Happy Birthday Lauren Sara!

We didn't let the cold weather stop us from having a wonderful 3rd birthday party for Lauren yesterday! She had SO much fun and it was so nice to see so many friends and family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Her actual birthday is Wednesday, and we still have a few little surprises in store for her then. She is such a special and sweet little girl. We are so proud of her and what a lovely little lady she is becoming. :)

Party decorations

Lauren and uncle Brent

Lauren with Grandma and Grandpa Schlake

Lauren and Grandma Di Di

A special picture with Great-grandpa Schlake!

Aunt Doreen, Lauren, and Uncle Leroy!

Lauren and her two best friends!

Lauren and Liam are snuggling in her new sleeping bag!

We love you so much Lauren Sara!!!

Spring!!

We finally had some really nice spring-like weather this weekend! Yay!!

I am SO excited for all of our fun spring and summer plans. Lauren is counting down the days until her birthday party. She is VERY excited about the cupcakes and the napkins. :) She has been talking about her "mickey party" non-stop for several days now!

"The three musketeers" on a walk outside!

Lauren Sara - Age 3

I can't believe this, but our little baby is turning three in just a few weeks. She is such a big girl these days. She loves to play pretend and talks all the time. She is such a joy to be around (most of the time!)

We had these pictures taken a few weeks ago - she really shows her personality in these pictures!

We just wrapped up another wonderful, but very busy week! We spent the weekend up in Nebraska for Ava's baptism. We also got in some time at the Lincoln Children's Museum (very, very cool place) and even got to see some baby cows! Abby and Liam were also in Nebraska, so they came out and visited the farm and saw a few cows with us.

This week is going to be another crazy week around here - it is never-ending!

Lauren and Grandma at the Children's museum

Meeting a baby cow

Abby and Liam got to meet the cow too!

Cousins. :)

Easter!

I know I've been MIA for a while...we have been BUSY. I had a work trip last week and it seems like we have had something going on every night.

SO, so, so happy for the Spring-like weather that has finally (sort-of) arrived.

We had a fantastic Easter weekend. We got to spend it with my family in Nebraska and I really couldn't have been happier. Lauren was so excited about all of the Easter activities - egg hunts, Easter bunny, church on Sunday, etc. She also got pictures taken with her TWO new baby cousins, Kylie and Ava (who she has proclaimed as her best friends!

So much going on this week as well...hopefully we can keep up with crazy!

Lauren, Ava, and Kylie on Easter

Dying Easter eggs with Abigail

Lauren and Liam at the Easter parade

Ava, Kylie, and Lauren with their special cousin shirts

Lauren on the swing at Grandma and Grandpa's house

My brothers and I with our babies! :)

The movie about the guy who cut down the trees

What a weekend! We had a great family weekend at home, not doing a whole lot, but had a lot of great memories. Lauren has been cracking me up lately with her language skills. It is amazing the stuff she says/knows. Yesterday she asked if she could "watch the movie about the guy who cut down the trees." After a few minutes I realized she was talking about "The Lorax," which we had seen quite a while ago. Amazing that she remembered that!

Yesterday we also went to the Mavericks hockey game. We had a lot of fun! Lauren especially liked the mascot, who is a horse named Mac. She kept asking the whole time where he was. :)

We also got to spend just a few minutes with uncle David, who was in town for a work conference. All in all, a pretty great weekend. We are SO excited for the Spring weather to arrive!!



All of us at the Mavericks game




Lauren with Uncle Davey - a nice smile!! :)



Snow Day!

We have a record snowfall here in Kansas City! We are all at home today staying inside nice and warm. Lauren and I did make a snowman the other day after the first round of snow.

We had quite a crazy weekend, we went to Nebraska for Kylie's baptism and also got to meet our brand new niece, Ava Annamarie Schlake. Lauren is such a proud big cousin. She loves both of her little babies!!! Can't wait to spend more time with both of them.

Lauren and her snowman, Frosty.

Lauren with new daddy uncle Brent and little Ava. She is so perfect!!!