Lauren's Own Pool

Lauren had so much fun this weekend playing in her own backyard. Grammie Sue and Aunt Stephie surprised Lauren with her very own pool. What a lucky little girl! Lauren is starting to say Grammie and Stephie now too. She calls Grandpa, Papa and gets so excited when he enters a room. In fact, this morning she was calling for him and Aunt Stephie when she woke up. It was hard to explain to her they were at their own houses now.


Putting on sunscreen with Grammie Sue. Ever since she put this on yesterday, each time Lauren sees the bottle she wants to put more on. I'm glad she doesn't mind putting on sunscreen!


Playing in the pool with Grammie Sue. Grammie and Grandpa brought Lauren an elephant watering can too. She loves filling that up and watering plants and people.


Splashing in the pool.


So happy to have her own special space. This may be my favorite summer photo, and to think summer's just starting!


Chillin' with Mommy on the couch after a busy, busy day outside.

A Few Cute Videos

A Family Affair

Aunt Stephie has been very busy volunteering for the Junior League of Chicago. One of the fundraisers this groups does is a family carnival day called A Family Affair. There were many activities for children to participate in including making Mother's Day cards, carnival games, planting flowers, and lots of music to dance and listen to. Not to mention all the fantastic food! All of the money raised went to help less fortunate families in the Chicago area.





Lauren's favorite new friend, Elmo, was at the carnival as well. As excited as she was to see Elmo, she stuck very close to Aunt Stephie.


Very busy dancing to the music. Lauren danced for almost 20 minutes straight!


Taking a little rest on Grammie's lap.


Making a Mother's Day card or busy trying to find Elmo again?

Mommy's Little Helper Take 2

Last Friday afternoon I was busy cleaning the house getting ready for Grammie Sue to visit for the weekend. Lauren has been a wonderful help dusting the past few weeks, but this time decided to help clean the floors too. I read in one of my parenting magazines a few months ago a suggestion from another mom about how to make the Swiffer smaller for children to use. Well when I saw how interested Lauren was in using the Swiffer I thought now is the time to try this suggestion. I unscrewed the top segments of the stick and just left one section. Now the Swiffer was "Lauren sized." She did a great job of entertaining herself and helping me tidy up the house.

Oh, Geoff wants me to mention that even though Lauren is using a Swiffer, it has a Pledge dusting cloth on the bottom and she is holding Pledge dusting cloths in her left hand. We need to give credit to the company (SC Johnson) that funds our livelihood!

Yogurt!

Lauren is now very interested in feeding herself using a spoon. The following pictures show the importance of practice makes perfect. We are still working on that one!

Outside fun

This past Sunday we went to Wagner Farm, which is part of the Glenview Park District. Even though the wind was a bit chilly, we had so much fun watching Lauren run all around checking out all the animals.



Lauren was very interested in the chickens, ducks, and baby chicks.



Last weekend we spent a few hours at the Botanic Gardens. Lauren and I went back yesterday as well. It's amazing how much that place changes each week in the spring. Last weekend all of the daffodils were out, but yesterday the daffodils were mostly gone and all the tulips were starting to pop. Lauren loves smelling and looking at all the colors of the flowers. Although if you ask her what color something is, she always says, "Yell-o" When we were looking at the tulips yesterday we practiced saying red and purple too.


Walking on the bridge with Daddy. Walking is so much more fun than riding in the stroller!



I guess all that walking tired Lauren out. She decided to just sit down in the middle of the path.

Mommy's Little Helper

Lauren was a huge help to me while I cleaned the house this afternoon. The TV and coffee table have never looked so shiny!