Celebrating Dad

We always celebrate Dad's birthday right after Natalie's.  The girls and I are sure lucky to have this guy in our lives.  He is a true blessing to each of us and he's definitely all of our favorites!

Halloween Dean turns 4! A Pinkalicious Playdate

Our Natalie is now 4 years old.  It doesn't seem possible but it's true.  She had a great day with so many parties and celebrations surrounding her birthday because of Halloween!  Grandma and Grandpa Taylor were also in town to celebrate with us.

 She got a few presents from us (a hat, princess legos, etc.).  She had fun opening them but my camera died during the opening!

We've had this Cinderella dress for years but for her birthday we gave her light-up Cinderella 'glass' slippers and she's hardly taken them off. We also gave her the Cinderella movie which she has watched several times already.

We invited a few of her friends over for a Pinkalicious playdate the weekend after her birthday.  These are Natalie's favorite books so it was a perfect theme.  Everyone came dressed in pink.  We had pink cupcakes, built pink marshmallow towers, played with pink balloons and played Pinkalicious Bingo. 

 She was super happy.

 While everyone arrived we decorated paper cupcakes.  Then Natalie 'read' them Pinkalicious since she has it memorized.

She loved every minute of it!

Why we love our Natalie:

-She has a contagious laugh, you can't help but join her

-She still drops her r's when she talks which is still cute for now

-Natalie loves all things girly, especially dressing up like a princess when Cyrena is her prince

-She will always play with my hair and 'braid' it

-I can always count on Natalie to compliment me on my shirt, hair, or jewelry.  For the record she doesn't like it when I have it in a ponytail

-She is a big fan of her sisters

-She's almost 100% done with sucking her thumb.  She is willing to stop as long as her fingernails are painted

-Natalie takes her time coloring pictures and pays close attention to detail-no scribbling for her unless she is hurrying to play with her preschool friends

-Natalie is starting to put sounds together and read words.  She sees the older preschoolers doing this and wants to join in.

-She gets so excited for the weekend when "Dad gets to stay home!!!" 

-When she's feeling 'spiritual' she pretends to read the scriptures, making up some funny phrases

-She is still a busy stinker that gets into trouble easily!

-Natalie is quick to say "I just love you, you're my best mom/dad"

I could go on and on about this sweet girl, we feel very blessed to have her in our family!

Halloween 2012

October always go by too fast and I am always left wishing for one more week!  We had a fun visit to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, had a visit from our Taylor Grandparents, celebrated Natalie's birthday and of course dressed up for Halloween.

 I had to document that she is in the scrunchy face stage

 Peering into the hollow pumpkin

 She wanted to do most of the carving herself this year

We like to keep to the classic faces!

A fairy, a construction worker and a butterfly (that really looks more like a fairy)

Fall Break 2012

During Fall break I had the chance to fly to Denver with Anna to visit with my friend Jessica who just had her 3rd baby.  We had a great time catching up, playing with the older kids, and holding the new baby! 

While I was there David took the older girls on a quick trip to Long Beach to witness the baptism of Aunt Emily's husband, Jason.  They all had a GREAT time and David said the spirit was so strong at the baptism; a truly special experience.  Grandpa Ralph baptized Jason.

They got to spend most of the day Saturday on the beach!

David's favorite picture- Natalie pitching to Cyrena

Grandma got in on the fun!

Family pyramid

bottom row: Ralph, Jason, Richard

2nd row: Emily, David, Natalie

Top: Cyrena! 

Here is David with his two younger siblings, Richard and Emily

And with Mom!

The girls just loved having this special time with Daddy.  He offered to take Anna as well but I knew they'd have a lot more fun without her poopy diapers and toddler attitude!  I think I was right!

Fall Portraits 2012

The girls had some fall portraits taken by a local photographer: Headfirst Photo

We were so happy with the results! 

Cyrena: age 6

Natalie: age 4

Anna: age 22 months

Easily Excited

Around here it doesn't take much to get us pretty excited.  Whether it be new pencils, watching a movie, playing a game together, or a trip to the grocery store.

Well now we're excited because a WINCO opened up close to us and the REAL kicker is that they carry Tillamook ice cream!!!  We have been without Tillamook ice cream for the better part of 10 years and it's been tough.  My parents were nice enough to bring some from Utah once on dry ice and we relished every bite.  But NOW we can get it anytime we want.  And we will.  And we will eat it in ice cream cones because that just puts it over the top. Pure bliss.

On a side note, Cyrena lost her 2 front teeth within 24 hours so we're enjoying her toothless grin, but not so much her lisp...

Natalie's in Preschool!

Well Natalie has officially begun preschool.  Yes she attended my class last year but now she's actually of age.  She's been so excited.  This year I'm teaching two preschool classes-a morning and an afternoon class.  So Natalie actually get double preschool. She loves it though and really enjoys having so many friends at her house.

I'm so lucky to be her teacher!

Oh my goodness, this girl can't get any cuter.  She's way too loveable.

Of course Anna has to join in the fun in the morning class.  Here she was really concentrating on putting pom-poms in the ice cube tray-a fine-motor activity.  She loves having all the kids come.

Preschool has been going so well, I'm happy about that.  I will do a post about the preschool room, since  it's really the only room I've decorated!