Princess Jasmine and Princess Giselle

Our friend, Shara invited us over for a Halloween Picture taking party. Such a fun idea and so fun to connect with some more Nurture moms. We have such amazing women in the group. I love opportunities to connect with them.

Grandma took the girls to pick out their costumes. I think Noelle is definitely into her Jasmine costume but when it came to picking it out, she really just wanted a make-up kit and would've picked anything if it meant she could get it. This was a cheaper option and her deal to get the make-up kit. She has been really drawn to outfits worn by people around the world so it's fun for her to try out different costumes like this one.

She definitely had some spunk to bring to the photo session :).

I love this picture. So reflective of my sweet little princess Natalie. I was not surprised that she was drawn to this dress fit for a queen :)

There's a little sass in there too :).

Here the girls were told to give their best princess poses. Cracks me up.

A few months ago I had posted about The Dress that Natalie was set on wearing everyday. So being the kind of Grandma that she is, my mom bought several more in different styles at Costco. Which was working out great until Natalie was introduced to the Kratt brothers.

Martin and Chris Kratt have a show on PBS called Wild Kratts. Natalie loves it. She began searching her drawer - the one where all the dresses go - for an outfit suitable for a Kratt brother. She could find none until I showed her that she has an entire drawer full of shirts and one of pants.

Noelle has loved cars and my mom did us the favor of buying this lovely shirt on clearance years ago. It has resurfaced and this has become the new uniform. And the pendulum has swung. We're going on a couple months but hopefully losing momentum. I'm ready for the next phase. Whatever will it be!?

Pumpkin Patch

Some fall fun at the pumpkin patch. Thanks Groupon for the good deal. And fun that the girls are getting older and can really enjoy themselves.
This slide would sure send them flying.
This was too fun. The girls have never really driven a car like this and I must say, it was a good thing they only allow them in one at a time. But Noelle would shift the wheel and make them jerk around a little bit and oh, they thought they were so funny! It was really fun to watch. Probably a little dangerous as Noelle ran into a parked car and the hay in the middle. The teenager working the ride wasn't quick enough or didn't really seem to care.

BOO!

Our best ghost faces!

Live United

A family friend works for Live United and wanted me to take a few pictures of the girls in Live United shirts. Definitely easier said than done but I got a couple of cute shots. Here they are.











Most of the shots looked a little more like this :)

Popular

"Popular" is sung by Kristin Chenoweth from the musical Wicked. If you haven't seen the musical, here is the synopsis:
Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Galinda, later Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel, Glinda is the Good Witch of the South). The two women struggle through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from grace. The plot begins before and continues after Dorothy's arrival from Kansas, and includes several references to the events depicted in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

It was such an incredible musical. I showed the girls the video clip of the song but it only left them with a million questions as to why the Wicked Witch and Glinda were singing to each other.

I also tried to explain to Noelle what popular meant. That was rocky too. How do you explain it without bringing in all the negative that it means? So she used it in a sentence: "Oh yeah, Roxie is really popular to me."

And then the whole song is pretty much "tongue in cheek" which is lost on them as well but we sure enjoyed it :).


Now, I'm not sure if they have my love of dance and whether or not it will become either of their "thing" but I do know that these girls sure do love performing. Noelle belted out parts of the song in the performance and Natalie sure could shake her hips.


I started to feel sentimental sitting down waiting for the performance to start, wondering if I might cry when they came on stage. Then we they started running out, they were so stinkin' funny and cute that I just laughed the whole time.

These are two very loved little girls!
We all headed to Spaghetti Factory afterwards, which was fun, minus the water dumped in my lap, down my pants and in my shoes. But I've got 5 years on me as a mom now, par for the course ;).

Saturday Morning Tradition

3-2009

6-2011

For years now, when we are home on Saturday mornings, we make pancakes. Isn't it funny how some of the best traditions are just born out of routine and not out of an attempt to start a tradition?!

Ryan loves breakfast and Noelle loves pancakes. I am not a morning person, especially after waking up multiple times in the night. Ryan was in charge of Saturday mornings. And with that the tradition was born.

We have a great dairy-free pancake mix (Bob's Red Mill - High Fiber Pancake Mix) and chocolate chips with some real maple syrup. One time when it was a banana pancake morning Ryan put on Jack Johnson's banana pancake song and it stuck, so that they listen to it every time they are cooking up the pancakes. So, the girls pull up a chair and Ryan pulls out the griddle, pops in the CD and Saturday morning is complete :).

Do you have any fun traditions that just kind of happened? What are they?

Happy Birthday to Noelle and Natalie

Rockin' Mother's Day!

This video is so wonderful for sooo many reasons.

Easter

I tried really hard to stay calm while dying eggs this year because so far it has really stressed me out. I did it, I stayed calm. That was probably because I walked away to go get some wipes while Natalie knocked over a bowl, moved to the side, knocked over another and Ryan got to endure the stress. The pose wins you back over though.
We had my family and my cousin's family over for a hunt. My dad of course is leading the charge because candy is involved.
Here are some typical shots of our family gatherings. Andrew's little grin, jumping on a trampoline filled with eggs and candy.

Brian telling Grandma an animated story.

Natalie trying to say something to Andrew and then not quite sure what to make of him.
Luke.


And then I got these really precious shots of Noelle. I just love them. They capture her sweetness.


And Natalie had a very blue theme going on :).