lauryn turns 5, part deux

limbo!

game number one: pop balloons & get the prize inside (a ring or a coin). the person with the most rings when all balloons are popped wins! lauryn chose to sit this out & watch everyone else struggle with the popping of balloons.

game number 2: musical chairs...need i say more? lauryn decided to sit this one out as well & be the dj with her new hello kitty cd/karaoke machine. the 2 sisters, destiny & allison, in the left corner were the big winners for the 2 games.

here is the birthday cake i made for lauryn. i purchased one of those silicone giant cupcake molds. it worked like a charm...although it inadvertently resembled strawberry shortcake's house more than a giant cupcake. it was a yellow butter cake mix complete with cheesecake frosting...how can it not be good?

lauryn turns 5...

where did the last 5 years go??? all of a sudden, lauryn is 5! she has been looking forward to her birthday for over a month. her excitement has been infectious. we have all been happy for her, cheering her on her last few days of being 4. her birthday fell on a thursday so we got our day started early with her opening gifts from family.

boy, did she hit the strawberry shortcake and hello kitty jackpot! that evening, we went out to eat as a family to her second favorite restaurant, olive garden (her first being del taco...which she only orders chips & nacho cheese when there). yes, she goes all out at olive garden ordering buttered spaghetti with parmesan cheese.

about a month ago, lauryn decided against the chuck e. cheese party that she'd been planning since she turned 4 because she had a better idea....have a "strawberry shortcake limbo party" at the house instead. i liked the idea from an economic stand point but all the running around & cleaning to prepare is for the birds! but it was a success & lauryn had a blast. that's all that counts, right?

oh crap!

a few weeks ago when october rolled around, we got the few decorations that we have for halloween out so we could decorate the house. well, we got the indoor ones taken care of, then ran out of time to put up the lights outside. the outdoor items were sitting inside the house, just in front of the front door. lauryn walks by, picks up an item and says, "well, i guess we'll have to take care of this crap tomorrow!" oh, the things she says...

dancing queen

lauryn fell in love with "mamma mia" when my brother nate was traveling with the north american tour of the show. we received the video for christmas one year and my kids watched it over and over. it takes place in greece, a place that we would love to visit someday. lauryn has now had a year of dance classes at a few rec centers. so what do you get when you combine all of this? take a look!

we spent an evening at the greek fest last weekend and had a great time. the food & drinks were awesome, and it was a beautiful evening. we bought lauryn the little skirt she is wearing in the video. it has gold coins dangling from it so it makes a lot of noise with every little movement.

isaac ~ fall soccer 2010

so as you can see, i have pretty much fallen off the blog wagon. i have not looked at anyone else's blogs for the past year and haven't posted since last fall's soccer season. let's see if i can get back in the swing of things...even if just a bit here and there.

isaac had his second game of the season today. it was a hot one folks! the game was in the middle of the afternoon in 100 degree heat. i'm so ready for the weather to start changing. this should be the hottest game of the season.

yesterday we received in the mail our new FLIPvideo camera that we finally got around to ordering. that made me happy since dennis was going to miss isaac's game because he had to leave town for a fight. even better, lauryn got to play with her friend ellie while the game was going on so i was free to shoot without any interruption.

isaac scored 2 goals today ~ one with his left foot! i managed to only record 1 of the goals (sorry) and here it is...

soccer guy

it's that time of year...my favorite! it's fall ~ well almost...i love september, october, & november. i love that the weather starts to get cooler, school is in full swing, the nfl is just underway, & isaac is back in soccer. this year we are trying out a new league. love that he'll get more playing time as the rosters are smaller. also, he gets a full uniform w/o having to pay extra for each piece (well, it really is worked into the price of the league). the uniforms are much better looking than the other league too, although the shorts on the kids almost look like skirts since they are huge & billowing. isaac's little leauge coach really wanted him to play fall baseball & has been campaigning all summer for it. but isaac likes to switch it up & i'm just fine with it.

so the first game of the season was yesterday. isaac scored within the first 2 minutes of the game. now, let me share with you that the mountain lions' (team name) game time was at 1:30 in the afternoon & it was ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT degrees outside. the poor guy played himself out in the first 5 minutes or so. when there was finally a chance to sub in the other players, isaac came over crying he was so thirsty. i felt so bad! i had brought water, but it wasn't enough. dennis went to buy more at the snack stand so we could poor some over the kids in addition to drinking it. that should be the hottest day for the season, but even so, i will be bringing more water & ice packs with to each game.

he is playing soccer again with his buddy michael. they started together as 3 year olds 3 1/2 years ago ~ that's how they actually met. they have become the best of friends & love playing sports together. so here they are in their "minot high" colors that dennis was very excited to see!

i'm back!!!

after a long hiatus...i'm back!!! while going back to work & taking 2 classes last spring, i did my best to keep up with posting. then my final projects were due the end of april & beginning of may & took up my time. somehow time just got away from me & facebook interfered. i could pretty much share what was on my mind there & share pictures too. i'm going to try blogging again but will most likely not post as much as i did before.

so here is a picture from our summer...we haven't been able to use the pool as often as we have in the past. dennis has been very busy ~ he started working for state farm in a new office. his days are long and he usually works saturday mornings if he's not working a fight. i was also working through the summer. now summer has somehow disappeared & labor day is here! we are looking forward to a day of rest, swimming, and grilling. i love short work weeks!

the tooth fairy visits...

isaac lost his first tooth yesterday...the kicker is, the tooth wasn't even loose! isaac went to the dentist 2 wks. because of this:

see that adult tooth coming in in the back? the dentist told him he'd have to wiggle the baby tooth in front of it to try to lose it. he gave isaac 2 wks. to complete this task, otherwise the dentist would pull it. well, today was the scheduled day for the teeth pulling. it appeared that he wouldn't lose it on his own. i made a comment about how his first lost tooth would be pulled in the dentist's office. so yesterday, less than 24 hrs. before visiting the dentist, we were at the gym. an hour later, we went to pick the kids up in the playroom & isaac opened his mouth to show me that he'd lost a tooth! the one he lost was basically pushed out by the new one coming in. it never seemed to be loose, but all of a sudden at the gym, isaac said it was just hanging there so he just pulled it out! so the tooth fairy "paid" him a visit...& comes again tonight since he had the other tooth pulled this afternoon. guess it was a quick & easy removal.

ahhh...just another sign that my boy is growing up toooooo fast!!

p.s. easter pix to follow sometime...

oh lauryn...

the other night after being gone to work all day, then off to isaac's baseball game, lauryn gave me a big hug. i told her i love her. her response: i love you mucher!

last night lauryn, isaac, and i were on our way home from the church. they were surrounded by easter baskets and such while they were there. lauryn wanted to know when easter would be here. i told her it will be in about 10 days, but we will go to the church in 2 days for an easter celebration. she was all excited about this because then we'd get to dress up like easter bunnies. :) guess she equates easter with halloween. isaac & i told her that you don't dress up in costumes for easter, that you just do that for halloween. so now for halloween, she thinks it would be hilarious to dress like an easter bunny!

my baby

8:45 pm was drawing near & it was time to finally shut down for the day and watch the amazing race. last season, isaac would hear it begin from his room and find an excuse to come join us. and we would gladly oblige! since little league baseball has gotten under way, we've been very busy and isaac is generally pretty tired out when it's time to go to bed. so needless to say, he was sleeping pretty much as soon as his head hit the pillow tonight. lauryn on the other hand was the one who heard us & needed mommy to "rock her". since i hardly get any time with her anymore, i quickly grabbed her out of bed & cuddled with her for the next 45 minutes. it made my heart happy! here are some recent photos of my baby.

here she is in her pajamas for a night: raiders jersey, pajama pants, & knit slippers - all of various colors. :)

g'ma & g'pa sent a pkg. a fewweeks ago filled with goodies. one of the things lauryn got was this cute dress. she immediately had to put it on. she looks so big in this picture.

she "needed" her nails painted & here she is waiting for them to dry.

oh, i love her!

the wonders of tylenol p.m.

the other night i decided i would take 1 tylenol p.m. after a few nights where i didn't feel like i slept so well. every now & then i'll take the tylenol when i feel like i need to catch some good zzz's. lately, with my busy schedule, i'll go to bed with my head swimming of "to do" lists. then i proceed to have silly dreams all throughout the night & tend to wake up exhausted. so, with the miracle of modern medicine, i fell into a deep sleep. apparrently, later in the night, lauryn was having a coughing fit. i was somewhat aware of it but couldn't really drag myself out of my stupor. luckily for me, i knew my husband would take care of her. the next day dennis told me of our conversation in the night. it went like this:

d: if lauryn wakes up again and i don't hear her, just wake me up & i'll go help her.

j: k.

a little while later...

j: (sitting up in bed) i hear her! i hear her! she's throwing up!!!

d: jen, that isn't lauryn. it's the dogs barking next door.

j: oh...(then i promptly fell back to sleep).

happy birthday my boy!

today isaac is 6!

we celebrated on saturday since there was no way we could swing a party today, on monday. he decided that he wanted a mario themed party at home. before the party, he was able top open a few gifts early since they would be part of the party: mario kart game for the wii + controller (thanks g'ma & g'pa johnson), extra controller (thanks uncle n8, auntie dee, & lilia), & a mario t-shirt (mom & dad). isaac invited 6 friends over & we started off with feeding everyone.
on the menu:
sloppy joes
pepperoni pizza rolls
bbq chips
strawberries
cantaloupe
sierra mist

before playing the wii, the kids had to pop balloons. each balloon had a real penny in it that they had to pick up after the balloon burst. once all the balloons had been popped, the person with the most pennies won a prize. plus, they all got to trade in their pennies for chocolate coins, which in my opinion, should be the real currency. below is my favorite picture of isaac leaping on a balloon to pop it.

next, it was on to the wii mario kart tourney.

carson (batman) & dennis, sizing up the competition.

elijah was the big winner!

oh yeah, lauryn had to dress as "princess peach" for the occasion.

next it was time for the birthday...

doughnuts!

last but not least, isaac opened up all of his amazing gifts from his friends. he was so excited & thankful for everything.

this video is from the balloon popping part of the party. dennis decided he needed to show 'em how it's done!

flashback friday

this is dennis and his cousin krista at the north dakota state fair in 1981. dennis looked at this picture and told me he can remember this day so clearly. he was part of the parade with a group of bmx racers. this picture is at the fairgrounds after the parade was over. krista and her family always came from nebraska for the state fair.

do you know the song "jinger bells?"

the other night, lauryn was singing "frosty the snowman" as she lay in bed to go to sleep. dennis & i were watching tv and could here her singing. we were cracking up as she sing a part of the song, then swing into the "oh! frosty the snowman!" it was just so adorable! it made me remember that i really hadn't put much from our holidays on the blog so thought of this cute video to share. we were at the lake for a few days in december. i happened to just be walking by while my mom & lauryn were singing christmas songs. i turned around quick to retreive my camera and caught this:

we all get a kick out of her singing "JINGER BELLS".

photo tag - i'm it!

The rules are simple...
1. Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.
2. Pick the 4th picture in that folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4.Tag 4 people to do the same.

this photo of lauryn was just a random day last april. i remember thinking her hair was so cute that i should take a picture. it's really grown since then!

now i cheated & have another picture below. i accidently went to folder #1 & took picture #4 which turned out to be the one of isaac here when he was in NICU. we laughed at this picture & titled it "one MILL-ion dollars".

i tag: n8 & d, my mom, jordan, & kelani
now you're it!

flashback friday

as i was looking back at these, i just couldn't get over how beautiful he was. i loved everything about his hair: the color, the texture, the wave & curl, the smell. baby hair at its best!

i love how he's reaching over the side of the basket to get his toy car.

in the picture below, he's attained his goal of getting the car. now it's time to concentrate & play with the darn thing!

ellie time & snack time & the pink panther

ellie time:

here are some pictures of lauryn & her friend ellie. let me tell you...ellie is a hoot! the other day we were over at her house to celebrate birthday #3 for her. ellie was so excited to see both lauryn & isaac. so cute! she & lauryn were sitting at the table next to each other while everyone else was visiting, playing, eating. i happened to be standing near them ( well, not really happened when lauryn refuses to let me out of her sight when there are more than a few people around) when i overhear ellie singing "happy birthday to me". then she looks at lauryn to tell her "you sing it to me".


snack time:
dennis told me that after lauryn woke up from her nap, she requested a snack, probably with her "i need sumpin" line. so she curled up on the couch in a midst of blankets while dennis went to get her some fruit snacks. upon returning to her with them, she says to him, "now that's what i'm talkin' about". funny or what?

pink panther:
the other morning, lauryn woke up to watch some cartoons. yes, my kids do not wake up to start the day, they wake up strictly for serious cartoon watching. she usually loves sprout, noggin, or disney at 7:00 am. isaac is the one who is into boomerang which shows the good cartoons from back in the day. you know, the ones like tom & jerry, the smurfs, the jetsons, etc. lauryn generally isn't too interested in these. so i was surprised when she chose to watch the pink panther over the really stupid show lazy town that she seems to enjoy. so i sat with her while the show was starting. the pink panther disappeared from the cartoon frame & lauryn said, "hey, where'd the pink dude go?"

i know these are all really random, but that's what you get when i haven't blogged forever. :)

so i've been a slacker lately...

but it's only because i've been BUSY, BUSY, & MORE BUSY! i'm sure that now i'm back to work and soon to be taking classes, my blog will suffer. i'll do my best!
who knows if i'll get around to sharing much holiday stuff, so i'll start with my favorite. it's a video of the kids on one of our many drives in the frozen tundra of north dakota. while lauryn was with my parents for 3 weeks, apparently they listened to christmas carols ALL the time. she knew many songs, we were all impressed, as were some shoppers one day when lauryn was with my mom in a store, where lauryn was belting out "GLO-O-O-O-O-O-O-R-I-A". that was one she claimed as her own, along with this one below:

bubba shrimp...

i want to share a recipe with all of you shrimp lovers out there. paula dean made it on one of her gazillion shows, and it looked really good. so i tracked down the recipe for us to try one evening when my parents were here. it was a big hit!

shrimp & wild rice casserole
one 8 0z. pkg. of wild rice
1# med. shrimp, peeled & deveined
2 TBSP butter
1/2 gr. pepper, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can cream of celery soup
(it calls for cr. of mushroom but YUCK!)
2 c. sharp grated cheddar cheese
salt & pepper
bread crumbs
*cook rice minus 1/4 c. of water. cool. saute shrimp. saute onion & gr. pepper. combine all ingredients except for 1/2 c. of cheese. saute bread crumbs. put into a 9x9 pan with bread crumbs on the top. top with remainder 1/2 c. of cheese for last 5 min. of baking. bake @ 325 for 30 min.
2 c. of cheese is a lot! i know we didn't use all of that...to each his own.

flashback friday

i know you've seen this picture before, but it is worth sharing again. this is from christmas 2006 in n.d. g'ma & isaac built a snowman & used green olives for his eyes & smile. it didn't take long for ol' smiley to get his eyes pecked out by some birds. i love the big smile on isaac's face. looking forward to lots of playing in the snow soon...