Today I picked Natalie up early from Pre-K and took her back to my school. I had an extremely long meeting to attend and was afraid I may not make it back to her school on time to pick her up. She was thrilled because it meant that she got to have a playdate with my co-worker's daughter, Riley. Riley is six and in kindergarten. She must want to be a teacher when she grows up because she had the classroom completely set up and ready to go for their playdate. Riley had made little centers for Natalie and herself. There was a make your own snowflake center, a foam sticker center, computer center, and watercolor center. There were probably even more that I didn't see!
Natalie had packed her own bag of snacks, games, coloring, and Barbies too, so they had plenty to do! When I got back to the room they were on the computers wearing headphones and creating pictures on a Christmas web site. Natalie had the best time playing with Riley and is ready to go back soon to play with her again!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thanksgiving & the Weekend
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. Natalie went on a road trip to visit her great grandma, aunts, uncles, and cousins in another city. She had a blast playing with cousins, and as usual, didn't want to go home! Here are some highlights of her vacation from Thanksgiving and through the weekend:
Natalie visited the Candy Lounge on Saturday for Lauren's 4th birthday party and got to see her former teacher, Ms. Debbie. She had a lot of fun in this candy wonderland. She feasted on an array of candy, made a candy picture frame, played Bingo, licorice limbo, and musical chairs.
Mark is still plugging away at getting Natalie's bathroom done. He's made more progress since this picture was taken, but there's still work left to do. When he realized the vanity wasn't going to fit against the wall like it should, Daniel came over to help.
On Saturday Natalie and I went baking crazy and made snickerdoodles, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookie cutouts. Natalie decorated all of the sugar cookies herself. She was using the sprinkles in moderation at first, and then by the end just started piling them on!
Natalie helped set the Christmas tree up and did most of the decorating herself. Yes, we have many ornaments at the bottom of the tree, but Oliver is happy about it!
On Sunday Mark and Nathaniel hung up Natalie's Christmas lights. I don't think rooftop light decorating makes his top 10 favorite Christmas activities list, but he's a good sport about it. It helps to have Nathaniel over lending him a hand. The beer doesn't hurt either.
Natalie visited the Candy Lounge on Saturday for Lauren's 4th birthday party and got to see her former teacher, Ms. Debbie. She had a lot of fun in this candy wonderland. She feasted on an array of candy, made a candy picture frame, played Bingo, licorice limbo, and musical chairs.
Mark is still plugging away at getting Natalie's bathroom done. He's made more progress since this picture was taken, but there's still work left to do. When he realized the vanity wasn't going to fit against the wall like it should, Daniel came over to help.
On Saturday Natalie and I went baking crazy and made snickerdoodles, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookie cutouts. Natalie decorated all of the sugar cookies herself. She was using the sprinkles in moderation at first, and then by the end just started piling them on!
Natalie helped set the Christmas tree up and did most of the decorating herself. Yes, we have many ornaments at the bottom of the tree, but Oliver is happy about it!
On Sunday Mark and Nathaniel hung up Natalie's Christmas lights. I don't think rooftop light decorating makes his top 10 favorite Christmas activities list, but he's a good sport about it. It helps to have Nathaniel over lending him a hand. The beer doesn't hurt either.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Birthday Party
Natalie went to a Pump It Up birthday party tonight for one of her Pre-K classmates, Ayden, who just turned five. The inflatables at this place are gigantic, and she was timid at first. One of the employees helped her go down the slide and through the obstacle course half the party. She ended up having a great time!
Natalie and her friend Sebastian nurse their plastic burn injuries together.
Natalie's first game of air hockey against the birthday boy, Ayden.
Natalie with one of the employees on the huge inflatable slide.
Natalie and her friend Sebastian nurse their plastic burn injuries together.
Natalie's first game of air hockey against the birthday boy, Ayden.
Natalie with one of the employees on the huge inflatable slide.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Junie B. & Hemisfair
Today Natalie and her friend, Bella, enjoyed an outing to see Junie B. Jones: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells. She had a great time at the play. Her favorite part was when Junie B. Jones and May got in trouble (go figure!) Afterwards we ventured to Hemisfair Park and played for a while.
Whistle While You Work
Natalie is thrilled that she can finally whistle! She's been trying to whistle for a couple of years now, and it's always come out more like a screech. She is proud of her accomplishment!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Dance Recital
Today Natalie's class invited the parents in to watch their Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer dance. She's got the Christmas recital coming up soon. Email or call us for details.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Cougar on the Loose!
Today Natalie's daycare was on lockdown as well as the other nearby public schools due to a cougar escapee! There is a wild animal orphanage just down the street from her daycare that is home to many an exotic creature. A cougar evidently found a hole in the fence, escaped, and was roaming around the area of her daycare. There are lots of wooded places around it, so I'm sure he was just hanging out.
Coincidentally, today at my elementary school we were having career day. A police helicopter was one of the presenters, so the entire school gathered on the blacktop to watch it land. He landed next to the playground, but ended up not being able to stay to discuss his profession because he had to go hunt down a cougar!
The cougar was located by her daycare and shot with a dart gun so it could be taken back to the orphanage.
How often does a police helicopter land at your school? How often does a cougar escape and roam around your community? Two interesting happenings all in one day!
Coincidentally, today at my elementary school we were having career day. A police helicopter was one of the presenters, so the entire school gathered on the blacktop to watch it land. He landed next to the playground, but ended up not being able to stay to discuss his profession because he had to go hunt down a cougar!
The cougar was located by her daycare and shot with a dart gun so it could be taken back to the orphanage.
How often does a police helicopter land at your school? How often does a cougar escape and roam around your community? Two interesting happenings all in one day!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
At the Playground
We got home a little bit early today due to her doctor appointment (see earlier post from today) so we decided to cruise to the playground. You can check out the poses below.
Congratulations, Mark!
Congrats, Mark on your new job! Maybe the grass won't grow around your feet now! :)
When in Doubt, Get a 2nd Opinion!
What a difference a second opinion makes! When a nagging gut feeling tells you something smells fishy, trust your instincts!
Natalie had a followup appointment for colonoscopy results today with her wonderful new GI doctor, Dr. Elizondo. Her colon looks beautiful and normal and the biopsies didn't show anything unusual. Usually he sees a gradual increase in chronic cells in patients with IBD and that wasn't the case. He didn't see enough chronicty to label her as having inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis! That is great news!
The plan now is to gradually wean her off the harsh medicine she's had to take. When I say wean gradually that's what it means too! It's a two month process to reduce her medicine intake. Month one will see her taking Sulfasalazine twice a day, and month two it will drop down to once a day. After the second month, January 16th to be precise, (yes, it's already marked on the calendar) she'll be off of the putrid yellowish-orangish stuff. Dr. Elizondo would like to see her completely off the medicine to see if the bleeding returns or stays dormant. Maybe this was a one time event, or it's possibly something that will eventually return. It's really hard to say what will happen, but for the moment we can be content with the news that she can start reducing her medicine intake and maybe get back to normal. She's sick of doctors appointments and procedures that's for sure.
She has another appointment scheduled mid-January to see how she's progressing. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!
Natalie had a followup appointment for colonoscopy results today with her wonderful new GI doctor, Dr. Elizondo. Her colon looks beautiful and normal and the biopsies didn't show anything unusual. Usually he sees a gradual increase in chronic cells in patients with IBD and that wasn't the case. He didn't see enough chronicty to label her as having inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis! That is great news!
The plan now is to gradually wean her off the harsh medicine she's had to take. When I say wean gradually that's what it means too! It's a two month process to reduce her medicine intake. Month one will see her taking Sulfasalazine twice a day, and month two it will drop down to once a day. After the second month, January 16th to be precise, (yes, it's already marked on the calendar) she'll be off of the putrid yellowish-orangish stuff. Dr. Elizondo would like to see her completely off the medicine to see if the bleeding returns or stays dormant. Maybe this was a one time event, or it's possibly something that will eventually return. It's really hard to say what will happen, but for the moment we can be content with the news that she can start reducing her medicine intake and maybe get back to normal. She's sick of doctors appointments and procedures that's for sure.
She has another appointment scheduled mid-January to see how she's progressing. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Natalie's Weekend
The weekend started out to be a lot of fun for Natalie. She attended Bella's fourth birthday party at Artworks, one of her favorite places on the planet. As soon as she put her art apron on she was off and we didn't see much of her for a good hour. She was busy designing and creating mini masterpieces.
Natalie and Kamryn made painted balloon art.
Natalie spun a salad spinner that contained a paper plate and three different colors of paint.
The rest of Saturday wasn't all that spectacular for Natalie. As I've previously mentioned, there was a leak in her bathroom coming from the AC unit. It ruined her vanity. After tearing up the linoleum, Mark discovered that the floor underneath it was wet and moldy. After an hour and a half at Floor and Decor and more time at Home Depot we bought tile, paint, a vanity with mirror, backerboard, spacers, and grout. Natalie was a good sport the entire time, but you could tell it wasn't the best time she'd had all weekend. Here she is relaxing with her Sonic Drink at Home Depot.
I guess shopping can't be that rough when you have a Sonic grape slush and a sweet ride?!
Sunday was a day spent working on the preliminary work in Natalie's bathroom. Mark sprayed the floor with a bleach mixture and let it dry. He was able to get the backerboard cut and the mirror taken down (miraculously in one piece thanks to help from my dad.) There are some places on the wall that need to be texturized and we'll paint it before we tile.
Natalie had fun playing with the cat today. He was surprisingly agreeable and enthusiastic to be carried around in the laundry basket. He seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting.
Natalie has tons of new birthday toys, but the best toy is this laundry basket!
Natalie and Kamryn made painted balloon art.
Natalie spun a salad spinner that contained a paper plate and three different colors of paint.
The rest of Saturday wasn't all that spectacular for Natalie. As I've previously mentioned, there was a leak in her bathroom coming from the AC unit. It ruined her vanity. After tearing up the linoleum, Mark discovered that the floor underneath it was wet and moldy. After an hour and a half at Floor and Decor and more time at Home Depot we bought tile, paint, a vanity with mirror, backerboard, spacers, and grout. Natalie was a good sport the entire time, but you could tell it wasn't the best time she'd had all weekend. Here she is relaxing with her Sonic Drink at Home Depot.
I guess shopping can't be that rough when you have a Sonic grape slush and a sweet ride?!
Sunday was a day spent working on the preliminary work in Natalie's bathroom. Mark sprayed the floor with a bleach mixture and let it dry. He was able to get the backerboard cut and the mirror taken down (miraculously in one piece thanks to help from my dad.) There are some places on the wall that need to be texturized and we'll paint it before we tile.
Natalie had fun playing with the cat today. He was surprisingly agreeable and enthusiastic to be carried around in the laundry basket. He seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting.
Natalie has tons of new birthday toys, but the best toy is this laundry basket!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Staying Five
Natalie has informed us that she is planning on staying five. She is enjoying five and I'm sure it must be hard enough for her! :)
If only it were that easy!
If only it were that easy!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Pin the Nose on the Clown
Natalie's class is doing a themed unit on the circus. Today they played "pin the nose on the clown." While Natalie was retelling the story she was laughing hysterically. Evidently when it was her turn she completely missed the clown and pinned the nose on the computer screen. She thought it was hilarious!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Natalie's Bathroom and the Water Heater
Well, it looks as if the water heater is fixed, thank goodness. It was a simple fix too - it just needed a new thermostat. We could have changed it ourselves if we knew anything about water heaters!
An AC guy came out to look at the leak in the AC. We ended up having to rip the vanity out of Natalie's bathroom. It's completely ruined on the inside. She's not too happy about that! I doubt she'll even want to set foot in that room until it's all back to normal!
The extent of the damage remains to be seen. We'll let the floor dry out and check out the situation in a couple of days.
An AC guy came out to look at the leak in the AC. We ended up having to rip the vanity out of Natalie's bathroom. It's completely ruined on the inside. She's not too happy about that! I doubt she'll even want to set foot in that room until it's all back to normal!
The extent of the damage remains to be seen. We'll let the floor dry out and check out the situation in a couple of days.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Water Leak
Unclogging the drain in Natalie's bathroom didn't help the water leak. We came home today to find more water standing in the bottom of her cabinet. The drain was leaking as we viewed it, so we got to see its origin firsthand. It appears to be the AC leaking when it drains. It was warm enough for the AC to kick in today, so we'll see if our hypothesis is correct tomorrow when the plumber arrives.
Natalie doesn't like walking into her own bathroom because the cabinet door is open to let it dry out. She really won't like it once it's all torn up.
The plumber coming out to our house is going to have his hands full. He's not only got to figure out what's going on in Natalie's bathroom, but he's also got to assess the water heater situation. Thank goodness for plumbers!
Natalie doesn't like walking into her own bathroom because the cabinet door is open to let it dry out. She really won't like it once it's all torn up.
The plumber coming out to our house is going to have his hands full. He's not only got to figure out what's going on in Natalie's bathroom, but he's also got to assess the water heater situation. Thank goodness for plumbers!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Natalie's 5th Birthday Party Weekend
Natalie turned five on Saturday and had a blast at her princess themed gymnastics party! She and her friends wore themselves out jumping, running, bouncing, swinging, and climbing. She was excited to have her birthday, yet when asked how it was being five she reported, "It's hard work."
It sure wasn't hard work for her today when she got to play with her brand new toys! Five was "easy peasy lemon squeezy" as she often says. Mark is living in Barbie hell and says that Target threw up in our living room! Natalie, of course, is in Barbie wonderland and loving every minute of it.
Getting new toys inspired me to clean out and reorganize her playroom. We cleaned up her room and bit too, and then went to work on her bathroom. As we were cleaning out underneath her bathroom cabinet I noticed that a lot of the items were really wet. I took everything out and discovered the bottom of the cabinet had buckled in some places. Upon further inspection it looked like at some point it had created water spots on the living room ceiling close to the precious flat screen tv! Luckily the spots had dried, but it was still cause for alarm. After a call to the family fix it man, Daniel, Mark was advised to unclog the bathroom drain. We've got the cabinet door open to dry (and a curious cat trying to make it his bed.) Needless to say, it seems like this is the perfect time to redo this bathroom. We had discussed remodeling it at a future date, but it looks like the time has arrived to begin. So, if you're thinking about what would make the perfect Christmas gift for us, a Home Depot or Lowes gift card would help it be a joyous holiday season. We'll take that and world peace!
When it rains it pours! We think the water heater may be on its last legs too. Some days the water is so scalding hot you could get 3rd degree burns from it and some days it takes a while to heat. It's just not normal! We've got someone coming out to look at that tomorrow so we'll see if it's just a part that needs to be replaced or the entire thing. The excitement never stops!
It sure wasn't hard work for her today when she got to play with her brand new toys! Five was "easy peasy lemon squeezy" as she often says. Mark is living in Barbie hell and says that Target threw up in our living room! Natalie, of course, is in Barbie wonderland and loving every minute of it.
Getting new toys inspired me to clean out and reorganize her playroom. We cleaned up her room and bit too, and then went to work on her bathroom. As we were cleaning out underneath her bathroom cabinet I noticed that a lot of the items were really wet. I took everything out and discovered the bottom of the cabinet had buckled in some places. Upon further inspection it looked like at some point it had created water spots on the living room ceiling close to the precious flat screen tv! Luckily the spots had dried, but it was still cause for alarm. After a call to the family fix it man, Daniel, Mark was advised to unclog the bathroom drain. We've got the cabinet door open to dry (and a curious cat trying to make it his bed.) Needless to say, it seems like this is the perfect time to redo this bathroom. We had discussed remodeling it at a future date, but it looks like the time has arrived to begin. So, if you're thinking about what would make the perfect Christmas gift for us, a Home Depot or Lowes gift card would help it be a joyous holiday season. We'll take that and world peace!
When it rains it pours! We think the water heater may be on its last legs too. Some days the water is so scalding hot you could get 3rd degree burns from it and some days it takes a while to heat. It's just not normal! We've got someone coming out to look at that tomorrow so we'll see if it's just a part that needs to be replaced or the entire thing. The excitement never stops!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Birthday Countdown
Natalie is counting down until her birthday. Only three more days she has informed me! I wish I was still that enthusiastic about birthdays!
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