A busy week

We had a very busy week. We had such a fun time with the cousins and by Friday we were worn out and very tired.



The cousins swam a lot and that was great fun for all of them. The heater is now off and so swimming will have to wait until May. This summer our main goal will be to get Lauren to swim by herself.



One of the special nights was the birthday party night. A few of the cousins have birthdays in March and April and so we had a joint birthday for all of them. It looked like Christmas with all the gifts and Lauren kept asking if she was going to get presents also. I think she was a bit disappointed that she was not included in the gift getting. She did help S unwrap a lot of her gifts.



We stayed out late almost every night this past week and so I had one very tired little girl tonight. She fell asleep within a few minutes of getting into bed. Hopefully she will sleep in this weekend.


The other exciting news for us was that Lauren is going to have another cousin. My sister in law is expecting her second child. She is due around Thanksgiving. We are all so excited and can't wait to find out if it is a girl or a boy.

So next year there will be a little baby to join in with the fun. I am so glad that Lauren has this wonderful group of cousins that are part of her family.

I hope she remembers these times when she gets older. It is pretty special to have a family that cares so much for each other and enjoys getting together.

Easter Egg Hunt

The egg hunt includes all the cousins. However, the cousins range in age from 2 years old to 16 years old. That range in age can create problems in an egg hunt, so a few years ago we came up with a way that all the kids can enjoy the egg hunt. We assign each cousin a egg color that they need to find. They need to find all the eggs in that color but no other color. We then hide the eggs based on their age. We don't have to worry that the older kid would get all the eggs and little kids wouldn't get any.



Last year Lauren was given the yellow eggs. Since she was only 3 the eggs were pretty easy to find. During the year she kept telling me she wanted to find the blue eggs this year and she wanted them to be harder. So this year she got to find the light blue eggs and it was a little harder. She had to look in the bushes and behind things instead of just laying on the ground. They each had to find 21 eggs.



Every year there are a couple eggs that never get found. (then later in the year they turn up.) It is so strange but it happens every year. This year was no exception. But the kids have a good time and they all seem to find them in about the same time. We have learned a few things over the years, first that you can't put chocolate in the eggs because they will melt second, sometimes you have to give hints and third, you have make sure the dog does not get the egg first. After most of the eggs were found (except for those few missing eggs) the kids went back to swimming. And we will do it again in 2009!

Happy Easter

Easter 2008 was wonderful. It is so great to have my sisters and brother and their families together to celebrate Easter. The cousins all get along pretty well and seem to enjoy themselves. It is fun to look back over the years and see how much they have grown. I make sure we have a picture of the cousins before we go to church. That is when they are still pretty neat and clean and before the Easter outfits come off and the swimsuits come back on. It is strange not to have my father with us. I am so glad my sister and her family still came out. I was afraid that without dad she wouldn't feel it was important to come out and visit.





We started the day with a wonderful family breakfast. We then all went to church together. When we got home the kids swam and then they did the egg hunt . After the egg hunt the kids swam again. We then had a late lunch/dinner with the family. I think we were all tired but some of the kids went swimming again. Lauren and I passed on that and we went home. Lauren was asleep within a few minutes of getting into bed. It was a great day.


2008 Cousin picture

Lauren helping her little cousin get ready for church.

I have taken this picture since I got Lauren 4 years ago. I love to see how much all of them have grown up. I also love the fact that Lauren is close to her cousins. She loves these two so much. There are days when she loves E more and other times she loves B more. I am so glad she has such wonderful cousins that love her so much.

Ready for Easter day.

Jumping for joy

Lauren with her Easter basket. Lauren loves to play softball. She was happy she got a softball mitt and ball.

This is Lauren before she got syrup on her dress, in her hair, and all over her face. Now I know not to get her dressed before we eat.

All ready to go and looking so pretty.

Swimming in March

When Lauren's cousins come out for Easter there is a lot of swimming. Although we live in Arizona and it warm here already, it is still a bit cold to swim. However, Lauren's aunt and uncle heat their pool so that the kids can swim and the kids do swim. They will swim all week long. If they could they would be in the pool all day. Today they swam 3 times. Lauren was one tired little girl at the end of the day. She did slept wonderful. Tomorrow they will be in and out of the pool from the time we come home from Church until it is time to go home. It is a great way to celebrate Easter.

Coloring Eggs

The day before Easter we usually color eggs. The cousins took a break from swimming to color the eggs. It is fun to see them all together enjoying being with each other. It is so nice that Lauren gets to see her cousins from California.



This year a few of the older cousins didn't join in but it was still really fun. Lauren loved coloring eggs. She tried different things with the eggs. She wrote her name on the eggs with wax and she thought it was pretty cool to see her name after she dyed the egg. We don't use these to hide on Easter but they all get eaten within a few days.



She wanted to make sure that she used all the colors and all the extra items also. She used stickers, beads, wax, and sparkles on some of the eggs.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St.Patrick's Day. I tried to make Lauren some scrambled eggs with green dye in it and she would have nothing to do with it. She did make me a wonderful cup of Irish Coffee.

Palm Sunday

I love Easter time. I like it all the coloring of eggs, the egg hunt, family visiting and of course going to church in fun, pretty dresses. Since it was Palm Sunday Lauren wore one of her more fancy dresses. Of course it was cold out and so she had to wear a sweater but she still looked very cute. The dress is really full so Lauren played like she was at a ball. When we went out for Brunch after church she kept asking her cousins to dance with her like Cinderella.

Horse show

One of Lauren's cousins, E, takes horseback riding lessons. Saturday was the first time she was competing. She was in two different events. It was a lot of fun to watch all the events. E was riding a horse that was really big and was a little wild. During the first event the horse got a little unruly and even bucked her a little. She did a good job but we could tell she was a bit upset. After the first competition one of her friends told her to ride her horse for the second event. E only had a few minutes get use to this new horse, but she did so good. We hoped that she would win a ribbon but they only award the top 6 and there are a lot of people competing in each event. It was so exciting when they announced that E won 3rd place. We were so happy for her and it was so great to see her so happy. What a way to start her horseback competition.

It was a great day. It was a little cooler then the last week (in the 70s) and it was a bit overcast. I was a bit surprised to come home and find that we were both really sun burnt. Lauren and I both have red faces now.

Lauren really loves her cousins and she told me later that night that she was happy that E got a ribbon. Now Lauren wants to take horseback riding lessons. It did look like fun but this is just one of many things that Lauren wants to do. Every time she sees something new she wants to do that also. She is already in cheerleading, dance, gymnastics, Spanish lessons along with school and church she has a full schedule.

It was a good day. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and the forecast is to be in the 50s and rainy. I am glad we got to enjoy today.

Naps??

Lauren stopped taking naps almost 2 years ago. I miss those few hours when she would sleep and I could clean the house and get so much done.



Last Sunday, Lauren was watching a movie while I was trying to get stuff done. I thought wow she is really quiet and I went in the living room and she was sound asleep. She slept for a few hours and it was wonderful. It felt like old times and I was able to get so much done. I didn't realize how hard it is to get stuff done around the house with a 4 year old that keeps asking questions, wanting something or messing up the room I just cleaned. I don't think I can count on her napping every weekend since this is the first nap she has taken is about two years. But I look advantage of it this weekend!!

My Girl

There are days when I am tired and not in the best of moods. There are times when I get upset at Lauren for one thing or another. But all I have to see is her smile and and laugh to get me out of my bad mood.

Lauren can be very funny. She has a very good sense of humor and she keeps us laughing a lot. She is a hard girl to get upset at for too long. Last week my sister (Lauren's babysitter) called and wanted to talk to Lauren. I asked her why and she told me that Lauren had wrote all over the back of their couch. When my sister asked Lauren about it she got this look of confusion. I kept asking Lauren about it and she kept saying that she didn't do it. I then explained that we know that she did it because wrote her name. (she is one of those dumb criminals.) She finally figured out what we were talking about and she looked at me with this look of disgusted and said "mom, I did that a long time ago." She could not figure out why she should get in trouble for something that was so long ago.

I don't think that she enjoyed cleaning the couch on her day off school.

I love to take pictures of Lauren but it can be a bit painful. She loves to "pose" but most of the time the pictures turn out so awful. When I ask her just to smile it leads to some very interesting facial expressions. I take at least 20 to 40 pictures with the hopes of getting a few that are OK to keep. Thank goodness for digital cameras!

I love to look at her and I am amazed at what a beautiful little girl she is. I always feel so lucky that I have this girl in my life.