Hannah's Bakery

Hannah wanted to put on her apron and open a bakery!

I love how she has such an active imagination, and I'm glad that we have our Fridays together so I can indulge her with activities & play-dough time.

Hannah would tell me about all of the things she was making and told me stories the whole time. I love to listen to her be creative.

 

The finished product, after coming out of the "oven" (her tent)

Lauren is 1

I can't believe our Lauren is one year old already!  She got a little more cake leftover from her party after lunch today and she had quite the time eating it.  She is definitely a fan of cake!

At one year, Lauren is 21 pounds, 11 ounces (50-75%) and 29.5" long (50%).  She is wearing some 12 month clothes, but is starting to move into 18 months clothes.  She's longer than Hannah was at 1 year, but heavier.  Lauren crawls everywhere and is in to everything.  She is cruising on furniture but isn't walking yet.  She still tends to favor me and if given the choice of being held by just about anyone else, she'll reach out to me.  Of course, it certainly makes me feel loved, but there are times when I'd love it I wasn't packing her around!  Lauren loves to eat and will eat just about anything given to her.  She'll hold a spoon while she eats with her other hand.  We're still nursing, I'm getting ready to cut her down to just morning and night.  (The whole pumping at work thing certainly gets old quickly!) 

Lauren's favorite toy isn't really a toy....it's a remote.  Well, actually any piece of electronics is her favorite - phones, the computer, Jon's I-pad, and my blackberry.  She will crawl over people and things to get to remotes or other electronics.  She is quite stubborn when she doesn't get her way and if you take a remote from her, be prepared for a scream!  Lauren loves Abby and her eyes light up in the morning when she first sees Abby.  Lauren also really enjoys playing with Hannah.  They're becoming good friends and they'll actually play together in the playroom.

Lauren's Birthday Party

We had a VERY full house for Lauren's 1st Birthday party -- 16 adults and 7 kids, including our family.  We only invited family (plus the Lichtensteigers), so I can only imagine how crazy parties are when you invite friends too!  We ordered City BBQ so we didn't have to cook.  This party was different from Hannah's 1st birthday party in one big respect -- the kids.  As I helped Lauren open her gifts, I practically had all of the other kids that were here sitting on top of me.  They were really into the presents - even if Lauren wasn't.  

Another GREAT cake made by babysitter Lisa!

Here are the pictures of the craziness of present opening:

Lauren got a new babydoll

The 4 big kids were "helping" open gifts

Lauren liked her new little people

 

Uncle Josh was a big fan of the bristle blocks....

Happy Birthday Girl!!!

The kids were anxiously awaiting the cake cutting

Lauren didn't know what to make of the singing

Susan & Julie - the paparazzi

Lauren didn't get too messy eating cake.  To be honest, I think she ate such a good dinner (mac 'n cheese, corn pudding & barbecued pork) that she wasn't all that hungry for the cake.  Maybe if she sat there longer she would have gotten messy, but she isn't one to sit around when she is done, so I decided to not risk the meltdown to get a better picture : )

Dublin Fire Department

We decided to take a cupcake cake to the fire department as part of Lauren's birthday celebration.  Other than stopping by the fire department to get birth certificate documentation signed when Lauren was a few weeks old, we hadn't gotten a chance to show her off to the guys who helped with the delivery....and we certainly didn't get any pictures of the team involved the night of the big event!

Cake we dropped off.

2 of the 4 firefighter/paramedics were on duty today.  Officer Veeck was at the Station house and definitely remembered us from last year!

He gave Hannah a private tour of a firetruck

Officer Tom Harris actually did the delivery.  He was off-site running a training session, but they told us to head over there, so he got to meet Lauren and visit with us for a few minutes.

Happy Halloween

About 10 minutes before Hannah was to head out with Jon for trick-or-treating, she told me that she didn't want to be Elmo....she wanted to be a princess.  Ugh!  She absolutely refused to wear her Elmo costume.  Fortunately, we have some dress-up clothes that we were able to turn into a princess costume, but it was cold (and had rained earlier), so Hannah wore a princess dress over a sweatsuit, with rain boots.  She wouldn't leave the crown on past pictures, but at least it will make for some funny stories!

Lauren stayed home and helped me pass out candy.

Sisters!

Apparently, while they were out, Hannah was repeatedly offered "good candy" (e.g., Reece Cups) and she would turn them down in favor of suckers!!!  Jon was extremely disappointed at this behavior!  Our neighborhood is very generous, so we've got more candy than we need in our house....but as long as Hannah can have her dum-dums, she's okay.