Grandma Slade

We had a bittersweet event this month. Ricky's grandma passed away. It was her time to go and we know she is in a better place. She will always be remembered and loved by us all. She has touched many people in her life. I learned a lot about her life from her funeral. She was definitely an amazing, strong woman. Because Ricky's brother works for the airline, Ricky and his family got free passes to fly out to New Mexico for the funeral. Thanks to my mom for watching Dylan, I was able to go with him. Since Lauren is still breastfeeding and free to fly, she tagged along with us. This was her first flight. She did really well. I nursed her on the take offs and landings, but other than that, she was good.
Ricky's mom had a good time with her brothers. This was the best shot we got of them!
Here are all of the great grandchildren that were able to be there for the funeral. There are many more that couldn't be there.
And here is the group shot. I only knew 11 of the people before this trip. The cousins came from Utah, California, and Arizona to be there. It was so nice to meet all of Ricky's family. They are amazing people.

Christmas time!

I love this time of year! Especially when there is snow! I thought I should post the latest pictures that have been building up on my camera! Lauren and Dylan have been alternating their naps, so I have had a hard time keeping up with my blog! Dylan has been such a big helper with making cookies! Lauren, not so much! She loves to be the center of attention and needs constant entertainment! I will say that Dylan does a great job of entertaining her! We have been busy cooking, shopping, wrapping, and decorating. It is a lot harder to accomplish everything with 2 kids! I am getting used to it though. I wouldn't trade them for the world! I finally managed to get my Christmas cards out. I only started them in October. I guess I should start making next years cards now! I had a lot of fun and think they turned out really cute! Ricky got a flat tire this month. Good thing it was insured and we have roadside assistance! It didn't cost us a penny!

Lauren was so cute taking a bath that I had Ricky get the camera! I don't think we have many pictures of her taking a bath. Look at that big round belly! Still the cutest girl I know!
This was Lauren's first time in the Bumbo seat. Can you tell that I love it?!?! She fell asleep watching Dylan's train go around the tracks! How cute!Dylan wanted to say cheese, too! This picture makes him look really skinny. Maybe it's the shirt. He says the cutest little things. The other day I made him a cheese sandwich (his new favorite thing to eat. Cheese and bread.) to eat on the way to church. After he finished the sandwich, he said, "Thank you so much for making me a sandwich. That was so nice of you mommy!" It was so cute! My little boy is getting so big! We started Lauren on baby cereal the other day. She seems to like it. She has a hard time moving the cereal to the back of her mouth, but she eats all of it! I still can't believe that my little baby is getting so big! She is almost 6 months old! She started sticking her tongue out at us and has the cutest little laugh.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe that this year is flying by so quickly! Lauren had her 4 month check up on November 17th. Here are her stats:
Weight: 13 lbs. 13 oz. (50th percentile)
Height: 25 1/4 inches (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 41 cm. (50th percentile)
She is staying about the same in all categories! I have been so busy that I haven't taken many pictures lately. Sorry! I forgot to take my camera for Thanksgiving and haven't taken any pictures since the last post! I go through spurts. I take a ton of pictures and then I don't take any. I guess you'll have something to look forward to! Lauren is getting bigger by the day. She tries to sit up all the time. She gets bored with the same thing and loves to watch Dylan play. She is almost 5 months now. It's crazy! She laughs every time you say "Crazy!" It's really cute.


Dylan is getting big! Last month we tried to potty train him. Let's just say that we'll try again sometime soon. After going through 6 pair of underwear in one day, we decided he wasn't quite ready. He would come to us after he wet his pants, but didn't grasp the fact that he should tell us before he went. He still goes to the bathroom about 3 times a day. We'll get this going soon! He LOVES to sing. I don't think a day goes by where he doesn't sing at least one song. I think it's really cute. Especially when he doesn't know what he's saying but he tries to sing it anyway! We recorded him singing the other day.

The end of November we had our craft day at church. I was in charge of it again this year and things were busy. I enjoyed working with the other girls and the crafts were really cute. I still have to do mine! Oh well! I have been doing lots of sewing projects lately! I enjoy it more than I thought I would. My mom got me a sewing machine for Christmas last year. Thanks mom! I have also been making cards lately. We started a card swap and the cards have been really cute!

Thanksgiving weekend was spent at my Aunt Marsha's house. It was lots of fun! We went over there on Wednesday, so I got to help cook Thanksgiving dinner. I really enjoyed it! Ricky had to come back to work, so the kids and I stayed until Saturday. We had a wonderful time with my family. Dylan loved playing with his cousins. (My cousins' kids and my sisters' kids) It was easier to just say cousins than try to figure it all out. He has already asked if he could go play with his cousins again. Good thing Christmas is coming up soon! The kids all did really good playing together. It's nice to not have to chase them around wandering if they are ok. I guess that comes with the age!

On Tuesday, Ricky took me to see the Lion King Broadway in Indy for my birthday. I can't believe that I'm 26! It was amazing! (We also saw a poster showing that Wicked is coming to Indy in June or July of 2009, so mark your calendars!) My mom watched the kids for us and it reminded me of back in the day with no kids! I really enjoy doing fun things like that! I love my kids, don't get me wrong, but I love doing things without them, too! Ricky also got me a dozen roses! I love flowers!

This week is just flying by! We are enjoying the snow and staying home! Dylan loves to throw the snow when he has gloves on. I like snow, too, but we haven't made it outside without Lauren. We'll have to go make a snowman before the snow melts. We only got a couple of inches, but I think it looks really pretty. I just went and snapped a shot of Lauren! She is so precious!

Family Pictures

We got a chance last week to get our family pictures taken at Ricky's parent's house. They have such beautiful trees and land. The sun was shining perfectly and the kids smiled great! I was really impressed with the pictures. Thanks Ruthalin! This one is my favorite, but they all turned out great! Let me know what you think!

More Halloween

Here are some more pictures from Halloween. Dylan LOVED his sword. He is totally boy!
And we couldn't go anywhere without getting a cute shot of our little Tinkerbell! She was so cute all dressed up and strapped into her seat.
Dylan and his friend Chloe right before hitting the streets. They get along so well! The always make us smile!
They were walking down the street and Dylan wanted to hold her hand. How cute!
This is one of our traditions, taking a picture the morning after Halloween with all of the candy. Dylan wasn't too excited about holding Lauren with all of that candy right there! Oh well! Next year she'll be fighting for her share!
And then there is this cute picture of Dylan and Cameron playing at the park. We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and have a picnic at the park. They had such a good time chasing each other around.

Happy Halloween!

Since we have already had three Halloween parties, I can show you the cute kids all dressed up! Here we are at a Donut Party. We had so much fun and the kids looked really cute! It's always fun showing off your costumes!
Here is a cute picture of Lauren sleeping on the couch. She put herself to sleep this time. She started laughing a lot and sucking her thumb this week. She looks so peaceful when she's sleeping!
Here are Lauren and Dylan watching daddy cut the pumpkin. Dylan always wants to be in the picture. He saw me taking pictures of Lauren and he jumped in there, too!
Here is a during the carving process. Dylan wouldn't touch the slimey stuff. He liked to slip the seeds out of his fingers, though.
What a cute family and pumpkin. We are starting traditions for our family!
He loved his pumpkin! Ricky took him to the street to look at the pumpkin and he said that it was scary. He started shivering. It was really cute!
At church, they had a party for the kids. Here are some of the cute little kids all dressed up! They had such cute crafts and games for the kids. Dylan had such a good time!
Since Lauren was dressed up, I asked one of the older girls to hold her. It was really cute since she was wearing the same costume! I guess Tinkerbell is a popular costume!
And here is my little Peter Pan and Tinkerbell! (this one's for you, Jenny!)
This morning, we had our little playgroup at our house. We made some spiders and ghosts out of suckers. They were a big hit! The kids all lined up along the wall and said cheese! How fun!
Then Daddy came home for lunch and got some good pictures. Thanks daddy!
I absolutely love her smile!
Check back next week to see more dressed up pictures! Hope you all have a great time trick-or-treating! Dylan is really looking forward to it this year!

Life gets in the way!

Look at our cute little girly sleeping. We have had a rough week here. Dylan got another ear infection and then Lauren got it, too. Luckily Dylan's wasn't too bad and he slept fine. Lauren, on the other hand, was not happy. She had a fever and was very uncomfortable. Poor girl. It's hard on everyone when the baby is sick.
We dog sat for my in-laws last week. Dylan loved having them here. (And no, we do not need a dog!) Since the weather was nice, I sent him outside with the dogs everyday to get some energy out. He usually has a love/hate relationship with Pepper, but this week they loved eachother.
I tried out the timer on my camera while we were playing. I think this picture turned out really well! I don't think I have many pictures of me and Dylan.
Daddy came home from work and brought Lauren outside. She was happily swinging in her swing, which she loves! (Thanks Heather! You are a lifesaver!)
Last weekend, my friend Jenny got married! Yeah! She was beautiful!

Daddy and Lauren at the wedding. She did such a great job at the reception and other than the blowout, the wedding too!

She decided to start early! J/K I know she'll be a great mom when the time comes! So pretty!
Dylan didn't get a nap that day, so he was really clingy. Jenny could still make him laugh! I love their faces in this shot!
Last week, we had some friends over to make cookies! They were so cute! Dylan was really excited and loved it! We'll have to do it more often, since it's getting too cold to go outside. We went to feed the fish yesterday and were freezing!
Dylan wanted to show off his cookie. He was so proud of them! Say cheese!
We are hopefully getting better around here! I really miss updating my blog more often! I guess life just gets in the way of things! I have a lot going on right now. I started a card exchange in my ward at church and I'm working with some other women to prepare our craft day the end on November. It is hard work, but totally worth it. It's been nice getting to know more people at church with this activity.
Ricky had a business meeting down in Indy earlier this week and got a hotel for the night. We decided to go down to spend the night with him, since he was so close. We got to go swimming and enjoyed a night away from our everyday life. It was really nice. Speaking of getting away, Ricky has a week off of work in November and we were going to try to get away for a few days. Any suggestions of fun, but cheap little getaways?