Happy 1st Birthday, Natalie!

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I must admit that I was a little sad to see Natalie's first birthday roll around.  I wanted her to stay a baby for a little while longer.  But I really am excited to see her walk and talk and run around with her big sister.  We had a party for her at my parents' house and had some fun activities for the kids. We had flower pots for the kids to paint any way they wanted, then we filled them up with spring flowers.  It was so much fun to watch them paint and loved that they could take it home with them as a little gift. :) We also had an Easter egg hunt. Watching the kids run around finding eggs was so cute! It was such a great party.  Happy birthday to our little spitfire Natalie! We love you.

Palm Springs

In mid-February, we went from this...

...to this!

We had a great vacation in Palm Springs! And it was such a short drive (about 90 miles) to Disneyland so we did that one day, too.  The kids had a blast despite Avery feeling a little under the weather. She caught a cold that day (she looked a little dazed in the picture with Ariel, poor girl). :)  We took Natalie on most of the rides (Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan) but her favorite ride was It's A Small World. She danced and giggled and clapped her hands. It was the cutest! Here are some pictures from our trip.

 

Family Fun

I've been so horrible about updating this blog. Everytime I sit down to do it, I have to clean up spilled chocolate milk, wipe down ketchup fingers, or grab Natalie off the floor before she eats a fistful of dog hair that she so lovingly yanked out of Grace's behind.

We had a great holiday season and enjoyed watching our little girl turn 3. She is such a sweet girl but she is a pro at being a 3 year old. We took her to Build-A-Bear where she created a cute little stuffed dog she named Bear. Then right after she was done dressing her beloved Bear, she threw an epic 3 year old fit and tossed Bear as far as she could throw her and cried all the way from the Tacoma mall to Fred's parents house in Silverdale.  I just love that we spent $45 on a stuffed animal that she probably hasn't even looked at since.  Lesson learned.  Although I must say that those fits are few and far between.  And while those kinds of things are inevitable, she has such a great personality and is really fun to be around.  I chuckle at this Build-A-Bear story now, but while it was happening it was a completely different story! :)

This year started out great and continues to be a fun year. I have enjoyed having Freddie at home, but I know that his time off from working on the farm is slowing coming to an end. It'll pick up fast next month. Speaking of next month...Natalie is going to be 1 on March 26th. I can't believe it. She is such a fun baby. She can say ma-ma, da-da, and sissy (although it sounds more like "hissy"). If you ask her what a dog does, she tries to bark. It's just the cutest thing. And she LOVES her big sister so much.

In about 10 days we leave for Palm Springs. We are looking forward to this much needed family trip. Since it's only about 90 miles away from Disneyland, we plan to take the kids for a day or two. Avery is going to be so excited. The look on her face will be priceless. We are excited to be staying with my mom and dad who rented a house in the desert for a month. Jody, Ryan and Grayson will be there too. Apparently there is a new water park not far from the house and of course tons of other stuff to do: College of the Desert, and the zoo, and shopping!!