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!!