Natalie is stylin'!

Natalie got an Easter hat from "Aunt" Melissa. She loved it, but she also kept calling it her safari hat!


She is such her own little girl!

What do you see in this picture?

A lot of morning light comes through our front door's windows, creating "rainbows" and funky patterns on the wall. One morning, Peter caught this view and screamed, "It's my name in Chinese!"



Not quite right, but I thought it was funny! :)

Natalie's girly side

We don't see it often, but Natalie does have a girly side to her. Often, she likes pretending her Easter hat is in fact a safari hat or growling like Tai Long in Kung Fu Panda. Slowly but surely, she's beginning to discover what little girls like to do.

Exhibit A: Finger nail polish!



She did a nice job!

Elaine turns 9 months old

Elaine turned 9 months on March 23rd (which was also Nata's 3rd birthday). Busy times!

Elaine has 4 teeth now (two top and two bottom). She takes every opportunity to use them, either on food, my shoulder, or her crib rail. I even had to whip up a homemade cover for the round rail she was chewing.

She also has mastered the art of sitting up on her own.

It didn't take her long to figure out how to crawl - and fast. She has the inclination to get into places where she shouldn't, like the bathroom or between the couch and wall.

In any case, she's excellent in getting around on her hands and knees.

Just recently, she's been showing signs that walking isn't far behind. Right along with learning how to crawl, she learned to pull herself up. She's a daredevil as I watched her pull herself up on the ottoman, let one hand go and try to take a step. Needless to say, she didn't get very far in that first attempt, but she obviously hasn't let that stop her from trying again as I found her doing this:



And then this

I suspect she'll be the first (and only) child to walk before their first birthday.

Natalie's birthday performance

I forgot earlier on her birthday, Natalie was all excited about her decorations around the house, especially the "Happy Birthday" banner. She decided to serenade the following:
(wait to see the surprise guest at the end who had perfect timing)

Natalie turns 3!!!

Her big day finally came!

The puppy cake:
It did not turn out as I had hoped. It actually started with about 3-4 more inches of a neck, but gravity took its toll and I had my first cake collapse. I managed to salvage enough cake to make a shorter version of a puppy. I was relieved when the kids saw it and knew it was a puppy. To me, it almost looked like a version of Sony's robotic dog.

The puppy even had a bone, which I made into Natalie's personal piece.



She seemed happy to finally turn 3, and we were left to think how quickly she's grown!

A Dairy Queen treat

It was a beautiful Saturday this past weekend. After lunch, we decided to take the kids to Dairy Queen by the Iowa River for an ice cream treat. Both Peter and Natalie knew exactly what they wanted: blueberry sundaes...and that's what they got!

They sat down eating their ice cream while saying hi to joggers and bicyclists going by on the trail.


After we finished our treats, we took a short walk along the trail ourselves. Elaine seemed to enjoy the warm sun with her hair pulled up...

with Daddy behind the wheel!


I don't know what it is about this picture, but I love it.

Peter and Natalie liked watching things float along the river, like the leaves they kept tossing in. Doesn't Natalie look cool in her shades!?! :)

Then a train came along and it was very loud, but the kids didn't mind at all. They were excited to see a moving train! The trail we were on goes right under the tracks. A little scary for Mommy and exciting for the kids!

Is this is a half-thumbs up from Peter?...maybe Mommy snapped the picture a little too soon before he gave the outting a total thumbs up!