Visit from Uncle Jared, Aunt Natalie, & cousins!

Hooray!! We were lucky to have Lauren's brother, Jared, sister-in-law, Natalie, & their cute kids come to visit us for a whole week. It was loads of fun, and we already miss them dearly. Cohen, Sophie, & Evan immediately began having fun together, & the fun never stopped. We traveled into downtown D.C., saw several museums, went to the National Zoo (although snowed over!), celebrated Cohen's birthday by going bowling & having a little party, and just playing it up at home with games, Rock band, and good ol' visiting. We all thoguht that we were going to take more photos, but this is all that came out. Oh well! Thank you guys for coming! We can't wait to see you again!

Exploring the Mueum of Natural History

Jared & Charlie became fast friends & cuddle buddies after long days of playing downtown.

Our bowling excursion.

I caught Ryan off-gaurd while playing with his toy.

Next, was ice cream & play time & "Happy Donald's"

They ahd fun trying out Cohen's new paddle ball

She was so cute coming down the slide, but when I asked her to do it again, she did one of her silly poses. Oh, our goof!

New Haircuts!

After growing it out for a while and seeing the new thickness that was coming in, we decided it was time to cut off Sophie's scraggly baby hair and welcome the big girl hair. She had been nervous about it for some time. One morning she confessed that she thought it'd hurt. So, I (Lauren) explained that you don't feel a thing, that I get my hair cut, too, & asked if she wanted to see me get my hair cut. She excitedly watched me grab the cutting shears & proceed to snip a bit of hair. She got so excited that she asked me to cut hers right away! So, here's the new do! I am sad that we can't do pigtail braids for a while, but it looks much better than the winter baby scraggly mess it was. I happened to have to hair appt. that day, too, so Sophie took a picture of my hair, as well (nothing new-no crazy cuts or colors for me anymore!). Now, we're enjoying being snowed in...again!

Ryan's first solid meal..and more!

Ryan got his first taste of solid food this weekend. He's not so sure about the whole thing, but we're excited for this new change. Sophie even helped (of course!). Ryan also had his first laugh recently, & Sophie loves to practice her letter sounds. They are growing so fast! Here are some other recent photos, as well.

We're glad they love each other! Although, I found it funny the other day when we were downstairs, Sophie is jumping around with her staticky hair, and we had to tell her, "Stop shocking your brother!"

Our smiley boy. He is so happy & sweet, & thrives off of personal interaction!

2010 happenings

So, its post holidays, rolling into a semi-regular schedule, & we're still keeping busy. Sophie is excited to be back at Preschool Tuesdays & Thursdays. She is the most talkative after school! She also got a "big girl bed," given to her by a friend at church. She picked out "Hello Kitty" bedding, & Justin & Lauren couldn't believe a little girl could be more excited or happy!

Justin just started his new job with CM consulting, & he's very excited about the new work. The company is taking Justin & Lauren out to a fancy restaurant this weekend, & we're pretty excited to have some amazing food & get all dolled up. Justin had to take a break from his new job for a couple days to have surgery on his broken finger that he's had for about a year now. He was pretty out of it, & he's back at physical therapy. In the words of Justin in reference to his hand therapist, "If Mary weren't such a nice lady, I'd hate her!" The Physical Therapist Assist. in Lauren just smiled. :) Who knew surgery on one finger could do so much damage! It's a good excuse for him to not change diapers.

Ryan is 3 months old and growing like a weed in size & personality. He LOVES to interact with people, complaining when he's been alone for too long. We're also working on him being abel to fall asleep by himself (that's our biggest challenge right now). Lauren (being in the church Young Women's presidency) took him to "mutual night" with the youth, & he had a ball watching, listening, & talking to the kids around him. He sure is a charming little fellow! Sophie loves to read to Ryan, as you can see in the picture above, & he sure loves it too. Here's some tummy time pics. I guess he should be starting to roll soon, but he shows more desire to sit up. I guess we should practice more...second child syndrome, perhaps?

Oh, how the adventures & changed never end!

Christmas 2009!

Merry Christmas everyone! We had a wonderful time at our house with the 4 of us (still weird to hear that)! This is our Christmas best after the later Christmas program at church. It was a beautiful program, & Lauren got to sing in the choir, with the Young Women, as well as a duet.

Sophie was excited to see what Santa brought us!

Looks like Santa enjoyed his treats. Sophie decided he needed pretzels & fruit-hey-he can't always have cookies & milk!

Our tree & gifts.

The boys in their Christmas jammies. We opened those Christmas Eve, after we spetn teh evening eating a shared dinner with our friends, the Rusts, & then acted out the nativity. Guess who played baby Jesus...he had a lot of hair this year!

Sophie gave Ryan a Build-A-Bear, named Oscar that she helped make. We're glad she loves him so, even if it is too much at times.

Justin got his PS3 game, & he loves it!

Sophie got a new backpack for school (princess, of course), & was excited that Kitty could fit inside when she takes it to Preschool. By the way, Kitty often waits for Sophie at the office desk outside her Preschool class where she can always see her (Kitties aren't allowed in preschool!).

Hooray! Santa brought the flashlight. Sophie immediately zoomed off "lighting the way" wherever she or anyone else needed to go. We're surprised the abtteries haven't run out yet.

Lauren got her Roomba!!! (robot vacuum) We've had fun watching it zoom around the house cleaning. It's pretty cool!! It still needs a name (we just call it Roomba)..any ideas?

Kitty is sporting Sophie's new hair bows (thanks Aunt Amber!)

Charlie got his doggie treats in his stocking.

Ryan sporting his new Bumbo seat. Even though his neck is veyr strong, he's not quite ready for it.

Awww! He loves his Oscar bear that talks & gives him kisses.

Daddy daughter pic-Lauren's goof balls! Here Sophie's holding her play hair dryer-she loves her Princess makeup kit & does her hair & makeup with Mama now.

Blast from the past

As I was getting ready to post our Christmas fun, Icame across this video of Sophie when she was about 18 months old. She already could recognize & say all of the letters. This cute girl got excited about teh letter "S", saying it was for her, Sophie (Mama didn't catch that in the video). She's always been an observant girl, eager to learn. As her little friend, Delana, (who calls her "E") says about her, "E is smaart!"

Snow Storm & winter fun

This past weekend, we were hit with the biggest snow storm, bringing us 2 feet of snow to the whole DC metro area. We were shut in, church was cancelled, & we even lost our power for a few hours Saturday evening. We were grateful that it came on just before bed time as we were deciding how to layer up for warmth! The whole experience was quite fun, being together as a family, seeing the landscape get covered in white.

Here's a shot of our backyard with 1 1/2 ft & more to come!

Here's Charlie trying to hop around & navigate his way to go potty! He ended up mkaing a path that we followed each time he went out.

When it was all over, Sophie was excited to go out in the snow, and here she is with her snow boots, hopping with joy, saying, "I'm ready! Let's go!"

Oh, Soph! You need clothes...layers of them, girl!

We let Charlie run free for a while in the snow. This is our sidewalk.

Getting ready to shovel & check it all out!

Sophie just liked kicking it.

The aftermath. The snow plow just kept coming & coming during the storm, but here's what was still left!

Believe it or not, he's almost done!

Lauren & Ryan.

Our toasty little guy, asleep for the whole thing.

Sportin' the shades & chuckin snow clumps!

Snow angel fun. We were quite surprised she didn't fall through & get lost!

Before the storm, temps started dropping, & as I got concerned for Ryan's warmth, I pulled this out the closet (a gift from someone). We think it looks hilarious. It actyually keeps him quite warm & toasty, although he's mad in this pic.

Sisterly love. We've been working on having her not smother him so much!

Our sweet boy-always smiling & cooing when he's awake.