We had a very relaxing and enjoyable Christmas. Natalie took her time waking up and really enjoyed seeing all of her new toys. She had the entire day to hang out at the house and play with her toys as she felt like it. My parents and Nannaw came over for Christmas dinner and to see all of Natalie's loot. Nathan grilled out some delicious steaks, and we had a wonderful time. We were able to FaceTime with Gabriel to see what he got for Christmas at his mom's house, and Natalie showed him her presents from Santa.
Christmas morning
Natalie discovering her new baby.
Feeding the new baby toast.
Opening her stocking and looking at her big girl animals.
Natalie and Baby trying out the tricycle.
M&M's!
"ELMO!"
Making sure Santa ate all of the duck cookies.
Hanging out on her Christmas present from Grandma and Poppa.
Natalie loves to eat breakfast. On a regular weekend, Daddy usually makes us pancake puffs which are small, round pancake balls. We always have them with chocolate chips. On Christmas morning, Natalie took one look at her snowman pancake and wanted to eat a 'bip' off of it. Of course the pancakes were warm and the chips had softened so she made quite the mess smearing around the chocolate. But hey, anything goes on Christmas!
Another Christmas tradition- snowman pancakes.
Natalie after Grandma and Poppa taught her that Santa says 'Ho Ho Ho'.
On Christmas Eve we went to Nathan's mom's house for dinner and presents. We decided to make it an annual tradition to play a Christmas present game. A present (cash and lottery tickets) was wrapped multiple times. To make it challenging the person opening had to wear gloves. We each rolled the dice to see who would unwrap each time. The person who opened the present at the end was the winner.
After presents, we took the babe home to start our Christmas family traditions. We decorated our sugar cookies and attempted to read Christmas stories to a very tired girl. We tracked Santa on Norad, and then Natalie was off to bed. Although it was a little sad without Gabriel, it was nice knowing we would be able to sleep in since Natalie didn't really understand what was in store for her in the morning!
The little ones checking out the Christmas tree.
Mark getting a turn.
The gloves were a little too easy so we switched to oven mitts.
On Sunday night, we went to the zoo to really get in the Christmas spirit. Nathan's brother Mark was in town with all three boys so we invited Grammo and the boys to come along. The zoo was doing their annual Night of Lights, which meant lots of Christmas lights and entertainment. There were few animals out and about because it was late and most were inside sleeping. We did see the giraffes and kangaroos while taking a train ride around the zoo. There was a snow machine set up, a movie on the lawn, bounce houses (with extremely long lines), and Santa was even there. The zoo did not do a great job at their Santa picking, but it got the job done. Natalie wanted nothing to do with him, which made me happy I didn't take her to the mall to stand in a line for hours! Her favorite part was the choo choo train and the carousel ride. It seemed fitting that she rode on the elephant because she loves when Daddy makes the elephant sound. It is extremely realistic!
I guess I mainly focused my picture taking on the littlest ones because I didn't have any of the big boys or Grammo. I think it had to do with how cutely they interacted with each other.
Natalie and cousin Jake sharing toys.
Jake with his Daddy
Daddy and Natalie admiring the lights.
Jake feeding Natalie a cookie.
The big boys with their littlest one.
One of the few animals out and about during our trip.
I am going to have to do a better job at keeping up with things. Natalie is learning so much that it's hard to remember all of the amazing milestones from month to month! Even though she loves to get her picture taken, she will not sit down in her chair and smile! It is a battle month after month!
Natalie loves to "talk" on the phone to "Poppa, GG, 'Mong Mong'" all the time. She walks around the house talking and is always talking to the same three people. Although sometimes I'm not sure if she knows they are three different people because they are always grouped together when she mentions anything! We can't complain though because she loves going to Poppa, GG, Mong Mong's house.
After enjoying a blue ICEE. Now she expects our tongues to be blue all the time!
Natalie's love for Publix spinach artichoke dip is getting out of hand. She loves it so much she typically ditches the chips after a minute or two and just licks it off her finger! I guess if we consider the fact that it has spinach, then Natalie does like one vegetable!
Finger lickin' good!
Her first bubble bath!
Shopping with Natalie is still a constant struggle, but since we have to eat, we shop at Publix. Natalie walks in and knows she gets a cookie, hopefully a car buggie, and sometimes even a balloon! Who wouldn't want to go shopping?
Enjoying the perks of Publix.
Trains! She is still completely obsessed with them. She thinks we have to ride them all and loves to hear the real "Choo Choos" out and about.
Waiting on the train.
Another train ride.
Natalie continues to be all girl and such a talker! She is memorizing
and repeating so many words. She loves to play Ring Around the Rosie and
sing Row, row, row your BUS... I've given up on trying to correct her.
She loves school buses and the song, so for now we are just going with
it! Natalie has discovered crayons and loves to color. She colors almost
as much as she bites the tips off the crayons!
Coloring at one of her art stations.
Park day with baby and the bus.
Taking the time to stop and smell my "It's another girl" flowers!
Have I mentioned drums? I'm not sure if she likes drums because of Fresh Beat Band or if it's from something else, but one day she started drumming and now she drums on everything! She found a drum that Gabriel made from a Lowe's project and would not put it down.
Well technically Christmas has happened and it is February, but for the sake of this blog it's still coming! On Friday the 7th, Nathan and I went to the O'Brien's Ugly Sweater Party. Nathan and I went to great lengths to find ugly Christmas sweaters. Nathan borrowed a sweater vest from his mom, and I borrowed one from a friend of Nathan's. There were definitely some ugly sweaters, but Nathan came in second place for the ugliest! We had a great night out, and Natatlie enjoyed some quality Grandma and Poppa time.
Since no one reads our blog to hear about the two of us, I knew this would have to be a combined post. Not much to report except some cute pictures of the babe!
Natalie wearing her St. Lucia crown, watching Nathan play football on the Playstation.
