Just like Mom

As I was attempting to do some laundry and change sheets this morning, Natalie came walking by with one of my bras wrapped around her. It looked as if she had tried to put it on. A little bit later, she started playing with my shoes. The child loves shoes. I have a feeling I'm in big trouble. Anyway, she wanted me to help her put my shoes on her then she walked around in them. It seems like not too long ago I was playing dress up in my mom's shoes and now my daughter is doing the same thing. I had to stop doing my housework to watch her for a while. It was a humbling experince to think that she wants to be like me. I hope and pray that I will be the godly example I need to be for her.

A quick house update, as the guys started taking down paneling, they had to take down lots of sheetrock too because of termite damage. Here are some pictures that Michael took last night. We still have a lot of work to do, but hopefully the demolition part is behind us.

Natalie's friend, Crew, had his second birthday on Monday. He got a really cool kitchen that all the kids loved playing with. She just loves the Kindle boys. She thinks she's as big as they are.

On Tuesday, we ate dinner with the Kindles since Michael and Brandon are working on the house late into the night. Parker pulled Natalie onto his lap on the couch and they watched Elmo. It was so sweet!

Homeowners Again

Well, we finally closed on our house! So, we are officially homeowners again. This week, Michael and our friend, Brandon, have been scraping popcorn off the ceilings, taking down paneling and tearing out sheetrock from termite damage. I wish I could say it's been an exciting week now that we own a house, but it's been quite busy and progress is going a little slower than planned. Everything will work out fine, we've just had a few bugs (literally!) to deal with along the way. Hopefully, next week, I can start texturing and painting. Some of our wonderful youth have offered to watch Natalie so I can help work on the house. Here are some pictures before most of the demolition work started. As you can see the ceilings have already been scraped. The first two pics are of our kitchen and diningroom. The next two pics are of our livingroom. I don't know why the dark spot showed up by the fireplace, but I'm pretty sure it's not really there. The pic with the shopvac is Natalie's room. The room with the ugly carpet is the guest bedroom. The next two pics are of our bathroom. The room with the lovely mauve chair is ours, and no we are not keeping the chair. The next pic is of our hall bathroom. I don't know why the color came out weird, but it's all white. And lastly, a picture of our beautiful backyard. I promise in a few weeks I'll post some new pictures and you won't even realize it's the same house. All it needs is lots of TLC and a family to make it a home. We definitely have our work cut out for us, but we are so excited because it is OURS!!!

Stickers and Spaghetti

Natalie loves stickers! She knows that I keep them with my scrapbook stuff. Well, a few weeks ago I started giving them to her every now and then to play with. They're the clear ones that peel off easily. Just a few minutes ago she walked over and pointed to my bag and said, "Peas?" I just couldn't resist giving her one. When she would stick it to something and couldn't get it off she would start screaming. So, the other day I taught her to say please when she got it stuck and I would come get it off for her. When she got it stuck a few minutes ago she so sweetly said please instead of screaming! Way to go, Nat! It never ceases to amaze me at how fast they learn. Here's a few pics of her sticker her treasure on her toys.

Friday afternoon for lunch we ate chicken spaghetti. Luckily, I striped her down to her diaper so she wouldn't get her clothes all dirty. Little did I realize that I would have to give her a bath once she was finished.

Father's Day

We had a wonderful Father's day this year. We went to church yesterday morning and then made a last minute decision to drive to Sherman to visit Michael's parents. We had a great time watching movies and hanging out.

Natalie played outside with Nana for a little bit and had a fudgesicle after dinner.

Saturday Grammie, Natalie and I made homemade smoothie pops. I took them out of the molds to put in the freezer today. Natalie just had to have one. She loved it!

Last week after Michael mowed the yard, he sprayed down the back patio to wash off all the cottonwood. Natalie started watching him out the dog door. She had a blast (no pun intended) watching her daddy and him spraying her through the door!

Little Bit of Our Life

I love the everyday moments in life that so often we take for granted in our busy lives. I often take for granted the time that I'm able to spend at home with Natalie. She's growing up and changing so fast. Here, she decided that she wanted to learn some golf tips from daddy's golf magazine. He's hoping that one day she'll be a golf prodigy and support us! As I sit here listening to Natalie sing along with her toys and watch her sniff my toes (I have no idea what that's about except that it makes me laugh and then she laughs), I stop and thank God for the beautiful daughter that He has blessed us with.

As most of you may already know, we are in the process of closing on a house. While I was out running some errands, I drove by to take a few pictures to share. I am so excited that we will soon be in a house that is ours. It definitely needs some TLC, but God pretty much dropped it in our lap. The price is great and the neighborhood is beautiful!

Here are some more pictures of Natalie swimming. She thinks she's such a big girl now that she can swim with her floaties. She also loves playing with Annie (the dog).

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that Natalie was starting to show some interest in the potty. Well, I figured I better update the topic. Yesterday Natalie was sitting beside me on the couch. Well, she started grunting like she normally does when she's pooping. I told her when she finished we would go change her diaper. She got up off the couch (I followed) and went into her bedroom. She then opened the door on her dresser, pulled out a diaper and handed it to me! I am realizing that I have absolutely no idea how to potty train her so I am going to do a little research to get some ideas. Then, I guess we'll really get started and stick with it regularly. So, wish me luck as we start on a new adventure of potty training!

I've made Natalie a couple of new bows. I thought I would share them with you. Enjoy!!!

Salt Festival

Since Grand Saline has salt mines, we have a salt festival every year. Saturday we went with our friends, Jennifer, Parker, Brett and Crew downtown to check it out. It was so hot so we didn't stay long. The kiddos had a great time eating snow cones and looking at the animals.