ball pit fun

in addition to the penguin toy, ryan's cousin also gifted us the ball pit which his boys outgrew.  noah has been enjoying it, but he's not the only one who likes it . . . 

love, laurie

elephants!

upside down noah wearing elephant print while playing with his elephant toy!  wild little elephant!

love, laurie

someone has taken over our bed

we have completely lost our master bed to noah and leko.  those two have taken over and it's the location where the two of them sleep the best.  glad someone is getting to use it . . . mom and dad are tired, stiff, and sore!

love, laurie

celebrating grandma's birthday

we celebrated ryan's mom's birthday on saturday with some pizza and ice cream cake.  it was nice to take a break from the theatre to celebrate!  some photos from the day . . .

love, laurie

noah, meet penguin

ryan's cousin was kind enough to gift us several toys that his boys have outgrown.  we are so grateful and noah has been enjoying them very much.  one of the toys was a light up / singing penguin that ryan was looking all over for during the christmas season.  we couldn't find it anywhere because it was sold out, so we were really excited that the penguin was one of the toys they gifted noah.  the day we gave it to noah for the first time he was mesmerized.  it was just too funny!

can't believe this little nugget is 7 months old today!

love, laurie

jack and the beanstalk

for the past month we've been hard at work on this year's children's theatre show at marywood . . . jack and the beanstalk!

children's theatre is something that is near-and-dear to my heart and a genre of theatre that i absolutely love.  ryan and i did jack and the beanstalk nearly 20 years ago when we were sophomores in college.  the 50+ year tradition of children's theatre at our university was incredible, so we were broken hearted when children's theatre didn't happen for the past several years.  after many meetings, lots of planning, and tons of budget crunching, we're thrilled that it's back again this year after too long of a hiatus.

we're honored to be a part of it . . . well, a very big part of it!

i'm directing the show in addition to costume designing.  ryan is the university's technical director and production manager, but he's also heavily involved in this show.  together, ryan and i are designing the scenery, props, audio, and lights.

noah's been heavily involved too!  he's supervising everyone and the students call him their "dance captain!"

noah crashed rehearsal recently and sat on the giant's throne while we were rehearsing the castle scene!  we're all really looking forward to this show which is right around the corner!

love, laurie

happy birthday!

happy birthday today to ryan's mom!

love, laurie

happy st. patrick's day!

i always say that ryan has the "luck of the irish" in him because he has such a knack for finding four-leaf clovers.  he's my "lucky charm" for sure, and he has found several over the years.  i have kept most of the ones that he found (by pressing them between two pieces of wax paper and letting them dry out.)

even when we were leaving the sunflower farm after taking our maternity photos 2 days before noah was born, ryan found a four-leaf clover!  i've read that 1 in every 5,000 clovers has four leaves and that your odds of finding one are 1 in 10,000.  the four leaves represent hope, faith, love, and luck.

here's a few of our favorite st. patrick's day recipes from over the years . . .
- irish soda bread scones
- rustic cast-iron skillet irish soda bread
- vegan irish soda bread (with dried cherries)
- shamrock cut-out sugar cookies

wishing you all the luck of the irish today!

happy st. patty's day!

love, laurie

ma, you put me down?!

if noah had it his way, he would have me carry him around all day long.  i had to put him down recently to move his play mat on the living room floor so i wedged him in the sofa with a pillow.  his expression was priceless!

love, laurie

kitten ball

it was so chilly that poor leko had to tuck into a ball to stay warm.  i've never seen him so tightly tucked!

love, laurie