Natalie is crazy, crazy, crazy.

Thanks for the fairy dress up clothes Lisa!

One of my absolute favorite pics

How many pictures do I have of them together??? Maybe I'll do a Natalie and Maizie post next... an archive of the last 2 years.

Daddy needs a boa

Pretty fairy girl

View from the pool at the hot springs state park by Tahoe

Fwimming!!!

Freezing and a nice view

fun with daddy

In an effort to encourage further potty use and compliance :O), I recently picked up a stack of new bathroom reading for Natalie. One of the books is a song book- Miss Mary Mack. If you are not familiar with the song, here is a short snippet: "Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black, With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, All down her back, back, back." The story goes on in the same pattern for 11 pages. We all enjoyed reading it during our camping weekend last weekend (freezing at night, never again 25 degrees.) which, other than Natalie getting car sick and the freezing nights with no sleep, was great! Natalie had a fun, low key birthday, we had cake and sang happy birthday and went to Grover Hot Springs State park for an afternoon of swimming. Natalie had a BLAST! She had so much fun and was so fun to watch that David has decided that putting in a pool is a priority (we'll see). She squealed for literally the two hours we were there. She was jumping to us, going under water and even did some independent floating with her floaty! Any way, back to Mary Mack... We came home on Sunday and I ended up needing to go to work a half day on Monday afternoon (boo.) David stayed at home to unpack and play with Natalie. I was finishing up with a patient and I get this text from

David:

Oh my God, God, God, Natalie is crazy, crazy, crazy, We're having tea, tea, tea, and reading books, books, books, and washing puke, puke, puke.

LOL. What a guy! Can you guess what book they were reading???? And Natalie's favorite thing to say is "read 'gain"!

A day in the life of Natalie

Scenario: eating dinner in the kitchen-
David: " ohhhhhh, my back really hurts... can't clean up"
Natalie: " oohhhhhh, back hurts, can't eat."

Scenario: In Home Depot, choosing paint colors. Natalie has been pulling out the paint chips and "getting in trouble" for about 20 minutes. 30 minutes past bedtime.
Natalie: Pulls out all of the purple paint samples and drops them on the floor
David: "Natalie, you are being a bad girl, Momma and Daddy have asked you not to touch these."
Natalie: Still pulling out paint chips.
David: "You know what? Sit down, right here and no touching."

Natalie: Sits down in the aisle with her hands in her lap

Random Man: walks down the paint isle, not paying attention to Natalie
Natalie: "Hi. I in time-out"

Scenario: Waking up in the morning- Natalie calls for Mommy.
Natalie: "Mommy????!!!!""
Whitney: "Coming honey!"
Natalie: THUMP
Whitney: Opens Natalie's bedroom door, Natalie is standing next to her crib.
Natalie: "Waaaaa. I fall out crib"
Whitney: "You fell out of your crib or you climbed out of the crib?"
Natalie: " I climbed out crib."

Just thought I'd give you a little snippet of a day in the life of Natalie Sowle. What a funny kid! We are currently under construction AGAIN!!! (have we ever not been under construction?) Two weekends ago we tore down the back deck and prepped the house to be painted in the next few days and have the roof replaced. We have the new front door back, but it's not installed. It's in my living room. We are currently marking up landscape designs as well. I'm excited to see how the property is going to look when it's all cleaned up! We are planning a camping trip this weekend to South Lake Tahoe to get away and have a nice birthday weekend as a family. We are planning to throw Natalie a park barbecue party for when Grandma Jill is here. A little late, but it will be nice that Grandma can be there and that I will have extra hands! I recently printed a bunch of updated Natalie photos to send out to family and friends, but I haven't gotten to them yet... I also just had her official 2 year pics taken so I may wait until their back to send out all the pics. Here are some pics of her at Easter. Our friend Kevin Young took them and I think they look great. Hopefully I will be able to post some Natalie birthday camping pics and pics of the painted house with a new door next week!

fun videos

Easter and Grandmas and Grandpas

Look at me Uncle Mike!!! I love brushing my teeth!!!
Our great friend and old neighbor Jason visiting at my work Easter egg hunt

Hunting for Eggs

Natalie's mom is so cool. What a great snack.

Like her smile?

I hope you all enjoyed the "Tinkle Tar" video. We are recovering from a fun filled week with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Scott and Grandma "P" (another Mary was too confusing and Pezzetti was a nightmare!) and Grandpa John. Natalie began running a temp on Saturday of last week, and was sick the majority of their visit. Not too bad, but enough to be up at night a few times. I was up with her as well, and so inevitably by the end of the week, I was starting to feel sick too. Bummer. I am slowly coming around, and apart from an occasional cough and a runny nose, Natalie is on the mend as well. Mary and Scott were such a big help with the house while they were here (and Natalie!). Scott got some plumbing and wiring/electrical done for us and Mary helped me unpack ALL of my leftover boxes. Yay! We didn't work them too hard though, they had time to set up and play with Natalie on her new swing set, take her to Fairy Tale Town and go wine tasting on Friday. Oh yeah, the Easter bunny also came while Mary and Scott were here, Natalie found her Easter Basket and looked out the window and saw Eggs in the yard. I was outside watching her from the front window and I could see her screaming "Eggs, I see Eggs Momma!" Pretty funny. She loved her Easter egg hunt and found all her eggs with only a little help. Natalie certainly enjoyed having her Grandparents and Great Grandparents around last week. We miss you all already! We are caught up on laundry and awaiting our front door's arrival! We purchased a new front door and it is being stained and finished as we speak! I'm so excited! I will post pics as soon as we have it installed. Enjoy some of the new pictures- I we did take some of Natalie in her Easter dress, but it's on Kevin and Tracy's camera and I still need to get the pics from them. I will post as soon as I have them.

Tinkle Tar

Talkin in the tub

Spring Time!!!

We have been getting some very nice weather here in CA and we have been taking advantage! We have been busy ripping out some more dead trees and bushes and burning them. We're close to having all the dead foliage out. We have been spending time outside playing on Natalie's slide and throwing sticks for Maizie in the creek out back. We have been taking trips down to see Pilot the horse to feed him apples. We had a very nice visit with Grandma Mary. I'm sure she was ready to get back home and rest after her weekend with Natalie! We enjoyed our trip to Fairytale Town, a park geared toward toddlers. Natalie had a GREAT time. She especially loved the "shoe" slide at Fairytale town! Natalie is doing AWESOME on her potty training. She has had a few days at daycare where she has been dry all day long and days with only one or two accidents at home. She even was able to go to the park with no accident, ask for potty and make it to the bathroom in time! What a big girl!!!

We also had the opportunity to help a friend pick out a puppy. It was Natalie's first time seeing puppies and it was pretty funny. She seemed to like them, but wasn't too cure when they were climbing and biting her shoes. I also finally finished Natalie's stepstool. Here are some pics. Enjoy!