Happy Chinese New Year!!

Lauren in her Chinese dress.

Getting ready for our dinner.

Lauren's handmade decorations.

Lauren and Sammie
Lauren
Sammie looking in her red envelope.

Jacob
Jacob and his red envelope

Our chapter of FCC is not having the Chinese New Year party until later in the month. Lauren and I decide to celebrate the beginning of Chinese New Year by having Brian and Diane and Lauren and Jacob over dinner. Lauren and I decorated the house. Lauren even made some Chinese lanterns with some Chinese symbols on them. They really turned out great.

We had a great evening with Chinese food and lots of playing. Lauren, Jacob and Sammie got red envelopes with lucky money. We just might have to do this every year.

Lauren and Blaire

Blaire watched Lauren last night and then just spent the night. This morning before heading for church I got a few pictures of the girls. They love each other so much. Lauren is lucky to have such a wonderful cousin.

I usually make Lauren wear a dress to church. However, because Blaire was wearing jeans I let Lauren wear jeans today.

2 Years Ago this Weekend

two years ago this weekend - what a day that was!!!

Two years and a lot of challenges later!

Two years ago this weekend, Lauren and I were making cupcakes and her hair got caught in the beaters. The beaters kept going and the results were a large bald spot on top of her head. That first year was a challenge. For the most part we were able to cover the spot and we were creative with different hairstyles.

The nightmare is over. On Saturday, Lauren had softball practice and we put her hair in a ponytail. All of it was able to be in the ponytail. Her hair is back to being thick and full. The part that was pulled out is just below her chin. It now just looks like she is growing out bangs.

On Sunday, Lauren and I were having fun enjoying the beautiful weather and taking some pictures. Lauren suggested that we make cupcakes this afternoon to celebrate that we are done with this difficult period.

MLK Weekend 2011

Cousins
Beautiful girls

Lauren and Blaire texting.

Sunday after church we joined Don and Janine and the kids for Sunday lunch. It was a nice family lunch. Lauren just loves to be with her older cousins. She is growing up so fast.

Zoolights

Lauren
Ella





Tonight was Kim and Ella's last night in Arizona. We decided to go to zoolights. It was cold but the lights are just great. The girls had a good time with the highlight being the camel ride. We are going to miss Kim and Ella but we will see them in the summer.

Happy New Year 2011!!

Blowing in the new year.

Looking pretty and ready to celebrate.

All made up with 2011 on the cheeks.

Having a great time with the silly string.

Enjoying silly string.
Lauren and Ella ready for bed and ready for 2011!!

Lauren and I celebrated the new year with our good friends, Kim and Ella. We had a fun evening with hats and blowers. The girls decided to put on some very pretty eye shadow. The fun part of the evening was the silly string. This was Ella's first time ever using silly string. I think she loves it as much as Lauren does.

It was a great way to celebrate the end of 2010 and the start of 2011. For the past few years we have been celebrating new years using the east coast time. When the ball drops in New York we scream and yell and celebrate the new year. We then get ready for bed and we are in bed well before the Arizona new year. It worked again this year but I know I am pushing my luck to have it continue much longer.

Kim and Ella's Visit

Lauren
Ella

















Kim and Ella and her family came to Arizona to enjoy the warmer weather. (As usually, Phoenix had a cold front come through while they were here. On Friday is was actually warmer in Chicago then in Phoenix!! That usually does not happen in December!)

We have had a great time with them. We have visited the zoo, the children's museum, and just enjoyed the time together. The girls were even able to swim one day. However, Kim had a very bad ear infection that bothered her all week. Lauren and I were just coming off strep throat so we were not the most healthy bunch. We were so happy they were able to come and visit.