Laurie's Life

Steve's parents kept our girls on Friday night so that we could have a date. I am so thankful for that!!!! We went to Shogun. I love everything about that place!!!!! But, I always get a little nervous when they get out the oil and then light it on fire. I am always afraid that my hair is going to go up in flames. I wear a ton of hairspray and so I always back up real far in my chair to avoid an explosion. Saturday afternoon Kelly and I gave a "Sip and See" for Hillary and Sadie. The guests of honor. I loved holding Sadie! Precious baby! She was so good at the party! When I got home we went to Red Lobster for dinner. Our parents are in town for Sarah Kate's birthday! We had her party yesterday afternoon. She will be THREE tomorrow! They sang Happy Birthday to her and she LOVED it! When they left she said,"that was fun!" Jennifer, Kelly and Julie at the shower. ( I always get a picture or two out of place.)

We have had a pretty uneventful few days and I am thankful for that. That is not a bad position to be in! I do believe that I have one of the craziest cats ever. This will be about 21 seconds of your life that you can not get back, but I videoed Kristen during our washing machine washing. She has always, since the first week I had her, meowed and fussed during certain cycles of our washing machine. She always wants to be in the laundry room when I wash and then she meows and chirps the whole time. I need an animal psychologist to analyze her.

While I was at home we attended a lovely wedding. Here is Meme with her girls at the wedding. One of my best friends, Kelly with SK. Kelly is soooo good with children. She is a pre-K teacher and my girls LOVE her! Kelly, Eric, Lauren and Logan. Sarah Kate wanted to hold this baby soooooo bad at the wedding. She asked his grandmother several times why she could not hold the baby. She LOVES babies, just like her mother. This is Kelly's sister, Meredith. My girls love her too. My parents wonderful pastor and his wife. I LOVE to hear him preach when I am at home. When have just finished up a time of testimony sharing over the past 7 weeks. To say it has been wonderful is an understatement. It has been a tremendous blessing to those who have shared and to those who have attended. We have learned so much about each other and about the Lord. I love seeing how God has had His hand of these ladies lives and how He drew them to Himself. I am sad that it is over. I LOVE my church...

We are having a little vacation in South Arknasas this week. Steve is back at home, working, watering the new trees and making sure Kristen is still alive when I return. The girls have enjoyed playing this snare drum that I got when I was in the sixth grade. I know the neighbors are thrilled. We brought the wiggle scooter with us. Sarah Kate has been riding my tricycle that I got when I was three. Emily had an accident on the scooter this morning. She is covered in band-aids now. She was riding it down a hill. I don't think the girls have ever played outside this much or ever been this HOT! It is soooo HOT here! My mother has a dear friend named Cora. Cora has a garden that she wanted the girls to see while they were here. Cora and my mother visit all the sick and homebound in their church. This is a wonderful ministry to have! They visit lots of people every week. The girls picked green beans, bell peppers and dug for potatoes. They had fun and so did I. I am sooooo sad that Mc...

Last night we went to Kelly and Scott's for dinner. It was delicious! I took a fruit pizza. This is a recipe I always enjoy making in the summer. It is VERY easy and fun to make: Slice a roll of sugar cookie dough and space them out on a cookie sheet. Bake @350 for 12 minutes In a mixer: 8 oz. cream cheese 1/3 cup of sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla Spread on baked cookie crust and put whatever fruit you like on it! The CUTE baby Hollis! She loves to smile and coo and talk. I could just eat her up! Trying to get three little girls to look at a camera and smile is near impossible. Steve and I have been talking for four years now about getting some trees planted in our yard. We already had one little tree, but have wanted more. Yesterday, we had three trees planted in our yard!!!!! I was soooo excited. It was like getting new furniture or something. I watched from the windows as the men planted our trees. Now....we have to keep them alive!

I am so thankful that Emily has attended a WONDERFUL preschool. These teachers and staff have loved on her so much over the past four years. She loves all of them! Emily is crazy about Ms. Donita and these birds, Einstein and Abigail. They lead them in chapel each week. Emily has learned so much about Jesus during this time. She has told me through the year that those birds were"REAL." This morning as we were going home she said, Those birds are real, they are, I saw their feet in a picture....." The only thing Emily cared about this morning was ME seeing Abigail and Einstein. She told me I was going to get to meet them. She was thrilled. Emily's best friends at school. Korbyn and Summer. They showed a video that made me cry like crazy. They asked each child what they wanted to be when they grow up. Emily's answer was a vet. Bless her heart, she LOVES animals.

This is Sarah Kate on her last day of Mother's Day Out. We call it school. Here she is last August on her first day of school. Here is Emily on her last day of preschool. Here she is on her first day of preschool. My heart has been so heavy today. I have had a good day, but I am sad at the thought of Emily finishing preschool and SK finishing MDO. They are growing up so fast. They have had such good school years this year and we have LOVED both their teachers. Emily has her graduation in the morning. I will try not to make a fool out of myself with crying.

I thought that I would just wait and move SK out of her crib in a few months. But, Friday night she climbed right in her crib and then showed me how she could climb right out. We knew it was time to bust out the toddler bed. I was VERY VERY sad as Steve took apart the crib that we have used for the past five years. Sarah Kate was SOOOOO excited to be in a big girl bed. She has done great in it the past two nights! Such a big girl!

The girls love to watercolor. I do believe I have discovered the most fun toy/ride ever. The highlight of our Branson trip was discovering this Wiggle Scooter. The kiosk showed pictures of women on these things. I let the girls ride and then I had to get on one. I fell in love. I stayed on it longer than any of the children around. Steve's parents bought this one for us/ME. I have enjoyed it a lot more than the girls. I have been tempted to ride it when the girls are at school but I decided that would be too weird. I could just see Steve bringing a co-worker by the house, opening up the garage door and them finding me riding the scooter in the garage. The ad at the kiosk read: "Great for building upper body muscles." hey....that is what I am doing.

Saturday was Steve's birthday! We met his parents in Branson to celebrate. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack for dinner on Friday night. It was soooo good!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could have ordered three steam pots, but I did not. (Out of Order) Me and the girls before church this morning. Pop and Kay-K. Notice the cats that Emily wanted in the picture. We spent all day Saturday at Silver Dollar City. I FROZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did not bring appropriate clothes. It is so discouraging to have to pack winter clothes for a May 15th event. CRAZY WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This little ladybug ride is my type ride. I am soooooo scared of roller coasters. Steve rode them all!!!!!!