Two Geeks And a Girl

Chemo day two update

2012-01-26T12:10:00.000-06:00

I'm thru the first 24 hrs of chemo.

First they had to access my port. The nurse was great and did an awesome job. My port is sitting a little deeper than apparently is usual, so she went with a little longer needle, a one and a quarter inch needle. Unfortunately that wasn't quite long enough, so she had to do it again with a 1 and a half inch long needle. Not the most comfortable thing in the world, but in the big scheme of things not that big of a deal. And once the connection was made, it really was quite comfortable.

The first part wasn't that bad. They started out with the steroids and the anti-nausia drugs. The steroids quickly made me feel like I had just downed 10 cups of coffee. Karsten came to visit me during his lunch break, and he said I was talking pretty fast as well.

Then on to the good stuff. The first three rounds of chemo will each consist of three different drugs. Two of them come in big syringes that the nurse hooks up to the lines close to the port. Since it's not that good for the veins, they do it in a special way. They pull back a little, so some of my blood can mix in with the medication, then they push the mix in, and follow with a flush of saline. Rinse, lather, repeat... The last one is in a regular bag and is administered over an hour.

Then I got to go home, and to be honest I felt pretty great. I did the laundry, loaded the dishwasher, cleaned the micro wave, cleaned the silverware drawers, and cleaned the fridge, all in the hour before Natalie came home!

The steroids seemed to wear off slowly over the evening. Natalie and I spent most of the evening watching a movie on the couch, just cuddled up. Of course, I had checked with the doctors before hand, and it's perfectly save for her to be around me after chemo, I cannot transfer the medication to her by touch. I'm so grateful for that.

Later in the evening, the steroids wore off completely, and it was a bit like hitting a brick wall. I was very tired, and had quite a bit of nausea. In general, I think it felt like a good size hangover, though it's been a while since I had one of those! Luckily, it was time for my next round of anti-nausea medication, which helped a little bit.

This morning, I went back to bed after Natalie and Karsten left, and got a couple of extra hours of sleep. This morning I'm feeling pretty good, except that I'm not interested in eating at all (which is a first for me!). I'm also a bit tired, but really not that bad at all. So far, so good!

This afternoon I'm going back to the clinic to get a shot that will boost my immune system. After that, my next appointment is in a week to check my blood counts. Other than that, I'm just hanging out at home for a while. I've been warned that the weekend might be a little rough, I guess we'll see. I've got some pretty good meds to help me out, so I'm not too worried.

Chemo

2012-01-25T12:38:00.001-06:00

Karen is having her first round of chemo today and I went over my lunch break to spend the time with her.

She is just getting started and is just getting the medications she need prior to the chemo drugs now.

They will be starting the first of the trio of drugs in just a few minutes.
It will be interesting to see how she responds to the therapy.
Based on the nurse it sounds like she will not really feel any side effects until this weekend or so. Then the biggest risk is actually about a week to a week and a half after the treatment as her blood count and immune system will be at its lowest.

A week in review

2012-01-21T20:18:00.001-06:00

Wow, where did the week go? I guess it's a full time job being sick...

As the previous post said, I was back at the plastic surgeon on Monday. There was some liquid collecting under the skin on my right side after they took my last drains out on Friday. So, they did a one-time draining, which basically means they take a big needle and suck out the extra fluid.

Then I went home and tried to not do too much, and put something cold on it, and waited. The fluid did come back, but over the next couple of days it seemed to get absorbed again. So by now, that issue seems to be resolved.

Then on Wednesday, I had a couple of appointments. One was the "chemo-teach". It was an hour spent with a nurse, going thru the different chemo drugs, how they are administered, what side effects they have, what to do about the side effect, etc. In general, what to expect when you are on chemo. Really interesting, I feel much better prepared now. And, we scheduled my first chemo appointment for Wednesday next week. I'll have a total of six treatments with three weeks between each. The first three cycles include three different chemo drugs, the last three are only one (different) drug.

The second class on Wednesday was called "Look good, feel better", and was put on by the American Cancer Society. Great class! I learned a lot about skincare for chemo patients, and about how to maintain a wig, and how (and where) to paint your eyebrows if you loose them. Lots of information that I would not even have thought about before.

Then Friday I went back to the plastic surgeon. As mentioned, the collected liquid is starting to be absorbed and is no longer much of a concern. There were a couple of other little concerns, though. On the right side, there is an area that is healing slower than the rest. We've known from the beginning that that would probably be the most problematic area. It has something with how the blood supply to the skin is in that area, which they measured during my surgery. Not a huge concern, but enough that the plastic surgeon didn't want to give me a fill on that side so that we don't stretch the skin in that area right now. On the left side, the plastic surgeon was also a bit concerned. He thought I might have a small leak. I had to bite my tongue when he said that, all I could think of was this episode of Will and Grace:

(Scroll to time index 09:50 to see what I mean...)

So, the plastic surgeon gave me a fill on the left side only, so that he thought the two sides were about the same size. I can't really feel if it is leaking. It's just saline, so the liquid will be absorbed by my body if there is a leak. I think it is a very slow leak if it is there. Anyway, I'll be going back to the plastic surgeon on Wednesday morning (before the chemo) so he can evaluate. I guess we'll just wait and see.

In other news, I started fighting off a cold on Friday afternoon. I guess it's better to do that now than in a few weeks... So, for now I'm off to the couch with a warm cup of coffee!

Have a great weekend!

Back to the plastic surgeon

2012-01-16T13:01:00.001-06:00

Karen is going in to the plastic surgeon again today. She is having some liquid from the drainage accumulating under the skin. It just does not feel right so she is going in to get it checked out and probably drained.
Hopefully they can just do a one time drainage so he doesn't have to get drains put in again.
It sounds weird but she is wanting to get going on the chemo but she cannot get started if she has drains.
Her approach is that the sooner she gets started the sooner she will be done.
Updates to follow once she comes back from the doctor.

No tubes and stitches - means we can hug

2012-01-13T17:28:00.001-06:00

This is what Karen has been looking forward to for weeks:

You have me in stitches - no more

2012-01-13T15:47:00.003-06:00

We just got back for today's round of doctor visits.
It seems like it is a full time job being sick !

First we went to the plastic surgeon.
Everything is still looking good. He did take out the stitches from the surgery which is a good step in the right direction. Even better though he took out the drains.
One was still draining quite a bit but he is more concerned about the risk of infection by having them in for such an extended time, so he decided to take them out. Hopefully the liquid will not accumulate under the skin.
We will be going there again next Friday so he can check up on it to make sure everything is working out on this.

Karen also got her next "top off" so she now has approx. 540 cc in each side - this is a definite B size. The target is to get close to 800 cc before they will do the permanent implants - or something in the range a C size. The 800 cc is the upper limit for what they will do on a reconstruction, but it is a very appropriate size for Karen's frame.

Karen has to take it a bit easy over the next two days to make sure the drain sites close up properly and to minimize the amount of liquid collecting in the wound site.
But she is just ecstatic about having the drains out.
The first new task she can do without drains - give Natalie a big hug.
Karen is all smiles looking forward to Natalie coming home from Daycare.
- and being able to get a real shower doesn't sound too bad to her either.

PET scan results - good news all around - straight from Star Trek

2012-01-13T06:00:00.001-06:00

Karen had a PET scan this Tuesday.
She was pretty nervous about it as it is a test that will determine if there are any areas of cancers anywhere else in here body.
Let me first share that she did not have any areas of concern which is great news.
Secondly - this test is about as close to the Star Trek Science as I can imagine.

The test is done by injecting a radioactive compound that is tied to a sugar-like molecule into the bloodstream. It is a very low dose of radioactivity and it has a half life of only 4 hours or so.
Nonetheless they needed a full history of the amount of X-rays Karen has had over the last many years to ensure that her total radiation dose does not exceed a safe amount.

Unfortunately I was not able to accompany Karen on this test but her description was very detailed. The radioactive compound comes in a syringe that is safely stored inside a large, lined metal can. I know that this is more for the safety of the workers that work with this every day, but it is still pretty cool.
After they injected it, Karen was placed in a small room with dimmed light. She now had to sit absolutely still for about an hour. No reading, no moving, no music - just her and her thoughts. Wish I could have listened in on those !
This is done to ensure that the radioactive compound is preferentially absorbed in the cells that are the most active - this is typically the cancer cells. If she would move around or watch TV the normal activity of the cells would skew the results.
When the hour was up she was literally strapped to a board to avoid any movement and then put in a machine similar to a CT scanner. This took about 1/2 hour and they did a scan from the knees to her head. I am glad she is not really claustrophobic.

We went to the oncologist the day after to get the results of this test as well as the results from the genetic testing.
The PET scan as mentioned was clean for cancer but the amazing thing is that it identified any areas that have higher than usual cellular activity. So the notes described:

An impacted molar
Slight sinus infection
The incision from the surgery

Now I think that is straight out of a Sci-Fi. Get one scan done and it will tell you (almost) everything that may be wrong.

I am sure this test is not quite recommended as a pure preventive measure though. Even though it is a small dose of radioactivity Karen was told to stay at least 3' away from small children for 24 hours and warned not to fly or use public transportation in the same period. Apparently some of the very sensitive instruments at some airports can detect the radiation from the compound as it breaks down which could be mistaken for someone trying to bring radioactive materials.
So I had a good Daddy Evening with Natalie since Karen couldn't be near her.

Anyway due to Karen still having 2 drains from her surgery and because there were no defined areas of cancer on the scan it was decided to postpone the start of the chemo until the drains were out. So for now she is tentatively scheduled to start on 1/23 with chemo but it may even be pushed to 1/30.

Now tomorrow is a visit with plastic surgeon to remove the stitches and get the expanders "topped off". He will likely not take the drains out yet as they are still drawing quite a bit of liquid out. I know Karen is really looking forward to getting them out though.

Another update

2012-01-12T14:40:00.000-06:00

Hi Folks, Karen here. I'm baaack...

Actually, I'm sitting at home "focusing on healing", which means being as lazy as I can. Which isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds... Anyway, I thought I'd give you a quick update, so here goes:

I had a couple of tests over the last week or so. A test checking my heart, since some of the chemo drugs can affect the heart. Good news, the test showed that my heart is perfectly normal. I also had a PET scan, which is basically a full body scan to check if the cancer had spread anywhere else. Good news, the test didn't find any other cancer (though it did find that I apparently have a little bit of a sinus infection... wow, I'm kinda impressed with that amount of detail.)

We met with the oncologist yesterday. They want me to heal at least four weeks before I start chemo, so that means the earliest we can start is the 23rd. But I also have to have the drains out before we can start. And even though the plastic surgeon said they might be ready to come out when I meet with him tomorrow, I'm not so sure that's going to happen (they are still draining quite a bit). So, realistically, I might not start chemo until the 30th.

So, I'm actually just walking around trying to heal. I'm not on any painkillers and feel perfectly fine, apart from the drains being in the way, having to be careful not to reach too far, lift too much, etc. I'm reading a lot of books, watching a lot of TV and movies, and surfing the net. I'll probably even start updating this blog again with post that are not all cancer related!

Houston we have b@@bs - well at least a good beginning

2012-01-06T21:15:00.004-06:00

It has been a whirlwind of doctor visits, checkups and discussions here in the new year.
We have been at the plastic surgeon twice and Karen went to the cardiologist to get an EKG to get a baseline of her heart before she starts chemo.

Karen is up and moving around and is able to drive herself now. This gives her a lot more freedom now that I am back to working and she can get around to some of the doctor visits by herself.

Today we had our 2nd visit at the plastic surgeon and I joined as this was the first time they injected additional saline into the expanders for the breast reconstruction.
It actually went very quickly and we were surprised how simple and relatively crude a process it was.
They simply numb the skin above the the breast with a small shot and then they pulled out this cartoon size 60 mL syringe and needle. The expanders has a metal piece as part of the valve. They move a small magnet over the breast to find the valve and marks it with a pen. They then insert the needle in through the skin into the valve of the expanders and inject the saline. They put in about 120 mL in each breast which is in addition to the original 300 mL in there from the surgery.
The whole process only took about 5 min or so only and Karen went from a small A cup to something like a small B.
She is doing pretty good even though the injections does give some uncomfortable pressure on the skin and chest muscles. And I think we are both pleased to see that the process is working and the reconstruction is starting to take shape.

Karen will be in at the plastic surgeon again next week to get her next fill. That may be the last fill for now until the chemo is over - we don't really know how they do this as they normally try to be very careful about anything that may cause infection while she is on the chemo treatment.

Progress

2011-12-31T06:44:00.001-06:00

We had the first appointment with the plastic surgeon Thursday.
Everything looked good with the incisions and he was able to remove 2 of the 4 drains.
Karen was so happy as the two drains they removed had been really uncomfortable for her and prevented her from a good sleep.
She is now able to lay down in be and she actually slept through the night - completely forgetting the pain medication. So I take that as a good sign of her making progress.

It will probably be two more weeks before they can remove the two raining drains which will really make things easier. Right now Karen has to be careful around everything I make sure she doesn't pull on the tubes or stretch too much.

Anyway good progress all around so we should have a good new years eve although I doubt we will make it through midnight. A happy new year to all of you too.

Family picture

2011-12-30T07:54:00.001-06:00

Natalie brought home a family picture yesterday. Based on the hair style it is pretty easy to guess who is who.
Karen is wondering how that will change as the chemo will make her lose her hair.
It is a cute little family and we sure enjoy our time together.

I think we dodged a bullet

2011-12-27T21:59:00.001-06:00

We just got verbal results back from the surgeon about the pathology of the tissue they removed from Karen.
As the initial results indicated there was no cancerous tissue in the lymph nodes or in the left breast.
However the tumor in the right breast was measured at 3 cm. The initial MRI and ultrasound showed 0.7 cm.
We do not know yet if this is due to uncertainty in the measuring or if the tumor really grew that much in a month.
It is pretty scary if it grew that fast and we are glad that we moved on it early. The scary thing is that Karen was actually about 2 months late on getting the MRI. If she had been on time they would likely not have detected the tumor and it would have had a whole year to grow.
I guess procrastinating does some times pay off :-)
Officially the cancer got classified as stage T2A due to the tumor size.

On the good news side Karen is off the heavy duty pain killers which seems to have eliminated the nausea and she also seems to have a bit more energy.
She got her first sponge bath and her hair washed today. Yes, it did end with water all over the bathroom and me more wet than her as she still has to keep all the incisions dry. But I think she really appreciate the simple things now and I enjoyed being able to doing something good for her.

We actually managed to go to Walmart yesterday as Natalie wanted to spend some of her savings and Christmas money. Karen was in the electric cart and did OK. She was exhausted afterwards though.

Anyway doctor visit is on the 29th we hope that 2 of the 4 drains can come out by then as they ate not really doing anything. They are starting to be really itchy and Karen can't wait to get rid of them.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T12:21:00.003-06:00

No pictures this time - no need need for pictures of Karen sleeping :-)

We had a pretty good Christmas eve and morning here. Karen is still struggling with some significant pain and only heavy duty drugs will help her. Unfortunately that also makes her really nauseous so she got some more medication to counteract that.
When she is not sleeping she is actually doing pretty good as long as she gets the pain killers. She is taking some every 4 hours and overnight we both slept through it until 4 AM. She was one hurting woman at that time, but after the next does kicked in, she was OK.

This was also about the time that Natalie woke up. She was so excited about Christmas morning that she just couldn't wait any longer. Which is kind of fun since she got most of her presents yesterday evening and she does not believe in Santa. At least not really, but I think she still likes the tradition of it and she was excited to see what he left under the tree and and in her Christmas stockings.

So it has been an early morning for all of us and Karen and Natalie are taking a nap now. That gives me a little chance to catch up around the house and maybe actually sit down for a little bit.

Just wanted to give an update - everything is progressing as expected although it is quite a realization of how tough this is. It will be easier when Natalie is in daycare a couple of days next week so I can take care of Karen and still get the house tasks taken care of.

Thank you to all our friend and colleagues

2011-12-23T12:49:00.001-06:00

The get well cards and nice baskets keep coming in.
Thank you all for your support and kind words.
We truly appreciate all your support and friendship.

Thank you Daycare

2011-12-22T13:26:00.001-06:00

We just got this one delivered.
We were rather surprised that it was from the staff at Natalie's daycare.

It is just too cute. I am sure Natalie will love it too.

Thank you so much - this really made Karens day.

Home sweet home !

2011-12-22T13:02:00.001-06:00

Karen was released from the hospital this morning and we are now home.

She found it pretty exhausting to go on the car ride home but she is doing better after some lunch.

We are picking up Natalie this afternoon and I know that Karen is looking forward to it even though she is also a little nervous about it. We hope that Natalie can be careful and not jump up to Karen.
We will have to be close to her until she learns it.

Anyway it is great to come home although I am sure my cooking does not quite compare to the hospital. But we will do our best and get through it.

Karen still has some significant pain but she is actually progressing pretty fast so far. She is able to get out of the chair herself and could even make it to the bathroom and back with minimal help.

Food !!

2011-12-21T12:21:00.001-06:00

Karen is up now and moved at least over to the recliner.
She did not really know if she was hungry so for lunch she just ordered about one of everything.
She is picking away at it but we have determined that she is in the Goldilocks stage. One thing is too salty the other is too sour. So it is really water and bread that works the best so far.

The goal for today is to get her up and move around down the hallway. It seems a little ambitious right now but rumor has it that Karen is a wee bit stubborn. So if she believes in that goal she will make it.

Morning after

2011-12-21T08:20:00.001-06:00

Well this is the morning after.
I think Karen also feels like the morning after too.
Everything went OK over night but it was still somewhat rough. Due to the late time we were up here there were checkups every two hour until 3 AM.

Karen managed to get up at 2AM for the first time to go to the bathroom. It was about a 1/2 hour project for 10 feet. It helped after she got some medications for nausea and this morning it only took a few minutes.

The plastic surgeon just stopped by and checked her out. Early to say but so far it all looks good. He was able to put in 300cc in each expander to start the reconstruction. I know Karen appreciates that as it is the first step on a long path.

The biggest issue for now is pain management. Karen is on the morphine drip that is self administered which means that she has to push a button when she needs it. It works good when she is awake but sleeping she kind of falls behind and wakes up with some serious pain. Once she starts eating they can give her some longer lasting oral medication.

The surgeon also confirmed that it will be a Thursday discharge as it would be too early this morning.

Thanks to all for the outpouring of support - we are truly grateful.

She is awake !!

2011-12-20T20:51:00.001-06:00

Karen is starting to be more coherent now and is starting to drink water.
It will be a while before she eats a steak dinner but we will take it a little at a time.
As mentioned earlier everything went good with the surgery but Karen is in a good bit of pain right now.
She has the morphine dispenser with the push button and it seems to manage it OK.

I will be staying with her overnight in the room here.

All done - waiting for Karen to wake up in the recovery

2011-12-20T18:01:00.001-06:00

All done !!!
Just talked to the plastic surgeon.
Everything went pretty much by the book and they got the expanders inserted.
They also used a pretty cool piece of equipment that measures the blood flow in the skin to ensure proper healing. Everything looks good on that front too.
Karen will have 4 drains to deal with for the next few weeks to help keep the wound clean and reduce the liquid buildup.
I have not been allowed to see her yet as she is in recovery but once she wakes up should be allowed in.
At this point it looks like a Thursday discharge from the hospital since the surgery brought us into the evening.
Rather stay a day longer if needed so she can get the best possible care until everything is stable.

One more hour to go

2011-12-20T17:11:00.001-06:00

Just met with the surgeon that did the initial work for the cancer removal.
All the lymph node tests came back negative bases on a sampling of one on the left and three on the right (the cancer side)

So he is done for the day and now we are just waiting for the plastic surgeon to finish up. He has already closed one side so there is one to go.

Everything is progressing according to plan so far. Hopefully or will continue to do so during the long road of recovery ahead.

Good news in all of this

2011-12-20T13:56:00.001-06:00

Test came back already from the initial lymph node biopsy - it is negative for cancer on the right side which is the side with the tumor.
This is an initial result and it will have to be confirmed with a more thorough lab test after the surgery but it is a very good indication.
This is what we were hoping for and one of the reasons we rushed to get the surgery done as soon as possible.

Update: the left side is clear too which is great news. This will leave many of the lymph nodes intact and hopefully reduce the risks and discomforts that often arise when the lymph nodes are removed.

Going into surgery

2011-12-20T13:28:00.001-06:00

Karen got wheeled into surgery around 12:30 PM.
Now it is just waiting for me. I still need to be around just case there are any issues that require decisions to be made. But at least I can go to the cafe and get some lunch.
The estimated procedure time is around 6 hours.
Thankfully there is a good wifi connection and Hulu.com has enough to keep me entertained - at least for a while.
I should be getting an update about halfway through the procedure. The biggest concern is to get the results of the lymph node biopsy - hope it has not spread outside of the breast tissue.

When all the tissue is removed they will change surgeons to let a plastic surgeon start the reconstruction. I am hoping to talk to the first surgeon once he is done.

At the hospital waiting

2011-12-20T08:11:00.001-06:00

Got to the hospital this morning and got all checked in.
Now we are just waiting for the nuclear department to be ready for us.
They will inject a low dose radioactive chemical that will concentrate in the lymph nodes. This enables the surgeons to identify them in the operating room.

Lots of paperwork and needle poking so far. Can't believe that surgery is not until noon. Wonder what we will all be doing until then.

Cancer

2011-12-16T21:29:00.002-06:00

I (Karen) have breast cancer.

I will be just fine.

Here’s a little more info:

For those of you that do not know my family history, well, let’s just say it’s not pretty when it comes to cancer. All of the women on my mom’s side of the family have had breast cancer or ovarian cancer or both, usually at a rather young age.

Because of the family history, I’ve been having yearly mammograms since I was 26. Last year the mammogram showed a “dense area” on the left side. We did a biopsy and found that it was benign, just some fibrous tissue. To be extra sure, and to have a baseline, we did an MRI.

This year, we skipped the mammogram and went straight to the MRI. My family doctor called me with the results. There was a mass on the right side of about 7 mm that was “indicative of malignancy”. So, off to another needle biopsy.

We got the results of the biopsy on Tuesday, Dec. 6. It is cancerous. We met with the surgeon on Friday the 9th, and he went over the pathology report. It showed that – based on the needle biopsy – it hasn’t spread to the lymph nodes yet. Of course, we cannot know for sure based only on the needle biopsy, but that is good news. And as the surgeon said, that was about the only good news on that piece of paper. Some of the things they look for are three different receptors for various hormones. My cancer doesn’t have any of those, in other words it’s “triple negative”. That’s not very good news, since it cannot be treated with hormone therapy, and this type of cancer often is somewhat faster growing than others. In other words, it is a rather aggressive form of cancer.

On to meetings with a plastic surgeon for reconstruction, an oncologist, etc. To make a long story short, here is the plan: I’ll go in for surgery on Tuesday the 20. It will be a double mastectomy with placement of a port (we’ve jokingly dubbed it the USB port) that will make it easier to get chemo afterwards. They will also do a procedure where they trace the lymphnodes to the nearest one under my arm that could get infected. Based on this procedure, they will remove tissue under my arm if it is needed.

At the surgery, the plastic surgeon will put in what they call “expanders” under the chest muscle. These will then be expanded with saline over time to create more skin and muscle, so that there is a place for the permanent saline or silicone implants later down the road.

I’ll have four weeks to heal, then the chemo will begin. It will be six cycles with three weeks between each treatment, for a total of 18 weeks.

So, that’s the somewhat short version of a long story. We’ll post more details as we go along, and we’ll post updates after surgery etc. on this website, too. Since I expect to be “out of service” for the first few days Karsten will make a few update posts for a change.

So in all this tumultuous time we find that we’re doing okay. We can handle this.

We’ve had a huge outpouring of support, and for that we are truly grateful.

Stay tuned…

A picture walk

2011-12-14T16:03:00.000-06:00

On a beautiful fall evening, Natalie and I went on a picture walk. We both brought our cameras:

Master photographer at work

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Mommy's flower picture

Natalie's flower picture

Mommy's sunset picture

Natalie's sunset picture

I don't know what these things are called, but they look really pretty.

My favorite picture of the day. Such a cute little explorer.

Natalie wants candy...

2011-12-13T22:47:00.000-06:00

I think this is one of Natalie's favorite Halloween songs:

Come to think of it, after this video, I think it's one of my favorites, too...

Just wish I had that kind of energy!

Pink hair(pretties)

2011-12-12T22:46:00.000-06:00

Natalie had Pink Day at school. Of course, she had to have pink hair pretties to match her outfit! We put as many in her hair as we could - I think there were close to twenty!

Pink hair pretties - you can never have too many!

A kitty cat

2011-12-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

Natalie and I made a puppet theater out of a box, and we made our own puppets. Here's Natalie's - she made it all by herself!

Natalie's puppet - a cat!

Mommy's kitchen helper

2011-12-10T11:33:00.000-06:00

Natalie is such a good helper. I recently got her a kitchen knife, just for her. It's plastic and not all that sharp, but it works great for softer things such as watermelon and cooked beans:

Helping Mommy cook.

Natalie's teddybear

2011-12-09T22:43:00.000-06:00

Early in the school year (sometime in September), Natalie had to bring her favorite stuffed animal to school. Here's what she picked:

Natalie's teddy bear.

At school, she had to draw a picture of the teddybear. I was so impressed with how accurate she drew it - I can definitely see the resemblance:

Natalie's drawing of her teddy bear.

Artwork on the easel

2011-12-08T22:42:00.000-06:00

Natalie uses her easel a lot..

... Look at all these people - and they are all so smiley!

Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

2011-12-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

It's nice to have a safe haven where you can just cuddle up and sleep!

The beehive

2011-12-06T11:15:00.000-06:00

Here's one of Natalie's latest creations:

Natalie found a wooden bead that looks just like a beehive. So, she glued it to a piece of paper and drew bees all around it!

Hide and seek

2011-12-06T11:06:00.000-06:00

Wonder who's hiding in the fridge...

Quarry Quest

2011-12-05T22:39:00.000-06:00

This fall, we went to "Quarry Quest" with Natalie. It is a kid's event that takes place in a real, working quarry.

Natalie got to run the big backhoe!

Natalie loved making the tubes fit together. It was like a big puzzle.

Digging in the sand was awesome...

... And look what we found: (Fools) gold (pyrite)!

A new artcenter

2011-12-04T22:38:00.000-06:00

Natalie really enjoys doing artwork. She had more or less taken over any horizontal surface in the house. So, in order to reclaim our dining room table, we set up a new artcenter for her:

A Natalie sized table right in front of the window, so our future award-winning artist can have plenty of light for her creations!

Of course, she also has a new easel, so she can be as creative as she wants.

Natalie has used the new art area so much! Now, I just have to figure out what to do with the boxes full of drawings and other pretty things...

At the jumpy place

2011-12-03T22:37:00.000-06:00

We went to "The Jumpy Place" with Grandma:

Everyone had a great time!

Natalie also played some of the arcade games. At one point, she hit the jackpot and got a lot of tickets:

Tickets - yay!

Natalie, the backpack

2011-12-02T10:22:00.000-06:00

Another great family picture:

Catching a ride!

Slippery fish

2011-12-01T22:36:00.000-06:00

I think Natalie learned this one in daycare:

At the amusement park - with Grandma!

2011-11-30T10:14:00.000-06:00

Summer is for trips to the amusement park. And look who came with us: Grandma! She was here to visit for a couple of weeks.

Family picture! Karsten, Grandma, Natalie.

Natalie is getting to be a big girl. So, on this trip, there were a few "firsts":

Natalie can ride the helicopters all by herself!

Look who's big enough to ride the scrambler!

I think Natalie went on the scrambler at least five times!

Sleepover

2011-11-29T09:48:00.000-06:00

Natalie had her friends Aubriella and Brayden over for a sleepover in the late summer. It was awesome to see the kids together:

Two best friends - just exploring the stream and shooting the breeze...

Movie time!

Zonked out after a fun day. Two sleeping beauties.

Fun at the Zoo

2011-11-28T09:46:00.000-06:00

This summer, we went to a company event at the Zoo. It was a gorgeous summer day, and we had such a great time. We spent a lot of time looking at the animals, but also some time on the playground. Natalie loved spinning around on this tire swing. I absolutely love this picture, the way her smile is in focus and everything else is just slightly blurred because she was spinning so fast:

Gotta love that smile!

School supplies

2011-11-27T22:29:00.000-06:00

Natalie was very excited to get ready for school. We ordered her school supplies from the school, and she got to pick them up in late August. Here she is, unpacking:

Wow, that's a lot of stuff!

A few days later, she got to go to her new school and bring in all the supplies - and meet the teacher, of course. She was so excited:

Let's go!

The evening went very well. We dropped off all the supplies in the correct bins, and we met her teacher. Natalie's teacher is very nice, friendly, and does very well with the kids. We've been very lucky to get her as Natalie's teacher.

A happy girl at the beach

2011-11-26T22:28:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture to warm your hearts here in the middle of November! Continuing the series of posts that are way late, here's one of our best summer activities:

At the beach!

The butterfly net

2011-11-17T22:27:00.000-06:00

Natalie has a new favorite summer toy - a butterfly net.

It is awesome to see her run around the yard chasing the butterflies. There's something about that care-free childhood freedom:

Keep chasing those butterflies.

Got one!

Camping, part four - more activities

2011-11-16T22:26:00.000-06:00

A few more favorites from our camping trip:

The playground was a hit. It didn't have any monkey bars (Natalie's current favorite), so she just decided to use the lily-pads as monkey bars instead. She made it all the way across:

No monkey bars? No problem for a little monkey!

Two upside-down girls.

Another hit came right before it was time to leave. A magic show! Natalie really enjoyed that part:

Wow - how did he do that?

Camping, part three - evening

2011-11-15T22:24:00.000-06:00

Some of the best times at camping are in the evening. Of course, there is the fire in the firepit - that the guys meticulously tended:

Working the fire

And one of the best things is the glow necklaces / bracelets/ balls / thingies...

Gotta love this picture - it just has that great "evening at the campground" feel to it.

And of course, three kids in jammies, hanging out together, isn't all that bad either:

Night time slumber party with a movie - such a luxury.

Camping, part two - activities

2011-11-14T22:18:00.000-06:00

We did so many fun things with the kids while we were camping:

Shaving cream hairstyles!

Wagon ride with Yogi Bear and Cindy Bear

Natalie and Aubriella visiting Cindy Bear's house.

But sometimes it's also great to just hang out "at home". Natalie found out that she really liked watching a movie about trucks with Braden:

Just chillin' with a movie!

Camping, part one - Getting there

2011-11-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

Just like last year, we went camping with our great friends. We had a great time!

First, we had to get there. And it was a long trip (at least an hour), which was a long time for a little girl that couldn't wait to see her best friend! So, a little bribery was in order...

A humongous lollipop!

As soon as we got there, the girls (Aubriella and Natalie) were doing artwork while we unpacked.


Pretty soon, the boys were outside playing football.

To be continued...

A summer afternoon with Daddy

2011-11-13T11:30:00.000-06:00

Now that we've just had our first snow of the season, let's continue the series of long, lost summer posts!

What to do with a beautiful summer afternoon?

Have icecream with Daddy!

The water is perfect! Wanna see?

Splash!

Come play with me, Daddy! The water-crayon-shooters are ready!


No, I'm not wet at all...

And, just to show how it all went down, here is a little video of Natalie and Natalie playing. I think the object of the game was to hit a wooden box a few feet away with the water spray...

Such a fun day!

What a show

2011-10-25T22:12:00.000-05:00

Natalie's best friend Aubriella (and family) came for a visit. The girls rehearsed, then put on a great show for us, complete with music etc:

You can almost hear the music, can't you?

However, just in case you actually would like to hear the real thing, here's a little video:

I think it's worthy of a Tony!

Good morning, princess

2011-10-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

Some days we all get out on the wrong side of the bed:

Bed-head!

The Children's Parade

2011-10-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

In the summer, there is an annual Children's Parade in a nearby city. This year, Natalie was in it! Somehow, she talked me into being a princess along with her. We had a blast, preparing our costumes and making her wagon into a princess castle:

Two princesses!

We met up with Aubriella (and her family), and the two princess girls were in the wagon/castle together for the parade:

Two princesses!

After the parade, there was a lot of entertainment for the kids in a park where the parade ended. One of the "attractions" there was a school bus that the kids could get into. Natalie was so excited (this was before she was riding the bus every day for school...

Let's go - I'm ready!

Beep, beep

2011-10-20T22:03:00.001-05:00

Check out Natalie's new ride:


Beep, beep...

I found it at a thrift store for shall we say a very reasonable price. Of course, Karsten "updated" it a little, so that it got a better battery with higher voltage. So now the car can really go! And of course, Natalie wanted to be just like Daddy:

Natalie, the mechanic!

What an expression

2011-10-19T22:01:00.000-05:00

This picture is one of my recent favorites! It was taken at a jumpy-place at our local mall - unfortunately the place closed a few weeks after we were there...Anyway, Natalie had a great time. Here she is, running from one of the inflatables to another:

This is fun!

At the beach

2011-10-18T21:43:00.000-05:00

Summer means time to go to the beach! We went several times this summer, and all of them were really enjoyable. Natalie loves the water, the sand, and the picnic we usually bring:

Running out in the water to fill the bucket...

Making mud, and experimenting with where the water would flow (she's such an engineer - surprise!)

Picnics make for fun picture time...

Our goofy little beach girl!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

2011-10-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled (summer) blogging program with a short newsclip...

Just the other day, Natalie and I were talking about what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had it all down, and was very adamant both about what she wanted to be, and in which order:

1. Ballerina

2. Princess

3. Singer

4. Computer class teacher

5. Nurse

I think that's an excellent mix!

And we now return to the regularly scheduled (summer) program...

Sassy, messy girl

2011-10-14T21:42:00.003-05:00

Part of summer fun is bringing picnics to the local playground. Natalie loves the monkey bars (and she's pretty good at them, too). And the picnics are always a hit.

One of the picnics was pretty messy. We went to Subway for our lunch, and Natalie got a chocolate - chocolate-chip-cookie for dessert. And I got this picture out of it - couldn't help but share it, it is just so full of personality...

I'm not gonna smile for the picture - Naaah-nah-nah-naaah-nah...

Happy Independence day!

2011-10-13T21:39:00.005-05:00

Well, better late than never!
Remember, I told you I was going to re-live summer, one blog post at a time...

What would Independence Day be without some red, white, and blue treats:

Yummi Strawberries, dipped in white chocolate and blue sugarsprinkles...

And another patriotic treat:

Lady Liberty's torch!

Yeah, I had to get a little artistic with the picture. It is really just a boxed cake mix baked in ice-cream cups, with yellowish frosting and sugar-wafers as the flames...

We actually had a great extended weekend, even though Natalie spent a lot of the time like this:

On the couch, watching a Barbie movie...

She came down with a fever on the first day of the extended weekend (thankfully nothing all that serious), so we kept things pretty low-key. But cuddle-time is always good, and fortunately she didn't know that she was missing out on our plans to go see the fireworks.

She did spend some time out of the bed / sofa, though:

Posing as Lady Liberty

And if nothing else, she could still lay down and cuddle up by the firepit, enjoying the fire, while we waited for it to get dark enough for our own fireworks:

Is it time for fireworks yet?

And we did have a lot of fun with some fireworks at home, which of course required the proper safety gear:

Ready for fireworks!

So, Happy Independence Day! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Weather for swimming?!?

2011-10-12T21:33:00.001-05:00

So, what's wrong with this picture:

Splish, splash...

Well, nothing, except it was taken this weekend. In October! You can even see the fall colors on the trees in the background. And it really was warm enough, the temperature was about 80 degrees F (27C). Weird.

So we made sure to enjoy it, this last chance at summer.

Speaking of summer, I guess summer kinda went missing on this blog - or rather we were too busy to post. So, for the next many posts, please bear with me as we re-live the summer, one post at a time...

At the pumpkin patch

2011-10-11T21:32:00.001-05:00

Natalie and I went to the pumpkin patch the other weekend. We had such a great time!

Most of the games etc. there were the same as last year, which was great, since we enjoyed them last year also! Natalie definitely recognized:


The duckie races!

The corn maze.

The hay bale labyrinth. "I'm on top of the world!"

There were also the bean bag toss:

Look at the size of that cat!

And of course there were pumpkins:


Mommy! I got one!
And of course, there were pumpkins:


That's a big one. We went on a "haunted" hayride, and Natalie got to pick out our pumpkins to bring home. And we brought a picnic lunch to have at the place, which was really nice. Afterwards, someone was a bit tired:


Zzzz.... But we still had time and energy in the afternoon to make this:

Here's Jack!

First day of School!

2011-09-13T22:13:00.001-05:00

On September First, Natalie started school (4K)!!!

Of course, we took the obligatory first day of school pictures:

The cute and pretty girl...

The silly girl...

Natalie goes to school in the afternoons. So, of course we showed up at daycare on the first day of school as her daycare teacher brought her to the school bus. We waved like crazy, and Natalie was sooo proud!

Ready to go!

I'm so proud of our school girl! She's so ready to learn, so ready for new adventures. She'll do well, out there in the world on her own.

Breakfast on the farm

2011-07-17T14:42:00.011-05:00

June is dairy month, and as in previous years, that means Breakfast on the Farm. This year we went to two of them. Both were beautiful summer days, and both had lots to see:

The big harvester. Natalie waited so patiently in line to get to go up there.

Lots and lots of cows. We spend at least half an hour looking at them. Natalie thought it was the most interesting thing ever.

And what breakfast would be complete without some icecream?

Happy Half-birthday!

2011-07-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, it was Natalie's half-birthday! We celebrated by spending the afternoon at our local amusement park:

The boats are definitely still a favorite!

Of course, we had to get a treat while we were there:

Icecream! The biggest they had!

The swings were pretty good, too!

When we got home, Natalie had a special night-time snack - a cupcake with candles, etc. I think she had a good day.

Ready for a nighttime snack - and then ready for some sleep.

Dance, dance, dance

2011-06-24T22:28:00.003-05:00

It's no secret that Natalie likes to dance. So, we signed her up for a summer season of dance classes. Of course, that requires the right attire:

Showing off her new dance outfit, complete with ballet shoes!

Last week, she had her first lesson. She had a blast! The dance studio has a one-way mirror, so we can watch her during class without her seeing us. It's perfect. It's so much fun to see her in class. She is definitely not the best dancer in the class, but she really works hard at it and tries her best. And she always comes out of the classroom with a huge smile on her face! And that's really all that counts, isn't it?

Here's a picture from her first dance class, before the class started. I just love how you can see her expression in the mirror:

"Where's the teacher?"

Memorial Day Parade

2011-06-23T22:25:00.000-05:00

As in previous years, we went to this year's Memorial Day Parade. Natalie was ready, hoping someone would throw her some candy to put in her bag:

Such a cute smile - ready for the parade!

We were sitting with Aubriella and her family, and as always, we had such a great time. This year, I even got a picture of Natalie almost smiling as the parade went by:

Parades are such a great tradition!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T09:26:00.003-05:00

Here are just a few reasons why Natalie is a very lucky kid:

Daddy always let's her win at "who has the flattest nose?"

Daddy always let's his little princess play with his tech gadgets!

And it's nice to have a soft place to relax once in a while!

Happy Father's Day, Karsten! Natalie is lucky to have you as her Dad!

Finger(nail) painting

2011-06-15T21:05:00.000-05:00

Guess who wanted to paint her own fingernails? Natalie, of course:

So focused!

And she did a great job, too!

The new bike

2011-06-14T21:40:00.000-05:00

Natalie has got a new skill to show off:

What's that all the way up there?

Is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's...

Natalie on her new bike!

Here she comes, no stopping her now!

This video is from one of her first tries at it. I thought she did pretty well for a beginner, and she's only gotten better since!

Natalie's own recipe

2011-05-12T14:45:00.003-05:00

The other day, Natalie asked what baklava was. So I told her. And based on that description, she decided she wanted to make her own special desert. She was very specific in what she wanted to put in it and how she was going to make it. So, that evening, we followed her instructions:

Ingredients:
Half a pack of phyllo dough
A large pack of cook-and-serve vanilla pudding
2/3 glass of caramel topping
one apple, sliced
one pear, sliced
one banana, sliced
Frosting (icing made of confectioner's sugar, water, and red food coloring)

Procedure:
In a baking dish, put down in the following order:
Some sheets of phyllo dough
Pudding
Apple
Pudding
Pear
Pudding
Banana
Pudding
Sheets of phyllo dough
Caramel
Sheets of phyllo dough
Caramel
Sheets of phyllo dough
Pudding
Sheets of phyllo dough
Caramel
Sheets of phyllo dough
Spray with cooking spray to brown the top
Bake 35 min at 350F.
Decorate with frosting.

The result:

Delicious!

We had it warm with some whipped topping.

And the next day we had some of it cold, also with the whipped topping. We couldn't decide which was better!

I'm really surprised at Natalie's first attempt at making up her own real recipe. She was so sure of what she wanted to do, and needed very little help. And the result really couldn't have turned out any better!

The first picnic of the year...

2011-05-10T14:39:00.001-05:00

...well, at least the first outdoor one... After all, we have lots of picnics in the living room and in the basement over the winter. But alas, I digress...

This weekend we had one of those beautiful, sky-blue days where you just have to get outside. So we had a family picnic in the afternoon in front of the house.

It was the perfect opportunity to get some cute photos of Natalie.

This girl has an attitude!

This girl can be super-silly!

And this girl has the prettiest smile ever!

Happy Easter - part three

2011-05-09T10:09:00.011-05:00

Natalie's Easter basked had a new Barbie movie in it - Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. It had lots of music in it. And in this house, we usually say that "there should always be time to dance!"

So here is Natalie's latest dance moves, complete with a sommersault and the but-wiggle:

Happy Easter - part two

2011-05-07T10:08:00.010-05:00

Of course, we had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

I love Natalie's outfit: Monkey jammies, jacket, and purple rain boots - perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon!

There was an Easter egg in the playhouse.

And another one - wow, that's a big one!

Yay, another one in the flower boxes!

All in all there were thirty two Easter eggs to find. Natalie did such a great job. She was very patient, and very thorough. And she loved the hunt.

Afterwards we went inside to open the eggs and see what was inside:

Candy - yay!

A pair of socks - or are they ear warmers?

Hope you had a happy Easter, too!

Happy Easter - part one

2011-04-28T20:07:00.001-05:00

On Easter morning, Natalie asked to have a "special, Easter-y breakfast". So we made some toast, used cookie cutters to shape it into bunnies and chickens, and put some nutella on top. Kinda messy, but it sure made for a great start to the day:

~~Cheese~~ Nutella!

Easter Egg hunt at the Zoo - 2011

2011-04-27T20:06:00.012-05:00

As in previous years, we went to the Easter egg hunt at the Zoo on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. And as always, it was a great time:

Ready to go, let's find some eggs.

We also had breakfast there, with pancakes and whipped cream:

Yummi!

And of course, Natalie wanted a dessert:

Dora-icecream!!!

But the best part of the whole thing is still how Natalie just takes her time and does things in her own way. She loved finding the eggs and trading them in for candy at the candy stations, but she spent just as much time looking at the animals and asking questions about them, and just generally people-watching and looking around. Here she's just hanging out, looking at the otters:

Just hanging out.

Yep, that sure was a great time.

Easter at the grocery store

2011-04-26T20:03:00.001-05:00

The weekend before Easter, our local grocery store had an Easter celebration. Natalie had such a blast!

She even got to meet the Easter Bunny:

"Hmm, I'm not sure about this..."

Natalie later said that she didn't think it was the real Easter Bunny, because the real Easter Bunny is white. Well, who am I to argue with that?

There were several "stations" along the bunny trail with games, treats, temporary tattoos, etc. But Natalie's favorite was clearly the last of our stops:

Decorating the cookie!

The lady behind the counter asked Natalie if she wanted sprinkles or mini-M&M's to decorate with. She seemed a little surprised when Natalie answered "both!"

The scooter

2011-04-13T21:07:00.002-05:00

Natalie got a new scooter for her birthday. She's really been looking forward to spring when she could try it out. On Sunday, we had such a beautiful warm and mostly sunny morning. So, I promised to take her to the park after her nap. Unfortunately, after her nap it was raining... So, we moved the cars out of the garage and let her go for it in there. Most of the pictures looked like this:

The girl likes to go FAST!

After the rain stopped, we did take her to the park, so she could try out the scooter on some longer trails:

Look at me!

She had sooo much fun with the scooter. And she figured out how to use it pretty quickly.

Just to be on the safe side, we went out and got her some elbow and knee protectors. And of course, Monday night after dinner, the garage was all hers again:

Let's go!

The cheesehat

2011-04-11T21:06:00.000-05:00

For lunch the other day, Natalie had some cheese (among other things). She poked her spoon into a piece of the cheese - and she said:

Look, my spoon is wearing a cheese-hat!

Yep, that girls is definitely from Wisconsin!

Silly Spider

2011-04-07T20:22:00.002-05:00

Here's Natalie's latest version of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider":

A princess castle

2011-04-06T17:30:00.010-05:00

Every princess needs a castle.

I was lucky enough to get another big box. So, we turned it into a castle, complete with windows with curtains, and flowers, and flying fairies, and...

Peek-a-boo!

The Easter Eggs

2011-04-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

Easter is coming, and of course that means it is time to color some eggs:

Natalie loved dipping the eggs in the color. She's such a scientist!

The pretty result!

And, they were ready for...

Silly Face Stickers!

Happy Easter!

Bread-glasses

2011-03-26T16:17:00.001-05:00

Look, Mommy, there are two holes in my bread!

Out-smarted!

2011-03-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

The other day, after supper, Natalie asked for a piece of candy. Normally, she doesn't get candy on weekdays, so I told her no.
She went into the pantry, found a very small bag of gummi bears (the ones that have like three or four miniature ones in them), and asked if she could give it to Daddy for his birthday (which was coming up in a few days). Well, how could I say no to that. So, smiling, she went on her merry way to continue playing while I cleaned up the dishes.

Moments later, I heard her and Karsten in the living room.
Natalie: Daddy, I have a birthday present for you!
Karsten: Thank you, that's so sweet of you.
Natalie: Here you go!
Karsten: How about we just put them here for now.
Natalie: No, I think you should eat some now.
Karsten: Well, okay, I'll have one...
Natalie: Do you wanna share?

Hmmm, pretty smart... Karsten had a little talk with her, but of course she got some. After all, a trick that clever does deserve some credit, doesn't it...?

Natalie, the dress-up artist

2011-03-24T16:15:00.002-05:00

Doesn't she look like a movie star?!?

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-03-22T16:13:00.001-05:00

Karsten's birthday is in March. But guess who got to enjoy most of the birthday cake?

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

St. Patrick's day is a big deal around here. Natalie had been talking for weeks about the leprechaun, and he had been coming to daycare a couple of times already.

The weekend before St. Patrick's day, we made these:

Pretty rainbows!

On St. Patrick's day, the leprecaun had made breakfast ready for Natalie:

Lucky charms and green milk!

And after daycare, he had been at it again! He made a treasurehunt, so that we could look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We had a great time following his clues.

It's that way next!

And we found the pot of gold, which was full of golden candy, a book, a puzzle, an artproject, and some new socks:

Yay - we found it!

The whole process of the treasure hunt was so exciting and so much fun. Each "clue" was a picture of where to go next, and a small trinket. As always, Natalie took her time and enjoyed it thoroughly - as you can see on the following little video. The little present was one of those frogs with a spring and a suction cup that can jump - a jumpy frog:

Jumpy Frog Dance!

A winter day

2011-02-19T09:52:00.004-06:00

Last weekend, we decided to go outside and enjoy the snow. Of course, we had to have a picnic in Natalie's play set. And since it was almost Valentine's Day, she got a special chocolate treat:

Look, a chocolate soccer ball!

We also had time for Natalie's favorite activity: Shoveling the snow! The little bench / swing we have out back was covered in snow, which was the perfect project for Natalie:

Natalie working, with Karsten "supervising"...

Later in the day, we built a snowman:

Natalie's first snowman of the year.

When Natalie was putting the raisins on the snowman for the mouth, she asked: "Mommy, does he look mad to you?" and I said "Well, I think he maybe looks a little sad - what do you think?". Natalie said: "He's sad because he's made of snow. He's sad because he wanted to be a real person!" Such a great imagination!

We tried for a second snowman, but we got kinda tired, so instead we decided that it was a great chair for Natalie:

Snow is fun!

Sledding!

2011-02-18T09:48:00.018-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, we took Natalie sledding at a nearby park. This was definitely a hit:

Again, Daddy!

It was another first for Natalie - we haven't gone sledding except for the small "hills" in our backyard before. The big grin on her face is precious, even though you have to zoom in pretty close to see it in that picture. This hill was pretty long:

That's a long way up - good thing Daddy can pull the sled!

Us grown-ups also got to get a few turns along with Natalie:

Let's go!

When it was my turn to go, Karsten said that he wasn't sure who was laughing the most: Natalie or me... I don't think I've done this since I was a teenager, and that's a pretty long time ago. I'd forgotten how much fun it is!

The best part was seeing Natalie's smile and hearing her laugh, though. It was just pure, innocent joy, as only a child can experience it - not a care in the world. She was just enjoying the thrill of it all, and enjoying spending some time together:

Family time.

A weekend get-away

2011-02-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

At the end of January, we went on a weekend get-away with Aubriella and her family. We stayed at a hotel about an hour away, and we enjoyed it very much. We especially spent a lot of time in the swimming pool:

Let's go swimming!

I didn't bring our regular camera to the pool (only a waterproof single use one, which I haven't had developed yet), so I don't have any pictures of us swimming - which is what we did most of the time. Natalie LOVED it. She even got pretty comfortable with the water in the "grown up pool" and floated around happily in there after short while.

On Saturday night, we took the kids to a special restaurant where the food and drinks are being served up on a train:

Here come our drinks!

They also sent other things on the train, like various singing toys etc. And a big hit with the kids: A bubble machine:

Tjoo-tjoo - pop those bubbles!

We had such a great time! It's always great to spend time with good friends, just relaxing and having fun!

Inflatables

2011-02-15T13:07:00.002-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, we went to a place with lots of inflatable climbing and jumping thingies. Karsten went along with Natalie for a couple of tries to make sure she was doing okay:

Look, Daddy, this is how it's done...

But it turned out, she was often faster than him, especially going down the slides:

Wheeee!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T09:48:00.002-06:00

Look what Natalie got for me for Valentine's day!

Flowers - purple, of course!

Natalie and Karsten told me it was all her idea, and she picked them out all by herself when we were grocery shopping on Saturday. Such a sweetheart!

Hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day too!

Princess Natalie

2011-02-13T21:55:00.000-06:00

This picture is a couple of weeks old, but I just had to post it:

Princess Natalie.

Obviously taken on a weekend-jammie-day. I love the addition of the sunglasses and the princess shoes on the footed jammies - so cute and stylish!

Christmas goodies

2011-01-20T14:45:00.001-06:00

I took up an old Christmas tradition with Natalie, a tradition from when I was a kid. We made Christmas goodies, using marzipan (with some food coloring), assorted candies, dates, melted chocolate, etc.

As usual, Natalie was very focused on the task at hand:

Working hard!

Here's one of her masterpieces:

That's a good one!

And here are the final results. I think Karsten's favorite was the "Christmas pants", while I like the Santa (his beard is a split almond). And Natalie liked all of them - as long as she got to eat them!

Yummi Christmas goodies!

Christmas lights at the Botannical Garden

2011-01-17T17:06:00.002-06:00

Between Christmas and New Years, we went to the Botanical Garden to see all the lights. Natalie's favorite part was riding on the school bus from the parking lot to the entrance:

Riding on the school bus, taking it all in.

Once we got there, we had a great time looking at all the lights. Karsten took lots of pictures, but here's my absolute favorite from that night - it's from a big "caterpillar" made from lights that you can walk (or run) thru:

This is fun!

Slumber Party

2011-01-16T17:05:00.002-06:00

Between Christmas and New Years, Aubriella came over for a sleepover! Having a friend over for the night was another first for Natalie.

As always, the girls did really well.

After dinner, the girls helped me make chocolate snowmen and Christmas trees:

Sticky fingers!

Me, too!

The girls played and played, until it was bedtime and time to have a snack while watching a Barbie movie:

Snack time!

The sleep part of the sleepover went really well. And the next day, we played some more. We even got to go outside and play in the snow:

Two person swing - perfect for two little girls!

Christmas Day 2010 - part two

2011-01-15T17:04:00.001-06:00

Like last year, we went to Aubriella's house on Christmas day. We had such a great time! The girls play so well together. They both had a blast dancing around in their Christmas dresses:

This is fun!

There was great food, great friends, and lots of laughter. In fact we had so much fun that I kinda forgot to take pictures... Except for this one:

Party time! Yay!

Christmas Day 2010 - part one

2011-01-11T17:02:00.000-06:00

Santa brought a BIG present:

Santa always put's a big bow on top of the present!

Inside was a trainset:

Tju-tju!

But Natalie was just as excited about the candy Santa had left in her stocking:

Look, a sucker shaped as a Santa hat, and a BIG purple candycane!Yummi!

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-10T12:01:00.004-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve!

In the morning, Natalie helped me make our traditional Christmas Eve dessert called ris a'la mande. It's a fluffy kind of rice pudding with almond slivers and lots of vanilla, served cold with cold cherry sauce. It's so much more fun to cook when you have a little helper:

Licking the spoons and wisks - a perfect job for Natalie!

We spent most of the day playing around and having fun, and we even spent some time outside playing in the snow.

After naptime, Natalie and I made cookies for Santa. Of course, they had to have lots of frosting and sprinkles on them:

Decorating cookies for Santa!

We continued our tradition of walking around the Christmas tree and singing Christmas songs. Natalie did so well, this year she knew the words to quite a few songs, like Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Then, it was time for presents. Natalie was so good at handing them out and reading on the tags (She recognizes her name and most of the time the words "Mommy" and "Daddy"). She did well taking her time to open each present and helping us open ours:

One of her favorites was the book she had seen in daycare. When we asked her what she wished for for Christmas, she said "A Big Planet". We asked her daycare teacher what that could be, and found out that Natalie really likes this picture in an "I Spy" book:

Look, it's a big planet!

After the presents and the Christmas dessert, it was time to put out the reindeer food for Santa's reindeer:

Come on, Daddy, let's put out the reindeer food!

Christmas Party at Daycare

2011-01-09T12:58:00.000-06:00

I'm usually about a month behind on my blogging, so welcome to January, which will feature lots of Christmas cheer on this site!

As in previous years, there was a Christmas party at Natalie's daycare.

Of course, there was the obligatory cookie decorating:

Yummi frosting - purple, of course!

This year, Natalie was VERY interested in Santa. She sat right in front with the other kids when he told his stories:

Santa, I've been good this year!

There were other activities, but of course, Natalie's favorite was the freeze-dance.

Her jingly elf-hat definitely gave her away when she forgot to "freeze"!