Easter Egg Hunt

Will and Lauren had their Easter Egg Party/Egg Hunt today. We had a great time with all of our friends. After the egg hunt we all enjoyed a great cook out. It was so neat to see all the boys playing together. Here are some pictures from the day! (We missed you, Jack!)

Will and Lauren helping Mommy make Easter sugar cookies.

Lauren smiling at her brother. (Is that just the cutest thing you've ever seen?)

Decorating the sugar cookies! Will loves to do this......

The daddies hiding the Easter eggs. We thought they looked cute with their baskets!

More daddies.......

And they're off......

Nathan and Will finding eggs down by the shed.

Charlie and Leann looking for an orange egg.... Where is it?

Benjamin found a purple one by the swing set.

The Hicks family looking for eggs by the fort.

Friends

Here are some pictures of Will and Lauren with their friends.Lauren, Will, Nathan, and Luke! The Stewarts came over this afternoon to help us make cookies and stuff eggs four Will's Easter Party tomorrow!Jack came over to play with Will on Tuesday. They had a great time playing outside on the swing set and playing with Will's trains. Heidi, Mason, and Lauren - the "second generation" of playgroup. Heidi and Lauren make the girl population go up to 3! Benjamin, Jackson, and Will. The big brothers of Mason, Heidi, and Lauren (in that order!) They were all reading a Little People book together and singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."The only girls! They are destined to be great friends!!!

Aunt Len

Aunt Len flew in to see Lauren last Wednesday! It was so much fun to spend time with her! Lauren is a bit of a Mommy's girl, but by the end of Len's stay she decided that Aunt Len was alright! We had a ball hanging out with Len at our house - playing Legos, trains, cars, reading books, and much more. On Friday we went to the mall with Nonnie, Len, and Rhoda. Will had a great time playing in the play area. He really loved having a cheering section and he completely took advantage of all the attention. On Monday, we took Aunt Len to the grocery store (exciting, isn't it!) and Will showed her how he can push his own little cart around the store. He loves to get the groceries and put them in his cart. He is such a big helper.

Lauren is 7 weeks old today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE PAUL!) and she just started to smile! She is sleeping in her crib, now, and she is doing pretty well. She ends up in bed with mommy after she wakes up to eat because I don' t have the energy to hold her the 30-60 minutes before putting her back to bed (because of her reflux). I sleep with her propped up on my chest..... I've learned to never say never!

Will has grown a ton over the last couple of months. I think we've passed the difficult two stage with him and we're moving on to the threes! He has been very obedient recently (not perfect, just obedient....) and we've watched him turn into a little person. It's really neat to see him interact with other kids and I'm so excited about sending him to pre-school.

That's about it ....

Bath Time

We decided that two separate baths was getting to be a little much at bed time, so we put them together. Lauren is holding her head up pretty well, so we thought she was ready for the big tub! Will loves to give her a bath, so he was thrilled that she was joining him in the tub for a couple of minutes. Here is a cute picture of them.

Lauren loves her bouncy seat (thanks Jack!) and she sits in it during my shower. She is wearing her valentine outfit that finally fits her! She really is growing because last week it was still too big on her.

Not much more going on around here. Just keeping up with the grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. I'm really enjoying being a mommy of two - not as bad as I thought it was going to be! Lauren is a great baby and Will is a great little boy. The more I get to know Lauren the more I realize that Will is exactly like me and Lauren in more like her daddy.

Brothers and Sisters

Here are some cute pictures of my kids. Will enjoys being a big brother and loves to help out in any way. He is great at throwing diapers in the trash, getting me diapers and wipes, giving Lauren her baths, and talking to her when she's sad. Lauren has been doing great! She is waking up once during the night and she goes right back to sleep after she eats and gets changed. She is a great sleeper and a great eater! Enjoy the pictures.

Just hanging out on the bed together.

I love my sister!

Will giving Lauren her bath.

Just Hanging Out

We have been slowly adjusting to our new family. Since mom left two weeks ago, I've taken over the laundry, cleaning, ironing, and all the other household chores, except for the cooking. We have been blessed with a ton of food from all of our friends! My MOPS small group has given us two weeks of fabulous food and our friends Stephen and Janie, Scott and Raegan, and Greg and Regina have cooked us wonderful meals as well. I have to begin to take over the cooking next week. It's been a great transition into being a mother of two - I've slowly had to regain control over my duties.

Lauren is doing great. She is into 0-3 month clothes (though she still fits into the newborn stuff, too) and she loves to eat! I can tell that she is growing. She has a very sweet personality. She is very laid back and she loves to be cuddled. One thing that I have learned is that she really likes to be warm. I know that it's cold here, but she likes to be very warm. She almost always has a hat on her head and she loves to be wrapped up in a couple of blankets. Her favorite position is on her belly, preferably on some one's chest. She is a snuggler. She constantly poops, so I've had to keep diaper rash ointment on her so that she doesn't get a rash. She sleeps very well at night - somewhere between 3 and 4 hours at a time. She wakes up to eat and get changed and then she usually falls asleep again within 30 minutes. She has to "sit" upright after she eats because of her reflux, but she's doing great with that.

Will is doing great, too. We just reorganized his train track this morning, so he's been in there playing with his trains for a while. We kept busy playing with play-doh early this morning after a pancake breakfast with daddy (he had to leave for drill this morning). He's starting to learn his letter sounds and his favorite thing to do is play with his Bob the Builder toys and read books. His favorite thing to do with his sister is to give her a bath. He will go get her towel, washcloth, soap, and bath tub for me and he will help me wash her little body. He's actually very good at it and a tremendous help when Joe's gone at night. That's about it! We're doing great - Life with two kids is wonderful. There are times that it's stressful, but I wouldn't change anything.