These are a few of my favorite things...

Over our Christmas vacation to Iowa, we were watching The Sound of Music, which Natalie thoroughly enjoyed (and even tried to sing along a few times). Well, just when I thought that I had gotten all of those songs out of my head, I was sitting in my office this afternoon and I start to hear the voice of Julia Andrews, and what do you know, one song still remained...

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things..."

I started thinking about all of the favorite things that Natalie has in her life right now, and I thought I would share it with everyone.



First of all, Natalie loves juice. But then again, I guess what kid doesn't love juice. We never give her juice "straight up," but usually mix it with 1-2 times as much water. You would think that she would care what percentage of juice she actually gets, but she really doesn't. It either has juice in it, or it doesn't. We used to be able to fool her a little and just give her water when she asked for juice, but there is no fooling this kid anymore. She will let you know that she knows she isn't getting juice, and just won't drink it. So, we usually take it, and add a small splash of juice to a full sippy-cup, and she is good-to-go.

The second thing that Natalie loves right now is puppies. Every time she sees, hears, thinks about, smells, you name it, a dog, she gets real excited and keeps saying "puppy, puppy, puppy." Kristin even gave her a puppy purse and she sleeps with it, and will kiss it on the nose. Just this week she started saying "oh, puppies." Kristin and I get such a kick out of it, I hope technology will help me out and let me play it for you:

Oh Puppies!

And just in case you are wondering when we are going to be getting her a dog...it won't be anytime soon because it wouldn't be fair to the dog living in a town home. Once we get a nice yard, we can "think" about getting a dog.



The third thing that Natalie loves right now is ice cream. Whenever we have ice cream, she always has to have a little. We usually just give her little bites out of our bowl, and she is very happy with that. She doesn't sit down and eat the ice cream like we do, she almost uses it as an energy source in the middle of her playing or running around the house. She will come into the living room, run to either Kristin or me, look at us and say "iise creem? iise creem??" She takes her little bite, and before she can swallow it, she is back to running around the house or playing on the floor. I guess we only have to worry about us gaining weight from the ice cream and not her.

The fourth, and the last one I am going to mention today, thing that Natalie loves right now is shoes. She has always had an affinity towards shoes. Maybe this is something they put in the vaccinations for girls when they are born in the hospital?! Probably not, but I am going to go with that for now. The first thing she wants to do (right before getting juice) in the morning is to put on a pair of shoes. Not just "any" shoes, but a matching pair of shoes. Again, two words, girl vaccine. Anyways, the last thing that she takes off every night is shoes. Sometimes she doesn't even take them off. She has a pair of white slippers that she wears to bed.

Here is a picture of Natalie doing her best to try and get a pair of Kristin's shoes on me. I tried to explain that they wouldn't fit, but she had to keep trying. I finally had to get a pair of my own shoes on so she would stop trying to dress me in drag.



Natalie says hi to everyone.

Landon

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

We finally made it home late Wednesday night, or should I say, really early Thursday morning at about 2. We were flying out of Minneapolis, connecting through Cleveland, and arriving into Allentown, PA. We should have made it home around 5, but ended up having a 3 hour delay in Minneapolis, and a 5 hour delay in Cleveland. I think that we were the last flight out of Cleveland that night. Thank goodness for Little Tikes and their plant outside of Cleveland. They donated several of their large play centers and they have them scattered throughout the entire airport. Natalie spend most of the evening running from playset to playset, while Kristin and I took turns trying to keep up with her. She refused to go to sleep in the airport, and finally fell asleep on the flight to Allentown after Midnight.

I finally got all of our pictures downloaded from the trip, and even managed to put a video together of Natalie sledding. You have seen a picture, but I think that the video is a little more exciting, enjoy...



I forgot to mention that Natalie taught herself how to put on lipstick while we were in Iowa, at the expense of Grandma's lipstick. We tried to warn Grandma that she liked to play with Kristin's lipstick, but I don't think anything could prepare her for what she would find when Natalie wandered off into the corner of the house with a tube of lipstick. Terri (Grandma) had given it to her after she had taken out all of lipstick out of the tube (or what she thought was all of it). Natalie opened up the lipstick, twisted it until it was fully extended, and then proceeded to mine out every ounce of remaining lipstick goodness.

Here is what we found...and mind you, she gladly posed for this picture, as if she was truly proud of her work...



I will leave you with a few scenic shots I took, while freezing in the Iowa tundra.





Landon

Wii wish you a Merry Christmas

Kristin and her parents went together to get me a Wii for Christmas, but due to the demand this Christmas season, they couldn't find one. Al even went to 4 different Best Buys on the way to the airport to pick us up on Monday.

Al and I went to Mason City (for those of you that are geographically challenged or unfamiliar with Iowa, it is a town about an hour from Thompson and one of the closest big box shopping options) to take care of a few "honey-dos." We decided to try our luck at finding a Wii at the Best Buy while we were in town. As we were walking in, I saw a girl at the checkout with one. As a kid on Christmas morning, my blood pressure and pulse started to increase. I think it was more of the "thrill of the chase" than actually owning a Wii. My mind instantly went back to the classic movie, "The Christmas Story," hoping that when I asked for a Wii from the closest associate they wouldn't tell me, "a Wii? You'll poke your eye out."

Al and I made it to the display case just in time to see that there were NONE. So, tactically, we split up, as if we were on a safari and our kill was in sight. I went to the front in search of the nearest Best Buy employee. I found my person at the front, who radioed to the back of the store to get someone to help me. She didn't say that they had any, and I didn't want to ask, for fear that I might jinx it. As I was walking to the back of the store, I saw Al grinning, and holding a brand new Wii in his hands with the care that a delivery nurse might hold a new born. In the same motion, he handed over the Wii to the over joyed father, being careful to support the neck of the box.

Okay, enough of the literary drama...we bought the Wii and finished our shopping and went home. Al seemed to think that I was a very demotivated shopper after we found the Wii, but I think he was just goosing me a little.

When we got home, I set the game system up and we broke it in as a family by playing a game of bowling. Natalie even got to participate with Al.



Before I forget, Natalie would like to send a shot out to "her peeps". "Haulla!"



I would also like to tell everyone how Natalie has been a good helper this morning. She helped Grandma wash dishes, as we are getting ready for our family Christmas dinner at Natalie's Great Grandparents house down the road. Thank you Natalie!



Landon

Iowa in the snow

It snowed a few inches over night, and there was just enough snow on the ground to go out and sled in the front yard. Natalie’s second cousins, Madison and Jake, came over to play for the day. Natalie had to learn how to share her new Christmas toys, which was difficult at first, but by the end of the day she was a pro. Let’s hope that the trend continues.

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing in the snow. Natalie was a huge fan of going down the little hill in the sled. She would say “weeee, weeee!” as she went down the hill. Once she was at the bottom, she would look at grandpa and say, “again? again?” I think that Al got his workout for the day taking the kids up and down the hill.






Once they were done in the snow, we went inside to have some cocoa and make sugar cookies with grandma. Natalie made a Christmas tree cookie, and even got to ice it and put sprinkles on it.



After we were done with our snack, we all played on the piano together. It was very cute, but the music was a little, well, let’s just say, harsh.



Later that night, Kristin’s friend Brooke came over and read Natalie a bedtime story.



The latest thing that Natalie does now is she says “owee, owee” and wants you to kiss whatever she says is her “owee.” She is turning into our little drama queen, as she makes these faces when she says “owee” such that you would think her arm, finger, leg, etc. is going to fall off if someone doesn’t kiss it quickly.

Landon

Santa comes to Iowa

Kristin, Natalie, and I made it safely to Iowa yesterday. We were greeted by Kristin’s father Al, and sub 10 degree weather. It is cold in Philadelphia, but it hasn’t been this cold. Natalie was very happy to see “pan-pa” and was ready to get in his arms after a minute of playing shy. Natalie was a very good sport all day, and never really had a breakdown, which is unbelievable considering that we were either on a plane or in a car for over 8 hours.

Natalie got sick last night, so Kristin and I took turns taking care of her. It was the first time that she has thrown up multiple times during the night. It was difficult to see her be sick, much less on Christmas Eve.

We did sleep enough for Santa to come, and he brought Natalie some wonderful gifts. Among her favorites from Santa was a baby doll and a big red skirt. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a baby doll stroller, so Santa must have known that a doll was the perfect gift.

Natalie wasn’t took keen on putting the doll in her stroller at first. Not that she didn’t like the doll, or didn’t like the stroller, but she just wanted to play with them separately. We finally convinced her that they go together, and she has been walking circles around the house with the doll in the stroller.

Natalie continues to entertain us with her singing and dancing. Tomorrow we are going to put on her new snow suit and play in the snow. We have a sled to pull her around in, and if it snows enough tonight we will try to make a snowman (something I haven’t done in a very VERY long time).

I will try to take some pictures to share with everyone.

Landon

George Washington is Natalie's friend

For Mara and Kyle's last day in Philadelphia, we decided to go into downtown Philly and see some of the historical sites. We didn't have much time to spend in downtown because they needed to catch their flight, so we prioritized the visit down to 2 things...The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

We made it just in time to make the start of the guided tour of Independence Hall. They start you off by having everyone sit in one large room and listen to one of the rangers talk about the history of Independence Hall, etc. As you can imagine, it was like trying to keep Natalie quiet throughout an entire church service...not gunna happen. So I took her outside, and we found Mr. George Washington, and he graciously agreed to pose for a picture, although I had to do a little begging with Natalie.



After Natalie got to run off a little steam, we caught back up with the group, just in time to walk into the old courtroom. Kristin looked at me and said, "I just got goosebumps." It was surreal to stand in the very room where our forefathers could have tried early citizens for treason, or other crimes. All of the furnishing were made to look like the originals, as the room was later used by the British, and much of the original furnishings were destroyed.

Next they lead us to the room that was used to write the constitution. Again, the history in the room really captured the moment. We decided to take a family picture while were in Independence Hall.



The last stop on our quick visit was to see the Liberty Bell. We didn't have enough time to go through the tour inside, but you can see the bell from the outside, which was a good enough view for us.



I think that I have officially taken one more step closer to becoming like my father when it comes to history. If I would have come here as a kid with my parents, I would be the one running out in the grass next to the Liberty Bell or Independence Hall. My dad would have been the guy with his camera around his neck, reading every poster and taking every tour that was given. I now get to be the father that will drag my kid(s) around the country looking at historical monuments. I guess I turned out okay after all, and that is what I will tell Natalie when she gets old enough to ask me why we are stopping on the side of the road to read a historical marker (you didn't think I would forget that would you dad?!)

Landon

p.s. After we took Kyle and Mara to the airport, we (pronounced 'Kristin' in this context) really wanted to go to the King of Prussia mall. For those that are not aware of this mall, it is the second largest mall in America (don't feel bad, I didn't know that either until we moved here).

While Kristin was doing some shopping, Natalie and I walked around and went to a few different stores. The last one on our tour was the golf megastore, where Natalie did one of the cutest things she has ever done.

I wanted to try out a new style of putter, and Natalie was content with watching me putt 1 ball, but then after that, she wanted to "help" me. I didn't mind, so I had her stand in front of me, and she would grab the shaft of the putter, and we would putt together. We putted 3 8-10 ft putts, and what do you know, we made the 3rd one! I celebrate to show Natalie that we did it, expecting her to want to try again with me.

She turns around, looks at me, and I think I see the light in her head go off, but with a little confusion mixed in as well. She quickly bends down, picks up a golf ball and walks over to the hole we were putting to. I thought that she was going to grab the ball that we just made, but she didn't. She set the other ball in the hole, and then stood back up and starting saying "yay, yay!" and clapping her hands.

I couldn't stop laughing! It was one of the cuttest things I think she has ever done...but then again, I am her sports crazed father...she hit one right up my alley. If that wasn't enough, she walked back, and got another ball and did the same thing.

I look forward to experiencing many more moments like the one tonight.

Christmas 2007 (a little early)

This is the last day that Mara and Kyle will be visiting us in Philadelphia, but it won't be our typical "goodbye" as we will be flying to Iowa in two days to spend Christmas and New Years. So, it will be more of a "see you in a few days".

This morning we decided to open some of our Christmas presents while Kyle and Mara were still in town, since we can't take all the gifts with us on the plane. Natalie got to open the gifts from everyone, and is having a blast this morning with all of her new toys. Santa did not come last night because it was too early for him to come. I did however arrange for him to show up one day early (I am glad that he is so flexible).

As I am typing this she is climbing into the Radio Flyer wagon my parents got her. Check out her stylish look:



Yesterday, Kyle and Mara put the play kitchen together for us. Kristin's parents are the ones that gave Natalie the kitchen. Needless to say, she absolutely loves it! Check out the video that we took:



My mothers sister Georgetta sent Natalie a stuffed reindeer named Ralphie, and she has been taking him everywhere around the house. She got to play with a similar reindeer in North Carolina during Thanksgiving, and now she has her very own. Another perfect gift!



This afternoon we are going to go into Philadephia and see the Liberty Bell and a few other historical places before heading to the airport. We have really enjoyed having Mara and Kyle stay with us, and look forward to spending Christmas in Iowa.

Landon