Weekend Wrap-Up

Natalie was more than happy to have her Daddy back. First stop on their list was to eat some chips and cheese :)

My 20, I mean 4 year old priss-pot. She thinks she is hot stuff in her new booster. She's only pretending to be on the phone while wearing my sunglasses. I wonder who she was talking too...

We had a little picnic in living room while watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On the menu: Gouda, crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, easy cheese and drinks of our choice :) By the way, Harper loves easy cheese straight from the can, like can't get enough it.

Harper rocked her first pony Sunday. A little tribute to Pebbles. 

And of course no weekend is complete without some outdoor time.

Her legs look so long here.

My Little Mountain Climber

This is what I deal with on a daily basis. She has NO desire to walk but will climb anything she can get that chubby little thigh up on. I don't recall Natalie being this ambitious. Maybe she was and Byron just didn't snap a picture of it every time :)

Wordless Wednesday

A Week in Pictures

These are all from my camera phone and kinda shows you what a typical week around here looks like. 

The first night with the splash table. Despite Natalie's face, they both love it.

Chick-fil-A after Harper's 1 year old appointment. Typical slide shot. Harper trying to go up while Natalie slides down.

Random goofy afternoon of us reenacting Madagascar 3 and finishing up Uncle Nate's smoke bombs and sparklers.

I just don't have words for Harper sometimes. This past week I have found her pretending to eat out of Natalie's bowl she left on the coffee table, standing IN the fridge and climbing on top of the coffee table using Natalie's rocking chair. I swear y'all, when things get quiet in the house, she's up to something. I thought I had lost her one night and she was at the top of the steps again. Funny thing is she was up there, in the dark, super quiet. I walked by there twice and she never made a peep until I turned on the lights. She's already better at hide-and-seek than Natalie is!

And a special thanks to Amy and Mike for this little bike combo. We haven't taken it outside yet but the girls have loved pushing/riding it in the house.

It's Getting Hot Out Here

With temps topping out around 90 or higher, we don't do much outside during the day. For two reasons, the heat obviously, and the damned mosquitos. See they've even drove me to cussing. I despise them, but they LOVE me and the girls. 

Natalie has always seemed to be oblivious to heat and Harper is following right in her footsteps. She gets so mad when I let the dogs out and she can't follow. Even worse, when Kaley and Natalie run back and forth all evening and she's stuck peering out from the windows. 

But every now and then I'll give in, cover up in bug spray and we go outside until we almost pass out to play. She loves Nat's playhouse and has already figured out how to ring the door bell. She'll crawl up in there and play peek-a-boo through the windows. Even Mulligan gets up in there with her. 

The water table really is a saving grace. She'll splash around in it, the dogs occasionally drink from it and they all just have a blast. I've put towels down to help with red knees, but honestly, she could care less. 

She is always standing on her tippy-toes, silly girl. 

She has started crawling more like this. With one foot and one knee. I can't tell if it's because of the pebbled concrete or maybe it's the final step before walking.

She'll let you know real quick too when it's time to go back inside by banging on the door and squealing.

Ice Cream Safari

On a whim we decided to go to the Jackson Zoo's annual Ice Cream Safari. We hadn't been since Nat was about 2.5 or so. First off, it has tripled in the amount of people that come out for it. We waited at least 45 mins in the car just to get in and find a parking spot.

We were a little worried about our timing, since it was smack dab in the middle of Harper's first nap, but that girl was a champ! It was the other little goober who gave us fits, imagine that :) Natalie immediately saw the new splash pad they had put in right by the entrance and pouted the whole time about wanting to go play in the water. Harper had it easy. She was perfectly content being pushed around and fed ice cream. I mean what girl wouldn't?

Nat only tasted about 5 out of the 20 or so different kinds of ice cream. She had to completely finish each cup before moving on to the next one. Her favs were birthday cake and cotton candy. Harper didn't care what you gave her as long as you didn't take to long between bites.

Next year we may have to divide and conquer. I'll take Nat straight to the splash pad and let Harper and Byron eat ice cream until they explode.

Fishing, Fireworks and One Last Party

I don't know that Natalie had ever been fishing before this week, but leave it to PaPaw to remedy that. Kaitlyn was also sweet enough to let her borrow her princess fishing pole for the special occasion. Does the pink princess obsession ever end?

Kailtyn and Natalie studying the bait. Kaitlyn was convinced the worms were caterpillars. And Nat flat out made sure everyone knew she would not be smelling the stink bait, touching the worms, baiting the hook or removing any fish. That's my girl! We'll catch lizards all day long but heck no to baiting my own hook.

This is the crew trying to figure out what the hook is caught on. Heather was the lucky one who had to get down on her stomach to untangle it.

Harper and Kendel preferred to play on the Kubota, in the shade. Smart girls.

Of course no trip to Nana's is complete without a full on, tutu wearing, dance party. Nana is going to have to make a few more tutus in the near future.

On the actual 4th we went to one of Vann's friends for some awesome food and an amazing fireworks show. Harper stayed with my parents and it's probably a good thing. She would have been way overtired and possibly scared of the noise. Plus it was nice to have some one-on-one time with Natalie. She got to jump on the trampoline, dance, eat and roll down grassy hills a few hundred times.

Before Mom and Dad came and got Harper we had one last little party with Kaitlyn and Kendel. I mean someone had to finish off all those cupcakes right?

Once again, Nat's all mother-hen like. Right by Harper's side for the candle part.

 Silly cupcake faces

About as dirty as Nat would get.

Now the many faces of Harper. I just love her expressions these day. Sweet, serious and mean, she has them all covered.

Party at Nan's

Party number 2 was at Nan's house with Mike and Amy. Harper was once again spoiled with gifts (along with Nat) and the cupcakes were so cute. Bonus: I even got a Derby Pie out of the deal, thanks Amy! It was delish.

She loved every minute of it. I had a death grip on that cupcake. With no high chair I was a little afraid where it might end up.