Random photo update

Just Natalie being her cute self!

First family portrait!

Natalie brought home a cute little "autograph book" (photocopies of her classmate's drawings with their names on it) today. We noticed one of them was a cute family portrait and we were impressed at the drawing. When we got to Natalie's, we quickly realized she too had drawn her family! She corroborated this when asked (in case we were reading too much into it). Here it is. So cute. Brought Nickie to tears.

Last day of school!!!

It's so hard to believe that Natalie's first year of "Big Girl School" is over! It has been an amazing experience. We can't express how much we love Mrs. Powers and the rest of the staff at St. Al's. It was a joy to watch Natalie come out of her shell with their help, and to watch her vocabulary grow exponentially. Her mind really is a sponge, and I'm constantly amazed at how much knowledge she retains, and how quickly she "gets" it.

Mom's Breakfast at Natalie's School

I was invited to Natalie's school for a mom breakfast to celebrate Mother's Day.  Natalie and I got to eat doughnuts together before all of the kids were asked to go to the front of the room to sing some songs.  Natalie was adorable standing with all of her preschool friends.  But when the class started singing, Natalie continued to just stand!  A few times she moved slightly including showing her belly a few times, but other than that, she just stood there. I will include the video, but really you can stop watching it after about 30 seconds because that is all that she does the entire time! (again having issues with uploading the video)The little boy to her left was funny.  After I stopped recording he suddenly put his nose right next to Natalie's ear and smelled her.  She slowly turned and looked at him like he was quite strange. haha, it was too funny.  After the performance all of the kids got to give their mom a rose and their little gift.  The gift was Natalie's picture (of her holding a Happy Mother's Day sign) and a quote from her saying that she loves her mommy because she cleans her clothes and makes her muffins.  As you can see, her picture did not turn out so well.  She has been sick all week with a cold/sinus pressure and this was the best picture that Mrs. Powers could get.  We laugh and say that it is more like a mug shot!  I love this little girl so much and am so blessed to get to be her mommy!

Random Photos

Here are just a ton of random photos that needed to be put on her blog!

Natalie and the Snakes!

Another visit at the after school program was from a conservation group that works on protecting snakes.  Natalie loved getting to see and pet the snakes!  She wasn't scared of them at all! (in the one picture she was more frightened of the man than the snake, ha!)  She even told Grandma and PawPaw not to be scared of a snake that was in their yard after this!  (are you noticing that tongue of Natalie's is always out when she is trying something new?? ha!)

Natalie the Firefighter

One benefit of Natalie coming to the after school program that I work at is that she gets to participate in different kinds of visits.  One was with the fire department and their fire engine.  Natalie was so excited about getting to drive the engine!

Our Dancing Queen!

Natalie loves to dance.  Now, some may say that she seems to get her skills from Elaine on Seinfeld, but that doesn't stop her!  She especially loves Rolling in the Deep by Adele.  Here she is dancing at Chuck E Cheese.

Our Patriotic Lil Girl

Natalie has learned so much at big girl school!  Here she is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance!

Natalie's Favorite People

Natalie absolutely loves her Grandma and PawPaw.  She constantly wants to see them (which she can now through their webcam!) and have them watch her play and read books.  She loves when they come over and play with her or when she gets to go to their house to play too!  Grandma gets to pick her up sometimes from school (let's not talk about the time that her teacher forgot to take her to the beloved car line to meet Grandma and Natalie was totally crushed.  Grandma fixed that with retail therapy!) and Natalie gets so excited!  PawPaw gets Natalie to be loud all the time, which she loves ("NO, ME FIRST!!!")  The latest, cutest story was last night when Natalie suddenly mentioned that Mommy and Daddy were married.  We said yes and showed her our rings. Joel told her that she could get married someday if she wanted.  She said that she did.  I asked her who she wanted to marry (just to see what her answer would be)  She said that she wanted to marry PawPaw.  Awwww!