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.