snuggles with tinsley

natalie will give tinsley the best hugs and then say, "mom, take our picture!"

interview

we are in the midst of moving. we have been *in the midst* for 23 days. this is the longest move possible.
my camera battery died and the charger is packed.
so i'm going to do a little interview with natalie so we have something fun to post!

what's your favorite color?
pink and red and yellow and orange and blue and white and grey and sparkly grey and golden and green and spots and purple and black and brown

what's your favorite sport?
soccer ball, basketball and kingdom ball
kingdom ball?
yeah, it has a king on it and you throw it up to the ceiling and it falls down. and if it landed on the thing you're supposed to run away to your mom. that's kingdom ball.

who are your best friends?
evie, nora, daschle, annabelle, you, me, computer, susie, kara, mia, daschle, kate, you, table, trees, outside. that's it. those are all my friends i love.
mom, i really want to see that friend in kansas city with that phone toy. can you tell me her name? she has short, curly hair. i want to see her. and it's not evie.

what would you like to name your baby brother?
julian alexander annabelle

what are you going to play with your baby brother?
hide and seek

what's your favorite stuffed animal?
bunny

what is your favorite animal?
zebra

what's your favorite tv show?
dora, max and ruby

what do you love about school?
i love kindergarten and i love my first grade teacher. and the pencils. that's what i love about my school. i like to write. (she's 3 and will be in preschool in the fall.)

what's your favorite game?
tag

what do you love to do with mommy?
play baby and big sister

what do you love to do with daddy?
fly my kite at the park when it's warm

what's your favorite food?
turkey. real turkey. and you to eat (and she leaned in and bit my forehead!)

what's your favorite song?
abcde, twinkle twinkle, and lullabies. and the mountain ran up the tree. and those are my favorite songs.

what do you think about hollywood?
of hollywood? i like the monsters. and the bears.

what political party are you associated with?
daschles. and yours. and dads. and ponytail parties.

what do you want to be when you grow up?
nurse. doctor (i'm pushing for chiropractor or dentist!) elephant. real dog. a computer. a real mouse. a car. a building.

what's your favorite outfit to wear?
skirt. dress. pants. purse. and you and a computer and a mouse. a real mouse. and a chair. and stool. and rubber ducky. that's what i like. sooooo. that's what i like and i'm going to spit on you when i grow up. when i grow up i'll be a spitter.

what's your favorite city to live in?
kansas city. saint paul. you.

what's your favorite season?
summer. spring. rainy. bc i like to put my tongue out and get all the rain.

so much for one word answers!

baby shower

susie threw me the cutest baby shower! i love the owl theme.

and don't the cupcakes look professional?! homemade!!

quite the spread and it was ALL delicious!

i had several of these...

that whipped cream strawberry goodness below has BROWNIES in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ahhh baby toys!

thanksgiving outfit?! i think so!

shake, squeak, jingle, pull....

wow - i've never had so many pictures of me before!

i remember getting baby clothes for natalie and not being able to imagine a baby filling them out. now i see them and get sad thinking about how quickly my little man is going to outgrow them!

thank you, susie! (who is due two weeks before me!)

it was an honor to have my friends celebrate my baby on the way!  this picture is missing a couple people but i had friends from KC, chicago, MOPS and my playgroup. yes, i even had a MAN from playgroup represent!
thank you!!

thank you, tracy, for all the pictures!!!

goof ball

kids stalling at bedtime...i know it's everywhere. here she is saying she can't put on her jammies. that "the holes aren't in the right places."

i love each picture showing her different smirks...

trying to hold in the smile...

she puts up even more of a fight now that it's staying lighter longer.

IT'S STILL DAY TIME! she insists.

more of that marker! it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

now we're ready for business!

she is a leg-crosser too. cracks me up.

permanent marker

self-explanatory i suppose. i would have taken pictures of the kitchen floor and bathroom counter that she drew on as well but i was actually too freaked out to want to waste any time removing them. nail polish remover removed it from the bathroom perfectly. as for the wood floor...it's much lighter now but i'm buying a magic eraser tomorrow in hopes that more comes off. we only have four more days in this apartment! why now?!!!

i have done a good job keeping these markers hidden. they were out for labeling our moving boxes. at least these next two pictures, from november 2009, were in washable ink!

she wanted me to get some pictures of her dancing. this expression is her CLASSIC silly face!

10 on 10 :: April 2011

um...so i totally bombed my ten on ten.
i saw it was coming up...
saw i had fun stuff on my calendar...
was excited for my pictures...
of which i ended up taking...
zero.
we had breakfast with chicago friends at hazel's in northeast.
i had hippie pancakes which were granola-filled and topped with fresh fruit. the place was a-mazing!
everyone loved their food and licked their plates clean. we are totally going back.
went in a darling fabric shop...
bought a headband.
napped.
did the calculations and made a grocery list for my freezer meal swap recipe.
got showered and ready for my...
baby shower! which was lovely!
JR bought all the ingredients while i was at the shower. THANK YOU!
we stuffed, rolled and froze 54 chicken breasts for my mariachi chicken rolls for the swap on wednesday.
had dinner.
put nat to bed.
checked email...
it was a busy day...
lots of photo opps...
missed.
eh, whatev.

detour

we were in california for a week and the day we were scheduled to fly back to minneapolis, there was a snow storm. we had a layover and plane change in denver and that flight from los angeles was on time. so i got to denver but then was delayed to minneapolis. so i called up my sister who lives there and ditched our flight to blizzardy minnesota. if we waited a week to buy new tickets they were only $69. so... we ended up having a fun, unexpected trip to see family again!

 the girls playing beauty shop. make-up and all!

 isn't kate's room adorable?! it's definitely the best you can do when purple paint is insisted!

 i love that natalie sleeps with her hands under her head. so precious.

 we picked up this darling green bed at a thrift sale one time i visited. it looks so great in here!

and that's it! we were there a week and this is all i took pictures of. sorry other three cousins. thanks for your hospitality, jen!

disneyland!

we entered the park through downtown disney and then took the monorail to disneyland. it was so fun to remember doing it myself growing up and then to see natalie now taking it all in.

mama, nat and baby!

cinderella's castle behind us.

rain again! fortunately we were prepared with ponchos, umbrellas and extra clothes.

one of my favorite rides, matterhorn! too bad i couldn't ride this trip.

in our favor, a lot of people left the park because of the rain. it's still a busy place of course but nowhere near the crowds if it would have been better weather.

our strategy was to hit up the indoor, covered rides like it's a small world, but it was closed! 

no wonder the line was so short!

so we did the carousel

and dumbo. this is definitely the only time you're going to get to walk right on to dumbo!! woohoo!

next was casey jr.'s circus train because we could sit in a covered monkey cage. we rode it twice so we didn't have to get out! the poor girls were shivering!

but then! it cleared up and was a beautiful day!

here's our crew: rachel, todd, pippi, mom, me and nat!

i know the music can get a little...annoying? during the course of the 15 minute ride, but it's a classic and what joy to see your little one experience it and love it!

 i love the jungle cruise too. the guides are always hilarious.

even if the jokes aren't that funny, their tone pulls it off.

later in the day we park-hopped over to california adventure

and got to meet pluto first thing!

 i'm so glad mormor and natalie could do this together since i had to sit this one out.

the girls had so much fun together!!!

they were so brave to put their hands up!

natalie said her favorite part of the day was the rides!

and she didn't even get suckered into wanting any souvenirs!

 3-D toy story ride

til next time, disney!