Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween Lauren kept chanigng her mind about what she wanted to be. But I wasn't concerned because all of her ideas were costumes that we owned. BUT then the week before her Halloween parade at school she changed her mind again and wanted to be a rock star. Of course we owned nothing for that costume. Some how we managed to pull it off and she looked awesome. I loved that she was so creative and she was so unique. When you look at your pictures you may say more "Deperately Seeking Susan- Madonna's old movie" vs. rock star but perfect either way! This year Gabe was Tigger. He of course was adorable! He really figured out trick or treating and had a great time going up to all the houses with the big kids.

Lauren's Birthday Party

This year Lauren wanted a Justin Bieber, Barbie, Spiderman birthday party. (Spiderman was for Gabe). We decided to have a dance party at the JCC all to JB music. Lauren had 11 of her friends come to the party. It was so cute. We had the best JB cake. It was so fun to see Lauren celebrating with so many wonderful friends.

Lauren has a loose tooth!

So the week before Lauren turned 5 she was complaining about her tooth hurting her. But she also told us she bit a block. So I just assumed she hurt it doing that and she was not going to get much sympathy because after all at almost 5 you should not be biting blocks! Well one day after complaining that apples hurt to eat Brian went over and took a look. To our surprise it wasn't the block after all. She had a loose tooth. So we went from not paying attention about her hurt tooth to making a really BIG deal over her first loose tooth! She is the first her age to have a loose tooth...but as we all know Lauren does everything early. Remember her coming three weeks early and being perfectly ready to go. She hasn't slowed down yet. We will keep you posted on when it comes out!

More Summer 2011

We had a great summer. It was so nice to be healthy and have energy. With Gabe on the move I need to have as much energy as possible. The new thing Gabe does now is climb quickly on to the dinning room table and swing the light fixture back and forth. Lauren has started 5 day preschool. She is a big girl who does the drop off in the front of the school. I basically pull up she hops out and away she goes. I think it was definitely more tramatic for me then for her. Every day Gabe and I drop her off and then pick her up three hours later. As soon as we pick her up we drive to the back of the school and play on the playground for another hour. It has really been a lot of fun. Lauren has a great group of friends that go to Trinity and I have also started great friendships with all the Mom's. It is so nice that all these girls will be headed to the same elementary school together next year.

Just to back up a little and make sure I mention all that we did this summer. We went on two fantastic beach trips. The first to Rehoboth with the Winterhoffs. We had an amazing house this year and terrific weather. Our kids loved being with everyone and enjoyed spending every afternoon at Fun Land. Our second vacation was to Duck with the Heatwole's. It was another perfect trip. We had terrific weather and we had so much fun spending all day at the beach every day. Lauren rode all the waves in the water with Brian and Gabe played in the sand like it was something he did everyday. It was just so nice to be well for both vacation this year. I couldn't have enjoyed either one more.

The rest of the summer was filled with spending almost everyday at the pool. By the end of the pool season Lauren learned how to dive and then the very last weekend learned how to dive off the board. I can't believe what she has accomplished at such a young age! I'm so very proud of her. Lauren also did dance camp, tennis camp, and took an art class. All of which she loved. She didn't slow down once this summer. I'm pretty sure both my children have more energy then most. I did want to mention that Lauren has really gotten in to arts and crafts and has amazed Brian and I with some of her creations. I think she may have a talent! Well that is just one of her talents.

Gabe made the switch from two naps to one nap. He loves doing everything that his big sister does and will get really upset if he can't do the same thing. We now have to have socks for Gabe if Lauren is wearing socks. If Lauren puts on a princess dress then Gabe has to put on a princess dress. It really is amazing how much he pays attention to what she does! He is still working on talking. He of course can say "Da Da" and "trash truck" but he does not say "Mommy or Lauren". Lauren and I are pretty upset about that! He is quite the hit with all of Lauren's friends and I think he loves every minute we play on the playground with them after school each day. I just recently started taking him to Lauren's old music class and I have to say it brings me pure joy. He loves the class so much that he can hardly contain himself. I just love going with him.

I posted two new photo albums on the photo album link. Be sure to check out some of the pictures we have taken over the past few months.

Summer time pictures

We have had a great summer so far this year. We have really enjoyed our new pool. Lauren is a great swimmer and loves to go off the diving board. I'm really impressed with how well she is doing. Gabe seems to love the basketball court more then the pool so I've been spending half my time in the water and the other half chasing balls with Gabe. We also had a great fourth of July weekend. Brian took Lauren to see the fireworks at Genworth and Lauren loved them. She came home repeating over and over how beautiful they were. Next up we get ready to head out on our two week vacation. We will post pictures when we are back. In the mean time check out the new pictures we added to our photo albums.

Strawberry picking

We went strawberry picking the other day and it was so funny! When we set out to go I really didn't think about how the events would play out. I was just so excited for a fun afternoon. At the berry farm they load you on a wagon and the tractor takes you out to the particular area of the strawberry field where they want you to pick strawberries. So we all loaded up on the wagon. Lauren had her basket ready to fill with strawberries. When we got off the man in charge told us where to pick and then let us loose. I followed Lauren down the rows looking at the various strawberries. I put Gabe down at the end of the row assuming...well again I didn't really know how Gabe would act. I didn't even think about it. Well I should have. Who knew Gabe loved strawberries. I turned around and Gabe was bent down picking strawberries putting one after the other in his month. The green flower part and all. He was covered. I thought I would die laughing. I had to let Lauren get all the strawberries because I had to keep Gabe from eating anything he could his hands on. After spending 10$ to get into the berry farm we walked out with 3$ worth of strawberries. But probably had 20$'s worth in the field!

Easter 2011

Today we headed to Lewis Ginter for their Easter activities. We had a lot of fun petting real bunnies and getting the kids picture with Peter Rabbit. It was so fun that Gabe enjoyed seeing Peter Rabbit as much as Lauren did.

Gabe update

Gabe is now 14 months but these pictures were from when he was nine months old. He is such an incredibly cute little boy with the biggest blue eyes. We often hear comments made about how big his blue eyes are. One thing that we love is all the faces Gabe makes. This is just one of the faces. The other cute thing that Gabe does is dance whenever he hears music. And not just dance a little but full out spinning and flapping his arms.

Lauren's 4th birthday

Yes Lauren turned four in October but I am making up for the past few months. Lauren had three great birthday's this year. One with the Winterhoff's, one with my family and one with her friends. It was wonderful. I have to say that I have loved the "4th" year. Lauren is incredibly smart, funny, and kind. (Not all the time, but a lot of the time!) She is getting to be so grown up. I just can't believe how much they know at only four years of age. Now that she is 4 1/2 her new thing is that she loves Justin Beiber. We don't even know where that came from.

My awesome family

I know that everyone already knows this but I want to have it for the record on my blog. I was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma in August 2010. It was devastating news. My only worry was for my children. I am so blessed to now be on the other side and be cancer free. I can honestly say that I am more greatful then ever to be a stay at home Mom and get to see every moment of my children's lives. I know now that a clean house is not more important then spending time with my family. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband who truly loves me and two children that are wonderful!
I'm going to try and update my blog to fill in for the missing past few months!