Playing In The Rain

Last week it rained REALLY hard here one day. Natalie kept wanting to go outside, so I thought I'd let her go out in the backyard and WATCH the rain. I was fairly sure she would be a little afraid of it since it was raining so hard. Well not only was she unafraid of it, but she thought it was so much fun to get out and play in.... When we first walked outside, she was standing cautiously just getting some splash up from the rain hitting the ground.

She walked out in the down pour briefly and came back under the patio, only to walk out in the pouring rain again...

She thought that was the coolest thing. She just stood there laughing.

She looked like a drowned rat when the whole thing was over.

She was upset that we were making her come in the house. She probably would've stayed out there for hours.

Natalie's First Boat Ride

We went out on the boat last weekend with my father-in-law. The boat was landlocked for most of last year, so this was Natalie's first boat ride. She really had a good time, but she was all over the place (so we aren't really looking forward to the first plane ride). We are looking forward to it getting a little warmer so we can pull her in a tube behind the boat.

Jake & Logan's Visit to Texas

My step sister, Laura, and her family live in Northern California and came to Texas to visit for a few weeks. We got to see them a few times while they were here and we had a great time.

Natalie & Jake in the jumping gym outside.

Jake & Natalie got into the sunglasses and decided that they all needed to wear some...even little Logan, who is only 2 months old!

I think this picture is priceless! Jake & Natalie digging in the toybox.

Natalie LOVES Logan. She called him "baby" and asked for him the entire time they were here. She always wanted to hug him and bring him toys.

We had lunch on John's birthday.

We went to the zoo one day. Jake & Natalie loved the petting zoo.

This picture was taken at the zoo as well. It was a lot of fun!

Random Things

Okay, I am a little behind on the postings, but what's new? I am really going to try harder to keep these current, but here are a few random things that I wanted to add...

Natalie's friend, Rafe, just got back from Disneyland and brought Natalie a Minnie Mouse. She loves it...she calls it Mouse. We are taking a trip to Disneyworld this summer, so we are glad she is getting to know some of the Disney characters.

This was taken on Easter (again, I'm obviously way behind on posting). I just really like this picture of my Dad and Phoebe with Natalie.

Steve and I went to Dallas for my 30th birthday and stayed with our friends Mike & Tina and their son Will. We had a great time. Natalie stayed home with my mother-in-law so it was a relaxing trip for us!

Bunnyfest!!

Well, my friend Dawn and I planned this children's Easter party (really Dawn planned most of it...we just had it at my house). We had all sorts of activities planned for the kids to do outside. The weather here on Easter weekend was SO bad...really cold and rainy...so we improvised (again, Dawn improvised...I just went along with the plan). Overall, I think that everyone still had a great time.

This is Dawn...the mastermind behind all of the party planning.

This is Mackenna and Brielle, my friend Shannon's girls.

Natalie trying to figure out the deal with this Easter Bunny guy. She was okay as long as he didn't touch her.

Natalie with her favorite friend Rafe, and Flopsy the bunny (the REAL bunny, who did VERY well with all of the kids...obviously not the bunny's first time)

My friend Paula with her two kids Nick (who kindly dressed up as the Easter Bunny for us) and Isabella. Paula helped a lot with the party as well.

We had a little jumping gym that we were going to set up outside. It worked out fine in the garage...the kids had a good time with it.

Our nephew, Matt. Natalie's favorite cousin. Matt's always a good sport and plays with all of the kids.

My friend Ara and her daughter, Charlotte. We were glad they made it. They don't live real close, so unfortunately we don't get to see them that much.

The makeshift Easter Egg Hunt (otherwise known as our game room upstairs). Didn't seem to phase the kids though. They were just happy to get the eggs with the candy in them.

Natalie loved "hunting" for the Easter eggs. She was most impressed with the "beans" (jelly beans) inside them. She will still ask for eggs (when what she really wants are jelly beans).

These were some of the kids at the top of the stairs patiently waiting for the go ahead to hunt for Easter eggs. Like I said, we improvised pretty well.

Climbing the Walls

The weather has finally been nice enough to get outside. Although it's still a little cool to get in the pool, Natalie has come to really like swimming in the hot tub. Her favorite thing may be getting in and out and running around outside in her bathing suit.

We are experiencing some "terrible twos" behavior at just 18 months old! Natalie has started to throw fits when she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it. That's been interesting to say the least. We will soon invest in a "time out" chair!!

I always say that Natalie is climbing the walls as a figure of speech, as she is almost always on the run in one way or another. We went to the park and she found a little rock climbing wall, where she literally wanted to climb the wall!! She loved that thing so I guess I will be "climbing the walls" trying to keep her off of it.


We are trying to introduce Natalie to the potty, so we got a little training potty that sings songs to promote potty training. She'll run around saying "potty" and just go sit down on it (not yet figuring out what's really supposed to happen when she sits down). She loves to brush her teeth as well, and since she does both of those things in the bathroom, she things it's a good idea to do them both at the same time. We get a kick out of her brushing her teeth while sitting on the potty!

At the local museum, there is a section where there is an over sized mouth as well as a huge toothbrush, so that fit right in with her new found fascination with brushing teeth.

In The Bluebonnets

These are some pictures that I took in a field of Bluebonnets close to our house. Natalie likes to look at the flowers and then pick them.