This and that

Natalie says

Natalie has been cracking us up with her extensive vocabulary and her understanding of how to use it lately.  Here are some gems from recent conversations:

 

This morning: "I took that piece of chocolate out of Mommy's hand and I crammed it in my cram hole!" as she burst into hysterical laughter.  And after the initial shock of what she said wore off I couldn't stop laughing either. 

I love it when she wakes up early enough for us to just sit on the couch and talk for a few minutes before we start the getting ready for work/school hustle.

 

Two nights ago: We had salmon for dinner.  Jon grilled/smoked it and it was delicious.  Natalie was inspecting each piece carefully and she called to my attention and said "Mommy, I can't eat this piece, its raw".  What!?!  How does she even know that word?  Or what it means?  Of course it wasn't raw and after I explained that all salmon was pink, even when it is cooked, she ate it happily.

 

Jon is wonderful about asking me, every day, how my day was.  And it seems Natalie has caught on because she always asks Jon when he gets home "Daddy, how was your day?" and even before he can answer she is asking Roscoe about his day and so on. 

 

Twins

We are still waiting, some of us more patiently than others, for the twins to arrive.  So far they are both doing great and are happy to stay where they are for now.  I'm hanging in there, enjoying the cooler weather and doing what I can to get comfortable.  Here are a couple updated pictures from this week.  One is a front view and the other, the shocking side view :)

 

The front view - per Shannon's request

And the side view - 36 weeks!
*please pardon the mess on the mirror, Natalie brushes her teeth with vigor these days.
 

 

People have stopped politely asking how I'm feeling now and are just blurting out the most hilarious things.  For instance, when I dropped Natalie off at daycare yesterday Ms. Dawn, one of the teachers yells "You are huge!  Ms. Joann, come out here and look at her, she's huge!
Um, yeah, I know.  But thanks for reminding me with such enthusiasm.

 

Visitors!

My best friend from High School made the terrible I-95 trek up to visit with us last weekend.  Kristen and I are finally in the same time zone again and determined to visit more often.  She was kind enough to help out with the cooking and to spend some quality time with Natalie who was thrilled to the point of speachlessness when she saw Kristen.  We had a wonderful visit and made the coolest cheesecake ever with Natalie.  Here are the pictures:

 

The bakers, hard at work

Natalie picked the colors, helped mix them into the batter, and Kristen carefully poured them into the pan.  We were skeptical, but the final result - which we didn't get to see until the next morning - was incredible!

 

Natalie got the first piece, of course, and she thought it was delicious!  It was seven different colors and it baked up beautifully.  Here she is enjoying the spoils of her labor at 10:00 on Saturday morning...

 

 

Digging in!  And yes, I think we were ALL still in our PJs at 10:00 that morning.  It was just that kind of day :)