Nice Weekend

As the title of this post indicates, we had a really nice weekend.  On Saturday morning, Nathan and Todd headed off to swim class.  Becky and her two trusty photographer's assistants (otherwise known as Hannah and Leah) came over to do a photo session with Natalie.  Natalie woke up really early that morning, and the photo session was during her usual naptime, so I wasn't sure how successful the session would be.  Natalie was her usual sweet and laid back self, and was a happy girl the whole time!  Of course, having two big kids doting on you is pretty good incentive to stay awake. :)

Hannah and Leah "helping" Becky.

Squeaky Sophie the giraffe was a good photography tool.

Eventually the photo assistants decided that they wanted to make some artwork for Nathan.

Handsome boy having a snack after swim class.

Beanie playing with one of her toys from Uncle Stu and Aunt Erin.

First tractor ride of 2012.

Natalie was a little concerned about Nathan's "gentle" snuggles.

On Saturday night, Becky and I attended the 15th spring performance of the Frelon Dance Company at Kalamazoo College.  This was a lot of fun in its own right, but even more so because Becky and I, along with some of our close friends, founded Frelon!  There were 27 of us in the founding group; by the time we graduated there were over 100 dancers in the company, and Saturday's show had 200 dancers in it!  That's pretty impressive for a college with 1400 students.

7 Months Old!

Natalie is seven months old!  She continues to become more engaged with and interested in the world around her.  She has been eating solids for a month now, and loves them!  She is particularly fond of sweet potatoes and pears (surprise, surprise) but also likes green beans and peas.  When Natalie's really enjoying her meal, she bounces in her seat and flaps both arms up and down while she's eating and then immediately opens her mouth WIDE for the next bite.  It's really cute!

Bathtime continues to be Natalie's favorite part of the day.  Todd is usually the one filling up the tub, and Natalie sits on his lap and bounces and kicks her legs in excitement, trying to get in the tub.  Once in, she chews on some bath toys and grins at her big brother's antics.

This month Natalie has become very reliable at sitting all by herself.  She still occasionally forgets and falls over, so we have to keep an eye on her, but for the most part she stays upright.  She has also discovered that she can roll to get to her toys--this girl is ready to MOVE, mostly to get to her brother's toys!  Natalie's favorite toys are also Nathan's: matchbox cars!

On Easter, Natalie started waving!  She is so cute about it, and pretty convinced that she's the smartest baby ever.  We even captured her on video:

Here are her 7 month photos:

Easter

To Nathan's great delight, the Easter Bunny came to our house while he was sleeping!  He was thrilled with the contents of his Easter basket, which included swim goggles, a new game, an "I Spy" book and of course some candy.

Natalie was excited to unload her basket as well.

Let the Easter egg hunt begin!

That silly Easter bunny put one of the eggs in the tree!

Happy Easter!!

In the afternoon, Nathan helped Todd clear the branches from the front yard.  As much as I hate to see trees cut down, we finally decided to take down two large pear trees in our front yard.  The pears fall to the ground, and even if we're diligent about raking them, there are still a lot of them that start to ferment and attract a lot of bees.  Lots of bees and kiddos don't mix!

I put Natalie on a quilt to play.  She had other ideas!  The girl has discovered rolling!

Nancy and Dan cooked us delicious dinner at their place.

Best Laid Plans

The day before Easter, the kids and I headed up to Grand Rapids to spend the day with my parents.  It was a beautiful day, and we planned to pick up some lunch and have a picnic in a local park, followed by a trip to Meijer Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit.

The picnic was a success!

Grandpa and Nathan had to explore the park a bit.

When we got to Meijer Garden, we realized that every other person in West Michigan had also decided to see the butterflies that day!  The butterfly exhibit is always busy, especially on the weekends, but the line to get in the building was so long that we decided it would be more stress than fun.  So the kids and I posed for a quick photo with the tulips and we got back in the car.

Instead of seeing butterflies, we did some of this:

And this.

And this.

Natalie decided to snuggle in for a nap.

All in all, it turned out to be a perfect day!

Weekend update

Not a super exciting weekend, but a nice one.

Daddy and his sweet girl.

Natalie loves to nuzzle the chest of the person holding her.  It sounds a little weird but it's really sweet in action.

Rolling over, caught on camera.

I had to work on Sunday evening, and Nathan was very excited that he got to give Natalie her bottle.