Lauren Graduates Preschool!

Lauren strikes a pose
Mommy and Daddy are so proud
Mrs. Hayes, Lauren, and Miss Julie
(via Lauren) Daddy took this picture of my friends Lindsay and Samantha and me. And all of my friends in the picture loved it.

daddy birthday; bye bye

Today is daddy's birthday, presents in bed and birthday coffee cake!
We bid Trevor bye bye as the girl and her parents journey westward to visit Indianapolis and the Children's Museum! More pics from the road.

grocery cab driver

vroom vroom!

Mother's Day

We had a great cookout today, and everyone came over. Beth and I were busy running around and didn't take many pictures. SO I'll post this picture instead. It's the gift I gave to Beth for Mother's Day, all framed up all nice and stuff. She loves it.

Photo credit: Ryan Lydon.

New Dress and Mother Goose

This is the new dress that Lauren picked out. She got really excited and told mommy "This is the one!" And she looks so cute in it. We went to the Columbus Children's Theater production of Mother Goose right after this picture was taken. Lauren was picked to come on stage and be one of Little Bo Peep's lost sheep. Everyone said her dress was so pretty, and one of the actresses said "I wish I had a dress that looked like that!". Good fun.

Lauren Long : driver

Ready to roll.

driveway drivetime commute

Lauren takes a smiling brother around the driveway in daddy's car. Trevor is SO totally enjoying this.

Trevor thinks he's a tiger

But he's really not. He's really just a little boy.

Reader

Tonight I got to read my baby brother stories! I loved it. It was so fun. And when it was over I got to read my mommy 'Baby Bugs Bunny'. And I read my baby brother 'I Went Walking'.

Stand By Me

I'm a sucker for well-produced collaborations. Here we see a bunch of street musicians from all over the world singing/playing "Stand By Me". Watch this one, you'll be glad you did.

Baby Elephant (video)

A new elephant was born at the Zoo last month, and we finally got in to see him today. We learned from the docent that an elephant is born unable to use it's trunk, that it must learn from it's mother. You can notice when he runs out, he tries to pick up some hay but is unsure what to do with it. That was pretty neat.

Zoo run

Goslings
Trevor watches the Bonobos
Mommy and Baby Bonobo
Leopard

Fun and Random Snapshots

Lauren has loved the swings since the way, way back. This might be the first known picture of Trevor enjoying himself on them, however.

My kids enjoy the simple pleasures.

Easter Becky to the rescue!

The Downtown Columbus Library rocks, from top to bottom. Or so I'm told, I haven't made it past the kid area in so long the rest of the building is a mystery to me ;(

Lauren found a new reading nook there.

Lauren's new friend Beyonce. They really, really enjoy playing with the sand table.

Trevor

Who doesn't love a trip to Lowes?

Dinner at El Vaquero followed by a trip to Lowes... what a way to wrap up spring break. Back to school for Lauren and back to work for me.

Congrats to Amy and Rick--welcome Reilly Grace Allen! And, congrats to Noah, Anna and Nina--welcome Ewan Steen MacKenzie!

digging out the garden

The Blue Jacket ladies challenge

Julie from the Jacket Backers challenged all the ladies to paint their fingernails blue for the CBJ playoff run. I am proud to say the Long family is in compliance.

part II

Franklin Park Conservatory

Papa and his grandkids

This picture was taken outside of papa's house on Easter Sunday 2009. If you click on the image you get a nice, full size version.

Coloring of the Eggs

So we were just sitting there, innocently coloring the eggs. I look away for 3 seconds and Lauren has her hand IN THE STUFF playing with her egg, using the new buzzword "light wash". As in (imagine Lauren sing-song voice) "doo dee doo, just gonna give this little guy a light wash in yellow, then a light wash in red", etc. I wonder how many days it will take to turn her hand back to people-color.

Nashville Trip

Beth and I went to Nashville this past weekend to see the CBJ lose to the Predators again (3 years and 3 days and counting, ugh). We were able to stop in our favorite Honkey Tonk Bar, Robert's Western World, and catch Brazilbilly, the best nightly band on the strip. Go when you're there.

Makin' Oatmeal Raisin Bars

And in other news, Trevor had his 15 month check-up last Wednesday with a new doctor--our beloved Dr. Royhans has retired. We'll miss her. But, the new doc declared that Trevor is perfect--so I guess she'll do. He's 32 3/4" long (90%), 29 lbs. (90-95%) and has a big head. She expects that by his 18 month appt. he'll have acquired more words, but to date he can say: ball (by far his most used word), mama, balloon, dada, meow (to the cat), brmmm brmm (when he sees a car) and home. He knows a few signs, but mostly just grunts and gestures with his hand if he wants something. We think he's pretty darn perfect too.

Sleepover Party

Soccer

Lauren is going to play soccer. More updates soon.
(Her shinguards are adorable)

Zoo

Rays are funny.
Lauren, Pauline, and Beth on a flippin' TIGER

Daddy and...

...girl



...boy

The difference

Here is a picture Daddy took:



...and here is a picture Lauren took.