Homeschooling

We have been praying and thinking very hard lately about homeschooling Lauren and have come to the decision that starting in January she will begin homeschooling at least through the elementary years and then we'll see about a private school. Her last day at preschool will be the week of Christmas break. We have already joined a local homeschooling activity group and they have weekly activities for the children and monthly teaching meetings for parents. We also got a package of curriculum from Sonlight. We also prepared our house by turning the playroom into an office/ playroom and buying a student desk and chair set for Lauren. We are all excited about it and feel like this is the best decision for us and for Lauren. Steve is a bus driver for our county and quite honestly our schools here are not the best in my opinion, lots of issues I won't put on a public forum but trust me they are really bad. anyway, here's a picture of our little turkey with her Thanksgiving hat and napkin holder she made :) We hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving. We all have lots to be Thankfull for :)

Family Day Celebration

We have had a busy Family Day weekend so far, Friday night we put up our tree and Christmas village, This morning Lauren had parent day at dance school so we got to sit in on her class, then we headed to lunch and to see the new Madagascar movie, the mall was having a children's festival so after the movie we headed to that. We are having a busy but great weekend with our girl :)

Three Years Ago

Steve and I met little Lauren for the first time, I cannot believe it's been three years. I'll never forget that day or the 7 hours of screaming that took place after they handed her to me that first time. She has changed so much physically, socially, mentally since then. She is now a carefree, happy girl that loves her mama AND her dada unlike those first few days. What a blessing we have been given not only with the gift of Lauren but also with the gift of the other families we traveled with, we have made some wonderful friends with those 11 families :)


First time seeing mama

Her first reaction to dada

Gingerbread House

I got Lauren a wilton gingerbread house kit. She had the best time spreading the icing, and decorating the house. Walmart has them for $10.00 and they are pre baked and pre built, all you do is mix the icing. I highly recommend them for these cold, dreary days. :)






Spreading Icing







The artist and her creation



The finished product

Fall School Picture

She apparently wasn't in the mood for pictures :)

Auburn

We went to the homecoming game at Auburn yesterday. Auburn won. YAY....Lauren wore her cousin Brittany's Auburn cheerleading outfit from when Brittany was Lauren's age.Britt is now 14 years old :) The funniest part of the day was when Lauren announced she was going to go to Auburn when she is a big girl and so is her friend Joce. Lauren is going to paint stuff black and Joce will paint stuff white. HA..I hope she doesn't mean vandalism....A tradition at Auburn is if they win they roll Toomer's corner with tp, well being OCD like me the first thing she wanted to know is " who clean this mess up, dis paper is everywhere"




On her way to watch the tigers play







Toomer's corner "decorated" post game

Hopscotch !!!!

I thought this was cute. Lauren made a hopscotch board on our back deck, she didn't want to play on the sidewalk out front because there was a hot air balloon out back she was watching :)

Abby Cadabby, She's A Butterfly

Lauren wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween again this year but the only costume that she liked was the abby cadabby costume so she was abby cadabby the butterfly. We had " Trunk or Treat" at our church last night and she had fun there, she came home with lots of candy and also there was a box from Nana and Papa waiting on the porch with the new Tinkerbell movie in it and a light up tinkerbell shirt also. She got a flu shot on Thursday so she wasn't feeling 100 percent but we made the best of it and tried to have lots of fun with our butterfly anyway.

When She Dresses Herself

This is the outfit Lauren chose to wear yesterday :) Luckily it was cold here so she couldn't go out with the shorts and the t shirt on. She appears to be very self expressive already:)

Ducks, Blopens, and Dogs

We have had a fun few days, yesterday we took Lauren to feed the ducks at a local park, then today she played with blopens for the first time, and she also shared fruit snacks and hugs with Jake. And just think, it's only Monday :)

How Did She Get This Big ?

A very wise friend known as the Dragon posted pictures of her precious girl with pumpkins over the last 3 years so when I started looking at Lauren's pictures with pumpkins I could not believe how fast she has grown and how much she continues to change and grow each day. Here's the last 3 years fall pictures. Enjoy.....



Pumpkins 2006


Pumpkins 2007




Pumpkins 2008

Fancy Socks And New Shiny Shoes

Sundays are very rushed for us so this week I asked Lauren to please go and pick her socks and shoes out so we could go to church and here's what she picked. " fancy socks and her new shiny shoes " She totally cracks me up :) and no picture of Lauren would be complete without her tongue sticking out or her being a silly girl :)