flowers are ahead and I will do the best I can to provide for my family no matter what happens. May God Bless and for those of you Educators that are reading this I wish you the best of luck with the tough times ahead that all of us are going to be facing. I know we will continue to offer the best teaching we can regardless of our class sizes, paper and supply shortage, no extra support and possibly losing some of our plan time. We will survive and overcome. I have Faith...do you?

With Love,
Amber

Easter 2010

Easter was wonderful this year. It was quiet and a beautiful church service and a warm sunny day. Ava saw the easter bunny's tail on the way home from church, he was hopping away..... and so she was just sure that he'd been to her house....well indeed he had been. He left her a bunny basket with candy, eggs, hair bows, a kite and a BUBBLE MACHINE!!! WOW what a fun fun toy. We have played with it for hours since then. Here are a few pictures of our wonderful and joyus holiday! xoxo