Potpourri Post

These early morning smiles make my day!

A few of Natalie's favorite, repeated expressions these last few weeks have been...
- "OH!  That would be wonderful!"
- "Let's talk about something."
- "I have a problem."
-"I have a question."
-"I have an idea.
(Problem, question, and idea have not always been used correctly, but she's getting better at this.)

Scott (said randomly in the middle of the day):  "When I get big, I'm going to tuck my kids in and then stay up ALL night!"

Dr. Natalie came to me with her drill press in one hand, power saw in the other, and hand saw stuffed down her pants, and said, "Ready for your check-up?"  Yikes.  I think I'll take my business elsewhere.

Scott- 4 1/2 years
Natalie- 2 1/2 years

Whatchu lookin' at?

Most mornings, Natalie will burst into our room at the crack of dawn and will exclaim in her chipper voice, "GOOD MORNING!"  It's cute...cuter the later in the morning it is, but nevertheless...cute.  Well, Natalie had a bad cold this week.  Lots of whining, coughing, waking in the night, etc.  One morning, I met her in the hall around 4:00 a.m.  Her hair was in a big tangled mess covering her face, her eyes were droopy, and she looked completely miserable.  She stumbled over to me however and still greeted me with a raspy and monotone, "Good morning."  It made me laugh.  :) 

Scott:  "Mommy, want to come see my train track?  It's pretty impressive!" 

Such a sweet baby!   But then again, what baby isn't sweet?

Scott and Natalie went to a special train exhibit with Grammy, and so Scott came home and tried to reconstruct what he saw around our Christmas tree. We get to go to another train outing with Grammy in a few days, and Scott CANNOT WAIT!  We've been talking about it for what seems like forever! 

Third Time's A Charm

OOPS!  UH-OH!  I think I crossed my eyes.  Could we have a do-over?  

 

OK.  Ready now.

CHEESE! 

6 Week Comparison

Kate

(Little Kate turns six weeks tonight!)

Natalie

Scott

Kate

Natalie

 Scott

ONLY 20 SHOPPING DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

(Whose child is this anyway?!  What a goofball.)

Andy and Cari

Last week I was telling my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group about the incredible trial and the amazing faith and testimony of our friends, Andy & Cari.  A lady across the circle said, "That story is ALL over facebook."  Another lady said, "She has a blog too and is an excellent blogger."  It seemed as if everyone in the group already had heard about our friends, but if you haven't...head over to their blog, read, and join in the prayers. 

Life with Three

With three and a half weeks under our belt, we are starting to adjust to life with three little ones. 

Scott and Natalie have created new games and have been playing together quite well.  (Stick to trains, Scott!)

Kate has gotten called Natalie more times than I care to admit.  (Not really because Kate looks like her- mainly because I'm sleep deprived and often trying to talk to multiple people at once.)

"Never leave a child unattended" has taken on a new importance and has become ingrained in my thinking.

 

Scott has become much more independent and has been forced to do some tasks on his own.  One night, he emerged with TIGHT fitting Christmas pajamas and was ever so stoked with his selection and accomplishment. 

First tub bath- think she was a fan!

Wish Kate was doing more of this at night instead of during the day...

Should we be embarrassed when the Donatos manager is making over our new baby and says, "I remember when your other two were that size!"?    Oh how we love our Donatos family! :) 

Getting out the door on time will be a new challenge.  We attempted church at 9:00 with everyone for the first time this past week.  Our aim time to be out the door was 8:30.  We pulled out of the driveway at 8:55.  Jon drove the minivan as if it was his police car, and we only walked into Sunday School a few minutes late.  (Perhaps next Sunday I'll have to forgo the mini photo shoot before church.  I didn't tell Jon that this had occurred which may have delayed us a bit...EEK!)

Natalie continues to make us laugh with her funny expressions and growing vocabulary.  She's super opinionated and enthusiastic about life. 

Scott and I had a conversation last night about college majors.  I was explaining to him that even though Daddy was a police officer, he had a different major in college.  We were discussing Daddy's minor (Construction Management) and I told Scott that Jon still uses his degree because he knows how to build and construct things around the house.  Scott agreed that Daddy was pretty handy and said, "He even knows how to change lightbulbs!"  (That four year degree came in handy for something!)

Scott:  Are there trains in heaven?  

Scott:  Mommy, do you want to baby-sit Kate with me?

Okay...even Kate is getting bored with the overload of pictures....I'll stop now. 

Preschool Politics

The kids were very excited to "go voting" yesterday.  Scott remembered getting an American flag sticker and was ready to go as soon as the polls opened.  Natalie asked what voting meant, so Jon explained to her that we wanted to pick good leaders.  About an hour later, when we were ready to head out the door, Natalie started to whine and cry, "Want good leaders!  Good leaders!  Good leaders!"  

So, we voted, got our cherished stickers, and then began to watch the election results come in last night.  Jon and Kate watched together while I made a batch of consolation brownies (just in case things didn't go our way).   Jon is smiling in the picture below, but only 2% of the precincts were reporting at this time. 

The kids and I only stayed up about 30 minutes after the warm brownies came out of the oven.  We left Jon to report to results to us later.  This morning, the kids overheard Jon talking about the winners/losers.  Scott picked up on some disappointment and was beginning to look concerned.  I reminded him that we didn't need to be afraid and asked him who was ultimately in control.  He correctly responded that God was in control, and then we saw Natalie break out into spontaneous prayer.  With her head bowed and eyes closed, we overhead some of her mumbles..."Dear Jesus...BAD LEADERS..."    We couldn't make out the rest, but it sure made us smile. 

And finally...here's a picture of poor Kate getting some love.  Christmas pictures are going to be tricky this year...