Happy Valentine's Day!!

We spent Valentine's weekend in Washington D.C. visiting the Malsches.  Yes, Washington D.C.---the place with 40 inches of snow!!  Luckily it didn't delay our travels and we had a great weekend.  I forgot my camera, so I only have one picture to post.  Despite the crazy snow, we had a great weekend.  Lauren LOVED following her older cousins around all weekend.  We spent one morning at the Air and  Space museum.  It was very neat and Lauren enjoyed seeing the "huge planes."  She also was convinced to go sledding at one of the Battlefields.  If you know Lauren, she's not the biggest fan of being in the cold or the snow, but she really enjoyed it and spent over an hour sledding. To top it off, the weather was sunny and beautiful all weekend!!

The weekend before Valentine's Day, Lauren enjoyed decorating Valentine's Cookies with Caroline and Ashley.  Aunt Becky sent Lauren 8 tubs of sprinkles!!  Whew!  That's a lot of sprinkles (and I'm still finding them hiding on the floor).  I made lots of cookies and the girls enjoyed piling on the sprinkes.  As you can see from the pictures, piling of sprinkles is not an exaggeration.  Thank you Aunt Becky for the sprinkles!!  Great idea and it made for a very fun (and messy!) morning. 

Lauren is very creative and really loves pretend play.  She is often twirling around the house in her princess dresses, enjoying tea parties with her stuffed animals and tells us the funniest things.  The other day she was wearing her Cinderella dress and told Justin she needed to put on her glass slippers so she could go find Prince Charming at the ballgame (instead of the ball!)  So funny.

Thanks for checking in on us.  We're off to Iowa next weekend to celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary.

Until next time--

A Fun Day in the City!!

Lauren was so excited to spend the day in downtown Chicago with her Aunt Megan, cousins Ashley & Caroline, cousin Michael and Nonny and Boppy.  Mostly she was excited to go by herself without Mom & Dad!  She is quite the independent one.  It's probably a good thing Mom & Dad weren't there as they spent the morning at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) observation deck.  They got to walk out on the glass platform.  Lauren cautiously enjoyed it.  She kept her feet on the carpet and looked down 103 stories!!  YUCK!  Check out the pictures.

After a quick lunch, the group was off to enjoy the afternoon at Shedd Aquarium.  Lauren told me her favorite thing was the "big giant turtles."  She had a great day.  Thanks to Aunt Megan for letting Lauren tag along for the day.

Thanks for checking in on us. Until next time-

Happy Birthday Memaw!

Just wanted to wish Memaw a very happy birthday today!!  Thought you'd enjoy a little concert in your honor.  Click here to watch Lauren singing her new favorite song!

Lyrics translation:
We're Going to Kentucky;
We're Going to the Fair
To See a Senorita or as Lauren say Sentorina) with roses in her hair;
Shake it Baby Shake it
Shake it all you can
Shake it like a milkshake
and drink it if you can
Roll it to the bottom
Roll it to the bottom
Turn around and turn around until you stay stop, Stop!

Happy 2010!!

We spent New Year's in Iowa with Justin's family.  The Chaons were gracious enough to host the entire Mead clans (except the Malsches who had to remain in Virginia...we missed you Malsches!)

The Zorns, Chaons, and Meads enjoyed a quiet evening in to celebrate New Year's Eve.  Well, as quiet as you can get with 6 young children.  It was a great night with great food, family and fun! The kiddies evening got to have their own New Year's Countown with London.  Click here to watch their celebration.

On NewYear's Day, we enjoyed a wonderful NewYears/Christmas Day celebration.  As usual, Chip outdid himself with dinner.  It was fabulous!  Enjoy the pictures.

Nonny with her grandkids.

We spent Saturday at the Children's Museum in Bettendorf.  We had a great time!  Nonny and the girls even got to do a little tap dancing while we were there!  Too cute!  Watch the video here. 

We've had a busy holiday season.  We wish you all a healthful and happy 2010! 

Until nex time--

Snow Snow Snow!

Old Man Winter has been brutal this year...and it's only January!  I'm not sure we can handle two more months of this stuff.  But, we've been trying to make the best of it.  Lauren likes to play in the snow...for at least a few minutes at a time.  Boy, we've had alot of it.

In Iowa at Christmas, she got to go sledding "Iowa-Style."  Papa got out the tractor and took Lauren and Stephanie sledding through the fields.  They loved it.  Lauren even got to take her turn at driving with Papa.  Oh what fun!  Too bad we don't live closer so we could do this everyday!

Watch the video here. 

We were in Crivitz two weekends ago with Nonny & Boppa.  The weather was great...35 and sunny everyday!  (Hard to believe I'm saying the weather was great when it was 35 degrees!)  But we got to enjoy sledding and Justin got to do a little snowmobiling (or as Lauren calls it Snowbiling!)

So, as it continues to snow (just as it's doing AGAIN tonight), I'll continue to think about all things warm.....ahhhh, Jamaica where are you?

Thanks for checking in on us.   Please send warm and sunny thoughts our way.

Christmas 2009!!

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog.  I'm hoping to do a better job of posting on my blog this year.  We'll see how that goes!  We had a great Christmas in Iowa.  Lauren was so excited and very curious about Santa this yar. She didn't want to get too close to him, but wanted to know all about him...when he was coming, how he was getting in, where he lives, if Frosty lives with him.  A million questions, but that's nothing new.  She has a million questions everyday.  I love hearing all of her little questions.
We traveled to Iowa on the 23rd to stay with my parents for the weekend.  Luckily, the weather didn't impede travel for my siblings. 

The kids slept in Christmas moring until after 7!   don't know the last time I slept until after 7 on Christmas morning.  We managed to stretch the gift opening through the whole morning, but that isn't hard to imagine after seeing the pile of presents under the tree.  As usual Lauren was quite spoiled.  Her favorite gifts were her big camera, her hoop-a-loop (hula hoop to non-Special Agent Oso fans), her mickey and minnie and everything else!!  I love this age, Lauren is so thrilled with everything!  It's so sweet to see.  Enjoy some more pictures from Christmas morning.

Say Cheeseeeee!!!

Baby Molly loved her first Christmas!!

Uncle Mikey's favorite Christmas present!!

Thanks for checking in on us.  More pictures from Christmas part 2 to come.

Until next time---

JAMAICA!! Ya Mon!

We survived planes, trains, bus and car travel with our 2 year old and had a great week in Jamaica. We left our house Friday morning after Thanksgiving at 3:30 a.m. with lots of luggage and Memaw and Papa in tow. Lauren did great. She truly couldn't have been any better. She was patient in the airport waiting for our flight, played a little on the plane, then took a two hour nap. We couldn't have imagined it to go any more smoothly. After we arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica, we took a two hour bus ride to our hotel in Negril. What a beautiful resort with a fabulous beach and pool. Lauren was in heaven. She would love to be on vacation all the time...swimming in the pool everyday, drinking non-alcoholic strawberry daquiris, dancing at night, and eating unlimited hard boiled eggs for breakfast everyday! What a life!!

We went to Jamaica with about 15 of our family members to celebrate my cousin Christopher's wedding to Alexis. It was a beautiful setting for the wedding. And Lauren was very excited to be the flower girl. She did a great job and of course, looked completely adorable. She got about 10 steps down the aisle before she had to stop to take off her shoes because she got sand in them. Wouldn't want a girl to be uncomfortable. Click here.

Each night the staff at the resort put on a show. Lauren was fascinated with the dancing. She even went up on the stage. The first night she stood there most of the time with her hands in her mouth watching the other kids dance. But by the second night, she was much more comfortable and followed along so well. She is so old! I can't believe it! Watch her doing the hokey pokey here.

We had a great time in Jamaica! We wish we could have stayed longer. But we came home refreshed and relaxed and looking forward to the Christmas holiday season.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Until next time---