Early Birthday

A couple weekends ago, we were able to get both sides of the family together for an early birthday....and yes, it was over 3 weeks early. She still doesn't understand birthdays fully, so it didn't matter to her! She got presents!

Meema and Papa Jon got Lauren a fancy John Deere Gator. She drove it all over. She can drive a little better these days, but definitely is a distracted driver!

Lauren got to see Cousin Sam, which she hadn't seen him since Easter. So of course that was a highlight. And look who is driving!! She didn't mind letting Cousin Sam drive, let's just hope that she shares with her playgroup friends as well!

Here's her cake. Lauren has an opinion this year, so she decided on a puppy theme for the family party (the "friends" part up here is going to be "Angry Birds"). The funny thing is that this is the same cake from her first birthday. Obviously she didn't know that!

Singing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl! Notice Gram Gram even sported a party hat!

Big breath.....

And it's out! Even from that far away!

The Cousins and Auntie B bought Lauren a Phineas and Ferb electric drum. It's been banned to her room! Lauren shouts "1, 2, 3, 4!" before banging on them.....not sure where that came from, but Lord knows she has rhythm.

Looking at the card after opening the present. "Bow Chica Bow Wow" is now a common saying in our household thanks to this card.

Opening Nana and Papa Eddie's present......a Perry the Platypus karoake machine!

Trying to get a picture of the birthday girl and Gram Gram was virtually impossible, but we tried!! Too much to do Gram Gram....busy girl!

Thank you family for the "get together" and all the great presents. Lauren in still enjoying everything!

Zip Line!

At Wednesday's playgroup Lauren rode a zip line at LBA park. I was a little shocked since she doesn't like to swing! We tested her with little lengths at first and then she made it the whole length without any tears. And I snapped this shot with my phone....right before I caught her. The recoil at the end jerked quite a bit! I should know.....because the big kids tried it too!

Backyard Tee Ball

A couple weeks ago we took a shopping trip to Wal-Mart and picked up a tee ball set. Lauren was pretty excited. I think we are going to start compiling her recruitment tape now! Just kidding! But she's already a switch hitter! The outdoor toys were put away last night....I think last weekend was the end of summer as we've been told the rain is on it's way. Bummer

What we've been up to

Here's a list of what we've been up too the last week. Lauren is enjoying the last few days of summer, as the mornings are feeling more like fall and our Alder trees are already losing their leaves.
She played with her ponies....

Here one pony was sick. They all had family names and one of the pony's was just "Doctor".

On Tuesday we went to Playgroup at the RAC in Lacey. It was a chilly morning, but the kids had a blast as usual.

Here she is climbing, a pretty normal scene at Playgroup. She wanted to climb the rock where the big kids were but they told her she'd get hurt....she was a little upset but found other things to do!

This thing spun around. It was pretty neat. Mommy even tried it and made herself extremely dizzy! Lauren would try to spin on it and tell me not to help her, then I would sneak in a push and she would say "Thank you wind!!" I nearly peed my pants it was so funny!

Here she is on a balance bike, it's her friend Cassie's bike. She just puttered around with her feet going very slowly, but it was interesting how much she was into it.

Here's a pic from a few weeks ago in Oregon. She found an interesting use for her Happy Meal box....a HAT and glasses!

A few days ago we went to the Children's Museum in Oly. Lauren always has a good time there and burns lots of energy. However trying to get her to leave is another thing. The pics are with my camera phone, it's easier to pack it around and corral her at the same time!

Gathering eggs...she always heads here second after the delivery truck above.

I made her count her eggs this time. She got to 8 and then went back to 3. I told her "No, 9 comes after 8." Then she got to 15 and then this happened, "16, 30, 100!" Definitely need to work on that! But I was pretty happy that she got to 16 with only one help! Sometimes we get stumped after 3!!!!

The water table is where we spent the majority of our time this trip. The water is clorinated which is awesome. And it has a current.

She, of course, took center stage in the theater area!

She put the doggies back in the kennels since the kids before left them out. I think the staff probably enjoys when Lauren visits! Less work for them!

In the tree house....the problem was is that she got up there, but freaked out about coming down. Luckily the hole is just big enough for mom to help. I don't think I'm the first and I won't be the last to wiggle my way up there!

A puppet show...not really sure what it was about!

She was pretty pleased with it, whatever it was!

Again, center stage, this time singing. Didn't recognize the song, until she started saying "I wanna rock!" over and over and over which is from the cartoon Bubble Guppies.

Back at the water table doing some fishing. With the current the fish needed some help being caught!

Tah Dah! Wish you could do that in real life.

Also this week, Lauren and I worked outside. With Fall closing in, we worked on getting the wood pile ready.

I know, there are child labor laws out there. But it doesn't count when they are your own doing "chores"! She was actually pretty helpful and even helped straighten the pile!

The weather has gotten warmer this weekend and we are enjoying it while we can. So we had both pools out yesterday and the slip'n'slide! Enjoying the Vitamin D while we can!

Lauren is still trying to master her tricycle. She can go backwards REALLY well. But it's like her legs still aren't long enough, because once she gets fully extended she can't pull the pedals back! Oh well, she's growing so I'm sure she'll be there before we know it.

Hope your Holiday Weekend is going as well as ours!