Learning to Play the Piano

Since Lara is sitting so well, I thought it would be fun to let her try out the piano! She had a blast pounding on the keys! Hopefully she'll be a better player than me!

Getting into it!

Lara's first piano lesson!

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Jace's Birthday Party

Our friends Sarah and Jeremy's little boy Jace turned 1 on our anniversary! Lara was invited to her first Birthday Party! The theme was a Hoedown Throwdown! Ha! Complete with Square dancing! :-)

We had a great time being outside, chatting with friends, playing and trying out square dancing!

Me and Lara - Taking a break from the heat inside for a few minutes.

Square dancing fools! - We ended up trying later with Lara in tow. I was definitely sore the next day. She is getting HEAVY!

John and Lydia!

Lincoln was in full cowboy attire

My pretty girl sitting tall on a blanket on the grass! Can you believe she could possibly be this big!?!?!

She was having a blast!

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Fun times with Lincoln & Carter

We watched our friend Scott and Ruthanne's boys one night so that they could go to Married Life Live at the church. We always have a great time with them! We made it a family event and even brought Hailey! (This is one of her favorite places!) She loves all of the attention that she gets from the boys!

We had a great time and got a little taste of what it would be like to have three kids! I thought it was fabulous, but not so sure that Lucas would agree! ;-) I think he was glad to go back home to just the three of us afterwards!

Lucas and Lara were having a good time! She LOVES turning upside down... maybe she will end up liking gymnastics like her Mom! :-)

Pretty girl having fun!

Sweet Carter

Hailey was having a blast!

Time to play outside!

Daddy and Lara

My loves!

Sweet Lincoln - Lara just LOVED him. She would laugh and laugh at his funny faces. He even read a book to Lara while I was putting Carter to bed! Such a good big brother!

Haha - Fingers in her mouth and drool all over her face... at least she was having a good time!

Time to jump on the trampoline!

"What are you doing Daddy?!"

"Ok - I guess it IS pretty fun!"

First time in a swing!

Going...

Awww - she liked it!

Lucas pushing Carter

Lincoln swinging high!

Sweet Boy

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My Cousin Janis' Graduation

We were able to make it down to Birmingham to see my cousin graduate from High School! It was so nice to be able to see family and let them meet Lara. Also, we had a great time watching the graduation! We are so proud of you Janis!

Also, my cousin Bobi graduated from College with TWO degrees the weekend before. We weren't able to make it down for both, so we opted for the weekend that would work out better for us! We are SO proud of you too Bobi!

Here is Lara meeting her cousins Mitch & Roni

Lara was loving Roni's necklace!

Me and Lara waiting in the Lobby before graduation

Lara and her Great, Great Aunt Janis! Again with the necklace... it makes getting good pictures much more difficult when she is so easily distracted! :-)

Lara and her cousin Mandy!

The proud parents!

The proud parents and Grandma!

The graduate and her sister Mary

Lucas, Lara, Me & Janis

Lara with her cousin Mitch. She LOVED his tie! It had Winnie the Pooh on it. I could see on her face that she was like, I think I know this guy!

Lara was such a perfect angel through the whole graduation! The graduation lasted a couple of hours, was through her nap time, and we ended up being about 1 1/2 hours after her normal feeding time... But, she didn't make a peep during the whole ceremony and was definitely a trooper! She sat in between Lucas and I and then actually fell asleep leaning over on me. What a wonderful little girl we have! How did we get so lucky?!

Getting her diploma!

We were even able to go celebrate at her after graduation party. I of course forgot to get the camera out once we got there. It was so nice getting to visit with family that we don't get to see very much! We are so glad that we could make it!

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Mother's Day

Lucas, Lara & Hailey got me these beautiful flowers for mother's day!

This was an extra special Mother's Day, my first! Although we were all kind of under the weather, so we didn't get to do anything too exciting. It was still nice to all get to spend the day together! I am so thankful for Lucas and Lara. I just can't imagine life without either of them! Being a Mom is truly the most rewarding and hardest thing I've ever done! I am loving every minute!

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Sitting!

Lara has really started getting good at sitting! She is getting so big! I just can't believe that my little baby girl is this big already!

Working on Sitting!

Sitting Tall!

Practicing with Granna!

A new view of the world when you can sit! She is LOVING it!

I've been trying to upload a few videos of her sitting, but haven't been having much luck. Maybe I'll get around to it sometime!

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First Day of School

Well, it was finally that time... after 4 months at home with Lara, it was time for me to go back to work... I was definitely less than thrilled to have to put her in daycare. I mean who is going to do as good a job as me? No one... But, the ladies at her school really care about her, and I felt good about the place that we chose. It will take some adjusting for sure, and I'm not sure that I will ever be 100% comfortable with her being there, but I know that she is in good hands. Plus, she is only about 3 minutes from my work, and I am planning to go feed her and play with her during my lunch hour every day. So, that will help break up my day and let me get to see her for a whole hour during the day every day!

Here is Daddy and Lara on the first day of school - Lara looks so sleepy. She is like Mommy, why are we up so early?! What happened to our morning nap?! I will not be shown in the first day of school pictures... too much crying does not make for good pictures...

Second day of school - fell asleep in the pack in play with her Teddy before we left for school. It's going to take a little while to get used to having to be awake in the mornings at 6:00am.

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Granna & Granpa - April Visit

The day after we got home from Brazil, my parents came to stay with us for a couple of weeks to help me transition Lara (and mostly myself) into daycare. We had a great time having them there, and I am so thankful that they could come help me get started back at work.

Granpa, Hailey & Lara playing on the floor!