Lauren in Concert

Our summer plans have finally slowed down and we have been able to enjoy a few weekends at home.

Lauren got her haircut last weekend and the stylist gave her pigtails. It was so cute and made her look so old. (sniff sniff!)

She's really interested in playing with her babies lately. She's such a little mother and likes to take them shopping in her shopping cart and feed them their bottles. Very cute.

As you know, Lauren loves to sing. She sings all the time...when she goes to sleep at night, first thing in the morning, all through meals, etc. I finally was able to catch a few of her songs on video! I hope you enjoy her songs as much as we do. Her favorite right now is "Chicken Fried" by the Zac Brown Band...."You know I like my chicken fried, cold beer on Friday nights, a pair of jeans that fit just right and the radio up. I like to see the sunrise, see the love in my woman's eyes..." As you can see the love in my woman's eyes is apparently her favorite line.

She likes to sing about the weather too. Watch here.

And of course, we couldn't forget the classic, "Itsy Bitsy Spider." Click here.

We're excited it is finally football season...two big games this weekend Iowa v. Iowa State (Go Hawks!!) and Bears v. Packers. We'll be watching with anticipation.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Until next time--

Crivitz with the Simpsons

We had a great weekend at the cabin in Crivitz with the Simpson in August. Lauren and Jessie loved playing together and of course, we always have a great time hanging out with Mark and Trulie as well. The weather was perfect and we got to enjoy some time on the boat and at the beach. Enjoy a few pictures from our weekend.

Diva Lauren!

Here is my two year old going on thirteen year old daughter, Princess Lauren!! She is very independent and wants to do everything by herself.
The other evening, I told her it was time to go upstairs and take a bath. She looked at me and said, "Stop with the attititude, Mom." WHAT? Needless to say, that didn't go over very well, but it's so hard to correct those things when you're trying not to laugh. Just yesterday, we were headed to the grocery store and I was trying to hurry her along and she said, "Let's go pal." Who knows where she comes up with these things, but needless to say, she keeps us laughing and I can't wait to hear what she says next!

Fair Fun!

Lauren has discovered that she loves fair rides!! Every summer the DuPage County Fair takes place across the street from our house. This year she and Ashley had a great time riding on all of the rides. Lauren's favorite was the great big ferris wheel! I think Uncle Mike and Justin were holding on tighter than the girls!

They also got to ride on the train and the giant slide. Wheeeee!! We love having the fair so close. Someday I hope Lauren gets to participate in all the fair activities just as I did growing up.

One of my other favorite summertime places growing up is Adventureland!! We drove to Des Moines to meet baby Molly at the end of July and also managed to squeeze in an afternoon at Adventureland. (For those that have never been to Adventureland, think mini-version of Six Flags.)

Lauren loved riding all the rides with Nick and Steph. Nick was so good with her and held onto her on the train and held her hand through the park. He's a great big cousin! Lauren would have loved to ride all of the big rollercoasters too...it's too bad she's only 36 inches tall! Maybe next year...or when she's 18 if her Mommy has anything to say about it!

The biggest moment of our trip to Des Moines was meeting Baby Molly Jane!! She is such a sweet baby girl and we barely heard her make a peep. We can't wait to see her again. Lauren talks about "Baby Molly" all the time!

Thanks for checking in on us. Summer is winding down, but we're trying to squeeze in every last minute of summer we can get. Thanks for checking in on us.

Until next time--

Crivitz 2009!

We spent a great week in July in Crivitz, Wisconsin with Justin's entire family! When I say entire, I mean 20 people (10 of which were 11 and under!!) We really had a great time and had some really good weather. Lauren loved playing with her cousins everyday. She was sad to come home and leave everyone behind.

We spent the first part of the week enjoying some time at the beach. Lauren loved playing in the sand and riding on Boppa's boat. Lauren liked the boat better this year than last, but still wasn't particularly interested in going fast. Good thing Boppa takes driving instructions from his granddaughter!

One evening we went to Caldron Falls, one of the favorite places to skip rocks! Lauren didn't quite "get" the skipping rocks, but loved just throwing rocks into the water. It turned in to one of her favorite activities for the week...throwing rocks into the water off of Nonny and Boppa's dock. Watch her throw rocks here.

Of course Lauren is silly as ever. She thought it would be funny to put on the lady bug floatie. This is how she wore it:

She is definitely a silly little monkey and says the funniest things sometimes. One night as I was putting her down for bed, I asked her if she was having fun. She said, "Yeah, I'm gonna tell my parents about it." I laughed to myself and asked her if she knew Mommy and Daddy were her parents. She said, "No, You not my parents." Oh really?

We spent one morning exploring the small waterfalls at Veterans Park while the rest of the crew went to Laona. It was such a nice morning and we had the park to ourselves. As we're quickly discovering, Lauren is fearless. She wants to do everything herself and isn't afraid to try new things. She definitely does not get that from me!

Lauren also got to try out her first S'more! Mmmmm! And she loved it. Who wouldn't? Gooey marshmellows and chocolate? The second picture is all 10 of the cousins!

The end of the week was a bit chilly, so we had to find some indoor activites. One afternoon I caught Lauren dancing with some of her cousins to Mary Poppins. How cute! Watch her here.

Each year we try to get a grandkids picture with Nonny and Boppa. 10 grandkids...whew!! But they're some of the cutest kids I have ever seen (Lauren's in the hat in the front...Thanks Gigi for such a cute outfit!)!

Thanks for checking in on us! It's been a fun summer so far!

Until next time--

The Terrific Twos!!

My baby is two!! Sigh...I can't believe it. I can't really call her a baby anymore. She is loving life as a big two year old though...except yesterday she told me, "I'm not 2 anymore. I'm 62!!" Papa just turned 62 and Lauren likes to tell everyone his age.

We had a very busy birthday weekend, filled with cupcakes, balloons, bounce houses, family and fun! Papa and Meemaw came in to visit for the weekend and Nonny, Boppa, Gigi, The Zorns and The Simpsons came for the party.

Here she is on the big birthday morning unwrapping a few gifts. Watch her here.

Lauren was thrilled to see we had rented a pink princess castle bounce house for the Pinkalicious party! She got to jump and bounce all day long. No wonder she slept so well that night. Maybe we should think about investing in one to wear her out everyday? Hmm, not a bad idea. See the video here.

Lauren got some great gifts for her birthday-- she can now be a princess (notice the high heels), while serving tea, playing golf and enjoying a roller coaster ride! What more could you ask for?

Watch the princess video here.

Watch the roller coaster video here. No matter how many rides she takes, her face is still surprised!

And pouring tea from her new tea set. Click here. Notice the sound effects she makes while pouring the tea. Too funny!

More party pictures:

Lauren and Mommy jumping in the bounce house.

Taking a bouncing break for some water! Man, this jumping is hard work!

Baby Caroline was ready to party!

Cheese!!

Princesses get phone calls at the worst times...after eating a yummy chocolate cupcake!

Happy Birthday big girl!! Watch the video here.

Thanks for checking in on us. As you can imagine, we have a very active household right now. We are heading to Iowa next week for the 4th of July holiday. Lauren is excited to see another parade!

Until next time--

Go Mommy!!

I did it! I finished my first 5K race on Saturday in Wheaton. My time was 33:56 (under my goal of 35 minutes) and i was 950th place, but who's counting! My dad told me that I will come in for sure in the top 100 runners next time i run (at the Grandview 4th of July) because they only ever have about 100 runners. Funny dad.

Lauren was there to cheer me on. Watch her here. Often when I was training for the race, she would cheer me along yelling "Go Mommy!" It was just what I needed on the race route to get me through...hearing her little voice gave me the burst of energy I needed. She's a cute one!

The race was actually the kick off to our busy weekend of festivals and fun! We spent Saturday afternoon at the Taste of Wheaton. Lauren (and her cousin Ashley) loved the bounce houses. They bounced until they were worn out!

We also discovered Lauren has a love for thrill rides (okay, maybe not "thrill" to most people, but to me who is not a fan of roller coasters and rides). She wanted to ride on everything and wasn't afraid to ride by herself (because of height restrictions, we couldn't go with her on most things). She even wanted to ride on the little rollercoasters she isn't quite tall enough for. We snapped one picture of her at the top of the mini-ferris wheel. She loved it! I was closing my eyes, praying she wouldn't fall out or freak out.













On Sunday, we spent the morning with Gigi (Lauren's great grandmother) at Lamb's Farm. Lamb's Farm is a little petting zoo with a train and carousel. We really enjoyed the morning and it was so fun to see Gigi! (I also found a very cute puppy dog at the pet store that I tried to bring home...didn't work.)


We had a very fun weekend. Only two more weeks until Lauren's big birthday celebration! All she wants for her birthday is "cupcakes and balloons!" We'll see what we can do!


Thanks for checking in on us.
Until next time--