Taylor is our little Mediterranean Queen; we think she'd fit in nicely in either Greece or Italy - my father's parents (native Italians) would've been proud.
Taylor has simply grown tons since she was born, a fact we noticed of all of them as we went through old pictures (relatively speaking) while getting these ready for you. Still the smallest of the bunch, but she's a happy, healthy girl who's become very attentive and obedient (a big surprise if you'd known her in the cholic days).
Taylor has gone from afraid of the water to loving the backyard kiddie pool, and from someone who appeared to have the opinion that heaven screwed up her "parent order" to a girl who loves to give hugs often to both of us. What can I tell you? It's great.
Matthew's charging right ahead, getting into everything in can, but in a boy's way - that means he has no intention of being clandestine about anything - he often gets in trouble while you're standing right there watching him. But hey, I can tell you that's how us boys learn things :-)
Matt's still showing signs that he's going to be one big boy, and his appetite is one of them; not too much around that he'll refuse, and we often have to remind him that "hey, dinner ended 20 minutes ago pal...didn't you get the memo?"
We couldn't think of a more appropriate backdrop for the picture, as he loves balls of any size and shape. The kid's got a good arm too, let me tell you - unfortunately, we let them throw balls (but not toys) in the living room while growing up, and the boy can now traverse the great room (or give you a decent headache if you happen to be in the flight path).
Amanda is smart enough to always be happy for the camera. She's usually happy in general, and it's always been that way, save for times like right about now when she's getting teeth when she's a little bit cranky. Her two molars are coming in right now, and she wants our attention a lot (a comfort thing).
Remember what I said about Matt? Well, Amanda gets into trouble all right, but she's sneaky about it. You are often engaged in something or another, and have to wonder "hey, where'd Amanda go?" Chances are she's in one of the few spots in the house she's NOT supposed to be - I believe I said you "gotta watch the quiet ones" some time back. Well, then it was a joke - now, ... well you get the idea :-)
Samantha, as rambunctious as she is, surprised me a little with posing so well for this picture, right down to her foot where the photographer wanted.
She rivals Matthew's appetite, and shows it here by appearing to be a bit older than she really is - but then again I have a biased opinion.
Samantha is coming along with speech at a very fast pace (at least in our opinion), and not only leads the pack in vocabulary, but can also sing some songs now, to include almost half of the ABC song. The good thing about that is she pulls the others with her, so if she's doing us a favor as she learns. This is also a result of her being the natural leader of the group - they all want to do what she's doing, and will follow her along (works well when she behaves.....when she doesn't, well....)
