Happy Valetine's Day....and Birthday

For those of you that don't know, my birthday falls on Valentine's Day. When Mark asked me what I wanted to do this year it was simple. I wanted to spend the day at home with my family. I did not want to go out to dinner just Mark and I. I wanted to be with the girls. We had a great day. Lauren was ready for a big party (since hers was last weekend) with all my friends, and was a little bummed when it was just Mark, Lauren, Addison and Zoe for the party. What party really? But it was my birthday, and so we had to have a party.

Love this girl! Look at those piggie tails. SO CUTE. This is how I fix her hair most days and everyone loves it.

My attempt to get a picture of my girls together. Very cute, except for the headband that Addison had to wear because her big sister was wearing a headband. She looks like she is ready to go out for a jog!

We made cupcakes for my birthday and I loved it. Lauren loves to help me in the kitchen, loves to measure things out, pour into the bowl, and stir. Addison enjoyed a snack while Lauren and I made cupcakes.

Our finished product. Lauren told me I had to take some to work to hand out to all friends for my party (at work I guess) since she took cupcakes to school for her birthday. Believe me, I will take some to work to hand out to my friends. I think we have 3 dozen cupcakes.

Addison enjoyed the cupcakes too!

My Valentine's Day card from Lauren. I went scrap booking all day Saturday, so when I was gone Lauren made this with Daddy. She is horrible at keeping secrets. When I got home she said "I painted with Daddy today Mommy. We made you a pretty picture with a heart, but it is a surprise."

Addison's Valentine's Day card for me. If you look real close you can see the scribbles!

I had to finish this post with another cute picture of Addison from our photo shoot today. Why bother taking them into a studio for pictures when I can get great pictures at home (if I try hard enough.)

The Sleeping Beauty Party

Since last summer Lauren has been asking for a Sleeping Beauty party for her 4th birthday party. She was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween, and so she had the perfect dress for her Sleeping Beauty party. We actually had Sleeping Beauty at the party. It was so much fun!

We started the morning out opening presents from Mommy, Daddy and Addison. Lauren was up at 6 and ready to go for her birthday celebration.

Grandma Harding got Lauren this doll and she loves it. It is from Target, Madame Alexander, just like the American Girl dolls but tons cheaper.

Lauren knew that Sleeping Beauty would be at her party after her nap so when she woke up she was expecting to see Sleeping Beauty right away. It was hard to explain to her that it would be almost 2 hours before Sleeping Beauty would arrive.

Her princess cakes. Every week when we go to the store we have to go look at the princess cake on display. I found the same cake at Walmart for almost half the price. Lauren loved it!

Sleeping Beauty told a story about Princess Lauren and then played three games with the kids. When the games were over all the kids got to pick three prizes out of the treasure chest. After that they enjoyed face painting and sparkly hairspray. Lauren loved her face painting.

All the kids at the party, minus 2 of the boys. They were too busy playing somewhere else!

Lauren just could not believe Sleeping Beauty was at her house! Disney World is going to be so much fun in May. I can't wait!

Gramps and Nana B got Lauren the Leap Frog Tag reading system. I think she is really going to like it.

Lauren and her boys. Landen and his Mom drove all the way from Chicago just to be at the party. Lauren loved having him there.

Time to say good bye to Landen. We probably won't see him again until the fall.

Gramps and Addison

Little Addison just hung out with everyone. I think everyone held her at some point in the night. This is her friend Charley. They are in the infant room together at school, she is Killian's baby sister.

I think the Sleeping Beauty was a hit. All the little girls seemed to have a lot of fun. Happy 4th Birthday Lauren.

Lauren is 4

I wanted to include a nice long write up about Lauren turning 4 but there is just no time tonight. So you have some pictures of her from birth to 4. Her Sleeping Beauty party was SO much fun and I will post pictures about that in a few days.

Her birthday day, February 6th, 2006 at 12:31 p.m.

6 months old

One year old

18 months old (her first vacation in San Diego)

2 Years old

2 1/2 at her first baseball game.

3 Years old

3 1/2 at the Zoo this summer

4 Years Old...

Unbelievable to Mark and I. Such a blessing and such a wonderful little girl. We love you Lauren. Happy Birthday!!!

Zoe...our oldest one...

6 months after Mark and I got married we got Zoe, a wonderful golden retriever. She is the best dog, wonderful with the girls and so much fun to have around. For as long as we can remember she has had problem with allergies. She is constantly licking her paws, scratching her ears, licking her legs until they are bleeding (hot spots.) She has been on an antihistamine for 4-5 years now and a steroid every other day for 4-5 years now. She also gets allergy shots here and there. So we decided to have her allergy tested to see what she was allergic to and then give her monthly allergy shots. No big deal right??

She had to be sedated for the allergy testing. This is what we found out: She is allergic to grass, trees, mold, house dust mites, tobacco, cockroach, black ant, mosquito, and human dander. Poor dog, no wonder she has been itching and scratching her whole life!

This is how we have to keep her legs covered once she licks so much she starts bleeding. Under the bandage is a hot spot. The vet said to wrap it a little more loosely and place gauze under the dressing. Well the vet does not know our dog at all. She had that dressing off last night after we all went to bed. Spread out all over the living room.

Theses are the meds that Zoe has to take. We found out she has a yeast infection in her feet and around her bottom (so she takes an anti fungal med), she has a bacterial infection around her bottom and in her ears (so she takes an antibiotic, we have to clean her ears twice a day, put ear drops in twice a day, and put some kind of antibiotic cream around her bottom (lovely huh?) She is still on the antihistamine and the steroid until the allergy shots get up to the maintenance dose that will hopefully hold her over for a month.

This is her calendar of all her meds. Mark asked me why I made a calendar...uh she has like 9 different meds and I have no idea how to keep track of everything. Some meds she takes once a day, some twice a day, some every other day. Hopefully in the next few months we will get her allergies and itching under control and she will be so much more comfortable. We have to go back to the vet in a month to see if all her infections are clear (her feet, ears, bottom.)

Seems like a lot for a dog, but we decided it was time to go forth with it. Hopefully we will get to giving her a shot a month and she will be itch free!

Oh and the other thing we found accidentally was a tennis ball size growth on the inside of one of her hind legs. How long has that been there? The vet tested the fluid and said it was some kind of fatty tissue deposit. It was not cancerous...thank God...it was just something that happens to dogs. He told us to watch it and if it gets bigger it will need to be removed. Wow this dog is really starting to cost us a fortune, but we just love her to pieces...So hopefully everything will be fine with the tumor on her leg....Poor Zoe...

Oh and this is our little Addison with her new piggy tails....SO CUTE!!!!

Her Winter Coat

The past few days when we are at home Addison has wanted to wear her winter coat. After dinner she points to her coat, grunts, stomps her feet and screams until we put it on. So I put it on her, why not? Mark says "I am not going to let her wear her winter coat around. She falls over all the time in her coat." I figure what the heck? What harm is it doing? She does fall down a lot, she is a little top heavy in the fluffy coat, but she is getting better walking around in it since she has had it on for 2 days now! When we pick her up from daycare she walks straight over to her coat, points, and says please in sign language until we get her coat on! What a hoot....She also has to have her hat on or the hood up on the coat. If not she is crying and screaming and upset. This one is going to give us trouble. I know she is not going to be the quiet, shy, laid back one like her sister. Mark and I just shake our heads with little Addison. She is going to be the tough one! But we love her to pieces...how couldn't you with that little face. So sweet!!!

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Pre-K

So today is the first day of Pre-K for Lauren and she is so excited. I am not really sure why Pre-K is so exciting but she has been talking about it since last week when she found out she would be moving to Pre-K on Monday. Our daycare center is so awesome that they are moving Lauren and her buddy Killian together today so the transition will be easier. Killian turned 4 back in December and Lauren will be 4 in just a few weeks, but I was surprised that she was ready to move because usually it is after her birthday. Needless to say, she is so excited and all weekend I tried to figure out what was so cool about Pre-K. All I got out of her was that there was a Dora kitchen in Pre-K. Well there must be more than that because she was up and ready for school this morning. Ready for Pre-K. Makes me wonder where the time goes...

Little Addison is keeping us on our toes these days. She is into everything. We joke that she can destroy a room in seconds if you are not watching her. She is talking a lot with a few words that she knows, but there is so much more going on in that little head that she usually just points, grunts, and cries if she does not get her way. She really wanted to go outside several times this weekend so we finally bundled her up and took her out. She loves the swing and loves to be outside.

Lauren and I stayed inside and made brownies in her new Easy Bake Oven that she got for Christmas. We usually make something every weekend for her and Addison to snack on. Lauren and I have a lot of fun together in the kitchen. She loves to help me make dinner each night. It usually takes a little longer, but it is well worth it when she looks up at me and says "this is fun Mommy." It just melts my heart.

We are getting for Lauren's big 4th birthday here in a few weeks. She is very excited for it. I am just taking it easy recovering from a little surgery I had done. I have the whole week off! I think it is going to be a long week, but I need to just take it easy and enjoy the time. Enjoy the pictures...

Happy New Year

Sorry it has been a few weeks since I have posted. Nothing too exciting happening in the Harding household since it is so cold. We had a great New Years Eve party with 2 other couples over and their kids. The kids enjoyed eating, playing, and watching movies, while the adults enjoyed eating, drinking and playing games.

This is Lauren's best friend (and soon to be husband) Killian. Apparently they play well together at school, get along great, follow directions, and the teachers just love them. Well on New Years Eve they fought (like a married couple!) all night. It was hard to believe that at school they get along so well because New Years Eve was a different story.

Killian, Lauren and Sydney with their noise makers.

Addison enjoyed the party too. She was in bed by 7 so she missed out on a lot of the fun. When she was awake she had fun with Charley, Killian's sister.

Since it has been so cold we have been a little stir crazy at home. Mark made a fort with all the pillows and blankets he could find. The girls loved it.

Lauren played in there all afternoon. She even found a way to read her books.

My two girls just hanging out today.

Lauren and Mark ventured outside today for about 15 minutes. I think Lauren had a blast. The snow in our backyard is very deep in some spots. Zoe loves the snow too and had fun with Mark and Lauren out there.