Happy Birthday Papaw!

We hope Papaw Tom has had a wonderful day and we CAN NOT WAIT to see him on Monday to wish him Happy Birthday in person.

Love you Dad!!!

Papaw and his sweet Natalie at the NC State Fair

From the mouth of babes...

I've been doing a bit (more) traveling recently but this time I'm thrilled to say that Jon and Natalie were able to join me for a bit of it.  We were in Milwaukee this past weekend for fun and good food.  I have lots of pictures to share but as I am currently delayed in BWI airport you'll have to be patient with me - and enjoy this one phone picture I have.  Isn't she a sweetie!?!

At dinner with Mommy and Daddy

I also wanted to update the blog on all the funny things Natalie is saying these days...

She can repeat ANYTHING - Cornucopia?  Mistletoe?  She says it all.  But these are some Natalie originals.

She doesn't often say yes or no unless she is saying "yes, ma'am or yes, sir" or "no, thank you".  Most of the time for yes it is "okay" and for no it is "no-kay".  I love it!

She sings all kinds of Christmas carols: "Oh Kiss-Mas Tree", "Deck the Halls" - complete with lots of fa-la-la-las, "Oh, Santa" the veggie tales song about sharing.  I'm just waiting for a full rendition of "Santa Baby" complete with the full Christmas list. :)

She LOVES all the Christmas lights and keeps a very keen eye out for them as we are driving around in the evenings.  She says "eagle eyes, Mommy?" and then points out every Santa, snowman, star, and lit up house along the way.

She's funny about things that sing, dance or are otherwise noisy.  Leslie has a fun, singing lamp post that Katherine LOVES.  She dances every time she hears it.  Natalie won't even look at Lampy on Leslie's blog.  She says "Lampy NO-KAY, Lampy scare".  Even when we aren't talking about it she will remind me that "Lampy scare, Lampy all gone".  We will have to avoid that one when we go to NC for Christmas. ;)

Her exclamations are funny too.  "Holy cow" was an early one, now we have "goodness gacias" - translation: goodness gracious.

She also is SUPER funny about getting what she wants.  She was at daycare and said "Ms. Debbie, you want a banana?", Ms Debbie said "no, Natalie do you want a banana?" to which Natalie responded with an excited "OKAY!" like it was Ms. Debbie's great idea.  This happens with most things when Natalie wants a snack or especially to go outside.  Smart girl.

She loves football and every TV that she sees in restaurants and airports - if there is football on she will exclaim "FOOTBALL, Mommy!" like it is the most exciting thing all day.  The men within earshot always smile at this one.  That's my girl!

Stay tuned for more of Natalie's adventures.

Copenhagen!

It was absolute TORTURE for me to leave Natalie the Saturday after Thanksgiving and get on a plane for Copenhagen but work is work and I had to go.  Plus Nana and Pops were staying to help out with Jon and Natalie so I knew they'd be just fine without me.

I had to go for training - and it was just that.  13 hour days, some days and a LOT of weird food - but the city is BEAUTIFUL.  Here are a few pictures from my trip.

The Danish version of rainbow row...

 There were Christmas lights everywhere!  Every downtown street was decorated with lights.

SO beautiful

 The shop windows were AMAZING.  These windows had lots of moving parts and intricate details. 

Christmas shop windows

The right side of the shop

 The streets were beautiful as well.  All decorated stones and beautiful designs.  The architecture was incredible.

On Friday I had a mid day flight out so I spent the morning walking around Copenhagen.  This was the sunrise (at 8:00 AM) over the canal. If you can believe it, it was even more gorgeous in person...

Downtown Copenhagen

Another view...

And the beautiful spire and sunrise

This was the Copenhagen sign at the airport (waaaaay in the distance) - I was never so happy to be getting on a plane to head home.

Good bye Copenhagen!

I couldn't wait to get home to these two...

Yay for the weekend!

Sorry for the delay... we're back!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful (albeit short) weekend for some of us.  Nana, Pops and Auntie Erin came to visit and we did LOTS of cooking, eating, playing and being thankful!

Auntie Erin played the cello for Natalie

Nana reading - there was A LOT of reading

 Auntie Erin had a great idea to make a shirt for Thanksgiving - since the stores around us are woefully under-stocked for the Thanksgiving holiday - we had to take matters into our own hands.  This is Natalie's Thanksgiving shirt!

A custom shirt for the occasion

Jon and Pops were in charge of the turkey and the ladies were responsible for the supporting cast of dinner.  Everything was delicious; but the turkey - oh the turkey - as you can see here it was beautiful and by far the most delicious turkey ever.  

And yes, it was HUGE.  24 pounds.  And we are going to enjoy every morsel. :)

The spread - including the most delicious turkey I've ever tasted

 After dinner Natalie insisted on some naked play time.  And somehow Natalie managed to get out of sight of FIVE adults long enough to color ALL OVER HERSELF with a pink marker.  So that's the decoration on her belly & legs. :)

Some naked playing (and marker on her belly)

 Friday we went out as a family to find the perfect Christmas tree at a farm close by.  It was a lovely day and we had so much fun Christmas tree shopping.  That's sweet Natalie with Auntie Erin looking on in the background.

A cute little bridge at the farm

Playing at the farm

 We ended up making most of the morning out of the shopping.  We had a long walk around looking for the perfect tree.  Then a brief break for some lunch on the tailgate and the we wrapped up our shopping.

Picnic lunch with Daddy!

Our little family

Fun times

 The funniest thing about the day is that we were looking for a BIG tree.  One over 9 feet to go in our lower living room.  Turns out the only ones they had that were that big were fir trees that they brought up from NORTH CAROLINA!  So we ended up with a beautiful tree that is from HOME!  How cool is that!?!

"Guys - I think this is the one"

 After nap time we turned on the Christmas music and got started decorating the tree and of course Natalie was ALL FOR IT.  She was a great helper and loves the tree.  She's great about being gentle with the ornaments and not pulling on the tree. 

Daddy and Natalie putting on the ornaments

The front window

Our beautiful NC tree!

 Unfortunately I had to leave on Saturday to go to Copenhagen, Denmark for work so Natalie and I tried to cram in an entire day into a few hours.  We cooked, walked and I thought she would want to play in the leaves - but being truly her father's child - she would rather rake the leaves.  She only wanted to "work" with the rake.

Natalie "working" on the leaves.

Once Natalie went down for a nap I had to head to the airport but Nana and Pops stayed over to visit with Jon and Natalie - until Thursday!  Natalie kept calling it a "baycation with Nana and Pops".  I know they all had a great time playing and napping.  We can't wait to see everyone especially UNCLE RYAN at Christmas.

We still have leaves!

The Fall weather has been off and on, but one thing that has been consistent for us are the beautiful leaves!  We - somehow even after super storm Sandy - still have red and orange leaves on the trees.

We had a photographer that came to the house today to get some family pictures of us for the holidays and I just had to snap a couple pictures of Natalie in her adorable outfit.

Natalie and Daddy

 By this point she was pretty much "done" with the camera and ready to be out of the chilly weather - but I had to try...

So cute!

 The next sequence of pictures was Natalie running for the door when I asked her if she wanted to come in and have a snack.... but you get the idea of the beautiful trees in our neighborhood and our beautiful girl.

Happy Fall everyone!

A little girl and her Daddy...

These two make my day - every day!

Just look at that smile!  It says it all!

And I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual :)

Mamaw ran a marathon!

I'm sorry - I don't think you got how HUGE that is...  

We said... MAMAW RAN A MARATHON!

And Leslie ran a half marathon at 19 weeks pregnant!

Natalie and I flew down to Jacksonville, FL and drove up to Savannah, GA to meet Mamaw, Papaw, Leslie, Katherine, Uncle Ralph and Aunt Trudy!  The fun began right away!

Uncle Josh and G arrived the next day and we began the marathon festivities.

 

 

Yummy breakfast with Katherine

Then we headed out to the race Expo for Mamaw and Aunt Leslie to pick up their race packets

 The girls loved this Cadillac of a stroller and cruised all around enjoying the crowds and music.

They also were able to enjoy snacks as they rode.  

It is definitely quite a way to travel!

This one is for Jon: The Hot Chocolate (Milk) 15/5K! :)

 There were quite a few custom shirts for the occasion and the first were "Tweet Tweet" shirts for both Katherine and Natalie.  They even had their names on the back!

Katherine in Purple

"Tweet Tweet, I'm so sweet!"

With two, so wiggly and busy babies it was tough to get a good picture of the two of them in their shirts - this was the best I could do...

Both shirts - with a little dinner as an accent :)

The house where we stayed was beautiful and Katherine and Natalie had a great time playing together in the little school desk.  

We went out for a carbo-loaded dinner on Friday and on Saturday morning Leslie and Mamaw were ready to run! 

Saturday brought race day and the second installment of the custom shirts.  

Leslie's says "Baby on Board"
Mom's says "It isn't sweat, It's Liquid Awesome!"

 Mom had a special shirt that said "Wanda's 1st Marathon, Savannah, GA 2012" and ours said "Wanda's 26.2 Support Crew"

Front view says "Wanda's 26.2 Support Crew"

 Dad got a special shirt since he was the charter member of the "Support Crew" from the beginning of Mom's marathon training.  The back of Dad's shirt says "CAPTAIN" because he definitely was the captain of the crew. :)

Mamaw, Papaw and Nataloo!

Garrett was also a key part of the support crew on race day
He and Papaw rode the entire course with Mamaw!

That's a good looking bunch!

After Katherine finished her breakfast, she and Josh joined us at the start line.  The back of Katherine's shirt says "Run Mamaw Run!"

Les, Josh and Katherine in their shirts :)

Katherine getting some love from Mamaw

Such a sweet girl!

 While Mamaw and Leslie were running Natalie and I explored Savannah a bit.  Here is the big fountain where they would all later finish.  Natalie wanted to get in and "stomp in the water".

That's a happy girl!

Josh and I rushed (during Natalie's nap time) over to mile 21 to cheer and encourage Mamaw.  We made it just in time!

 

Here she is with Papaw right behind - making sure she had plenty of snacks and water for the rest of the race. 

It was a sunny, HOT day for a run!

 After we found her at mile 21 we rushed back, got the babies and ran to see Mamaw running to the finish!  It was so incredible to see all her hard work pay off!  She even looked beautiful after running 26.2 miles!

Mamaw with her finishers medal and congratulations flowers

Mamaw and Papaw celebrating the big finish!

 Natalie (with a little help) made a special sign just for Mamaw.  She helped me hold it up and cheer for Mamaw as she came around the final turn to the finish.  We were all so proud!

Amazing indeed!

 Here are some shots of the whole group!  We were so proud of Leslie and Mamaw.  And what a great day!

Poor Katherine had just finally given up for her nap. :)

 At some point during the celebration G snagged my camera - and I have to share the evidence...

Well hello there! :)

Uncle Ralph and Aunt Trudy were also there to celebrate!

 Its a bit of an inside joke - but here's Mamaw enjoying some delicious CHOCOLATE MILK at the finish - at Jon's recommendation! :)

Yummy!

 And on the walk back to our house - Natalie made sure she was staying hydrated as well.

Gatorade!

We couldn't be more proud of Leslie and Mamaw and a very special THANK YOU to Papaw and Garrett who spent about 6+ hours on a bicycle to make sure our runners were well fed, hydrated and encouraged.  What a great team!