Daddy's Little Girl

Lauren got a pink baseball glove and ball in her Easter basket this year. I am sure there is no doubt who picked this out for her. Of course, Daddy and Lauren went right outside to break the glove in. Lauren also had to have on her sunglasses and bracelet before she was ready to play ball.

Hunting Eggs with Friends

We had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard for Lauren and her friends. Daddy hid the eggs, but before he could finish, the kids came running out to get their loot. I was cracking up. It was a great time and all the kids loved opening their eggs and eating the treats.

Once again, my daughter was the only one with stuff all over her face. This is actually her second change of clothes.

Lauren's Big Beautiful Bed

Lauren made the move to a big girl bed and things are going surprisingly well. Because we have such an active little girl, we were concerned that she would use her new found freedom to have an all night party in her room. We told her that the big girl bed comes with only one rule, "No getting out of bed until Mommy or Daddy comes to get you". She has done great and always follows the rule. She tells everyone that will listen to come and see her "big beautiful bed". We are really proud of our big girl.

Lauren playing princess in her big beautiful bed!

Of course cuddle cat also had to check out the new sleeping arrangements

Sweet Valentines

Lauren got together with her friends in Pearland to celebrate Valentine's Day. They ate lots of sweet treats, danced, played with bubbles and exchanged cards. Lauren was so cute passing out her Valentine cards and she loved looking through her bag of cards and treats. It brought back fun memories of Valentine parties at school as a kid. I know that Lauren isn't there yet, but this was a perfect little party to start those memories.

The cupcake crew
(and why is my child the only one with frosting smeared all over her face)

Emery was showing Lauren how to blow bubbles

more cupcake!

Dance Party Pearland

Wildlife Park

Our playgroup visited a wildlife park and it was amazing. I hope you can tell from the pictures how unbelievable this place is. The kids got to see the animals really close up, feed them and touch them. It was super cool! We rode on an open tram for about 40 minutes and the animals would come up to the tram and eat out of your bucket of food. Lauren wasn't scared of the big animals at all, but the petting zoo was a different story. She would let a huge ostrich or camel get right next to her, but she wanted nothing to do with the goats and pigs in the petting zoo.

feeding the ostrich

Lauren feeding a camel. She literally gave the camel a kiss!

Sesame Street Live!

Lauren's wildest dream finally came true! She got to see Elmo, Abby and the whole Sesame Street gang in person. She was on the edge of her seat the entire time with this look of amazement in her eyes. Her smile was so big and it was so much fun to see her get so excited. It is really fun as a parent to do something for your child that totally amazes them. I think this definitely falls in to that category for Lauren.


I think this picture is worth a thousand words.
Could Lauren be smiling any bigger?

On the edge of her seat!

Here's the low down on Lauren's outfit. Elmo t-shirt, Zoe hair clip, Elmo tatoo on her right arm, and Abby tatoo on her left arm. Her Daddy still couldn't resist buying Lauren a souvenir t-shirt.

Time to Play

After over a week of traveling, Lauren took some time to enjoy her Christmas gifts. Mimi and Papa bought Lauren an outside teeter-totter. She loves it, and so do her friends. She also got a small four wheeler from Mommy and Daddy. She is still trying to figure it out, but she looks super cute on it.

Lauren and Will Christmas

Will and Lauren met up at Poppy's house on Christmas eve to sprinkle magical Reindeer food in the front yard for Santa's Reindeer. They were so excited to be together and loved tossing the food in the air. I am including a picture of these two cuties from last year so you can see how much they have grown.

2007

2008

Presents at Poppy and Mer Mer's

Lauren opened gifts on Christmas morning at Poppy and Mer Mer's house. Santa Claus left Lauren and Will scooters under the tree, which they were both crazy about.

Reed Christmas

Here are some pictures of our sweet Reed girls at Christmas. We had a new Reed girl to celebrate Christmas with this year. Happy 1st Christmas Josie. Just for fun, I included a picture of Maia and Lauren from last year so you can enjoy how much our girls have changed.

2007

2008

Aunt Heather enjoying some Josie snuggles


Aunt Mar enjoying some Lauren and Maia snuggles


Daddy and Lauren opening gifts

Sweet Family

This Christmas was made even sweeter because we got to spend some time with Uncle Gene, Aunt Sandy, Amy and Kevan. It was Lauren's first time to see Gene, Amy and Kevan and she absolutely loved them! She still talks about them, so hopefully we can get together again soon.

Lauren also met Papa and Pat Craddock this Christmas. We had a fun night of opening gifts, eating yummy food and chasing Lauren around. Thank goodness Landon and Ashton were around to help entertain Lauren. By the end of the night she was getting into everything, but we still think they loved getting to meet our bundle of energy.

Christmas Cookies

Lauren had several opportunites to make Christmas cookies this year. She was a little young to enjoy the process of making cookies, but she was an excellent taste tester. Mom was a little worried that she would get sick from eating raw cookie dough and spoon fulls of icing, but no harm done.

Christmas 2008

The Reed family had a wonderful and blessed Christmas, and we hope you did too. Lauren has changed so much since last Christmas, and it was so special for us to begin teaching her about the true meaning of Christmas. Of course she was showered with gifts, which she is an expert at unwrapping, but she also loved singing Christmas carols, playing with her nativity set, and singing happy birthday to Jesus. She definitely made the connection between Jesus and Christmas. It is an incredible thing as a parent to experience your child beginning to love Christ.
The week of Christmas seemed like a whirlwind. We travel from Houston to Whitney to see Mimi and Papa. From Whitney we headed to Midland, and stayed there from the Saturday before Christmas until the Friday after Christmas. We had an amazing time with all of our family. We returned home feeling very loved and very tired. There are many more Lauren Christmas stories and pictures to share, so I will be adding more to this post soon. I had to include a picture of Lauren from last Christmas so everyone could see how much she has changed.

Christmas 2008



Christmas 2007