Who is this?

Here is a picture of Daddy sleeping with one of the girls at 6 weeks old. 

Can you tell who it is? 

Are you sure???
Are you really sure?


Thankfully I have the picture labeled so that I know!
What are your guesses??? 
Leave a comment below on the blog and let us know!

Sledding without a sled

All I had to do was put her up on the top of the pile of snow.  She did the rest!

"More, more..." --Natalie Grace at 15 months

(For those of you not familiar with our sign language, Natalie putting her hands together at the end is sign for 'more.')

Finally...

...we got a nice couple of days to go out and play!

Aleah in her cozy snowsuit about ready to fall asleep.

Natalie being Miss Independent and walking all the way across the yard from the shop by herself!

Watching her shadow!

"I'm coming Mom!"

Aleah's first ride in the stroller.  I was pushing her around in this while pulling Natalie in a sled. 

We. Had. FUN.

We are so thankful for the short moments when Daddy can get away from the shop for a bit and play.

Aleah's first time wearing the snowsuit.  What a cute little 'snowbear' she is!

Fifteen Months

Our Natalie Grace is now 15 months old.  What a joy this girl has brought to our lives...thanks be to God!

At 15 months she:
-gives GREAT hugs or what we call 'squeezes' and nice, sloppy, wet open mouth kissses.
-can climb up onto almost anything...kitchen chairs leading to the table, ottoman, the coffee table, the island in the kitchen using a chair and a drawer (see here!), upside down laundry baskets, etc. 
-from some of those places she will fearlessly jump to another object such as the couch or chair. 
-has officially hit her head on the fireplace hearth.
-has figured out how to unzip any zipper in sight. 
-tries to pick up 'Sissy' Aleah when she is crying.
-gives endless hugs and kisses to Aleah.
-LOVES to sit on the couch and hold Aleah "all by herself,"chatting with her in a special high-pitch voice.
-chases Buddy out in the yard in the snow.
-holds out her hands for us to grab when we pray before meals and says all done at the end (not amen...but they're pretty much the same thing, right?).
-says some new words (besides mama, dada, papa, nana, caca (cracker)): Na-E (Natalie as she points to herself), bah (bath), sissis (sissy for Aleah), cak cak (quack for duckie), nigh-nigh (this oughta be self-explanatory :) ), buh-bye and hi (these too!), Bu-E (Buddy), ?? (apple...not sure how to type this one out...but we know what she's saying), kock (sock), pa (pacifier), a-dun (all done).
-constantly takes her socks off.  It's to the point where I don't even know why I put them on her in the morning...but its cold outside, so I'd feel like a horrible mother otherwise.
-tries to put my slippers or shoes on me while I'm sitting nursing Aleah.
-exposes her belly and tries to put Aleah's nursing shield on it. 
-takes Aleah's pacifier and then tries to put it back in her mouth.
-gives Aleah pretend drinks with her little teacups and bites with her spoons (my measuring spoons).
-brings any of her stuffed animals over to me while doing sign-language for "drink" when I'm nursing Aleah.  In other words, she thinks they need a "drink" like Sissy!  :)
-throws a bit of a tantrum when she gets frustrated or doesn't get her way.

Coo Coo

Here is a rather short video of Aleah coo-ing.  She is so much more fun now that she is 'talking' to us and filling us in about her day. 
Also, I did get a smile today, but I think it was more of a twitch because I haven't been able to get any more from her.  Very cute!  I'm sure we'll get the real deal very SOON though!

Who'da thunk?

Natalie has climbed in and out of her fair share of drawers here in the past few months.  She also enjoys standing in up in them as well.  Both things that we discourage her doing.  Well today Natalie helped me make some banana bread.  In doing this I bring over one of the kitchen chairs and set it up right against the island in the kitchen and she helps me stir and pour and measure and so on.  Afterwards she likes to just play with the spoons, measuring cups, etc. as I clean stuff up.  Well who'da thunk that in the short time I turned around to rinse out the mixing bowl, Natalie would have figured out another use for drawers...to use them as 'steps' to reach Dad and Mom's stuff?

Gotta love her as she's getting into the mail pile!
Know that she got a rather discouraging 'look' and a very stern 'no' from me, only AFTER I took the time to grab my camera and take this picture!

It's a good thing...

It's a good thing I had Natalie in the kitchen with me the other day.  I decided to use up some zucchini from the freezer and make a few loaves of zucchini bread.  Reason I was thankful for her being there with me...

...see for yourself!  :)

THANKS baby girl for cleaning the beaters and spatula for momma!  I couldn't have done it without you!
Oh, and the bread turned out delicious for those of you wondering.  We got three big loaves...two in the freezer, so feel free to stop by if you'd like some...just give me some advanced 'thawing' time!

Oranges...

THIS

LITTLE

GIRL

LOVES

ORANGES! 

Sorry Sissy

Aleah was one month on the 7th of February, and in all the chaos at home that day (not that it was different than any other day) we neglected to get any actual 'one month' pictures. 

So...to make up for it, here are some others from a few days before the big day!

Aleah on 1-30-11

Aleah on 2-1-11

 Aleah on 2-2-11

Aleah on 2-4-11 

Look at how hard Aleah is cranking her neck backwards to follow her fishies around on the mobile. 

Aleah, we LOVE you SO much.  Happy one month birthday!  God gave us the most perfect little 'sissy' in you, and we pray that He watches over you in the many, many months to come!

 

Oh Deer!

We have had record breaking amounts of snowfall this year.  It feels like I'm living in the Rocky Mts in Colorado again, just minus the elevation and views of the range. 

Anyways...

This past week Tony went out to blow snow away from our house to prevent flooding in the basement when it all melts this spring...if it ever gets here.

Natalie is usually up by 7am, and doesn't make any noise until 7:30ish which is when we go to get her.  Well it was almost 8:20, so I went to check things out.  Here is the sight I saw:

 

A deer was nestled in the snow just outside her window.  The end of her crib is below the window and she can see out it rather well if she stands on her tippy toes.  No wonder she didn't make a peep until so late this morning...she was rather amused.

We went out to the living room to pull the shade and this is the sight we saw.  Another deer nestled in the snow.  This is where Tony had done some snow blowin' a week ago or so.  Natalie was in awe. 

we tapped on the windows and the deer got up and just stared.  Little giggles were streaming from Natalie.

Watching the deer.

We went downstairs to open the patio door shade and get a different view.

Due to the extreme amounts of snow and cold temperatures, the deer and antelope around our area are dying off like crazy.  Unfortunately the reason these deer have moved in so close to our house is because of these extremes.  We'll see how much more snow and cold temps we're in for this winter.  According to Mr. Groundhog, it shouldn't be too much longer, but who really knows other than our Creator.  I'd sure like to see some warmer temps.  This weekend it'll be gorgeous...looking forward to getting the girls outside!

What do you think?

Please don't turn me in for what you see in the photos to follow.  Please.
Before you see the pictures, I have to ask this one question...


*Is

*14.5

*months

*too

*young

*to

*be

*referred

*to

*as

*Cinderella?

Vacuuming? 

Dishes?

Sweeping?

Taking care of her little sister?

Laundry?

:)  Hope you enjoyed those pictures, because she sure loves to help/do all of those things!
We LOVE our little spirited Natalie and all that she has come to mean to us in these past 14 months!

Oh, and occasionally we let her rest.  :) 

Here she is with Daddy during his lunch break!