Happy Birthday Mommy!

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning....

 

 

While I was gone Thursday night for "Girls' Night Out" with my wonderful Mother and Awesome Sister I guess Nathan and Natalie had a little fun with Natalie's new paint set, another birthday gift she is loving....

I thought it was just too cute - I loved it!

 

It was a great day (birthday) yesterday complete with a day off of work, well I did a little from home but didn't have to go in so I started my day off hanging out in bed with my wiggle worm of a toddler.  Then it was breakfast and get ready for the day, dropped Natalie off at daycare for just a couple of hours so I could run some errands and meet a friend for a mid-morning snack at Panera.  Thanks Jodi for the yummy Scratch cupcakes too, just enjoyed one this afternoon for dessert.  Probably the one and only thing I didn't want to do on my birthday was take Natalie to the doctor for her 2 year check-up which included 1 shot but it worked out to take her in since I had the day off so that's what we did.  So after a stop by the doctor's office it was onto the store to grab a few groceries and then home for a nap - for Natalie that is....I would have loved once but decided to keep going and get things done around the house while she slept. 

After Nathan got home we hung out for a little bit then headed to Waterloo for supper and then onto the Mall, so I could pick out a much needed new purse and before heading back home we all shared a dessert treat at Coldstone, nothing like sharing ice cream with a toddler who now loves ice cream thanks to Frannie! 

 

All in all it was a great day.....Nathan kept telling Natalie, did you tell Mommy "Happy Birthday" and all she would say was "no, it's Natty's birthday...!" 

It was too cute and I'm thinking she has this birthday thing figured out,

which didn't take long, must be a girl thing! :)

 

Onto another year....

 

 

 

Quick trip to Prairie.....

So we took off Friday afternoon for a quick trip to Prairie this past weekend....enjoyed a lot of fun things, fishing being one of them for Nathan.  Here is Daddy and his "helper" Natalie catching fish!

 

We didn't make it out on the water, which was fine with this pregnant
Mommy but enjoyed some shopping, a yummy lunch at a
cute little café downtown and some relaxing! 

Onto a week of fun and a nice long "hot" weekend!



 

"One smart cookie"...

Today marks Natalie's last day in room #131 (Miss Heather & Miss Emily's room) at daycare.  The daycare goes with the school system year so they are closed tomorrow so that the teachers can gear up for a new school year, get their new classroom ready as they all move to new rooms.  On Sunday we will go to the open house, take her tote of supplies and meet her new teachers, which I've heard wonderful things about.  Then Monday she'll head off to the new room, to see the new teachers again and meet the new friends -
how exciting & a little scary I'm sure for Natalie!

Her teachers have been great this past year and have taught her so much,
I can't believe how much she has grown-up in just the past couple of months....
it just amazes me!

To thank Natalie's wonderful teachers for taking such good care of her and making her "one smart cookie" this past year we got busy baking.....me and this cute little girl got busy right after supper last night making cookies.  

 

Don't you just love the new hat, apron, spoon, etc.....

another fun birthday gift Natalie received!

 

 

She is always into cleaning/wiping things down, good thing as she got

flour all over the counter - I figured that fun experience just goes with baking with a 2 year old, right?

 

And now onto licking the spoon.....

Our finished product......

Natalie was all excited to take her teachers their bag of cookies this morning,
I really think she understands the "giving" part of it and I just loved seeing the glow on her face when her teachers thank her for the goodies.


 

24 months old/2 years old

Yesterday marked Natalie's 24th month of life (2nd birthday) and what a fun day she had!  Here she is all dressed up and ready for daycare - bag of snacks to share in hand.....which included goldfish & applesauce.....yummy! 

  

 

Then in the afternoon, right after nap time Nathan and I picked her up early from daycare for an afternoon of fun!  First stop the local petting zoo, we have been there earlier in the summer but she loved it and some of the animals had changed and/or were new so that was awesome!

Natalie loved the fish inside the tank, here she is showing us how many were in there, really there was more than 2 in that big tank but "2" is her new number.....wonder why?

The nice gal that runs the petting zoo found out that it was Natalie's birthday so she gave her some carrots to feed to the animals, Natalie wasn't so sure about that idea but with Daddy's help she thought it was fun!

 

Next stop - McDonald's for some ice cream....

 

Then it was onto a quick stop at the Human Society in which Natalie didn't care for as the dogs were way too loud for her, just in the last couple of months her little ears have become very sensitive to loud noises so we didn't stay long there.  We also stopped by Palmer's Family Fun Place to check things out but didn't try out any go karts or mini golf as we didn't have much time.

 

It was off to Kohl's to pick out a new toy as she received a gift from one of the neighbors that she had already so we returned that and got to pick out something new.....it's a big decision you know......which fun toy to get?

 

She ended up picking out this cute little pink & purple Little People's car with a mommy & baby inside and had to have it in her lap right when we got into the car, that's also when we found out that it made noise, shocking I know....

don't all toys make noise now?

 

After our quick stop by Kohl's it was onto CEC for games and pizza.....

 

Our friends met us there for the night of fun....Brynlee is such a cutie and the girls love to play together so it worked out great and by the end of the evening we lost the Dads to "big kid's" side of CEC - they were being kids themselves and having a great time playing ski-ball and basketball.
 

 

After a couple hours of fun we were ready to call it a night, here's Natalie turning in her tickets into the machine so she could go pick out her treasure!

 

She ended up picking out sweet tarts candy, a fun "purple" twisty straw and a little dinosaur gel thing.....

Then it was onto home where we knew that the birthday girl was going to crash but before we let her do that she had to open up her birthday present from
Mom & Dad, a Little Tikes School Bus full of people....it goes along great with the pink & purple car she had picked out at Kohl's - great choice Natalie!
  

We let her play with it for just a little bit but then decided it was time for bed,

way past this little cuties' bedtime....I was reminded this morning just how much sleep this little girl needs as she wasn't the happiest.  I hope she is having a great day at daycare and is gearing up for a night at home - we are done partying, I think.....I believe Natalie will be happy playing with all her new birthday gifts especially since she spotted her car, bus & play-doh at the table this morning already.

 

 

 

Natalie's 2 year pictures.....

Even though it took  "A LOT" of work from her parents,

Natalie's 2 year pictures turned out pretty good and we were able

to find a couple that worked.....but let me tell you it was hard!

 

 

Now that I look at her 2 year pictures compared to her 1 year pictures

she has grown up so much this past year, she's not my little baby anymore!

 

 

 

Natalie's 2nd birthday party.....

I can't believe Natalie's 2nd birthday is over already, we had lots of fun celebrating with family & friends this past Saturday evening at our house!  Thanks to my wonderful sister we got LOTS of pictures to remember the fun event, here are just a couple.....are you ready for picture overload?

 

 

Typically family pictures these days!

 

Another fun party is in the books and I think fun was had by all!