More random pics!

Yes, Lauren that's a rock. There were lots of rocks to be found in the backyard....as well as some grass stains and mud. This was the morning before her party. The yard was freshly mowed with dew, which made for permanently stained pjs! At least these were the ones that already had a whole in them. After I told her no to putting them in her mouth, she proceeded to make a pile of them, which later daddy couldn't figure out how those rocks got there.

Here's some pics of the last days in the pool during the summer days. Gosh does she love the water. Now in the bathtub she throws herself back in the water and kicks like crazy with her feet....leaving the bathroom covered in water! Thank goodness water babies starts again on Friday! Whoopee!

She will hate me later for this pic. But c'mon....those thighs are the cutest things you've ever seen, right!

Mirror Mirror on the wall...who's the cutest baby of them all?? Obviously Lauren thinks its her!

Lauren has mastered the straw. However, it's not like a sippy cup with the spill proof lid!!!

She's very proud of herself as you can tell.

Cake!

Instead of buying cake, Mommy made a couple of cakes for Lauren's birthday. One is supposed to be Biscuit and was chocolate....I thought it looked bad but the photo makes it look worse than I thought it did! Then obviously the 1 is for her First Birthday and was vanilla. And no we didn't make the healthy version!

First she just grabbed the piece. She looked at me for approval and when she saw the camera she new she was golden!

Then she showed it to all of her party goers.

Lauren ever so politely took a piece off of the larger piece and ate it.

Then she shoved the bigger piece in her mouth.

We really weren't fond of the icing....but rather wanted the plain cake part.

Asking Papa if he wants some cake too.

How about you over there???

Oooooohhhhhhhhh.....feeling the effects of a sugar high!

Licking her plate clean....even though there was still cake to be had.

Biscuit waited patiently....occasionally asked for scraps.....

And then it happened.....Lauren shared!

This is mommy's favorite picture. I had bought her this first birthday onesie. I couldn't pass it up off the sale rack. And of course she hammed it up!

Gram Gram (great grandma) bought her a trike for her first birthday. Daddy was a real sport after being up since 3 a.m. starting the pork. He stayed up and made sure all of the toys were put together for Lauren. It's a real metal Radio Flyer, but is obviously a bit big yet. Don't worry....she'll figure it out, we are already trying!

Early First Birthday party!

Lauren's first birthday is a little over a week away. But with the entire family having different hunting trips, we celebrated a little early with a small party. The weather was beautiful and daddy cooked up some wonderful pulled pork...so the BBQ went off without a hitch. Except for that she fell at about 9 a.m. that morning while walking down the hallway. Crashed right into the corner of the wall and left an almost rug burn looking goose egg on her poor forehead. Mommy said that she took after her, because there isn't a baby picture that she doesn't have some kind of injury! But then Nana confirmed that Daddy had a goose egg in the exact same spot which he incurred the day before his first birthday. You can barely notice it in the photos right below her hair line above her left eye.

Yes, Lauren, you are 1 now. Ok, so maybe she wasn't doing it for that reason....but it sure made for a cute photo op!




This little dress was made for her by a family friend. She gave it to us as a baby shower gift last August, but passed away from breast cancer in July. It sure is cute and worked perfectly for her First Birthday dress!


We tried to get done with photos before family came. Hi Nana and Papa!






The monkey was from Ross and Melodee. It was the first thing she found in her packages and definitely something she kept going back too!


She didn't really grasp the ripping and tearing method. But we'll count it as practice for Christmas!

Found the monkey again!

Her dolly stroller was a hit from Aunt Bethany, Cousin Sydney and Cousin Sam. It makes music when you press a button and she dances to it. However the music doesn't last as long as she'd like! As you can see, Mr. Monkey took a backseat to the stroller!

She made out like a bandit. She got a lot of outfits including bigger sizes, a handmade dress by nana and an OSU beaver cheerleader outfit. Lauren also received lots of toys, some of which are pretty annoying! Thanks! Paybacks....I know.

Tailgating with the Maurer Family

Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon with the Maurer family tailgating before the Beaver game. Here Lauren is walking to Brandi.




Lauren thought Marty and Brandi's boys were pretty funny. Payton shared his "CeeCee" horse with her and Austin shared his white blanket.....which were HUGE gestures by the boys who just turned 5 on Tuesday.




Lauren getting the boys! I think they want a little sister! Marty said that they could come live with Uncle Jake during the summers if they wanted that! We can only hope that the boys are going to the same college as Lauren and still in school so they can keep on eye on her then as well!


Austin is on the left and Payton is on the right. They were being boys and wrestling in the back seat.




Lauren taking the Tahoe for a spin. Just kidding....we were in the parking lot after a bottle and she thought it was pretty neat!

Concentrating....that looks like Nascar potential!

Don't drive angry!

We didn't make it through the entire game. It was extremely loud in the stadium yesterday with a nationally ranked opponent. Mommy got some ear plugs from the first aid station and they were enormous! She was able to nap during the game with one ear smashed against mommy and mommy's finger in the other.

Biscuit's Towel

Last week Biscuit had a bath. Lauren thought it was funny when mommy played with Biscuit...so she thought she'd get in on the action. She loves her Biscuit. The feeling is mutual 80% of time. Biscuit just needs to learn that she doesn't have to be in the same room with Lauren 100% of the time and I think we'd be fine!

Lauren's hair

Lauren's hair is actually getting some length and mommy's not sure really what to do with it. I thought about having it trimmed, but daddy and I haven't figured out if she should have bangs or not. So I made a ponytail on top of her head. It looked kind of cute and she actually left it in. She almost has curls on the back of head...especially when its wet! But it was so funny when the ponytail came out before bed tonight....her hair was wild! I didn't get a pick because she crashed so hard!

Random weekend pics

Lauren has started to open all cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. If I don't hear her, I know she's doing something that is a "no no". This is what I caught her doing this time; ziplocks everywhere!

Lauren is walking more and more. I think we've made it to 10 steps in a row at one time. We are pretty wobbly, but hey...who wouldn't be! Daddy dressed her for the Beaver game.

"Hey no pictures!!"

Go Beavers! This was Lauren's Sunday outfit after the win Saturday night. Daddy originally had her in pink pants.

Lauren has started to fight her crib. She was so tired. Daddy tried to put her down for a nap, but she threw a fit. So she ended up crashing a few minutes later on the living room floor.

Dancing Diva!

She's been so funny lately. Anytime music comes on the TV she's bustin' a move. This video is of her dancing to the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling". She normally ends the song with clapping. But we didn't make it that far for the video!

Lauren tends to like country over all other genres. She still likes Johnny Cash.....and now Jason Aldean. Her favorite video is probably "Boots on" by Randy Houser. I think she just likes the little boy playing the fake guitar in the back seat!

11 months old!

Lauren is 11 months old. She seems to be changing weekly. We have 2 more teeth bringing the total to 4 and we're sure there are more to come soon. She walked 3 whole steps this morning without holding on to anything. Daddy missed it but she reenacted it for him. She loves dancing (if that's what you call it) to any music, whether its the end of a movie, cartoons or CMT. She seems to prefer country music....surprise, surprise....to any other. Clothing, she's mostly in 12m stuff....but I guess it depends on the brand. Shoes are a Size 3, but I'm not sure for how much longer. It will definitely be interesting to see where is on the charts when we visit Dr. Davis next month.

Here are a few cute pics mommy took last week when the weather was nice.


A pretty daisy.

It's a funny daisy.

Smell the flower mommy.


No, really smell the flower mommy!


Um, I'm standing.

Look....no hands!


Lauren is learning to whistle. I think it was by accident, but it's still funny.

This is Lauren's "OH MY GOSH!" face.

Crawling has become faster and faster! She likes to bear crawl on surfaces that don't feel normal to her knees.