happy easter!

hope everyone has a lovely easter sunday!

love, laurie

the end of an era

after 19 months, noah finally outgrew his uppababy mesa infant car seat and had to upgrade to his big boy toddler car seat.  i'm sad because i loved having the ability to keep him in that car seat and click it right in and out of the stroller.  that thing was awesome and i'm so glad we got to use it for so long!  i'm telling you that uppababy system is genius and worth every penny.  no regrets!

that carseat has moved to a new home and will be used by our friend katie's baby who is coming in just a few weeks!

noah has been enjoying his new car seat recently and loves that he has two fancy cupholders.  mom and dad love the fact that it swivels to make it easy to get him in and out.

love, laurie

noah's big screen

we had to run into the theatre to test the dvd player for a documentary screening event we had at the theatre and ryan brought along our copy of the movie "madagascar" as the test dvd.  noah is the only kid who gets a private big screen like this.  he helped us sweep up the stage while those cute and sassy penguins entertained us in the background!

love, laurie

he can use a tape measure!

yup, noah has a new skill to add to his theatre resume . . . he can use a tape measure!  he helped us build a cage for our upcoming "little red riding hood" production and he did a great job helping the college kids in the shop!

love, laurie

our little stage crew guy

noah l-o-v-e-s helping out at both theatres.  he seriously cannot get enough of it.  we have been working hard on stage at the university lately trying to get our upcoming production of "little red riding hood" together and noah has helped out with every crew position so far.  

recently he learned how to put down and tape the marley dance floor and how to fix the broken set piece!

love, laurie

noah meets the easter bunny!

the town where we moved hosted a children's easter bunny event on saturday morning for residents.  i thought it was so incredibly nice that they offered this and we were looking forward to it!  

noah got a fun easter coloring page, had a yummy breakfast with eggs, potatoes, and french toast sticks, met the easter bunny, and went on a little easter egg hunt.  it was adorable and so well organized.

he was an absolute trooper and did so well!  he didn't want to sit on the bunny's lap so ryan and i joined in the picture too.

he picked up a few eggs during the hunt.  all of the other kids wanted the candy inside the eggs but he was really just excited about the plastic eggs!

that little side-eye glance at the bunny was absolutely hysterical!

love, laurie

this kid loves his tools

this guy always has some type of tool in his hand.  he loves them.  his favorite, by far, is his drill!

love, laurie

baby beethoven

noah was helping us out on stage recently to set up for our upcoming show and he spied the keyboard in the wings.  he knew exactly what to do!

love, laurie

airing out the toes for spring

it may not be summer quite yet, but it is officially spring now and noah couldn't wait to try on his new flip flops that he got recently.  he took his socks right off and aired out his toes in his new shoes.  

we're going to have to take this kid to the pool this summer so that he can use these flip flops.  we got them for only $2 so we couldn't resist!

love, laurie

happy birthday!

happy birthday today to ryan's mom!

love, laurie

dare devil

this kid is a dare devil daily.  the stunts he pulls make my heart stop.  now he is all about sitting on the tiny ledge at the top of the stairs (not safe at all)!

love, laurie

happy st. patrick's day weekend!

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!

happy st. patty's day weekend!

love, laurie

tooth brush thief

noah is obsessed with the whole teeth brushing process.  he loves to steal our floss and floss his own teeth and he really loves stealing our tooth brushes and brushing his teeth too.  crazy baby.

love, laurie

a blur

i couldn’t even get a photo that wasn't blurry of this nutcase doing a circus act on the exercise ball because he kept moving so fast!  what a crazy little man!

love, laurie

clean up committee

no one can clean a stage after a show quite like noah!  he sure loves a broom and dust pan, and is always happy to jump in on the action!

love, laurie

strolling around the neighborhood

the tiny mayor of the neighborhood likes to take stroller rides around the block even if it is a bit chilly.  we like any chance we get to go outside when the weather is decent enough!

love, laurie

part cat

this kid is part cat.  he loves to sit in boxes and baskets!  he took everything out of this basket so he could get himself in it!

love, laurie

monkey see, monkey do

noah saw dad vacuuming under the sofa so he had to take his toy vacuum and vacuum under the sofa too.  monkey see, monkey do!

love, laurie

a baby shower for katie

we're so excited for our friends katie and travis who are expecting their first baby this may!  in the midst of our crazy busy schedules with work and children's theatre rehearsals, we were able to carve out a couple of hours to celebrate katie at her baby shower.  

the baby shower was bunny themed which was so cute and it was at one of our absolute favorite restaurants!  (noah was very happy to be able to taste the yummy bunny-shaped cookie!)

so excited for katie and travis!  we can't wait to meet this little one and for noah to have a playmate!

love, laurie

sooooo long

this guy is a terrible, terrible sleeper.  when he does sleep, he stretches out so incredibly long!

love, laurie

baby selfies

this guy loves the camera and really loves looking at pictures and videos of himself!

love, laurie

leko's spot

we recently moved our basket chair from the loft in our house into the office and leko has been loving it.  it's a great spot for an afternoon nap with the sun shining through the windows.

love, laurie