Funnies

Laurel has been cracking me up lately. I'm trying to keep a list of the funny things she says so I don't forget. Here are a few of her latest funnies:

We were taking a walk one day and Laurel turned to me and said so seriously, "Mommy do you know that girls pee pee and boys poo poo?" I tried a few times to explain that this was not correct, but she was NOT having it. I finally just left it alone and let her be right.

Another day we were just hanging out and she asked me, "Mommy do you know what gracefully means? It means when I dance beautifully!"

Laurel takes gymnastics and a week few weeks ago her teacher had her nails painted a pretty color. Laurel made sure to tell Miss Amanda that she liked her nails and then asked, "Did your Mommy paint them for you?"

The other day I was talking on the phone and Laurel wanted me to get off and play with her. After a few times of asking me she suddenly yelled, "You're not being gorgeous to me!" Lately whenever I do something that she does not like (like brush her hair) she tells me that I'm not gorgeous. Nice.

Matt had to take a big test at the end of October for his Professional Engineering License and we had prayed for him to do well the night before. When he got home from the test I asked him if he did okay and Laurel piped up and said, "Did you get first place? Did they give you a ribbon?"

Laurel was being crazy a few days ago and crawling "like when I was a little baby" and she hit her lip. We had just talked about how Heavenly Father and Jesus made our bodies and how our bodies can heal themselves. The next morning she drank some OJ and it hurt her lip. She yelled out, "Awww, man! Jesus didn't heal my lip yet!"

I hope these made you laugh! And here is a picture of my funny little girl just cause she is so stinking cute!

Goodbye Summer!

At the end of September we went on a vacation to Tybee Island. It was such fun just having a few days of family time. Laurel loved everything, but her favorites (according to her) were the waves at the beach, swimming in the pool (especially at night), staying up late, playing with Daddy "all day and in the night" and getting ice cream whenever she wanted. Here are just a few pictures of our vacation; I took over 800 pictures and these are a *few* of my favorites.

Laurel loved playing with her Daddy on the beach. They enjoyed jumping over the waves, floating in the ocean, and building sandcastles to name a few. Laurel kept telling me to go sit on the beach chair; no problem sweetie! A lot of these picture were taken from the comfort of my beach chair. It was great for me to watch her have so much fun with Matt since he is usually working and she is with me mostly.

I had to get a few traditional beach shots. Laurel wasn't big on the posing, but let me take a few.

Once I let her run free she had a great time. I LOVE this shot. It shows what a blast she was having at the beach.

A picture with my sweet baby; we had just finished doing "noses" (from Toy Story 3 in case you don't watch kid's movies).

Matt and Laurel watching the sun set on the pier. I love how relaxed she looks in this picture (that is rare for Laurel!).

Laurel swimming on our last morning. She always makes me hold her in the water, but she was swimming like a little fish (if fish wore floaties) with her Daddy.

We had such a great time and we are happy for Fall (even if it still feels like summer!)

Adventures With Casty

Here is a picture of my sweet baby right after she had her super cool pink cast put on!

This blog post has been a long time in the making, but every time I started to write it I would get upset and put it off. I HATE that my baby got hurt. I HATE that I wasn't fast enough to catch her and keep her from getting hurt. As a parent you want to keep your child safe from harm and pain and when you can't it is hard to accept.

Here is our story:

In the beginning of June, Laurel was coloring at the table in her booster seat like she does every day. I was right next to her getting more paper out of the drawer where I keep the art supplies. Laurel leaned forward to get a marker that had rolled away and fell out of her seat and on to the hardwood floor. I saw it happen and I couldn't grab her in time. It really didn't look like a very bad fall, but she was crying so I picked her up and went to sit down and turn on the TV for her (TV cures all aliments in our house). I knew something was wrong after a minute when she wouldn't stop crying. Laurel is a drama queen and she always cries when she hurts herself, but she always stops really quickly.

I started to think something was wrong with her right arm because she wouldn't move it and was was holding it with her left hand. I called Matt who had taken the dogs to the vet. He was 30 minutes away and told me to just wait until he got home and she was fine (I've called him many times in a panic before). I kept thinking that she was really hurt so I called my dad who is a nurse. He told me it could be broken, fractured, or a bad bone bruise. Matt got home and thought she was fine. I told him that she has NEVER cried for 30 minutes before and she was NOT fine. So we headed to the urgent care. Laurel fell asleep in the car so at least she didn't cry the whole trip.

We got to the urgent care and proceeded to sit and sit and sit. We are still discussing if her arm is hurt. Matt thinks she is okay because she can move her fingers. I think she is not okay because she won't move her arm and (the biggest factor) she has sat in our laps this whole time and not wanted to walk around. She ALWAYS wants to, "go walk around!" Matt did carry her outside for a little bit and the Chick-fil-a across the street had a bouncy house for their kid's night. Laurel kept saying she wanted to go jump even though she wouldn't walk or move her arm. Poor child!

Finally after several hours we get called back. Laurel fights like a wild monkey when they try to X-ray her arm. The nurse tells me it is most likely not broken if she can fight like that. I think, "Lady, you don't know my kid!" She will fight you until the death if you try to hold her down. The doctor comes back after looking at the x-rays and says that is looks like it is not broken, but the radiologist will check it and call us back in the morning. They put an ace bandage on it and send us home.

So we head home. I give Laurel a quick bath, wrap her arm back up, give her some tylenol, and put her to bed. She goes right to sleep and I think everything is okay. But she wakes up every hour ALL night long. In the morning I know something is wrong for sure. All she wants to do is sit and watch TV and she still won't move her arm at all. The radiologist calls and says that her arm IS broken, in two places! I was not surprised at all. My mom intuition had been telling me that all along.

We take her back to urgent care and they put her arm in the a splint and then we go to a specialist who decides she needs a cast. Laurel has been sitting in our laps and not moving much throughout this whole ordeal. The SECOND the cast was on she jumped up and started dancing and acting like her old crazy self. We are very lucky that she did not mind the cast at all. It did not slow her down in the least. She proudly picked out her pink cast and loved to show it off and have people sign it. This was a huge blessing since I envisioned weeks of her crying and begging to have it taken off.

The only issue was her not being able to take her nightly bath. We also couldn't go swimming of course, but I let her watch lots of movies and have picnics in the living room to make up for it. She was so spoiled after the cast came off three weeks later. I've just finally finished weaning her off all the "brave girl treats" she was getting. She also totally regressed on her potty training so I've basically had to start again from square one.

I'm just so grateful that her arm is fine and one day after the cast came off she was using it just like normal again. Here are a few pictures of Laurel's adventures with casty.

This was the second day of having her cast. We were playing animal zoo which is her favorite game.

Showing off her cast before church.

Just playing in the house one rainy day.

More animal zoo.

At Red Lobster. Laurel loved the lobsters.

Laurel with her cotton candy at Sesame Street Live.

At one of her doctor's visits. We learned her cast had to stay on another week, but Laurel didn't care. She was so happy to get a sucker for being good during the x-ray

Yay! Finally the cast comes off. I thought Laurel would be scared of them cutting it off with the saw, but she thought it was cool. They asked us if we wanted to keep her cast and we were like, "No! It stinks; throw it away!"

Waiting for the doctor right after her cast came off. You can see she was still holding her arm like it was in the cast, but in less than a day she was using it like normal.

Yay for brave girl Laurel! Hopefully we will not have any more injuries for a while!

Matt and His Merry Men

I've got to record this conversation that Laurel and I had at dinner tonight before I forget it.

Laurel fell down on the way to the dinner table and started crying that she hurt her knees. Matt kissed them and Laurel said she was all better. We began eating dinner and Laurel started rehashing how she fell and got hurt and how, "Daddy made it all better!" I said that Daddy must be a superhero if he could heal her with a kiss. I then said, "Is Daddy like Superman? How about Super Grover?" Laurel said, "No, Daddy is Robin Hood!"

For those of you who don't know Matt likes to shoot a bow for fun. He used to do it a lot when we were first married and just recently set up a target out back and started again. Laurel loves to watch him shoot from the window.

I thought it was so cute and smart for her to make the connection from Robin Hood in the Disney movie (which she loves) to Daddy in real life.

Strawberry Picking and the Terrible Twos!

One of our favorite Spring activities is going to pick strawberries and then get yummy strawberry ice cream afterwards. We went this year with some friends of ours. Laurel was so excited about the trip for days and asked everyday if it was time to go pick strawberries yet.

We arrived and the girls ran right to the playground. They were having lots of fun and then Laurel threw a monster fit. It was seriously the worst temper tantrum she has ever had. It all started because her friend didn't want to do what Laurel told her to do at the playground. Laurel started screaming and then threw herself down on the ground. People were staring and I was feeling like the worst mom in the world. Finally I went and put her in the car and sat with her until she calmed down.

After that she was the sweetest little girl and had a great time picking strawberries!

After awhile she got tired of picking them and just ate them straight out of her basket.

Finally, enjoying some tasty strawberry ice cream.

I'm glad the trip ended well. I guess I have to get used to the terrible twos and be ready for when it rears it's ugly head!

We Love Spring!

We have been having a great spring. Laurel loves being outdoors so we have been spending a lot of time outside doing all sorts of fun activities. Here are a LOT of pictures from the past month, enjoy!

Laurel fishing with her Daddy on her first fishing trip. She had a great time watching Matt catch fish and she only fell in once!

You've got to have a nice pair of sunglasses for spring!

Laurel enjoying some swing time with her friend Cale.

Laurel and her best friend, Emily, at the zoo. They had a great time but it sure was hot for April!

First swimming of the season, the water was a little cold but Laurel did not care.

Feeding the ducks at a birthday party.

We love to go to the playground and swing and slide!

Laurel likes swinging on a "big girl" swing!

Laurel taking her babydoll for a walk to get the mail.

First ice cream cone!

I love all the cute spring clothes I finally got to break out of the closet!

And throwing pennies in the fountain at the mall.

I hope everyone is having a great Spring. Summer is right around the corner!

Easter Fun!

Holidays are so much fun and Easter was no exception. Laurel had a ball with everything. She loved all the Easter egg hunts and dying and decorating Easter eggs. She had so much fun making Easter crafts (although she still asks to make Valentines all the time too). She was so excited for the Easter Bunny to come and bring her Easter basket. She wanted a jump rope so bad (ever since she saw some at the circus) so we got her one even though she is too little to use it right. She jumps and swings the rope around crazily and is happy!

Her favorite thing about Easter was all the candy though. She is still asking for chocolate all the time. Last year she could have cared less and Matt and I ate almost all of her candy but not this year.

We tried to teach her about the real meaning of Easter but she didn't really seem to "get" it. She did so great with Christmas and could understand the whole Santa thing and that we were celebrating Jesus's birth also. She was all about the Easter bunny this year though. I did teach a lesson in Nursery about the real meaning of Easter and when I asked what Easter was about she said Jesus, but that was the only time. Every other time it was the Easter Bunny. She still talks about him (and Santa too).

I took way too many pictures and here are a few of my favorites. Like I said holidays are fun!

The first picture and the two below are pictures of Laurel in her Easter dresses. I don't know how but she ended up with three this year. The first one my mom bought for her.

This one I got for her. I love smocked dresses. They look so sweet on little girls! :)

My Mother-in-law got this one for Laurel. The bunnies are so cute.

Laurel at the church Easter egg hunt.

Making a craft with Daddy.

She found the golden egg!

Showing off her eggs.

Her Easter basket with her eggs and crafts.

Eating a cupcake. I think she liked it!

Laurel had a blast dying eggs. We did it outside so I wouldn't be stressed about the mess. Laurel was covered in dye and it took me a long time to get it all off.

Laurel's Easter basket. The jump rope was a big hit. She really wanted these princess pjs that she saw the other day. We got her a kite (that we have tried to fly twice but can't get it up!). She also got some bubbles, bathtub paint, a book, a mother and baby stuffed duck, bucket and shovel, and lots of candy of course.

Laurel when she saw her basket. She said, "I don't see my jump rope!"

Then she saw it and started to jump. So funny! We really need to get a video of it; pictures do not do it justice.

Then we had an Easter egg hunt with the dyed eggs. Matt hid them in a bunch of funny places and Laurel was loving it.

Finally we went to Matt's parents for a great Easter dinner and Laurel had another Easter egg hunt.

What a fun Easter!