My grandparents are 80 and it is so nice that they are healthy and active enough to come down to Bloomington to visit. They enjoy seeing Lauren. I love spending time with my grandparents especially when we get a chance to play cards. Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa. We love you.
I can't believe my baby is 2!!! It seems like yesterday she was 1. In the last year she has started walking and talking. She has the cutest personality and is super smart. I love you Lauren. You make us so proud!!
This was in the morning on her birthday. Her favorite food is eggs. So I made her eggies for breakfast. We opened presents and ate. It was a great morning. That evening we drove over to Peoria to give some money to the Nicu. Lauren cashed in her bunny bank and we went to walmart to buy two little premie outfits to donate to the Nicu. Then we went to busy corner for dinner. It was a such a nice day. Happy Birthday baby!!!
Just thought I would post some of my favorite pictures from December so far. I so enjoy this stage of Lauren's life. She is talking like crazy. She will pause and say cheese for the camera now but it is still hard to catch it quick enough. Some of my favorite things she says are "I do it", "Wiggle wiggle", and "Thank you". She actually says thank you all the time when appropriate and without being prompted. She still digs Elmo but Strawberry Shortcake and Tinkerbell have peaked her interest. She calls Strawberry Shortcake "cupcake". She has daddy wrapped around her little finger. It is pretty cute when she wants Craig to do something she says "come on Daddy" over and over with her out stretched hand until he comes with her. I also really enjoy bedtime. We read stories and say our prayers. As soon as I say ok its time for our prayer. She folds her hands and says "God is great". Then we always say "God bless mommy, daddy, and Lauren and then I say God bless...and she has to fill in the blank. Most nights she wants to bless Elmo and Ava but sometimes she blesses Brooke, or Coalie, or Baxter, or Grandma, or Nana, or Jeanne (her daycare provider), or Poppy or Jay. I so enjoy my sweet sweet little girl....please remind me of this when she is 16 and making me crazy!!
The reason it is so important for my to give my child a sibling (which is not happening yet) is because I couldn't imagine my life without one. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful sister. Someone I can always count on to give me advise. Someone who is always there. And especially someone to laugh with. We love you Maymay!!
I am so lucky to have a mom that is my best friend and someone I admire. She has been wonderful to me all my life and now is a wonderful Nana to my little girl. We love you Nana
This blog is as little past due but better late then never. This year was our year to have Thanksgiving with Craig's side of the family. We had a great day at the Stille farm. Lauren enjoyed her cousins oh so much.
Grandma had a great feast for all of us and still had enough energy to play with all the kids the rest of the day
The girls dressed Lauren up as a pretty pretty princess and she loved it
All the kiddos eating. They are still at the age when it is cool to sit at the kiddy table.
Jay's our little monkey. Find him a pole and he can get all the way to the top. I can't believe how much Jay has grown. He is so mature and such a nice boy. He is good with Lauren and loves spending time with her. Jays likes: his guitar and legos Jays dislikes: his younger brother bothering him and being embarrassed by too many hugs and kisses from his Mimi. I do still get them but it's rare.
Me and Nick at our schmidt family christmas. I had to promise him cookies and fruit snacks to get this picture. One minute Nick is so cute you just want to squeeze him
Lauren Loves Ava. And I think Ava loves Lauren. They are pretty good buddies
Ava is now 6 months old and super sweet. Still a great baby and we enjoy spending time with her and Lauren enjoys being able to play with her everyday at daycare.
Here they are riding the zebra together. Lauren of course has to lean over to give her a kiss.
We had so much fun at Lauren's birthday party. We just had a small party with just family the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. We ordered pizza, opened presents and ate cake and ice cream. Lauren got to play with her cousins and got lots of great gifts, and best of all she got to eat pizza and ice cream....her favorite.
Lauren loved when we sang happy birthday to her. She didn't quite understand to blow the candles out but she did try. Every time we would sing her happy birthday she would say again, again. It is now a couple weeks past her birthday and we are still singing happy birthday.
She was a little overwhelmed with presents. Everything she got she loved. She had to try it on or play with it right away. She got upset when I couldn't get it out of the box fast enough
The best part of the party was all her cousins helping her celebrate. They all played together and enjoyed spending the day with Lauren.
On Dec 6 everyone from my mom's side of the family got together to celebrate christmas. We went to Rockford, where my mom's brother lives. Every year we go somewhere different whether it be Bloomington, Sterling, or Rockford. My mom has two brothers and both her brother have a boy and a girl. Our cousins oldest to youngest: Amy, Me, Max, Amber, Cora, Adam. We have all had children now so it is fun getting together with all the kids. Oldest to youngest: Hailey, Quinton (Cora's two step children), Kylee (Cora's), Jay, Nick, Kaylie (Amber's), Aalin (Adam's), Carter (Cora's), and Lauren. My cousin Max lives in Nebraska and couldn't be here, he has a little boy Braylon, who is a year and a half. It was a good time...lots of family, food and fun!!
Hailey and Carter
Aalin and Lauren
My cousin Adam, on my mom's side, the youngest of the 6 of us got married several weeks ago and I thought I would post a few pictures from the wedding. These are my grandparents...aren't they the cutest older couple you have ever seen!!
It is so hard to get a good picture of Lauren sitting still, looking at the camera, and smiling. This is as good as it gets. I love this picture because it shows her pretty blue eyes.
Lauren always loves to climb up in a chair or on the couch and she has to have about 3 stuffed animals, two babies, a blankie and in this picture the phone. And whenever craig or I is sitting on the couch or chair she has to pile all this stuff on us....it's so cute
I had some left over halloween stickers so we put them all over her body she thought it was pretty cool
