Last Day of School

So today is Natalie's last day of school. Well, of this school year. Summer classes start in a little over a week! To mark this day, I took her picture today. So below you will see her picture from her first day of school when she cried like crazy when I left her..to today, where she still didn't want me to leave her but no tears and went to playing with the toys. Enjoy!

August 2009

May 2010

And our new word is....

Goofball! Here are some recent pictures of Natalie...she is a goofball in all of them! She really loves hamming it up for the camera! The last few show where she has been deciding to take a nap lately!

We got her this nice new big-girl bed..and this is where she chooses to nap. Also note that she takes most if not all of her clothes off!

Trains, Trains and more Trains

Natalie has become obsessed with Thomas the Train. So we found her a second-hand set of tracks and got her a few cars (which she only really likes the real Thomas one since none of the other have faces!!). We also found a train table on Craigslist. Got it really cheap. Only drawback was it was painted fire engine red. So I spent a few days out in the garage with some "Cabin Plank" brown paint. We put it all together for her last night and she loves it!

Train table as listed on craigslist

Playing with our new tracks

Trying out the coffee table as a train table

Newly painted and improved train table

Strawberry Pickin'

We took Natalie out strawberry picking again this year. Last year we went to the strawberry festival when we were here house-hunting. Natalie loved the wagon ride out to the patch. And we have no idea how many strawberries she ate while we were picking. We used the strawberries we picked to make a strawberry pie. Turned out pretty good!

First Field Trip

We went with Natalie's class on her first trip yesterday. We went to Ovis Hill Farm and got to see cows, sheep and chickens. Natalie also got to pet and feed a lamb. We even got to make butter. Natalie loved all the animals and the farm itself. Paul and I loved that the farm has a store and we were able to get brisket, flank steak and skirt steak fresh from the farm (3 cuts of beef that are REALLY hard to find here. This is PIG country when it comes to BBQ!!!) Here are some pictures from the farm.

Whoa! Cows!!

Cows with Daddy

Enjoying the sheep with Antwan, Patrick and Elijah

Feeding the lamb

Natalie liked the lamb

Petting the lamb

Natalie and Audrey trying to reach the lamb

Not so sure about sitting still

Natalie and Audrey waiting to shake the butter

Shaking cream to make butter

First Family Vacation

So we just got back from a long weekend in Myrtle Beach. It was a really fun time. This is the first time that the three of us have gone somewhere on a trip without 1) grandparents and 2) a REALLY long trip/travel/drive. We spent lots of time in the ocean and in the pools at our hotel. We also spent a lot of time at the outlet malls and this place called Broadway at the Beach, which has shops and restaurants. Natalie LOVED LOVED LOVED the beach. She thought the ocean was FANTASTIC! She loved splashing in the waves, throwing the seashells BACK into the ocean and sticking her head into the water. Our hotel had several pools, one of which had a big submarine and sprayers for Natalie to play in. Here are a few pictures of us enjoying our trip. We have tons of pictures from the trip but I won't bore you with them all!

Natalie loved the carousel at the outlets

Enjoying a wave with Daddy

Let's get in deeper

Love this ocean thing!

Jumping the waves with Mommy

Swimming in the baby pool

Silly face!

Working on blowing bubbles in the big pool

Trying on a hat while playing Thomas Trains

Enjoying the sunset on our last day

Rolling in the sand..that's what happens when we miss nap..we get silly!

Sunset with Mommy

Family Shot!

Park Fun

We have been enjoying the wonderful weather lately. We headed to the park a few days ago. Natalie loves the slides at the park and has gotten really good (and fearless) at going down by herself.