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.