Bowling Party

Lauren's class had a welcome to first grade bowling party. It was fun to meet her new classmates and their parents. Lauren had a great time bowling and hanging out with her friends.

Birthday Party Fun

Last weekend Lauren went to a birthday party for one of her friends. The party was at a kids salon and it was a "rock party" theme. The girls got their hair done in a rock star style. They also got their nails painted and they had a little make-up applied.

Lauren was a bit worried about her hair and so I talked to the ladies about the problem and they said that they would work around it. I think they did a great job. I looked at these pictures later and I am so amazed at how fast she is growing up. I think she had a great time being a rock star.

Hair Update

Interesting hairstyle.

The bald spot is now gone!!

Oh, it has been an interesting journey.

I have not done a hair update in a long time I figure it is time. It has now been 32 weeks or about 8 months since the accident. The bald spot is now completely covered and the hair is growing in nice and thick. The nice thing now is that there is no worry about showing any bald spot. But as I have learned there are always new challenges in this journey. We now are faced with a new problem, hair sticking up.

We still have to do the comb over and at the beginning of the day it looks fine but by the time I pick Lauren up after work the top of her head is very interesting. She has a bunch of hair sticking straight up. The hair is about 1 to 2 inches long and comes through the comb over. It is strange looking. It looks like she has a mullet. She has this short hair on top and then long in the back. This is especially true when we have the rest of the hair is pulled back in a ponytail.

I figure we have a few more months until the new hair is long enough to put in the side ponytail we use in the comb over. I am hoping by Christmas we will be able to do that. (Almost a year after the accident.) Then maybe her Christmas pictures will look ok. Her 6 year old pictures are a bit interesting but it is a good representation of what she was at 6 years old.

I am really hoping that by next summer the hair will be long enough that when she has a ponytail it can include the hair on top in it also. We are planning to go to Disneyworld next summer and I know it will be hot and humid. It would be nice if I can put all her hair in a ponytail and not have to do the comb over first. Time will tell.

This summer Lauren begged me to let her cut about 5 inches off her hair. At first I didn’t want to do it but then I realized that in the next few years we are going to have to do some cutting and we might as well start it now. She now misses her longer hair but was nice to trim it up.

A Very Special Day

First day of FIRST GRADE!!

Into the class she goes. She told me that I didn't have to come in with her.

My baby is growing up way too fast!!

Today was the first day of First Grade. Lauren was so excited to go to school this morning. She got up without any problems and even ate a good breakfast. She got dressed by herself and even let me take a few pictures.

She is so independent. She was not that happy that I wanted to walk her to her classroom but I won that battle. Taking a picture at school was another story. I got one picture but no others were going to happen.

Today was also the anniversary of Lauren being placed in my arms. 5 years ago today, Lauren and I became a family. We went out to dinner last night and I told her that Aug. 10, 2004 was the best day of my life. She then wanted me to know that it was the best day of her life also. I really want to believe that and it was so special to hear.

I just can't believe that I have a First Grader and that it has been 5 years since we became a family. Time really just flies by.

Getting Ready for a New School Year.

Lauren and her new teacher, Mr. O.

School starts on August 10th. When we got home from our vacation Lauren's placement letter was waiting for her. She got Mr. O as her teacher. I think at first she was a little unsure about having a male teacher but as she has had time to think about it she is now excited. I think it helped that everyone told her he is the best teacher.

On Thursday we went to meet him and bring her school supplies to her class. It is always so interesting to me on how shy she gets when she is meeting her new teacher. She get so quite and you can hardly hear her when she talks. I think she is looking forward to a fun first grade year.

vacation 2009 - Legoland and home

Lauren at Legoland.

Lauren and Ella with their new lego family.

Ella riding the horse.

Lauren on the horse

Lauren at the beach.

Kim and Ella at the beach.

Lauren and Ella, ready for bed and an end of the vacation fun.

The next day we drove back to San Diego. The girls were pretty worn out from Seaworld and Disneyland that they slept. Once at our hotel the girls had a great time just playing. We went to the beach to have a nice dinner.

The next day we headed for Legoland. We spent all day there. The rides are geared toward the younger crowd so Lauren and Ella had a great time. After Legoland we drove back to Phoenix getting in the the early morning hours.

We all slept in and just enjoyed relaxing. The girls played all day. It was a fun vacation and we were sad to say goodbye to our friends. The plan is next year to meet them in Florida at Disneyworld. Lauren and I have never been there so we are very excited about that trip.

vacation 2009 - Disneyland Day 2

Lauren at Disneyland

Kim and Ella

Lauren with her face freshly painted.

Ella with her Dinsey purchases.

Lauren and Pluto

Lauren and Ella and Tinkerbell.

The girls and Pooh.

We again slept in a little and got to the park in the late morning. The girls wanted to get their faces painted and so we went there first. We spent the rest of the day riding rides, meeting some characters, watching the parade and just enjoying the park.

In the evening we went to Goofy's Dinner. Lauren loves this meal. She loves the characters that come to the table. Ella was not very thrilled with this. She did like that Sleeping Beauty came to the dinner. (That is her all time favorite princess.) She gets frightened with the characters. (That is why she is not alone in any picture with a character.) It was another fun day.

vacation 2009 - Disneyland Day 1

Lauen is ready for Disneyland.

Ella at Disneyland.

Lauren and Ella ready to meet the Princesses.

Three pretty princesses.

We slept in bit and then went to enjoy Disneyland. I have never been to Disneyland during the summer and was expecting it to be crowed and that we would be waiting in long lines. It was nice to see that the lines were not that bad. We first went to California Adventure. Disney is in the process of redoing this park so parts were a bit torn up. However, we did a few rides and then we went to the princess lunch. Lauren and I have gone to this once before and really enjoyed it. It is nice to have the princesses come up to your table instead of waiting in line to see them.

The girls decided to dress up in their "princess" outfits. Lauren pretends she has outgrown the princesses so she wanted to dress as Tinkerbell. Ella was a pretty Sleeping Beauty. They got to meet the princesses and we got to enjoy a very good lunch.

We spent the rest of the day on rides and at Toontown. We spent all day at the park and got back to our hotel late in the evening. We were all out in minutes. It was a full packed day.

vacation 2009 - SeaWorld

Lauren holding a starfish.

Ella at Seaworld.

The next day we went to Seaworld. I like Seaworld and we always have a good time. The only thing I wish they would have is some type of shade over some of the shows. Although it does not get that hot in San Diego it is hot watching the shows. We had lunch with Shamu which is always fun. We stayed for the Shamu Rocks show that Lauren just loves. It was a fun day. After the show we drove to our hotel by Disneyland.

vacation 2009 - Wild Animal Park and the Beach

Playing in the water at the Wild Animal Park

Ella feeding the animals

Wild Animal Park

Lauren at the Beach.

Ella playing in the water.

Lauren and Ella playing in the sand.

Last summer we were able to go out to Chicago for summer vacation. We had a great time with our friends, Kim and Ella. This year they came out and visited us. However, Arizona is a bit hot during the summer so we drove over to California where it is much cooler.

We started the trip in San Diego. While we were in San Diego we visited the Wild Animal Park, the beach and Seaworld. The Wild Animal Park was hot and it was full of bees. It is nice to see the animals in large areas but the hot, humid day along with bees were a bit hard to deal with.

The next day we went to the beach. Kim has some good friends from law school that are now living in the San Diego area. So we hung out at the beach with them. The girls loved the beach and it was nice to meet Kim's friends. It was nice day.