Sunday, June 30, 2013

The big girl bed

We knew it was coming.  Heck we have even had the bed purchased and in the basement for nearly a month.  But today was the day.  We had enough rain and Jon had enough patience to stay in the house and tackle disassembling the crib, moving it to the (soon to be) twins room and putting together Natalie's "toddler bed".   Wow.

Some assembly required ;)

"Like this Daddy!"

"Mom, get a hammer and help out!"

I think this piece goes riiiiight here :)

Jon made a big deal of telling Natalie all morning that he really would need her help to put her new bed together, so as you can imagine, she was SO EXCITED about the entire process.  Jon's little helper never left her post and that made things a little difficult when Jon couldn't use the proper language to express frustration over the The "Made in China Craftsmanship" of our Target-purchased bed.  But he was impressively patient and the bed was together in short order.

She had to read books in her bed immediately!

This was right after she told me: "You can go, Mommy"

And I had to OPEN THE DOOR to take this picture.

 Now it was clear that she was very excited about the big girl bed but we had no idea how bed time was going to go.  But as I type this she is SOUND ASLEEP after bedtime as usual this evening.  Only time will tell how the rest of the night will go.  

I did snap a couple more pictures of the just before bed-time for my own memory and then I said goodnight and tried to hold it together as I closed the door.

After bed-time stories and prayers

The whole set up. :)


Night Night my big girl!















Saturday, June 29, 2013

Longwood Gardens

I have always wanted to go see the lily pads at Longwood Gardens in PA and they have fountains, which is a Natalie favorite.  So when we decided on PA for our vacation this was on the top of our 'to visit' list.  We made a morning of it, and enjoyed every minute. 

Off she goes!
One of the beautiful fountains
Natalie wanted to get in so badly!

Getting ever soooo close!

We had to see every inch... Mommy and Natalie on the move

The beautiful Conservatory

"Touch it?"  :)

FINALLY!  We found a fountain she could play in!

And play she did!  Right after this picture was taken
she looked at me and said "I'm soaking!"

They had a great "kid-sized maze" which Natalie thoroughly enjoyed

I love this picture!
Another one in the Queen seat!

This was so cool!  Apple trees that had been trellised up a wall.

The side view

More water and beautiful colors

This is also a favorite picture. 
Mommy and Natalie looking at the
HUGE hanging baskets in the Conservatory
Some of the beautiful flowers :)
This was a "sitting area" within the Conservatory

Natalie had to throw ALL my change into the wishing well. 
I don't know if she made any wishes but she got an arm workout, for sure!

The next sequence of pictures was when I got the camera and Natalie started to fade a bit.  She and Jon were joined at the hip the rest of the day.  I just LOVE seeing these two together!
Daddy telling Natalie about all the plants and flowers

Natalie's favorite way to travel - on Daddy's shoulders!

One of my all time favorite pictures of the two of them. 
This little girl LOVES her Daddy!
Here Jon took her up to the tippy top of the "bird house"
Mommy (and the twins) waited at the bottom of all those stairs!

Daddy and Natalie saying "Hellooo!" from the top!

It was a beautiful day and we had a great time seeing all the flowers, fountains and just enjoying our time outside together.  This will definitely be on our list to visit again!

Natalie listening for birds with Daddy.
Natalie took a nice nap on the way home from the gardens and rested up for another day of adventures in and around Lancaster and New Holland the next day...

Friday, June 28, 2013

More pictures from our vacation!

We enjoyed the RV very much but we also spent a fair bit of time enjoying the campground in New Holland, PA and other attractions nearby.

Here are a few pictures of our campground fun across the week:

Lots of fun with water guns!
You'd better watch out!
A little swinging with Daddy
Our pretty girl!
Cheese!
Swinging in the big girl swings!
Weee!
The shoes she decorated with Katherine :)
Such a big girl!
Mommy swinging her around
The benches where we watched for horse and buggies
A family picture! :)
 We had a blast just visiting with our neighbors and playing around the campground with our girl.

On Wednesday we took a drive over to Longwood Gardens and it was quite a treat!  Since these posts are going to be picture heavy we will save those for another day.



 

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Father's Day

Today is a very special day.  Today is Jon's day in our house.  I could ramble on and on (and I really want to) about how awesome Jon is to Natalie and me and how thankful we are but I think pictures speak volumes.  Here are a few pictures of Natalie with her sweet Daddy while we were on our vacation.





One of my absolute favorites!





He is the best husband and father to our sweet Natalie that I could have ever hoped for.  I wouldn't dream of sharing my life with anyone else.  I love you Jon!