My Favorite Emma pic to date......

More Catching Up...

One of the reasons I completely abandoned my blog last spring was that I became obsessed with gardening! I mean that I became a total plant geek. I never knew how fun and therapeutic it could be to play in the dirt. I just fell in love with planting things and caring for them and watching them become beautiful....in a way, I find it similar to being a mom! All I read for months was gardening books so I could learn as much as possible about what I was growing. I would get up early so I could go work in the garden before anybody was even awake. Jack and Emma learned to love it, too! Jack would ask everyday if we could go outside and garden! It turned out to be a very rewarding hobby......but also an expensive one, and at times, a frustrating one! Don't' even get me started on how I loathe Japanese beetles! I have included some pictures of some of gardening pride from this past spring. I am already excited to get out in the dirt next year!
Last Spring also brought another new baby to one of my dear friends! Keira and Brandon welcomed their first child, Aiden, on May 5, 2009. Jack and Emma's circle of friends is growing bigger every month it seems!

Catching Up....

Last February, one of my best friends since high school became a first time mommy! Michelle and Brian welcomed Mariella Grace on February 13, 2009. The day they brought her home from the hospital, I flew to NJ for 4 days to be with my best buddy and her new family! It was such an honor and a privilege to be there with Mariella at the very beginning of her life, and to watch Brian and Michelle step into parenthood! I got to watch them give Ella her first bath and go to the first pediatrician appointment, too. And, of course, I missed my little family while I was away, but I got to talk to them on the webcam everyday!

In March, the new family came to Ohio for a visit, and Jack and Emma got to meet Ella for the first time! They thought she was so cool! Rachel, Michelle and I also went out for our annual Christmas dinner (yes, in March), which has been a tradition since we were sixteen years old!My mother-in-law, Linda also celebrated her birthday in March, and Joel painted the most beautiful watercolor for her! He took a picture of the two of them that was taken on the day he graduated from the police academy in 2001 as his inspiration and created the most beautiful painting ever! I was so impressed and I really wanted to keep it to hang in my house! This photo of the painting doesn't even do it justice! My hubby is so talented!More catching up posts to follow......I have way too much to say to include it all in one post!

Hi, my name is Lauren, and I have been a very bad blogger.

So, it has been 8 long months since I last updated my blog......such a bad girl am I! My friend, Mary has just started a blog, and I am now remembering how fun it is to blog about the little ones! So, thank you for re-inspiring me, Mary! To bring my blog up to date is going to be a huge project! But, I must start somewhere.......hope you like my new template.......that is, if anyone even looks at my blog anymore! More posts to come!

Lovin' the Fresh Air!

Just had to post this cute pic of my babies. It was so wonderful to open the windows and smell the fresh air today! Jack and Emma obviously liked it, too! Emma was standing there and Jack walked over and threw his arm around her shoulders as if to say, "Isn't it grand, sis?" Of course, I immediately went for the camera! Here's hoping spring is here to stay!

Daddy's Girl.

When I married Joel, I loved him so much and knew he would be a great dad one day. My mom told me once that you have a whole new love for your husband once you see him as a daddy to your children...and she was so right! I just had to share these pictures of Joel and Emma because they are just so sweet. I look at the two of them often and think about the day Joel will walk her down the aisle, and then dance with her at her wedding reception. It is far off, I know, but that is a special memory I have with my dad so I look forward to Joel and Emma sharing that, too!

One Thing I Forgot to Mention...

This is exactly why I need to write more frequently! Thanks for the reminder, Rachel! And for everyone who wasn't there...a couple days after I hurt my back and couldn't even function in my motherly role, Rachel came over to play! She had brought Jack's birthday present over, which he is still obsessed with. It is a police helmet with a handset that has flashing lights and makes lots of noise!

It came with a police badge and a speed limit sign and 2 tickets for "breaking the law". It is the perfect Jack gift since he worships his daddy, the policeman! After playing for awhile, and me whining that my back hurt the whole time, Rachel offered to stay to put the kids to bed for me! So when bedtime rolled around, Rachel took the kids to wash their hands and brush their teeth and I just got to watch, which was great! The funny thing is, Jack will NOT ever let me brush his teeth. He thinks sucking the toothpaste off the toothbrush and then drinking water from a dixie cup and spitting it all over the counter is adequate oral hygiene. I have to pin his arms down at his sides to be able to barely get the toothbrush over his little teeth! But when his buddy Rachel comes along...he is the perfect angel who gives her the toothbrush and lets her brush his teeth! I think Rachel may have had a magic wand in her pocket.

Emma is obsessed with her toothbrush, too. She uses it more as a teether, though. She keeps a death grip on it and sucks on it until you pry her little fingers off of it and take it away. Once you take it away, she screams as if you have taken her whole arm with it....but not with Rachel! Emma actually handed her toothbrush over to Rachel! I have to fight that toothbrush battle every night at bedtime when Joel is at work!

So then Rachel got the kids in their jammies. We said prayers in Emma's room and put her to bed and then went into Jack's room to do the bedtime song medley (Happy and You Know It, You Are My Sunshine and then the ABC's). I think Joel and I are pretty cool when we do the medley together, but Rachel and I were incredible! Jack actually sat on the edge of his bed and danced and clapped while we were singing! Of course, Rachel and I jazzed it up with some of our own cool dance moves, so I can't really blame him. Jack thought Rachel was so cool, in fact, that after we said good night he came right back out of his room! I think he thought we were going to have big fun without him and he didn't want to miss out.

It was a very fun night for Rachel and I, and especially for Jack and Emma! Jack talked about Rachel the whole next day...and a couple days ago there was another friend of ours over here named Jen, and Jack kept calling her Rachel! Doesn't that say it all? :)