Slick Ride

As we have had a lot of sleet and ice, it at least made the ground white and made for some good sledding! It wasn't good for snowman making, but the kids really enjoyed sledding. Natalie went up and down the hills several times by herself, which was impressive. She did ride with her sister too. Nicole really liked the sledding, but one of us was with her each time (no solo!). Woody rode with the kids the most times. We were both a little surprised it did have some fun precipitation as it was not doing much last night until much after dark.

Natalie was the first one on the sled.
The girls together!

Mommy did get on the sled too!

Just check out this fashionable group here...

my ski stuff from 10 years ago really did come in handy (lol!). Love those ski goggles! Well, it was pretty heavily sleeting at that time, so they were nice. We then went down a bigger hill but I didn't take pictures of that. Needless to say, naps are going quite well right now!!

School Party

Since Natalie picked up the stomach virus on Wednesday, she wasn't feeling like the school party on Friday. So, we rescheduled for this Friday. It was my first attempt at decorating a cake. Of course, trying to save money was one goal, but it was also that Natalie requested something not a lot of the stores advertise - a rainbow cake. So, time to try something new, to decorate a rainbow cake. I cheated and bought prepared fondant as I didn't want to attempt making the stuff for this occasion! Add some sprinkles, and this was the final product.

So, we had rainbow plates and napkins to go along with the cake. Here is Natalie, blowing out the 5 year old candle on her cake. Next to Elysia, who was feeling better (she was out on Wednesday).

Here is a shot of half the table. They all liked the cake plus the cheese puffs. They ate a whole bag of cheese puffs!

Nicole liked the celebration and the cheese puffs too. I couldn't help but think of last year when she just stayed in the stroller the whole time. Thanks that Woody could come too and help out. The teachers were really busy and not able to help out much that day.

Glad to celebrate your birthday for a whole week, Natalie! Happy birthday, sweetie!

Girl's Sayings

Today, Natalie looked at me very tenderly while putting her hand to my face. "Mommy," she said, "I love you just the way you are." I started tearing up, thinking of how sweet and kind my sweet little girl is. And then she continued, "Because you don't have a beard." Well, at least lack of facial hair counts for something! PTL to be born blonde!

And, you might think your 18 month old has watched a little too much Dora when she goes up to the closed door and says, "Abre (Spanish word for open)." And, says Dora, backpack, map...

McBirthday

Happy 5th Birthday, Natalie! We decided to have a small celebration this year for her at a local McDonalds that had a really nice indoor playground. As, it was in the teens just a few days ago! And, we woke up to a rainy, drizzlely day. So, it was nice to know we were inside with some recreation. Natalie chose her outfit that day as a bright red dress and bright pink tights. She definitely looked the part of a birthday party princess!

The kids first bounced on the playground for a while. Natalie really had a great time! Nicole was hard to keep up with -- thanks to the Grandparents!!

Natalie with Elysia, her best buddy. Each loving their Happy Meals and toys.

Blowing out the candles...on the Ronald Mc Donald cake

Most of the birthday crew, including Nicole, who had a good time too. Some just didn't want to come down for the picture! It was great, they gave goody bags, balloons, ice cream for all, and a cute plastic set of McDonalds food for Natalie. As one grandparent said, good advertising!

We came back and opened presents at our house with the grandparents. We also gave our big present for Natalie, a fish aquarium. We set it up that day so we could pick out the fish the next day.

Natalie with her aquarium and fish!

Orange is Blackwood (after her K3 teacher) and orange/white is Freddy, the fish.

Nicole 18 month

Yesterday was a big day. It was Mimi's birthday and Nicole's 18 month birthday. We weren't able to spend it with Mimi unfortunately, but we celebrated a bit with Nicole. Nicole enjoyed the party hats and a few decorations, as well as a brownie with some ice cream. Then, she had a gift of some special crayons for little fingers with which she enjoyed making a picture.

Daddy helping Nicole with the candle

Natalie being told she has to finish food before eating dessert

Nicole with her present

Starting to color with the new present

After this, Nicole had a very rough time going to sleep and we found out later why. She woke up around 10 and was throwing up. Poor little girl! She did this a few times last night but has seemed much better today. There is a stomach virus going around per a few people I have talked with, and this may be what happened. Either that, or a few new foods we had at dinner time. We'll have to keep an eye on those just in case! Any way, praying for this to pass and her health to get back to 100%, as well as Natalie (and us) stay healthy!

Tea With The Princess

Some cute ideas and great memories are from books. Natalie & I had borrowed a great book from the library a couple of times from Sarah Ferguson, called Tea with the Queen. And, she would know, wouldn't she! Well, any way, it turns out that the Queen really is Grandma in the book. So, we bought Grandma a copy of the book for her birthday, and bought us a copy too. Which led to a great thought of having a true tea party with Grandma one day. Natalie's criteria was to have strawberry tea, which she actually got! It was a great celebration, and Grandma & Grandpa met us to pick up Natalie to take to her house for this momentous occasion!

The formal invitation that arrived!

What a great table was set! Natalie brought the flowers. Grandpa came to be the photographer and help.

They brought out the book to make sure everything was set right!

What great treats! Wish I had had some!!

Pink Bear came too and had his own chair!

Nicole Doctor Visit Wednesday

I did have to take Nicole to the doctor's office on Wednesday. She has had congestion for a while and it wasn't getting any better. It was a much better trip this time (PTL!), where we were only there over an hour. She is doing so much better now and not coughing. Hopefully, we won't be back there until her 18 month check up next month.

Forgot to mention...

I forgot to mention on our trip back from Mimi and Poppa's, we did stop at a rest stop and took a break to throw snowballs at each other. It was a great way to break the tension of the treacherous trip back. The snow was at least 4 inches there. If we had had time, we could have built a snowman! So, we have played in the snow. Hopefully, next time it snows it will be here and we can enjoy staying at home and playing in the yard!

More Christmas Memories

I'm so grateful to all the pictures that I have from Grandma & Grandma's Christmas celebration. However, it has taken me quite a while just to look through thumbnails of these. Hopefully, I grabbed the best shots of everyone! We spent time together, kind of low-key there. We spent time inside and outside, mostly eating and talking. The kids loved playing together there. Grandma & Grandpa have plenty of toys too! It was great finally meeting my little niece, Isabelle. Here she is with Emily...

The 3 other cousins really enjoyed interacting. I know it will be neat to see all 4 of them next Christmas as Isabelle will be mobile then too! Here they are, all waiting for the Christmas photos!

We walked outside in the woods to see the horses. Nicole was not too excited about seeing the horses as they probably looked huge to her. Natalie & Nate liked feeding the horses carrot pieces. It was nice to take a walk after all the food!

Another enjoyment time was watching the train. Rich had gotten a trainset just to amuse the little ones. And, they loved taking their turns at the wheel, even Nicole joined in!

The grandparents were great hosts! Here with all the grandchildren! And, Henry too!