Lauren's big day.

Sunday was Lauren's 4th birthday. We started the day off with McGlasson family pictures, then headed to Claire's to pierce Lauren's ears. She was so brave! They only had one girl working so they had to do it one at a time. She loves them!

We went home for cake and ice cream with family then headed to Chuck E. Cheese for fun.

What a great day Lauren had!

Laurens measure of love

It has been confirmed. Any doubts I had are gone. Lauren might have fooled us as a baby when she came out looking like her father but she is definitely all mine.

This weekend Laurens legs were "broken" and she was tired and needed to be carried everywhere. Her father put her down and she immediately came running for me to carry her. I picked her up and asked her "how much do you love Mommy?" And her response told me she was all mine, "Mommy, I love you from here to the mall!"

Definitely my child!

BBQ PRINCESS

Lauren competed in her 1st ever Kid's Q contest at the Boone Co. Fair this past weekend. At 3 yrs she was the youngest competitor every and was as singed to the 6-10yr old class.

Her recipe for Hawaiian Turkey burgers won her 5th place, a medal and $5 cash.

"Lauren Martin, 3, holds her award with her grandmother, Debbie Martin, after winning 5th place in a children's barbecue competition at the Boone County Fair on Saturday. Lauren won the prize for making a Hawaiian turkey burger with her parents' help.According to Aimee Olmstead, coordinator for the event, 33 adult teams and 11 children participated in the barbecue contest Saturday.

Children participated in the Kid's Q, the children's event in the competition featuring ground meat products. Lauren Martin, 3, was the youngest participant the event has ever had.
"I wanted to do it because I like cooking with my mom and dad," Martin said.
Martin cooked a Hawaiian turkey burger and won fifth place in the Kid's Q category."

Columbia Missouri online article.

Will add recipe later...

Doing donuts on the 4wheeler

The last time it snowed Lauren and her Grandpa got on the 4 wheeler and started doing donuts. Needless to say, it was very cold but she would not get off. Grandpa calls her "his little dare devil" because she will do almost anything with him.

What Lauren loves!

I attended Lauen's schools' Valentine's party yesterday and found on the bulletin board on cute red hearts where they had asked each one of the kids "what they loved". As I reading, a lot of the little kids loved mommies and daddies and their friends. Not my little diva - oh no! Lauren loves " Dora, um, my ugg boots, um, my dora house and little barn rabbits". Yeah - she has also told everyone at school that she is going to be a big sister - FALSE!
They also said they got a kick out of her the other day when they asked her where her socks were. She told them very matter of factly "you don't wear socks with ugg boots". Like duh, don't you know the golden rule of ugg boots- NO SOCKS. They just laughed.

Disney vacation & cruise

Grandpa & Grandma Kemper took Lauren to Disney World on January 14th. This was Lauren's first plane ride and the first time being away from Mommy & Daddy for more than a weekend. We stayed at the Summerbay Resort which was 5 miles from Disney. After checking in we drove to Disney Town which has a lot of rides and shopping. That was when Lauren first saw Cinderella (statue) and thought she was the real thing. The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom and had a wonderful time. We let Lauren do what ever she wanted, since this was her vacation! The next day at Magic Kingdom was spent getting autographs from charachters that we missed the first day and riding the same fun rides. Upon leaving the park, Lauren had already fallen asleep in the stroller. No time for naps at Disney!

We left Orlando on the 17th and drove to the Jacksonville Airport to get on the cruise ship. We were taking a 4 night cruise to Freeport and Nassau. As Lauren and I were walking out of the bathroom at the airport (Grandpa was filming us which is unusual for him to be using the video camera) I looked up and saw Shana and Chad who were surprising us at the airport and going on the cruise with us. I was shocked! We all had a good time on and off the ship. Lauren and Grandpa loved playing in the sand and being in the ocean. The water was quite cold! I hope Lauren remembers this first big vacation by looking at pictures, video and talking about it.

Christmas 2007

I know I haven't been doing a very good job at this and considering Heidi has made more posts then me really seals the deal. I have been addicted to my myspace page - see Christmas photos there.

Lauren had a wonderful Christmas and helped everyone else open their gifts. Which was fine until it came to her 3yr old cousins who wanted to open their own presents. We celebrated Christmas at Chad's parents Saturday where Lauren got a new bike and digital camera from Mimi and Papa along with lots of other goodies. The digital camera was a hit until Lauren snapped a few shots of Daddy in the shower. Needless to say the camera is not allowed in the bathroom any longer. Maybe Daddy should learn to lock the door? We also have lots of close up pictures of Charile, I don't think he likes the camera either.

Sunday we had Christmas with my Dad's family. Lauren had a great time running around with Kennedy and playing with the Polar Express train that runs under their tree. They love to make the whistle sound and run it backwards around the track as fast as it will go. Lauren received several new "rooms" for the Dora House she got for her birthday along with Dora Horses and the Dora truck and horse trailer. Lauren loves to have Papa Mike read her stories because he always edits the words and makes them funnier. She thinks he is something else.

We shared Christmas eve between mine (my mom's side) and Chad's Grandparents house.
My mom, Lauren and I all got Ugg boots from Grandma, are feet won't get cold this year. Lauren also got a lot of horse riding gear - kiddo stir ups, a riding helmet as well as hot pink cowgirl boots. She is ready for spring to come so she can start riding Sweetie. Grandpa and Grandma are also sending Lauren on vacation - a 2 day stop at Disney then they cruise to the Bahamas. (wish I got a vacation for Christmas)

You ask, what more could a kid want? We haven't even made it to what Santa Clause brought...
Santa brought Lauren a big yellow dump truck as well as a dance bag full of leotards, ballet shoes and tights. Mommy and Daddy enrolled her in dance classes for Christmas and bought her some more use full things like p.j.'s, clothes and big kid silverware. One of her most favorite gifts came in her stocking from Santa - a checkbook and red gingham cover from PBK. She loves helping me write out bills so this way she can do too. She is very genourous when it comes to writing checks, more so then Mommy.

Now if I could just find the perfect spot to store all this mess...Maybe Lauren can ask for a house keeper next year :)