The Big 3!

Natalie turned 3 on the 19th. Hard to believe that she is 3 now! She had a wonderful day, starting with cupcake shaped cookies at school. Then Nana and Papa came that afternoon. They gave her a new tricycle, with pedals she can actually reach! She still hasn't quite figured out how to pedal on her own, but we are working on it. We had a a little cupcake that night to celebrate. The next morning she had several friends over for a party. We had a cupcake shaped piñata that had strings on the bottom for the kids to pull. We also decorated cupcakes and the kids got to take them home. Natalie, in keeping with her street sign obsession, insisted her cakes be "diamond triangle" and "diamond octagon" so that's exactly what Mommy made. She got lots of presents from family and friends, with some of her favorites being the new Fisher Price ixL, Alfie the robot, some magnetic dolls, and the play-doh cake decorating set!! A few others we haven't quite opened yet. A little overwhelming for her at three so we are slowly playing with them all! Enjoy the pictures! Just a few other cute things Natalie has said now that she is three: "I want my telephones" (she meant her new headphones). Papa is a big sleepy Texas boy. And she told the inflatable Santa and every single Santa we have seen that she wants Barbie stuff for Christmas!

The Birthday Girl

Cookies at School

A little helpful push from Papa

Opening Presents

Cupcake

Pinata

Enjoying some cake

Goofing off with Papa

Birthday Princess

The Cakes

Halloween - A week later

We had a week long celebration here is Hartsvegas. We went to the trunk-or-treat at First Baptist on Wednesday night and came home with a bucket so full of candy that Natalie could barely hold it up. Thursday night Nat and Paul went to Taste of Coker, a fundraiser for the athletics dept, while I had to teach. Friday we went trick-or-treating downtown. It was fun and we got lots more candy! Saturday night was the Halloween festivities at Coker (it was for 4 and up so we didn't go). Instead we carved out pumpkins. And then Sunday we went over to the Browns' house for snacks and trick-or-treating. Nat was a little hesitant at first but then she got the hang of it and would say trick-or-treat. She would immediately look in her Elmo bucket to see what she had gotten. At one house, they had a witch on the porch. The homeowners were on the other side of the porch. Natalie kept saying "Trick-or-treat" to the witch and couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting anything! We had a lot of fun in our cupcake costume but we are glad that Halloween is over. Now we are focusing on the fact that Natalie will be 3 IN TWO WEEKS!!!