Easter Eggstravaganza!

We had a really nice Easter. My parents came down from Virginia for the weekend and we had fun shopping, playing, and eating! Enjoy the pics...

Our neighborhood had an Easter Egg Hung and we were late (we thought it was cancelled because of the rain). Fortunately some nice parents took some eggs out of their kids overflowing baskets and threw them on the ground for Laura to collect:)

 A cute picture with the Easter Bunny at the neighborhood hunt.

 We had a fun time dying Easter Eggs...but I think Laura got a little bored:)

 An annual tradition...Nana and Laura made their Easter bunny cake.

Our church had a large Easter Egg Hunt and Block Party the day before Easter. Laura collected way too much candy for a 3 year old to eat, so Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some after Laura's bedtime every night:)

Laura has become very brave...at one point not that long ago she wouldn't even go down a normal sized slide. Now she has no fear climbing up...

 and sliding down slides that make Mommy a little nervous:)

 Easter morning and finding the Easter basket.

 A picture after church with Nana and Granddad.

 And a closing shot of our happy little family.

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

Playing Catch-up (Part 2)

Here is the second half of our winter/spring catch-up:)

Laura has been playing soccer this spring. She is on the team with her best bud Colton and they are both so good! There are only about 3 or 4 kids on the team that will actually play, so Laura gets lots of time on the field. She has had 2 games where she has scored 3 goals!
We had a very busy weekend in March when Laura's Nana, Granddad, and Gigi visited on one day and her Mema came the next day:) One of the most exciting things that happened this Spring is that we moved out of the apartment into our new house!! We love the house, the neighborhood, and the community. Our next door neighbors have a little girl almost the exact same age as Laura...so needless to say they are having a great time playing together! When asked what her favorite part of the new house is, Laura almost always answers "I have a pink room!"
We have spent most of the winter and spring at the parks in the area...The following pictures are from a really cool park downtown that we visited with Colton and his little sister Caroline.
A local university has a Farm Day, so we all trekked out to the farm to see the animals and babies. Laura had fun...Mommy went overboard with the hand sanitizer:)So, due to the already long length of this post, I will do the Easter pictures in a separate post. Check back soon!

Playing Catch-up (part 1)...

Since the last blog post, I've been thinking about calling it quits on the blog. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize how much I love looking back through all the pictures and stories of our life with Laura. It is amazing how much she has grown since we started this blog, so I've decided to keep it going:)

So here is a quick preview of what has happened since Thanksgiving...

On December 1st we celebrated our 3rd Family Anniversary. It is so hard to believe it has been 3 years since Laura joined our family...time flies when you are having fun:) Our good friends from Richmond came down for the party and Laura was thrilled to see her friends and show them around our new town!
Shawn, Laura, and I went to see Christmas lights on a hayride. Laura told everyone on the ride at one point that we celebrated Christmas because it was "JESUS' BIRTHDAY!!" We were very proud of her, but also a little embarrassed at her loud proclamation!

We kept busy in December making gingerbread houses...Decorating the apartment for Christmas...
And going to Virginia to visit Nana, Granddad, Gigi, and Auntie...
We all went on a horse drawn carriage ride...
We had a wonderful time, but unfortunately, shortly after this ride, Gigi fell and broke her hip. She spent the rest of our Christmas visit in the hospital so we are short on pictures from this visit. Gigi has since made a full recovery, and after her 3 month stay with my parents in Virginia, she is back home in Missouri doing great!

We were able to visit Nana, Granddad, and Gigi several more times over the winter...here are a few of those pictures.

Dr. Laura checking out Gigi's ears...Dr. Laura...
One visit we were lucky enough to get some snow...
Shawn and Laura went to a Daddy/Daughter dance in February. They started off the night with a dinner date at MissDonalds (the way Laura says McDonalds:). They learned a really neat dance they have dubbed "the flip" and still do it all over the house!

And the last update for Catching up (part 1) is the exciting news that Laura made a new friend this winter! His name is Colton and they are in preschool, church, and AWANA together. I have also become very good friends with his mom, and Shawn and Colton's dad are becoming friends, as well. New friends are very exciting when you are new to an area! We had a really, really, really mild winter here. This last picture is Laura and Colton on a February afternoon riding bikes:)

Check back soon for Catching up (part 2) to see pics of Laura playing soccer, visiting family, our new house (yay!!), and Easter!