Monday, August 17, 2009

Calling All Viewers!

Over the past 3 years, many of you have kept up with our family's changes through the blog. However, there are some of you who check in on us and we don't know who you are! If you would, please email me to let us know so that way I can add you to my email list when I send out mass emails that I've (finally) updated. (If you already get emails from me, ignore this post!)

Enjoy the 5 posts I've worked on over the past day or two.

Final Call for Birthday Pictures!! (I hope!!)

I had to add more pictures at Paul's request! He had taken some of Lauren's birthday party on Saturday the 15th. Lauren loved her Elmo books from her aunt and uncle. Paul couldn't believe how curly Lauren's hair had become. (Oh, she did have her 2nd haircut on August 11.)
Our photo extravagana
would not have been complete without a fit of some sort taking place!



Here is the infamous stroller Lauren received as a gift. After she unwrapped that, it was a free-for-all with gifts!

Here was Miss Cara looking as cute as ever!


We took away Lauren's stroller so that she could open her other gifts. However, that didn't work with her plan...Suzy sang, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to, cry if I want to!" (Suzy sang this about 5 times during Lauren's party.) So, after Lauren got her way, Harris helped her unwrap a few other things...








...as did Logan and Nicholas...

And Aunt Shelly was more than happy to push Lauren around in the stroller!














Nate wanted to help, too. Lauren didn't mind. Then Lauren pushed Harris around. (We all held our breath.)





















We were lucky...no stroller wheels popped off during the party!

Weekend Happenings

Besides Lauren's 2nd birthday party, we had some other fun. To the right, Lauren wearing her Birthday Girl shirt, jean shorts at her ankles, and my heels on. (These heels are her FAVORITE! I think she likes the sound they make!) Below is Harris. Harris refused to go home with his mom after church, so I took him home with me! Lauren showed him my closet full of shoes, and you can see the end result! I had to laugh. He's holding the remote control for our ceiling fan/lights and laughing!









Just before bed, Lauren wanted to read some of her new books. Aunt Shelly picked out a book called, Elmo Says, so Lauren was checking it out. She's gotten SO big!!






Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!!

Suzy took some AWESOME pictures of my 30th birthday party! Notice that I am holding Harris, not Lauren, in our family pictures!!





My awesome, sugar-loaded cake, complete with black flowers! (It's a good thing I have a sense of humor!)





Lauren enjoyed the frosting before we ate the cake...
Here's Lauren's 2nd birthday cake...Elmo, of course! And here's the BEST part...PAUL MADE THE CAKE HIMSELF!! ISN'T IT FANTASTIC!!







The pool party...









Miss Cara, loving the noise!











The kids LOVED the playhouse! They kept yelling, "Hello!" off into the air! Lauren, Harris, and Nate played so well. They loved the company!













I tried to get the kids to turn around in the tunnel...I think that I would have gotten better response from the puppies!


















Nate's too cute! He was more than willing to grin for me!

















The birthday girl LOVED her Elmo cake. She had to sample the frosting!














Our sweet little family!





Cara also liked the Elmo cake and got her fingers into the icing...she was NOT happy that I wiped the icing off her hands!













Notice that I stripped Lauren down. I couldn't imagine trying to get the red icing stains out of her clothes!






































Harris had to have a cupcake, but he isn't a big fan.















We did NOT stage this picture at all! Lauren and Harris were hanging out on the steps and Suzy kept calling their names to get them to look at her. Lauren put her arm around Harris and this was the result! ADORABLE!! Talk about BFF's!










I think that this was the only gift Lauren unwrapped. She loved her little school from Aunt Shelly, Unca Josh, and Logan, but when she got her stroller from Ms. Campbell...the favorite toy of the day!

























Miss Cara, ready for snuggles and sleep.















The kids took turns pushing each other around in the stroller...Aunt Shelly enjoyed this experience.












Harris and Lauren decided to relive their Sunday School day in May where they took turns pushing each other in the stroller...we were saying prayers that the tires wouldn't pop off!


















Friday, August 14, 2009

Happy Birthdays!!

Well, it's been a BUSY week! Last Thursday, Suzy and I travelled to SC to the outlet mall to shop. For fun, Suzy found this purple 80's dress for me to try on. It looked surprisingly good, but I didn't buy it! (I think I posted this picture of Lauren already, but it was too cute and the BEST smile, so I had to share it again!!)


Upon our return, Suzy got the girls together for a photo op. Lauren and Cara didn't cooperate together, so we got one of each.




Thursday night, Paul, Lauren, and I travelled to PA to celebrate our birthdays with our families. Lauren sported her PINK John Deere on Friday as she took in the VERY cool PA weather.
Then we went to Erie to visit Great-Grandpa McCaslin who is in a nursing home there. He LOVES Wendy's cheeseburgers, so we got one for him. Lauren felt important walking along in her sunglasses and swinging his burger!







Here's Grandpa. Lauren wasn't liking the wheelchair or kissing on her grandpa very well. We said, "Too bad!!" Grandpa LIVES for Lauren's visits.










Later that night, Turkey-Lurkey needed a bath. Grandma Wade volunteered to help, but I don't think she wanted a bath WITH Lauren. Lauren, however, had other plans and squirted Grandma with the purple turtle!











On Saturday the 8th, we helped celebrate Jacob Miles's 1st birthday with his family! Here is the Birthday Boy with his daddy, videoing the events. He's also unwrapping his Fridge Farm set from us with his Mommy.












Lauren and Jacob enjoyed their play time together. We also learned that it will be important to stress SHARING with our only child because she wanted to take over Jacob's new toys (especially his Pop-pop and Lighting McQueen car!).









































We told Lauren to give Jacob a kiss bye-bye...She certainly did! (Behind is Jacob's Grandma Deutsch, who made the yummy cookies seen below!)
















Lauren was a little pouty that night. I couldn't get over how much OLDER she looks, especially sitting in this office chair!






































Lauren and Grandma Wade shared some Cherry Italian Ice from Schwan's. All I can say is YUM!!!














Then our little comic played with her daddy's cell phone. Look at Miss Serious crossing her legs and chillin'.

















Saturday morning, Lauren wanted to play outside in the stones.












She also went out with Grandpa Wade to feed the beef. She LOVED the cows and moo'd at them. She didn't like it when they moo'd back because they were loud. (Loud noises are REALLY upsetting her lately. She covers up her ears.)









She went on her 1st four-wheeler ride with Daddy. She LOVED the four-wheeler. All three of us went on a ride together to try to find blackberries. However, we weren't successful...















Patrick came to visit little Lauren. His birthday is August 14. I found out that he was SO disappointed that Lauren wasn't born on his birthday. (So was I. How cool would that have been to have Aug. 12, 13, and 14 for Paul, me, and Lauren?!)













On Sunday after church, our family and friends gathered to help us celebrate our birthdays! Even the beef came to help out! We had 37 people stop in!


























Grandma Wade made us all our OWN cakes! I got a pencil because I'm a teacher. Lauren got a cat because she loves cats! She also loved the frosting and got to have her very own cake all to herself!











When her cousin Evie asked for a spoon, Lauren asked for a spoon, too...to help her dig into her cake even better!











Here are Aunts Missy and Jess with cousin Evie playing with Lauren!













Paul attempting to remove Lauren's pacifier to get ready to open presents! (She was so spoiled!!)












Jacob loved to play in the rocks.
















When we got back home, Unca Josh, Aunt Shelly, and Logan came to play. Lauren plopped on Logan's back and Aunt Shelly dragged them along!


































Justin's Mama made us all our own special cookies for our birthdays! Here was Lauren's cupcake before she ate it.

































Paul's birthday was on Wednesday the 12th. We celebrated at Texas Roadhouse since Paul LOVES the rolls! Lauren was excited about the jukebox. It had lights that moved. Lauren was so excited about it!

















Lauren also loves "Shoe Hands" and decided to do so in the middle of the restaurant. Of course, Lauren can do no wrong in the eyes of Aunt Shelly and Unca Josh...












We informed our server, Chris, that Paul, Lauren, and I were celebrating our birthdays within a small time frame. However, we only asked for Lauren to get ice cream (but I ate it). The crew came to sing Happy Birthday to us all. Lauren didn't like the noise.











Thursday, August 13--I celebrated the big 3-0! Some little elves named Suzy and my principal, Kim, and her son, Nicholas, snuck into the school at 7:30 pm to decorate my door and my room! The caution tape said: Warning 30th Birthday Party in Progress! I made the kids and our staff crawl under the tape.














Here is a close-up! Suzy printed off a picture of me around a year old and posted it on my door. Just about everyone thought that it was LAUREN, not me...













To end the perfect birthday, Paul and Lauren took me to Dos Amigos for dinner...and Suzy, Chris, Harris, Cara, Josh, Shelly, Logan, and the Neigh-neighs Tracy, Leah, and David all joined me--my FAVORITE people!! We had a blast and probably will have our pictures posted in the front lobby to NOT allow us to congregate with one another at this restaurant together again! We were a little rambunctious, but we had a blast! Suzy picked up a cake with black icing and flowers. Suzy took pictures of our fun and will probably send me pictures later. I'll update my fun day when I update Lauren's pool party on Saturday!!