Halloween 2010

I'm actually writing this well after Halloween, but am back dating it to be on Halloween so the posts are in order:). Audrey's birth came the very morning after, so we have been occupied;).

On Halloween, Laurel donned her Jessie costume yet again and we went Trick or Treating with the Mauck family in their neighborhood. I waddled around 7 days past my due date:). Laurel was gang busters about visiting the houses until we went up to one or two that had particularly scary decorations. After that she was very apprehensive:(. But once she got her candy, after much encouragement to approach, she was more than eager to go on to the next one. Watching the little ones go up to the door and say trick or treat was just too cute for words! I really enjoyed being the parent walking them around.

Laurel has really loved Halloween this year, much to Alex's delight. It's his favorite holiday:). She is so sweet how excited she has been. She's always so eager and easy to please. Her enthusiasm has been so endearing. She's game for anything and is so fun to be around:).

Baby Shower

This past weekend was Alex's birthday and my baby shower. Christy hosted both on Alex's birthday at her house. The shower was small, just a few close friends and family. Some husbands and friends of Alex's came after the shower for a bbq. It was a really nice time with friends:). The kids all got into the backyard pool, which was so cold! Eventually they all ended up clustered in the hot tub which was just warm.
For the shower, we played some games, one being selecting the best baby sculpted from play dough:). I got several things I needed off of my registry and lots of sweet new baby clothes. It's nice to have some things new for this baby since I have so much that I've saved to hand down. I thought Laurel would want to take part in the shower and open gifts, but she was too busy playing with her cousins and friends. She's turned into such a social butterfly. She knew everyone at the shower of course, but even when we go to the park or Grandma takes her to the library or elsewhere, she always looks for other children and wants to befriend them:).

Disney Halloween

Halloween started early for us this month. We wanted to take part in the Disneyland trick or treating, but earlier in the month, not knowing how I'd do with all the walking. Laurel decided she wanted to be Jessie for Halloween. She is so very excited this year. She wanted to choose yet another princess costume but after showing her all of the options online, she picked Jessie. I let her put it on when the package came and she didn't want to take it off:). She makes the cutest little Jessie ever!
Grandma came a long and we met up with Rob, Cyndy and the girls in the park. The lines for candy were long, but the rides were open and we were able to jump onto a few that normally have huge lines during the day. Laurel as usual, was thrilled to spend time with her cousins. They squealed and ran about together. They are so cute. The park put on a fun Halloween parade and a really nice fireworks show. As usual, Laurel was so sad to leave "Mickeyland" and her cousins:(. But I'd had my fill of walking and needed to waddle back:).
She is now asking for more Halloween and points out pumpkins and decorations on stores and houses wherever we drive. Anything Halloween gets a "yeah!", "ok!" and "lets do it!" from her:). Her enthusiasm is contagious. This is going to be the most fun I've had on Halloween yet. She will be having a little party at school at the end of the month too.

Starting Preschool

Our baby has officially started preschool! Laurel started at 1st Class Pre-K and everything has been fantastic. Her teacher is young and the kids call her Teacher Sugar. I stayed for her entire first day to see what they do and Laurel had a great time! I think her time at the Twispp program really helped with her independence - she didn't need me there at all. But I was curious to watch her first day. The kids all show up around 9 am and play either at the tables with set out activities, or on the carpets with play things. At 9:45 they clean up and they are moved to the alphabet carpet and they each have to find letters that the teacher assigns them. They go over the day of the week, month, season, weather, etc. They have a snack and then they have story time and other carpet activities. Around 11 they go outside for playtime on the playground and then come back in at 11:45 and wash up for lunch. Some children stay until 1 and eat lunch on site. I pick up Laurel at 12, so she can start on her lunch, but we wrap up and leave. The best part is that her little school is right around the corner from Copper Willow. Until the baby comes of course, I can work during her school hours and get so much done! I am just happy that she likes the school and will be able to make some new little friends. I'm so proud of the growth she's made!

Laurel turns 3!

Today is Laurel's birthday! We just got back from eating out for her birthday and opening presents. Making a prompt post while I can before I let too much time pass. :)

On Sunday we went to Disneyland for a big celebration. I made appts. for Laurel, Amber and Sierra to have their hair and make up done at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and then lunch at Ariel's Grotto to meet the princesses. It was a great day! Laurel had a lot of fun and loved being all dressed up. Aunt Cyndy and Uncle Rob got her a very nice sleeping beauty costume complete with crown, purse and gloves. Laurel opted to have her hair put up with pink hair extensions and pink bouffant. She doesn't like the idea of a bun in her hair because she is too concerned about the status of her "curlies". She loves her curly hair! She wore her fancy hair and makeup all day with her Aurora costume.

The lunch was a lot of fun because so many princesses were there. They posed with Ariel upon entering the restaurant and then Cinderella, Belle, Snow White and Aurora walked around the room for pictures. Laurel is loving Aurora the most right now, maybe just because she wears Laurel's favorite color - pink! When Belle came around, Aurora was after her and she ran up to Belle and said "look there's Aurora"! So funny:).



We were able to ride on a couple of rides and got some dole whip ice cream. The park was quite busy because most kids started back at school this week. I was pretty exhausted from walking around the park all day. The baby weight is really taking a toll on my muscles and feet. So by the time evening arrived, we were ready to head home and get cleaned up. We thought Laurel's hair definitely needed to be washed out!:)

Today we had a pretty chill day. Laurel went to her gym class and she got a birthday sticker. Otherwise, I asked her what else she wanted to do and she just wanted to spend time at home. So we hung out in her room and she made me food in her kitchen and played with her castle. After a nice long nap for us both, we got ready to go out for dinner. We met up with Ryan, Leora and kids for pizza. Grandma and Aunt Meg came along as well. I baked and decorated a cake in the princess theme - Aurora of course! Laurel was very excited for her birthday all day. She enjoyed even singing to herself and announcing that she was 3! When we got home from dinner, we opened presents. She got lots of new things for her play kitchen, some new costume wear, the leap frog reader, and some other little toys and clothes. It was so hard to get her to go to bed right after! We'll have to open presents earlier in the day next year so she has time to play.


She is definitely looking and acting like a three year old. There was a two year old boy in her gym class today and she looked so much older than him. She's thinned out a little bit and her cheeks can't be described as chubby anymore. She's verbal and active and makes funny comments. She's a very entertaining little person!:)

To Georgia!

We've recently returned from a relaxing visit to my aunt and uncle's home in Georgia. This is something I hope to do annually if we can. Living in a city, I really want my children to know life in a less urban setting. It's very fortunate that we have familiy in a nice rural setting about an hour outside of Savannah. I really love their company and know Laurel and the baby will really enjoy knowing them as they grow up. Laurel was last there just before she turned one and though she didn't remember it, she warmed up quickly!

We went for a week with mom. Laurel was a great traveler as usual. She watches videos on the little player, does stickers, colors, etc. She fell asleep at one point on the way there, so that makes life a little easier. And after 2 years old, we have to buy her a seat, so I didn't try to cram her onto my already crowded lap. The trip back was just as easy and we were delayed on our flight out, so she fell asleep then too because it had gotten so late.

The trip highlight for Laurel was easily the pool. She's a water baby for sure! There were plenty of floaties for Laurel to hang on to and jump into - she liked to jump off the side of the pool into one of the disk shaped floats. She made some great progress in the pool, even blowing little bubbles at the surface. Just near the pool, some birds had made a nest and the babies had hatched, so when we were outside, we'd peek in and see the little mouths gaping open:).

We of course ate lots of great food, Aunt Peggy is a great chef. Laurel helped on occasion and even had her own little apron made for her! On one comic instance, she helped make a really nice peach/blueberry pie. We were taking pictures of her with the "masterpiece" and she lost her balance and everything fell onto the floor! We also made some very creatively decorated sugar cookies:). The peaches in the pie were from a peach-picking we did shortly after arriving. We picked a ton! Laurel was a pro at the picking and later instructed me on how to do it right "mommy, you have to twist and pull!" Got it:). We ate those peaches all day everyday for the rest of the week!

Laurel also had some great time with animals. We visited a farm with goats, chickens and sheep. Later in the week, we went to a friend's who train horses and Laurel came out of her shell and road one! She didn't want to get off! I was so shocked that she was so bold, usually she's so shy to new things. Laurel also enjoyed some time with the cats. Occasionally she got out of control and over excited with them, but they were very chill and patient with her squealing. She also liked to watch the hummingbirds and other birds that frequented their feeders.

Overall, Laurel stayed on about pacific/mountain time:). So we stayed up later and woke up later. I went to bed with her though, so I got nice long nights of sleep. Laurel enjoyed the snuggle time, she's such a cuddler! Laurel enjoyed some down time in the evenings. coloring and doing puzzles. Aunt Peggy set us up with lots of kiddie things so Laurel was very well entertained. Plus she loves to wrestle and Uncle Don was a good sport to humor her on a nightly basis. So, it was a great visit and went by too quickly, as good times do! Hopefully we'll go again soon.

Moving on from toddler school...

Lately Laurel has been disenchanted with her toddler school. She's been going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:45. Overall, it's been a fantastic experience for her. I am so grateful for the amount of progress she has made as a result of the school. At 18 months she was terrified of being separated from us and cried and was so clingy and dependent. You'd think that would be ideal and as much as we love her, we knew she needed to grow as a little person. I'm sure I posted about it back then, but the transition to leaving her alone was rough. She cried and was so sad. It was a long process for me to leave her alone. But she made friends, became social, learned to follow instruction, sit and listen, etc. Even now, I find her doing something out of a school habit, like tucking her socks into her shoes when she takes them all off. I've caught her reading and book and turning it around to show her "class" at home:). Some of her favorite songs to sing are from that school.
Anyway, lately she hasn't wanted to go and has gotten upset. With preschool approaching in the fall, we decided it would be a good time for her to have some summer fun and a break from school before starting up with bigger kids in the fall. She is also aging out as younger kids are coming into the class, she may be a little bored.
The last few times I took her to the school were sad for me. I didn't like to see her unhappy again and also I was recognizing that she was getting older and isn't a baby anymore. The early years have gone by so fast for her! I think I'm going to be that kind of mom that cries at each stage of life:).
These are some pictures of her last day of school, which was a field trip to the beach - turned out to be a chilly day, but she still had a blast!