Lucy's Birthday Pictures

Our little girl turned one and we had a costume party for her. Since her birthday is so close to Halloween, we thought it would be fun to have everyone dress up and come to her party. I'm not sure if this is going to be an every year occurrence, but this year was a hit. Almost everyone came in a costume of some sort. Everyone was a good sport about dressing up and nobody complained that I heard of. But how do you complain about dressing up for a 1 year old's birthday. You would have to be pretty cold hearted to do that.

We weren't sure how Lucy would feel about the cake. Turns out that she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.

Here is a before she eats cake picture, she doesn't even have her crown on yet. She is getting into the zone.

Group photo and everyone except the Birthday girl is looking at the camera.

Am I allowed to touch that thing? I bet Daddy is going to tell me no and make me stop.

I'm spent. You want some?

Here is Nataly dressed as a butterfly. Of course it's purple. Everything is purple.

Corn Maze Madness

Here are some pics of when we went to the corn maze in Shakopee.
Well worth the price of admission.    

3 of the 4 cousins raking leaves

This was all kernels of corn that was about 30" deep. It was super cool and the corn got everywhere. It was in everyone's clothes and we kept finding kernels until the end of the day.

Getting ready to jump in!

Look how high they can jump.

Poor Lucy, she was just a little too small to have a ton on fun. Look out next year.

Happy 1st Birthday Lucy!!

We cant believe that she is already a year old. But it's true. Seems like just yesterday we were getting ready for her. Now we couldn't imagine being without her. 

Happy Birthday from Daddy, Mommy and Big Sister Nataly.

Ballerinas

The Wings of Tulsa were in town for a few days - without Uncle Aaron. All of the girls got along pretty well and they had a blast. Nataly must have asked us for 2 weeks if today was the day that her cousins were coming over. Then the day finally came and she was in heaven.

It is chaotic trying to manage that many kids. But when grandma and grandpa are over the teams are tipped in our favor. The adults out number the kids, but only by one.

Here are some videos of the girls watching a dance movie. We had to give them each their own space so they wouldnt bump into each other. Kate got to dance on top of the ottoman.

Here is a video of everyone swinging. Believe it or not they did share everything pretty well. They had to share all of the swings and grandma and grandpa to push them.

Mad and Happy Nataly

 I'm not sure what she's pouting about,but check out that lower lip.

She's a little happier here. Getting ready for dance class.

First Day of Preschool!

Nataly has been looking forward to this day for a long time. Preschool finally started!! She was so excited to go meet her teacher and show off Tigger and Blanket. She couldnt wait for school to start. She must have asked me for a week if she got to go to school today.

So we had to do the cliche pictures of the kids leaving the front door on the way to school. It is the same picture that I had taken of me when I was a kid and I'll bet millions of other people too. There has to be a more creative picture to take.

The day went great. Nataly's teacher - Mrs Andews - said that Nataly is not shy and that she did really good. Some of the other kids cried when they left their mommy's, but not Nataly. She was ready to play and make new friends. She went potty 2 times during class and she was pretty happy with that. The bathrooms are funny. Everything is sized for a 3 year old. The toilet, sink and mirror are all at her height. They are at my knees, but perfect for her.

 Purple outfit with an owl back pack and Poppy Cat socks. What more could a girl ask for?

 3/4's of the happy family. Today wasn't about Lucy, so she stayed inside and ate puffers.

Grandma M and Annalisa came over to see Nataly off. They came to the school too and walked with her to the classroom and met her teacher. It was a big day and Nataly did great. We are so proud of her. Sad to see her growing up, but proud of her.

Ice Skating

Grandpa John thought it would be fun to go skating with Nataly and show her how it's done. Well, I can't pass up a chance to go skating, so I went along too. Then Alisha and Lucy joined us - they didn't skate, they hung out on the bench.

Nataly started out great. We would skate blue line to blue line and I would carry her around the rink until we got to the other side and we'd do it again. We did that probably 5 times and then she was done. We also got "talked to" by the rink people for carrying her while I was skating. I must not look that graceful on skates anymore, because they were worried about Nataly getting hurt if I fell or got run into.

Nataly told me she would like to go to the rink again, but she doesn't want to skate. She only wants to watch. We'll see.

Of course, she's in all purple. 

 

 She's cold, but she's happy.

I Love Purple!!

Sorry for not posting these sooner. I don't know what happened, but I forgot to get these up here.

Nataly's birthday was last month and she wanted to have a purple party. Sounds simple enough, but it got a little out of control. Everyone had to wear purple, the food was purple and the decorations were purple. No such thing as a simple birthday for a 3 year old. It was lots of work, but every second was worth it to see her light up when everything was her favorite color.

This picture says it all. Grandma M took the purple party to a whole 'nother level.
Top to bottom purple. 

It was awesome.

 And there were purple cake pops. Once again, Nataly put the hurt on them.

 

 She was so hopped up on sugar, I'm surprised she sat still long enough to blow out her candle.

The birthday girl and her purple balloon.

If you take enough pictures of these 4 girls you will eventually get a picture of each one looking at the camera. 

But never all at the same time.

Best Picture Ever

Last weekend I went out with the guys to an outdoor wrestling event at a bar in Prior Lake. It was as much fun as it sounds. I would bet money that the group of us had the most fun of anyone else at that bar. A lot of stories to tell, but most of them aren't appropriate for a blog that is supposed to be all about the kids.

Here is the best picture ever: 

It looks like I'm wrestling with him (his name is Shorty) but I'm just messing around and posing for a picture. For the record, I think I could take him.

Weekly Recap

I had the week off last week. It was the first whole week I have had off in a long time. It was a blast. It was great spending that much time with the kids....and Alisha too. We did alot of the typical stuff we do on the weekends, but we did add a trip to Brainerd for some more fun. We stayed at a hotel with a waterpark and played in the water for hours. It's always fun to head back there and take a trip down memory lane. Alisha gets tired of hearing all of the things I used to do or how the city has changed, but oh well. And forget about getting her to into the hockey rink with me, she is done with that. We go there every time we are in town and it doesnt mean anything to her.

This isnt the real Paul Bunyan. It's the statue at the rest stop on your way into town. Nataly was scared of him at first, but she warmed up. Paul was way too big for Lucy be climbing on.

 Here is a picture of the locker room at the rink. It's been repainted and that's about it since I was a kid. It still smells and looks the same. 

Rafferty's Pizza. One of the places we go every time we are in town. It has been there since I was a kid and still tastes exactly the same. We had it 2 times in 3 days.

 Nataly and I spent Sunday together running around. We went to the Angry Catfish, The Bakers Wife, Rusty Taco and Trader Joes and the park. Busy day. Here's a pics of Nataly blowing those things off a dandelion.

 Here is a pic that Nataly took of me blowing those things off a dandelion. Notice anything missing?

Looking to have some more fun.

Weekend Fun

We just had a really fun weekend. Nataly is at that age where she wants to help you do what ever you are doing. It doesn't really matter what. This weekend she helped me roast some coffee, wash the truck and car, pick up sticks in the yard and clean up the patio. She is a really good helper for about 30 minutes. Then she looses interest and wants to move on. So she leaves you high and dry while she moves on to something more fun.

 She washed and I supervised. She did a pretty good job on everything below 3 feet.

She did eventually figure out that she could point the hose at me and soak me. 

I was surprised it took as long as it did.

What would a weekend be without a trip to Dave's for some herb popcorn and a bag of caramel corn.

Guess which person in this picture spilled half a bag of caramel corn.

Lucy's getting pretty active. When she does sit still, she loves to make noise. The noise in the video is her current favorite. Which isn't really that bad.

 It's hard to tell, but we are roasting coffee. It's a pretty white trash way to roast coffee. Don't tell anyone. But if you want to try some, let me know. I'm roasting beans with a popcorn popper. It works OK, but the batches are really small and it's tough to get any consistency. Nataly is weighing some beans and bagging them up so she can sell them to mom and Lucy. I haven't tried this batch yet, so we will see if it turns out. Stay tuned...

Nataly the Ballerina

Uncle Brad signed Nataly up for a dance class. She loved it! 

Now she wants us to call her Nataly "The Dancer" instead of Nataly. She's turning into a diva.

Farmer Nataly E-I-E-I-O

Nataly was a farmer for the afternoon with Grandpa John. She got dirty picking green beans in his garden. And she loved it. She loved picking them and she loves eating them for dinner. So it's a win-win.