The Holidays (and some extras between)

I never blog. I should. I don't keep a journal anymore and I have a feeling that these blog entries will be helpful in remembering what life was like. So, we'll start back with Thanksgiving. I am always given the task of making the pumpkin pie for our large extended family celebration. This year I had a great helper. She's changed so much...

Last year 2010...she didn't do much except for sitting and looking cute...


It hurts my heart to look at pictures of her when she was so small...I miss my little baby so much. I guess it's time to have another...but not quite yet.

This year 2011 - she helped me dump in all the spices!


Plus, I got to give myself "Mom of the Year" award. I let her smell all the spices, but she exhaled when we got to the cinnamon, and ended up with cinnamon all over her face and in her eyes. I'm assuming by her reaction, that cinnamon burns the eyes. Sorry sweet girl.

In between the festivities and eating lots of yummy food, we spent some time eating healthier. She wanted my drink...a yummy green smoothie (the green comes from the spinach - which you can't taste). I loved her little green mustache.


We marked the 1 year anniversary for Brian's new business. The summer went well, winter was not as encouraging and we are still learning day by day to trust God's plan for this venture. We were blown away and amazed by the generosity of my parents and members of our community group (like a Bible study group) during this time in our lives. God has been faithful to provide our needs and allow us to be able to enjoy a few 'fun' things too!

We got a new roof because ours had been damaged by a hail storm in April. We went to the doctor for all three of us about 14 bazillion times. Thankfully, we are all healthy for now!

My 'baby' turned 18 months old and wouldn't let me take a good picture.



She never sits still, is always moving but is SUCH a good little girl. I just love her to pieces.

We went on some walks to check the 'meow' (the mail).


We started watching Sesame Street - which she loves. She can name most of the characters and Big Bird and Elmo are probably her favorites. I love that I can once again cook dinner during 'the witching hour'...the time when sweet children transform into hungry whining beasts. ;)

We had Brian's parents come visit for a week. They hadn't seen her since July! We all went to Christmas Eve service together. Lauren did great - but both she and I were covered in animal cracker crumbs and drool, as she ate her weight in animal crackers. This was the best pic we got of the three of us before we headed out the door.


Brian and I had a fun Christmas Eve putting together her new toys. Brian had one heck of a time drilling holes into Lauren's new play kitchen...since it made it to us without necessary holes to attach the cabinet door and microwave door.

Christmas morning was pretty fun! Lauren didn't quite understand what was going on, but she did know that she got new fun toys! Brian and I got her this tent to store all of her toys that are taking over our living room. I think she liked it!


My parents got her a play kitchen - which I think everyone gave their kiddos this year! My parents have an old one from when I was a kid, and it's one of Lauren's favorite toys. She has had lots of fun with hers!


Opening her new Little People Farm...and spotting the pig - her favorite!


After a morning of feeding the family breakfast at our home, celebrating with Brian's parents and taking a short nap, we headed over to open presents with my parents. Lauren just climbed all over the presents and helped us open ours.


She got a tunnel...and has spent a lot of time crawling back and forth inside this thing! It takes up a ton of space, so I'm glad that it collapses easily!


Brian asked for a hat that covered his ears...and ended up with this! It was a joke, but this was too funny!


I got lots of fun things this year! I'm excited to go shopping and buy some new clothes! My parents totally shocked me and got me a Coach bag...I squealed in delight! I had it on my list, but never imagined it would make it under our tree! I reach into it and love that the bottom isn't covered with smashed goldfish and cheerios. :)

We took a quick trip down to Goessel to celebrate with my mom's side of the family. We opted not to stay the night since Lauren doesn't sleep well in different places. She hasn't been in the car for more than an hour since she was 9 months old. She was a great traveler (the trip was about 3 hours each way)! She didn't take a nap all day and was so happy and well behaved. She exhausted both me and Brian with her energy! We had a really quiet drive home - I think she conked out in the car about 2 minutes into the drive home.

I'm enjoying my break from school! I've read several books (for fun!) and been able to take a few naps here and there. I'm glad I've got about a week left to spend at home now that all of the celebrations have ended and our guests have gone home. Brian snapped this pic one afternoon when Lauren woke up screaming from a nap and didn't want to go back down. She never snuggles or cuddles, but since she was so tired, she sat on my lap for about 45 min and watched Sesame Street. It was great!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

THE scarf...and Birthday Surprises!

Ok...so there's this scarf... I am in love with this scarf.


Rarely to I find clothing items that I must own. This scarf, however, was perfect. It's made out of light weight jersey material (which feels like a t-shirt) and isn't so thick that I feel like I'm prepared to battle sub-zero temperatures in the name of fashion. Plus, scarves are super cool and in right now - and well, lets face it...with being pregnant 2 years ago and having a hubby quit his job to open his own business, awesome wardrobe pieces haven't happened in a while. Of course, as with most clothing items I find that I like, this scarf belongs to my friend Courtney, and it hadn't been purchased recently. She was nice enough to let me borrow it for "Celebrity Day" for Spirit Week (that's why I've got a bunny in my purse and she has a pink poodle in hers). Every time Courtney wears it, I rave about it. She was nice enough to let me borrow it again for an awesome weekend of birthday surprises!!! See below for more scarf borrowing pictures...

Here are the 3 amigos. We have been friends for a long time.



This picture was taken shortly after the best surprise I have ever been a part of! Emily's (the brunette) 30th birthday was a few weeks ago. Jenny (the blonde) wanted to know if there was a party being planned for Em's bday. If so, she wanted to fly in for the party. The more Jenny and I started talking, the more excited we got - and decided to make it a surprise. I took a Friday off work and picked Jenny up from the airport. We spent the afternoon hanging out before we headed off to Em's to surprise her with a girls night out on the Plaza. We got her parents and hubby in on the surprise, and Em thought she was going to have a date night with her hubby. Needless to say, she was shocked when Jenny and I showed up instead - especially since Jenny had flown from Memphis! We three had a fantastic evening shopping on the Plaza and eating at The.Melting.Pot for dinner. Here's a pic of 'The Scarf Girls'. Thanks Courtney for letting me wear your uber-cool, awesome, best ever scarf!



The next day was Em's actual birthday and surprise party. It was great fun! Em had the added surprise of meeting her new niece that day, too! Here is what we wore...completely unplanned. Sometimes I think we share a brain.




So speaking of birthday surprises...and I'll also mention that my birthday is in May... Courtney walked into my classroom last Thursday carrying a brown paper bag, looked at me with a big grin and said, "Happy early birthday!" I opened the bag and inside was my very own PERFECT scarf! At first I thought she had given me hers, but her mom was able to find one for me! I, of course, wore it the very next day. Here's me in my favorite new accessory!



Courtney gave it to me at the perfect time. I'd spent a long time the night before browsing for a scarf that might be able to come close and had found one that I was going to order! I screamed and jumped up and down when I opened it! It's the best and most perfect gift I've been given in a long time!

Spirit Week Pictures (minus 1 day)

I LOVE spirit week. It is so much fun to dress in crazy clothes. I mostly like not having to dress up for work every day. Spirit week is an excuse to wear jeans every day of the week (or something slightly more tacky). Sure, the kids are crazy, but when there's a good spirit day, roaming the halls is an experience! From what I hear, our administrators are pretty strict with regards to what we can do with spirit week because we don't want to offend a group of people. While I don't want to offend people, I kinda feel like some of the fun gets lost in the vetoes of some of the days. I could go on a longer rant...but this is a public blog, and I'm face.book friends with one of those administrators (Hi Cindy!) and I don't know if she reads my blog...

Anyway - here are the pictures from Spirit Week Fall 2011.

Kindergarten Day -


I really should have put a little more thought into this day. I had NO idea what to wear. When I got to school there were lots of girls wearing their Girl.Scout uniforms. I have mine from 4th grade and I'm pretty sure it still fits me... Oh well. I rocked me some pig tails. And jeans. Yay for the jeans!

Celebrity Day -



I really didn't have much to go with for this day. The kids told me that we could pick a certain celebrity and dress like that person, or pick a character that was famous. I just went with 'random famous person'. I guess this is how celebrities dress...fashionable (but I'm not sure this counts as fashionable). I'm pretty sure Old Navy skinny jeans (which I've NEVER worn in public before - but hooray for getting to wear jeans to work again!) and an Old Navy t-shirt are a little less quality than the attire of most celebrities. But, notice my 'dog' in my bag. We didn't have a stuffed dog, so we had to go with a stuffed bunny. I wore my sunglasses while I taught. That was pretty fun! Pictured in the first picture is one of my partners in crime, Courtney. I'm pretty sure I couldn't survive my job without her! She loaned me the scarf I'm wearing. I didn't want to give it back. Can I have it when you die, Courtney? :) You are 30 now - and since I'm still in my 20s, I'm just going to assume you'll die before me.

80s Workout Day - (THE BEST DAY)



The kids got REALLY into this day. I have a few pictures, but I don't know what the rules are about posting pictures of students and I'm just NOT going to take any risks here. I couldn't have done this day without my mom's help. She loaned me the leggings, the scrunchie, the sweatband and the slouchy socks. I felt like a total nerd bomber, but the kids looked SO much better than I did. Leg warmers are easily purchased at Tar.get these days, along with neon tights, apparently. Even the boys wore tights. Too funny. Pictured above - my partner in crime Courtney, and another gal I couldn't survive without - Kim.

Argyle Day -


I didn't have anything argyle. Thankfully, my friend Mandy let me borrow her sweater. Every year for spirit week I feel sad that I haven't saved every article of clothing I've ever worn. I'm sure I used to own something argyle - not that there's anything wrong with Mandy's sweater...I just feel like it would be nice to have more options. But...jeans!!!!

Friday was class color day. Each grade level wore one of the school colors. Teachers were supposed to wear something school spirit related. I pretty much wear Jag gear every Friday, and didn't have Brian take a picture. I was sad I didn't have my camera at school when I saw my friend Melissa (my other partner in crime) and saw that she and I wore the same t-shirt to school that day. It would have made for an awesome Class Color day pic - oh well.

So, there you go. Spirit week. There will be another one in the spring! I can't wait!

I didn't love the days this year (other than 80s workout) because it was too hard to find stuff to wear! I always vote for pajama day - that's even better than getting to wear jeans to school!

Summer {a recap}

This summer goes down as one of my favorites ever! There have been exciting things that have happened in summers past (getting married, overseas trips, having Lauren), but there was something that made this summer so wonderful. I loved getting to sleep in. I loved how easy it was to be a stay at home mom. Sure, there are challenges to that, but compared to working and being a mom...staying home, for our family, makes things SO much easier and less stressful. I loved spending mornings drinking coffee from a real mug while watching The Today Show. I loved getting to be home every morning when Lauren woke up - the extra time and snuggles were wonderful! I loved exercising almost every day (and I'm SHOCKED I said that). It is over, and we're back in the swing of things. Things are still good, but are much more busy. It is our current life season, and I'm trying hard not to wish it away for something different.

Our summer started off with a fun party! We celebrated Lauren's 1st birthday at my parents' house. We had tons of guests and I didn't take any pictures! Thankfully, my BFF and cousin are excellent photogs and were willing to share their pictures with me. I didn't go overboard with much.

The cake:


I made two cakes - one for her to smash and one for the guests to eat (well, I made three cakes, the first one wasn't baked in the middle - even though the tooth pick came out clean). It was goood cake. Lauren did a pretty good job with the smash part.


However, once she started throwing the cake around the kitchen, we took it away and gave her the serving spatula, and she was in heaven.

The next weekend was also pretty exciting. We decided that since Lauren was one and because we didn't have any food allergies that we would give her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I jokingly told Brian that I wanted him home because I didn't think I could handle a trip to the ER alone if she had a reaction. I'm SOOO glad he was home, because, sure enough, she had an allergic reaction. She looked like this...and the picture doesn't do it much justice.

Her eyes were really swollen and puffy and she had these pimple looking things around her mouth. We went to urgent care and they gave her a some benedryl and an oral steroid. Within 20 minutes she looked back to normal. We left with a prescription for an Epi-pen and a referral to see an allergist. It was a scary experience - but she was ok, and we weren't truly fearful for her life - since she continued to breathe ok and act pretty normal through the experience. I, of course hadn't showered or done anything with my hair before I fed her - so I went to urgent care in my pjs with no makeup and wild crazy hair. I was glad I remembered a bra. We were pretty scared to feed her after this. Peanuts are in lots of things and we have to stay away from any foods that may have had contact with peanuts. This means she can't have ice cream from an ice cream place (no sonic, no dairy queen, no frozen yogurt - poor kid) because we just don't know if what she's going to eat may have had contact with peanuts. We read lots of labels and are careful. We're not so scared anymore, but I'm afraid for school. She'll have to sit at a special table at lunch. She won't be able to eat birthday treats that other kids bring to school. She's going to be THAT weird kid. And she'll be a kid...she won't always know what to do. I'm afraid other people will give her food because they won't know that it could kill her. The world wide community isn't too friendly towards people who have allergies. I'm thankful we have a few years before school. We've been to an allergist and she has a moderate allergy. We don't know, however, if that means she could go into anaphylactic shock next time, or if she'll just break out in hives. We will just pray that we will never know.

A few weeks later, Brian and I went to a wedding of a co-worker of mine. I had a blast!


I don't have any photos of the bride and groom, but I had fun with these two ladies. They make life so fun!

The rest of the summer was pretty boring, and it was nice. We celebrated July 4th by eating with my parents and listing to our neighbors blow stuff up - hoping it wouldn't wake our sleeping kid.

We spent lots of time with this little boy, Caden and his mommy, Melissa (in the blue dress above). They are three weeks apart in age...and he's SEVERAL inches taller than she is!


We made lots of messes and she 'helped' me around the house every chance she could!


We spent several days at the pool. She loved splashing in the water...which felt like bath water most days.

Near the end of the summer, she got hand, foot and mouth disease. That's quite fun. She's sick here in this picture. She doesn't look so bad, but she was on the couch and didn't move for a long time, let me rock her to sleep, refused to eat for days and was up a lot in the middle of the night miserable from her fever.

After Lauren started feeling better, I got sick. I thought I had hand foot and mouth too, but the doctor said it's really not common in adults and he didn't think I had it. He diagnosed me with strep throat. A few days later, however, my throat culture was negative. I had a sore throat for 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure it was mono based on my symptoms - thankfully it was pretty mild. It seemed like sickness was running wild in our house right up until when I had to start getting ready to go back to school. We did have to fit one more thing in before I went back though. I had to teach this little one how to drive!

This little car has been the hit toy of the past few weeks! It also converts to a walker push toy. Right now she can only go backwards - so I've got a bit of teaching left to do!

Well, there you have it, our summer in review. If you made it to the end, congrats!

Lauren {15 months}

To say that it's been a while since I've blogged would be an understatement. I'll try and be a little better about posting. I'm hopeful to do a 'summer in review' post, but I'll post some updates on Lauren - before I forget! Here's a picture of her on her 15 month birthday!


She's FINALLY starting to grow some hair! Even still, she got called a boy by my parents neighbor the other night - while wearing a pink t-shirt and a skirt. His wife let him have it for that one! Since I posted last, Lauren:
* started crawling! She was at least 13 months - she'd perfected the army crawl, but finally started really crawling. I thought she'd just skip it, since she'd been pulling up on things for months already.
*started walking! One week before her 15 month birthday she finally let go and went a few steps on her own. 1 week later, she's a total pro. She's still a little wobbly, but she is awesome compared to just one week ago! I guess that's what happens when you take your time!
*has learned all sorts of animal noises. Her current ones are dog, cat, elephant, monkey, snake, lion, sheep, pig, horse and when you ask her what a bee says she covers her tummy - because we always tickle her!
*says only a few words. 'Hello' (Heh-o), hi, Daddy (and dada), yes, no, eww, E-I-E-I (referring to Old McDonald). She'll say a few others when you ask her, but I feel sad that she doesn't say 'Mama' unless asked.
* is pretty much taking 1 nap a day. She usually sleeps from 6:30pm to 8:30am, so I can't feel too sad about losing that second nap.
* has gotten several new teeth! She has 12 total! Teething has been a breeze - I didn't even know her molars were coming in until they had completely popped through!
*She wears a size 4 diaper and lots of 12 month clothes - but fits pretty well into some 18 month things, too. We go to the doctor in a week, so I don't know where she is percentile wise.

She's still lots of fun to take out and about. She attracts so much attention! I love it! Transitioning back to work has been much better than I thought it would be. Last year I felt like life was ending when I had to go back to work. This year, I'm having a blast and it makes me cherish my time with her more. I'm so thankful that I am still part time this year. She's doing so many fun new things and I wouldn't want to miss them!

Lauren {12 Months}

It's a big week here 'round these parts. My little babe turned 1 today.



This last month has been tons of fun - I say that every month, but each month as she gets more and more interactive, she gets more fun!

I love running errands with this girl. She attracts so much attention. Strangers stop and say hello. She's so friendly she'll wave and smile at anyone!

I think...she's said her first word. She has said 'mama' and 'dada' for a while, but honestly, I'm not sure that she knows what they mean. She doesn't see one of us and address us as 'mama' or 'dada'. When I ask, "Lauren, can you say 'mama'? She usually says, "DADA!". BUT not too long ago, I asked her to say 'mama' and she responded "MAMA"! I was thrilled! It sounds like she always says "all done" (uh duh) right before she starts throwing food from her high-chair (which means she's done). She's been pretty consistent with that one and is now starting to say it after bottles, too. If you ask her to clap, she will. If you make kissing noises, she'll imitate you. If you say "So big", she'll put her arms high in the air. She's pulling up on everything and getting into trouble!


I always have an audience when I pee these days...

She's not crawling - she does a mean army crawl and is super fast, but she's not up on her hands and knees. She's not walking either and by the looks of her, I'm guessing it will be quite a while before she takes on that one. She has recently started to pull up to a standing position - which means there are all sorts of new things to be explored!



I'm done with school this week and am so excited to spend lots of days with my favorite girl!

Old and New

There is a box under our stairs that has lots of exciting things in it. It's a box of clothes, toys, books and other random memories from my childhood. My mom kept her favorite outfits from when I was a baby, my favorite outfits - that I'm sure I requested to wear every day as a kid, nerdy cross stitched sweatshirts that I thought were the coolest, my brownie uniform and a host of other fun things. My favorite things in the box are the baby clothes. I was born in mid-May and Lauren was born at the beginning of June. It's been fun to dress her in some of the same things that I wore as a baby. My 1st Easter dress is a hoot.

The dress looks like a night gown.
The pink coat is actually pretty cool.
The hat...sorry...the bonnet...think Little House on the Prairie.




The ribbons were almost too much for her. There was no way she'd keep it on if I had her wear it for Easter. It was just too cute, but she ended up wearing this dress instead:



My brother and future sister-in-law bought this as a flower girl dress for their wedding this summer. However, when they decided to move their wedding date and didn't want to return the dress, I was thrilled to have a dress that was a little more up to date. For April 24th...it sure was cold and dreary. I was glad it had a cute little jacket! Lauren hasn't visited Santa yet, nor has she seen the Easter Bunny (Easter bunnys are creepy...btw). But I had a bunny puppet stashed in a box of teaching materials from my elementary practicum days that she loves!



We get this face a lot...


Happy Easter a few weeks late!