Lauren's Birthday +

It's of course been a busy month. . .when is there ever a dull moment? I worked the 4th of July, went to a fun BBQ @ my mom's after, then fireworks @ Nick's house.

I thought I would try curlers in Lauren's hair. She has the most fine hair, plus no patience to wait until it was thoroughly dried. . .but it was still fun! Notice the nice blister, just ask Lauren. She shows everyone her "owie" everywhere we go. It was a pretty bad burn from touching the extremely hot muffler after doing many errands (OUCH!). And we had to snap a pic of Lauren falling asleep eating dinner one Sunday after church. She is the first of our kids to do that. It was hilarious. Brock even did a little video of it.

Lauren turned 2 last week and got a butterfly cake. It was harder to do something 'girly' but it looked decent. It was so fun to get her something girly to play with. She didn't really have much. She had a blast and especially loves all the fun stuff. Thanks to all our family that came and made the potluck BBQ a success!

And finally the biggest thing this week is we bought a minivan. . .the official mommy car. . .stormin' Mormon. . .you get the picture. I actually quite love it (afer 1 day) it has a tons more room then our Subaru. Now to just sell the Met.

Brady's Birthday!

Thought I better get around to blogging Brady's 4th birthday before Lauren's comes this weekend. Brady wanted a Wall-E cake, but after lots of looking I came across a robot cake (close enough for him). It turned out pretty good and Brady had fun making a mini-robot with the leftover cake pieces. We went low key with just a family cake and ice cream party. He had tons of fun, and got some neat gifts. Thanks to everyone for making it such a fun birthday!

California Vacation!

We had a wonderful time in California visiting Brock's cousin Aimee, Jason and their cute kids. It was a rocky start. First we cut it short getting to the airport (Brock had to go to the store to get a few last minute items for him), but luckily we still made it in time. Our flight was a little delayed, so by the time we got to the house it was past bed time. The kids were so excited they wouldn't go to bed. Finally I decided I would just go to bed so they would stay. While I was brushing my teeth Lauren (I'm sure with a little help from her big bro) got into the suitcase, found my ziplock of toiletries and my pill box. She ate 1 1/2 of my prenatal vitamins. I don't know why she would have even tried another after the first one, they are so disgusting just to swallow let alone chew them up. Anyways, I thought she would probably be ok but was still a little worried. I called Jenny, but no answer, so I called my friend Lisa who suggested calling poison control (duh, I didn't even think of that. . .luckily I do have it programmed in our cell phones in case of emergency). I forgot about the time change (sorry guys for calling just before 11 PM). They told me the iron content she took for her weight was not too concerning but told me to watch for vomiting or diarrhea and to call if she had a problem. Well, about 4 AM she threw up all over me, her, and the bed! Boy was it was disgusting! Brock was sick too, mild flu-like symptoms, so he had gone out to sleep on the couch an hour earlier. I cleaned everything up called poison control and tried to sleep again. Needless to say none of us got much sleep so our plans for SeaWorld the next day were postponed and we just hung around the house and rested.

Friday we went to SeaWorld and had a blast! They loved most of the shows, definitely the animals, and Brady liked the rides and playing in the water (Lauren of course wanted to go on the ride, but freaks out mid-ride). The 4-D movie was especially entertaining for Brady. They both loved petting the Bat Rays, and Lauren got soaked when 1 came up to the top of the aquarium and slashed it's arms.

We spent a couple days at the beach. The first was a little cold and rainy. Lauren wasn't sure about all the water, but loved the sand. Brady loved the water, but hated the sand on him when he was done. I should have taped him walking away with his arms straight out, fingers splayed, legs straight. It took him forever to walk to the car! Lauren unfortunately got sick on the ride home and threw up all over her and the car seat. Twice in 1 week, no fun. The next time we went to the beach it was warm, sunny, with a light breeze. The water was fun and the kids loved it!

Our trip ended by going to the 'bucket park.' Where some of us got a little too much sun. Brady loved playing with Taggart and Lauren just chilled on the beach chairs and actually took a nap. Then off to the airport for the trip home. While we were waiting for our flight Lauren started developing what looked like a little red rash on her forehead, but by the time we got to my mom's car she was covered in hives. Her eyes were almost swollen shut, even her forehead was swollen. Kidscare was closed unfortunately since it was just before 11 PM, and we decided to just watch her and wait it out since she wasn't having any breathing difficulty. I gave her some Benadryl, that helped a little, and the hives are now slowly disappearing.

It was a fun trip, full of activities, delicious food, and good company. Thanks Donohue's!

Last Day of Preschool

His last day of preschool was this past month (May 21, our 8th wedding anniversary too!). So we met at the park by Ms. Wendy's house. The kids had fun with the parachute and eating Popsicles. Then they got there 'yearbook' from Ms. Wendy. We love her! She was such an awesome teacher, and will miss her next year. Brady still asks almost everyday if it's time to go to school. I feel like a broken record. . .after Summer is over you get to go to school again, but without fail a couple days later "is it school time?" He's very persistent.

Mother's Day Program

Brady had his typical preschool program, where he rarely (if ever) sings with the other kids. He got upset before it started so it took almost the whole short program to even convince him to go back up. I still think he looks cute. . .now if he would only sing the whole time:)

H2O Fun!

I finally opened the water ball I bought Brady when he turned 2. . .the kids had SO much fun with it. I'm sure they will have a blast with it this summer. The first day they wore there skivvies. The next day it took us all day to find swimming suits for them so they went out at ~5 pm (brrrrr. . .but I promised they could go out). They had fun, even though it was chilly. Here's hoping for some warm, sunny days in the near future.

Easter +

As usual, it's a long post. . .lots of little things, and several pictures! Brady had his Easter program @ Ms. Wendy's. Mom, Dad, Lauren, and even Grandma were able to come! Brady mostly starred at everyone, and participated when the teacher reminded him. He kind of sat in a weird place on the end facing the parents rather then straight ahead.Next we dyed Easter eggs and Papa Mark and Ya Ya happened to come over. It was our first year dying eggs. The kids had fun and it wasn't too messy.Easter morning Brady woke up and asked if the Easter bunny came in his bunny car. I thought it was pretty cute. They had a fun Easter morning before church, then we headed out to Grandma Jenny and Papa Greg's house for more Easter fun and a delicious dinner. They collected Easter eggs and even flew a kite! It was such a nice day.

Well, here's to hopefully posting a little at a time (rather then all at once!).