Posts tagged as:

lauren

Enjoying Old Stories

by Papa K on January 19, 2016

Enjoying some old videos...

At dinner last night we were telling the girls a funny story about how Maile used to say “Vah-milla” when she asked for ice cream. We were laughing about it and then I asked Maile if she remembered how I used to pretend that I was going to order all these funny/crazy ice cream flavors. She, of course, didn’t remember this.

But, of course, nowadays that isn’t a problem because we have videos of everything! A quick search and we found the one in question:

(Bonus points because it turns out Maile is just around Lauren’s age in that video.)

Dad note: I its mostly good that we are able to do this, but I’m sure there are some downsides. It does remove some of the “story” part of the “storytelling” I think – harder for these tales to run away from you and take on a life of their own when you have the hard video evidence. Still noodling on what all that means – immensely interesting to me – to consider another time…

(Click here for the video.)

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Okay girls, let’s start calming down and getting ready for bed…

by Papa K on January 17, 2016

I’m sure we are not alone here, but it always seems like our girls are at their zaniest right as we’re trying to get them to ease into bedtime.

Case in point, the video below – which is some sort of bootie dance the girls are quite proud of. Christine and I say “Okay girls, let’s start calming down and getting ready for bed…” and this is what we get…

Back to the drawing board.

(Click here for the video.)

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#tbt Lauren Not Too Long Ago

by Papa K on January 14, 2016

We’ve had a long week with the girls. Had a really rough time sleeping the whole week and now it appears to be culminating in at least Maile getting sick (feels like I’m not too far behind – we’ll see how Mommy and Lauren fare).

The girls were having trouble in the early mornings not waking each other up (we’re talking 4/5 AM – ugh!) – most of the time sharing a room isn’t a problem, but they’re in a bit of a rut currently.

We’ll sort it out – but in the meantime, I was looking through old videos tonight and came across this one from just 10 days after Lauren was born. At the time I wrote the following:

“This video makes me laugh – I get the feeling that Lauren is just testing out how her face works … or pooping her diaper. One or the other ;)”

I can say that the video still put a smile on my face. And interestingly, I see little looks she does in this video that so much remind me of who she is today as a three year old.

Man, they drive you bonkers sometimes, but then this…

(Click here for the video.)

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Annual Questions for Lauren (2016 – Age 3)

by Papa K on January 12, 2016

(We got this idea from friends of ours, Angie and Gabe. They came up with a list of questions that they started asking their son when he turned 3 years old. They ask him the same questions every year and see how the answers change. We’ve doing this with Maile for the past couple of years and now its Lauren’s turn!)

Lauren on her 3rd Birthday

Here’s a video of the session (with full transcript below):

(Dad note: hat tip to Christine, the best Lauren translator in the business!)

1) Where do you live?
Grandma

[Where is your home?]
Here!

2) Where do you go to school?
Next to my house

3) How do you get to school?
Have to go in the car

4) Name the members of your family.
Daddy and Mommy and Maile and Lauren

5) What is your favorite color?
Pink

6) What is your favorite toy?
Baby

7) What is your favorite food?
Noodles with sausage and milk and water and grapes [e.g., what we had for dinner tonight :)]

8) What is your favorite fruit?
Watermelon

9) What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Rice Krispies

10) What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
Pancakes

11) What do you want for your birthday dinner?
Cake and cookies.

12) What is your favorite snack?
Umm… chocolate

13) What is your favorite drink?
Milk

14) What is your favorite outfit?
My pretty with sparkles

15) What is your favorite animal?
‘Raffe [e.g., Giraffe]

16) What is your favorite tv show?
Paw Patrol and Totoro

17) What is your favorite book?
Odd Squad Book [a little Maile influence on this one]

18) What is your favorite story?
Reading books

19) What is your favorite song?
Rararararararah!

20) What is your favorite game?
Minions game

21) What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
Have fun

22) What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Jump and play

23) What is your favorite thing to do with Maile?
Play together.

24) What is your favorite thing to do outside?
Run and play

25) What is your favorite thing to do inside?
Play toys. [What type?] Legos.

26) What is your favorite holiday?
Holiday is I like presents.

27) What do you take to bed with you at night?
Baby and bear bear.

28) Who is your best friend?
Lena [e.g., Elena]

29) What do you want to be when you grow up?
A cow.

30) Anything else you want to say?
Kelly and pig. [What’s that?] It’s just Kelly and pig. [Anything else?] Run! I want to run a marathon.

(Click here for the video.)

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Lauren’s 3rd Birthday: Bubble Joy

by Papa K on January 11, 2016

On Sunday, we celebrated Lauren’s 3rd birthday with a joint party with her good friend Sabrina. Lauren and Sabrina first met at swim class when they were two and now they are classmates at PKS. Born just two days apart, I have a feeling they will be sharing birthday festivities for some time to come…

For this edition, it was all about the bubbles. Mommy nailed it by inviting “The Bubble Man” to come put on a show for Lauren, Sabrina and their friends. The joy was palpable. Seriously, I haven’t witnessed pure joy like this in a long, long time. See a taste for yourself…

The party was a great success and even though the birthday girl is still a bit shy around the camera these days, I can assure you she had a blast!

You know who is not shy around the camera? This goofball.

After the Bubble Man did his thing, he let Lauren and her friends try their hands at the bubble making...

Bubble Maker in training for sure...

Birthday girl, her big sister and some friends...

(Click here for the video.)

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Daddy Stays Dry

by Papa K on January 10, 2016

Big milestone this week – since Lauren is now three, she’s graduated to the next level at swim class. Which means that she goes in the pool by herself. Or, in other words, DADDY NO LONGER HAS TO GO IN THE POOL!

Yes, I’ll miss swimming with Lauren, but I will NOT miss getting into the pool every week 🙂

Notice something? That's right no Daddy in the pool!

Lauren did fantastic during her first solo lesson. No tears at all and she seems to really like her teacher. And Daddy stayed dry. Amazing.

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Kimonos & Kadomatsu

by Papa K on January 5, 2016

Every new year while in Hawaii the girls put on their kimonos (new ones this year to boot!) and take a picture in front of the Kadomatsu (a traditional Japanese new year decoration).

Even with Lauren not being in the greatest mood to take pictures these days, we still got some cute ones…

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A Bubble Bath for A Birthday Girl

by Papa K on January 4, 2016

And now we are 3.

Today is Lauren’s third birthday(!) Yes, our little girl is three.

A year ago I wrote that Lauren was in her “I do it” phase – looking for independence wherever she could find it. As she turns three, that search has been successful and she has carved out her own place in our family. More than Maile ever did, she loves playing with her dolls – she mimics all the things she sees her Mommy, sister and teachers doing with her with her own little mini family. She’s gone from following Maile, to stepping up and demanding her own turns and her own way (often much to Maile’s chagrin). Don’t worry, she still worships her bigger sister – she just wants to make sure she knows there are two little girls around here 🙂

Lauren is also our climber, our adventurer, our fearless one. She runs, jumps, rides, falls and gets back up.

She yells. She wants. She demands. Often unreasonably so. She gets frustrated. She frustrates.

But then the laughter and smiles. Indeed! Like her sister, she’s very outgoing and friendly. She has her shy moments to be sure, but typically she finds her comfort zone quickly and lights up the room with her smiles, laughter and joking. Yes, she’s a joker. She cracks Christine and I up constantly.

And, of course, our birthday girl loves her bubble baths…

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

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Our Girls (2016 Edition)

by Papa K on January 3, 2016

Still lots to cover from our time in Hawaii, but I thought for my first post of the new year, I’d share the girls’ school pictures.

First, we need to cover Lauren’s very first school picture.

Lauren, Coconut Tree Class (2.5 years old)

A truly epic school picture. When Christine and I saw this picture we almost died laughing. In many ways its the perfect Lauren pose. She is such a character. I got the feeling that the school photographer had already done 100 portraits that day and when Lauren wouldn’t put her hand down, he just said “ah, screw it…”

And then we have our first grader, Ms. Maile Girl. She always knows how to light up the room with her smile.

Maile, First Grade (6 years old)

And for comparison to Lauren above, here is Maile for her first school picture (a bit younger than Lauren pictured above)…

Maile's First School Picture (2011)

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Taking pictures with a 3 year-old…

by Papa K on December 29, 2015

Lauren is at that age where she does NOT like having her picture taken. This has made getting a nice picture of all the girls together for Grandma and Papa’s Christmas card a bit of a challenge.

Grandma made the girls beautiful matching Christmas dresses … she even made one for Lauren’s new baby doll! We thought the “hey! everyone is wearing matching dresses – let’s take a great picture” line of attack might work. Well…