Merry Christmas......oh, and were having a...

Boy!!
I know, I can't believe it. I was totally convincing myself that we would have another girl, and they could be best friends and go shopping together, etc, etc. But apparently Annalise knew all along....It's a Boy! Many people have already asked....does that mean you are going to name him Oscar........only time will tell. Maybe we will have to do another baby naming bracket, because Kev and I have a hard time agreeing on boy names.

Well I wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone!!
It has been an exciting year for us as we moved to Ohio for Kevin to begin school again, and now we are getting ready to welcome a new baby into our family.

This week we got to celebrate Christmas with both of our families, and it has been very, very busy. My brothers wife had her baby a week ago (the 17th), at 9 lbs 4 oz, 21 inches. And the amazing thing is that Lauren is only 4'11'', so Greyson was a huge baby compared to her.

Matt was able to bless the baby in their home on Sunday with everybody there, Grayson is already loved by many people. My mom had to take advantage of having all of her grandbabies together, so we took pictures with all of them (as seen above). The 1 year olds were not happy about it, but I think it is a cute picture.

Kevin was in Nicaragua last week doing a project for school. He had a great time in the warm weather, and it was a huge shock when he flew into Salt Lake with freezing temperatures and snow covered ground. I asked him if he wanted me to write anything about his trip, and he says "It was indescribable."

I hope you all had a wonderful year, and that you have enjoyed celebrating Christmas, and the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The Spirit of Christ

As the holiday season is quickly coming upon us I am becoming more frantic getting my house cleaned, presents purchase, and bags packed. I have created a long to-do list that I have emailed to myself, so I can be ready to fly out on Wednesday and enjoy my time with my family friends. I have been preparing for traveling and social time with my family,however, this year I have been trying to refocus my Christmas on Christ.

As many of you have experienced before, being a poor student around Christmas time can be a struggle. Even though I generally make homemade gifts, they still cost money and this is something we don't have this year.So I have been thinking long and hard about the gifts for family and friends. I haven't come to a conclusion for all of my gifts this year, but as I was pondering why I am going to all of this trouble I couldn't help think of why I am celebrating Christmas.

For those of you who know my family, we have had one tradition that has held out strong over the years.......Christmas caroling. Yes, if you know the Stott Family you know we like to sing, and I looked forward to it every year growing up. It may not be much, a couple of traditional Christmas songs,........ and probably "Santa Your'e Too Fat"  (a family favorite), with a warm ball of caramel corn;  But it was a good reminder to me to take the time to focus on Christ, and take the time to love others as He has done for us.

So this Christmas season I hope we can all remember why we celebrate Christmas, and bring the Spirit of Christ into our homes.

This video inspired me to remember what Christmas is all about......enjoy!:

It's a ........

Still going to be a surprise. However we had our ultrasound yesterday and it was so good to see my baby. I really wanted to bring Annalise to the ultrasound so she could see "baby Oscar",  I know she would have loved it, but the hospital is not allowing any children under the age of 16 to visit because of flu season. I was sad, but it was Annalise's nap time anyway, so it worked out just fine. I am to lazy to decide which pictures to show you, so I just made a video describing all the pictures.  I hope you can see them okay!



We had the ultrasound tech write down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope for us, so we will open it on Christmas and let you all know!!

The adventures of potty training part II

So I thought it would be a good idea to give an update on our potty training adventure. First off, thank you all for your suggestions (and sympathy.) I tried the sticker chart, which worked well for about three days, but then Annalise decided that she didn't like me telling her when to go potty.......she is way too independent to have any one telling her what to do. So at that point I had enough of our two heads butting together and decided to take a little break. I put her back in diapers for two weeks, and in the meantime got her a little princess potty throne, and some children's books about the potty from the library.

We borrowed "Everybody Poops", and "A Potty For Me" which Annalise loved. I ran out of diapers last week and decided there is no time like now! So we tried our "big kid underwear" again, and apparently it worked. The first day she had two accidents, a few days later she had one accident on Thanksgiving (but it was kind of hectic and she didn't know where to find me before it was too late.) Now she is sleeping and running around diaper free.
It is funny the little things you get excited about, but the second day she came to me and told me that she needed to pee, it was the happiest moment of my day. Now she is a pro.....and I don't have to buy diapers anymore (well at least for another 4 months or so.)

Speaking of more diapers, my ultrasound is coming up on the 10th! And.....I finally convinced Kevin to let me find out if we are having another little girl, or a whole new world of boy. The deal is, we are going to ask the tech to write down the sex for us, and we are going to put it in an envelope and open it on Christmas. What a great Christmas present!! (So hopefully we can tell if it is a boy or girl in the ultrasound.) It is amazing how fast the first half of pregnancy has gone, but that is easy to say now that I am out of my first trimester and feeling human again.

Well, while I am rambling on I might as well tell you how close Kevin is to the end of his first quarter of school at OSU. All he has left are finals, and then I get my husband back on Wednesday......Yay! Then he is heading to Nicaragua next Saturday to party (well work) for a week with some of his peers from school.

Sorry for no pictures, but we are getting a new camera soon and then I can finally fit my camera in my purse! TTFN

Annalise and her new friends

I know I have been really bad about posting lately......but I am so stinkin tired I am just glad Annalise is alive by the end of each day. (I also posted about Halloween below if you would like to see it.)

I have really been enjoying my days at home with Annalise. She is so darn cute now that she talks so much, and shares her opinion every second of the day. She has also made some good friends with our neighbors here, and she especially talks about her friend Seth all day long.

I have been meaning to write down all the cute things she say's all the time, but I still haven't gotten around to it. I especially love when she says words backwards, (which she does often.)

For example-

Mommy: How are you today Anna?
Annalise: I am doog, not bad.

Mommy: What song do you want to sing?
Annalise: I Am a Dog (I Am a Child of God)

Mommy: What are  you doing Annalise?
Annalise: I am upisdown.

I love watching her learn.....and she teaches ME new things everyday. She also enjoys sitting with daddy on Saturdays to watch football, and she now is becoming more of a Buckeye fan than a Hokie fan (don't tell daddy.)

Here is Annalise singing, which she loves to do all the time now:

A ladybugs Halloween.....finally

Halloween was nearly a month ago and I am finally getting around to posting pictures. Sorry for all of those people who have been sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting for the latest Lawrence Fam update.

Here in Columbus they do trick-or-treating a little different. There is a beggars night for all the the different neighborhoods instead of going on Halloween. Ours was the Thursday before Halloween, which worked out great since our ward trunk or treat was on Halloween. (I don't have very many pictures because our good camera (with a flash) no longer works.)

That night for trick-or-treating we just went around our complex and knocked on doors with some of our neighbors, which was perfect......just enough time for Annalise to get enough treats, and just in time for Kevin to get back for the Virginia Tech game.

We also had some fun carving our pumpkin that week and making cookies.

I don't have any pictures of Kev and I, but for our ward party Kevin wore his Phillies shirt and I wore a shirt that said Future Phillies Fan, with a little arrow pointing to my tummy. Not quite everyone knew I was pregnant yet, so it was fun. Unfortunately that did not bring enough luck to the Phillies this year to clench the series,.......but there is always next year!

The adventures of potty training

For about a month now Annalise has been potty training, and who knew it  takes so long to get a child to want to pee in a toilet?

She was very excited when we first started, she got some new princess underwear with Ariel on it, and all the other lovely princess'. She was trying really hard to do well, and she even started telling me when she needed to go.

And then it all went downhill...

• She stopped telling me when/if she needed to go
• When I ask her to go she says "no" most of the time, and I have to beg her to go, and usually by the time I get her to come to the bathroom she pees in her pants
• She seems to stay drier when she has her pull ups on vs. underwear
• After she does go potty there is no way she wants to put her clothes back on.....because she loves "nakey time" (as she calls it)

The best was when we went to the pumpkin patch and she was sitting on my shoulders and, yes.....she peed all over me (my hair, jacket, shirt, and anything else that gravity could handle.) So needless to say potty training has been an adventure. We started off by giving her a single treat every time she went successfully in the potty. We slowly phased the treats out, but apparently I did it too quickly. I don't know. So today I have started a sticker chart, and I think she is taking to it quite well, but only time will tell.

Oscar....

Yes it is true, Annalise is going to be a big sister!! We are all very excited, .......and I am very exhausted. Today I had my 12 week appointment, and all is going well. I had an early ultrasound 4 weeks ago, and after measuring the baby the doctor took over two weeks off of my due date, so as of now we are due May 5 .......a Cinco De Mayo baby.

Here is my baby bump:

Annalise enjoyed going to the appointment today and she wanted to do a video of herself, so I asked her some questions about today, she says the baby is a boy......but only time will tell, and in fact we haven't decided if we are going to find out or not. We shall see.

Annalise also named the baby oscar, which I think is so funny, she also likes to read and sing to the baby. I think this is going to be a long six months for Annalise as she waits for her sibling to come.

29.....26? whatever age?

It was Kevin's Birthday on Monday, and like every year it is right next to General Conference, which makes it hard to celebrate, but I think he is probably used to it by now. I think that Annalise was more excited that it was Kevin's Birthday than he was, and every morning that he leaves for school now she says that it is daddies birthday.

Well,despite Kevin's load of school work and General Conference, we did fit it in a dinner out. Kevin found a Mexican grocery store/restaurant that actually had some great food.

We haven't had good Mexican food in a long time, like..... since we were in Mexico, so we were looking forward to it. Philly just has nothing to offer when it comes to Mexican food, so I am glad we were able to find something here in Columbus.

Annalise is pretty good at remembering how old daddy is now, but when I ask her how old mommy is she says 26, so I just go with it. If she wants to take a couple of years off of my age I am just fine with it. For Kevin's "cake" we made a peanut butter cheesecake. He loves cheesecake, so I thought I would try something he would like, and it turned out very delicious, and very rich. Here is a video of us singing to him, I thought the candles were pretty cool because I put them in the shape of a 29 and you can kind of see it in the video.........Happy Birthday Kev, enjoy this year because.......next year is the big 30.

The eating machine

Yes I have an eating machine, and her name is Annalise. Ever since she started eating solid foods it seems like all she does is eat, but today she ate more than I have ever seen her eat before.

This morning for breakfast she ate three bowls of cereal (and I am not talking small bowls)

Then for lunch she had a slice of apple bread, a hot dog, two pieces of ham, a piece of turkey and some string cheese.....oh and blueberries, and of course her "agua".

Then a couple of hours later she was begging for a snack so Kevin made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which she gobbled down and asked for another, which she also scarfed and asked for more. Then she finished off the blueberries and enjoyed some juice.

An hour later Kev and I sat down for dinner, at which point she asked for "some"......"I Some" she said. So she had some pasta and more juice.......and a chocolate chip cookie!

I don't know what has come over her, but she better be going through a growth spurt, or else she has some sort of bottomless pit that we have not discovered.

Happy Birthday Anna!!

Today my little girl turned two, and she couldn't have been more excited that it was her birthday. We sang Happy Birthday at least three times this morning, by request of Annalise, and this was before we even got to church. Needless to say, she loves birthdays. But it turns out that I also love birthdays, so I made here a princess cake, (that we are actually saving for tomorrow), it turned out pretty cute.

Annalise has been talking about a birthday cake for weeks now, so I hope she is not dissapointed tomorrow when she eats it, since all it really is.....is cake.

Well enough about cake.

Annalise has grown up so fast over the last couple of years, and her independence never ceases to amaze me!

Here she is......

2 Weeks old~

6 Months~

1 Year~

18 Months~

2 Years~

Happy Birthday Annalise!

Our new house!!

So I have been meaning to put up pictures of our new place, but every time I think about I also think.....well I will wait until I am all the way unpacked, or the house is really clean. But we all know that won't happen any time soon. So here are some pictures of our new place for those of you who have been asking, sorry they are not very good pictures, but they are pictures. And there is also a little video tour if you have nothing else better to do!Enjoy!

Front Room:

Kitchen:

Back Patio:

Basement:

Here is the video. It is a little long, and Annalise is screaming in the background,.....welcome to my life!

No seven year itch....

As of yesterday Kevin and I have been married for seven years, and it has gone so fast!

(I tried to find a wedding picture but I couldn't find one....and some of you know the story behind that, so I had to settle for this pic)

We met almost 11 years ago and spent a few years as friends and the last seven as husband and wife, and I wouldn't change a thing! Annalise came a long two years ago to make our family more complete and I can't wait for more kids to fill our home with excitement (as long as they are not born as independent two year olds.)

Since we just recently moved we didn't have much time to celebrate, but we were able to spend the evening in German Village, a cute little area on the south side of columbus, where we looked through a maze of books and ate some delicious cheesecake. It is nice to just spend time with one another while Kevin has free time until school starts. Yay for anniversaries!

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!

Well, the time has come.....we officially live in Columbus, Ohio. We moved in two weeks ago and our house is still full of boxes and disorganization, but I do have a good excuse........

Two days after we moved into our new house we went on vacation to Las Vegas with all of my family, which included my siblings and their families and my parents. It was so great to see them and I already miss them again......I can't wait until next year. We got to stay in an awesome house, it had seven bedrooms, a pool and a volleyball court and a fun game room. We have so many pictures I don't even know where to begin, so here is a link to all of them since I can't decide. Honestly all the good pictures that were taken of us were taken by everyone else's camera, so they will come some time in the future. We did get to take some family pics so here is the whole fam: (And for those of you that are wondering, there are five siblings, five spouses, two grandparents and six and half grandkids)

A few fun things our family did while we were there .......

• a scavenger hunt on the strip
• late night poker games
• made 20 baby blankets (in one day) for St. Christophers (the hospital where Annalise had her surgery)
• 18 holes of golf under the blazing hot sun
• took family pictures the same day
• a lot of swimming at 5 am since Annalise never really adjusted to the time change
• ate a lot of good food in really good company

It is always refreshing to see my family.......and even more relaxing to go back home, but that was really the strange part. I kept on thinking I was going back home to Philly, but I wasn't. I was tempted to hop on the plane to philly in the airport, but I decided it would make more sense to fly back to where all of my stuff was just moved to, back to Columbus. I am really having a hard time adjusting to being in a new place, and I miss all of my friends sooooo much! I know that in time I will get used to it. However, today I did enjoy myself shopping. I went to a garage sale and got tons of stuff for twenty bucks, and then I went to the farmers market down the street from there and got some amazing tomatoes, peaches and corn, so there are many positive things. As soon as I get my house organized I am going to take pictures of our new place for everyone to see it, but if you want to see it in person all you have to do is come to Columbus.....I know it sounds tempting!

PS~ Here are some cute pics of Annalise and her girl cousins in the cute tutu's that Ellie made....so cute!

Supplies!!!.......I mean Surprise!!

The countdown is sadly over......only one day until we will be all packed up and on our way to Columbus. Today I found a good surprise in a box in the kitchen, and I thought I would share it with you:

I want to thank everyone for all your love and support as we are moving, we couldn't do it without you!

Packing, packing.....moving, moving

So it is only one week away!!

We are moving in about a week and it seems like all I can think about is how much I need to get done. Ahhh!

There are many things that I am going to miss when we move:

All of our awesome friends

being in the young women program at church

pretzels (philly soft pretzels that is)

having an income

seeing my husband on a normal schedule

knowing where I am going

being close to the shore

the playgrounds and parks around Philly

having a job that I love

There are so many things I can't even think of them.........yep, I am going blank.

Most of all I am just going to miss all the people that I have become close to in the last four years, especially all of our friends at church! I am not very good at saying goodbye, but I hope all my philly friends know I am going to miss you sooooo much!

However we have much to look forward to in our move to Ohio. First of all I am excited for our new house. We are renting a townhouse which will be an upgrade for us. I will have my own front door, a washer and dryer that is not down two flights of stairs and does not require quarters, a patio, and a room for Annalise to play in! Here is a picture of the front of or new place...

So for anyone who wants to party before we move I am totally up for hanging out and enjoying our last week here, and a note for Columbus..........I hope you are ready for The Lawrence Family!

The shore....and more.....

Time is going so fast, I can't believe it. Only three weeks until we move, and my house doesn't look ready at all.......oh well.

We had a lovely week celebrating the fourth of July. Last weekend at Penns Landing there was the "Taste of Philadelphia" that we attended. It was all wonderfu food, but Annalise's favorite part was the ice cream cone at the end. We also got to go to Smith Memorial Playground.

Kevin was off on Friday (the 3rd),which was really nice. I am sure he loved having a three day weekend because it is such a rare occurrence. We just hung out most of Friday and then that afternoon we had our last get together with the Nelsons, so sad :(

We had a good old american BBQ and swimming party, it was a nice relaxing evening.

On Saturday we went to the shore and met Kevins sister Amy there. We went to Long Branch Beach for the first time, and it was great! We usually go to Belmar, but I was looking for fireworks and fun things for Annalise to do, so it was perfect.

The fireworks were awesome, because they were shooting them off just a few feet from us, so we got to lay on the beach and watch them right above us. Annalise was really scared when they first started going off, the sound and how close they were, she was scared to death. But then I started naming all the colors of the fireworks and asked if she could help me, and for the rest of the show she was naming every color she could see, she was so cute. It was such a fun day, and I am going to miss not having the beach so close to us.

Nap time!!

So Annalise has been in a toddler bed for about a month now. She has been doing great with a few rough nights here and there. However this week has not been so good. She does not want to stay in her bed. I read her stories, sing her a song, say goodnight, and she gets right out of bed. She finds every excuse in the book, milk....milk....more milk.........Mommy, jesus beam (which means Sunbeam song)......jesus beam, (cry cry cry, fake cry, cry).

When she got her big girl bed I also got her a gate for her room, because I didn't want her to feel like she was locked in her room with her door shut. But I also didn't want her wandering around the house when she is supposed to be sleeping. So today she started sleeping in her doorway for her nap......whats a mom to do? I hope this is a phase.....

Daddy's Day

I wanted to do an early Fathers Day post for Annalise's wonderful Daddy........Kevin!

Kevin does so much for our family, and he would do all he does with or without the acknowledgement that he is wonderful, but I had to say a few words to my sweetheart.

Thank you for.......

doing anything I ask you to do.

watching Annalise every morning (before I can manage to get myself out of bed).

listening, and remembering every detail....most of the time.

working all day long and never complaining.

doing all the chores I don't like to do.

spending all of your spare time and energy helping others.

reminding me who I am and what I stand for (as my mom would say)

respecting and honoring your priesthood.

being a good example for our daughter.

loving us unconditionally.

Happy Fathers Day to all the daddies out there, and to my wonderful Father who raised me right!!