Summer's over?!?

Getting a little caught up...us in a nutshell: moved back to KC (bought a house in Overland Park), Brady & Lauren are rocking swim lessons, Brady just started his new preschool and so far loves it, and we are excited for football season and just had our first family tailgate. Here are a few pictures and we'll try to be better at updating now that we're starting to get somewhat settled!

So big!

Our kids are getting so grown-up! Baby Leah is already four months old and is starting to sit up in her little chair and play! Lauren can put on her own shoes...Brady can walk in "real" flip-flops (without the ankle strap) and can buckle and unbuckle himself in his car seat...might as well just send them off to college 'cause they already don't need us anymore!

Our four-year-old boy

Brady is four, and we can't believe it. Everybody always says time flies, and it's crazy how much that's true when you have kids. Brady is such a smart, sweet, crazy little guy. He is full of energy and loves to entertain and be the center of attention (hmmmm...wonder who he gets that from?). He is working on writing his letters and can write his name with a little guidance. He really wants to read, and we'll be working on that this summer. He had an amazing first year of preschool and learned so much and made such great friends. He is our little man now and looks like a boy instead of a baby (sniff, sniff). He is a great big brother to his baby sister Leah...and is working on getting along with his other sister ;). Here are some pictures of him from his birthday, driving his new Jeep, with his "girlfriend" Ava (one of them, anyway--he still says Beyonce is his girlfriend), and with his two amazing preschool teachers. We love our big guy so much and are so proud of him!

Crazy kids

Mommy got a new pair of shoes, so of course Lauren wants to wear them. And the kids got to visit the ice cream truck for the first time, which they loved! However, they don't have the big pink foot with the bubble gum toe anymore, and the cheapest ice cream bar is now $1 instead of like a quarter back in the day. Naked ice cream on the deck is the only way to go!

Our two-year-old girl

We just cannot believe our little Lauren is two! She had a great birthday...a birthday doughnut and tiara to start the day, her favorite pizza, cupcakes, balloons, her first American Girl doll and a visit to Chuck E.Cheese. Our little girl is such a sassy-pants. Her favorite thing to say is "NO, my do it!" (She says "my" instead of "I.") She is a beautiful, independent, smart, completely sassy little thing. She loves to count and sing her own versions of her favorite songs ("Skinkadoooooo, I yuv youuuuuu!") She is the messiest eater you've ever seen and loves to throw her food across the room and just toss her plate and cup when she's done eating. She's the dogs' favorite. Yesterday, I took her pacifier away after her nap and put it in her drawer. She said, "No, my do it!", took it out of the drawer, then put it back in the exact spot that I had put it. At a playdate at a place with trampolines, she refused to get out and let other kids have a turn, and since I had a skirt on and Leah strapped on my chest, my friends had to go chase and retrieve her for me as she stood in the farthest corner with her most mischievious little smile. She loves her little My Gym gymnastics class and is usually one of the first to run up and try every new activity. At the park, she heads straight for the biggest slide and charges straight down. We are so in love with our little Lauren and just can't wait to watch her grow up. This one will be in charge of something important someday. President Carmichael, anyone? :)

Our big TV appearance

Brady's preschool is celebrating its 40th birthday this year, and they were invited to promote their birthday party and the school on a local TV show called "Show Me St. Louis." A few families went down and we were actually on camera about 5 different times throughout the whole show. You can click play for Window Groups April 22, and one of our appearances is from 1:00-1:33 on the video (in case you don't want to watch the whole interview and can't find the whole show). The kids loved it and love seeing themselves on TV. A bunch of mascots from Missouri colleges were down there too and Brady and Lauren both loved playing with them. It was a fun day!



(copy and paste the address below into your browser):

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=200635&catid=12

Brady's Trike-a-Thon

Brady's preschool had a "trike-a-thon" to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on Wednesday, April 7. He did a great job and pedaled so fast! Lots of friends and family donated money to his team, and he raised $115! Thanks so much for all the support for such a great cause (and a great kid)!


Brady rode his trike sooooooooo fast through all the stations and did lots of laps!


Brady and his best friend Charlie are SO EXCITED they can hardly stand it (sarcasm here).



Notice which kid is REALLY excited about their little rally...Brady is the only one saying "YAY!"

Easter weekend

Had to do a little slideshow for Easter weekend. We were a little homesick, but we had a good family weekend. Mugs and her new boyfriend Scott came to visit and the kids LOVED their new buddy. Michael was off work Friday so we hit the zoo (all dressed in blue in honor of World Autism Awareness Day), then we had lots of outside time, dyed Easter eggs and decorated cookies, and then the Easter Bunny came! Holidays are so amazing with little kids around!

Smiley, sweet baby Leah

A love/hate relationship...

Brady and Lauren seriously love each other and then seriously try to kill each other...changes about every seven minutes. But at least they are really starting to play together! They'll all be best friends someday, right?


It's 86 degrees outside--let's wear snow boots!


Picnic with friends on a very windy day


Lauren actually started the new "pull-ups on our heads" nightly tradition. Nice.

Easter Bunny is so much better than Santa

Happy Easter! Apparently, our kids are completely okay with human-sized characters as long as they are animals. They both freaked out about Santa and wouldn't go anywhere near him (see our earlier post), and yet they loved the Easter Bunny. Lauren went back and sat on his lap by herself for a good 5-10 minutes...not exaggerating. Next year maybe we'll stick some bunny ears on Santa and try again!

One month old already!!

Not sure how it's possible, but our littlest munchkin (aka "Miss February") is already a month old! Brady has been in love with her from day one, but Lauren had to warm up to the idea of a new baby sister. She is now in love with her too!

Unbelievably blessed

I am just taking a minute to reflect on the fact that we have the most amazing friends and family in the entire universe. My mom and grandma came to take care of the kids, house and dogs while we were in the hospital and stayed until we felt ready to take on our new crazy life. Mom's even coming back in 2 weeks to help while Michael's out of town. We had our house cleaned, kids played with, meals cooked, laundry done and were able to enjoy some time bonding with baby Leah. We are so blessed and lucky to have such a fantastic support system.

A couple of months ago, my "mom" friends in St. Louis threw me a surprise diaper shower. I came home with a trunk full of diapers and a freezer full of meals...and they chipped in and got me a spa gift certificate too! Then yesterday two enormous boxes showed up on our doorstep. Inside were boxes and boxes of diapers--almost 800 of them in various sizes! My college girls (the Barbies) chipped in to make sure we had plenty of diapers in stock to welcome this little girl! Not to mention all the various gifts that have arrived (my new favorite is the "Miss February" onesie that her "Aunt" Kristin sent her). We are spoiled, blessed, and so lucky to have all of you in our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything!

Brady and Lauren definitely appreciated the huge boxes of diapers too. They were their "forts" this morning. They got to color on them and have snack time in them. They had a blast for about an hour. Of course, an hour is the longest they play with anything, and it's two cardboard boxes.

A family of FIVE! (seven, if you count the 4-legged babies)

The littlest Carmichael is two weeks old today! Thursday, February 18 at 1:27 p.m., we welcomed baby Leah Catherine Carmichael into the world. She was 21 inches long and weighed 9 lbs., 11 oz.! She was a chubber at first but lost a lot of water weight and was 8 lbs., 8 oz. when we went home...so she lost some rolls. Brady is in love with his new baby sister, and it took some time for Lauren to warm up to sharing her space with a new girl, but now she is Mommy's little helper and loves to bring the baby toys and blankets and help change her diapers. Our little family is complete and we are so in love with our little munchkins!