Pre-Christmas Visit

Laurel and I got to visit with my Uncle Frank, Aunt Louise and cousins Alex and Dixon. We had a lovely lunch and visit. We were only missing Dad, Jamie and Jen. See below for Laurel's first piano recital.

Graduation

Laurel has graduated to "Big Girl" bows. She finally has too much hair for her baby bows. Yesterday I spent the morning making some for 2010. I have a whole rainbow of bows. Hopefully this will do for a while. Now what to do with the remaining ribbon? Make more? For the right price;)

Christmas cards...

So, I've learned 18 months is not ideal for setting up the perfect picture. We started our photo session with the top shot...I did get one I liked and then a family shot. We just couldn't get anything great. Oh well. Memories!

18 Months

Laurel is now 18 months old. She had a great check-up today. She weighs 28 pounds and is 34 and 3/4" long. She is still off the charts in height and barely on the charts in weight. Laurel is developmentally on target, talking more and more each day. She can say: Momma, Daddy, BoBo (Bozeman), more, No, Hey, Bye Bye, cheese, memo (Elmo), Mimi, Pop-pop, Nana (my mom and/or banana), Emmy (friend at school), book, dog, etc... She also loves to follow directions and do things that I ask. She is a complete joy! We also got the H1N1 today and the seasonal flu. We are praying we get a healthy streak for a while. We need it!

Thanksgiving

Laurel and Matthew

The table all set and ready...

We had a great Thanksgiving...didn't take many pictures of everything except a photo shoot of Laurel for her 18 month pictures. We spent Thanksgiving Day at Mimi and Pop-Pop's with Aunt Susan, Uncle Jeff, Baby Jacob, Great Uncle Tony, Great Aunt Alicia and cousin Matthew. It was a deliciously yummy meal. On Friday, we headed to Missouri and did Thanksgiving again on Saturday! It was good to see all the MO family...again not many pictures. I blame being sick.

Proud Mama!

Laurel is spending more and more time with her books lately. I love this! This particular morning she spent about 45 minutes quietly going from book to book....

A typical morning...

Here's Laurel getting all her stuff to go: her purse, lunchbox, sippy cup, and paci...She cracks me up when she travels around like this...

Elon vs. Samford

TD Elon!!!

On November 21, I got the chance to see Elon play Samford in football. I'm betting I was the one person in attendance that is a graduate of both schools. Elon had a great season and easily beat Samford this year. Go Phoenix...as they say...

Jacob is growing...

We went to visit Jeff, Susan and Jacob this weekend. Here's a picture of the cousins doing TD Auburn together:)

What happens when...

What happens when you stop paying attention...

Laurel gets a hold of a pen and draws all over herself while I'm making a quiche. Luckily it came off quick and the quiche was yummy!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from all of us...but especially from our Lil' Tiger!

Pizza Night and Self Feeding Progress?!?

Friday is Family Pizza Night. Laurel gets her pizza and tonight I let her feed herself yogurt. She thought this was a grand idea....I was glad it was bath night! What a mess. It's all for the sake of development though, right?

Fall School Pictures

Meet my Nephew....Jacob!

Jacob was born Oct. 19 at 5:19. He weighed 7lbs. 7oz. and was 20.5 inches long! Welcome to the world Little Man!

School Days

Above: Laurel's handprint on one side and the poem on the other. September's color was red and the shape was a circle. Cute!

They also read "The Wheels on the Bus" so they ate a graham cracker bus!

Then on the same theme they made tracks with the bus and black paint. Fun times in the toddler ones class and bless those teachers for being so brave with all the wild ones!

Boo at the Zoo

Mommy and Laurel
I'm doing my tiger face with Daddy!

I'm a cactus!

Hey!

I LOVE Aubie!

Last night we took Laurel to "Boo at the Zoo". It was fun, but we quickly discovered she will have more fun in a few years when she is older. She is starting to be frightened of things...like the blow-up characters and even the animals. I guess this comes with the age so they say. She did enjoy the "Graveyard Express", and all the lights and bubbles. She was not too excited by all the people offering her candy...she soon will learn.

Pumpkin Patch '09

We decided to visit the Pumpkin Patch in Calera today. It was fun! A short train ride out to a field and then pumpkin fun.

Birthday Dinner at Joe's!

This place is so yummy! They catered to my specific request...I got to have Lasagna Bianca even though it was not on the menu for the night and some Strawberry Cake! Everyone loved their food...and you can see Laurel took a special liking to the cake!

Do we look alike?

I've had many people tell me recently how much Laurel looks like me...so what do you think? This is me eating ice cream and me with my sweet grandparents Momoo and Poppy...I think I do see a resemblance.