100 Days!

I guess kids these days celebrate the 100th day of school with a party.

(we sure didn't do that)

Anyway, I offered to help out with James' party, but I have a dentist apt scheduled that morning.

I ended up being quite late to the party.

When I walked into James' classroom, as accustomed, I immediately tried to spot James among the sea of kids.
They had made crowns by stapling wide strips of thick paper together and placing them on their heads. They had "100" printed on them and some children had written their name's on their crowns and perhaps had done a bit of coloring.

Then I spot James.
Here is HIS hat, modeled by Lauren.

It is NOT a thick strip of paper, he has trimmed it down to a stylish thinness. He has boldly colored the 100 in bright yellow marker,(he must have borrowed). He has painstakingly cut out the 100 print and actually glued it back onto the strip of paper, creating a very unique look. He is also, unlike the other children, wearing his hat with the 100 off to the side. (It looks much better that way)

 

:)

 

He gives me a hug and runs off to wash his hands.

 

As I am clearing off the tables, cleaning up from the student's hat project, Sam comes up to chat with me. He picks up a little black piece of paper from the

table, holds it up and says "What's this??"

 

 

Though I had never seen it's duplicate, I immediately recognized the work and the artist.

(It's Toothless)

 

I quickly snagged it from being thrown away.

 

I knew I wanted to keep it. 

Somehow, James had managed the time, amidst making an amazing hat, to also make his very own (pretty awesome) additional craft.

:)

I can't help but chuckle. This is sooo James.  He is not a sheep. He is so full of life and creative ideas.

 

I love James, you are an amazing little boy!

 

Lauren turned 4!

Our little Lauren Larue(Wooski) turned 4 years old . She was my miracle baby! When James was just a year old I felt a strong prompting I needed to have another baby. I was not ready. A month later, Barry came to me and said he felt strongly that we needed to have another baby soon. I was scared because of all the trouble I had had, getting James here, but we decided to go ahead with faith. We didn't have a single trouble, problem or worry with the pregnancy and my little Lauren was born healthy and strong on the 29th of December, 2010, and she was BEAUTIFUL!



We love our Lauren so much. She is such a tender-hearted girl, but she is also intelligent, stubborn, and will not be pushed around by certain unnamed big brothers. :)

Things we love about Lauren in random order.

I love how Lauren talks, she has an incredible vocabulary for a child of any age, she doesn't also say the words exactly right, but we love to hear her try. :)  My favorite of her words are Chocolate(trawlet) Closet (trawset) Hercules (Littlelees, that one took me a long time to figure out). She loves to sing and knows many, many primary songs and loves to belt them out when we are driving in the car somewhere.

Lauren makes me smile EVERY day without exception.

I love how Lauren will put her self down for a nap when she is tired. When we were at Anthon's farewell party, there was a ton of people over to Barry's parent's house. We were all having lunch, but Lauren was tired, she lays down on the couch in the kitchen, (the middle of everything) asked Grandma for a blanket and promptly feel asleep, among complete chaos. Lauren has done this since she was very small, I am so glad she can recognize when she needs a nap and doesn't put up a fight.
She is also an excellent eater and not picky, which I absolutely love about her.

Lauren is a total Daddy's girl. I know she loves me, but she LOVES her Dad. She couldn't be happier than when Daddy comes home. She is the first to give him a hug, the first to climb on his lap, and she insists on cuddling with him every night before she goes to sleep.

I love Lauren beautiful silky brown hair and dark, dark brown eyes. She wants so very much to be a big kid and do everything her older brother and sister can do, but also loves when I call her my big baby and snuggle her on my lap.

I love how after we drop the older kids at school, Lauren will treat me to a constant stream of talking, just about everything she has thought about for the pass day, but hadn't had the chance to share.

She is an awesome big sister, and a great help to me. She is almost always willing to help out. She is great at unloading the dishwasher, general clean-up, and she is my best dirty diaper disposer. :)

Lauren collects pigs. She dreams of one day owning a real baby pig. They are her love. She has 5 or 6 stuffed pigs and they are all named Wilbur. I help her find at least one of her pigs everyday. She is always looking for a certain one, the "white" one, the "big" one, the "mommy" one.  She feeds them bottles of milk and pushes them around in her doll stroller. :)

Lauren Noelle Pate, you were the best late Christmas present I ever got!
We sure couldn't do without you.

 

 Lauren's birthday cupcakes, made by Natalie.

 These were taken today, as I wrote this blog. I love you Wooski!