The Stats!

Emily had her two-month check up at the docs this week and she has surely grown. She weighs a miserly 15 and 1/2 pounds, stretches out to almost 26" and is above the 95th percentile in all categories. Just by way of comparison, Natalie wasn't this big until she was about 6 months old. (Natalie, at 3 years is only 30 lbs, and is 38" tall) Emily is going to be a giant. That or the shortest tall-person in the world. She's a great baby and is a pleasure to have around the house.

The Strawberry Shake

Natalie's favorite dance is the Strawberry Shake. The best part is when she has to put on her sunglasses because that's what they do on the dance.

Our First Princess Party

Our good friends' daughter had her third birthday! What an event! Princess crafts, princess parlors, princess games, and even a princess castle! The girls had a blast! We wouldn't have missed Natalie's first princess party so we made it a family event and got to hang out with all the local royalty! It was Natalie's first time getting her nails painted too. She loved it so much that she wanted her toes painted the next day. But still no matter how exciting the birthday party is, her constant favorite of every party is "the cupcake part" she says. We sure do love our princess!
Thanks for planning such a fun party Aimee! We loved it!

Rain at the Zoo

I know Mike usually does the posting, but I thought I'd give it a try today!
We had originally planned to spend Thursday at the beach, but the clouds and breeze changed our minds. Natalie and I talked Mike into going to the zoo instead. YEAH!! As soon as we got to the Santa Ana Zoo it started to pour. We hung out in the only roofed area there--the bug house. The idea of being trapped with a giant venemous centipede didn't sound like much fun. but luckily the rain only lasted about a half hour. By that time the air was cool and we had the entire zoo all to ourselves! Super! Its a smaller zoo, but they had alot of monkeys, which we always enjoy! They are my favorite by far!

Gone Swimming

It was so nice on Thursday that we all decided to try to go swimming. We got on the awesome matching swimsuits on and headed out to the pool. It was really nice to all get out and enjoy the weather and water. Natalie is getting better at swimming and Emily enjoyed getting in the water so much that she fell asleep in dad's arms in the pool. Mom got in for a bit but wanted to finish her book so she watched Emily while she was sleeping.
Then when we got home, mom had to run an errand and dad was trying to get some work done. Emily was in the swing, and Natalie was trying to figure out how to occupy her time (Mostly with "Dad are you done now? Dad can you play now?") Pretty soon it got quiet and dad got up to check on Natalie. Well Emily had zonked out in her swing, and Natalie fell asleep by the door. It was great because Natalie has given up on naps and it's a rare thing when she'll take one on her own. She slept for a good hour and half on the floor. we should go to the pool everyday...

Silly faces

Natalie loves to pose for the camera and make silly faces, as do most three year olds. We are so proud of her talent!

Natalie turns 3

This week Natalie turned the big 0-3! It was pretty exciting stuff. It was really hard on her when she realized that she'll never be 2 again, but soon got over it when we had cupcakes and presents. It was a low key party, with just us. It was kind of nice not have to plan and worry about 10 other kids. She got her much requested beach toys, as well as pretzels and fruit snacks (Isn't it great when that's all they want!) It was a great day and she was sad when it was over. The day after she asked whose birthday it was so we could have another party.

Natalie gets Arrested!

This just in: suspicious activity was reported this week at a nearby Aliso Viejo mall. When police arrived they found eight kids running amok. It was reported that they were found singing songs ( "Row row row your boat" and "the Alphabet song" among others) and giggling uncontrollably. Officers tried to round up the troublesome toddlers but to no avail. Officer Frumpkin, "It was like trying to herd cats, or like trying to duct tape jell-o to a wall. It was nearly impossible." They finally managed to get all the tots together by announcing the arrival of "Elmo", self-proclaimed cute furry red monster. Said Elmo, "You know, it's hard when things like this happen, but I try to be there and offer what help I can." The tots were later released when the officers realized their handcuffs kept slipping off their tiny wrists. The kids were released to their parents.

Natalie's Preschool group in trouble with the law.
I don't really like how Natalie and her friend are checking out the older boy.

Little thumbsucker

Emily has been getting pretty determined to get her fingers in her mouth these past few days. finally she succeeded in getting her thumb in her mouth and good suction. She was in heaven for but a few moments. It looks dang cute too.

Emily's baby blessing

Last Sunday was Emily's baby blessing. It was a really good day, and Emily did great. The bishop forgot that we were blessing Emily so dad had to go up on the stand and remind him, and we did it after the sacrament was passed. It was nice to have family there and support little Emily. We're thankful for the power of the priesthood and that dad was able to bless Emily. There was a sweet spirit with us the rest of the day. We had a little get together after our meetings and ate some good food and caught up with each other. The last photo is Emily and her second cousin, Ashton.

More fun

While Grandma and Grandpa were here we headed up to Anaheim to see Grandma's sister. We don't get to see them much because they speak Korean and all we know is counting to ten. That makes for dull conversation. But it was good to go up and see the family up there and our Aunt loved it when Emily smiled at her. The day was saddened by Natalie grabbing a small cactus (the kind that looks like it's furry only it's all tiny prickles) and got three fingers covered in prickles. It took forever but Dad managed to pull them all out and Grandpa bandaged up all the fingers.

The Grandparents

The Grand-Parkers came to town this last week for Emily's baby blessing. It was great to have them around. Natalie especially enjoyed having them come and spend lots of time with her. We went to the beach and spent an afternoon there playing. We also went to Chuck E. Cheese's as a reward to Natalie's sticker chart. Grandma had a great time playing the games with Natalie. Our only regret is that we didn't have more time.

Emily

Just a couple of random pictures of our sweet Emily.

Natalie

It's been a while since we posted much of anything. So to start it all off some recent pictures of Natalie. The neighborhood kids had a slip-and-slide out and Natalie wanted to go try. She's not big on spraying water, especially in the face. But she braved her fears and tried it out and liked it. Rex here in the pictures helps her out by sliding her down the chute like a bowling ball. Otherwise, she gets on her hands and knees and crawls.


Natalie usually comes in to our bedroom in the morning and crawls into bed with us around 7:00. One morning she was in our bed and then she left. I finally woke up enough to get out of bed and came in the living room to find Natalie lying on the floor fast asleep, where she remained for another hour or so. Sheesh, you buy the kid a good bed and look.

Natalie sure loves her stuffed animals, especially her bears. Grandma Pratt gave these pink Easter bears to all the granddaughters a couple of years ago. Natalie attached herself to hers and won't go anywhere without it. That led to a not-so-pink bear. We thought, being the the resourceful parents we are, to round up the other pink bears given out to the other girls who don't use their bear. We got two more for Christmas, hoping to hide them and magically bring one out to replace the dirty old bear. Well Natalie found the new ones and exclaimed, "Look how pink!" and proceeded to kick them around the house. But now she plays with them all, but still carries her well loved bear everywhere we go. In case you can't see for yourself, her bear is third from the left. And yes, it's just been washed.