pretty flowers for our kitchen counter

the university where we teach had a bouquet-making event for the students and one of our beloved students made a bouquet for us to take home.  i have been enjoying it on our kitchen counter!  those kids are so sweet!

love, laurie

a friday evening at lakeland orchard

after school on friday evening, noah and i headed up to lakeland orchard with grandma and grandpa to visit the tulips while ryan worked a concert.  the weather was nice and of course noah had a good time at his happy place.

love, laurie

first grass cut of the season

noah loves to mow the grass and he really loves to ride grandpa's riding lawn mower.  the grass was finally getting long enough that we broke down and mowed it this past week for the first time this season.  noah was a happy camper riding around the yard with daddy!

love, laurie

an award!

i was surprised to learn that i won an award at the university where i work!  apparently the students nominated me for this award that is based on leadership, dedication, and contributions to the university community.  i wasn't able to go to the event where they passed out the awards, so i picked up my award this past week and was grateful for the recognition!

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

some recent preschool snapshots of lots of playground time, art projects, and letter tracing.

love, laurie

look what i found in my recycling bin!

the borough seems to have left something in my recycling bin after hauling away my cardboard!

love, laurie

mr. technician

someone had to show mom and dad how to operate the genie lift . . . (don't worry, he didn't actually go up in it, he just pretended). 

love, laurie

a busy show weekend

it was a busy show week with 5 events back-to-back wednesday through sunday at the theatre.  from a conference to a dance rehearsal, from two tribute bands to a dance recital.  my brain is mushy.

love, laurie

back at lakeland!

we are thrilled that lakeland orchard is back open for the season!  saturday was opening day so we went up in the morning for a few hours before we had to head back to the theatre for a show.  we had a great time and enjoyed the fresh air.  there are several exciting new things this season at lakeland so we have a lot to look forward to this summer with our season passes.

our friends katie and jude were there too so we had a great time meeting up with them and having fun!  the tulips were beginning to bloom so that was really nice to see as well.

love, laurie

n-o-a-h

noah actually wrote his name correctly for the first time, so we were pretty impressed with that!

love, laurie

recent preschool snapshots

some recent preschool snapshots of art projects with glue sticks, playtime outside, and gazing out the window at the bean growing science project with a friend.

love, laurie

well deserved thanks

it takes a village to make a show happen, so i wanted to take the time to thank the cast and crew for helping to make our show a success.  i sat down on friday night and wrote out 29 individual personalize thank you cards to our 20 cast members and 9 crew members who all worked so hard.  

when they arrived at the theatre on saturday morning for the show, i had each card waiting at their stations for each one of them.  so grateful for them all!

love, laurie

celebratory lunch

we went out to lunch with our parents after friday's rapunzel show and it was such a nice treat.  it was the perfect way to celebrate our hard work and a successful show!

love, laurie

"let your hair down, rapunzel"

for the past few weeks, we've been hard at work on this year's children's theatre production of "let your hair down, rapunzel" at the university.  (well, really it's been longer than that because i actually started working on this show 11 months ago.)  

children's theatre is near-and-dear to my heart and it's a genre of theatre that i absolutely love. 

i directed the show, choreographed, designed the costumes, and designed the props and scenery.  ryan was the technical director, production manager, and lighting designer.  we both oversaw special effects and audio.  noah was everyone's supervisor.

i can't even believe that after all of our hard work, it is over.  i'm exhausted, but i'm sad to see it go because i really put my heart into this show and enjoyed the process.  i had a good time putting the show together and i'm proud of the outcome.  i told the cast and crew that we created magic together and that's exactly what we did for nearly 1,200 people who came to see the show.

these are only a few photos of the show.  you can see many more of my photos here.

love, laurie

preschool snapshots

a few recent preschool snapshots of noah doing art projects, meeting baby chicks, watching the easter bunny from a safe distance, and playing on the playground.

love, laurie

opening day!

rapunzel opens today and i can't wait to welcome over 1,100 school students to see our show over the next few days.  this show was a real labor of love and a lot of work for me.  i certainly hope everyone appreciates it!

love, laurie

some recent preschool artwork

a few art projects that recently came home from preschool . . . a shamrock, a heart-shaped pizza, and dr. noah's bag.

love, laurie

easter sunday 2026

we spent easter sunday at ryan's parents' house.  here are a few photos from the day.

love, laurie

king of the easter egg hunts

noah made his rounds in the local easter egg hunt circuit this year checking several of them out.  some were better than others, but i think he had fun.  he eventually warmed up to the easter bunny too.

love, laurie

happy easter weekend!

we hope everyone has a great easter weekend!

love, laurie

getting closer to rapunzel

we're getting closer and closer to our rapunzel show and we can't wait!  things are coming along nicely.  the show opens one week from today!

love, laurie

our jobs are weird

i've said many times that our jobs are strange but this was a first.  we did an event at the theatre over the weekend that was a colon cancer awareness event and they brought an inflatable colon with them for the audience to walk through.  of course, being the theatre people that we are, we gave it uplighting!  it was a hit.

love, laurie