Professional Photos!

Yes I know...I am the worst blogger. I seem to blog in my head...and never get it down on the computer! I spend so much work time on the computer that I am not spending my free time here! But, I want to document our family and so I plan to post more...I promise! Also, who knows what random order some of my postings may be in....as I feel like I need to do catch up.

Here are some of my favorite photos from a professional photo shoot in November of 2010. These were our first family photos since Lauren was 1 year old! I can't believe it. We do need family photos more often!

Lauren was 4.75 and in her last year of preschool. Ryan was 7.5 and in the middle of second grade. He had just lost his first tooth!!! A couple of the photos show the small gap on the bottom.  

Ryan's Taekwondo

Ryan received his Yellow belt in Taekwondo Monday! He’s been studying for about 3 months and loves it. He has been interested for some time, but we wanted to let other activities wrap up, and make sure he was serious. He seems to be! It's the first activity we've had where I only have to ask him to get dressed once! You can see how proud he was in these pictures! We're very proud of him, and excited to see where this takes him!

Mr. Hoffman

Happy 4th Birthday Lauren

It's hard to believe that our baby is turning 4!

Lauren's favorite things:

- Baby dolls and all related accessories...doll strollers, bottles, etc.

- Painting

- Music class at preschool

- Brynne, Lauren's best friend. They've been in school together since 18 months, and will be very sad to learn that they won't be attending kindergarten together. But, we still have a year and a half before that happens!

- Pink, pink, pink

One of my favorite words she pronounces is "balloon". She says her "l"s as "w"s.  So, Ballon is "kabwoon".

She has been taking gymnastics since August, and it was a perfect place to have her party. She had a great time, along with about 20 kids--either preschool classmates or family friends. She enjoyed being the leader, with Ryan by her side the entire time, and wasn't as bashful about getting attention as she has been in past years.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Brynne, Lauren, Ella

The Group, with Lauren and Ryan in the middle

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Lauren, Ryan, TJ

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! Yes, I know it's January 15. Where does the time go? We had a great holiday, and a nice December for that matter!  Ryan is 6 years old. Lauren is 3.

Here a few highlights from the month:

• The kids were helping Mark bring the Christmas tree box downstairs out of storage (no, not real!), and Mark said to Ryan, "you're a good helper bee." He said back, "I'm Helper A. Lauren is Helper B."  We got a good laugh out of that. It's from Dr. Seuss' story, A Cat in the Hat, with Thing A and Thing B!

Nutcracker Tea


• I took Lauren to a Nutcracker ballet "tea" in November, put on by one of the local ballet studios. At the end, Santa and Ms. Claus arrived. She was so excited, but too shy to talk to Santa. We were leaving the stage, and I asked her if she wanted to tell Mrs. Claus what she would like, and she would tell Santa. Sure enough, she confidently told her she would like a "water baby" and told her all about what water babies can do, such as swim in the bath and in the cold pool and the warm pool. (hot tub). So, since November, she's been obsessed with getting a water baby from Santa, and that was the only thing she asked for.  Indeed, Santa brought a water baby, and Eric, Krista, Shep, Carson and Foster also gave her a water baby! She was so excited to have "water baby twins".

• The kids wrote to Santa and he wrote back! He told both of them that they were on the "Nice" list, and their reaction was priceless. I wish I had the video camera. They were so excited to learn this news! I have used it to my advantage all month, reminding them that Santa is watching. It actually worked, and they would stop arguing, whining or doing whatever they were doing. Somehow I think that will wear off over the coming months, but I'm sure I'll try it. 

•  Another cute thing this year is that Lauren has been intrigued by the Christmas story and baby Jesus. Anywhere we see a nativity scene, she gets excited, yelling, "There's baby Jesus, Mary and Jofess." It's so cute how she can't say Joseph. It's "joe-fess". Too cute.

• We were again fortunate to have Mark home for Christmas. He finished a trip Christmas Eve and was home until Dec. 27. Nancy came in and so the kids had a great time having "both Grandmas" with us. Here are a few photos from Christmas morning....Lauren's water babies and Ryan's presents from Santa.  

Christmas 2009. Ryan (6), Lauren (3)

2 Water Babies!

Legos and Nerf guns!

Where did 2009 go?  Happy New Year!

No training wheels

It's official. Lauren can ride her bike without training wheels! She's practiced a few times over the last few months, but last week she really got it. Here's a video of her.

You can see how proud of herself she is. This video is on the cul-de-sac across the street from our house. This is where the kids ride their bikes the most when we are just hanging out. Lauren did ride her bike to the park without training wheels, with Mark running alongside her. She only had one crash! That's pretty good for a 3 3/4 year old! (Only one crash is pretty good for my 30 something self too!) 

Houston, we have a bed. 2 actually!

Well, we finally did it. It only took us 6 and a half years, but Ryan has a bed!

He never felt deprived, and liked being low to the ground. But as he approached first grade it really seemed like he should have a bed. In true Bonniwell fashion, he couldn't just have a regular bed....no, it had to be the perfect, exciting one! Well, he has his dream bed...with a built in desk with a total of 8 new drawers to store treasures in. He also has a bunk bed, on top, and shelves on the bottom by his head (if he sleeps down.) There are also lots of options for making forts. He had been having bad dreams, and stated that with this bed, he feels safe and won't have bad dreams. He also quickly found a place to store his books near his new book light, and wanted to start reading. So, if this bed alleviates bad dreams and encourages reading, it was well worth the wait.
 
Now for Lauren....she has also been bedless. Once she crawled out of her crib, we moved her to a mattress on the floor. Up until recently, she didn't even want to sleep on the mattress, and preferred the floor. So, why bother with a bed! But she is getting older and has been consistently staying in her bed. We've been searching for the perfect bed for her...one that was equally as exciting as Ryan's, and preferably gently used so we don't spend a fortune on a bed she'll outgrow in 2 years. This weekend we found it!


She was so cute sitting on it last night reading her stories. She said in all seriousness, "I have a ladder and a slide in my room. I can't believe it." The bed has a slide down from the loft, and a pink canvas tent that wraps most of the way around the bottom creating a fort. We've hung a quilt from Grandma over the front to create a full fort.


Lauren slept in her bed all night last night (not always the case), and came down after sliding out of her bed.


I remember feeling so special when I got a canopy bed when I was 7 or 8. I loved that bed, and loved how special I felt in it. Maybe that's why we've waited this long to get beds. It wasn't just a bed for me, and maybe I've secretly been trying to duplicate that feeling for the kids.

Happy Fall 2009

A couple weeks ago we visited Dewberry Farm which is about an hour from our house, and went to their Pumpkin Patch. It was a rainy day and the farm was muddy (Look at Lauren's jeans!), but it didn't phase the kids. They were able to see how pumpkins actually grow, on vines!