A Ladybug Birthday Cake

I wanted to have a little party for Natalie, but knew she wouldn't really care about anything elaborate. We decided to have a few friends over for cake and ice cream and I think she had a great time. I asked what kind of cake she wanted and she chose a ladybug cake with chocolate cake and vanilla frosting.

 Natalie got a kitchen for her birthday! I fell in love with it as soon as I first saw it and she loves it too. She plays with it everyday.

 I love how her cake turned out!

Modeling her chef hat from Aunt Rebecca

 My little Sous Chef

  Natalie insisted on staying in her zebra pajamas and apron for her party. 

You can do that sort of thing when you're 2. :-)

It was so fun for Natalie to have some of her friends over to celebrate. Not everyone made it into the picture, but from L-R, Isla, Tyler, Ava, Natalie, Kate and Davis Ann. Reagan and Samuel, as well as Natalie's Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Gerrit, were also at the party.

Natalie and her best friend Kate. 

The week before Natalie's birthday we had a Marsh family party for her, as well as for her cousin Dane and her Uncle Abraham, whose birthdays are both at the end of October. Here is Natalie checking out one of her gifts.

 Natalie with her Uncle Jamie looking at her birthday candle.

 A little cousin love - May and Isla.

2 Years

I started writing this on Natalie's actual birthday and things have kept popping up and getting in the way of my finishing it. No more excuses! It's now been over a month, so it is high time I get this up so I can celebrate my 2-year-old!

 

 

 I got these cute shots of Natalie a few days after her birthday. Normally she fights me on taking her picture, but on this day she told me she wanted to smile for the camera and I took full advantage of her willing attitude. :-)

There are so many things I want to remember about Natalie right now. She is full of personality and talks nonstop. She expresses herself so well and it is so fun to hear about all the things that run through that mind of hers.
At age 2, Natalie:

• Likes seafood, particularly shrimp, salmon and crab. For her birthday dinner she requested sushi, crab and donuts. We went to our local Wegmans grocery store, where we were able to meet her requests with California rolls (sushi with cooked crab) and chocolate donuts with sprinkles. I love that she is an adventurous eater! She has also been eating at the table with us for a few months and does a good job using a fork and spoon.
• Still loves Curious George. She also now enjoys Dora, Cat in the Hat and Blue's Clues. She gets to watch her shows while I shower and get ready in the morning. She watches the shows on my iPad and she thinks it belongs to her.
• Goes to bed between 7:30 and 8pm and wakes up around 7am. She usually takes a 1 1/2 or 2 hour nap, but is starting top wean herself off them. Once or twice a week she won't take her nap for the day.
• Loves her blankie and always sleeps with it at nap time and bedtime. She also still uses a binky for naps and bedtime, but no other time during the day. We'll have to work on that soon.
•  Loves to joke around and laugh. She likes to entertain when people come over and especially hams it up for Grandma and Grandpa Waddell on skype and for her cousins.
• She loves to be outside and would chose to play outside over pretty much anything else.
• She loves books and words that rhyme.  
• Loves her Daddy. She anxiously awaits his arrival home from work at the end of the day. Dad has also come up with a few great ideas to help out with things she doesn't normally like doing. For example, she was fighting us every time we put lotion on her after her baths. Russ told her the lotion would make her skin "soft like a bunny" and now she loves getting lotion put on after baths and asks for it other times as well. 
• Is a great helper with Isla. Every time I need to change a diaper, Natalie gets the diaper and wipes for me. She is also great at getting burp cloths and helps me set the table for meals. She brings over the silverware and then carries over one plate at a time. 
• Is really getting in to coloring. It is one of her new favorite activities. 
• Likes to sing songs and recite her favorite books. Currently she has been enjoying holiday books and songs for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I love you so much, Natalie! 

Air-purns

Natalie loves "air-purnes", so last Saturday we headed out to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum. It is a companion site to the Air and Space Museum in DC and is filled with actual airplanes, missiles, even the Discovery Space Shuttle. It is really cool and Natalie loved it just as much as I hoped she would.
When we walked in, I asked her what she thought. She responded with, "I love air-purnes. I want to have one to take to my house with me." She has a toy airplane, but I think she meant something a little more realistic. Luckily we only live about 15 minutes from this museum, so hopefully we can return often.

Natalie's favorites were the yellow missile and plane with the stars. 

 

"It's a Moose!" and other stories from the Reston Zoo

I had heard great things about the Reston Zoo for a while, but it is much smaller than the National Zoo and does have an admission charge, so I put off going. We finally decided to go a few days before Natalie's birthday. Lucky us, Natalie was still under 2 and therefore still free. Though even if we had paid for a ticket for her I wouldn't have regretted it - we had so much fun! It was a cooler day and there were literally only two other families there. We pretty much had the run of the place and got to see everything up close for as long as we wanted.
The best part about the Reston Zoo is the wagon ride. They take you around to see all the animals that just roam a big field and the animals come right up to the wagon where you can pet and feed them. Cool, right? Natalie wasn't nervous at all about the huge animals coming up to us. I, on the other hand, got a bit nervous when a big llama tried to stick its head into Isla's car seat. I don't think so, llama. I was all over that.

As the Watusi (the big African bull below) started walking over, Natalie stood up on the bench, pointed and yelled, "It's a moose!" It was hilarious. Everyone on the wagon busted up laughing and Natalie was a little confused as to what was so funny. Needless to say, she had a great time.

They also have a neat aviary where you can go in and feed the birds with little sticks of bird seed. Natalie was totally unphased at first, even with a few birds landing on her arms, but eventually it got to be a little too much for her and she passed off the bird seed to Dad.

Isla spent the entire time bundled up in her carseat and was happy as could be all snug and warm. When I pulled back the blankets to make sure she wasn't getting too hot, this is the face she pulled. "Don't bug me, Mom."

Bubbles

I just noticed this post that I had saved as a draft back in mid-October and never published...
Natalie loves bubbles. What kid doesn't, really? You can imagine how an afternoon spent on the deck blowing bubbles with Daddy was pure heaven.

Five Little Pumpkins

Natalie loved reciting Five Little Pumpkins for Halloween; we said it a number of times every day. For Pa and Grandma who live far away, here is a little recording for you. (Do you love the "chokers"? They're baby headbands and Natalie thinks they look very stylish as necklaces.)

Matching

I love putting the girls in matching outfits. I can hardly think of anything cuter than the two of them in matching dresses. They don't have a ton of matching things (yet), but I found these dresses and had to have them. Then, of course, we had to do a little photo shoot after they wore them to church a couple weeks ago.

I can't begin to explain how excited I am for the girls to wear their matching Christmas dresses. Oh. My. Goodness. They are adorable. Thanks in advance to my Mom who found the dresses and sent them out for us.