"Let me show everybody..."

Two of Lauren's great admirers, Mike & Josh, gave her an amazing (and possibly incriminating) gift for Christmas this year...a mini video camera. It's just the perfect size for Lauren's little hands, and simple enough for her Mom...errr...for Lauren to operate. See below...



Lauren quickly learned how to operate the camera (with limited assistance from the grown ups) and was on her way to capturing some ridiculous...errr...precious footage of her friends and mostly her family. The following video is one of her firsts, and a favorite of mine because it's entertaining to see a "movie" shot by a person who is only 3 feet tall. Enjoy!

Lauren and Elle - A Delightful Duo!

Lauren did not have school on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day so I took the opportunity to invite one of her best gal pals over to play. This was the first time, outside of a "babysitting" situation that Lauren had a playmate come to the house.

Lauren was so fired up about the playdate. I feared she would do too much pre-planning for the event (like her mother) and then be disappointed if all the items on her list were not accomplished. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she was open to any activity that interested Elle.

The girls headed straight to Lauren's room where they played for almost two hours. There were various visits from one or both of them wearing some type of dress up clothing and clunk clunk clunking down the hall wearing dress up shoes. As you can imagine, Lauren's room, that was perfectly tidied and neat that morning, was almost unrecognizable after the girls were done.

Prior to lunchtime, the girls decided they would like to watch a DVD that Elle had brought with her. Chad and I decided the best place to set them up for video viewing would be our bedroom. (The rationale being that they couldn't TRASH that room like they would any other room in the house that holds Lauren items) The girls were so darn cute I had to get a picture of them. They look like two teenagers!



After lunch, the girls expressed an interest in playing in the backyard. Things were a bit damp, but it felt like an early spring day and was irresistible! Lauren and Elle headed out in sweaters, but shed them almost immediately. I sat out on the screened porch with my laptop while they played and generally ignored their activity until I saw them dragging tree limbs and chunks of branches over to one area of the yard. As I eavesdropped on their conversations I realized they were building a campfire. Lauren was in charge of the whole operation and thankfully Elle was a willing participant.















The girls had a wonderful time together. Lauren was SO SAD when Elle's mom came to pick her up. All in all I think Lauren proved she is a delightful playdate hostess!

A new place to share our little girl

The past four years I have been keeping family and friends updated with monthly updates via a www.homestead.com website. As the years have gone by, I have found it harder and harder to do timely updates. I have dabbled in blogging for almost two years now and feel I have a fairly comfortable grip on things. I'm hopeful that using this blog will help family and friends feel more connected than in the past! I would like to be able to update this blog at least once a week with little stories about Lauren's life. I've titled this blog "The Many Adventures of Princess Lauren" because that would be what I would title each day spent with this amazing girl. She is nothing short of extraordinary. Each day with Lauren is a gift. Sometimes it is a beautifully wrapped gift with exquisite paper and delicate, organza ribbon. Other days it's a squished, torn, ragged gift that's been shoved in a plastic grocery bag. Needless to say the gifts are many and always a surprise.

I encourage you to click the "subscribe" button on the bottom of this post in order to stay connected to the blog. This service will generate an automatic email to you each time I update the blog. If you don't choose to subscribe, you can always just check back from time to time to see what's new. There will always been an archive of past posts that you can look thru at any time.

I am open to any and all comments about the format of this blog. Like I said, I've been a blogger for almost two years now, but this will be the first time I've used it more like a family website. We'll see how this project turns out!

In the meantime, enjoy this pic of Princess Lauren!