Autumn

This time of year HAS to be my FAVORITE. Windows open, comforatable tempratures, the smells outside, PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES at a local coffee shop, buring warm , toasty scented candles, wearing a light jacket in the morning and not needing it until the evening, when it is perfect to sit around a fire pit (and making s'mores for Natalie of course),OHIO STATE football games, or at least being the decked out fan (I don't watch much of the games, but it's fun to be a fan)

I. LOVE. IT. ALL.

Once a few years ago, one of my very best friends and I made autumn wreaths (she's as nuts about autumn as I). They were beautiful and represented each of our styles and perceptions of the season. Piece of advice, don't use berries, they will run down your front door when it rains.

We are getting ready to start planning our APPLE PICKING again this year and will make some yummy HOMEMADE APPLESAUCE. We will make a trip or two to the PUMPKIN PATCH

(One of which will be with Nat's school for her first field trip), then create artwork with our pumpkins and put them on the front porch. We will drink APPLE CIDER, and NANNY'S delicious VEGETABLE SOUP.

We will get to wear a new season of CLOTHES, and change the BAG we carry. I will (or already have) put a little DARKER COLOR in my hair.

We will begin looking forward to the HOLIDAYS and begin our Christmas shopping (ok the shopping might come more in the winter-but I can think about it right?)

For some SPRING is a fresh start, and it is for me too as far as getting outside, planting new flowers, getting ready for summer and rid of the dark winter days, but for me AUTUMN is a fresh start mentally, and emotionally and a time to live those MEMORIES which are so FOND to me and pass them on to my daughter.

1st day of preschool

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Natalie's 4th birthday

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Happy 4th birthday Natalie

I just tucked my 4 year old birthday girl in bed after a fun filled, full weekend. (pics to be posted at a later time). I have to take a moment and brag on her of course! I have an amazing little girl! Although she has her typical 4 year old little girl moments, she is so sweet, kind and loving. She is full of life and brings me and everyone around her so much joy! She is so creative and smart. She is breaking out of her shyness(thank goodness!), so everyone is beginning to see what an awesome little girl she is. As we are transistioning through this little rough time in our lives, she has been my strength and my motivation. This little girl has just adapted to the changes and still has so much love to give. I pray that her strength and understanding continues as things become confusing to her.
Preschool begins this week! I can't believe this this!!! I miss that little baby I delivered 4 years ago today, and I am slightly anxious as we begin this chapter in life, BUT I am so excited for her to grow and learn and make new friends. She is getting ready to bud into the beautiful flower she will one day become!! I am so blessed to get to watch her and help her grow into something more beautiful than I can imagine!!
Happy Birthday baby girl!! I love you!

Giant Insect

I simply must blog about this monster I saw this morning. I have never in my life seen any insect of this size. I will assume this is a praying mantis, and unharmful I'm sure, but it's size is a little intimidating. It is every bit of 4 inches...yikes!

Thank.God.it's.OUTSIDE.

This thing is and has been on the outside of the window above our fireplace all morning. Atleast I don't have to catch and release this baby like my cousin Ashley did (see her blog getreale)

Enjoy the photos

Soaking

In Natalie's class at church this morning, she made a picture (with a little help I'm sure) of a rocket ship. When I picked her up from class, her teacher told her to explain her picture to me. She said it was a rocketship that took her to see God. Her teacher backed it up by saying they "soaked" in worship music this morning and then asked the kids to draw what they felt afterwards. Natalie said she was in a rocketship that took her to God. WOW!

Spa Day

One day last week, my sister asked me if I was free on Friday. This is back to school season, so I knew immediately that she needed me to watch my 2 precious nieces. I was able to close my schedule at work and was delighted to accept the invitation.



Typically, I don't have all 3 children by myself. I might sometimes have one of the girls in addition to my own, but rarely all 3. My mom and my sister have the trio as a set often and it's no challenge to them, so why should it be a challenge to me you ask? Well, the answer is simple. I feel as though these sweet little girls think that they can push my buttons more than any other authority figure in their life. (Well my dad might be different story, but we have yet to find out.)



Friday morning began so sweet and peaceful. Everyone awoke with smiles on their face and sweetness in their heart. They ate breakfast well, they talked and played nice together, they all let me get them dressed and ready to go without any arguments or 'tudes and they let me get myself ready ......ok this is when it began...I was not more than 6 feet away from these princesses, getting myself ready when toys began getting snatched, screams were let out, hands were pushing and ugly words were let loose. My thoughts were OMG what has happened to these children?



So time outs were served, space was given as well a few words of straigtening out, a strike for each of the big girls was assigned, apologies and hugs were given and off we scooted to the salon.



I was not taking them to work with me, I had some things to drop off and Gracie and Natalie needed a trim. We arrive and I cut the girls' hair. As I am doing Gracie's hair, Shiloh asks for hair to be cut too. Can you imagine what my sister would do to me, if I cut those brown curls??? I can, so I told her no haircut for her, but I would paint her toe nails. She decided to go jump on the couch that I had already removed her from 3 times, so she too received a strike. It was magical. Once they all received strikes, they knew I meant business and they were again sweet, good listening little ladies.



I painted all 30 toes and all 30 fingers. These girls are so cute and so sweet! I wouldn't have traded this day for anything!!! I love you Nat, Gracie and Lo!

Our puppy

In recent weeks, I have been decluttering and separating our things into trash, sell or give away and need/want keep piles. Last week, I was alone at the house and thought it to be a perfect time to do this with Natalie's toys. Anyone with children knows this is an impossible task when the child is around.

I should have prefaced this with Natalie is obsessed with getting a puppy. She loves all kinds of puppies. We recently viewed Hotel for Dogs and it is her new favorite flick. She has asked all summer to get one. I am not a pet lover and the idea of it worries me, but when my little girl askes, can I get a puppy, I melt and want to run right out and get her one. Her dad keeps telling her no, not until she's older because it takes a lot of time and work, and he is also allergic. She always replies with "I will give it a bath everyday!" She was asking for a pup when she turns 4, which is just a few short weeks away. Now she has moved on to when she turns 5.

So back to the toys. For anyone who knows me, we did not get a real pup, but the next best thing. In the pile of "get rid of", which includes all the toys that have not been touched in a year or more, is a puppy. A gray and black fuzzy puppy, with a leash,collar, carrier, comb and brush. You can hear that magical music playing, can't you. She is obsessed with this thing. She named her Aleea. She is treating this puppy as if it were real. She(Aleea) plays outside, has gone to the zoo, eats with us and is equally adored by cousins Gracie and Shiloh. She did, however, leave her home today, tuck sweetly in the bathroom. We were going to the pool and she didn't think Aleea would like that.

I guess she is at least getting her "puppy fix" while I don't have to have a real puppy...I am sure it won't last long. Maybe when she's 6!

thoughts on the moon

" A pig could climb up a beanstalk and he would get to the moon; A cow could jump over the moon and turn out the light"
quoted by, Natalie Macci Foltz (she has the best imagination)

Work in progress...

I am working on my blog page, as you may see. I am acting as if I actually have time to do this, I don't. I really enjoy blogging and facebooking (word?), so I will continue use the time that I don't have. This may not be my final choice of pages and I intend on adding more to it, but I must put my creation on pause and do my motherly duties and go love on my baby girl!

The mind of a child

Last night Natalie told Josh and I " I want macaroni and cheese to come out of the sprinkler, wouldn't that be FUN?!"

Happy Birthday to my sister

I am a few days late to this post, however I have dealt with a very sick child this week and this is a tribute to MY sister, so I can do it whenever it fits. After all, lovely thoughts and words could NEVER come too late:

My sister Erin turned 29 on the 29th of June. She claims this as her "power birthday". You know, if you turned 10 on the 10th, 13 on the 13th, 16 on the 16th, and so on. Well she has been waiting for this days for 29 years and so it has come and gone.
I love that she is so amused by the little things in life, as you may have figured out about the "power birthday" thing. She can make the best of any situation. For example, while driving in the middle of the night for vacation, she decided we would use a notebook and twitter about everything ridiculous to weird to hilarious. When reading it later, only she and I really found these things worthwhile.
I love that she is so positive about everything! She has talked "sense" into me several times in my adult life. She is always trying to find a way to make a situation work. This is a trait she has passed on to her eldest daughter, Gracie. That girl will try and talk her way (or Natalie's way) out of or into anything.
She is a teacher. A truly "meant to be " teacher. Not only does she teach little kindergartners as the begin their school life, but she is always teaching her own children. Everything is a lesson when you are around her. She has taught me much throughout my life.
I love that we can always have fun together with our girls. We are all so close and have such a special bond. She is so caring and giving, a servent, which are all traits of another very special lady, our grandmother. She reminds me so much her, which is awesome to see her through my sister. I am sure she will be as much of a blessing as our "nanny".

Happy Birthday girl! I love you!

My daughter, the storyteller

Natalie has such an imagination and for the better part of her talking years, has created some amazing stories. The following is a conversation between her an my mother in law about our recent beach vacation:

MIL: "Natalie, how did you like that ocean on vacation?"
Nat: " I loved it. It was so fun and then a shark chased me and my mommy rescued me. That shark bit my mom on the bottom, and I was terrified!"
MIL: OH! along with much laughter!

Just to clear up, we saw no sharks. We did see dolphins, but none chased anyone in our family. I did NOT get bit by anything on the bottom.

Love that imagination!!

How many shoes...

...does a 3 1/2 year old need to step out of her back door and into the pool? For my little shoe fanatic, that number would be 3!

The winning shoe to return into the house is none other than....the red "princess Belle" shoes that are 5 sizes too big!

She wore these beauties as we cut some lilacs, that she just had to hold up to her little face for the picture. She has become quite the little "girly girl" these past few weeks. Her average day consists of 3 to 4 clothing changes, and she has even become fond of dresses!!! I guess this is ok, except for the extra laundry (who needs that?) and a bedroom that looks as though a tornado has hit. I walked into her room a few days ago (47 minutes after I cleaned it), there were 6 pair of shoes out, 3 shorts, 5 shirts and 2 pair of undies on the floor....what in the world am I in for?

Day Two of the 30 day shred

My one word remains, OUCH! I hurt in many places, but oddly enough I feel great.

Shredding

The past few weeks, I have been getting up bright and early to power walk. I have a route that I follow on nice mornings and treadmill it on the days when the weather is not so nice. Yesterday my sister, my mom and I started the 30 day shred. This is a 20 minute circut training workout taught by Jillian (the tail kicker) from the hit tv show The Biggest Loser. I did not watch this season as we no longer have tv in our house (that would be a whole new blog), but I have seen it before and it is quite motivating. I will be blogging about my 30 day shred. If I could described in just one word how I feel today...OUCH! I am sore in so many places. I got up to go do my 2 mile walk this morning and I was slow moving, but did it nonetheless!! As the day progresses I get more and more stiff, but I will endure the pain and do my workout again this evening. Lord, help me!

Another valuable lesson learned

Keep 9 volt batteries in your home at all times. Smoke detectors require them and will beep without cease the entire night, or until you replace the battery.

I found a cool link...

...to get a sweet new T-shirt with your fave verse on it, check it out! www.wildolivetees.com
I would like to post this to my blog, but it's not working for me. Any internet savvy individuals may comment to direct me...

Remember

Although, I think of her daily, I must take a moment to remember one the most amazing women who was a part of my life. Today would have been my grandma's birthday if she were still on this earth with us. She was indeed amazing. She was so kind, loving and gentle. I miss her everyday. Sometimes I wish I could just call her up and talk to her, get advice or just hear her voice. I always talk of her to Natalie and think of how crazy they would be about each other. Nat would have loved her so much. So today on her birthday, I will remember all the wonderful things about her!

"After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Froggy Cove

I can't believe it has taken me this long to blog about this fantastic place. Josh's mom and step-dad bought a lake house on Choctaw Lake in London, Ohio. It is a beautiful home, with beautiful surroundings. Maggie is such neat lady in many ways, and creating Foggy Cove is no exception. She named the lake house Froggy Cove and created such a fun place for the kiddies too. There is a shelf with several jars of different types of candy, a bubble gum machine, an old fashion pop corn maker and lots of fun things for them to do. She always has ice cream and ice cream cones too! A child's dream, ok maybe for us adults too! There are frogs all over this house, including a very "special " frog that must be put out of reach from little hands! Last Friday, the new boat arrived! It is a beautiful boat and we took several rides last weekend. A common phrase used around Froggy cove is "this is the best place to be". I think we could all say that! Thanks Grammy and Grampy for such a fun place to visit!

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you.~Ephesians 4:32

Visit to the dentist

Natalie was such a big girl today at the dentist! This was her second trip to the dentist, the first trip didn't leave me much to blog about. Josh and I have been talking this up for 2 weeks, telling her how fun going to the dentist is and the goodies you get to bring home. She wanted me to go first, which worked out well, as she was able to walk around and familiarize herself with the office and the hygenist. She was very excited about her turn!

She hopped right up and asked for the Mickey Mouse bib! She knew how many teeth she had and helped count them. She layed still during the exam and the cleaning and was very cooperative.

After her cleaning, Dr. Mike came in and talked to her and did his exam. He told her she has beautiful teeth and he can tell she does a good job brushing..."Keep up the good work!" She was so proud of herself and I was too! As we were leaving she said "When do I get my ice cream" The girl has a good memory. Josh told her last week if she did a good job, he would take her to get ice cream. Guess where we are headed this evening!

"Be completely humble and gentle; Be patient, bearing with one another in Love" Ephesians 4:2

Latest project

This spring our grass is in a real strugglefest...actually it is pretty pathetic. We are not sure just what happened but it it is brown, hard, and has spread and is oozing it's way into Mr. Merideth's beautiful yard (yikes). I have asked Josh a few times if we could seed it or something, but we never did anything, until Friday afternoon about 3:45 pm, Josh decides to rent a sod cutter and order 16 yards of top soil! (Let me just say that we had plans Saturday evening and all day Sunday) Now I am not complaining, I did want to fix the problem, it's just that 1. He is is no condition to do such physical labor at this very moment (a different blog) and 2. we just didn't quite have the time this weekend. I think he realized this about 30 mintues into the job. He rented a bobcat this morning and had that dirt spread in a jiffy!! Now we should have grass...sometime soon, I hope! Nat helped him use his "toy for the day". Posted are pics of our new yard and my loves in the bobcat!

Thanks Joshie!!! You are a wonderful husband!!

Lesson learned

Thursday, we woke to a beautiful morning and decided it would be a perfect day to visit the zoo. We have been wanting to see this new baby elephant and have yet to go this spring. If you didn't know, they have viewing times to see this little celebrity and we arrived just in time to stand in line to see him. Yes I said stand in line. The zoo has the line gated off starting at the rhino exhibit ending at the elephant exhibit as though we were about to get on an amazing ride at an amuesment park, time markers and all! The start of the line marks an hour wait from there. We ended up only waiting 30 minutes, which turned out very educational. Along the way, facts about elephants were posted, so we learned all the uses for trunks, what they eat, they consume 25-50 gallons of water a day and much more exciting info! I am not complaining about it at all, it was well worth it. I was skeptical at first, when I saw the line, but it was so organized and there are plenty of views and plenty of time for you and the little ones to see little elephant. He is so cute!! You must go visit him!

We continued on around the zoo, when Nat saw the merry-go-round and just had to ride it. We jumped line and picked our horse. Normally, she needs me to hold on to her the entire ride so I was right by her side, even though she was telling me I didn't need to ride with her. I couldn't let her do it by herself just yet. Usually once speed is picked up, she gets real nervous. She did just fine this time, but since I wasn't focused on holding her, I learned that it is not in my best intrest to ride something moving in a circular motion. I was ill from that ride the rest of the day. Thank goodness we were nearing the end of our day at the zoo. She was very sweet and understanding. She even put her little hands on me and asked Jesus to make her mama feel better.

Lesson learned!

Babysitter

On Wednesday, Josh tells me we have an FOP function to attend on Saturday evening and need to see if someone (aka mom and dad, grammy and grampy or aunt ne ne and uncle Nic) can watch Nat. Well saturday nights are hard to do that as we live just far enough away from all that she would have to spend the night. This occasion would be ok if we did not have church on Sunday morning. Yes she could go to church with one of them ,but I want her to come to our church with us. So in a jam we were, when the thought occured to me!

We have a sweet little neighbor girl, Bailey, who Natalie just loves! She is a good girl and has a great family. Those reading this know I am very picky about who has my child, but I thought it was time to give this "hired babysitter" a try. I asked her if she would be interested and how much she charged. She gives me the obvious answer and respectful 13 year old answer..." oh whatever you want to pay" I asked a neighbor standing by what the "going rate"is. She said anywhere from $3-$5 /hour. Josh chimes in to say "I think $10/hour is good!" Now I could never put a price tag on who cares for my baby, but wow! that's alot for babysitting. I sure never made that.

Later, we were figuring out what time we would need her and for how long, when Josh realizes that we would be paying her from about 4:30 to 9:30...5 hours?...equals $50! so then he starts figuring......
We went to our event, had a great time and returned to a sleeping little girl and a good report from the babysitter. Josh walked her home and paid her...$50...oh boy!

Today was brought to you by the letter "B"

I work with Natalie daily teaching her letters, numbers, colors, and many others lessons. This week I thought I would start focusing on one letter for the whole week and apply it to all our activities. We started with the letter B this week. (She has previously done this with the letter A). We practiced writing it, tracing it, sounding it out, and going through magazines and finding "B" things, cutting them out and pasting on paper.
Today, being the beautiful day that it was, led us on a walk out to the tree line behind our house. We were talking about find things that start with a "B". Unfortunately, we only found one thing that began with a "B" that should have been there, a branch. The other items we found were plastic Bottles...lots of them, Bags, Balls (golf and plastic) and cans (ok not a "b").
So our peaceful, educational quickly turned into picking up these items and putting in this nasty plastic bag (filled with dirt and old water). This was all Natalie's idea and all i could think about at first was how dirty and unsanitary this was, but I scrubbed her little helping hands when we returned home and thought, "this is awesome!" She wanted to recycle all of our findings. So I guess it was educational afterall!

Another weekly lesson we are practicing is a bible memory verse. This week she learned in just one day!!

The Lord is Good! He protects those who trust him in times of trouble. Nahum 1:7

Let's Recycle!

Nat and I were in the car running some errands on Thursday, when she asked if she could have a drink of my sprite. I gave her the can and after her very long chug of sprite, she asked if she could recyle the can. I said "well sure" as I thought how does my 3 year old know about recycling. I make an effort to use less energy (that could have been brought on by my dad and my light bulb in my teenage room- THAT is a whole different blog),anyway, I conserve water and don't use paper plate, and throw away cups on an everyday basis. I would like to think I am trying to make a difference for the environment, but we don't recycle. Well we didn't recycle...until Thursday! She rinsed the can out in the sink and put it in the recycle bin in the garage. We don't drink alot of soda, but I saved 2 cans we had while she was at her grandparents house, and this morning, she was so excited to see them, and climbed up to the sink, rinsed them out and asked to take them out to the bin. I made chili today and was getting ready to throw away some cans and a glass jar...(obviously not thinking about it) and she says "no no no..I can recycle those" so we cleaned them out and in the bin the went! I need to do some research to find out what can go together, and what needs separated so we can be a little more organized about this... She is an amazing little girl!

Addiction? or Hobby?

There are 2 things that I have become passionate about in the last few weeks. One is American Idol and the other is facebook. Ok they are alost becoming an addiction.
First of all, I have never missed a season of American Idol! This season has taken a total change. I am actually very irritated with the show. They are passing all kinds of talent just for sheer entertainment. It's not right! Now don't get me wrong there is some hidden talent in these 13 contestants, but not much. Danny G is my fave, Alexis is Nat's fave (yes i have introduced her to the craze, and she loves it. In fact everyday, she asks if American Idol is on that night.) and there are maybe 3 or 4 others. I am not gonna run down the whole show, but just knowit has brought out alot of "passion" in me this season. I wish I could say that I would never watch it again, but I know that I won't....addiction?
Second, Facebook is not negative for me in anyway, it just makes me stay up later at night and I find myself checking it like every 10 minutes (when I am at work or have a little spare time..what?) I know! That is negative...but oh so FUN! I am finding so many old friends! It makes it so nice to be able to contact these people and find out about thier lives, kids, families, etc. I love it! I am always looking for people on here. My sister's Mother- in -law created a group from my old church youth group and it is awesome! I am cracking up at funny stories and memories and pictures! If you have joined, you really should!
So I really don't want to label these things as addictions, because then I should be working on removing them from my life, right? Well that's not gonna happen, so let's call them my "present ...um...hobbies?"

Natalie's new best friend

So, most of you reading this blog know my passion for dogs and you are totally picking up on my sarcasm as this very moment! By looking at the picture, I am sure you have realized that my baby girl does not share my same passion for dogs. My sister's family recently adopted little Max, and I do have to say he is the best dog I have ever been around. He does not lick me, sniff me, jump on me or any of the other things that most puppies do. He is learning very quickly what it takes to be a member of a family with 3 toddlers. (Gracie, Shiloh and Natalie) It took her a few days to love him so very much. Love, however is an understatement when it comes to describing her emotion for Max. She is always rubbing on him, trying to play fetch with him and cuddling him. On Saturday, we were leaving my sister's house and Natalie asked if Gracie could have a sleepover and Aunt Ne Ne said that wasn't a good night. She asked me if Max could come have a sleepover...I am sure you all know my response. She was brokenhearted! She cried about the entire way to dinner. When I asked why she was still crying, she told me "I just miss Max so much!".
Jumping head, Sunday night. Nat slept in her sleeping bag in our bedroom and I heard her say "hi Maxy- max! come here Max, I love you max!" SHE WAS SOUND ASLEEP!

Nat's chores

I recently read an article about a toddler's independence and how keeping up with what they can do and to continually raise the bar, with help with their confidence and security. Well I decided to enforcing a few things with Natalie, and so far, so good. Her toughest is going potty by herself. She can do it, she just wants someone to go with her always. We will work on that one!

This morning I was putting laundry away and when I went upstairs to put hers away, I asked her to come help me tidy up her room. She is a helper, so she quickly jumped up and was so excited for her chore. It wasn' a mess, just some toys on the floor and her bed needed made. As I was putting her clothes away, I let her do her thing. She did it all, and all by herself. As we walked out of her room she turned to me and said doesn't it look perfect? I told her it was perfect and how proud I am of her...what is funny about this is her bed. It took everything for me to not fix it, so instead I had her pose with her self cleaned bedroom. She is so proud!

Running Hubby

For the past 3 years Josh has been addicted to a new hobby...running! I personally would never claim it as a hobby, but he does and he loves it. He is very diligent in his training and has tried to convince me that once you start, you get addicted and just have to keep going, oddly familiar to Forest Gump. I have tried, yet have failed to find the joy in it.

Josh has run several races including 1 full marathon and just returned from his latest. He ran the Miami 1/2 Marathon in Miami Florida. The race began bright and early at 6:15am and he finished with a time of 2:10. He returned home yesterday afternoon with sore legs and feet. He just headed out the door, running clothes in hand so go back at it tonight after work! Gotta love that dedication!

Way to go babe! I am proud of you!

Happy Day

Here is Nat performing one of favorite songs! I am posting 2 or 3 videos(whatever I am permitted to post). One of these clips she is using some of aunt Ne Ne's choreography. I have to mention, yes she does have food on her face, and sometimes the video is blurry(she moves around alot)

A new bakery in town

There is a new bakery in downtown Marysville, a hot topic among the gals at the salon. This little shop is called THE RIBBON BOX. I have heard great things about this little shop of divine baked goods! Despite my commitment to "no junk food", we just HAD to give it a try!

I should go back a bit by saying I felt we deserved this special treat because I had been dealing with a computer issue that has just about driven me to insanity. (Maybe I will blog on that later, now is not a good time, as I am totally over it). Anyway, Nat has not been feeling well either (nasty cold), so I thought we would indulge! SO glad we did!

The Ribbon box not only had delightful treats, but is so very cute too. They sell toys and gifts as well. We chose to get cupcakes. Natalie had white cake, white vanilla butter cream icing, and mine was none other than Chocolate, of course. I ordered a cake for mine and Josh's 5 yr anniversary- the same we had at on our wedding day. The ladies are very kind and enthusiastic about their new business and I wish them the very best!

Snow Day

I am not a fan of cold weather or snow or anything that comes with it, but I felt like I needed to give Natalie the chance to go and play in the snow one day last week. When I asked her if she wanted to go out and play, she quickly responded "no thanks...it looks like it's too cold". I didn't push the issue!

Aunt Ne Ne bought her a really cute snow suit this weekend. She got a great deal on it and Nat was in need of one in case she wanted to play in the snow! Sunday afternoon, Nat says " mama, let's go outside and play in the snow! That's a great idea isn't it?" So off I went to find myself the proper attire to play in the cold, wet, snow. I found Josh's ski pants, my cute pink down coat, the only hat I could find was a hell's angels sock hat, but it did the job. Off we went outside to play!

I have to say, we had a great time. It took me back to childhood a little bit. We made snow angels, and snow balls! Natalie went down her snow covered slide and thought that was a hoot! She lasted about 20 minutes and then we went in for some hot chocolate. The things we do to make our children happy!

Natalie opens her long awaited Handy Manny tool box

The blame game

I have to set up this story before I begin...
Natalie loves Handy Manny and his talking tool friends. She talked about wanting the Handy Manny talking tool box for 2 months before Christmas. That toolbox was under the tree on Christmas morning (I will try to post the video of her opening it...priceless) and she was so excited. She has been playing with it every day since.

OK, so we were playing candy land on Thursday morning and she kept messing with cards, putting them in her mouth and rubbing on her legs and feet. I am still not sure why she was doing this, but I kept telling her not to do it, as she would not only mess the cards up, but the cards could give her a painful paper cut. As most 3 year olds, she knows more than I do and didn't listen. About 15 minutes later, she came crying to me that her finger was hurting. I looked at it, and wouldn't you know...a nasty paper cut. I kissed it and put a bandage on it. As I finished, I said so Natalie what happened to your finger? Her response without hestitation and full of drama was "she did it to me" I asked who did it to you? With tears in her eyes she says "Squeeze hurt my finger".

Squeeze is one of Handy Manny's talking tool friends.....

Where has the time gone?

It has been awhile since my last post, so I am going to tie all of my blogs into one big one!! We began our holiday season with a wonderful trip to Disney World, thanks to Josh's mom and step dad! They took the whole family for Christmas and we all had a great time! Natalie met uncle Chad and Aunt Christen for the first time since she was 9 days old. It took her a few days to warm up to them, but once she did she was crazy about them. She talks about them all the time and was so excited when we received their Christmas card in the mail. We hung out with her cousins Abby and Molly too! We really enjoyed spending time with everyone! Natalie met all of her favorite Disney characters...Buzz and Woody, Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Donald, all of the princesses, so many more. Her absolute favorite person she met was Handy Manny! I think Josh and I were just as surprised and excited to see him as Natalie! Everytime we saw someone, Nat would grab her autograph book, mama would grab her camera, and Josh would grab Nat and walk her up to her disney friends. Many times one of us would have to be in the picture with her, but not Handy Manny, she visited him "all by her big self". It was a sad day when we had to leave, tears were shed by baby girl.
We came home to rotten weather, and lots to do to get ready for Christmas! The salon was busy and tied up alot of time, but we spent time with our families and each other. We had a very fun Christmas this year! watching Natalie enjoy everything was amazing. She had so much fun playing with her cousins, giving and receiving lots of presents, baking and spending time at home with mama and daddy. The week in between Christmas and new years, I found myself ready to get the house back in living order, so I took put away all of the decorations and took the tree down. Side note: I LOVE having a live tree, but man it is a pain. oh well, I'll never not have one!
Josh has to work until 11 on New years eve, so nat and I fixed dinner,played games and play- doh and watched the dick clark count down. She tried really hard to stay awake, but pooped out about 11pm. Josh made it home in time to ring in the new year with me!
For those who know of the battle we have had with Nat sleeping in her own bed....She has overcome it, and is now back to sleeping in her very own bed all night long!!

So the New Year is off to a good start! We are doing great, the salon is doing great!! We are very blessed!! Happy New year to everyone!!