A winter day

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!

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

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

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!

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

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!