We only like "Tanta" from far away...

We didn't like "Tanta" this year. Although he was okay from far away. And we said good-bye to him about 10 times after we left. Maybe we'll have better luck next year!

Wreaths and Such

We have been very busy getting ready for the holidays. And Natalie is climbing on EVERYTHING!! She hasn't tried to climb out of her crib yet, but she does try to climb in.

I also went to a wreath making party. Below is my result as well as a picture of the beautiful wreath we received from Nelwyn and Ross!

And a few pictures of Natalie trying on her reindeer antlers. The first picture is the only I got of her with them on after I put them on. The second was her attempt at putting them on!

Holiday Plans

We have so many thing going on right now. Paul is finishing up his semester today and has finals next week. He is also on a search committee and interviewing people for that. Natalie is busy with school and missing Nana and Papa since they left earlier this week. I am busy getting everything done before we leave for Texas. We should be leaving here on the 11th and then head to Atlanta to see Uncle Lou and Aunt Barbara. Then we are off to Alabama to visit The Hendersons. Then it is onward to Texas. Our good friend Dylan is getting married and Paul and I are going to have our first night alone since Natalie was born! We are so excited to see all of our family and friends in Texas and hope to see as many people as possible before heading back. Classes start on Jan 6 so we have things to do on Jan 5. So we will be making a much quicker drive back. Hopefully Natalie will nap in the car and help us out!

2nd Party is a SUCCESS!!!

Natalie's birthday party was a huge success! Everyone had a great time and the weather was really nice. So we started the party outside playing with bubbles and running around the yard. We then came in and everyone got to make a butterfly out of toilet paper rolls. We then moved on to cake. Then we had loads of fun playing with balloons inside before another round of outside play. Natalie was sad to see everyone leave. After a much-needed nap, Natalie opened her gifts. Since it is a long process for her to open presents, we decided it would be better to have her open then after everyone left. We took pictures of her opening them, and then sent out a email thank you that included pictures from the party and her opening the gifts to her friends. Thanks to everyone who came and we were sorry that a few friends weren't able to make it!

Bubble time...

More bubbles...Natalie mostly carried the bottles around.

Getting help from Ms. Jenny. Nat didn't actually make a buttterfly, mostly she stole the glue sticks and tried to eat them! Everyone else enjoyed making a butterfly though!

Pulling stickers out of the bucket

Cake time....(this was her butterfly cake..she also had a caterpillar cake!)

Eating our birthday cake!

Getting a little tired. And being silly!

Balloon fun!

Saying good-bye to her guests

Trying out her new tea party set

Natalie's Birthday

Natalie's Birthday was a very busy day. Mommy made butterfly cookies the night before for Natalie to take to school. But before we went to school, we opened up all our presents from Daddy's side of the family. (We let Natalie open her easel from her godfather the night before!) Then we got to go to the doctor's office. Turns out Natalie has a mild ear infection in one ear and croup. Luckily, she isn't contagious so we don't have to cancel her birthday party. After school, Natalie decided not to nap so Mommy and Natalie took a trip to Lowes to get doorstops so that Natalie would stop closing her bedroom door and getting "stuck". Below are pictures of her special day. I will post up pictures from her birthday party soon. It is tomorrow.

Butterfly cookies to take to school.

Playing with our new easel!

Thanks Randy for the awesome easel! You rock as a godfather!!!

Opening our new Fairy Tales book from cousin Sofie.

Mommy and Daddy got Natalie Penny the Penguin. She is a friend of Natalie's Minme, her most prized possession.

This play-doh will be all over our house soon!

Pointing to Dora in our new Christmas book.

Reading our Dora's Potty time book..that has a button that sounds like a toilet flushing!!

We really like new books! And we got quite a few new ones!!

Checking out a new book!

Baby that Natalie got from GG, her great-grandmother. It crawls and coos. She is really confused by it.

Cake Mommy made for Natalie for her actual birthday.

Very different reaction to the cake this year..she didn't want to touch it. Last year she destroyed it!

NATALIE IS 2 YEARS OLD!!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Natalie! More pictures to come....

And so the chaos begins..

The next few weeks are going to be CRAZY. This week is Natalie's second birthday! YAY!! So I am making cookies for her class on Thursday as well as a small cake for her on Thursday for her actual birthday. I am also cleaning the house for Natalie's birthday party on Saturday. We've invited 16 kids! Hoping the weather is nice so they can play OUTSIDE a little bit. I am making 2 birthday cakes for her party..a caterpillar and a butterfly. I also have to find the time to finish getting everything ready for the crafts for the kids. They are going to make toilet paper roll butterflies..and maybe egg crate caterpillars if I can get that ready as well. (Are you seeing a theme for her party??) So I've gotta get that done by Saturday.

Also this weekend I have to make 4 loaves of cranberry pumpkin bread. Then next week my parents and brother Andrew are coming here for Thanksgiving. So house has to be cleaned again and we have to get everything made for the big feast! Then it is football, football, and some more football. The following week is the last week of classes for Paul. (He has finals the week after that.) That week is also my last week of SAT tutoring and we have to take Andrew back to the airport.

Once finals are underway, I have to start packing for our trip home for Christmas. We are driving (yes we are insane) with a two year old who hates the car..and it is a 20 hr trip. We think we are going to break it up into 3, maybe 4 days with a stop along the way to visit our friends Troy and Greta. Anyways, I am taking a few minutes break to write this and then it is back to cleaning. Yuck!

Tuba Lesson

We got Paul's mouthpiece for his tuba today. So of course he had to bring it out for Natalie to play with. She calls it "Dada's toy". So funny trying to get her to blow in it..we told her to blow bubbles. Mostly she talked into it!

Even Grown-Ups Need Toys

So..I got my Christmas present early....a new range! It has 2..yes 2..ovens. The top oven was able to preheat to 400 in less than 5 minutes..and it was actually at 400! The oven that came with our house was off by about 50-55 degrees and cycled on and off during the baking. NOT a good thing when baking. Basically the bottom of things was well done and the top was medium rare...and I'm talking about muffins not steak! Can't wait to do Thanksgiving in this stove and Natalie's 2 birthday cakes for her party, cookies for her class, and smash cake for her actual birthday! Here are some pictures along with the microwave that Paul and his dad installed when we first moved into the house!

Halloween and the Spooky Trail at Kalmia Gardens

We went to the Spooky Trail at Kalmia Gardens. We went early so it wouldn't be dark when we went through but Natalie still clung to Paul's shirt.

They had an inflatable "cemetary" when you entered the trail and Natalie kept saying "scare" but then wouldn't stop staring at it!

By the end of our time there, she was waving hello to the "cemetary"!!

On Halloween, the Browns invited us over to their house! We had a wonderful time hanging out and watching the kids coming trick or treating. Natalie kept trying to steal the candy from the bowls!

Here she is trying to shove M&Ms in her mouth along with her lollipop!

Trunk or Treat

We took our little ladybug to the Trunk or Treat at First Baptist Church tonight. Basically they have a line of cars with their trunks open and people hand out candy. You walk around in a line. They also had some games and food but they were a bit too difficult for Natalie. She did manage to get an orange Tootsie Roll and eat it (paper and all) before we could get it out of her hand. We also let her have an orange Tootsie Roll lollipop. We're hiding the rest of the candy from her and trying not to eat it all ourselves. We are heading over to some friends' house for Halloween on Saturday. Will post up more pictures then. I am also including a picture of Natalie's friend, Morgan, who was dressed as a garden gnome! SOOO CUTE!

Our Little Ladybug

This is Gonna Be Fun!!

Checkin' out My Wing Span

I'm Confused...

Not too Sure About the Wings

Trick or Treat

Followin' the Line

Showin' a little Shoulder

(it's a bit big because it is a 12m/24m size)

Back view

Checkin' Everything Out

Mommy's Favorite

Morgan, the Garden Gnome