Happy Easter

Nothing says 'Easter' than the excitement of finding hidden candy and then getting to eat it in your Church clothes!

For the first time in her life, Natalie got to experience Easter on all levels. She got to do the typical Easter egg hunt at Church (link to the pictures below), she got an Easter basket on Sunday morning, and then look for more eggs in our living room. We didn't want to hide eggs in the yard because it is still too cold outside. I can't explain to you how much we are looking forward to warmer weather!!

Since it is a few days after Easter, I am happy to say that Natalie is still finding candy in our living room. If we are in the kitchen, and she is playing in the living room, we know that if it gets a little "too quiet" that we need to check on her. On several occasions now, she has a mouthful of candy that she hid somewhere in our living room. It is so hard to keep from laughing with her mouth full or chocolate or with her tongue colored blue from jellybeans. I think she has found all the candy now, so we are good to go until Halloween comes around.

Natalie has added a few more words to her vocabulary recently. If you ask her a question now, her typical response is "ooookkaaaaay." "Natalie, do you want to go for a walk?" "Ooookkaaaayy!" "Natalie, do you want to go to the store?" "Ooookkaaaayy!"

She has also become more vocal with things she does not like. For example, when we are dressing her in something that she doesn't want to wear, she will throw a fit, and keep saying, "NO LIKE IT, NO LIKE IT, NO LIKE IT." I guess this is all part of "the terrible two's."

One really sweet thing she did today that I think Kristin really enjoyed was while we were hanging pictures in my office. We got to a picture of Kristin on our wedding day which I kept on my desk, and Natalie took it. Kristin asked Natalie who it was, and Natalie said, "Mommy Princess, Mommy Princess."

I have put up more pictures from the past week online, check out the following link: Link to all the pictures

We leave for Houston tomorrow morning for about a week. Hopefully I can post while we are there.

Landon

The Franklin Institute

Since I have been traveling so much lately, I wanted to do something special with Natalie and give Kristin a little time to herself to recharge. I have heard so many good things about the Philadelphia Children's Museum ever since we moved here. I thought it might be fun to take Natalie downtown to the Museum this Saturday. So I grabbed the GPS and headed downtown!

When I got downtown, the streets were packed, and I couldn't find a place to park near the Museum. I drove around the block a few times, but it didn't get any better. Plus, it was POURING outside, so I didn't want to park too far away. I finally found a parking garage for the Franklin Institute, which is another Museum in the area, but geared more towards older kids.

As I was pulling into the garage, I read the parking rates. It would cost $25 for 2 hours of parking (are you kidding me??), and of course, it was too late for me to turn around. As we were taking the elevator down to the street-level I overheard two other people in the elevator talking about how they got their parking ticket validated at the Franklin Institute. Right then, I decided we should try out the Franklin Institute today, and we can come back on another day and try the other Museum (plus I think Kristin wants to go with us to the other one too).

Natalie and I placed membership, and we are off...the first stop was the Children's exhibit, and Natalie played with some blocks. (please excuse the quality of these pics, they were taken on my camera phone)



The next stop was the cardio room. Natalie got to spin a few wheels to pump blood through the body (I think she just liked spinning the wheels).



She was also a big fan of crawling through the large veins (again, I think she just liked crawling through tubes).



We then went to the weather section, and Natalie tried to control the weather in North America (again, I think she just liked pushing the buttons and moving the joystick).



The last picture is Natalie playing on a mat that lights up and tracks your movement (by this time, I think Natalie was just enjoying running around in an open space with other kids).



Overall, we had a blast! Most of the exhibits are a little above her knowledge capability, but she did enjoy getting her hands on so many different things, even if she didn't understand it all.

Landon

Bedtime Video

A few days ago Kristin and I made a few videos of Natalie before bed. She has become very fond of the alphabet, and likes to tell us what specific letters are.

Even tonight, as we were putting her to bed, she pointed to her bookshelf and said "me want read, me want read" in her half talk, half crying voice. What parent wouldn't read a book to her after that?! So, we read her a book and then she wanted to sleep with the book.

I hope you enjoy the video...

A few pictures

Well, the last few weeks have been extremely busy for us. I have been through more winter storms that I can count while traveling for business. I have had completely cancelled flights in Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago in the last two weeks, and you just know that I was the only one that needed to get on another flight (yah right!). I am convinced that airlines cancel flights when it is convenient for them to do so, and not when it is physically impossible for them to fly. For instance, I had a customer service rep with United tell me that no airline was flying to Rochester when my flight from Chicago to Rochester was cancelled due to "weather". I told him that I just saw a flight leave 5 minutes ago for Rochester. He acted shocked, and wanted to know what airline...I said, "oh, this little one, right over there (pointing to the gate), UNITED!!!" Needless to say, he dropped this issue, but it didn't solve my problem as I had to get a hotel in Chicago, cancel my meeting in Rochester, and fly to Buffalo the next morning for another meeting. So if anyone wants to know about a specific airline, or airport, especially in the Northeast, I can hook you up.

With all those traveling problems being said, it is such a joy to come home to Kristin and Natalie. I do get to hear all of the stories while I am on the road, but nothing can replace experiencing them for yourself.

For instance, the day after I got back from a week long trip, I had to go out and shovel snow off our driveway and sidewalk. Of course, Natalie wanted to participate. So there we were, two partners in crime, shoveling snow. Natalie kept falling down in her large pink snow suit. It reminded me of the snow suits in "The Christmas Story."

Once we got done shoveling snow, Natalie talked me practicing our golf swings with snow balls. I have a short 7 iron that my dad gave me when I was a kid, and so that is Natalie's to play with. My weapon of choice was a 2 iron my grandad gave me years ago. I figure I can practice on snow with the 2 iron because I am never going to be able to hit a real golf ball with it (for non-golfers, hitting a 2 iron is typically reserved for the Tiger Woods of this world).



The next two pictures were taken while I was not at home. Kristin called me to tell me that Natalie had sat down with her baby doll and was rocking her and singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her. Even though I wasn't there, I find it amazing how she decided to do this on her own. Natalie definitely has a mind of her own these days, and I am glad that that little mind is starting to know Jesus. Even if it is just a small moment in time, and a simple song, it still makes a father proud.



After she got done playing with her doll, she pulled up her sun glasses and struck a pose for Kristin.



Sorry for the delay in posting....

We miss everyone!

Landon

Weekend "fun"

It was another typical Saturday at our house, full of cleaning and chores which didn't get done during the week. Natalie wanted to participate a little more this time. There is a little song that she loves to sing, which she learned from some of her second cousins in Iowa. The song goes "Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share." She is so fond of this song that she will even make a mess just so she can sing it! You might think I am kidding, but I am serious! She will take her snack bowl, dump it on the floor, and then will start singing the song while eating the rest of her snack off the floor and putting "most" of it back into her bowl. We may find little pieces of her snack under the coffee table a few days later though.

It is amazing to us how much this song motivates Natalie. We could ask her to pick up her mess, and she won't do it. However, once we start singing the song, she is totally into the clean-up game.

We might just have to write a few songs for "potty-time" or "don't talk back" or "no is not a word we say to our parents" or my favorite in 14 years from now "boys have cooties". Hey, whatever it takes...

While cleaning the house, Natalie found a packet of smiley face stickers. As you can see, she enjoyed them very much. She managed to get several on her face, hands, clothes, and hair before we noticed she was playing with them.



As we were getting her ready for bed, she decided to sport her new doo-rag as an accessory to her glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas.



I apologize for not updating the blog in a few weeks. I have been traveling extensively the past few weeks for my job, and it looks like the trend will continue. I will try to update the blog more often in the coming weeks though.

We miss everyone.

Landon

I Love Dora

Well, we now have a child who is in love with Dora. I shouldn't say "now" as she has been in love with Dora for awhile, but I think she has taken her affection to a new level.

When she wakes up in the morning, she says "Dora? Dora? Dora?" In the middle of the day she walks to the TV, grabs the remote, points it at the TV and says "Dora? Dora? Dora?" Before going to bed every night, we have to explain that Dora went to bed too and that she can see her when she gets up. Maybe that is why she asks for Dora when she gets up (as it now just hits me)?!

We have two DVDs of Dora, which she has watched at least a hundred times a piece it seems like, but she never gets tired of watching them. She especially likes to have a snack and juice, and sit in her, you guessed it, Dora couch, and watch the show.

When the music comes on for the show, she sings along. When Swipper says "Oh, man!" she echoes him by saying it too. She tries to repeat the Spanish words as well. You really can't get her eyes unglued from the TV.

When we went to Lowe’s a few weeks ago, she found ON HER OWN the section that has the Dora room decorations and camped out.

Anytime we walk through Wal-Mart and she sees Dora on a cereal box or snack bag she starts up again, "Dora? Dora? Dora?"

She has Dora shoes and even a Dora doll in the bathtub.

Even when I try to give her a kiss when I am headed out the door to go run errands and Dora is on, she could care less that I am saying bye. All she cares about is that I don't stand in front of the TV.

I am sure that Nickelodeon has spent millions of dollars to figure out how to keep kids attention, and it really works.

Now I don't want you to think that we went out and bought her 'everything Dora' in one trip. She has slowly accumulated all of these things her entire life, but they NEVER get old to her.

So if you are looking for the next gift for Natalie, anything with Dora on it would be perfect. On the other hand, she really REALLY doesn't need anymore Dora paraphernalia.

Landon

We may not live in Texas anymore...

But that isn't going to stop us from getting Natalie a cowboy hat and boots! Of course, we did make sure to get her the pink variety.



We just got home from Houston, and just like clock-work, Natalie and I got sick. I think that Natalie had it a little worse than I did, but I had the pleasure of flying home sick. Thankfully, the Southwest plane we were on was only half full, so Natalie had her own seat...which we have found to be the recipe for successful travel with her (we had to find out the hard way though, i.e. hours of screaming on the plane).

We are trying to figure out how to make it back for the Houston Livestock and Rodeo Show while we are living in Philly. We have such fond memories of going to the Rodeo, and just want to continue them. Kristin and I went to the Rodeo every year we were in Houston. I can remember pushing her around in a wheel chair when she was almost 8 months pregnant and on bed rest so we could see George Strait and Martina McBride. We took Natalie when she was almost 1, and now when she could really get into seeing the animals, we most likely will not be able to make it this year.

Fortunately, the boots and hat Natalie have are very big on her right now, so they should fit perfectly next year. Mark it down, we will be in Houston for the Rodeo in 2009. Anyone else want to go??

We don't have any travel plans for at least a month as a family, and we are looking forward to getting into a routine. We have a great church home that we are with 3 times a week. Natalie and Kristin will be going to a swimming class and toddler tumbling once a week at the YMCA. I will be traveling a little more for work, but not for a few more weeks. I will try to keep the blog updated as we get into our routine.

Landon