LAUREN ELIZABETH BLACKARD

Lauren Elizabeth was born at 8:26 on March 12th! She was 5lbs 13oz and 18 inches long! She is beautiful, calm and better than we ever expected!!!!! We are in love!!!!! More pictures to come!!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Yesterday was my moms birthday so Drew and I decided to make Grandma some brownies!!!! My good friends Amy and Jerry bought Drew this apron and chefs hat for a big brother gift so we broke it out and got dirty! They had it personalized for Drew and the apron says "Drew Bear"! So cute... thank you Amy and Jerry.
When we finished the kitchen was a disaster and we were both dirty but we both had smiles on our faces so that is all that counts in my book!!!

Now what?!?!?

Dumping the oil! Messy, messy tasks as you can tell by all the oil on the counter next to the bowl!

Stir, stir, stir!!!

Taste test! That is the best part!

Isn't he the cutest?!?!?!

Eating the finished product! Grandma loved them!!!! and so did Drew!

And One More Makes Four!!!

We are so excited for the next stage of our life to start. As of right now the plans are this baby girl will complete our family. It is such a great feeling to feel like the next stage of our life is starting. Our family will be complete; Sam, Mindy, Drew and Lauren!!! Most of you know but if you do not we have chosen the name Lauren Elizabeth. No special meaning, we just love the name and feel like it is a good name to last a lifetime.
We are trying to prepare for her arrival both physically and mentally. So much to do and they have scheduled a c-section for March 12 (the day after my birthday) due to Lauren being breech. Drew seems to be enjoying the idea of having a baby sister and has done well with the changes going on in the house (painting, new furniture, clothes, mommy getting big), but I do worry how he will be when an actual baby is here in the house taking time away from his mommy and daddy. I am trying to enjoy the time that we have left with just him as much as I can. We went to get his hair cut at the barber shop and he did such a good job sitting and waiting his turn. He watched all the older men in the shop talking to the barber while they got their hair cut so when it was his turn he followed their example. Poor barber Joe, Drew talked his ear off. He kept calling him by name and saying "Joe... Thank you Joe." Then he would say, "Joe.... my Grandma has a comb Joe." "Joe.... My mommy has a hair dryer at her house Joe." At one point he said "Joe... I need a tissue." Joe went and got him and tissue and Drew blew his nose with such force that everyone in the shop was laughing. Then Drew said "Thanks Joe." He looked at the other barber in the shop and said "Thank you too Jason!" We had a great time and I was a proud mommy!
Drew has been keeping us on our toes and laughing all the time and we both just want to try to remember to stay in the moment with Drew while dealing with a newborn. Drew has so many funny great qualities about him it makes me sad to think I may miss something! I have added some pictures of Drew and of the new nursery. We are not done with the nursery yet and we are still waiting for the mirror to arrive that goes above the dresser but here are a few pictures!

Drew giving baby sister a kiss! He is such a sweetie!

Fire Station!

Our "Stay At Home Moms" group took the kids on a little field trip to the fire station. Drew thought he needed to wear his fireman coat and he looked adorable. The fire department was very cooperative and let the kids turn on the truck lights, sit in the truck, ring the bell and look around the fire station! We were so proud of our kids on this trip because we had five kids, three years old and younger and not a single problem. The kids had a blast!

Drew loves laundry!!!!!

Laundry is now been added to Drews list of accomplishments!!!! One day the buzzer went off on the dryer and he just went in and opened it, took the clothes out of the dyer, put them in a basket, switched the washing to the dryer and then pushed the dry clothes back to the bedroom. The whole time he insists that he do it "by myself"! We watched in amazement and with grins on our face. So the other day I got a video of him switching laundry. It is kinda long, but I knew some of you would want to see!

Gift from Roxanne!

Sam has a cousin (Roxanne) that is traveling right now. The other day we got a package from Vietnam and Roxanne had sent Drew this little suit for Drew. We think it is the cutest little thing! Thanks Roxanne!

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year at the Blackard house was WONDERFUL!!!! We had family that stayed with us for several days, snow and three young boys with tons of energy. The boys woke up and wanted to start in on the presents, however my sister and two nieces got stuck in the snow on the the way to our house so we had to hold the boys off until they got there.

Here they are coming around the corner and seeing all the presents.

Mandy is trying to hold them off!

Waiting patiently!

Brandon opening gifts!

Drew opening presents!

Sam Drew and Mindy

Serena, Brandon, Drew, Ashley and Kyle

One night that they were here Lucy jumped in bed with Brandon after he went to sleep!

Sam and Drew working on putting together his new train set!

Christmas morning in our backyard. Beautiful!

Next year we have to put my mom in the front!