More Pumpkins!

Here are some pictures of another pumpkin patch we went to after gymnastics with my friend Connie and her little girl Emily. The girls were not interested in posing for pictures, but they had fun picking out pumpkins, taking turns riding/pushing the wagon, and of course playing on the playground!

Laurel and Emily in a forced photo op. They are thrilled, can't you tell?

Laurel loved these little pumpkins and called them "baby pumpkin." So cute!!

Picking out lots of "baby pumpkin(s)"

Laurel was very excited to get to play on the playground. That was her favorite part of course!

Do you think she likes her swings?

Running on the playground!

Coloring her pumpkin after naptime.

Showing off her pumpkin crafts.

My cute little pumpkin!!!

More pictures to come of Laurel in her Halloween costume! Trick or Treating here we come!

Fall Fun!

The Saturday before last we made a trip to a pumpkin patch near us and had a great time. Laurel got to pick out her own pumpkin, feed the animals, play on an awesome playground, take a hay ride, and play with a table full of corn. What more could a girl ask for? Matt and I had fun watching Laurel having so much fun. She really experiences life to the fullest and although that can be exhausting sometimes it is usually such a joy to see her learn and grow everyday. I wish I had her energy! What was her favorite part? The playground of course!

Laurel on her first hayride!

Finding the lama. When she saw the lama she said, "ears!" I guess she thought he had funny ears, so cute!

And feeding the goats. She really liked it when they ate out of her hand!

We tried to get a good picture with the pumpkins but this is the best we could do. She would not sit still or look at the camera. In this picture she was looking back at the playground!

Laurel loved the playground. The tire swing was neat!

The slide was so fun! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

Playing with the corn!

I took her to another pumpkin patch last week and I'll post pictures of that soon! I hope everyone is having a good fall.

A Fun Filled Saturday!

This past Saturday we had a fun and busy day. First Laurel and I went to a cheerleading competition where I got to see my old cheerleaders I coached in middle school compete. The JV and COED Varsity teams both got 1st place and Varsity were the grand champions over all! It was so fun to see all my old girls and friends from school. Laurel had a great time just running around and climbing the bleachers. She did not want to sit still and just watch the cheerleaders, but she enjoyed dancing to the music and doing "nastics" (gymnastics) on the mats!

Here is Laurel with Brooke. She is the last girl I coached who is still in middle school and she was one of my favorite cheerleaders ever. Laurel had just given her a big hug in this picture after telling some of the other girls, "I shy". I love you girl! :)

Laurel watching the competition for a few seconds.

I really wanted to see a couple teams compete (in which my girls were cheering) so I got Laurel some fries and she sat still for about 10 minutes munching on her fries, yummy!

Playing on the mat between the middle and high school competitions.

After the competition and a quick nap for Laurel we went to Laurel's best friend Emily's 2nd birthday party. This is a picture of Emily right when we got there. Emily and her dad opened the door and Laurel said, "cute!" They are such good friends and Laurel had a great time at her party.

Emily's mom, Connie made this cake. We had been talking about it all week, but I was still amazed when I saw it. Wow!!

Laurel and Emily enjoying a little snack. They look so grown up eating here!

Laurel trying to keep her Elmo hat on. She refuses to wear the chin strap so it won't stay on!

Laurel loved Emily's slide, surprise, surprise!

So altogether a great day, just very busy. I was glad the next day was conference and we didn't have to get up early for church. Laurel and I both slept in until about 9! It was fun, but I'm glad every day isn't that busy!

Things Laurel Loves

This post is all about what Laurel loves!

Her "blankey" and "paci" are her biggest loves. She cannot sleep without them! The other night her blanket was in the dryer and we tried to put her to sleep without it...well she cried until it was finally dry and kept crying for it. It was so sad. When she finally got it she buried her face it in saying "blankey" like you would if you found a long lost relative!

Babies! Laurel loves little babies and always wants to "kissy" and "huggie" them. Here she is with two of my old coworkers little babies when they came to visit us during their maternity leave.

Dolls! Here she is hugging the cutest little doll that her Grandma Ellis made. Besides hugging and kissing them she also loves to feed them, put them to sleep, push them in the stroller...and the list goes on!

Slide! Laurel loves slides and I finally got her one for the back porch. Her grandpa Doss watched her while I went shopping and she usually runs right to me when I'm gone and gives me a giant hug. Well, I bought the slide in with me and she ran right to that slide yelling "slide" and climbed right up and started sliding...I never did get that hug!

The lake and her friend Emily! We went to the lake a lot this summer with my friend Connie and her little girl Emily or "Emmy" as Laurel calls her. They really are good friends (well as much as toddlers can be) and play together pretty well (most of the time).

More dolls! She finds them every where; it is so cute how excited she gets every time!

Gymnastics!! This is her biggest love right now (besides her blanket and paci). She runs around like a nut for the whole class. She calls it "nastics" and she loves to get her stamp at the end of class.

Balls! She has so many balls and she loves to "throw", "catch", and "kick" them all the time. She has been getting really mad lately if she can't catch it on the first try! Her favorite thing to do with her balls is take them all to our long hallway and roll them with me.

Trains! She LOVES trains. Real trains, the Thomas train table at B&N, pictures of trains, TV shows with trains...you get the picture. Every time we pass B&N she yells "Thomas" or "Train" and gets so mad when we can't stop. She also yells "train" at some train tracks near our house because we have seen a train crossing several times. She always is so sad when the train is not there! She always says, "home?" because we tell her the train is at home when it is not there, lol.

Shopping in the car cart. I don't know why I haven't been using these all along. Shopping is SO much nicer when she can "drive" herself. Although she does tell me "set, go" everytime I stop!

So here are a few loves in Laurel's life. She has started saying love recently and tells me she loves me so I am very happy...she is the biggest love in my life!

Photo Shoot

We did a fun photo shoot today after gymnastics and the library at Rose Hill where Matt and I had our engagement pictures taken. A girl from my church is going to school to earn her degree in photography and wanted to add some children to her portfolio. Of course anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE pictures so I was all game. Laurel was not as game as me since it was close her her nap time, but Mckensie managed to get some really cool shots of her that really show off her personality and charm. I was very impressed with her skills, especially since Laurel is a very hard subject to capture since she NEVER stays still. Here are a few of my favorites...

First Gymnastics Class!

Laurel had her first gymnastics class today. I have been wanting to do something like this with her forever, but she just got old enough to do it this past month. She has so much energy and loves to jump and climb and basically just throw her body around which can be pretty dangerous if you are not in a padded room!

I put her leo on at home and she kept running her hands over the velvet and saying "cute". We got in the car for the 15 minute trip and I kept saying "We are going to gymnastics; are you excited?" and she kept saying "yeah, yeah!" She was so excited when we got there to see her friend Emily was in her class too.

We got inside and put our shoes in the cubby holes. Laurel wanted to go into the gym area right away. She was so excited and could see all the cool stuff. She kept pointing and saying "please" and pulling on my hand. She did not understand my explainations that we had to wait until class started to go in! We met the other kids and parents while we waited and Laurel was happy to be around other kids as usual. I discovered that Laurel is the youngest in her class (like always). The other kids are all closer to two, but Laurel was taller than all of them though!

Finally (after 5 minutes, but it must have seemed like a long time to Laurel) we were able to get into the gym. The teacher asked the kids to sit on a circle and I thought "uh oh". For those of you who don't know, Laurel does not sit. Of course she surprised me and sat right down on her little circle and followed all of the teachers directions! She waved her scarf and patted her knees and put her legs in a "butterfly".

Then we got in a train behind the teacher and followed her to the first play area which had a barrel to climb through, bars, a slide, things to climb on, a trampoline, and balls to throw in a bucket. Laurel was in seventh heaven! She mostly wanted to do the slide over and over, but she tried and liked everything. After a few more stations we went to the balance beams, which Laurel did not do so well on for two reasons: number one - Laurel did not want me to help her at all and number two - she wanted to run on them! She did manage to do it a little by herself and had a good time. That's all that matters right? I don't know where she gets her "I want to do everything myself" attitude, oh wait from me!

At the end of class she got on the big trampoline with Matt for a few minutes and she just went crazy jumping. She was very sad to leave. All day I kept asking her if she had fun at gymnastics and she would just say "whee!" Hope that was a yes! Here are some pictures of her first class (and a special thanks to Matt who took off an hour from work to come and take these pictures!).

Laurel and her friend Emily before class started.

Asking me "please" to go into the gym!

Following directions during circle time!

Swinging on the bars.

Her favorite part: THE SLIDE!

More following directions. They were suppose to touch their feet up to our hand.

Rolling!

Ready for more!

Forward rolls with Daddy!

I did it! Look at that happy face.

The balance beam (she let me help her for a second!)

Walking by herself on the beam!

So our first class went great and we are ready for next week!