Taylor's room

we bought a house 3 yrs ago. it is closer to church, our friends, some family, and it is a great lot in the middle of town. it was built in the 60's and we bought it from the first owner. it had all the original appliances, light fixtures, paneling, purple toilets, and peach sinks. all that said we are doing new renovations all the time! i always hesitate putting my house up on here because i get critical of myself, and we aren't done with it and won't be for awhile. pretty much the only time we work on it is in the winter--i'm married to a crazy construction man, he is self-employed and very successful, but the old saying can be true, ya don't work ya don't eat! :) all that said, here is taylor's room, so many things still need to be done with it, mainly new trim and new doors, regarding the previous post, i thought i was going to have all boys so i wanted to keep this random sliding door there in between the two bedrooms rooms, but i wanna get rid of it now that i have a girl and she will want her privacy, and the boys may wanna stay away from her too! i have a few projects i'm working on in her room right now, but pretty much i'm almost done with it. the pink is kinda dark, but i love it, and it will look better with all the white trim. the puffs aren't usually there i asked for them from a shower our cousin had, taylor loves to look at them. i have to take the curtain holders down, this was gunner's old room, and move the curtains a little higher. her rocking chair was given to me by my grandma, and i guess i really don't need it anymore...sad! i will update some progress soon! oh inspiration on a few things came from the Me Oh My! blog! seriously she rocks my design/craft world! the beauty... and her necessities...

baby baby baby oooh!

i have two boys and never thought in a million bazillion years i would have a girl. i just thought i was destined to have boys. my cousin had 3 boys, and i was like, "yep! that'll be me!" i remember for the first 3 months of my pregnancy with ryder we thought he was a girl, (john has sooo many girls in his family). and then near the end we knew boy. jenny and i still called him a girl though! gunner, always knew he was a boy (we only found out what we were having with gunner, and now that i have done it both ways--not finding out with ryder and taylor, that is the way to go!) DON'T FIND OUT! :) (i love you gunner i was the first one, besides the tech, to know what you were!) when i was pregnant with taylor i thought the whoole time i was having a little John Hudson Clate Vanderpool! (i know it's long, we would've just called him hudson clate, and john being the formal) we always had the name taylor belle for our girl since ryder, so that was easy, we just changed her middle name to brynn--i wanted it to be her first name, but john liked taylor still. anyway, when i was having my c-section with taylor, i was so anxious, that morning was the only day, i thought just maybe it could be a girl, but i didn't want to think about it, i just thought there's no way, it's a boy. i remember being freaked out anyway (who will ever be ok being awake while they do intense surgery on you) and my dr. was so softly spoken he said, "we see the baby," it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop and could have missed him saying what it was if you weren't listening closely enough, and they started to get her out and he said in the softest sweetest voice, "it's a girl." john yells, "WHAT?! YES!" slaps the dr. on the back--like kinda hard and says, "Good Job!" i immediately start crying, i said, "what? make sure you name her taylor brynn!" i must have an issue with the whole name thing. i had a 27hr labor with ryder, the last 2 hrs i pushed like crazy with no meds, and finally they had to put me out, because the epideral wouldn't work anymore, so the last thing i remember was it felt like someone was pushing on my throat, and then i was out for like 4 hours...so everyone knew what i had for that long and i didn't--so jealous! while i was loopey from the meds, (my mom said i kept fist pumping my chest and giving the peace sign! haha! i must of been living out my secret life as a gangsta) i've never been under general anesthesia, i've heard no one remembers anything while under, but i feel like God let me remember one part, and i can remember it like it was yesterday, i looked up and saw john, it was blurry all around him, and said, "what did we have?" and he said, "a boy", and i said, "did you name him ryder william?" (maybe i thought he was going to name him coolio or something) and he said, "yep" and i passed out after that. when i woke up they said he had a 15 1/2cm head, and there was no way i was gettin him out! here are my three babes, this pic taken just this morning after my little taylor pulled out all the clothes from the basket i folded the night before while watching the playoffs, GO HEAT! i was too tired to put them away, now i wish i would've.

Minty Pink

minty pink? does that make sense? not really, but my favorite color is and will always be pink. can't help it, grey tries to take over, but i'm obsessed with the color since birth. ha! however, i do have favorite seasonal colors, and this summer it's mint! this color is fresh and clean looking, if you are tan it almost makes you look tanner when you wear it. (who doesn't want to look tan?) and it's like a denim color, pretty much any color will go with this. i got these shorts at jcrew, kinda expensive, but i wear them all the time! my next favorite this summer (maybe tuesdays need to be favorite tuesdays?) is this necklace i just got! (we were cleaning out our van for our trip to branson a few weeks ago, and wedged under the passenger seat was a birthday card to me from my mom and dad! score!) it's from alimonada. super fun. it's not for everyone, my mom saw the necklace and goes, "huh." it was in yesterday's post too. i'll try and get a closer pic of it soon. i wore this outfit a lot, but now that it's in the 90's every day, maybe wear this on a cool summa night! shirt-gap (old, like when i had my discount!) shorts-jcrew scarf-target (love) bangle-jcrew (i got this super on sale last summer and it's back again, but not on sale) necklace-alimonada (birthday money) belt-jcrew (sale) flip flops-target **yesterday's post (if anyone cares) shirt-madewell (birthday money) skirt-jcrew (old) shoes-zara (birthday money) leopard shoes-kohls necklace-alimonada belt-target (pretty much everything i buy is on sale or i have a coupon, except a few things from target like the scarf and flip flops.)

gettin' dotty

Here is my first outfit post. i wore this yesterday at church and got a few compliments so i thought maybe this should be the first one. i love going to church for the obvious reasons to worship God, and be refreshed and renewed (etc. etc.!), and i'm weary to say this also on here because i don't want to sound shallow or disrespectful, but i do like to look nice for church. i grew up wearing those dresses that are full skirts, with hats, ruffle socks and the black mary janes (you all know what i'm talkin about) eeevery sunday! times have changed and personally, i could care less what you wear to church just get your butt there and in one that is Bible preaching! anyway, i'm a stay at home mom and i don't really get to dress up very much. so sunday is kinda my day to "dress up". ya get my drift...oh, and i'm probably the least photogenic person alive, so i won't be taking any pictures of myself in the outfits, because i'm too critical and your too judgemental. just kiddin! i need to find one of those clothing dummy thingys... the first outfit is what i wore on father's day (love you honey, your the best daddy ever!) the second is an outfit i might wear more in the fall. i love those leopard shoes, you can wear them with anything, i got them at kohls, i know riight?! i like the black heels because they are really low, hi i'm 5'8". (seriously i feel like a giant around all my friends/family, they're all like 5'5" and shorter) mixing prints are really in this year, a subtle with a bold. the dots and the leopard.

The sample life

so i changed my title to the sample life, (side note: not to be confused with the "example" life, even though i'm pretty perfect...totally kidding! side side note: nor with simple, because my life is anything but!) i feel like i give just little samples of what my life is like throughout the day and week (or month) on this blog, and i'm weary to say this on here but i would love to add more posts on crafts/decor/fashion (totally not a fashionista, so don't think i'm some amazing fashion expert, i wear normal clothes, i don't even know who marc jacobs or micheal kors are!) wink! (i probably even spelled their names wrong!) now that i have said that i probably wont do anything that i just said! ha! but honestly i've needed a hobby for awhile, and i will try this!? i have been challenged by a few close friends to do more of that stuff on here...so i will try to get some things going this month!

sorry about the layout i don't get it yet!

So this next post was going to be a long one, but let's be honest everyone just looks at the pictures anyway, so i will let the pictures say it all! *except for a few sentences here and there... Taylor's 1st birthday! more pictures of her at www.kristenannephotography.com (thanks keke!)! ok, i can't, i have to talk about my little ones! they are so precious, i cry in an instant when i think, "what if something happens to them!" i love how ryder is so passionate about life right now, especially about God and Jesus and dying...deep i know! i've been answering death question for the last month! it's not always a dark conversation, but i don't lie to him either. today i explained the fall of man, in toddler terms and was pretty impressed it was about 3 sentences! haha! i used to love fall and spring so much, but now with little ones, there is a new perspective on summer! oh how i love it! i want to spend every second with ry, he will be in kindergarten next year, 2 months away! someone i barely know right now will be with him longer during the day than his mother that raised him from birth! it's so weird and it's the rest of his life! ok, that was dramatic, but it's what i'm thinking right now. i love gunner, i have talked with my friend haverlee about this, we both wish we could freeze their little voices in time and keep it forever! there is nothing sweeter to hear than a 3yr old's voice! it makes me melt! he is saying and talking and doing so much, he rides his bike so fast, (way faster than ry) and is a worker! he has got that vanderpool crazy work ethic in him, i love to see him help his daddy outside all day long! he is a singer and dancer, a lover and fighter, a sweetheart and a winner! he loves it when i jump on the tramp with him! for a little boy he can really keep his balance! we recently went to branson and silver dollar city, he was a champ he rode everything he could, and was great! (ryder did amazing too) Tots! i love my taylor brynn!! gosh, she is a darling baby! on vacation, i can't even put into words how good she was! she fell asleep without any problem, didn't complain at all, sat in her car seat great, ate everything easily, she is the perfect baby! she loves her daddy so much, she is a mommy and daddy's girl in public (like consider it an honor if she even smiles at you), but when it's just us, she is a complete daddy's girl! holy cow! like an obsession, she only gives john a certain smile and her whole face glows! john is obsessed, he loves it and that girl has him wrapped around her little pinkie! someone said to me once, oh you'll love doing this with her, shopping together will be so fun--and i do not disagree, i'm in heaven, and i figured out i just have to tell her to ask for her daddy's wallet, and he'll hand it right over! hehe! i did some flowers for our cousin's wedding, some before's and after's...(still learning!)

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone!

ryder is such a poser lately...gunner is too can you tell? i can't get that kid to take a nice picture he is always silly! ryder didn't want to take his easter clothes off yesterday, he loved being dressed up.





during the day we had an easter egg hunt...


this is what we did at night, we held baby black easter bears...long story short my neighbor's have some major cool hook ups! we saw some snapping turtles that were huge but didn't seem to capture a pic...we were too captured by snuggles the bear!

ok this pic, i'm glad you didn't hear what i said, buut it was sitting nicely and then growled and went for my face! they may look sweet and are, but those claws were little blades! they were pretty cute though...