January Randomness

Snow Days--The snow is mostly gone!!  Thank goodness!  But my car is still filthy.  I think Lauren and I will probably work on washing it this weekend.  We started getting snow on Monday January 10.  It kept up.  We were out of school an ENTIRE week--yes, folks, that is FIVE days to make up for a little snow!  Granted, it would melt and then refreeze overnight, so it was difficult to get the ice off the roads.

January 11--Lauren LOVES to have picnics and arrange her fake food and plates.  She chose to put it in the middle of the hallway, outside the bathroom.  Notice her Mrs. Potts and Chip cups.

 January 12--This was the first day Lauren was able to return to school (Wednesday).  She wore her polka-bot boots and was ready to head to class!  She missed her friends and teachers terribly!

 Lauren had struggles with the potty after her UTI.  She went two days in a row (the 11th and 12th) without any accidents, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese's to play!  Lauren had a blast and didn't want to leave!

 January 14--Lauren watches what I do all the time and imitates both Paul and me about as much.  I had trimmed my nails and filed them earlier.  Lauren looked at hers and said, "Oh, Mommy.  I need to file my nails." And she went to work!

 January 15--The BIG GAME!  Steelers played the Ravens for a playoff spot...and WON!  They came from behind and took the birds down!  Paul and Lauren were a little excited--we were all in our Steelers outfits!  Can you tell we won the game?

 January 21--Lauren is getting over a viral infection. She's had some coughing, congestion, and a funny high-pitched voice!  She's finally feeling better and in celebration, chose to get herself dressed...only wearing one of the articles I selected for her last night.  Notice the brown matches, flowers are on both the shirt and pants, the Belle princess socks are white and yellow, and she's wearing navy dress shoes.  OH, her headband is white.  (I told her teacher that I would be there earlier because I was terrified of Aunt Suzy seeing Lauren dressed...and fussing at me for actually letting her go out in public!)

Daddy is going to WV this weekend for a guys weekend with Uncle Justin.  Not sure what they are going to do up there.  Lauren and I are going with the aunts, uncles, and cousins to Discovery Place Kids, a kids museum in Huntersville.  Hopefully it will be a lot of fun!

Snow Day!

The weather forecasters were correct--we have snow (again)!  There are about 2 inches of snow.  Main roads are okay, secondary roads are iffy depending upon the road.  And, as such...NO SCHOOL!  Lauren and I lounged in our p.j.'s, reading and watching TV.  Maybe we'll get out to play.  It's not snowman making snow, but we may try!

Christmas, Snow, New Year's, Science Center

Good news!  I figured out the blog glitch.  I had too many photos, but by purchasing some extra space, I was able to continue on with the blog!

My parents arrived Christmas Eve.  They were so excited for the sun and dry weather.  Lauren took right to mom but struggled to really snuggle her Papa!

Lauren enjoyed opening presents...but it took ALL day!  She would gently unwrap a present, get excited, then want it opened to play!  She would play with the toy for 5-10 minutes then move on to the next present.  She got a lot of doll house furniture from family and our awesome neighbors and enjoyed those gifts the most.

Our tree before unwrapping.  Remember, we had my parents here who spoiled all of us (including Josh, Shelly, and Logan) as usual!

 Yea, presents for me!!

 Oh...wait...and I need to unwrap them all...by myself?!

 I got the BEST present of ALL--a popcorn machine!!!  I LOVE popecorn from movie theaters, especially when it is a day or two old.  After begging Paul for about 4 years for one, he find the right one for us!  I have gone through about 30 prepackaged bags of popcorn already...Paul set up a direct service of popcorn to come straight to us every 3 months.  We're thinking we need to change it to monthly!  Paul is already talking about upgrading to a larger machine!  My most favorite gift ever!

We had a VERY Merry Christmas!  Below, Lauren is opening presents from Uncle Luke and Aunt Sherry!

She got a Zhu-Zhu pet woody wagon from Aunt Missy!  Yea!

Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) bedding

Lauren passing presents to Daddy.  She likes playing Santa!

Mom, Logan, Shelly, Lauren, Josh, Paul

Josh and Paul with their interesting head gear and gun bags

Around 2:30 in the afternoon feeding her Baby Alive All Gone doll...Mom had accidently gotten Lauren the Hispanic version that spoke Spanish.  We had to make a quick change!

Lauren scored very well with gifts.  She received some new board games, a new Tag Jr. book on princesses, lots of princess items, new food for her kitchen, two new princess kitchen plates and tea sets, some clothes, books, a new doll, a new Beauty and the Beast DVD (since she broke my original).  Spoiled!

After eating and unwrapping some presents, we stopped to play in the snow.  Yes, I said snow! Remember, this was our 1st Christmas in North Carolina since we've moved down here.  This was the FIRST CHRISTMAS SNOW since 1947!!  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for bringing it with you!

Sledding with Daddy behind the tractor

Lauren and Paul also built a snowman.  Lauren was so tickled about it.  She cried when the weather warmed up and her snowman melted away.

Lauren LOVES kitty cats and has some cute clothes from Gymboree with the theme.  Here was a kitty purse I had to get Lauren!

Lauren accidently found that Paul had recorded Rambo on the DVR.  She wanted to get into character!

Our Annual New Year's Eve bash with the Cadwallader clan!  Nick, Cara, Lauren, Harris.  The kids were ready to eat!  I got some cute video of Lauren and Harris around 11:45 dancing to the Backstreet Boys and NKOTB!

 January 8, 2011--We were feeling a little cabin fever and decided to head out to the science center.  We got a membership so that my girlfriends and I can take the kiddos every now and then.  Lauren's getting older and had a LOT of fun!  Here was a picture of our pictures.  Can you tell who's who?

 A tiger fish--Paul and I liked the fancy fins.

 Paul petting sharks and stingrays.  Lauren did NOT want to try!

 OOH!  Get me out of here, Daddy!

 Using a pully system to move up!

 Electric!  We all got into this!

 More fish.

 Hi, Stingray.  How are you?  I  like to look at you but I won't touch you.

Lauren got her 1st urinary tract infection over Christmas, too.  It's caused a lot of issues for us at home.  Poor Lauren.  She's been on 3 different antibiotics.  This last one seems to be working the best.  We've had the fewest number of accidents on it and Lauren seems to be in better spirits.  Hoping and praying this isn't going to be a new issue to arise.

Paul's new semester starts on January 13.  He's taking 3 classes this semester (NC history, child movement, and something else.)  He's enjoying some free time and dreading losing it, but he's determined to graduate!

I have Christmas cards ready to mail.  (Happy New Year~figured I'd make a statement!)  Just need to put stamps on them and get them in the mail box!