Hide and Seek

We were at May May's house today and I was getting ready to leave and I coudn't find Lauren. I said "Are you guys upstairs or downstairs" I hear nothing. I think this isn't good. I say it again and I hear a little voice say something but I can't tell if they are up or down. I ask again "Where are you guys. " Nick says "Up stairs" which was not where they were but I was able to figure out where the voice was coming from. I found them in the closet. I said "What are you guys doing". Lauren says hiding from Jay, I said "oh ok" I closed the door and went to get Jay and my camera. Jay crawls in there with them and I go get Amy and her camera. but by then it was too late to get a picture of all three of them in there.

Cookie decorating

Today we went to May May's house to play and when we got there she was baking cookies. What a nice surprise. The kids loved decorating the cookies and eating them. Nick and Lauren are getting along so much better. It is really cute to watch them. They are like brother and sister one minute they love each other the next minute they are fighting.

ISU game

My friend Stephanie gave us free tickets for the ISU game last night. It was fun. Lauren did really good the first 1/2 but lost interest and got antsy the second 1/2. She loved sitting in her chair and eating popcorn. It was funny because she barely weighed enough to keep the seat down.

She actually watched the game. Her favorite part was the ballerinas. She kept calling the cheerleaders ballerinas. She brought her tinker bell bullhorn and would shout out "go redbirds". It was really cute.

Meeting Tyler

This is my friend Lindsay's little guy. He was born in October and is about 7 weeks old. They were in town for Thanksgiving so we were able to go over and see him and his big brother Ryan.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at my mom's this year with the whole extended family. It was a lot of fun. Good food, good company, and good times. We played cards and all the kids got along great. Here's a picture of me and Nick. He's my little cuddle bunny. He is such a sweetie. I wanted a picture with Jay but that didn't happened. He is way to cool for me these days.

My mom had a craft table set up in her office. The girls had a blast painting and coloring. Lauren loves her cousins (these are her 2nd cousins Kaylie and Kylee)

Lauren and Great Grandma. Doesn't Grandma look great for 81. I am so glad they can still make the trip. This was when we celebrated Christmas too.

Grandma and grandpa with just some of the great grandchildren. Luke will be #9.

There's all the great grandkids except Braylon who lives in Nebraska. I can't believe these 7 kidos played so nice for so long. They were great!

Oh Christmas Tree

As you can see we had to get a new tree for Lauren's room. We went to Walmart one day with Grandma and Daddy. She saw the pink tree and wanted it so Grandma bought it for her. In the store Craig pretended to read the side of the package and said "oh look it says here it is fire resistent so it won't catch on fire". That was good enough for Lauren she will turn these lights on now. The other tree I took to school so it all worked out.

Lauren was great help this year with the tree. She handed me each branch as I put the tree up and then I sat on the couch and handed her every ornament to put on the tree. I had to get up a couple times to move the chair to a new spot. She loved decorating and wanted to know about each ornament. It took alllll weekend to do this but so worth every minute. She loved doing it, I didn't have to do it, and it was a great bonding experience. I love christmas so much. I just wish my husband did. He wants nothing to do with this stuff. Thats why we did it when he was at class.

Lauren's boyfriend

Lauren just loves Holden. She talks about him all the time. They get along great when they're together. The other night she says to me "mommy I'm going to marry Holden...he's my best friend".

Halloween party

Stephanie and Travis's halloween party. Annie (dressed as a mom...she had the spit up on her and everything), Katie (dressed as a witch), Steph (the elf) and Me (the mama bunny).

I brought my portable DVD player with a halloween movie. The kids layed on a blanket and watched the movie the whole night. It was so cute....until we ran out of battery and had to use the computer as a back up.

Does Travis not make the best elf ever!!! We all told him we wished his pants were a little tighter (haha)

Bunny family. ahhhhh

I can't believe I talked craig in to dressing like a bunny. He's such a trooper. Although he was the one who posed for this picture.

Our little bunny

Lauren was a bunny for Halloween. For weeks before Halloween we had to wear our costume around the house every night. She had to hop like a bunny and hide like a bunny.

Nick and Lauren

Lauren and Nick getting along....can you believe it. Nana made a pumpkin shaped brownie and had all the fixins to decorate it. They decorated it for a good 20 minutes. It was so cute. They were sharing too!!

The moon

Lauren is obsessed with the moon. When she sees it she tells the world. When she can't see it she cries. She talks about it all the time. The other night she said "look mom, the moon looks like a banana." Craig had to get out his telescope to show her the moon.

Colin and Cade's birthday

The boys birthday party had a bears theme. Go BEARS!! Lauren always loves going to parties and playing with all her friends. We had a great time.

The "master" plan

Craig is almost done with his master's program.....can you hear my loud cheers!! Here he is in his cap and gown and the first picture is of him opening his graduation gift....I got him a suit. More pictures to come. The big day is DEC 18

getting ready for christmas

This is the first year that Lauren gets to have her own tree in her room. She was very excited about it. I made the mistake of telling her at night when she went to sleep we had to turn it off. And because she has to ask "why" to everything. She asked why we had to turn it off so I said if we leave it on it could start a fire.....don't know what I was thinking. She freaked out and now we never turn the tree on.

Time change

The night of the time change we kept Lauren up late so she would sleep late. Which was hard to do since she didn't take a nap. This is how the night ended.

The twins turn 3

We had a great time at Dylan and Luke's birthday party. It was a fire truck theme. So Lauren got to put stickers on her own fire hat. The best part was the fire truck pinata. They all pulled on some strings that opened a trap door. Happy birthday boys!!! You've come a long way since the NICU.

carving pumpkins

Yes it is almost the end of November and I am blogging about carving pumpkins. I haven't blogged in a while but I didn't want to leave anything out. We carved three pumpkins this year. Lauren tried to help. She liked to put her hands in. I was surprised she wasn't scared or grossed out. She really liked it. It was fun to watch her this year she really enjoyed the decorating and the pumpkins. She got to pick out her own pumpkins. It was pretty funny to watch her try to pick up these big pumpkins.