goin' back to cali

natalie had a really special flight to california. first she was asked by the pilots to come sit in the cockpit with them. and later in the flight, a soldier gave her an american flag patch and told her as long as that flag waves, we will be free. and because she's free, she can grow up to do anything she wants. everyone seated around us was listening and clapping. i should have taken out my camera again but my hesitation led to a missed opportunity.

we changed planes in phoenix and got to see a beautiful arizona sunset.

my sister and her family had already made their way to CA from colorado for their spring break. the cousins looooved getting to see each other! let the daily ice creams begin!

they look like they could be siblings! (especially since natalie's bangs are usually in her face!)

happy 15th birthday adam!!

these two adore each other!

a day at the beach! it was freezing and suuuuper windy! but clear, blue skies! gorgeous!

i love that the kids love to get buried! i was never that big of a fan of sand.

kate loves to carry natalie everywhere anyway, but in this instance, natalie didn't want to get wet. so kate carried her to the water to be close but not get her feet wet. what a great friend!

they are too cute!

i looove me some palm trees. that's probably the number one thing i miss most about california. well, i guess i shouldn't start counting the reasons...

is it ever too cold for ice cream!? can you believe this is considered a one-scoop cone?!

penelope!!!

here's mine. it was soooo good!

she ate every last bite!

 here's seven of the ten cousins. (we really missed the others!) what a good looking group! in mark's defense, he had the flu. poor guy.

this picture is taken in todd and rachel's backyard. isn't the view amazing?! the LA skyline is right behind adam.

kate (7), gregory (13), natalie (3), luke (10), penelope (3), adam (15), mark (8)

and the view just minutes later!

tired of ice cream yet?! not this little dairy queen!

natalie's pearls are from the dollar spot at target. she loves them!

 and then down came the rain.
it was in the forecast but i was really hoping for an inaccurate prediction.

 but it didn't deter this sweet pea from donning her cute rain slicker and wanting to CLEAN the patio with a scrub brush! ha!

 she got soaked and it didn't phase her one bit!
she had so much fun!

 and can you really have a trip to mormor and papa's and not bake something? this time was great-grandma marie's famous oatmeal cookies. they're the best!

bath time

one of my least favorite mom chores is giving baths. i always just shower her with me and use the bath as water playtime.

she was all wound up after her bath and when she was supposed to be putting her jammies on, she put on three pairs of underwear. she said one was her hat, one was her bras (yes, plural) and one was on her body. she jumped on the bed like this for quite awhile cracking up the entire time!

and yes, we feed her. the girl can eat! she is not starving although she looks like it.

10 on 10 :: March 2011

so, here's the deal with today. by 3:30am i had already woken up three times to go to the bathroom. at the 3:30 wake, i was so nauseous that i couldn't go back to sleep. my stomach hurt so bad and i finally got up at 4:20 to eat and drink something in hopes to feel better. then of course i struggled to fall back asleep. finally i did but was pretty out of it and have had a sore throat all day. i'm not sure what's better..that i eventually remembered it was 10 on 10 and did the best i could? or should have just passed and not even tried? so you get a short day with just six pictures: 6 on 10 for march. i can say what we did but there aren't pictures to show for it.

we mall-walked at mall of america first.

next up was IKEA! (which is right across the street from MOA.) natalie is finally tall enough to go in the drop-off play place! so today was her first day and she loved it! and i loved it! one hour of browsing at my own pace!

i picked her up an hour later and we had swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice in the cafe.

and an hour later (yes, we are on hour three and still on the same floor!) we got free cookies from the jars that are on displays throughout the store. i had forgotten about this perk. i had three while natalie was playing and then one with her. hee hee

nat threw a huge tantrum when we were leaving. trust me, i wish we could have stayed longer too. but i was not feeling well. sore throat was raging and my feet were killing. her screaming gave me a headache and i started having trouble keeping my eyes open.

i laid down at home and nat helped herself to rice crispies. and tons of milk.

i opted out of pictures of me laying down.

but JR went to a hockey tournament tonight so we had to take the Tin Man out. we still have SO.MUCH.SNOW. at least the sun was shining by the time we went out. it was pretty dreary all day. maybe i was just suffering from that seasonal sad disorder...

and since dinner was greek yogurt and apples with peanut butter, i decided i would cook one thing.

play-doh! i have never made it before and used this recipe. SUPER easy. and now that i have the cream of tartar (random ingredient!) i'm going to make it all the time. natalie picked red. we played passed her bedtime and then read three Dora books. she went to sleep perfectly. and that's what i should be doing, i know.

on that note...i'm off to bed.
good night, y'all!

last day of school

today was natalie's last day of school. last week we were in kansas city all week and next week we'll be in california. when we get back it's spring break. then we're moving to a new house april 1st which will make the commute to school almost thirty minutes. and we're back in kc the entire month of may when school officially ends. so i pulled her out but told her it was everyone's last day.

we wrote cards to all her classmates, brought cupcakes for snack and flowers for her dear teacher. she got bored with writing her name on each card so on this one she said, "BIG N. little a. BIG T. little a..."

and then she was posing really cute to show off her braids and i'm so annoyed because i DELETED the best picture. i hate when i do that! this one was a pretty close second though.

and when i realized i had deleted the one, i wanted to keep shooting and then she was annoyed with me taking pictures.

one thing i wanted to do when natalie started school was go see a movie during the day. all year i either forgot or was too busy with errands or other things that needed to be done. but i remembered and it was her LAST day! so i did it! and it was perfect because thanks to lots of previews, i was there for the start and it was only an hour and 45 minutes long. i was back to her school with time to spare! p.s. matt damon is cute!! p.p.s. i LOVE that matinees are only $5!

i was back in time to watch her class play in the gym. they change the room daily so there are always different things to play with or climb on. and when it's above ZERO they go outside and play. i'm glad someone else takes her out because i sure don't!

where do you think she perfects her climbing skills?!

after school we had her spring conference. great scores! i'm so proud of natalie. for all the school she has missed with us traveling, she still made friends and excelled at her skills! i'm really sad to be pulling her from school. she loves it so much and her teacher has been great. even though i think she's picked up some of the naughty behavior from the other kids, the teacher said she has really been a good influence on those same kids. she said they are the ones she is drawn to (oh no!) but that it's good for the others.