Easter picture overload... and camera lesson offically learned!

Hello everyone! I hope you all (noticed I tried not to say ya'll) had a wonderful Easter. We definitely enjoyed ours... I am posting a major picture overload, hope you have time.

This Easter taught me a very valuable lesson, more than all the other events: to use my GOOD camera! I once again, thinking of easiness, used Levi's digital camera. And yes, it does it's purpose, however, the photographer in me is screaming at all the pictures I took. Not one am I really satisfied with.

<---- this is by far my favorite picture of the day. She was giving me 'sugars'...








































<-----This is the sombrero Grandma and Grandpa brought back from Mexico this winter.























































We attended church services with Grannie Nadine, and the children did an egg hunt. I was so proud of Hunter... he didn't take off and grab a bunch of eggs, he helped baby sister get one egg, and take a few pictures.

We had a wonderful dinner at Grandpa and Grandma's house. All the kids came over, and we hid over 100 eggs. I was a bit sad, as always on holidays when I realize I don't have any of my own family around. But this new family is wonderful and has taken me in.

I don't have much else to report... I'll try to get back with more info and few other pictures I am dying to share.

We send out our love, drop us a line or a comment.







<----- Riggs and Lauren 'playing' together on the floor. They both will be crawling soon! (hence the pictures I am dying to show you)

I know, my blogging is sad...

Hey everyone! A lot has happened this week... I, or should I say 'we' have had a couple of really busy days around here. Today I took some pictures for my old work. It was really nice to be back around some of my co-workers and I got to see some of our area Senators and Legislators.

We picked up Lauren a walker last Friday. She loves to scoot around in it, but I'm taking pleasure that she doesn't go far for now. I know it won't be long... I know I keep saying that, but I have even more exciting news. She can't do it herself yet, but when I put her down on her tummy, she puts her knees under her and can stay up in a crawling position for several seconds. It's so exciting to see all of her accomplishments... I am proud to get to stay at home through all of these milestones, even though I miss working a lot.

Life is good here... Not a whole lot to report on. I'll give you some pictures to look at though:







Here is a trio of her and her new-found freedom in her walker:





















The two pictures of her and her PaPa were taken earlier tonight while were outside:
















Lauren watching daddy and I work:

















Oh yeah, Levi and I took on the challenge of painting our house. I have been wanting to do it, for 'look' reasons, but mostly because if we didn't the siding is going to rot off. I imagine the last time the house had been painted was 5 years or better. Levi is leaning towards closer to 7 or 8. I picked out a nice khaki-green and 2 shades darker on the trim. The green will look good even during the dead of winter. So we started today, and hope to get most of it done tomorrow and Sunday.

And in case anyone is wondering, I declined the Post Office job... it came down to having to work a couple of weeks at a time, which left me in the same 'pickle' I was before. I have no baby sitter. They also wanted me to work the whole week we had Hunter for spring break, and that about broke my heart to think about not spending much time with him... funny how I have adapted so well to 'on my own time'. It's nice to not have to rush around for work, supper, clean house, and bed. My days are so much more 'laxed'.

Well I better wrap it up. Gotta get to bed.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.






Oh, I included two pictures below that I took with my new lens. It's the only opportunity I have had to really take some pictures. They aren't great, but I like them.

Blogging: Pearls, a walker, and arms

(I created this post late Saturday night and forgot to submit it... that's why is says Saturday)

This week has been a busy one to say the least...

Tuesday, Grandma and I went thrift store browsing. I found the cutest hat to take Lauren's pictures in as soon as she can sit up real solid. But the hat threw me into a creative mode, and I asked Grandma if she had any pearls by chance to 'play' with. The pictures obviously represent what I was able to come up with. Not the greatest, but cute anyways. I am just so proud of her big 'ol eyes! They are so pretty to me.

Thursday, one of the girls from work wanted me and miss priss to come up and eat lunch, but I just really didn't feel like it. Friday, Grandma and I went to the big town of Altus. We made a little thrift store rendezvous down there. I found a HUGE grapevine wreath for the front of the house for 5 bucks!

I have had a toothache since Wednesday. It didn't seem to bother me too much today, but I will make a dentist appointment anyways.

Levi was on call last night, and pulled an all nighter, so Lauren and I had to be very quiet in the house today. Thats hard with a five month old!


So one of Lauren's newest milestones is reaching out to be held. Her first distinctive movement was the other night at Grandma and Grandpa's. She started fussing, and Pa walked up to her... she threw her little arms out towards him, and leaned forward for him to pick her up. And of course he obliged. Since then she is very much exercising her new found demanding 'reach'.


We also learned that she loooooves beans and cornbread. We had some Wednesday night and I gave her bite of my bean juice with just a little cornbread crumbs. She went absolutely crazy. I wish I had my video recorder then. She would grab my hand and 'help' me get the spoon to her faster. We made a mess, but she was oblivious.

We got Lauren a walker, and she really seems to enjoy it, when she's in a good mood. Lately she has been extremely clingy and wants me to hold her ALL the time. I'm not sure what is going on, but it's to the point that I can't leave her sight. Even when someone else is holding her, she constantly looks for me.

If you haven't already noticed the poll to the right, please take a moment and give me your input. You can also give me feedback in a comment. I have some 'un-wanted' visitors to the blog, and am seriously considering moving this to a private web page with a login requirement. The benefit of the password login is you can have your computer remember your user name and password. Also I would be able to do some customization to the site. I'm still debating, but I would like some feedback. I hate thinking about who might be lurking around and seeing pictures of my darling girl. On top of that, you know these days the internet is so dangerous... So let me know, would you view or not? Thanks.

I have more pictures to share later... Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

I got it Mommy!!!!

Hey everyone!!! Things are going well here... Lauren is sitting up better and better everyday and for longer periods at a time. She's also rolling all over the place, it makes it hard to leave her for even a few minutes at a time. The worst part is her play area in the living room is in front of Levi's recliner, we can see her there from the kitchen and so on. Well now that she plays there, she tends to roll under his recliner when he has it up. Thank goodness Levi is very careful about checking for her before he even thinks about putting the recliner down.

<---- This picture is her 'sucking' on her biter biscuits. Unfortunately she no longer can have them until she gets a bit bigger and can handle chewing food better. She must be biting it hard, because now we have had two scares of her getting a big chunk off in her mouth. So they are put away for now. I feel bad, because she really loves them, but I can't afford for her to choke, so I'm on the search for something better.



Here are some pictures of her 'haming' it up in the highchair. She has such cute facial expressions!


















So she is finally trying to hold her bottles on her own. She can hold the little one for a while, but the big ones are just too heavy and long. This particular night, she held the bottle the whole time and drank it. I had to just help at the very end get that last bit out. I can't believe how fast she is growing up!










The following pictures are the acts of an 'evil' mommy. She took a lot of interest in my lime... so Levi said she what she will do. At first she barely nibbled, and must of liked the initial taste. So she acted like she wanted more. She got a big suck, and oh man her face came alive! It looks like she's crying, but she's not, and whats worse, when she was done making the face, she acted like she wanted it again. But I didn't...
























We had a wonderful learning lesson at our house... after numerous sleepless nights, Lauren slept 12 hours last night!!! Long story made short, we were keeping the house too warm for her, and she was getting restless. We turned the heat down to 68, and she is sleeping great, and so are we. The flip side to sleeping all night, I had to change crib sheets and give her a bath this morning... but oh the sleep is worth it!

Not much else to report... I'm including the cutest video from last night, she has 'found' the dog recently, and has great interest in her. Sometimes when we are sitting, she'll suddenly laugh, and it's at the dog. Dixie is still not sure what to think of her, but for the most part she seems to accept her as part of the family. Although she hasn't figured out when I start getting ready to go to town, that I am not going to leave the baby. She 'tries' to get us out the door without the baby, and gets disappointed that we don't go immediately. So last night, Lauren took a lot of interest in the dog's collar, after she would pull she would look up at me as if to say "I got it Mommy!":