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Somebody Turned THREE!

Posted Friday, March 12th, 2010 by Mollie

Natalie had her birthday on March 1, after months of anticipation. Check out that straight-out-of-bed hair she is sporting on her birthday morning! Her special request was a donut for breakfast.

After breakfast we let her come out to the patio and find her gift, a playhouse. She and Ben love it and play very nicely together inside!

Three year olds are so much fun! Natalie has an amazing imagination. In this picture she is completely in her own world. That stick is actually a fishing pole and she is going to “catch a whopper” with it.

She is also becoming a great helper, happy to assist in any chore. The other day she climbed up on the counter and peeled two whole heads of garlic for me all on her own, which was actually extremely helpful to me through the following week!

Natalie started ballet classes back in January and is learning so much! It has been wonderful to see how well she listens to the teacher and participates in the class. As soon as she puts that outfit on, she is completely in character! Her first recital is coming up, so that should be quite entertaining!

I hope this gives you a little peek at what Natalie is like right now… she is so very lovable and we are looking forward to everything her next year holds!

Posted in Life & Times, Natalie | 6 Comments »

Kids At Play

Posted Friday, February 12th, 2010 by Mollie

Natalie and Ben are becoming fast friends… mostly. Ben adores his sister, but sometimes she gets frustrated trying to play with him. The other day I reminded her to be kind to Ben and not push him. She responded cheerfully, “I’m not pushing him, I just want to poke him in the eye!”

Don’t worry, this is a genuine hug happening!

The bathroom is Ben’s favorite playground, he takes every opportunity to sneak in. Tearing toilet paper into tiny pieces is actually one of his least mischievous bathroom activities.

Natalie and her girlfriends are already putting Ben to work and he is only too happy to help out! He is tiny but he can push them around in the little wagon.

Here’s just a cute one of Nata and her BFF Bekah cozied up watching a movie in my bed on a cold and rainy morning!

Posted in Benjamin, Life & Times, Natalie | 5 Comments »

Sunshine By The Slice

Posted Sunday, January 24th, 2010 by Mollie

I’m sure everyone knows by now that we got an entire week of rain last week. It’s not often that SoCal gets a storm like that, and we personally enjoyed it very much. The kids and I did end up feeling a little cabin fever by the end of the week. Going out in the rain is fun the first couple times but after a while it becomes annoying when you get soaked just trying to load the kids into the car! One day we had some particularly loud thunder, it was actually shaking our house. Natalie got a real kick out of that.

This recipe for Lemon-Vanilla Tart with Candied Lemon Slices was found in my Better Homes & Gardens magazine and promised to be “Sunshine by the Slice”. It was a nice treat in the middle of a very gray week. So good and tangy and simple, I highly recommend it. Though if I do it again I might try it with a different pastry, I like a thicker and sweeter crust.

Coloring is Natalie’s favorite rainy day activity. We went through an unbelievable amount of paper last week. She especially loves these princess coloring pages. She’s starting to get the concept of staying in the lines, but truly her favorite thing is watching ME color and directing me what to color next! Fortunately for her I think coloring is relaxing and I had extra time on my hands last week, so we had nice times together.

We have three rules about crayons:

1. No snapping crayons in half.

2. No tearing the paper off crayons.

3. No dropping crayons on the floor or Ben will eat them.

We make Natalie repeat them to us and it’s always so funny to hear her say them. She tends to forget numbers 1 and 2 (she seems to have an uncontrollable urge to do those things), but is VERY concerned about #3. “Ben will eat them ALL GONE!” she says. Yes, he really will.

Posted in In The Kitchen, Life & Times, Natalie | 6 Comments »

Mornings at Home

Posted Sunday, January 10th, 2010 by Mollie

Our mornings go by pretty quickly. One errand or activity, plus Ben’s nap, and suddenly it’s time for lunch. The mornings when we just stay home are always a nice break.

I drag Ben’s high chair into the middle of the kitchen so he can watch me cook and clean while he eats snacks or plays with toys.

Natalie hangs out at the table painting, coloring, or doing playdough. Or eating snacks. Did I mention how much my kids like to snack?

Not from the same day I but I wanted to show it anyway… they had so much fun discovering this new playhouse. They are playing together, or at least alongside each other, a lot these days!

My kitchen creation of the day was these red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting, from scratch of course. The frosting was rich but so yummy! I disapprove of store bought frosting (inherited that one from mom). The special occasion was having my girlfriends over for dinner. I made Fancy Macaroni (with 4 types of fancy cheeses) and it was a hit! Notice the empty plates.

Posted in Benjamin, In The Kitchen, Life & Times, Natalie | 3 Comments »

Natalie Meets Santa

Posted Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 by Mollie

This Christmas, it was really fun to see Natalie noticing and getting excited about all the various parts of the holiday season– last year she was just too young to put it all together. She can recount the Christmas story and sing Christmas songs. I think my favorite was today’s “Twelve Days of Christmas/Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” mashup– hilarious!! She loved driving around looking at lights, reading books, decorating, presents, reindeer, everything.

Every year at the McLaughlin family party there is a Santa, who hands out gifts that each parent brings for their own kids. In the future we plan on telling Natalie that Santa is not a real person but a fun tradition based on Saint Nicholas, however this year I don’t think she could quite comprehend that. In any case, she was SO EXCITED. I thought she was going to be too shy to go up and claim her gift, but no! She knew just what to do. Yes, her present was the strangest looking one. And no, its not a mop.

She loves her pony, who has gone through a variety of names, including Carol, Noni, Pink Mr. Ed, Rudolph and Pink Texas. Such typical Natalie.

Here’s all the McLaughlin cousins. Nata had such a fun time dancing and singing with the other little girls. She is very friendly and gets along easily. She was a little worried that the baby next to her was going to touch her stick pony, though, and kept inching away while we were taking pictures.

I think this is such a cute picture of Natalie with my sister Laura!

We came home late that night, and while we were putting Ben to bed, Natalie made up a little bed for herself and her pony on the couch. Isn’t that sweet?

Posted in Life & Times, Natalie | 1 Comment »