Lauren Turns 2!

I can't believe it! Lauren turned 2 last week. Time sure has flown by. The day started with Lauren double fisting some "doughnies" for breakfast.

After breakfast, we got dressed and Lauren headed to daycare to celebrate with her friends. I sent a chocolate chip cookie cake for snack and Donna (her daycare provider) said she didn't eat a bite of it.

When Lauren got home, there were two Mylar balloons waiting for her. One said Happy Birthday and the other one was of Mickey Mouse.

We had wrapped birthday gifts sitting out for her with the balloons but she only had eyes for the balloons. For the rest of the evening, she had the balloons in her hands. Dinner was a challenge because she didn't want to let go of the balloons.

Farmor and Grandpa called her and sang happy birthday. Lauren opened her baby doll while they were on the phone. Aunt Sara, Uncle Andy and cousin Stephen also called. Early in the morning, Uncle Ken called but we were still asleep. Joe finally convinced Lauren to let go of the balloons so she could open her gifts. Here are a couple of shots.

Saturday was Lauren's birthday party for her friends. I will post a separate report detailing the party.

Visit with the Burbrinks

This weekend my roommate from college and her family came for a visit. Crista, Phil, Mason and Mallory arrived late Thursday night. After getting their kids off to bed, Crista, Phil and I stayed up visiting and snacking for a little bit. Friday morning came awful early. Lauren must have remembered we were having guests because she woke up at 6:30 am!!! We ate lunch out and Phil watched the kids at the mall playground while Crista and I did a little shopping. Joe was able to join us for dinner at the Macaroni Grill.

Saturday morning Lauren had an appointment at Sears for her 2 year picture. I wanted to get a picture of all 3 kids but they wouldn't all smile at the same time. Crista and Phil were able to get a good shot of them at the house...

After the Sears photo shoot we had lunch at home and the kids went down for a nap. Crista and I hit a few stores while the guys stayed at the house. We ate dinner in and then played a new game I picked up. It's called Scattergories the card game and it was a blast. I've been accused of thinking it was crazy fun because I won both rounds but it really was fun.

The Burbrinks left on Sunday. Lauren played very well the Mason and Mallory and we look forward to seeing them after the first of the year.

Trick-or-Treat

Tonight is Halloween and it's the first time Lauren gets to go trick-or-treating. Like last year, we had a mild melt down when the costume was first put. Thankfully, Lauren had a quick recovery.

My Mom brought back this belly dancer costume from her trip to Turkey this year.

There are cute shoes that go with the outfit that have little balls on the ends but she wouldn't wear them.

For a while she carried around the camel and then tired of that.

Here are Lauren and Joe on the path to collecting goodies.

By the end of the evening Lauren was very good at saying "trick-or-treat" and then "thank you". We only had one episode where she walked into someone's home because she heard a dog barking.

Grandma and Pa-pa handed out candy for us while we went around the neighborhood. All in all, Lauren was a hit. She loved walking around and hearing herself jingle. Joe got her to "shake" her body - it was too cute!

Missouri Botanical Garden

Today Lauren and I went on a field trip to the Missouri Botanical Garden. This is the last week of the special exhibit by Niki de Saint Phalle. Her sculptures are really neat and many of them are made to be walked in and climbed on. Lauren walked much of the gardens and really enjoyed the freedom that entailed.

This is the first sculpture we saw upon entering the gardens. It's called Abre serpents.

This is one of the two Guardian Lions. It was the first sculpture we came to that Lauren could climb on.

These little sheep are not part of the Niki exhibit but Lauren really liked them. Twice she stopped and said "cheese" - meaning she wanted me to take pictures of her.

This was probably Lauren's favorite exhibit. It's called Nikigator. We spent a lot time here crawling around and feeling all the different textures.

Another visitor to the gardens took our picture on the Nikigator.

La Cabeza was really cool. The inside was awesome! There's a bench to sit on and when you look up at the top, there's a moon and stones that make you think of stars. Just a little fact, this sculpture weighs 6 tons!!

Carving Pumpkins

Last night we carved our pumpkins. Actually, we gave Lauren markers to color her pumpkin and Joe and I carved ours.


Lauren kept grabbing the markers by the wrong end which resulted in her getting marker all over her hands. She does not like to be messy so I was wiping her hand every other minute.


Here is her masterpiece. She had more fun playing with the markers and their container than she did coloring her pumpkin. Oh well.

As Joe was scraping out the inside of our pumpkin he kept asking Lauren if she would like to stick her hand in and help pull out. "No" was always the answer. She liked to look in the pumpkin and touch the outside but she had no desire to touch the gooey inside.

Joe and I tag teamed on our pumpkin - I came up with the design and he carved it out.

I guess our pumpkin was too scary for Lauren.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to Rambach's Pumpkin Patch. Typically we don't buy our pumpkins here because they are pricey. We took Lauren last year but she wasn't able to walk. This year she walked everywhere. Just after entering the grounds, there are live chickens, pigs, bunnies and rooster. This was probably Lauren's favorite area. No matter where we went, she kept wanting to go back to that area. Joe took Lauren on her first horse ride. Her horse's name was Boots.

Giddy up Boots!

Last year Lauren and I had our picture made in front of this pile of pumpkins. Maybe this photo op will become a yearly tradition.

Big Girl Bed

Yesterday was the BIG day - Lauren went from sleeping in a crib to sleeping in a big girl bed. The transition had been coming for a while. So, this past week I ordered some cutie bedding and it came in on Friday. Here is the last picture of Lauren in her crib...

As we were putting together the new bed, she was playing in side the rails calling it a pool. Joe and I kept a steady stream of talking up about her new big girl bed and how exciting it was going to be. Once we got the mattresses on, Lauren wanted to jump on the bed. Being the indulgent parents that we are, we let her. I wanted to exchange out the mattress for another one and when we took the mattress off Lauren started crying "No! My bed. My Bed". She thought we were getting rid of her bed. After we made up the bed to my satisfaction, she wanted to jump on the bed and "cheese" for a picture (pre bed rails).

Lauren had a difficult time falling asleep in her new bed. Part of that is my fault - I didn't keep her normal bed time routine like rocking her before putting her in the bed. Part of her not falling asleep also had to do with Lauren not having a nap at all yesterday and being so tired she was wired. I let her fall asleep in our bed and Joe moved her to her bed. She slept all night long with no problem. Tonight, I will definitely stick to our routine.