Munchkin Land

Lots of Catching up to do!!

2009-12-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there blog. Have you missed us, it has been awhile.

Well, all good have to come to an end. We are getting ready to say goodbye to Dustin's sabbatical in about a week. Dustin has been at CCV for almost 9 years now and was due for a break. So starting Nov 1, he was off for 2 months. We have had SO much fun with Daddy home and all kinds of free time. We spent most of our days together as a family and had a blast. We stayed in a local hotel for a week, took a trip to Flagstaff for another week, then went to Payson to visit Dustin's mom, then back over to Flagstaff with some friends. We came home a few weeks before Christmas and Dustin surprised me with a trip to New York City. It was a dream of mine to go there and I have been beggin him for years to take me. We left the kids home with family and friends and enjoyed 4 days alone in the big city. It was AMAZING and so so much fun!! It was the greatest Christmas present ever.

Now Christmas is over, though it was such a wonderful time I am happy that the madness is in the past and we can really focus on how amazing God truely is!! Our life will go back to normal in a few days and I am thankful for our "normal". God has given Dustin a job he absolutely loves and has given us these two amazing little people we call Kyla and Strius that I still get to spend my days with. So as we say farewell to the sabbatical, we are also so excited to live the life God has given us and can't wait to see what else he has in store for us.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a good new year!!

The Resort Life

2009-06-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last week we were able to stay in a time share in Scottsdale for FREE!! Dustin inquires about time shares quite often, we like to buy a week from people who own them. A woman who owns a timeshare that he inquired about a year ago emailed him out of the blue and asked if he wanted to use one she was unable to sell for free. Well, Tappans don't pass down free, so we did it. It was so fun and now I am home missing the resort life. Above are the pics from our adventure...

Daddy Daughter Dance #4

2009-02-21T12:42:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday night was a very special date for Kyla and Dustin. It was Kyla's fourth daddy daughter dance with her favorite person on the earth, her daddy!! She got all dressed up and even let mommy do her hair for the night. Daddy picked her up at 5:30 and they headed over to the church to dance the night away. At the event they had a mac and cheese and chicken dinner with cupcakes for dessert. Kyla was mostly excited about the treasure chest every little girl got filled with jewels. On the back of each jewel was a promise that came straight from their very own daddy. Dustin made three very special promises to his Kyla. He promised to always pray for her, to always protect her, and to always love her. Makes me tear just thinking about it. It is amazing to see how much daddies can impact their little girls just by loving them, so cool!! Needless to say, they had a blast. Kyla came home and said, "Mommy, it was so so so fun!!" I am so blessed to have this beautiful family but I am mostly thankful for a husband that would do anything for me and his children. We love you Daddy!!

We are proud of our AZ Cardinals!!

2009-02-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well the Super Bowl came and went and the Steelers came out on top. This was the VERY first year we have ever been into the Super Bowl but it was very exciting!! We had a lot of fun rooting on our team at the Garage (the youth building at the church). We all got decked out in our red and cheered them on!! I have posted some pics of the cuties!!

Christmas, New Years, and Kansas

2009-01-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a chance to really sit back and enjoy God's goodness over Christmas. We were constantly reminded in 2008 how important it is to rely on Christ for our needs, the world is so unpromising and our hope is in Jesus and HEAVEN. Ahhhh, Heaven will be nice!!

But as far as our little Heaven on earth...our babies and just our simple little life..... We were able to spend the holidays with both of our families this year because we spent Christmas Eve and Day here and then headed to Kansas on the 26th. The kids did really well on the flights with layovers each way, God (again) was VERY good to Dustin and I. We did sleep great the night we got home, though. We had a lot of fun with Nanny (Dustin's mom) and Mammaw and Papa (Dustin's grandparents) on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed a Happy Birthday Jesus chocolate cake and showers of gifts from the family!! Kyla's favorite was her Barbie Horse Drawn Carriage...she calls it her "Beautiful Horsey."

We woke up to Santa's gifts, opened stockings, and headed out to Black Canyon City for Omelets and cinnamon rolls at Dustin's parent's house. We were also showered with lots of love, and a HUGE puppy for Kyla. It was really a relaxing and enjoyable day!!

We then flew to Kansas and enjoyed some time with My (Megan's) family where the kids enjoyed their 3rd Christmas and loved every minute with their aunts, cousins and Oma and Opa. We had some GREAT friends get married in Wichita, KS. A three hour drive from my parent's house. Dustin officiated the wedding and Kyla was the flower girl (well, sorta). She attempted to be a flower girl by taking four steps down the aisle, then looked up to see everyone looking at her and took the adorable flower basket filled with petals and spiked it (like a football player) onto the carpeted church floor, screamed at the top of her lungs and ran straight to daddy. Mommy was not laughing, Daddy was. While Dustin, Kyla, and I were at the wedding my Mom and Dad kept Strius and had the time of their life with him. He is turning into such a goof-ball and he is SO MUCH FUN!!

Happy New Year, we look forward to hearing all about what is most special to you in the new year!! God Bless!!

Kyla's Preschool Christmas Party!!

2008-12-16T12:22:00.001-08:00

This was so cute and so much fun!! First they all sang some Christmas Carols and then said a poem to the parents and gave us a gift, it is an ADORABLE calender and I LOVE IT!! Then they sat and waited for Santa to arrive, suddenly he was here and they all got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Kyla and Caleb were scared so they agreed to go up together. They did GREAT and Kyla told Santa that she wanted a Mermaid. Mommy is not sure what she is talking about, hopefully Santa can figure that one out:).

Just wanted to share the cute pics, Merry Christmas!!

Kyla's Straight Hair

2008-12-11T14:19:00.000-08:00

Today I went to my FAVORITE hair stylist, Kristi, and had my haircut along with both of the kiddos!! I had chopped Strius' with Dustin's clippers and it looked terrible, so Kristi cleaned it up for me. Then it was Kyla's turn and we talked her into letting Kristi straighten all those curls of her's. She looks so grown up and so BEAUTIFUL, so I had to share the pics with everyone. Hope you all are "Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!!"

AND

My sis was here, we had a great visit and I miss her terribly!! I just wanted to take this moment to say HAPPY 40th SIS!!:) Don't you hate me now?

Strius Turns One

2008-11-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our little Strius, he turns one TODAY!! We had a great little party with family and a couple friends the other night. Strius LOVES cake and being the center of attention. It has been a crazy year with two kiddos, but we have loved every minute with our little boy. He has quite a personality and everyday we are beginning to see more and more of it. He is still such a little smily boy and we love that about him.
Kyla is doing great, too. She is not sure about all this birthday attention for baby brother. She keeps telling us what she wants to do on her birthday. She is a wonderful big sister and is always helping us out. She is doing great at preschool and seems to love every minute of it.

Dustin and I are doing pretty good, we have had a CRAZY month and look forward to some breaks from the busy life that we live. We have never been more thankful for our friends, family, and faith. Happy Thanksgiving to you, we hope that you are able to give God all the glory he deserves for all that he blesses you with.

PS, don't you love the picture of dustin and I, I get so mad because he makes the worst faces when I want a picture of us. So, this is my way of trying to get him to stop by posting the one where he looks like a BIG dork!!:) I am such a sweet wife, I know!!

HALLOWEEN 2008

2008-11-01T11:20:00.001-07:00

Oh man, are we happy that is over!! I always think ahead at these activities and think, "O, this is going to be so much fun!!" Then it comes and it is WAY fun for the kids but when it is all said and done, I don't think it was much fun for me:). Ha ha, I guess that is what parenting is all about, huh? (I am sure my parents are reading this and laughing saying, yep!!) We did have a good time, we are just so happy to say it's over.

Kyla was a Butterfly Princess (Mariposa Barbie) and Strius was our little Rockstar. We headed out around 6pm and got back somewhere between 9:30 and 10. We had a block party down the street and probably had around 100 people in the neighborhood come, that was very cool!! Although it was 91 degrees and we were all sweating, I think I would rather be freezing on Halloween, but no such thing in Phoenix.

Kyla and Daddy carved pumpkins the night before. Then mommy got sucked in and we made a castle, can you tell in the picture? We started a tradition last year, the night before halloween we eat pizza and carve pumpkins...fun fun fun!!

We will blog again soon, cause our little boy will be ONE in about 2 1/2 weeks....eeeeek!! What happened to the time?

Hope you all had a great Holiday and wish you many things to be thankful for this next month!!

Lots of LOVE!!

October..

2008-10-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

We had another busy month and I think the busiest week is still ahead of us with Halloween coming. I just wanted to share some pics I took this month of the kiddos.

We had a long hard week last week, Kyla had a fever for 7 days in a row. It was insane!! Poor little girl was such a trooper and so sweet. All the sudden her attitude came back and all the sass, it was then that I knew we beat the virus and she was feeling better:). She missed preschool for a whole week but she saved all her energy to visit the pumpkin patch and have her class Halloween party this coming week. I know she will be happy she was sick the week before and not this week.

We started a "Star Chart" about 2 weeks ago and she is really doing GREAT with it. When she is good or we notice her doing something positive, we reward her with a star. After she gets 10, she gets to pick a prize. Last week she got to go to Target with Daddy and pick out a prize. Guess what she picke? Play-dough!! She had never played with it before because mommy is not a fan. So, that was such a treat. She and daddy got to spend a little time creating. Dustin even made a little Kyla, I will post a picture...it was really cute. She had a blast. Then this past week, she earned 10 more stars and got to go see High School Musical 3 with mommy. She LOVED it and so did mommy. Then, as soon as we got home she ran off to her room, then all the sudden she popped out with a whole new outfit on. Well, I could not resist and made her pose for a picture in the outfit she had picked out herself, she even put the headband on without any help. She is growing up so stinking fast, but is so much fun!!

Strius is our entertainment!! He loves to shake his bootie and if you laugh at something he does, he catches onto that. He starts really hamming it up at that point. It is so fun to see his little personality come out. I can't believe he will be a year in about 3 weeks. I love having this little boy in my life, he is such a joy!!

San Diego 2008

2008-09-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Krystal, Cody, Mark, Patsy, Kyla, Dustin, Strius, and Megan

The Tappans are home and so happy to be!! We had a great time in San Diego this past week, but man Dustin and I are pooped. On our way home we were wondering when our vacation without the kids started. I guess we didn't realize how NOT relaxing it can be in San Diego when you have two totally dependant little ones. BUT, we did have lots of fun with them!!

We shared two condos with the Staggs!! Although we pretty much hogged the upstairs one. This was the second year with our newest "family" member Krystal (Uncle Cody's new wife) and boy does Kyla love her. We spent lots of time at the park right next to the condo which is on the Bay, it is beautiful. Our favorite place was LaJolla, where the water was crystal clear and there were Sea Lions all over the place. We spent two half days at Sea World, which amazes me with all these sea creatures that actually obey human commands. I simply could not wrap my brain around how on earth you would even begin to train a dolphin to do a 30 foot leap out of the water on command and a killer whale to perform a 25 minute show. It is always so cool to see all of that!! Takes me back to, how could you not believe in God. All the different creatures he has placed on the earth and all the capabilities they have. Amazing!!

Kyla and Strius are doing great and are so much fun!! Strius is WALKING!!! It is official my 10 month old is a walker and I am so not ready for that. I sleep so well at night due to the constant chasing I am doing ALL day long. His favorite things are plants, electric sockets, dishwashers, nails, anything small enough to put in the mouth and big enough to choke on. The greatest thing about him is the HUGE grin on his face everytime we make eye contact, he is so so so happy and it is so fun!!

Thanks so much for keeping up on us and for reading these blogs. We love you all very much and hope everyone of you are doing well!!

Kyla's First Day of Preschool!!

2008-08-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

Wow, was it an exciting day for us or what? It is amazing how into this Dustin and I really got. He actually took the day off of work to take Kyla to preschool, our poor little girl will never get away from us. We all peeled ourselves out of bed, went to the breakfast table and squealed about preschool throughout breakfast. Kyla actually let me comb her curls and help her get dressed. She must've really been excited because that is very rare to let mommy do anything to help without a fight. Then we were off to preschool, with baby brother along for the ride. We arrived there to see that all the kiddos had beat us, then Kyla spots her friends Calub and Tatum and runs to be with them. I think she was more than happy to say goodbye to mommy and daddy once she got there. We left her with a smile and a kiss, she was as happy as can be!! Dustin and I went home, put our son down for a nap and wondered, "What the heck do we do now?" I put the dishes away, Dustin watched the Olympics and that was pretty much it. We headed back to pick Kyla up and she greeted us with a smile and a "MOMMY!!" It seemed to be a great day for her because she was sad to leave Happy Apple Preschool. Then we will do it all over again come Thursday!! We are a happy hovering helicopter family, but that is the way we like it!!

PATIO

2008-07-27T21:12:00.001-07:00

Kansas

2008-07-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we just got back from Kansas and it was a great trip. Kyla and Strius had lots of fun with Oma, Opa, Aunt RaRa, Aunt KiKi and all their cousins!! It is always a reminder of how far away we really are when I fly with children. The flight to Kansas was as close to h*ll as I have ever been, but we survived. Then the flight home was GREAT!! So that made up for it. We spent most of our time playing with Kyla's cousin Emery (who is also 3) and playing with Oma and Opa's toys at their house. It was so nice to catch up with my parents and sisters, but it was hard without daddy.

While we were away, Dustin worked on our back patio and added some fun things like a patio sail to help shade it more and he stained the concrete. It looks really good so I took some picks and will add them to the blog. Hope everyone is doing great!!

2008-07-08T23:12:00.001-07:00

This is a recent pic of Kyla and her best friend, Tatum, across the street!! We could not ever again find a street to live on as perfect as this one, friends..friends..everywhere..

JULY

2008-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hello all!!

Here we are again, another month gone by and our children are changing more and more by the minute!!

Strius started pulling himself up on everything, I guess I had forgotton all the boo boos we get with the pulling up and crawling because he hurts himself all the time. I don't know how I am going to do with a boy, I've heard it is pretty scary all the bumps and bruises. He will be 8 months on the 19th I just try to savor every moment with my last baby!!

We are getting ready to take a trip to Kansas to see Oma and Opa and for Strius to meet his Aunts Kim and Laura (Megan's sisters). It should be lots of fun, but I know that little Kyla will miss her Daddy. She is turning into even more of a Daddy's girl lately, he can realy do no wrong. It is actually a very sweet thing to see how close they are. She is growing up so fast, talking so much and so clearly. She loves to talk on the phone whether someone is on the other line or not. She is a little performer, too. Loves to make up songs and pretend she is on stage while mommy and daddy watch her. Our favorite thing is to hear her talk about Jesus, it is like she just knows and understands that he is really in her life not just an idea. She loves to sing songs she learns from her little church called "Good Times Kitchen". Already she is growing in her faith and that is more than we could ever ask for.

We will blog again after Kansas to share about our trip!! Hope everyone had a GREAT 4th of July. We went and watched fireworks at the Lake near our house with our friends, Rachael and Ryan, while we left our kids with AWESOME babysitters. They even took pictures of the kids while we were gone, they are the ones posted. Enjoy!!

We send our love and are very thankful for amazing family and friends!!

June

2008-06-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

We are having a CRAZY June and it is just about to get crazier!! Dustin is on his way to CIY, the high school camp in Colorado for a week. I have planned to stay home with the kiddos since the following week we are all heading up to camp in Prescott, AZ. It should be interesting doing camp with a 3 year old and a 6 month old but I am looking forward to it.

STRIUS IS CRAWLING!! He cruises all over the house and makes me so stinkin nervous. He nearly took his eye out the other day and all the while my heart was beating out of my chest. I can see that things are going to be different with a little boy, so much more curious than Kyla was. He will be 7 months on the 19th, it is going by way too fast!!

Dustin and I both turn 29 this month and are hopeful that our 30's will bring us more wisdom and knowledge than our 20's did. HA, that's just my little way to look forward to being out of our twenties.

We wish you all a great June and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! We are lost without our Daddies, so thank you for all your love and dedication to your families!!

Strius at 5 months

2008-04-17T14:09:00.001-07:00

He is such a sweet boy!!

Strius got his first teeth this month, his two bottom ones. He is so cute with them, although I will miss the gummy smile. He is babbling and cooing more than ever and he is such a content little boy especially when we compare him to sister at this age. He will be 5 months on the 19th and it has flown by. We look forward to seeing more personality but it is still hard to see it all fly by. He is such a blessing and we are so thankful for our precious babies!!

Kyla is 3 this month

2008-04-17T12:37:00.001-07:00

We Celebrated Kyla's birthday with her friends a little earlier this year!! She is going to turn 3 on the 25th of April!! She had a great time at her party. They did some dancing, pinata hitting, and tattooing. She loved all her presents and her very favorite continues to be her Barbies. Mommy's favorites are the clothes!! We will celebrate as a family on her actual day. Dustin's sister, Krystal, is getting married on the 26th so it should be a very busy but exciting time!!

The Beginning

2008-03-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello family and friends,
I have created this to keep you all updated on our kiddos, since I have a rough time getting pics out regularly. I thought this would help me remember to post.
We hope everyone had a GREAT Easter and are ready for Spring and for those of us in Phoenix we are approaching summer very quickly. I will post our Feb pics for you and will continue to update regularly.
Kyla is going to be 3 on the 25th of April, so we are getting ready for a little party. She is totally potty trained and going to start swim lessons in May. She will be going to Pre-Preschool in august, Mommy is very excited for that!!
Strius just turned 4 months last week and is getting so big, so fast. I love him to pieces and he is such a smiley boy. I will admit that these days, Daddy is getting the BIGGER smiles from his little man!!
We love you all very much!!