F1 Race at CoTA

The inaugural F1 Race in Austin was this weekend at Circuit of the Americas track. This was my first F1 experience... very fun!! WE had a great time and saw several friends there we hadn't seen in a while - Ann and Paul Moorcones were sitting a few rows away from us and it was great to catch up with them - we haven't seen them since we got married! We were also able to catch up with Tila and Eric Foss for a few minutes. 

More than a few helicopters!! 

There were 29 helicopters chartered  this weekend and about 10 helipads at the track!

buying her first toy

It has been a rough transition for the kids moving to our new house. They were such great sleepers before and now it has been really horrible trying to get anyone to sleep and to sleep through the night. Lauren immediately made a habit of sleeping in our bed and when she wasn't in our bed, she was having accidents and waking up several times a night. I thought it would get better as she got more comfortable with her room. We even got her a new night light (after she insisted on sleeping with all the lights on for a week) and she kept mentioning ghosts and lions that would come and get her at night.... and then there was Colson....

So I decided to try to give Lauren a goal... one day while we were shopping at HEB (with their clever product placements) Lauren found a bath toy (2 princess scrubbies and some bath wash) that she really, really wanted. Instead of buying it for her, or just telling her no, I told her she could earn it. The toy was $5.99 so she had to have 6 nights of sleeping in her bed all night with no accidents. She was so excited that she was going to earn money and after the first night of success she was hooked. It actually took her 10 days to earn the $6 because of an accident or two at night and then a day where she peed on the carpet and I charged her $1 to clean it up. So today she had $6 and I told her I would take her to the store for the toy.

We ended up at a different HEB and the toys were different, but she was very open to buying something else and chose a Barbie with a pet dog (for $5). She did want the Barbie horse (for $10) and is currently working on saving her money for that!

She is doing much better sleeping now and it is so worth the $1 every morning to get my sleep and not change sheets! I know I won't have to do this forever- Lauren is very adaptable and open to rules changing. She does like to earn things though and the positive reinforcement is working great!

Lauren counting her dollars

making her purchase and already asking when she can open it...

Getting her change from the cashier

happy girl!

rocking out with Elmo

While we were at HEB today there was a big display of Rockin' Elmos that Colson went wild over. So we stood and rocked out with Elmo for a few minutes!

feeding the baby

Lauren asked for oatmeal for a snack today and then Colson came and sat at the table with her. He acted like he wanted some and she instantly turned into a "mom" who had to "feed her baby". I just sat back and watched these two interact. She was so sweet saying things like, "let mommy have a bite and then I will feed you a bite too" and asking him if he liked it. I wish I had a video of it! 

Mazda Event

The kids and I got to go down to Harris Hill Raceway today to see a few of the historic Mazda racecars, watch Jason race a few laps and meet some of his coworkers. The kids thought the racecars were neat, but were really more interested in the bowls of candy inside!

"I'm not Lauren"

Lauren has been really into her music lately. Her favorite songs are: 

Call Me Maybe (Carly Rae Jepson)

Felt Good On My Lips (Tim McGraw) AKA the Oooooo song

Party in the USA (Miley Cyrus)

Drunk on You (Luke Bryan) AKA The Boom Boom Song

Lauren knows my favorite songs also and requests them for me in the car while we are driving or plays them for me on her phone. She also likes to watch the music videos with Jason and is really attached to the Boom Boom Song because Jason likes it so much... She sings "My sneakers make you go boom boom" (so adorable)

Today while we were playing, she had her phone playing these songs and I asked her to do something...she said, "I'm not Lauren, I am the girl in the Boom Boom Song" 

going to have to talk to dad about this one! 

turkey hats

We went to our first play date with some new friends today and made turkey hats! The kids had a great time together and we look forward to getting to know this group better soon!