Happy Birthday Randy!

Gettting ready for the weekend.

So now Randy is finally the same age as me! Yeah...no more jokes I hope. So we made it up to Sturgeon Bay for the weekend and we had a great time as usual. Friday night we got up by my parents and pretty much had dinner and went to bed.

Saturday was Randy's Birthday and we woke up to celebrate. He recieved some great presents thanks to Lauren. A classic baseball and mit. Now once she is old enough they can play catch in the backyard. And to everyones surprise my husband is very easy to please when it comes to buying presents--the simpler the better. The following is an example: He absolutely ADORES his $10- antenna (now he can watch So You Think You Can Dance without a fat Cat Dealy like we got from non-HD Fox) from Carson and Allison and his Tazo Refresh Tea...See guys I told you so!!!! Then it was off to visit a dwarf and miniture horse at Carson's Aunt Kathy's house. I knew Lauren would have a great time as she loves horses. We arrived and fed the horses our carrots and then took them for a walk to an open field when they spend the day. Lauren had a great time because she was almost the same size as the horses....and she got to sniff some more flowers (she really cannot get enough of that!)

Angela the birthday girl and Lauren

A family who got bit by the pond bug...can we get one please?!?!

Ker Plunk

I'm gonna get you!

After frowlicking with the horses it was time for a nap to get ready for the real party. My Nana and Papa were hosting a party for my Papa's brother Freddie and his wife Toni. They came up from New Orleans for the weekend. All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were there. So nice to catch up with all of them since we rarely get to see them all together. And we also had to celebrate some birthdays too! My cousin Angela turned 21 too! Randy and her share the same birthday so I baked a cake that was absolutely delicious and which weighed about 10 lbs because of the 2 1/2 lbs of butter, 4 cups of chocolate chips, and 4 cups of flour! ...mmm I am having a craving just thinking about it. It seemed that people could not get enough of it...although the three layers was alot of cake! So there was alot of slivers being sliced. We also got a chance to take advantage of the beautiful pond for some pictures! Lauren could have played all day making stones go ker-plunk, watching the frogs jump, as well as seeing the big fish swim. Maybe we could get a way smaller version for our backyard some day.

Faster Faster!

Last week was kinda a long week. Not sure why...maybe because we were staying home for a change for the weekend. Lauren has really been into playing with her toys that she had when she was a baby. The exersaucer is getting some attention as well as her swing which still works with her in it. She even shares her swing with her babies.

Her new thing that she likes is this karaoke thing that used to be my sister Andrea's. Lauren loves that she can hear her own voice and sing in it. But her singing sounds more like a dog barking! AAA AAA! She is so cute!!!

So we finally got one! A bike trailer to haul Lauren in! She is so happy in it. Now I should be able to go bike riding and running with Lauren...No excuses now! We broke it in on Sunday and went to the "Icehouse" ice cream place to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. mmm nothing like cookies 'n cream with some carmel collison!!!! After we gobbled up our treats we went to the park to burn some calories. Lauren really enjoys the slides and when flowers are around she sniffs sniffs them. Then we biked home and Lauren looked like she had pretty much sweated through everything. Her face was bright red and her hair soaked. It wasn't that hot outside, but maybe Randy wasn't going fast enough. Faster daddy! We were all very exausted and took it easy.

Update: Our mower broke down so we needed some lawn professionals to tidy up the yard...Thanks Nancy and Terry for helping us out with that! Next time though we will just send Lauren out to do the lawn picking...What a little gardener she will be!

Then came the best part of anyday in the Johnson house~dinner time! mmmm! Randy made a yummy pizza in the cast iron pan and baked it on the grill. Delicious! What a perfect day.

Fun Times!

!wow! What a weekend we had! Very eventful! On Thursday we headed down to visit Allison and Carson. Lauren for the first time in a long time took a great nap on the way down. She normally would have slept for 45 min and then awake for the rest of the trip. We had an early night as Friday would be a packed day. Friday morning came quick and we were out and on the street by 9:00 to watch a very nice parade only a few blocks from Cason and Allison. It lasted over an hour! It featured everything from crazy clowns, lots of dogs and horses (which Lauren enjoyed very much), dancing grannies, crazy men driving Harleys and miniVW bugs and candy!!!! Lauren stomped her little feet when the HS bands would play...and she wanted to pet the many dogs that walked on by. What a great morning.

Then we were off to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We were pleasantly surprised that it was not busy. So we saw many animals and many strollers there! Definitely stroller city! Lauren loved the monkeys and sea lions...are those what they are called? I loved the peacocks...do you know that they make the most annoying sound and that a rhino will not charge after them? Randy enjoyed the elephants...i think that he must have taken about 20 pictures of just one elephant! Good job Honey!

Then after that Lauren fell asleep on the walk back to the car. That has been a first that she has fallen asleep in the stroller for like about 9 months. So sweet. She continued her cat nap in the car. We arrived back at home and put her in bed. She was tired but through the monitor I could hear that she was restless. So I peeked in on her and to my surprise her diaper was off and she was trying to fall asleep in a wet spot! OMG That was the first time that has happened! So she definitely broke in Allison and Carson's new baby bed and matress. Opps! Sorry guys.

The next day was spent going to Chicago to visit some of my friends from college. We haven't gone down there since Lauren was born. So what a treat that she got to come with. Tara, Lark and Paul were all happy to see her (and us too I guess!) We had lunch and then stopped at a park where Lauren got to play in the little sprinklers. Then we headed back to Milwaukee for a cookout. Not just any cookout...one with corn on the cob! mmm! and did Lauren ever like it. She would have gone to bed with that thing in her mouth! It provided at least 30 min of enjoyment for her!The next day was Sunday already and we had to pack up and go...So sad that the weekend flew by. But as you can imagine all good things must come to an end. Thanks you guys for a great weekend...next time you'll have to come up here! There you have it. Wow I can't believe that it has taken me a half of a day to complete this!!! ~I ran errands in between picture posts...so not a whole half of a day!~

Animal Farms

So this week started out by picking up Lauren at my mom and dad's house and going to "The Farm". We met up with Ann and Olivia too! I haven't been there for years and well the place looks the same but it felt different because with having Lauren with everything was completely new again. She loved the baby pigs and the goats but was very apprehensive of the big cows. She had alot of fun listening to the roosters cocadoddledoing! She tried so hard to imitate them. But it sounded more like a dying dog. I would have pictures, but my silly camera battery ran out of juice. Well, we will just have to go again to snap some more pictures.

So then on Tuesday we went to a petting farm here in Green Bay. And well it was fun because we went with Lauren' s new friend Sophie and her mom Amy. The girls got to feed the horses and bunnies carrots. They had a great time together. Wow two farms in one week!

Now we are looking forward to the weekend. We are going to be going to Milwaukee for Thur. thru Friday. Hopefully we will get to visit some more animals at the Milwaukee Zoo. Then on Sat. we are heading to Chicago to visit my friend Tara. Haven't seen her in awhile. Will be good to catch up with her. So another eventful weekend for us. I am crossing my fingers that next weekend will stay free so that we can get ahead on things here at home.

Happy 4Th of July!