Hanging out with the neighbors...

We joined some of our neighbors at Pat, Cory and Hailey’s housewarming party. We had a rough day of on and off napping so we were a little late! The little neighbor girls we very excited to see “Baby Larkyn” and play with her! Larkyn is one of many little girls in the neighborhood! There are roughly 10 girls under the age of 8! 8 of them are 5 or younger! Larkyn is so lucky to have wonderful friends who love playing with her already. They love to see her outside, give her hugs, and push her in the stroller up and down the sidewalk.

Anna, Larkyn, Hailey, Hailey and Olivia

Larkyn is in her big bed...

Larkyn moved to her crib right around 10 weeks old. I had been putting it off, thinking we would make the switch over the summer, but found that she was sleeping quite well in her crib during her afternoon naps. She has been sleeping anywhere between 9-11 hours at night now and we absolutely love it! Though it took a little bit of time for me to adjust to not having her right next to me, she was pretty well adjusted right away. We feel very blessed to have such a wonderful sleeper and hope this continues as she gets older!

You never know what you are going to get when you go to get Larkyn up in the morning or after a nap. She is quite the mover and scooter now in her crib. Now that she has learned how to roll over from her back to her belly, she rarely sleeps on her back anymore. This scared me at first, not knowing if she should stay on her belly for sleeping, but we would flip her over to her back and she would flip right back over to her belly! We have now left her on her belly and she sleeps so well and seems to sleep even longer! Hard to believe...I know:)

Mommy goes back to work...

I went back to work on Tuesday, June 1st to wrap up the last 9 days of the school year. Though it was hard for me to go back, I knew Larkyn was in good hands! She was able to stay home for those nine days; 4 with her daddy, 3 with my aunt Sharon, and 2 with my cousin Kayce (Aunt Allie came on Thursday for the day to help out too!). It was nice being able to leave just before 8 and not have to do drop offs. I enjoyed seeing the Kindergarten students and wrapping up the year with them, however I'm very excited to spend the summer with my little babe! On Monday I had to go back to work for a half day to wrap up and put things away in my classroom. Larkyn was very lucky to spend the morning with our neighbors. Kelly was very excited to spend some time with Larkyn, but I think her son Jack was even more thrilled! Quote from Jackson about Larkyn, "I want one just like her! As small as her and looks just like her!" From the looks of it, they had a great time together!

Jackson and Larkyn

Kayce and Larkyn

Sharon and Larkyn

Shea had such a great time with Larkyn the week he was off. They went for runs, walks, played, danced, ran errands, and really got the chance to bond. He refused to put a hair bow on Larkyn, but she did have a day with the sun hat and another day with a "sweatband":) Oh, and I can't forget the tall socks!

"Daddy put my hairband inside out and put it on me like a sweatband. My legs got some running in and I even pretended to ride a bike! Daddy says we should have played "Lets Get Physical" in the background of my exercising!"

"Here I am sitting in my Bumbo seat! I have my tall socks on and I'm getting ready to watch some baseball with Daddy."

Graduation Ceremony...

Courtney's graduation ceremony was on Sunday afternoon. The ceremony was held in the McCloud Center on the UNI campus. I can't believe my little sister has graduated high school. It seems like just yesterday I was going up to the hospital to meet her for the first time. I know she will do great at Winona State University. We look forward to visiting her there in the future!

This was Larkyn after waking up to shouts and screams, maybe some cow bells and blow horns too! "Out of respect of each of the graduates, please hold your applause until the end" was pretty much disregarded after the first name was called!

Courtney waiting in line to shake hands and receive her diploma.



Courtney receiving her diploma.

Cedar Falls High School Graduating Class of 2010!

This is Larkyn after the ceremony...

Shea and Luke (my sister Megan's husband)

All 3 graduates from Cedar Falls High School. All 3 ceremonies in different places! 2001-West Gym on the UNI Campus, 2004-UNI Dome, 2010-McCloud Center

Courtney and her brother-in-laws

Courtney and Larkyn

Larkyn finally woke up so we could take some pictures!

Grandma Debbie got in a little play time before we left for home.

Courtney's Graduation Party...

We went down to Cedar Falls on Saturday for my little sister, Courtney's graduation party at my mom's house. Larkyn was able to see and meet a lot of my mom's family and many family friends. I don't think she had much floor time this weekend because so many people wanted to hold her! Once again she traveled well, sleeping the entire way to my mom's house and back home to Minnesota on Sunday. Though she had a hard time going to sleep on Saturday night. I think there was just too much going on and her nap schedule was a little screwed up from the trip down! Once we got to my mom's house she was greeted with open arms by everyone, especially my younger girl cousins. Katarina was very excited to see her again and hold her.

This was MacKenzie's first time holding her because the first time she wasn't feeling well. Larkyn really liked looking at MacKenzie and gave her many smiles!

I had quite the crowd when changing Larkyn's diaper. All the girls were pretty interested!



MacKenzie, Holly, Nicole and Katarina will all make wonderful babysitters someday soon!

Courtney will be attending Winona State University in the fall, so we had to be sure Larkyn was decked out in Warrior gear. We are very excited to have Courtney a little closer in Minnesota and look forward to trips to Winona to see her and some of our friends that still live there.

Go Warriors!

Aunt Courtney and Larkyn

The Sisters: Megan, Courtney, Kim

Shea, Larkyn and Drew

It was Drew's birthday on May 29th! He was wearing a "2" shirt to celebrate:)

This was the first time my aunt Michelle had seen Larkyn. Larkyn loved Michelle and had many smiles for her!

This was the first time Larkyn had met my uncle Brian as well. She had smiles for Michelle and gas for him I think!

Larkyn's new friend Luke...

Last Thursday, we brought dinner over for our friends Mike and Katie, who had their baby boy, Luke, on May 12th. Luke was just 2 weeks at this time; Larkyn was 11 1/2 weeks. Luke and Larkyn spent some time getting to know each other's cries while we ate dinner! We look forward to many more "playdates" together with Big Steiny, Little Steiny, and Tiny Steiny!

Shea was trying out the "magic side hold" with Luke.

"Do we look alike?"