Book Club

Something you might not know about me is that I am a reader. People who know me say "Natalie, now that's a reader" OK, so they don't, I guess they might because I am not really sure what people say about me when I am not around and it just sounds better than other stuff I can think of. So anyways, my cute cousin Melanie decided to start a book club and asked me to join. Last month we read Uglies. It was a book that I probably would of never picked out on my own to read, but I read it for book club (Melanie we need a funner title) and liked it so much I read the other 3 books in the trilogy, and yes, this trilogy has 4 books. This month we are reading The Wednesday Wars recommended by my friend Millissa. I like being a part of a book club and am very excited to get to know everyone in it better. I love books and am always looking for something else to read so this is perfect. I am going to have to put a note on my blog for what I am now reading like my cousin because I think its cool and I want people to say "Natalie, yea the cool one, shes a reader!" Any good recommendations on books I would love them. Yea Book Club!

Las Vegas

This is my beautiful neice Abby and her husband, I realized looking through my pictures that this is the only picture of her I got.

LORD OF THE DANCE was kickin' it up with everyone he could grabbing partners left and right, young and old. I bet you all had no clue how much my cute husband loves to dance!! I believe he calls this move the pelvic thrust.

Us and our older girls (Grandma and Grandpa watched the little ones)

Morgan picking out rocks for her stepping stone. My dad and Esther have had the kids make stepping stones for their back yard when we've come over. The last ones were in 2003, we really need to visit more.

Haylie picking out rocks for her stone.

Drew with his rocks, this is his first stone.

Cute Paige causing trouble, she was into everything, she had a blast but it took all of us to keep her under control.

Earlier this month we went to Las Vegas for our niece Abbys wedding. We made sort of a mini family vacation out of it and stayed with my dad for the weekend. The wedding was a blast it was one of the funnest weddings that I have been to. We hung out mainly with Becca and Janae (our 2 niece-in-laws) and we had so much fun!! The kids got to spend some time with my dad and Esther and they had a good time. We realized how long it has been since we have gone to see family and decided that we needed to make a better effort to visit loved ones. Anyways I took a few pictures that I wanted to post so here it goes.

The worst blogger ever, (almost)

OK, I know that I have not posted in a while. September has been so crazy and alot has happened which leaves me alot to blog about, but which also means time and laziness is my only excuse for slacking on my posts. So I am going to try to for the next few days to post alot because I know that you are all dying to know what I have been up to :) So see you soon!!

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon

They are back and they had a great time! First, thank you to my friend Sandra because without her I would not have any pictures! They had a great time everyone finished and did really well, a little sore still but they all did a great job. Apparently our group was #2 in our fundraising efforts so that is awesome. Thank you again for everyones help! The picture above is before the race they all look super excited and ready to go.

This is of course my Husband the Happy runner!

This is some of the group after the race

This is the girls with their dad, I love this picture! But all the pictures of the girls make me wonder if they combed their hair at all. Oh well something only a mom would notice I guess.

Our runners after the race from left to right are Victor, Justin, Brent(he's very tired), and Yolanda. Great job guys!!

The searh is over!!

Those of you close to me know that for 2 years now I have been looking for a new bedding ensemble. I probably put way to much thought into it but I needed it durable, machine washable, mainly nice but child friendly. Bedding has gotten so expensive so I also wanted to find something that would last a while. Anyways last night my sister-in-law Lisa asked me to go to dinner for a girls night out and then do a little shopping. We chose Bed Bath and Beyond and wouldn't you know it, right there in the clearance section (what luck) was exactly what I had been looking for. After a few minutes deciding for sure ,and adding a few extra pieces of flair to make it my own I have a new bedding ensemble! Let me tell you how excited I am... I am SOOOOOO excited!! After countless hours on the Internet and numerous miles in the bedding section of many stores (OK its not that dramatic but it makes for a good story) I finally have it. So I did what any girl would of done, I made my bed and took a picture of it so I could post it on my blog and all my faithful readers could share this joyous occasion with me. So all you lady's (or gentlemen) out there, if its a shower curtain, a rug, or the perfect storage bins you seek, don't give up, its out there! Maybe hidden in some lonely clearance bin, but its there waiting for you, yes you, to give it a home. Then you can be as happy as I on a cloud of home decorating bliss.

Preschool, Wahoo!

Drew has been so anxious to go to school. We took him at the end of last year to register him for preschool and it has been a big topic of conversation in our house ever since. Drew needed to be potty trained before he could go to school. All through the summer while we've been trying to get him to use the toilet whenever he went in his pull-up we told him that if he wanted to go to school he needed to go potty in the toilet and not in his pants. It has been a great motivator but as time got closer and we bought backpacks and the girls started going to school and he was left home he started to get upset. He would ask every day when he got to go to school and he would wear his backpack around the house so he was always ready. When we would leave the house I would say "It's time to go" and he would always answer "To school?" While he was sick he did not talk about school much but one day when he was feeling OK he started asking about school again. Its hard to explain to a 3 year old the concept of time and days so all I could tell him was soon and not yet. One day he did not like that answer and being tired and not feeling well he started throwing a fit saying that he wanted to go to school NOW! I told him it was not time and that he had to wait and walked away. When I went back to check on him he had fallen asleep on our kitchen floor with his backpack as a pillow. Drew living with two older sisters, and always thinking that he can do whatever they do has had such a hard time watching them go to school and I could only tell him not yet, hes been a sad boy.

So the day before school I finally got to tell him that he could go to school tomorrow on Tuesday. I told him that he would get up, have breakfast, brush his teeth, get dressed, comb his hair and then I would take him to school. He woke up bright and early ran into our room and told us it was Tuesday and that he needed to brush his teeth and get dressed. He was so excited you would of thought that it was Christmas morning and he was telling us that Santa had come. So we got him ready, took pictures (of course), and took him to school.

He talked "His School" the entire drive and was so happy to get out of the car and put on his backpack. There was another little boy that arrived the same time we did (he was a little shy and seemed real nervous) but Drew waved to him said Hi and then told me that he was his friend like he just ran into him and was introducing me to him. He really cracks me up some times. I was so proud of him, he walked right in started looking around, hung up his backpack, and talking to his teachers. He was finally there, School what he had been anticipating for so long.

After school he was all smiles and so excited that he had gone to school. He somewhat told me what he did but had a very nice art project that we hung on the fridge. My little man is growing up, he is such a neat little boy and so much fun to be around. I love you Drew-BA-loos!