Prize Winner

Natalie won the sleeping prize today at Pre-K even though she didn't nap! She's the only one who hadn't won the prize out of the class. She was quiet and laying still so they decided to give it to her. They did mention that she never naps at Pre-K. Well...welcome to my world, people! There's been no napping for probably a year at least! It's nothing new!

In other news, her morning Pre-K teacher is getting moved to a different class next week because a teacher suddenly left. So Natalie will be getting a new teacher next week. The good news is there's a new girl in her class now so she has a couple of choices of girls to play with.

Today she got to show the Corduroy bear journal to her class and Corduroy even passed out Southwest peanuts to each kid.

Natalie & Corduroy

Corduroy Gets his Wings

I should have posted this a couple of days ago!

The Cousins Dine at Chuy's

Cousins

Natalie pushing Abby in her stroller.



Natalie holding her baby cousin Abby.

First Dance Class

Natalie started dance today. She's advanced from the Pre I to the Pre II class. Pre II is a continuation of tap, ballet, and tumbling. She's excited about dancing again. Her teacher is new to teaching dance. I think she just graduated from high school. The owner sat in the class with her to help her out. We hadn't tried Natalie's dance shoes on her since her recital in June and thank goodness they still fit. They were brand new in June, but her foot seems to grow quickly. We realized that her dance outfit looked kind of small though. Natalie is really looking forward to this year in dance.

Corduroy Visits

Natalie was selected to take Corduroy bear home with her for the week. He's supposed to participate in family activities. Then Natalie will help us write in Corduroy's journal about his adventures.

Natalie and Bella posed with Corduroy this morning at dance class.



Natalie weaved a potholder on her loom. Corduroy helped as much as he could.



Natalie took Corduroy to Las Palapas. He liked the bean and cheese taco.

Natalie's Art

Nap Prize

Well, no nap prize yet...but she's still working on it!

First Day at Pre-K

Yesterday was Natalie's first day at Pre-K for the Fall program. In one of the newsletters we had read that the first boy and girl to fall asleep would win a special prize. She was determined to be the first one to fall asleep. But, as you know, the girl hasn't napped in about a century, so this proved to be a challenging task for her!

When I picked her up from Pre-K she was lamenting about how she didn't get the naptime prize. (Since there's only one other girl in the class she has a 50/50 chance.) She decided that tomorrow would be her day to win. I'll keep you posted on that one!

Bustin' a Move

Natalie and Bella bustin' a move to "I like to move it..."

Open House

We attended Natalie's open house tonight at her school. We met her morning and afternoon teachers, saw her classroom, dropped off her school supplies, and met the one and only other girl in the class, Addison. So far there are seven kids in the class and only two girls including Natalie. I hope they will get along. Otherwise she'll have to play with the boys (and I doubt she will be happy with that option.) Since we're new to the school we had to find out how we drop her off, where to pay, where to bring her medicine, what forms to fill out to have medicine administered, and where to pick her up. Everyone I have spoken to is happy with the Pre-K program and no one has ever said anything negative about the school. Abigail's mom, whose older daughter went to Pre-K there, says her daughter was over prepared for kinder thanks to the school. Natalie is looking forward to starting on Monday!

The Zoo

Natalie and I spent most of today at the zoo. This time we tried to go to different areas of the park. We saw the bats, brushed the goats, fed fish, and viewed many different species of birds. The majority of our time was spent in the area for kids though. Inside the kids' area there's a place that has sand and water. That was a big hit with Natalie. As soon as we arrived, she ran into her friend, Abigail, from Pre-K. The two of them ran in the water and dug a huge hole together in the sand. We didn't come prepared with a towel or a swimsuit, so Natalie did end up getting a little bit wet and sandy. Next time we will be more prepared! (She is good at drip drying we learned!)

Natalie went "fishing" in the kids' area of the zoo.


Brushing goats was a lot of fun...until one goat tried to eat her dress for lunch! Let's just say she was not pleased with that goat's snack attempt!


Natalie posing on a turtle in the water/sand part of the kids' area. Her friend Abigail is in the red hat. I have a feeling we'll be spending lots of time there.

Goodbye, Ms. Emily

Today Natalie said goodbye to Mrs. Emily on her last day of summer Pre-K. Ms. Emily is moving to another city because she was just accepted to physical therapy school. She has waited three years to be accepted so she's really excited about moving. Natalie will miss her, but we wished her lots of luck!

Gift

Natalie and I spent some time today making a gift for her Pre-K teacher, Ms. Emily. We made cookies on a stick shaped like flowers and added some candy flowers we found at Party City. We placed a flower eraser and flower notebook in the vase to complete the gift. Natalie will really miss her teacher from this summer. She's looking forward to her end of the summer party tomorrow though. Full time Pre-K starts next week with a new teacher and class.

Natalie & Austin

Natalie is getting to spend some time with her cousin Austin this weekend. So far she's had a great time attacking him. She's thrilled that he's at our house for the weekend. This picture was taken at a downtown restaurant while we were out celebrating mom and Mark's birthdays.

It's Hot!

I took a picture of the outside temperature - 105 degrees yesterday! It must be August!

Move In Helper

Natalie helped me move more items into my new school on Friday. She loves the part where she gets to ride on the flatbed!

Natalie loves the telephone in my classroom.

As you can see, the classroom is still in the setting up process.

Introducing the wonderful, fabulous, stupendous, awesome walk in closet!

Harley Girl

Natalie has always been afraid of sitting on the Harley, but yesterday she tried it out. Of course it wasn't on, just parked in the driveway, so she was okay.

Juggler

Poppy took Natalie to his library to see a juggler. He juggled knives, pins, and balls and even spun plates.

Scooter

One of Natalie's favorite outside activities.

Natalie at Pre-K

Natalie all dressed up at Pre-K.

Natalie & Taliana

Natalie's friend Taliana came over to play yesterday and the girls had fun together.

Beach Vacation

We journeyed south this weekend for a beach vacation with our friends and neighbors Jason, Aissa, and Bella. The condo we rented in Corpus Christi was the size of a sardine canister. Luckily we were only there to sleep and were out the rest of the day. The Corpus Christi bay had a jellyfish invasion. Jason was stung twice and we decided the girls weren't going to get in and risk it. Jason caught a jellyfish in a bucket so Natalie and Bella could see what it looked like:

They didn't want anything to do with the jellyfish after seeing one! For the remaining beach experience we drove them to North Padre, where the sand is finer and where they could get in the water without fear of jellyfish. We made a mental note to stay there next time. Natalie had a great time making sand castles and jumping over small waves. She liked sitting and standing in the water until she learned about mollusks!

Natalie loves to ham it up in front of the camera and strikes a pose when she's getting a picture taken. Notice the slightly bent knee.

Making sand castles was a big hit.