Thank you Sprouts!!

Last Saturday was a very bittersweet day at our house. It was Lauren's very last time going to Sprouts for her music class. Zilah, Lauren's teacher and owner, is pursuing other dreams by moving to Israel. We are very excited for her and wish her lots of luck, but are saddened by the fact that we won't be able to go to class there anymore. The part that makes me the saddest is that Annie won't have this solid foundation of music, dancing, and these special bonding times with Mommy and Daddy. We will have to keep looking for something like Sprouts, but I just know it won't be the same. Thank you Sprouts for all the fantastic memories you have given our family.

Here's a little tribute to Lauren at Sprouts over the years.



Right before I finished my maternity leave after having Lauren we went to our first class. Lauren was just over 4 months in these photos. The focus of this class was music and Lauren just loved watching the other kids and I loved the special one-on-one interaction we had. Zilah often reminds me that Lauren was their Littlest Sprout.



When Lauren was about 1, we enrolled in a music and gym class. We met some wonderful friends in that class, including Zach who is in this photo with Lauren. Throughout these classes Lauren started to climb and walk.


These last two photos were taken last week. Lauren LOVES to run and jump on the bouncer. Geoff and I both commented recently how independent Lauren is at Sprouts now. It's amazing to see her grow and progress in the same type of setting. In fact, I took her to a class last week and she was the oldest one there. Crazy how quickly she went from the Littlest Sprout to the oldest one in the class.

Thanks Zilah for the wonderful memories!

Visit

Last weekend my Aunt Sarah and cousin Shelby came for a visit. What a wonderful time we had! Not only was it helpful to have a few extra sets of hands around the house, but just having the extra time to visit and catch up with them was great. We don't get to see each other as much as any of us would like and usually it's only during the holidays, so the extra time together was perfect! We enjoyed some great meals, played outside with the girls, created lots of art, went shopping, played games and hide and go seek, and just enjoyed each other's company. It was fun for me to be able to show them places like Mariah's (Lauren's daycare), the school I work at, and the little towns near our house too.


Shelby, with Lauren on her lap, me, and Aunt Sarah holding Annie.



Lauren and Aunt Sarah kept making this funny face at each other. Super cute! Now if I only could have gotten a photo of Aunt Sarah making the face back at Lauren...



Lauren making an art project with Aunt Sarah's help.



Shelby cuddling with Annie.



Shelby bought these sparkly sun glasses for Lauren to take with her on our trip to Florida in a few weeks and they are a HIT! Lauren loves wearing them even when she playing on the mat with Annie.


Aunt Sarah watching the girls play. Even little Annie was cracking a smile when Lauren was tickling her toes.

Lauren's Little Caterpillar

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from my Aunt Sarah and Shelby, my cousin. I will post more about our visit later, but wanted to get this picture of Lauren and her little caterpillar up quickly so we can watch its progress.

On Friday morning we went to Make-A-Messterpiece, a place FULL of art!! One of the stations Lauren participated in was Little Sprouts, where she made a little caterpillar. As we keep watering this little guy, he should turn into a little, hairy caterpillar, like a Chia Pet. I'll keep you updated on his progress.



Proudly showing off the little guy!




Day 1 - Watering

Banana talks

Annie Banana is turning into quite a little talker these days!



She loves kicking her legs too.

Quote of the Week

"Look Mommy, I'm a church man!"

After Geoff gave Lauren her bath this morning, I went into her bedroom to help her get dressed. She kept saying something over and over to me, but I just couldn't understand it. Finally, I got it - "Look Mommy, I'm a church man!" I just started laughing and laughing. I replied with, "Oh, do you mean a priest?" Lauren said, "Yes!" I guess our trips back to church as a family are paying off, huh?



Annie really enjoyed her bath too! She is currently in a kicking phase so kicking her legs in the bath and splashing Daddy is lots of fun. In fact, the other night she giggled as she was kicking and splashing. Such a beautiful sound.

Family Bowling

When I was growing up my parents always made it a point to spend some family time together doing something fun on Sundays. Of course this was not my favorite thing to do when I was a teenager, but I do have many fond memories of those special Sundays.

So when my friend and college roommate, Kristy, posted about her family's bowling adventure, I thought what a great thing for us to do on a Sunday afternoon.

A few weeks ago it was really raining, so we loaded the kids into the car, even though the bowling alley is within walking distance and off we went.



Annie was amazed by all the lights and music. Or at least I think she was amazed. Now that I look closer at this photo she seems a bit nervous or like a deer caught in the headlights.


The gentleman at The Alley was great and helped us get set up with bumpers and a ramp for Lauren to roll the ball down. Geoff really did most of the bowling with Lauren. They were a great team.


Watching the ball, wondering with excitement how many pins it will knock down.


Our final scores. I must say I am a bit disappointed with my score seeing as we had bumpers in the gutters. Oh well, we had a great time!

Lauren did really well and stayed focused until about the 5th frame, but then she noticed the video games and all their buttons. Apparently those were more exciting and rewarding than watching her ball roll down the lane. :) She has been talking about bowling quite a bit though since our first adventure and asked me when we can go again. We'll have to make sure to include bowling in our Sunday family activities.

What a Day!

Today was the experience of a lifetime! Sorry I don't have any photos to show for it, but here goes the story of March 4, 2011...

The girls both slept in for a bit this morning so I have about 20 minutes to myself to read before starting my day as a mom. I was just telling my mom last week how all I would like is about 1/2 an hour in the morning to myself before the girls got up, so this was a wonderful treat. When I got Lauren up she told me she was doing push-ups in her bed like Daddy does. Last week Geoff was doing push-ups in the basement and she watched him. How cute!

We then had a potty success with Lauren and a HUGE diaper blow-out from Annie. Needless to say, those clothes are in the trash. Not even worth trying to wash them.

We met our friends at Pump It Up for some jumping around. Lauren LOVED it. She jumped and jumped and jumped. We climbed up walls and even went down slides together. The smile on her face was GIANT the entire time. However, while sitting on the picnic table, eating lunch, Lauren fell off backwards. She was startled, but ok though. Then when it was time to leave, she fell down the steps and scraped her knee. Again, a bit of a cry, but then she was fine. As I was trying to get both girls into the car, Lauren decided to play in the puddles. I didn't mind until I heard her say, "I can sit in it," and turned around to see her sitting in the puddle. All I could do was laugh.

We stopped by Walgreens to get a prescription for me, but they couldn't find it. Crazy! I decided Lauren needed a bath after sitting in the puddle, so we quickly took care of that and then off to nap for Lauren.

Annie has had some bumps on her legs for a few days now so I decided to call the doctor. He said to bring her in, so after Geoff got home from work I did. Annie was a trooper and very happy the entire visit. I think she just liked having me to herself. Dr. Siegel thinks it's dry skin or maybe a yeast infection so we have some cream to put on Annie. We stopped back at Walgreens and they found my prescription so I will be able to pick that up tomorrow now.

As Annie and I walked in the door Lauren and Geoff were busy looking for new PJs for Lauren because she woke up from her nap with the flu. Poor girl. Geoff gave her another bath and I think we are currently on our 5th pair of PJs since about 4pm. She is curled up on the couch and we sure hope she feels better soon. It's really difficult seeing your little one so sick.

What a day! I can't believe I still have a smile on my face, but I am remarkable calm and happy. I guess those extra 20 minutes to myself really helped me start the day right and keep things in perspective.

What a day!