Where's the baby?

Somewhere in here there's a diaper that needs to be opened... The presents may be more fun to open than the diaper I'm guessing.

Muscle Man II

Well each time we move we seem to misplace something important. Last move it was 'Lue Lanky' (a cherished green blanket made by my deceased mother. Before Evan had his colors straight he named it blue blanky. And before he could pronounce his b's it was named lue lanky- got it?). We never could replace lue lank, but when muscle man (a smalled stuffed dog that had been through about 6 years of adventures with Nathan) went missing I thought maybe he could be replaced this Christmas. After a lot of time on the internet and placing a 'want it now' add on ebay, some British woman heard my plea and sold me a new Russ floppy dog who's first name was apparently Milo. Here we see Nathan opening nesting boxes to get to his new friend. We were teary eyed at his reaction. It was priceless!

Merry Christmas

Oh the Stress of Christmas

Well My husband lovingly said to me this morning that 'Christmas is about having happy kids, not a clean house.' This could be due to the fact that after cleaning furiously all day (not regular cleaning, but we-are-having-guests-soon cleaning) I got a bit testy when he and Big Boy walked in the door and they BOTH plopped their belongings on the floor for some super maid who lives here to take care of at her convenience. So I swooped down on my broomstick (I was in witch mode), picked up their things, and placed them in their hands while they were in the middle of something very important like reading comics, or was it a crossword puzzle? Now part of me feels guilt over this action, I mean yes, they were enjoying some good father-son time, and that is important. However, I think I have the right to feel bugged when people keep thwarting my housekeeping efforts. I constantly am quoting a line from Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure "I feel like I am unraveling a giant sweater that someone keeps on knitting, and knitting, AND KNITTING!"

Family Photo

We had some nice family photos done this year for both a Christmas card and for ourselves. I really enjoyed the session where I got to pick them out. This is a trusted photographer I have used before. However when I picked up the final product I was horrified with the puffiness under my eyes. I asked if I had been touched up and she said no, that she had done the artistry herself and no touch ups were done to my face. It must have been the lighting. I paid her and took my large 16 by 20 home with me. I kept looking at it, and at myself in the rear view mirror. It's pretty sad when the rear view mirror is more flattering than a high priced photo. So I called her on it and emailed her with my complaint. Troy even noticed something looked weird with my eyes without any prompting from me. Luckily she has admitted her mistake and is redoing the print. Now I beg of you, dear readers, to look at the results and tell me what your opinion is. Maybe I am just bias because I know what I look like. But I think the natural contours of one's lower eyelid should be present. Let me know your thoughts. There is also a family shot with the untouched faces look. Think I should remove the hair from my face?

The First Letter-(for the blog only)

This just in- December 2007

Well it’s that time of year again to write and tell you what the Taggs have been doing. The new goal for this year’s letter being ‘if it’s more than one page- it’s too much information.’ So, the answer to what we’ve been doing this year is, ‘quite a lot!’ For instance, since you last heard from us, we gave birth to the latest Tagg- Eliza Bryn Tagg was born on New Years Eve 2006. I say ‘we’ because as Troy so lovingly put it, I pitched and he caught. We were so proud of Eliza’s thrifty decision to earn a 2006 tax break for her parents by being born before the end of the year. Eliza has been a huge blessing in our lives and we are so glad to have her here.

Chronologically speaking of our life over the past year, the next big thing for us was to go on vacation for spring break-to Tokyo, Japan. (Doesn’t everyone go there?) We had the best time! We went to Mt Fuji and Tokyo Disney. We were amazed at the cultural differences between the Koreans and the Japanese. Who’d a thought? Even riding the subway there was a totally different experience.

The following summer found us moving back to the United States after 2 years in Seoul, Korea. It was bitter sweet, but maybe a bit more on the sweet side as we can now understand people, drive anywhere we want with ease, plus there’s that bonus of not smelling raw sewage when walking down the street. There are times in Iowa when one can smell cow manure being plowed into the farmland. It fondly reminds us of our Asian stay. We (and by that I mean especially I) feel much skinnier when not compared to our stick-like Korean friends. It’s a good thing. We will certainly miss the hard-working friendly people of Seoul. It was a great experience to have lived there. We especially miss the friends we made there. We are now in Iowa City, Iowa and really loving it! Troy is doing a one-year fellowship in neuroopthamology at the University of Iowa. We’ll keep you posted as to where the army chooses to send us next.

As you can see from our picture, our kids have continued to grow. We find that feeding them and then waiting for a while will do that. They are great kids with all the normal things to please and annoy. We are so grateful to be their parents. We hope all is well with you this Season. If there is one thing we are truly blessed in, it has been the wonderful people we have met in the process of living life. Thank you for your friendship and love.

Love the Tagg Family: Troy, Kelly, Nathan, Evan, Drew, Audrey, & Eliza!

Baby Girl's first Christmas

Well we got our Christmas tree up and spent the better part of Saturday decorating the house. It's a lot of work for mom! Eliza had some fun with our beads. I decided this year to leave them off the tree- they are a little too plastic and too much of a hassle to untangle, so I let her have her fun. We are wondering how to keep her away from the tree and ornaments- let alone the presents this year. She is so close to walking now and has taken her first few steps. Adorable!

A Nice Day in Nauvoo

We recently took the kids on an overnight stay in Nauvoo. The youth in our church were doing baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple. T and I were able to attend as well. Since we stayed overnight it was nice and relaxing not to have to get up early and drive the 90 minute drive to be there by 8:00am.

Here are some photos of our day there.

Nothing to Say

Hey- me again. My day is busy and I am avoiding housework by blogging. I spent the entire morning at the doctor's office with Little Boy. He's had this appointment for months (man is it busy at this hospital!). However they are starting to recognize me in pediatrics now when I come in, what with the 5 kids and all. I was just there yesterday to have them take a look at Baby Girl's ears. She has been acting so fussy and has had a runny nose and cough for about 4 weeks now, poor baby. I had 2 different employees ask me if I wasn't just here yesterday. Nice to be noticed I guess. There is this man who's name will be unmentioned who I have known for 10 years now and I still can't get him to say hello to me at church. Don't really know why I care, but it's like an itch that I gotta scratch to get him to bother with a simple good morning. Sound's like I'm a stalker or something eh? I'm just bugged by unfriendly types. Maybe it's my need for attention or something. So we get out of our respective cars on Sunday morning and he proceeds to the building not looking in our direction and before I could stop myself I shout out "well-good morning!" I succeeded in scaring a hello out of him, but alas he ignored once again (after I clearly said hello to him first) in the hallway. What is it with this guy? Oh well, maybe I will just let it go.

On to other things. We had a most lovely Thanksgiving with all the trimmings (T even made wassel). We had a friend of T's from the hospital and a good pal of mine from my childhood who lives about 4 hours away. She brought her 2 kids up and they had fun hanging out with my boys. She is pretty newly divorced and going through rough times, and it felt good to listen and help her out. She is an awesome person! She is now a therapist and it was fun to see her work her magic on my headstrong 4 year old diva. We now have Big Girl sleeping in her own bed instead of insisting on sleeping in Little Boy's room every night. We started letting her do that when Baby Girl was going through a period of bad sleeping at night. Anyways it's gotten to be quite a power struggle to get her back where she needs to be. DR also talked me through some issues I have been having with my own family members. (okay it's Dad in case anyone reads this and thinks it might be you). I think I just may work up my courage and tell him my true feelings. Thanks for the therapy DR!

Well I guess that's all I have to say for having nothing much to say... Gotta go do laundry and dishes now- dangit!

That's What I'm Talkin' About

Okay, so I have been meaning to post this for some time. However 2 things were blocking me. I didn't want people feeling jealous (esp my friends still stuck in Korea), and I couldn't get a good picture. Too lazy to go outside and take one myself, and not technical enough to access the picture sent to me before we decided to take the house. Troy helped me with the technical part this morning. He is so smart. He got home safe and sound at 11:11 on my November 11th birthday last night-pretty awesome. Okay so it was really 11:10, but 11:11 sounds better.

Anyways, back to the house photo- it is so nice to have this home and especially the back yard. After 2 years with no back yard this is feeling pretty good indeed!

Happy Birthday

Well today is the day of my birth. I am 39! I can hardly believe this and think I will refuse to turn 40. For some reason the years just prior to a new decade of years are hardest on me. I recall turning 29 in Iowa (just ten years ago it seems), and feeling my youth slip away as I plucked my first gray hair that I had noticed ironically as I was picking at a pimple. I have been lucky I guess. Not much gray hair. Still pretty healthy (except that darn foot). Happy to be alive I guess.

The day has been okay. It would have been better if my husband were home. He was away at a conference and is on his way home right now. Unfortunately he missed a connecting flight and had to drive in a rental car for the last leg of the trip or he would be here already. The good thing is that he has the day off tomorrow to spend with me. The other good thing is that I was well taken care of by my friends here in Iowa today without him. 3 cards, cupcakes, cookies and 3 phone calls from family members. All in all not a bad way to turn 39. Yahoo for the thirties! I'm gonna miss you baby.