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

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