Happy Birthday Lauren!

It's great to be 8! Here are some great facts about our baby...

Lauren Kate Matheny was born on February 22, 2001. She was our biggest baby weighing 7 lbs. 3 ounces.

Lauren's Blessing Day...In our faith, babies are given a special blessing by their fathers. When they turn 8, they are baptized (Lauren's baptism will be on Easter Sunday). We blessed her at home and both sets of grandparents and Dave's brother and his family came.

She was our best baby as far as temperament goes. She was such a happy little thing!

She was Piglet for her first Halloween, which was very fitting as she was quite the little chunk! Carter was Winnie the Pooh, and Lauren was scared to death of him. She cried every time he came near her.

Carter and Lauren

Lauren is allergic to the antibiotic Augmentin. We realized this when she had a reaction to it at 11 months old. She got this horrible rash all over her body...

One Year Old...

Grandma & Grandpa McDougall, Lauren, Taylor, & Carter

Taylor & Lauren...Lauren has always reminded us of Taylor. Like her sister, she has always loved books. She has really developed a love of reading.

Two Years Old...

She may have been our easiest baby, but she was NOT our easiest toddler! :)

We went camping with Dave's sister's family...Lauren and her cousin Matthew got a little dirty!

Lauren and our dog Teagan in his crate.

Three Years Old...

Grandpa Matheny, Taylor, Lauren, Carter, Grandma Matheny

Four Years Old...

Lauren & our cat Daisy (like Taylor, Lauren LOVES all animals)

Lauren is very artistic and loves to color, paint, you name it...

Five Years Old...

Six Years Old...

Maggie & Lauren

Lauren & Grandpa McDougall

Grandpa Matheny, Taylor, Lauren, & Carter


Seven Years Old...

Happy Birthday Lauren! We love you!

It's that time of year again...

Every year we pick one room or area of our house to "update" (i.e. paint, decorate, etc.). To see last years project go here.

This year, our project was the "play room". We painted, added surround sound, bought new couches, TV & stand, ottoman, curtains, speakers, and end table. I still need to get pictures for the wall (the fun part) but thought I'd share what we've done so far! We've been busy. Take a peek...

The one thing I have bought for the wall (it's on the staircase wall in above picture).

Dave loved hanging this up! ;)

My favorite thing about this ottoman is that it's also a trunk...a great place for all the beautiful TV quilts Dave's mom has made for us!

My parents bought us this end table...Thank you!

We finished just in time for Lauren's slumber party last night (pictures to come soon)...she turns 8 tomorrow! Now that we've survived that, guess what we're going to be doing tonight...

I can't wait!!! :)

Independence

When Taylor started going through puberty, the texture of her hair started to change. Instead of being straight and able to "wash and go" it became like mine...wavy and a tad frizzy. I can not "wash and go". I have to blow dry, round brush, and straighten it. Taylor always wants her hair in a pony tail because she doesn't want to take any time to fix it. She doesn't want me to fix it either. So, she rarely wears it down. Today, when I went upstairs to get kids ready for school, Taylor was blow drying and straightening her own hair! YIPPEE!!! I thought this day would never come! :) I think she did a fabulous job.

They're Back...

My parents arrived last Monday and will be here for a week. We've had fun shopping, going to lunch, and visiting. What could be better than that?

Pictures Up!

I finally got our family pictures framed and up on the wall!

Take a look...

This one is in my bedroom...

Trash Treasures

Lauren and her friend Katelyn (above) love to "make stuff" and have been known to rummage through peoples recycling bins, trash cans, etc. They like to collect empty milk jugs, water bottles, you name it and have made some pretty impressive stuff such as this "lizard house"...

(Known by Taylor as the "bug torture house")

...and this "lizard house"...

Let me preface this story with a disclaimer...We have talked to them until we are blue in the face about not taking things out of other people's trash or our trash without asking first.

So, we were in Houston a couple of weeks ago for my Uncle's funeral. We had gone in to use the restroom at the funeral home. When we were leaving the restroom, I noticed something green in Lauren's hand and asked to see what it was. She had gotten into the "nifty" little trash cans inside of the stall and found herself a "rocket" (or that's what she called it). Unbeknown to her, it was not a rocket, but a discarded tampon applicator. Can I tell you that I almost lost my lunch... We washed our hands, sanitized them, and rewashed them. Of course when I explained to her what it was, she started to cry because she was embarrassed. Although it was extremely GROSS...

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself just a little bit! :)

Blog Book

I got my blog printed and bound into a book at http://serv.sharedbook.com/blogworld/printmyblog/index.html

It came a couple weeks ago and I am really happy with it! Take a peek...

Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon

This weekend I did my very first EVER race... and I finished! I did the Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon Sprint with 3 of my friends. It was a 2 mile run, 11 mile bike, and another 2 mile run (so a total run of 4 miles). I am NOT a runner so this was a big accomplishment for me. Did I mention that I really don't like to run? AND it was pretty cold for Texas...38 degrees outside.

Michelle, Halli, Laurie, & Heather

Halli & Laurie

Warming up in the car before the race...

Halli, Michelle, Heather, and Laurie


Let the games begin...Laurie and I at the beginning of the race...


TORTURE! :)

Halli.................Laurie

Biking... (I Like this part!)

Back to the run...I'm only smiling because I was almost finished!!!!

Taylor and Lauren ran across the finish line with me...

Immediately after the race...WHEW!

Laurie, Halli, & Taylor

Taylor, Halli, & Lauren

I did it! It was actually alot of fun.

Silly Girlies...

Dave made these lights for the kids out of LED lights, batteries, magnets, and duct tape. They have had more fun with these. They are magnetic and will stick to anything metal. They've been put on the refrigerator, light poles, lamps, screens, Maggie's dog crate, you name it. A red one was even placed on the "Deer Crossing" sign in the neighborhood...on the nose of the deer! They stay lit for about 3 weeks at which time you just have to replace the battery.

Lauren and her friend Caitlin...

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Our nephew, Nathan, turned 11 today. He's Dave's sister's little boy. They live in Killeen, TX which is about an hour from us. We went to their house on Saturday for his party then today, they came to Austin and we all went to the movie, Hotel for Dogs, and then to Chilli's for dinner. It's fun to have them so close!

Nathan blowing out his candles...cheered on by brothers Matthew and Seth.

Nathan & Carter

Taylor climbed the tree in their back yard...she LOVES to climb trees!

Matthew, Nathan, & Taylor...playing the Nintendo DS

Lauren held, carried, and played with their cats the entire party (about 3 hours straight!) I'm sure the cats (they have two) were glad to see her go! :)

Five Times the Fun!!!

On Wednesday, my friend Rachelle, her mom, and I took her quintuplets to lunch at Chili's. Believe it or not, they were really good! We used to take them quite a bit before they were mobile and before our lunch buddy up and moved to Colorado. (Yes, Liz, I'm talking about you!)

Rachelle, Ryder, & Rustin

Halli, Kaydence, Kyndall, Rachelle's Mom, & Kassidy

Kyndall, Halli, & Kassidy

I go over to Rachelle's every Thursday and watch the babies so she can run errands. I've done it since they were 2 months old. I love these babies, almost as much as my own! :)

Unexpected Loss...

My Uncle Alex passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, January 4th. He is my dad's brother. It was a very sad day for our family. His funeral was yesterday in Houston, Texas so we loaded up the kids and went to Houston. It was a very nice service and we were able to see many family members whom we haven't seen in years. Both of my brothers were there so that was nice as well. I just wish it had been under different circumstances. He was a great son, husband, father, grandpa, brother, uncle, friend, teacher, and coach. He will be missed by many.

Dave, Taylor, Carter, Dad, Mom, Lauren, Halli, John, Chad