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Name: Lauren         Location: Middle Tennessee, USA

Welcome to my blog! I am a Christian, wife, and mother who enjoys reading, running, and all things Disney. Stop by regularly for a glimpse into my life!
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wordless Wednesday: My Preschool Graduate
(This is a post from my deleted blog. I haven't added the picture back yet.)

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  posted at 1:15 PM  
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Monday, May 28, 2007
St. Louis, Part Two
(This post is from my deleted blog. It does not contain the pics or links from the original post, but I hope to add them at some point.)

Welcome to part two of our St. Louis experience. If you didn't have the opportunity to read part one, click here.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium

On Thursday, we attended a Cardinals' game. My favorite boy was very excited to attend his first Major League game with Dad. He was also thrilled that the Cardinals were playing the Pirates. He played for the Pirates in his coach-pitch league this year, so he cheered for both teams. He wore his Cardinals jersey and his Pirates hat. Let me just say that people in St. Louis love their team, so my son garnered quite a bit of attention with his hat. While wearing it at the zoo, another child pointed at him and exclaimed, "Mom! That boy has on a Pirates hat!" Countless adults made joking comments to him during the week as well. Here are my favorite boy and his dad before leaving the hotel to go to the game. The second picture is of them at the game.

In all honesty, my favorite boy got a little bored with the game. He enjoys watching baseball on TV, and he even likes Minor League games. Major League stadiums, however, are so much bigger; the action is so much further from the seats (unless you are right behind home plate). So...much to Dad's dismay, my favorite boy wanted to spend much of the game in the Family Fun Zone. This kid friendly area has video games, a play place, and batting cages. My best girl and I arrived at the game late because she was napping. When we arrived, she also enjoyed the play area. Here she is playing on a giant pitcher's mound.

The Cardinals won, and overall, we had fun. However, I think Dad will wait a few years before taking his son to another Major League game. Dad likes to watch, and he didn't get to do much of that this time!

The City Museum

I have never visited a place like the City Museum. Basically, it is the largest, most creative playground I have even seen. The bottom floor is called Enchanted Caves. You can crawl through caves, climb into animals, and explore all kinds of tunnels and slides. Other floors contain an art studio, a circus, a toddler area, and more places to slide, climb, and explore. Outside, there is a huge playground called MonstroCity. It is made out of old airplane fuselages, an old fire truck, and more iron than you can imagine. I really can't describe any of the museum adequately, so be sure to click on the link above if you are curious to see what it looks like. Here is my favorite boy in the Enchanted Caves.

Some of the exhibits were a bit overwhelming to my best girl, but she did enjoy this slide in the toddler area.

My favorite boy loved this ball pit. There was another ball pit that was even bigger, but I called him out of there when 3 buses full of middle school kids descended on him.

If you are ever in St. Louis, be sure to check visit the City Museum! I would say that it is worth it for ages 5+. While my favorite boy could have stayed here all day, my best girl (2 1/2) would have been just as happy in the hotel pool.

The Magic House

For both of my children, the Magic House was the highlight of the trip. The Magic House was recently named the #1 attraction in the country for child appeal, and I can certainly see why. Here is a picture of my daughter playing in the Waterworks section of the museum. She loves playing in water, so this exhibit was right up her alley.

One section of the Magic House is called Children's Village. They have a grocery store, bank, electric company, restaurant, library, construction site, etc... Through the middle of the village runs a stream covered by plexiglas. You can catch a magnetic fish in the pond, take it upstream, and then watch through the plexiglas as it swims downstream to the pond. This was so cute! Both my kids spent a good deal of time catching fish and watching them swim back to the pond.

My favorite boy loves numbers, so you can imagine his delight to find this...

Another big hit was the exercise room. Here is Dad helping my best girl do some chin-ups.

I really can't do this museum justice either, so be sure to check the link if you are interested. I highly recommend St. Louis as a great place to visit with kids. There were several more places we didn't have time to visit (Grant's Farm, St. Louis Science Museum, etc...); if you visit St. Louis, you will find many fun, inexpensive places for your family to explore.

We enjoyed our trip so much! Thanks for reading all about it. Tomorrow, Dad will return to work, and we return to a normal schedule. Of course, sometimes that's as welcome as the trip itself!

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  posted at 1:11 PM  
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
St. Louis, Part One
(This post is from my deleted blog, and it does not contain the pictures from the original post. I hope to add them at some point.)

Our trip to St. Louis was fun! This may only be interesting to us and grandparents, but I plan to share pictures and tidbits about our trip today and tomorrow. I hope you will bear with me.

The Arch

Of course, one of the highlights of St. Louis is the Gateway Arch. My kids, especially my best girl, were fascinated by it. Our hotel was across the street from the Arch, and my best girl went to the window each morning to say hello to it. Each evening, before bedtime, she said, "Good night Arch!"

After the five hour trip from our home in the Nashville, TN area to St. Louis, we headed to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on Tuesday afternoon to stretch our legs and visit the Arch and its Museum of Westward Expansion. My favorite boy and his Dad also took their gloves and played catch under the Arch. We enjoyed this park on several occasions throughout the week. I am including pictures from several of our visits.

Here are my three favorite people posing in front of the Arch.

Here is my favorite boy and a grizzly bear we found in the museum. There were other animals in the museum and also covered wagons, stagecoaches, tepees, etc.... Although my kids are a bit young to appreciate American history fully, they enjoyed seeing and talking about these things. We did not go to the top of the Arch. I am very claustrophobic, and I had been warned that the cars were very cramped. Perhaps we will attempt that on another visit!

The mighty and muddy Mississippi captured the kids' attention as well. There were quite a few barges and boats passing by as we stood on the bank. My best girl was ready to jump right in for a swim. She did not understand why we would not let her play in all that water.

This is the goose family we followed around in the park. They were so cute. They would allow us to get very close, and then the mother or the father, I'm not sure which, would call out and the family would waddle away from us.

The Zoo

On Wednesday, we went to the zoo. The St. Louis Zoo is the best zoo I have ever visited. We stayed four and a half hours and did not see everything. The kids enjoyed it so much. Both kids had a ball riding the zoo's train. My favorite boy enjoyed the playground at the Children's Zoo (a special area within the zoo). He also thought the tarantulas in the insectarium were great, and he loved the penguin habitat (brrrrrr.....).

My best girl enjoyed petting the animals in the Children's Zoo. They had guinea pigs, goats, and other animals. She also loved the butterfly house in the insectarium. The butterflies were everywhere. Every time a butterfly flew past her, she would jump and squeal with delight.

Other family favorites were the hippos, giraffes, chimps, and elephants. I was a little disappointed that the lion was on vacation, but my disappointment was minor compared to the fun of seeing all the other animals.

Well, that's Part One! I hope you will come back for Part Two. I will share about our trip to the Cardinals game, the City Museum, and the Magic House. Thanks for reading!

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  posted at 1:09 PM  
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Small Talk at My House - The Mother's Day Edition
(Post from my former blog)

Last week, my favorite boy bounded to the car when I picked him up at preschool. This was our conversation as soon as he got in the car.

Favorite Boy (grinning from ear to ear): Mom, I made you something! Let me get it.

Me (taking a sack with a ribbon from his hands): Wow! Is this my Mother's Day present? Should I open it now, or should I wait?

Favorite Boy: Pull over and open it now.

Me (after opening the bag to find his hand print, name, and date on a porcelain tile): Wow! This is beautiful! Thank you so much! I love it!

At this point my favorite boy just grinned.

Me: It was so nice of you to make this for me!

Favorite Boy: Oh well, you know mom, my teacher made me do it.

HA! And then my bubble burst!!! Oh well, he was still as cute and proud as could be, and he even let me hug him when we got home (but no kisses allowed).

Happy Mother's Day!

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  posted at 3:28 PM  
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Monday, May 21, 2007
Small Talk at the Ballpark
(Post from my former blog)

Last week at the ballpark, I bought my best girl a cherry ring pop. She was enjoying it until several girls walked up with blue raspberry ring pops. This is what happened next.

My Best Girl: Mommy, I can't eat this sucker anymore.

Me: Why?

My Best Girl: It's choking me.

Me: It's choking you?

My Best Girl: Yes. It's choking me. I don't think I should eat it. I think I need a blue one.

Hmmmm.....

Just for the record, I was mean. She had to keep the cherry ring pop, even though it was obviously a choking hazard! :)

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  posted at 3:33 PM  
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Sunday, May 20, 2007
Weekend Reflection
(Post from my former blog)

Again, our week was a mixture of joy and sadness. On Monday evening, one of the elders of our church passed away from a massive stroke. He served our church as an elder for 32 years. Mr. H. was a wonderful man, and his daughter is one of my friends (and my favorite boy's future mother-in-law). We are so saddened by this loss, but we rejoice that he is in Heaven. His family takes great comfort in this. We attended the visitation Thursday and the funeral Friday.

Thursday evening and Saturday were my favorite boy's two final games of his rookie baseball season. He enjoyed playing so much. After Saturday's game, the boys had a pizza party and got their trophies. My favorite boy is already making plans to play "in the fall, and then next spring, and then the next fall, and the next spring..." Here is a picture with his trophy.

Saturday evening, we headed to the park for a picnic/potluck with our church family. We do this monthly during the summer. Tonight, we honored our graduating seniors. It was nice to be together as a family for a lighthearted event after experiencing a sad loss together this week. We are so blessed to have our church family!

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  posted at 3:32 PM  
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Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Sweetest Words
(Post from my former blog)

On Tuesday, I was putting my two year old daughter down for her nap. We have a routine. I change her diaper (we are working on ridding ourselves of this), put her in her crib, cover her with White Blankie, and place Pink Blankie at the foot of the crib. I then tell her goodnight and "clap the door" as I leave (she mistakenly says clap when she asks me to leave the door cracked). As I was leaving, she pushed up and said, "I love you, Mom."

This is the first time she has said those special words without me saying them first. Of course, my heart just melted. Considering I spend most of my day training my darling daughter to act in a civilized and respectful manner, that moment was truly a highlight for me!

Although my best girl can be quite a handful, she is a gift! I am thankful for her and for the sweet, sweet words she shared with me this week! I hope she can remember to say them every now and then when she is a teenager! :)

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  posted at 3:30 PM  
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Monday, May 7, 2007
Small Talk around Town
(Post from my former blog)

I know I just shared some cute things the kids said on Friday, but I wanted to share a couple more from my best girl. Saturday, we decided to go to Home Depot to buy some flowers to plant and to pick up a few other outdoor supplies. We had to laugh at this conversation.

My Best Girl: Where are we going?

Me: We are taking you to Home Depot.

My Best Girl (immediately crying and screaming): Noooooooo!

Dad: What is the matter? Why are you crying?

My Best Girl (still in tears): I don't want to go home with Depot!

Dad and I couldn't help but get a big laugh out of that comment! I don't know who she thought Depot was, but she certainly did not want to go with him! The next conversation took place this morning as we were leaving the Y. Let me say that my darling daughter is a little more spice than sugar. Lately, we have been dealing with some behavior issues. As I went to pick her up at the Y nursery, she came running to me.

My Best Girl: Mom, I did obey my teacher, but I'm sorry!

Me: I am glad you obeyed your teacher, but why are you sorry?

My Best Girl: I'm sorry I took that toy away from the little boy and made him cry. I just wanted it!

Obviously, we still have work to do (at least she still tattles on herself)! Have a wonderful Monday!

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  posted at 3:26 PM  
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Saturday, May 5, 2007
Highs and Lows
(Post from my former blog)

Once again, this week has had ups and downs. I spent time at the funeral home with my friend who lost her father. Her family has had a very difficult time in the last couple of weeks. I know when the flurry of activity is over, their loss will truly start to feel real. I hope I can visit with her in the coming weeks and be a little bit of support.

On a very positive note, I am an aunt (again)! My brother and his wife had a baby girl Friday afternoon. Carly Ann weighed in at 4 lbs 15 oz. She is little, but she is doing very well (my sister-in-law only weighed 5 lbs when she was born, so Carly Ann's weight was not too surprising). I hope to get pictures of her soon. Unfortunately, little Carly Ann is in New Mexico, and I am in Tennessee. I don't know when we will be able to see her. Her big brother Matt will be one next week! My sister-in-law is going to have her hands full with her Irish twins, but what a special relationship Matt and Carly Ann will have! They will be so close!

Everything else that happened this week was typical: church, baseball games, errands, etc... This afternoon, we hope to buy some annuals to plant in front of the house, and we are taking the kids to Cici's Pizza for dinner. I have been working on losing weight the past few weeks, but tonight will be my treat meal for the week. There will be no control in an all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant!

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  posted at 3:24 PM  
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Friday, May 4, 2007
Small Talk at My House
(Post from my former blog)

Here are my favorite comments my kids made this week:

Comment #1

My Best Girl: When I am a boy, I will play baseball.

Hmmm........

Comment #2 - Made after Dad has been gone for about 24 hours

My Best Girl: Mommy, do you remember Dad?

Comment #3 - Made after I told my son he had to share a toy

My Favorite Boy: But Moooom, she's already had it for like 25 seconds!

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  posted at 3:22 PM  
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Previous Posts
  • A Disney December, The Final Chapter
  • A Disney December, Part Five
  • A Disney December, Part Four
  • A Disney December, Part Three
  • A Disney December, Part Two
  • A Disney December, Part One
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