lauren's check up 11-01-07

Lauren had her six month old check up. It included her shots that were not fun for either one of us. She got weighed and she is now 15 lbs. That means that she is in the 23% in her age group on weight. She is 27 inches long which puts her at 84% for her age group. Her head is 16.4 inches which is 28%. So- over all we have another small kid. But- who knows she might be the tallest of us all. Time will tell.

Halloween 2007

Trick or treating at dad's work.
Everyone was concerned about Laurens little feet sticking out. But- don't worry she had her feet covered when we were outside.
Last year I showed Brianna how you can sort out your candy and the first thing Bri wanted to to was sort it out. She thought that was one of the best parts. Her favorite candy this year was NERDS! Yuck.
I don't know if you can tell but Paige had her hair in a up due. She loved it and I had fun doing it. We also put sparkles on her face and hair. That was the big thing this year. Even out cat (bri) had sparkles. I called her our glamor cat.
This year for Halloween the kids had a blast! Brianna was a cat (again she was last year too. I couldn't talk her out of it), Paige was a Barbie princess and Lauren was a bumble bee. All of our babies are bee's for the first year. It's just become a little tradition in our family. We had a lot of fun getting ready. The girls were really good and loved every minute. I don't think I heard one complaint all day. HEAVEN!! As you can see both of the girls loved looking at the candy the received. Paige was in candy heaven I had a hard time getting her to look away from it. :) The candy since then has been a good way to bribe the girls to eat their dinner and put away their toys.

Our pumpkins

Bri had fun playing in the guts of the pumpkin.
This is Paige and her pumpkin.

We grew three pumpkins this year. The girls had fun watching them grow. Bri was brave this year and got out most of the seeds. Paige just wanted to draw and poke holes in everyone else's.

Last Day With Best Friend 10-18-07

Jessica loves to have her pictures taken. In the picture below they were covering each other up in the leaves much like you would with sand.




They made a pile of leaves and then they would run and slide into it. THEY LOVED IT!
Sisters just being silly.

Today we had Jessica come over because this is the last day before she leaves in the morning. The girls had a good week. We've had the 5 girls in that family come over almost every night and stay with us so the parents could get ready to leave. Brianna loved the time with Jessica and Paige really got attached to Sarah and Stephanie. When they left Paige and Brianna got really mad and sad. The only thing that got them through the move of there friends was that we will see them again because they live in the same city as grandma. They are constantly asking when we can go and see them. Jessica called a few weekends ago and now Brianna is wondering when we can call her. It is hard to see friends move away but I've learned from living here that I'll make new friends and I always learn from something from them. It is also usually something that I need to learn. So- Thank you to all of my friends that have come into my life!
Oh- also can you see some of our fence? Looks great huh! I only wish that we were done staining it. We have put SO many hours into staining it that it makes me sick. I don't know if we are going to get done before it snows.

Monster Eater 10-11-07

Lauren enjoys her first teething cracker. She really loved it for a little while then she was just mad because it wasn't getting the food in fast enough. :)

Big Sister 10-10-07

Brianna loves her little baby sister Lauren. She has been a big help for me when I need to get something done. She helps protect her from her very active sister Paige.

Paige 09-20-07

Paige being silly as always. She decided to get into her stickers and make herself pretty. Well- what do you think? I think she looks GREAT!

The Pink Panthers 09-10-07

The herd of girls that follow the ball was a blast to watch. They didn't really know what they were doing because they only had two practices before their first game.
This is her first half time.

Brianna started playing soccer this year. She was not sure about it just like she wasn't about t-ball. She is a good little player once she got over the fear of kicking someone. This was their first game and Brianna was the only one that got a goal. GO BRI!

Our new investment 09-08-07

Since we moved into the house we have been waiting the day when we could put in a fence. Well- the day is now here. We were waiting to blog this because we wanted to surprise mom and dad. (they like to keep secrets in the family until they come and see things like this) but- they found out about it and everyone has been waiting to see what it looks like. So- here are some pictures. I'll put some more pictures of it up when I get them downloaded on the computer. It looks a lot different now. Keep posted.

Brianna's First Day Kindergarten 09-06-07

Brianna started kindergarten this year. She is part time which means two full days of school and every other Friday. It is a big change for all of us to have her gone all day. Paige always gives her a big hug when we pick her up at school. It's like she hasn't seen her in a week. I love it. Brianna however thinks that she is weird!
Because it was her special day she got to have the special place setting and pick dinner. I think in included mac-n-cheese. Wow time sure does go fast. I can't believe that we have a child in public school.

9th Anniversary 09-03-07

For our anniversary we spent it with people we love. We went miniature golfing with mom and dad. Paige did good for the first 9 holes then lost interest. Brianna loved it. Dad of course won!
After golf the took us out to eat lunch. I don't recall the name of the restaurant but it was on the river and it was a blast. The girls enjoyed looking at the big boats. THANKS MOM AND DAD! After lunch we headed back and packed up our things and headed home. It was an anniversary weekend that I don't see forgetting. I love Shane more now then the day I married him. I am very lucky to call him my husband!

Mt. St. Helen's 09-02-07

This day started with us waking up at the hotel and being refreshed from a long day the day before.
We all got ready for church and went to sacrament in Longview, WA. After church we went back to the hotel to check out. We then headed up to Mt. St. Helen's. The drive was beautiful. Then once we got there we found out that you had to pay to go inside any visitor centers and since it was Sunday we decided that we would have to do that another time. You even had to pay to get close to the look out sites. Shane and I were pretty bumbed about that.

After we looked around at the free sites we did a little trail. Brianna was really sad that she couldn't hike up to the volcano. For some reason she had it in her mind that is what we were planning on doing when we got there. Over all it was a fun experience. It was weird going into a blasting zone, and seeing the new little dome steaming.
After we were done with our tour of Mt. St. Helen's we headed to Mom's and Dad's. Grandma Nielson came over for dinner and met Lauren for the first time. We had a lot of fun with her.

Beach Time 09-01-07

This Ship has been here on the beach for a long time. I think that dad said that it's been there for a 100 years. I don't recall the beach but it was AWESOME! the kids loved to climb on it. I've never seen anything like it before.
Lauren was a sport. She can hang out anywhere.
These fingers taste really good. Does it remind you of anyone? (SHANE)
As we were walking down the beach Paige biffed it. We still don't know how but she wasn't to thrilled about it.

For our 9th anniversary we decided that we would take the girls to the coast and go see Mt. St. Helen's. So- on the first day we drove to Vancouver and then to Longview were we stayed. We checked in at the Hotel and then drove to the beach. It was a lot of driving in one day but we had fun.
One the way to the beach we drove threw a town (I can't remember the name of it) and there was this bridge. It was HUGE! This picture doesn't do it justice. I don't remember the Golden Gate bridge being this impressive. I really liked this bridge.
When we got to the beach the sun was going down. It was beautiful. We played in the sand and enjoyed the water. I was in heaven watching my family play and have fun on this great beach.


Paige was wearing this hat because it was a tad cold out and she thought it was fun to cover her eyes up so she could barely see.

Family Swim 8-25-07

I talked Shane into going swimming with us so he could see how much his girls had learned. Shane always has to work when we have swim lessons. It was fun for the girls to show daddy what they had learned and how much more comfortable they were. (even Paige) Unfortunately for us the weather was not great and it was windy and there is only a outdoor pool here so we were not very warm. I think we stayed for about 40 minutes and then we had to drag Brianna out. She was the only one that wanted to stay. We all had fun and look forward to doing it again next summer (hopefully on a warmer day!).

swim lessons 8-20-07

The girls getting ready for swim lessons. Brianna is in level two preschool and Paige in level one preschool. Paige was upset last session because she wasn't three so she couldn't do it but now she can.
Brianna had her second swim lesson of the summer. She had a blast and is not scared of getting her face wet. IT IS GREAT! Unfortunately she has to take it again because she isn't very comfortable floating. She did go off the diving board again and thought that was fun.


As for Paige she had a hard time. She was very excited about lessons until we got there and she found out that there was other kids in her class. It was toucher for me to get her to go. I practically had to pick her up and throw her in the pool. She screamed the whole half hour. I felt so bad for the teachers. Luckily for me there were two teachers in her class so the one teacher just took her away from the other class. She had her own lesson. That made her happy.
For the first week Paige would throw a fit before getting in the pool but by the last week she was jumping in the pool before they were ready for her. I hope that by next year she will remember how much fun she had. Oh- she didn't pass level one because she wouldn't even get close to blowing bubbles. :) Her teacher was AWESOME!