Rain, Rain Go Away...

Mud room closet

Slate closet before grouting

Look at my beads!

Pretty girls with necklaces

So pretty!

Feeding Jenny

Feeding Natalie...

I am sitting on the couch this Monday afternoon, watching it POUR outside. it's supposed to rain for the next 4 days. This would be wonderful as sometimes the constant sunny weather (I know I'm getting eye rolls) can get a bit boring. Usually I would welcome a nice rainy day, even a string of rainy days... except for the fact that my roof needs to be replaced... :O( It is scheduled to be the next thing that the contractors work on... but they need to finish the other projects first. Boo. I hope they hurry up! David and I have been working on the laundry closet and mudroom closet this last weekend. Actually David has done most of it, but I did do some. We laid tile in the closet which turned out nice and we will be laying tile in the mudroom too once we have the closet mostly done. Here are some pictures. Nothing much new with Natalie- she is beginning to take more of an interest in her baby dolls- specifically my old Cabbage Patch doll. We dug out a new 0utfit for her (one of Natalie's newborn outfits) and Natalie enjoys "rocking" her, feeding her and burping her. She also likes to get her undressed... EVERY time I get the baby dressed! She thinks it's funny. Oh yeah- and I have to pass this along because I think it's hilarious- When we were Skyping Grandma Jill the other night, I asked Natalie to dance for Grandma. So she laid down on the floor and did the worm. No kidding. LOL! Crack me up!

After Christmas, (excuse the order of the pictures!)

Shopping with Grandma!
Riding to see the lights

Opening The Night Before Christmas from Aunt Jessica

The Christmas Light Tour

Daycare Holiday Party

Making the Gingerbread House

Mommy kissing off frosting

Natalie in her "Jingle Bell Glasses" (Grandma's glasses)

Mommy going in for the kiss

Opening musical instruments Christmas Morning

Like my new chair from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Scott???

Oooohhh Look at Grandma Jill's cool stocking!

Santa came!!!

Did he leave me any milk??

Nope, but Rudolph left me some carrot nubs

Santa's stash

The Sowle's wine tasting at Holly's Hill

Pretty scenery

Opening the "kitty chapstick"- Thank you Auntie Lisa. :O)

Grandma Jill and Michael wine tasting

Testing the consistency of Santa's cookies on Christmas Eve

Putting out carrots and cookies for Santa and his reindeer

Natalie and Mommy at a winery

Mommy and Natalie at Natalie's daycare Christmas Party

Daddy and Natalie at a winery

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Jill and Michael. We visited, did some wine tasting, made a gingerbread house and did an evening Christmas light tour when Michael's son and daughter-in-law were in town. Michael was a big help with giving us some ideas for the house. He and David even ripped out some cabinets, began the coat closet and replaced the garage door into the house. Since Michael and mom have left, David and I have continued the coat closet/mud room creation. We ripped out all the tile, and laid wonderboard in preparation for laying some slate tile. We will be attempting that this evening so, please keep your fingers crossed:O) Things keep moving SLOWLY with the house and the contractors... I think we're on the home stretch. They are working on the front deck right now, hopefully done by the end of the week. After that they just have to replace the roof. Other than that, we have been discussing our 2010 travels and trying to figure out where we will be going when and if we have the vacation time to do everything we want to do. I think it's going to be close! We have a few weddings, and our regular family trips and of course we are planning for my brother Stephen and Candace's wedding sometime in January 2011! Congrats guys! I am hoping to make it back to MI in February, not sure of the exact date though... I'll keep you posted! Enjoy the pics!

Completely ready for Christmas..

Natalie in her Christmas PJ's

Shark!!!!

Millions of cookies, cookies for me!

Looking into the kitchen from the family room

Living Room

Dining Room

Living room/ Dining Room

Family Room taken from kitchen area

Natalie play area between kitchen and Family room, looking into Dining and Living Room.

Family room and stockings!!

I finally took some pictures of the house all ready for Christmas. We finished painting the hallway tonight, and got everything cleaned and ready for Grandma Jill and Mackel. It's now 11:15 and I'm just climbing into bed. I'm exhausted, but the house looks nice and feels like a home, not a project war zone:O) Maybe it will stay this way for a few days.... Yeah right! Anyway, enjoy the pics and have a Merry Christmas if I don't post again!

Christmas Time!!

Reading The Polar Express

We are all decked out for Christmas in the Sowle household... The trees are up, the stockings are hung and we can't wait for Grandma Jill to get here! We had my work Christmas party last Friday night and Santa was there!!! Natalie was in complete awe, but not scared. She went right to him and put her arms up. It was too cute. I took some pictures and had them printed. When Natalie saw the picture of her and Santa, she tried to sleep with it. We settled on having Santa watch over her while she slept. The picture went to daycare with her today. What a crack up! Natalie continues to LOVE music and anything musical. All of the sudden the other night, she started singing a song with me. It was the first time she had ever tried it, and now, she won't stop! She sings parts of the song with me and even sings to songs on the radio. Too funny! Well, off to bed, enjoy the pics!! I will post some of the house soon. We are moving along...

Getting ready for Christmas and Grandma Jill

I am just now getting to writing about our Hawaii trip. It was awesome!!! We had so much fun and it was wonderful having Mary and Scott there. Natalie had a ton of fun swimming with Grandma and playing with Grandpa and Mommy had a ton of fun reading a book.:O) The weather was nice most of the time and we were able to do some sight seeing and went diving. The visibility was not the greatest because the island had had so much rain before we got there, and for the first few days, but we saw a ton of turtles which was fun and it was good to get back in the water again. It had been about 3 years since I had last been diving. Overall it was a wonderful vacation, very relaxing and much needed. Now we're shifting toward Christmas and getting ready for the Holidays. I have both my Christmas trees up, and pretty much all of the house decorated... It's always interesting trying to decorate a new house, especially since I don't feel like I have the furniture in its permanent place yet... I think it looks nice though. Natalie had a great time helping to decorate the house. She loved opening the boxes and had a great time decorating the tree. David unwrapped the ornaments, Natalie brought them to me and I put them on the tree. she could hardly wait to open the next ornament and if I took too long and she had to wait, she threw herself on the floor until it was time to get another ornament. it was pretty funny. Grandma Jill will be flying out for Christmas and we are very excited. It's been a while since Mom had seen Natalie and she has changed so much. She imitates everything, but also is starting to put together her own sentences. Her new thing is narrating what she's doing. She will be climbing on the couch and I will ask her to sit down. As she is sitting down she will go" no, no honey" It's pretty funny. Enjoy some of the Hawaii pics!