Piano and Pumpkin Pie Prodigy

I sat down to practice the piano for a few minutes when I saw Natalie come up next to me carrying a story. She raised it high over her head and wanted to set it on the piano so I lifted her up and helped her arrange her story. She then indicated that she wanted to sit next to me and, of course, I obliged. She then proceeded to practice the piano with me! She sat for a good five minutes while we both read the music from our respective books: me from "Theme from Solace" and her from "Each Peach Pear Plumb." She was playing about spying the three bears.

I made pumpkin pies this week with Natalie's help. She's a very good helper! She stirred the water in her bowl with all her heart! Then she drank it. Yum, yum!

Halloween Fairy

We got back from Vegas at 5:30 pm and got ready REALLY quickly for THE Halloween Party of the year. Natalie was a little fairy - she loved her wand and tutu (made by her Mormor!) and wings and thouroughly enjoyed seeing her friends again after such a long absence. The party was great and we were so glad we made it. It was Natalie's first time trick-or-treating (and Kaijsa's first time that she can remember!). Natalie had a piece of licorice and has been looking for more ever since. Nate and I have already eaten all the rest of her candy though we figure we won't get away with that so easily next year!

AOA Conference in Las Vegas

The American Osteopathic Association held its annual convention in Las Vegas this year and Nate was able to get some "Education Time Off" to attend. We figured that as long as he had to pay for the hotel anyway, we might as well make a vacation of it. We really enjoyed getting to see the Mason's and visiting the pumpkin patch together. We spent 6 nights at the Imperial Palace on the strip, eating most of our meals at the convention and walking our legs off. Nate attended classes most of the day (from 6:30 am to 9 pm or so) with a few breaks in between. Natalie and I walked through the malls and window shopped. Inside the mall, I would let Natalie down and just follow her around. They weren't kid-friendly places at all, so I enjoyed seeing her little hand prints left all over their glass doors and windows. After napping at the hotel we would pick some new direction to explore. Everyone was enamored with our little peanut, which I enjoyed very much. Nate learned all sorts of interesting and useful things (as did I...) and we all had a great time relaxing and being together.

Pumpkin Patch

Playgroup this week was at the pumpkin patch! Natalie was interested in the pumpkins for all of 2 minutes since there was a bounce house in sight. After checking out the piglets, goats, sheep and miniature cows, we went on the hayride. She loved all the bouncing and clapped and giggled as we went. She also enjoyed riding in a pumpkin wagon with her friend, Connor. By far the highlight of the experience was the bounce house! Once it was clear of other kids, my friend Cindy and I popped our 1 year-olds in to see how they'd do. It was so cute! Natalie had a great time jumping and falling and rolling and laughing! We've got to go back with Daddy some time!

Hats and Noodles

Of the many things beloved in this world, few are higher on her list than hats and noodles. Enough said.

Vandals

We woke up this morning with a neighbor friend calling to tell us our car had been vandalized. N. went out to find that some kids had taken a fire extinguisher and had sprayed it all over the front of our car. It got up under the hood, but not really into the engine. Fortunately, it just blew off (mostly - some will need to be washed off). The extinguisher was sitting about 20 yards away. We don't know why they chose our car, but we were grateful things weren't worse. There were two other cars who had their windows smashed out. We hope the apartment managers will take this seriously and maybe invest in some surveillance of sorts. We do NOT want to live in a place where we don't feel safe parking our car for the night. Punk kids...

I dedicate this post...

I dedicate this post to Becca, who said she'd help me spruce this place up a bit. Thanks, Becca! You're the best! Execution phase, right? Starting small here...

Growing baby n...

Things n. can do:
Find her Tummy
Blow kisses
Play "Hat - Boom!"
(Where she puts her hand on her head and says "ha" and then takes it off and says 'boo!" - we've played it since she was tiny - N. started it - and now she'll initiate it!)
Play Peek-a-boo
Find momma's nose and daddy's nose
Say what a snake says (sssss....)
Wave and say "ba" and "ha" for bye and hi
Say dadadadada and mamamama
Hold her own sippy cup
Put cheerios in her own mouth!! Yeah!!! Finally!! (and clap after every cheerio!)
Walk behind her hippo walker toy

Such a joy - my favorite is her wave at me first thing in the morning when I come to pick her up. She'll be crawling soon, too, I think! Next comes swimming - it's getting warm around here quick and we'll soon be spending the days poolside! Yeah! n. loves 'birdies' and swinging. We've got tons of pigeons around here and she gets SO excited to see the birdies flying and walking around.

FYI - we'll be moving in Aug to another apartment - next-door to friends in the ward! Yeah for saving money and being close to friends, but ugh to moving. A necessary evil...

Doin' the Wave

n. has learned to clap and wave! We go back and forth and back and forth all day. Sometimes she mixes the two up, but she's getting better at it every day! Her favorite time to practice her wave is as she's nursing, right before she falls asleep. She'll be nursing all wrapped up in her blanket, holding her baby by the ear with one hand and waving and waving with the other! It's too funny!

N. is working hard and getting ready for his big test in a few weeks. I'm working like crazy on a billion little projects and enjoying having so much to do. Couponing takes up a ton of time - I'm up to $2500 in products and over $100 in cash! not too shabby, and so much fun! Our latest acquisition is a tabletop charcoal grill, 8 lb of charcoal and a big bottle of lighter fluid for $1.10! Pretty cool. As long as N.'s in charge of grilling, we're having burgers tonight, kabobs tomorrow night, steak the next...