What's Miss Nat Reading?

 ...well, she's not really reading anything, but she has an opinion on what is read to her!

(this kid has an opinion on most everything nowadays!)

 

I thought I would try a little something different with this post. Natalie has really been showing favoritism with some of her books/toys lately. Thankfully they are all ones that I really enjoy reading & playing with as well hehe!

These books (& puzzle) are great b/c they are interactive, & she LOVES them!

 

I have no shame when it comes to making silly voices & funny faces to tell a story. I swear this kid gets me! Her & I can look at each other and just crack up laughing. She starts showing off & being a little ham everytime I get to Grandma's to pick her up!

What can I say, she gets it honest!

Here are some of our "don't leave the house," without books. I always toss one of these in the diaper bag if we go anywhere!  Sadly, I have them all memorized, so if I am driving I will just tell her the story & she will laugh along with me.

 

 

I will get started with this guy first. Her Granny & Opa got her this last Christmas. The big wooden knobs are perfect for those little hands, & she is slowly figuring out how to place them back in their slots. She enjoys hearing me make the animal noises more than anything. Again, no shame!

I can "QuAcK" like a duck, & "mOOO" like a cow with the best of 'em!

 

Now for the books!

A friend of ours got her this for her 1st birthday. It has really helped in her learning "touch!" Having her learn that has made it click for her when we tell her "no touch," when it's something no bueno...like mommy's chocolate dog food bowls!

 

She flips back to this page constantly b/c she we call the dog "Ribby," b/c he kind of looks like our own beagle boy! She adores her fur brothers!

This book tricked me. I didn't grow up reading this book (which makes me sad b/c little me would have loved it I'm sure.) I bought this at a T.J.MAXX for like 3$. It is a little hard back book. Pefect for crazy baby animals that like to chew on everything. However, I was ShOcKED! to find out that there is more to this book. I saw it at Target in a full paper back version & the story is crazy LONG! Ours just ends at **spoiler alert** when they chicka chicka BOOM BOOM fall outta the tree! Hmph! Now I have to get the big version too!

I picked this book up at a children's thrift store one day. I love Mermaids & I love that the last mermaid of the book has "red/orange" hair like my little Mermaid Natalie!
She loves touching all the mermaid's fancy accessories!

 

I will let this book speak for itself!! I believe they carry it at Target. We may be needing to purchase another one soon. Aunt April bought her this, & OH MY has it been LOVED!

 

(Side Note: Blue duct tape does not come with purchase!!)

 

 

I will end this post with the book we end every day with! A must have in every child's library! Thanks again Aunt April!

My sis bought me this book when she found out we were preggo!

It may need duct tape soon as well ;)

 

I hope if you don't have any of these books for your little ones that you definetely pick them up!

OH & please recommend any books that you think we will love! We are building our library up!

 

 

puzzle: Melissa & Doug

books: Baby's very first touchy-feely animals book by Stella Baggott

            Chicka Chicka ABC by Bill Martin Jr & John Archambault

            That's not my mermaid by  Fiona Watt

            Peek-a-Who by Nina Laden

            Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

           

 



LATA

ALLIGATA-

~MELISSA

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reindeer Games!

Every New Year is a New beginning, & what better way to wash away the past year of crazy than takin' a little POLAR PLUNGE in the Atlantic Ocean!

This will be our 3rd Annual Freezin' for Reason!

Kelly & I have dressed as Polar Bears the past 2 years, but we decided to switch it up.

 I found this adorbale "deer" make-up tutorial on pinterest/youtube.

Hopefully we accomplished this look somewhat!

 

Check it out below!

 

I absolutely HATE cold water, but this has been so much fun each year that I can't imagine us not doing it every JANUARY 1st!

 

I will let the pictures do the talkin' now!

 

 

 

 

 

OUR CLASSIC ACTION SHOT!

SLEEPY BABY W/ DIRTY FEET & SOME HUNGRY BUTTS BEHIND US! EEK!

 

 

& THEN THE PLUNGE!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

& THAT MY FRIENDS IS HOW IT'S DONE!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR YA'LL!

 

"CHEERS TO A NEW YEAR, & ANOTHER CHANCE FOR US TO GET IT RIGHT!"

-oprah winfrey

 

 

LATA ALLIGATA-

MELISSA~



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...is over!

Is it just me or do you get the post Christmas blues?!!

 

I will miss walking through the stores hearing the holiday music playing, seeing all the red & green, & watching all the helpless men looking lost as they try to figure out what to get their lady friends!

 

Now that the holidays have quickly passed, I can sit down and post a few pics of our mini-"staycation!"

 

Here are a few pics of our visit to Santa! It was a dream visit! Miss Natalie acted like she knew that old man forever! I WAS SHOCKED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

FLASHBACK: ANDY PANTS & NAT AT SANTA LAST YEAR!

(look at that little tongue hehe)

 

 

 

& Now Andy Pants & Nat this year!

 

 

 

Christmas morning was pefect. It was the three of us, & a few prezzies! It sometimes seems so surreal looking at these pictures that this is my life. When I was younger I always daydreamed about what my own family would look like, & to see this amazing little red-head with a personality that will knock your socks off is more than I could have ever dreamed about. I have a hubby that not only puts up with all my crazy, but is THE BEST father!

I am beyond blessed!

Here is few fun pictures from our morning!

 

 ANOTHER FLASHBACK OF MISS NATALIE'S 1ST CHRISTMAS FIRST!

 

 

 

 

 

PRESENTS!!

 

THIS IS THE LIGHT UP DO-DAD WE PUT IN HER STOCKING!

 

 

THIS WAS HER BABY STELLA WE GAVE HER. SHE HAS A MAGNETIC PACIFIER I KNEW NATALIE WOULD LOVE....& SHE DOES!

 

 

 

 

 

 

HER OPA, GRANNY, & AUNTIE KABOOM GOT HER THIS PHONE!

 SHE WAS VERY IMPRESSED!!

 

 

EVERY PRESENT SHE OPENED SHE RAN OFF WITH IT TO TAKE A LOOK AT IT ALONE. YOU WOULD THINK THIS KID HAD 5 OTHER SIBLINGS TRYING TO HIDE EVERYTHING!

 

 

THIS WAS HER DOING TWIRLS AFTER SHE OPENED EVERYTHING!

SHE WAS ON A CHRISTMAS HIGH!

 

 I've added a little video of our Christmas morning w/ Natalie. The beginning of the video is a quick snipit of her & Grandma (my momma) playing the piano!

ENJOY!

 

 

 

 

I hope everyone had a beautiful Christmas! I am getting together my New Years post & New Year resolutions! What's yours?!

 

 

 

LATA ALLIGATA,

 

MELISSA~



HAPPY DANCE!

I have really enjoyed starting this blog. I am still learning A LOT, but in the meantime I love using it as a journal. Or more like scrapbook without having to do all the cutting, gluing, placing of pictures, and & adding cute baubles.

That also left too big of a mess everytime I tried to drag my stuff out.

 

Tonight I let Natalie spoon feed herself.

This week, I swear, she has started using more words & really showing her BIG personality!
I LOVE IT!

 

Words she now says at almost 14months:

dada

mama

HI!

ball (over & over)

MOO

BAA

NEIGHHH

(are animal sounds considered words haha)

 

She says "itty" for RIBBY, our Beagle

 

I usually get called "itty" as well! Hmpf!

(unless she is saying Mommy is "itty bitty," well then that's ok)

 

& a couple of times she has said "tank you"

 

Here is the adorable video of her trying to spoon feed herself!

 

 

 

"Tank You",

Melissa-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Surprise Christmas Cake!

Just when I had chalked this lousy work day up as a loss,

there it was. Sitting on my doorstep. Waiting for me.

It seems a little early this year for it to be arriving, but I welcomed this little piece of happiness with open arms!

This is the 3rd year in a row we have received one of these 'Cakes by Jane."  We moved into our house in October & come December the first one of these suckers showed up!

Actually it showed up for the old home owners. I didn't know what to do with it.  So, we called our realtor to ask them what the previous owners would like.
 I just figured that they would come pick it up or something.
I felt bad that the old owners were missing out on this deliciousness!

Okay, I felt bad for like a day. The realtor told us the owners said not to worry about it and enjoy it.
It looks like they belong to some type of association that sends them out each year.  

Now here we are three years later & we are still receiving it. I always forget about it until it shows up.

Mmmmmhmmmm! Get in my Belly!

This year we will be trying out the Chocolate Cream Cheese PoudCake!

This has now become a little holiday tradition that always gives us a good laugh! How long will this go on? I mean at this point if the previous owners really missed their cake they would call the company right? 

I guess until then, we will make sure it get's well taken care of...

Merry Christmas to Meee!

UPDATE: I JUST HAD A SLICE & BIT INTO A PIECE OF EGGSHELL...

CAKE KARMA...?!!?

 

LATA ALLIGATA-

MELISSA-

MistleTOES!

 

I am completely positive I am not the only one out there that is addicted to Pinterest. Poor Andy Pants is constantly being dragged into my next "project." "Please cut this, build that...etc," he is such a great sport. 
Honestly, I think he just enjoys using his power tools.

Anywhoo, I knew right now would be my best chance to get some of the pins done that require Natalie's little feet or hand prints. She has the perfect tiny little feet to use for "paint your own pottery!"

These plates and bowl I painted will look familiar if you 

are a frequent "pinner' like muah! 

I just HAD to do them, & I think they turned out fabulous if I do say so myself! 

My new Halloween Candy Dish! 

Little Witch Feet!

The sides of the bowl say, "Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet" 

 

 

This is my new Christmas Cookie Plate....hopefully it's not weird to serve Christmas treats on my kids green toes! HA! HA! HA! HO! HO! HO!

Here is Natalie admiring her work!

 

 

This is the other plate I made for my step-mother for her birthday! She loves Christmas & she can't pass up a cute Holiday Moose! So we made her this one!

( I forgot to take a pic of this plate before I gave it to her...I stole this one from her FB page)

 

 

The only thing I was disappointed about with this one is the blue eyes didn't turn out as blue as I had hoped for. I still think it's pretty stinkin' cute though!

You are never quite sure how the colors will turn out when you are working on these types of projects. Below are pics of the plates before they had been glazed & fired. Every bit of color on the plate is actually 3 coats!  I was a bit of a Grinch by the time I was done....patience isn't my best quality somedays.

 

If you are wondering how I got those perfect prints of Miss Natalie's little tootsies....well, I waited for her to have sugar plums dancing in her head. :) If you decide to do something like this ask if you can take some paint home with you so you can work on it. It was so nice to not feel rushed. I also had this fear of her running around the studio kicking her green feet all over their walls!

 

I know there will be plenty more holiday projects in our future!

Maybe Natalie will even be awake for the next one :)

 

 

LATA ALLIGATA-

MELISSA

 

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

So, did ya'll gobble 'till ya wobbled?!

I hope everyone had a wonderful turkey day!

We really enjoyed ourselves. My mom always out does herself with all the fixin's. We went to my grandparents house that was an hour away for the day. My grandmother is having some health issues, so it was much easier for us to all come to her this year. I took some photos of Miss Natalie throughout the day, but it was actually a lot easier to just whip the flipcam out and video her.

She is a quick lil' thing nowadays! Much easier to just film her sometimes.

 

Enjoy the pictures & please check out the video at the end as well. The video is clips throughout the day & at the end is me gearing up for some black friday madness & also I show you all the goodies I picked up!

We had a great 4 day weekend in all. Natalie even got to help us pick out our Christmas tree at the tree farm. Ok, she slept during the actual cutting of the tree but she was there in her dreams :)

I am in the process of editing those pics/video now.

 

 

My Thanksgiving Turkey Bunny!

Silly Kids!

She was too excited about those sticks!

trying on momma's jewelry

Walking through the grapevines.

"You better watch my video," she says!

(I LAUGH EVERYTIME I SEE THE THUMBNAIL TO THIS VIDEO! MY FACE=HAHA)


LATA ALLIGATA-
MELISSA