catching up with random pictures

pics from when natalie spent the night at grandma and grandpa's house:

carrying on the fun of western day from school...

it was russell's turn to spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house...while he was there daddy and natalie built a fort in the living room where they watched tinkerbell, ate popcorn and slept the whole night :)

celebrating nana's birthday last monday:

we love you nana!

another day at the park:

i promise i wasn't boring her with taking too many pictures, she just really loves to make funny faces!

it was WESTERN DAY today

natalie had a busy week...

wednesday was st. patrick's day and it was a non-uniform day so her class was allowed to wear something green for the holiday.

then, on thursday she was supposed to have spring pictures taken but she wasn't feeling well so she didn't even go to school that day. she was so congested, she was "throwing up" phlegm. i almost considered sending her to school because she pretty much just had a bad cold but i'm glad i didn't because she didn't feel better until about 6:00 that evening. plus, i wanted her to get plenty of rest so she would be well enough to attend school the next day for "western day", something she (we) had been looking forward to for a while.

now, let me just explain before you go on to look at these photos, when i first knew i had to dress natalie in a western/cowgirl-ish outfit, i envisioned the following coming together much more western-y than it did. instead, she ended up looking more like dorothy from the wizard of oz! now, the only reason i chose her bright ruby red shoes was because they matched the outfit and i was not about to go out and buy cowboy boots for today.

with that being said, she looked absolutely adorable:

i volunteered to help out in natalie's class today, and when i arrived i surprised natalie by wearing this cheap red cowboy hat into her class. i picked it up at wal-mart after i dropped natalie off to school this morning because i knew her outfit was missing that special something. she was more than happy to wear it for the rest of the day :)

one of the activities they had planned was square dancing and for me, watching these little ones dance was the highlight of my afternoon!

the older kids took a break from class-change to watch the preschoolers dance

here is one of the videos of natalie dancing:

around the house

russell, feeling under the weather, cuddling with this adorable fat froggy that papa picked out:
playing in his room with his cars. ever since we rearranged the kids' room, he's been practically glued to this spot. he finally has his own "boy-ish" area in his room to hang out and play and he couldn't be happier.

i love his feet:


yesterday, natalie said it was hello kitty's birthday so she dressed her up and set up a table with a "barbie cake" on top and we sang happy birthday to miss kitty:

2010 Gate River Run

the largest 15k race nationwide is held right here in good ol' jacksonville every year in march.

my amazing husband, the runner, has been participating since 2006, always hoping to beat his preceding times. although he did not break his fastest record, he had a great run, finishing in 74 minutes.

little russell and i fought the crowds (over 20,000 runners alone participated!) and cheered him on.

russell's shiner, natalie's cough and their new bed...

...just to list a few things that have been going on around here lately.

last monday, march 1st, russell and natalie were horseplaying (like they always do) when russell fell into the coffee table. we weren't in the room to see it, but it must have been bad by the outcome. he hit his brow bone but his whole eye swelled up and turned black and blue the following day, and here it is ten days later, and it is still there, slowly going away.

i imagined going out in public was going to be rough, but i couldn't believe how many stares we got from strangers. first a glance at him, then a double-take, as in "is that really a black eye?!", then a glare directed at me. i'm sure i was being slightly paranoid but it still made me feel like a bad mom. eventually i learned to shake it off and pretend i didn't notice the looks. russell wasn't phased by any of it. he's such a good kid.

(the rosy cheeks were from another unfortunate incident... while we were at the park, he went down the slide on his belly and "burned" his cheeks. like we needed to draw any more attention to his face! lol)

this past weekend we were lucky enough to have a bunkbed set given to us. i wasn't sure about how it would look in the room, but once we set it up, i realized it was the best decision ever. and i can't begin to tell you how happy the kids are in their new bed. natalie has the top bunk and russell has the bottom. russell was actually a little scared to go up there at first, so we were all happy with that decision. with the new bed in place all i have to do now is re-organize and re-decorate their room to make it all work again! fun, fun, fun... (pics to come)

natalie has been fighting off a cold for the last couple of days. she had a fever one night but it never came back, then the next day she was congested and started coughing. the coughing is finally going away but she somehow picked up a raspy voice along the way. it was actually pretty cute listening to her talk today :)

hands on children's museum

natalie was out of school on monday, so i wanted to do something special with the kids. we've never been to this museum before, and i knew the kids would love it. i was right :)

working the cash register

and

shopping

in the grocery store room

natalie's turn at the register

dressing up as firefighters and playing on the firetruck:

riding in the police car:

there was a lot more to play with, but these were their favorites.

the park! (again)

we just love this new park so much -- i feel like we are there all the time! that's fine by me though. and the kids certainly aren't complaining...

playdate with heather, logan and lauren this week:

why do kids find mulch so fascinating???
cute, natalie... i'm sure lauren appreciates that :)

the park is less than 5 min. down the road from our house and has an awesome equipment set up, but there is just one thing i wish they had... BATHROOMS! okay, also maybe one more shady tree, too. although the temps are still mild, when the sun is blaring down on you, it tends to feel like a mid-summer florida day, which is: unpleasantly HOT.