Time with Leslie

Last week Leslie and her family were vacationing in Michigan.  I was really lucky to spend a day with them. I hadn't seen Evan, who turned four on Monday, since he was five months old, which is also the last time I saw Alex.  Ellie tagged along to Leslie and my annual weekend together in December, but it was amazing how much she had changed as well!  

It was a pretty perfect day.  I spent the morning with Leslie, Alex, Evan, Eliie and Alex's dad Allen.  Then Leslie and I snuck away for a long lunch just the two of us.  Les came with me to pick my kids up from daycare.  Nathan was immediately smitten with Leslie, and got her involved in an intricate matchbox car project while I fed Natalie.  In the evening Alex stopped by with the Sarapu kiddos to say hello to Todd, let our munchkins play together and pick up Leslie.

Evan's a bit shy, but the stories that Leslie and I have told each other about our boys' interests and personalities had us both suspecting and hoping that they would get along famously.  And they instantly took to each other!  Of course, there's nothing quite like jumping on the bed, fiddling with light switches and investigating the inner workings of a minivan door to bond two active and curious little guys quickly.  It was so awesome to see them playing together--with Ellie doing her best to stay in the mix--but also bittersweet, since it made me wish even more fiercely that we lived closer to each other!

Of course, in my imagination I was going to get a cute picture of all four kids looking adorable posing together.  In reality, I was able to snap a few action shots! :)

Artwork Update

Nathan loves to color, and every day when we pick him up from preschool he has a stack of art to bring home.  Crayons and colored pencils are readily available at school.  I'm a bit overwhelmed by the volume of paper, so I decided to take some photos of some of my recent favorites.  I love that he's starting to draw people and cars, and to tell stories with his art.  So cool!

Backyard Camp Out

Every week in preschool, there is a different theme that the kids learn about.  Last week that theme was camping.  Every day Nathan came home telling us about what he'd learned--you sing songs and make s'mores!  Todd decided that the perfect way to cap off the week would be to have a father/son backyard camp out on Saturday evening.  Nathan was SO excited!  I was invited to partake in the fun around the campfire, but had to report back inside for the night so I could get up with Natalie.

Setting up the tent.  

Todd found Nathan's brand hot dogs to roast over the fire.

Relaxing by the fire.  My grandma got Nay a camp chair, which he was very excited to try out.

Helping Daddy add sticks to the fire.

The absolute highlight of the evening (go figure) was drinking a huge orange pop all by himself!  He even had me take a picture of him drinking it to send to his preschool teacher Ms. Elaine.  The rest of the night he had an orange mustache and a big distended belly full of pop!

The coals were finally hot enough to start cooking dinner.

Heart-shaped log

Dinner tastes better when you cook it yourself!

Mmmm... s'mores!

All tucked in!  Nathan slept all night, and was up with the sun.  Such a great adventure!!

10 Months Old

Natalie is ten months old--double digits!!  Her personality is coming out more and more each day.  She is a happy girl, who loves her family.  In places where she knows people well--at home and daycare, with grandparents--she is super smiley, chatty, funny and into everything.  She is still cautious around new people--fixing them with a very serious, focused gaze and often only offering her first smile after a few minutes of studying them from the safety of Mommy or Daddy's arms.

Here are the few shots of Natalie actually sitting still during her 10 month photo shoot.  This little bean is on the MOVE!

I love that Nathan and Lambykins are photo-bombing in the background. :)

Partners in crime.  In the last few weeks Natalie has started belly laughing at Nathan's antics.  He loves the encouragement, and Natalie loves the attention!

Natalie seems to have a homing beacon for an unattended laundry basket.  She makes a beeline for it in full turbo crawl and unloads it as fast as possible.

This is turbo crawl mode--note the look of intense mischief on her face!

A kitty sighting results in shrieks of delight.  Natalie LOVES Ozzie and just wants to tackle him to express her affection.  Oz is incredibly tolerant of this, and we're working hard with Natalie on the concept of "gentle."

To mark her 10 month birthday, or more accurately, due to my aching back from lugging her 19lb, 13oz plus the infant bucket seat, Natalie has moved to a big girl carseat!  Despite her willingness to model in it for photos, she doesn't seem to love it.  The last few days have been fussy ones during the commute to and from daycare.  Luckily it's a short drive, and hopefully she'll learn to like it soon.  Nathan is such a sweet brother--when Natalie starts crying in the car, he sings her the ABCs and talks to her, which usually distracts her into laughter.  Having two kids is super hectic, but witnessing that type of interaction is priceless!

In addition to her speedy crawling skills, Beanie has started pulling up on everything.  She's not afraid to let go with both hands either!  Right now that means landing on her bottom a lot, but it's not going to be long before she figures this stuff out, and then look out, world!

I just love her chubby baby legs.

Natalie has fully embraced the concept of finger food.  She does not want us to feed her anymore, smacking the spoon out of the way, which gets messy if we're not paying enough attention!  So far she only has one tooth (although she's working hard at cutting 3-4 more, poor little thing) so the selection of food that one can eat with just one tooth is a bit limited.  Cheerios, puffs, meatballs, ravioli and banana are current favorites.

Last weekend she started pointing at things, and is totally thrilled with this new communication method.  So cute!

"Where is Natalie????"

"PEEK-A-BOO!!!!"