Happy Thanksgiving

Hopefully everyone has as much to be thankful as our family does this year. Our family is healthy and has everything we need and much more! We enjoyed the day with Sondra and her family, as well as a friend of Ryan's from work. The food was great and the friendship was even better. I did not get any good pictures because Natalie was against CHEEEEESE today. I will steal some from Sondra soon.




I got a few cute ones from this morning. She sat down and watched almost the entire Macy's Parade. She sat on the couch with her table coloring while Ryan worked on the laptop on school work. She was fine with the camera in the morning...hmmm. She liked all the 'balloons flying sky' and 'look bunny has drum'. She also loved watching the Little Mermaid cast perform.

Video Update

Natalie wanted to color tonight so I thought I would share some of the shapes she knows with my 'audience'. Then she started singing God Loves You (I guess she learned it at church because I don't know the melody or any other words to it). It's funny because when she sings it she points with both hands at the person who is 'YOU'.

For those of you that don't check my other 2 blogs (like you have time to even check this one) stop by www.kmaedesigns.com and check out my items for sale (I'm for hire). Also I have updated www.windlesdeals.blogspot.com and you can see all my shopping this weekend!

Sing to God


Shapes

Busy Week/End

It's been a long week. Ryan worked 7-7 this week and then 8-3 on Saturday. I kept myself busy sewing (check out 2 new posts on www.kmaedesigns.blogspot.com)

We spent last night having pizza and watching Wall-E at Heather's (The Perry's) with her and her children. We had fun sitting by the fire.

Tonight we went to Sondra's and hung out for lasagna and brownies! We were going to play games but we just got busy talking and had fun just relaxing.

Tomorrow will be busy! We have church, then volunteering at the second service (Ryan ushers and I work with the 3 year olds). Then at some point I have some coupons stops to make as well as a trip to the commissary for groceries before it gets crazy with Thanksgiving meal preparing.

Hope everyone had a great week too!
ETA: Natalie is back in the crib...less stress for me and her I think. She cried too much in the other bed.
PPS: Now she is back in the big girl bed. Ryan said we couldn't give up.

A Big Bed, Teamwork, And Thank Goodness For Video Monitors

Well not to be left out by all of her peers, I decided it was time to move Natalie into her big girl bed. Last night was great. We took the side off, she laid down, and went to bed. At 9, she got out, came to the stairs, and we layed her back down and she slept until 7:30.

Tonight is a little harder so far. She has come out three times. I am downstairs with the video monitor and Ryan is upstairs. I tell her to lay down when I see her get up. Then I count to 3. If she's not back in bed, Ryan goes in and lays her back down. Right now she is laying there in bed screaming, but not getting out.

Here are pics of her before the aforementioned screaming fit.

Stolen Pics!

Carter & Natalie playing in bed


Natalie going in for a kiss...


SCORE!

CHEEEEEEEESE

A day in the life of Natalie...

8:35am Finally woke up after recovering from a fun weekend with Oma. Man I was tired.
8:40 Screaming and crying because my mommy wouldn't let me take my blanky out of bed. Then she pulled down my pants and made me sit on a cold toilet.
8:43 Mommy picked out a nice warm sweatsuit with a cupcake on it. I sang Happy Birthday several times to celebrate the wonderful 'Happy To You' on my shirt.
9:00 After saying I'm Hungry about 20 times mommy got my oatmeal and grapes on the table. She spent all of breakfast making me say CHEEEEEEEESE and show off my big girl hair.


9:30 Typical day. Mommy made me get in the car and go to the Y. But we sang songs all the way there. My favorite is Twinkle Star. I sing it over and over because I don't know how to stop after How I Wonder What You Are....Up Above...
11:00 We leave the Y. I tell mommy I'm hungry 30 more times. She doesn't feed me because she says I have to wait until we go to Miss Kelly's for lunch. I cry because mommy can't understand what I want when I say "That One" and point to my toybox in the car.
11:45 I eat lunch with Carter. Yummy Peanut Butterer.
12:00 Mommy says it's time for a nap. I am quiet until 1:00 when I say I have blankies mommy. Mommy comes in to find out I am not napping, but dumping the contents of the baby's dresser into the pack and play. Yay, nap time is over.
2:00 Run errands in the car. Yay, mommy lets me watch Backyardigigans.
4:00 Play with Carter. I like his big boy bed. It's fun to jump on. I don't like Carter touching my special blanket so I cry and run away.
5:00 We go get my favorite babysitter Alli. YAY. More Twinkle Star and more hungry...now I have to wait to eat at Mae Mae. Mommy should have more food and milk in the car.
9:00 Mommy wakes me up to take me home from bible study. I am so tired but I stay awake to listen to Alli and Mommy talk. Finally mommy turns on My Somgs and I fall asleep.

Babysitting

This weekend, I watched Peyton and Carter for my friend Kelly. It was fun having a little baby (well a 4 month old) in the house. Natalie was so sweet to her. Carter and Natalie took a bath together (to Ryan's dismay) and were so well-behaved I gave them a kiddie sized ice cream cone. Carter looked like he was very unsure, but caught on pretty quick. They have changed so much when I go back and look at pictures of them over the past year.

A Weekend Visit

Oma came to visit for the weekend. Her cousin was driving up to see her son who is in the Navy, so they made a road trip out of it. We had a great time getting most all of our Christmas shopping done and wrapped. Natalie really had a good time playing and shopping with her Oma.



Ryan is working long shifts this week so I'm trying to stay busy, which isn't too hard. I have Bunco, bible study, and a meeting for Tidewater Mommies. I also have to clean up the house and do all the laundry and chores that didn't get done during our visit.

In other news, Ryan had two of his credit cards stolen. We are responsible for the charges until we get all the police reports and stuff turned in then we will get reimbursed. It's very frustrating! Hopefully they catch the guy - they are searching for the person using the card.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Ryan has been very busy doing his homework. He took Natalie to lunch at Applebee's on Veteran's Day for his free meal. I was working, so they had a fun day by themselves. Of course, she slept an hour later and napped an hour longer than she does with me. Coincidence????

I am sure I would have been thrilled if I had given birth to a boy, but I just love having my little girl. It's so fun to dress her up in cute clothes, make hairbows, and all that girly stuff. That's the main reason behind taking this picture today. I just love her boots, leggings, skirt, and half pony-tail (I never know if that style has a name or not). She was actually cooperative for a picture today. I told her to stand by Drake, put her hand down, and say CHEESE.

ETA: Earlier in the day we were at a playdate. Natalie comes SCREAMING out of the little girl's room where the kids were playing. Of course, I think she is hurt or something. Turns out, her sweater had come unzipped about halfway. *GASP* The HORROR. I zipped it up and she 'skipped' off to play with no more tears. Drama...

Shameless Beg

If you are looking to come visit, I was on Southwest's site today. If you go to the Shortcut to Cheap Fares (or something like that...I just make a fake trip and then click on the short cut button on the selection screen) there are TONS of days where it's 74 dollars one way! That's 148 per person! COME SEE US!!!!

MNO

It was about time for another Mom's Night Out. Ryan was nice enough to watch Natalie and Maddie so we could go out with our friend (Maddie's Daddy was out of town). We went to a bar/grill called Sandbar and hung out. I also ran into some of my Barron Elementary friends who were out celebrating a birthday. It was nice to bounce between the 2 tables and enjoy my friends!

Dollhouse

I saw this Barbie/Doll house by the trash today on the way to a playdate so I thought I would snag it. I didn't know if Natalie would play with her Little People in it or not, but so far she seems to like it. She did decide, however, it would be fun to get IN the dollhouse...here are a few pics. She cried when I drug her out...

In other news, she was petting the neighbors cat yesterday and got bit. We took her to the ER and said since we know the cat and it's up to date on shots she should be fine, but put her on antibiotics just in case.

On another bad note, she's had 1-2 accidents a day for the last 3 days. It's extremely frustrating to me. I feel like a failure after having worked so hard on her training.

Fall Foilage, Singing, and a Gown

Last year we started a tradition of driving down the Colonial Parkway that connects Yorktown, Jamestown and Williamsburg (the Historic Triangle for you non-Virginians). It's a bumpy little road through beautiful trees. We took some fun pictures of Natalie and our family.




This afternoon we got home from church and Natalie started singing "Hallelujah Praise Ye The Lord". You have to listen to this video to hear her funny intonations.
Natalie Sings

Lastly, I spent the afternoon/early evening completing Peyton (The Marderosian's)Christening gown. She will be wearing it this January. If you don't remember, I made it from her mom Kelly's wedding gown. I am so pleased with the end result. I had to add and change some things in the pattern (we didn't want the collar so I added trim) and I put hook and eyes and 'fake' button details on the back that were not included. I also added the beaded lace overlay that was a part of her dress. I'm so happy with the results.