Lauren's birthday

Lauren turned two on December 1. For a couple of days before her birthday, I would tell her, "You're going to be two on your birthday!" Then when it was her birthday, I would ask her, "How old are you?" At first she answered, "I two!" But then it was "I three!" and then "I four!" So yes, she is learning to count - just not what those numbers really mean yet. (Incidentally, today she counted to 13 while I was getting her pajamas on.)

We had two parties for her. On November 30 we had Jeff's family over for dinner and cake and ice cream. Here is her cake:

Here she is with her cake:

 

 She really has the present thing down. Look at her go!!

 Inspecting the My Little Pony from Aunt Kari and Uncle Rich:

 

A new baby from Grandma and Grandpa Sabin! When you push its belly it laughs and says, "Momma!" Lauren kept making it do that and saying, "She say 'Momma!'"

That weekend, we had our Hansen family Christmas party at my parents' new house in Fountain Green. (As a side note, let me just say I have some serious house envy going on.) Since it was convenient, we also celebrated her birthday then with my family. My mom gave her a quilt for her bed, which she LOVES. As soon as she opened it, she lay down on it and just wanted to stay there. It was sweet. Even now, she frequently says, "Grandma made it for me - I love it," when she is on her bed. I love it too. It's perfect. I don't have a photo of it right now. I would go take one, but Lauren is currently asleep in her bed, and I don't want to wake her.

Some notes about Lauren:
-She sings her ABCs and counts.
-She LOVES her baby dolls. If I would let her sleep with all five of them, she would.
-She loves Michael and Faith and gets really upset if they are doing something she's just too little for. She really wants to participate.
-She has an enormous vocabulary for a two-year-old. I know neither Michael nor Faith talked so well at this age.
-She is Miss Independent lately. It's kind of obnoxious when we're in a hurry and she insists on getting her coat or shoes on "by myself," but I do love that she is able to do so much for herself.
-She plays really well alone and can entertain herself happily for a long time.
-She loves to color. I think I could leave her in her chair all day with an endless supply of coloring books and crayons, and she would never make a peep.
-She and Faith like to play dress-up and lots of make-believe games.
-She is mischievous. She is my little tease.

It's so fun seeing her personality develop. Love my Lolo girl.

What you get when you don't upload photos for three months...

This is the cat we *almost* adopted. It spent a weekend trapped in our shed while we went down to Delta. When Jeff heard it and rescued it, it just hung out. The kids fell in love, and so did Jeff, and I was almost ready to give in (as long as it was an OUTSIDE cat). But then we got lucky and the cat disappeared. Hopefully it found its way home.

 Lauren really does love her babies.

 We went to Black Island Farms (yes, back in October - I'm THAT far behind). The kids (including the big one in sunglasses) had a great time on the slides.

 Waiting for the hayride to the pumpkin patch.

 On the train.

 We painted (and Jeff carved) pumpkins. I love how the bottom two seem to be afraid of each other.

 We had some sort of stomach flu bug that just would not go away. It left us all pretty much feeling like this:

 We played in the leaves. Doesn't she look beautiful here?

 I made cakes - this is a photo of a horseshoe cake that for some reason WILL NOT turn the right way.

So much more to post - so late at night. I'll really try to write about Lauren's birthday tomorrow.