What better time to kick-start our blog than now??

There have been so many new things that have happened over the past several months. Mike started his new job (yay!) and is loving it!! Ethan is almost 4--HOW is that even possible?!?!? And Natalie Gianna is 18 mos old today! Time is flying by and we are loving life!!

So many new things the kids are doing. Ethan loves his baby sister and is extremely protective of her (most of the time!). And Natalie constantly calls for "Eeeeeeeeeeee" when she wakes up from bedtime and naps. She LOVES Ethan and wants nothing more than to be up in his grill all. day. long. Isn't this the job of little sisters though? :) At naptime, Ethan says..."Natalie, do you want to come into my bed and snuggle" and Natalie either says "yesh" or shakes her head yes. So I lift her up into his bed and she lays on him and just snuggles. It. KILLS. me!!! It's definitely one of those mental snapshot times, for sure. One of these days, I will actually get a picture of it to add here.

Natalie has been repeating pretty much any word you say...she is very verbal and will answer questions with a "yesh" or "no" when asked...and let me tell you she DOES have an opinion about mostly everything!! She also will color and hold a marker the right way...whaaaaat??? She seems to really enjoy creative things though and especially enjoys trying to sneak a bite of playdough when mama isn't looking. She even gives you super shifty eyes when she is about to do something she shouldn't. Mike and I constantly say...we are gonna be in trouble with this one!!

Ethan is loving his 3's class in preschool. He is the "grown-up" of the class according to his teachers. He leads the kids on free play and tends to be the one inventing games to play on the playgrounds that everyone ends up playing. He is such a little adult at times but also such a sweet and loveable little boy too who loves being a KID! He loves to get rough and tumble with anyone really, adores sports and pretty much always wants to play baseball rain or shine.

We have been enjoying fall in our household, picking leaves, collecting acorns for "our squirrels" that come into our yard, playing outside, making cookies, inventing new games inside AND outside and just overall enjoying life.

As we patiently wait for the new iMac to come out (come on Apple!!!!), our pictures continue to be in 3 places and terribly disorganized so needless to say, it is tough to upload them!! However, here are some pics from our summer vacation. At least this give a little update on them!