Catch the BUG

The cutest thing happened the other day. Nathan had a little laser light that made a red light appear on the wall. When Lauren saw it, she pointed and screamed "bug." At that point, Nathan made the light go down the wall and then go onto Lauren. She freaked, hitting herself trying to make the bug go away. If it touched her doll or anyone else, she would freak out trying to get it to go away. The first night it happened, we were all dying of laughter. If I had had a video camera, we possibly could have won America's Funiest Home Videos. We attempted it the next day, and she wasn't quite as enthusiastic about it, and she figured it out pretty quickly. Here are two videos to share.

Giving Thanks in Gatlinburg

Every year when I was a young child, we headed to Kingsport, Tennessee for Thanksgiving. I always loved it. I loved to go visit my grandparents, and I loved to spend time with my cousins. On extra special years, my family would rent a cabin in the mountains and we enjoyed the chaos of all of the cousins being in the same house. This year, my cousin and I decided it was time to do it again. Only this year all of the cousins I talked about have little tykes of their own, so it was a lot of people for one house. Here are tons of pics from our Thanksgiving Vacation:

Bears Galore:



Breakfast:




Hottub:











Pool:







Ober:

To be Continued.....

I have not been blogging in a long time.  I have really enjoyed looking at past posts lately though, so my midyear resolution is to catch up!!   Since my last post, we have sold a house, bought a house, started and finished a year of kindergarten!!  Oh, I have so much to write about.  I'm in the process of finishing up last school year's psych reports, and then I won't have an excuse.   I'm feeling optimistic!!  :)

For now I leave you with a memory of Daddy Tyrone.

Daddy Tyrone

Lauren, I have to share a story about you when you were two!!  Around 2 1/2 you began to have a huge imagination.  You constantly engaged in imaginary play and you often became these characters or people.  You had one imaginary friend over a lot, and honestly, it was as if I had a third child when she was over.  I had to make her food, take her to the potty, and help to put her down for naps.  At times I laughed inside, at times I was impressed with your creativity and at times I was frustrated and annoyed.  Did I mention that you pitched such a fit once, that Wyatt begged me to stop at a McDonalds to let your "friend" go to the bathroom.  Yes, we walked inside only to sit and wait together as some imaginary little girl went to the bathroom.

 One "person" that you became was Daddy Tyrone.   Yes, I wrote it correctly.  You were Daddy Tyrone.   You didn't just call yourself that, but you also made us call you that too.  Again, at first I thought it was a funny, but at times it was embarrassing. 

One day we were at large store called Costco.  This place has long checkout lines, and the last thing you want to do is leave your place in line.  I got up to the cashier, and I looked down and you were gone.  I looked over and saw you walking away.   So, I yelled out "Lauren, come back here right now."  Your reply, "Me not Lauren, Me Daddy Tyrone."  With that you started to cruise away from me.   For an immediate stop, I called out again but this time I was smarter.  "Daddy Tyrone, I said come back here right now."  You stopped in your tracks and ran straight back to me.  People around me looked at me in confusion.  The cashier grinned and said "I'm not going to ask." 

 I came across this video taken in April 2010 at the beach.  You were just over 2 1/2 years old. 

This is an example of how you insisted you were Daddy Tyrone.

The Studio

Our family has begun a new adventure......BALLET!!  Lauren has been attending ballet class for months now in her imagination.  Literally, the child will tell me she is going to dance class and she will go to the bathroom and twirl around while instructing herself on how to dance.  More on this and her very active imagination later. 

Since she appears to have a love for ballet, we decided to sign her up.  She started a few weeks ago at a place called the Atlanta Studio and she loves it.  I have video to share, and will try to post that soon.  Watching her and her new friends is honestly the sweetest thing ever.   Until I figure out how to edit my video, below are a few pictures of her first day of ballet.  Her first recital will be next May.  I can't wait!!!! 

The first pictures are taken before we left our house.   I could barely get her to stay still. She kept twirling and doing this karate-ish looking "dance" move. 

Even posing with mommy required a dance pose.

My mom was in heaven.  It took her back to my first day of dance when I was just three years old.

Studio 1 - Lauren's first REAL dance studio room.  I wonder if she was surprised to not have a toilet inside.   It's a much different room than the studio she has created at our house.

Waiting in line with her new friends.

Waving goodbye as she walked in to class:

Soccer Fall 2011

Wyatt struggled to pick between soccer and baseball this fall, but ultimately decided on soccer.  He has had 2 games, and has done great so far!!!  My parents stayed in town to see his game, and were very impressed with his progress.  When he first started two seasons ago, it was hysterical.  He basically just ran the field staring at his shoes.  What can I say, he loves to play the part and at his age at that time.....he loved looking like an official soccer player.  Now, he understands the sport more and at his last game, he played to impress.  He made 3....not 1, not 2 but THREE goals.  We like to say he had the winning goal, but they don't really keep score.  It's all just for fun!!  Here are some pics from his All Star day. 

He is number 11.

Notice below that his eyes are on the ball and not on his shoes?? 

I wish I had a shot of his first goal of the season, but I don't.  I was too busy cheering.  He immediately came running to the sidelines to give Papa, MiMi, Mommy and Daddy a high five.  He was grinning from ear to ear.  Daddy was so excited for him, he scooped him up and gave him a big hug.  That, I caught on camera!!

And after the game.....snacks with his buddy Ryan.

First Day of School 2011

Wyatt and Lauren both started school at Oglethorpe again this year.  Wyatt is now an upper-classman and attends class in a classroom upstairs.  This was a huge privilege, and he was very excited on his first day of school.  He is in Ms. Debra's class.  I've been so excited for him to have her as a teacher. I have heard WONDERFUL things about her.  In addition to having Ms. Debra this year, I had an amazing surprise when I attended orientation.  Ms. Debra is retiring this year, and Ms. Lisa (Wyatt's teacher from last year) will be taking her spot next year.  With that said, she moved up to the the Pre-K class and is Ms. Debra's assistant.  Wyatt and I can not be happier.  He will have a year with two highly qualified awesome, sweet, amazing teachers.  Seriously, you have no idea how excited I am.   Despite my excitement, I do have to confess that I cried after dropping my little one off.  In past years, there was always hesitation and he entered his classrooms holding my hand and begging me to stay.  This year he marched right in, said hey to everyone he knew and was off in his class before I could even say goodbye.  When I went in to try to say bye, I got the finger wave.  To be honest, that's what I wanted for him, but it still choked me up. 

Lauren is in the Tree Frogs class (downstairs) and she loves it!!  She too marched right in, gave me a kiss and quickly ran to see her friends.  This will sound like a double standard, but it didn't hurt quite as much. I expected a quick goodbye from her.  She has never had difficulty separating from me when she has gone to a nursery or to school.  She just goes with the flow. 

So far school has been a success for both Wyatt and Lauren.  Lauren graduated to the bigger playground so they get to play together every day.  When I picked her up the other day though she said, "my feelings are hurt."  I asked why and before she could answer, Wyatt said, "Lauren, I'm sorry I told all of my friends to run from you."   Her reply....."It's okay my big brother" and everything seemed to be back to normal and all smiles. 

Here are a few pictures from their first day of school, which was by the way, Lauren's birthday!!!

I'm a Little Princess Turning THREE

I can't believe it, but my baby girl is 3 years old. I'm not sure if it is because she is usually around boys, but this little girl is true princess. She will only drink or eat out of girl cups (i.e. it must be white/pink/purple), refuses some outfits if she perceives them as not being girlie enough and loves anything dance or princess. At one point, she even went as far as boycotting most or her paint/crayons/markers because they were of the boy spectrum. When you take her to Chick-fil-a, she refuses to drink out of a milk carton with a picture of a boy on it and will only accept girl milk. You don't know how many times I have had to request a girl milk only for them to tell me they are all the same. Trust me, I know. Some bottles have pictures of boys on them and some have girls. My poor dad got teased by her for wearing a purple shirt to the point that by the time we got to our final destination, he removed his shirt and went out to eat with the t-shirt he had on under his "girlie" purple shirt. I say all of this to explain her 3rd Birthday party. For Lauren's third birthday, we made it extra girlie. With the exception of her brother, only girls were allowed. My mom wrote the following poem for her invitation (might I mention she did it in just a few minutes too). I'm a little Princess turning THREE!! Please come to my party and celebrate with me! Come dressed beautifully, for you're a Princess too. We've invited a special guest to entertain me and you. It's a girl's only party, NO BOYS ALLOWED!! When princesses gather together, boys make it a crowd. As I dream about my party, my heart begins to sing..... I'm a little Princess, because my Daddy is the King.

Here are a few pictures from her Princess Party:

Pregame, the princesses (and Spiderman) checked out the princess book:

Lunch:

Snow White arrived armed with tatoos and facepaint for everyone:

She brought magic from Disney too:

And balloons too:

Lauren's very special princess cake made by her MiMi (and Mommy too):

Forever Mommy's Princess:

Post party, Lauren decked out in her presents.  Seen below is her new special friend (who she wants to sleep with every night).