The day of my Birthday!

This is me getting ready in morning before my big day in my tank top.

Well...since my birthday landed on a week day this year, we decided to celebrate it on a Friday which is really today. But, yesterday was the real thing. I know some of you are wondering why all of you called and never got an answer....well here's the thing. The night before, Dad and Tricia traded me off so I could babysit Sofia yesterday, but when I got in Tricia's car I left my purse in dad's car...which included my phone. I didn't have it and still wont until tonight. But, I had a great day! I woke up to Tricia and Sofia coming in my room to sing to me and then she made me a special breakfast which I requested (peanut butter waffles...yum). After Tricia left for work, I spent some time with the baby and then got ready for the day. Since it was her and I most of the day...I took the pictures....so I have plenty ha ha. Later that night, Ross got home and we watched the Olympics (Which I Love....especially swimming). Then Tricia decided to take me out of the house for my birthday and we went to Red Robin to eat a good old hearty American burger and fries which was good too! We spent some quality time together which was nice and then we came home to finish watching the gymnastics and swimming portions of the Olympics. I had a wonderful day, and I almost forgot what was really coming. Tonight is my actual party and it is all family including my best friend Krista. (I didn't want a huge party this year). Tricia is cooking Crawfish and we're eating a huge cheesecake! My Favorite! It'll be fun and I'll be sure to put up some more pictures.

This is the one of the signs that the Mclain family made for me on my Birthday!

This was the sign placed on my bathroom mirror!

She's one of the best gifts that I could ever get!

This was me just kinda hanging out while the baby slept

This was Sofia's reaction after I told her how old I really was.

The week before school...

So, Kameron and Missy came over to the Mclains the other day visit the other day for a cousin play date! She talked about her missions trip and Kameron talked about his gator Missy brought back for him. (A stuffed one that is...named gatorator) ha ha. It sounds like she had a fantastic life-changing trip and it sounds like he missed his mommy!

Kam was having a blast playing hide-n-seek.

He was laughing at his Mommy.

Stinky feet!

He made a swamp mud-cake mix. It was quite good. Missy brought it back from New Orleans.

And here are some pictures of my day today with my friend Katie Mann and Nick.

This is Nick...he took me out for a birthday dinner and to catchup before he leaves for college. Yes...he cut his hair...A LOT of it ha ha. We had a fun time, and afterwards, we went to pick up his sister Tammy at band practice which gave me a chance to catchup with old band friends.

Katie and I were waiting on the movie to start...so we took some pictures!

We were bored...ha ha

lol

I GOT MY DRIVERS LICENCE!!!

This is me at 11:15pm tonight after working and after getting my licence!

Well, I finally did it! I didn't want to tell any of you about my test (with the exception of a few of you), because I didn't want to get any ones hopes up or put any more pressure on me....but now I have the good news to spread round! I went in around 1pm to a town about 55 miles from Lebanon. It was the only district with an early date that was suitable before school started. I went in and signed all of the paperwork and went to wait for the instructor by Missy's car.(she loaned me her car while in New Orleans). He inspected the car and thanks to Dad I passed the inspection. ("Thanks Dad! Props to you!") My Dad put a lot of time effort and money into fixing the car so it was test-ready. So I did the driving portion first and then the maneuverability second. Well, guess what....?.......I passed with a one hundred percent! NO mistakes! Dad was proud and treated me to lunch, but the only part about it was that today in Ohio, all of the DMV's computers were down so I couldn't get my official licence card but I'm doing that first thing Monday if possible! Thanks for all of the support and prayers from all of you who knew...I couldn't of done this without you and of course without God.



My job has been going quite swimmingly. I'm starting to get into routine and I'm getting to know my co-workers quite well. My managers are a lot warmer and can touch base on a more personal level compared to a professional level now that I'm getting to know them. The other fellow employees are becoming friends and I'm enjoying my job more and more each day.

Summer Days Gone Away....

As my weeks have gone on through the summer...my life has changed. At the beginning of the summer, I was chilaxing my way through life every single day, and as the days went on, that luxury has slipped away. If you don't know yet...Yes, I did get the job at Walgreen's and have been working for the past week. My managers are working me on a full time schedule because I have been training and learning the ropes, as well as getting in hours before school starts back up. I get paid a decent amount per hour and I get Pm Cash. (Which is cash from a certain percent of a Promotional item that we sell. If we ring it up then we get some bonus money from that sale.) I have $3.14 so far in PMs. And as a bonus, one of my friends from school just started working at Walgreen's too, so I can learn with her and will have someone to hangout with at work. I have been babysitting just as much as before so all of my free days are spent with Sofia which I love. I am about one hundred dollars away from my car and I am very excited about all of that. My birthday is next Thursday and believe it or not, I didn't even have a day set aside where I wasn't working to celebrate it. I made a mistake by requesting off next Friday for babysitting but Tricia didn't need me...so I guess I'm celebrating it on Friday! lol. I still have to work on summer assignments and getting my schedule worked out at the high school, but overall I've been very busy. My body is not used to all of this rush so I have been very tired and am trying to get as much sleep as possible. I guess I'm just being prepared for my big senior year and I can't complain because every time I've been caught-up in something difficult, I always come out in the end happier than before. So thanks to God.

Sofia striking a pose in her highchair.

We made funny faces...and she just happened to drool in hers. Ha ha.

"Aunt Laura is Awesome!"

I was soooo tired that night.

Right now, I'm hanging out at The Mclains babysitting Sofia. She's napping and we just finished visiting with Grandpa Don who came by for a surprise visit and then after he left we ate! (We also danced a little too lol). here are some pictures of her recently today and this past week.

Happy little Sofia grinning away on her play mat.

How cute!
Sofia getting sleepy.
She has found her thumb.
And she found it again...

Awww...

She was watching one of her interesting toys.

I love her precious face!

This has to be one of my favorites of her and I.

I also have some picture of our play date with Tricia's friend Robin and her little boy Jacob.(excuse any misspellings of names)

All of us in the pool

Sofia looking at Mommy at our favorite place to eat...Chick-fil-A!

Here's Jake!

And here is a short video of me acting silly and singing a backstreet boy's song...while Sofia smiles and thinks I'm being goofy old Aunt Laura.

Speaking of silly....ha ha look at us now!

"Another day with Aunt Laura"

"I love close-ups!"

I hate to post over my Concert information...but be sure to scroll down and check out how it all went on Monday. I posted that an another one of these Sofia posts yesterday. Here are some picture from today's babysitting!

This is the "I'm gonna get ya!" face when you kiss her.

Aw, how cute...the 2 sisters.

Watching TV...

"Can I help you??"

Chub Chub

The Jonas Brothers!

On Monday night, I went to the most amazing concert of my life with two friends of mine, Kelsey and Stephanie. The Jonas Brother gave an incredible performance and it wasn't just them doing their job, but they were putting on a SHOW! They spayed the audience down with huge hoses, they brought an 8 year old on stage to sing with them and they even played a two song encore. I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing them, with my own eyes and being able to see them live made me love their music so much more. Their opening act, Demi Lovato, was just as fantastic. Her voice sounds the same whether it be live or recorded and The Jonas Brothers are the same way. Avril Lavigne was in between each of those two acts and since she was demoted from headlining this tour to the side act, she was forced to sing a lot of her older songs from her older album so the audience would enjoy her. Her newer album (which was supposed to be featured on this tour), has too much language and wouldn't be known by this younger crowd. All I can say is that no other concert that I've ever been to or will ever go to will be quite as fantastic as this one. I didn't want to leave and afterwards my voice felt like I had been screaming for hours (which I had been ha ha) I didn't have the closest seats but I could see them just fine. I do have pictures and many of them are blurry due to the distance and the motion that was going on.

This is Demi Lovato performing.

This is Avril Lavigne performing.

This is Joe with an eight-year-old little girl he pulled up on stage

This is Nick playing his emotional song about his diabetes on a grand white piano.

The Jonas Brothers rockin' out...

That's Kevin...He's my guitar Hero.

Still rockin' out.The best picture I took of them is this one.

"Hi Mommy!"

Sofia is here at home with me while Tricia is hard at work. Well, while Tricia is on her breaks, she loves to check my blog and see how everything is going since i tend to post while I babysit. So, here is a shout out to Mommy! And by the way, I'm doing a post about The Jonas Brother's concert later on today. I have pictures and videos for all of you.

And right before lunch, (after her nap), Sofia was making a lot of noise while she had her tummy time, but I didn't think it was a big deal. Well, while in her walker I saw a brown line across her back. She had exploded out of her diaper and all over her back. I was a MESS...but after we got all cleaned up, it was lunch time and all things were right again. We played guitar and sang and she fell right asleep in her crib.

This video is for Tricia from Sofia!