GO STEELERS!!

What's Happening?!?

This morning I woke up in an alternate universe. It is an unsettling feeling, to be sure. I went to bed last night the mother of two small children...and this morning I rose to discover that in this strange and terrifying new realm...I have a daughter in Kindergarten. Someone, please, pinch me. Where is the fat little baby who was here what seems like MOMENTS ago?! Surely this is not her, showing off her adorable little "First Day of School" outfit?
I had to RUN to keep up with her. We had been to Open House the night before and she knew exactly where she was going.

This is her teacher, Ms. Lena.

It turns out that Baby knows two of the other kids in her class (from the childcare at the gym.) This little guy is Jarrett, who is only one month older than Natalie, and they have been playing together at the gym since they were babies.
She had an absolute blast and told me all about it all the way home (class is from 8:30am to 12:30pm.)
And this is what happens to a little girl who has had a very, very big day. We are so proud of our little Baby Bug.

The first thing she asked when she woke up was, "Mom, was it dark?" Meaning, did I sleep all night? Is it time for school again?

Madeline's Bday, Reprise

More pictures from Madeline's 4th Birthday! I uploaded these from the camera that day, but once you do that, unless you edit them and save them in a new folder right away, you can't find them again until the next time you upload pics from your camera. It's a complicated story, but let me sum it up in two words: VISTA SUCKS.

So here's the birthday girl herself, opening presents:



....trying on her new Fairy Princess outfit...
....and blowing out the candles on her cake, all of which she carefully placed herself.

I'm amazed that my baby is 4. And I was thinking, if Baby starts kindergarden this year, Rooney will turn 5 next summer, so they will only be one year apart in school. One more year and both my kids will be in school. Crazy.

Madeline's Birthday

Miss Madeline turned 4 on July 23rd!! We celebrated with some friends who have a little girl (Khila) who has the same birthday, but is one year older. Look at this gorgeous cake!! Khila's mom, Christi, even got Madeline's nickname right.

Beautiful Birthday Girls!!

Is there anything cuter than a 2-yr-old eating birthday cake? We were at Leia Taylor's house, and this is her little girl, whose name is also Natalie.

Man, that cake was GOOD. I had like 3 pieces. MMmmmmm.

Frosting on your nose. That's how you know the cake was amazing!!

Duck Tales

Look how big our feathered friends have gotten!! They are going to be full-grown in less than 2 weeks. Their wings are starting to develop and soon they will be able to fly. They are sweet little things and I hate to see them go, I really do. Plus heaven knows what Jesse will bring home next, when Baby starts feeling sad and wishing she had a pet again. I don't want to pull down the driveway and see an Alpaca tied to a tree.

Well, folks, it has been a wonderful break, but as of this weekend, I have re-opened the store. Ye Olde Weblog may suffer some neglect in the weeks to come. If I don't post for a while, it is because I am making cakes around the clock again, so I may have to go back to the occasional post when something more exciting than a day that ends in 'y' takes place around here, which is about all the reason I've needed to post lately.

The Big Guy

Isn't he pretty? Despite his being a colossal pain in the heiny *most* of the time, I do love the dog. Except when he wakes me up by barfing in a corner of my bedroom, barks at the UPS driver so adamantly that he moves the entire rug, desk, and my laptop, tears through the office and catches my laptop cord, pulling it off the desk, walks through the house with an entire sofa cushion in his mouth, pulls the railing off the deck because his leader caught on it while he was after a bunny, poops on the driveway because the grass was just a little high for his taste (hey, who likes to be tickled while they poop?), insists on using the sink as his own personal drinking fountain while I'm trying to brush my teeth, and leaves what can only be described as "egg white slime" by the gallon on my kitchen floor when he drinks from his water bowl.

Prepare to be cultured....

Yesterday was Jesse's birthday, and I got him an Espresso machine. We both have rather a lot of energy this morning! >:} So, speaking of high energy, here you go - this is just for fun - turn up your speakers and get ready to smile. A lot.

Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaw!

We attended a local rodeo a couple of nights ago and it was so much fun! They had a petting zoo, pony rides, giant inflatable slides, and of course....ice cream. The girls were in heaven. The Saddle Club puts on the rodeo every year, but this is the first year they were really old enough to enjoy it. We definitely won't ever miss it again. It was about 137 degrees out and it had just rained a few hours earlier. Ew.

I think the pony rides were the highlight of the evening, for sure. The girls could not stop smiling. Jesse was awesome trying to distract the guy running the ride with conversation so the girls could ride for a few extra minutes.



The actual rodeo was under a pavilion and it was very dark under there - I couldn't get my camera to get a very good shot of the shows, but there were cowboys riding bulls (for a second at least, until they got thrown to kingdom come,) cowboys roping and hog-tying calves, and all the usual goofy rodeo clowns telling jokes that weren't funny between shows. The shot below is of the 'kid rodeo.' They got ALL the kids out in the pen (like 150 of them), and then tied a flag to two little cows tails. Then it was, "On your mark, get set, GO!" and all 150 kids chased the cows all over the rodeo pen trying to get the flags off their tails. It was pretty funny. If you look carefully at this picture, you can see kids falling all over each other chasing one of the cows.
Daddy and Rooney watching the bull rides, or at least Daddy is watching the bull rides, and Rooney is engrossed in an ice cream sandwich.
The same people who brought the ponies brought a camel! We skipped the camel ride though. Maybe next year.
The girls did the giant slides over and over. I was so proud of Miss Madeline, who climbed all the way to the top of this 20 foot slide all by herself.
You know you are in the South when this is what you see by the sign at the slide entrance that says, "Please take off your shoes."

La-Z-Ben

Some things start off innocently enough. Who turns down a little belly scratchin'?
And then again, sometimes you pay the price for letting your guard down.

On an adorable side note, here are the girls with their makeshift microphones, singing along with Todd Agnew's "Grace Like Rain." Play the song below to get the full effect. :)