Haylie's Birthday Party

After the Easter Egg Hunt we headed over to sweet Haylie's house for her first birthday party. We had a such a good time-- WONDERFUL food, great company, and a VERY fun jumpy castle! :)

Jamie and Haylie

Happy First Birthday Sweet Haylie Grace!!!!!!!!

Easter Egg Hunt @ Church

We took Lauren over the Easter egg hunt at Christ the King. It took her a minute to figure out what she was supposed to do, and I think all the other kids swarming overwhelmed her. It was good practice for Sunday because she realized the eggs had TREATS in them! That was a motivator for sure...she LOVES choc-o-late, as she says. It was kinda cold out, so we skipped the pretty Easter dress in favor her Elmo Tshirt and a fleece. :)

"MY" House

Megan next door has outgrown her playhouse and generously offered to give it to Lauren. Todd just had to clean it up a bit-- rinse off the bugs, pollen, etc.. Lauren was chomping at the bit to get in there and play. She just loves it! She kept talking about Mimi and her cousin Kaitlyn coming to play in it. Several days later her wish came true...

They had too much fun playing in "MY house", as Lauren calls it!

Farewell Sweet Maggie...

Our Maggie (circa 1995)

Today we had to put the Huck family dog down for her final nap. Such a sad day for all of us. I remember my first summer home from college when this sweet 2 year old (we think!) rescue dog came bounding into the house, fresh from the shelter. She jumped right on me while I was napping on the couch and we've been friends ever since.

This amazing sheltie/shepherd mix has been such a loving and dedicated member of our family. She knew the sound of all of our cars, warning Mom and Dad when we were a block or so away...she could wink (no really, she COULD!!)...she pranced like a puppy in the snow, even in her later years. Until just a few years ago, people would stop my Dad as he walked her to look at our "puppy". Boy did she have them fooled! Or perhaps, she always stayed young at heart until these past years as her hearing started to go and her limbs just wouldn't prance anymore.

There's definitely a special spot for Maggie in Doggie Heaven.

2 Year Portraits

As I cleaned out my email today, I realized that I never posted my favorites of Lauren's 2 year portraits. Enjoy!

Of course she had to have rainbow pants for her Rainbow Party....

Preparations Are Underway...

Lauren is moving to her BIG GiRL ROOM in a matter of days. Todd is spending his spring break hanging crown molding and refreshing the color scheme from robin's egg blue to yellow (per the request of the soon-to-be resident!). We picked up her bedding last night and she did not want to let go the sheet, telling everyone at Target, "This is for Lauren's new room". She's even agreed that her baby brother can have the green room, since it's for babies! We'll see how she actually feels when we move her in there...

Sanding the walls with a sanding brick.

Helping Daddy

The girl loves to measure things...Me? I am more of a gut-instinct, does it LOOK right kind of gal. Drives Todd crazy.

In the meantime she's been dying to "Help Daddy". She helped move the old bedding and furniture out, and followed Mommy around to make sure all the face plates were unscrewed and that I didn't miss any. Then she touched each wall and said, "This wall will be yellow, this wall, this wall...etc.". Very thrilled that she's so excited and wants to be so involved. Can't wait to share the Unveiling Pics of her new big girl room. :)

Miscellaneous Musings

Just realized I had some pics on my smaller camera that we keep upstairs to capture "moments" that I hadn't shared. It's a slow news week here, so thought now would be a good time to get them posted.

A couple weeks ago Mimi came over to watch Lauren on a night I had class and Todd had a school commitment. Lauren just LOVES when Mimi comes over to Play. :) Here they are, post-bath.

And here is a fun first. A couple Sundays ago, Lauren and I had a "girls day home" as Daddy was fishing so we decided that since she kept admiring my fresh pedicure (brick red, though she calls it orange toes...) that we ought to paint hers as well. We made a trip to the store and she picked out "Strawberry Icing" colored polish. I was a little nervous about how bright the hot pink looked in the bottle, but it's actually fairly opaque with sparkles, so it was perfect for a first pedi. She kept walking around telling me, "I have pink toes, Mommy. Look!"