Get the Picture?

It seems we haven't posted anything regarding the house in quite a while, but that does not mean we have not been doing things. Oh no, plenty of things have been going on at our house. When the new camera comes in I will get posts and pictures up of the following:

1. Natalie's Big Girl Room
   
2. Back Patio
   
3. Landscape Dream (what I wish we had out front and on the sides - this is on our 100 yr list, by the way)
4. Computer Room/Craft Room

But, you cannot post photos if you do not have them. And you cannot take those photos if your camera does not work...as neither of them do right now.

Chris's latest hobby is archery. Right now, he is into longbows- both making them and shooting them. He decided to film the arrows hitting the target, so he placed the camera on the top of the target. This was pretty cool as he filmed a few shots without any problems. It was pretty scary to see how fast the arrows fly at the target. Inevitably, one of them hit the camera and it crashed to the ground. The arrow pierced the camera and made a dent about 1/4 inch or more deep. At first he thought it would work with a new memory card, since that was the damaged part. After ordering a new card - NOPE, did not work. So we brought the old digital camera that we use at the office home. It does not work either! So no pictures until the new camera comes in. Bummer.

There Ought to be a Law...

I mean truly, there should be a law of nature that mommies and daddies who have little kids never get sick. Ever. There are no sick days when you have little ones to care for. Thank goodness this is just allergies, really being sick would REALLY stink. We have been really lucky this past year not to have been sick much. Speaking of laws, below is a list of items that I wish could be passed into some sort of natural law (of course, nobody asked me!):

1. Mommies & daddies never get sick- at least not when their kids are small or dependant upon them.
2. You get a bonus gift of multiple hours of sleep when you have a new baby. Maybe hours of rest could be like a bank account, but only in your head. So instead of having a deficit and bouncing sleep checks when your baby is born, you have a whole savings account to fall back on.
3. Only three rainy days at a time. You get a sunny day with nice weather before it rains again.
4. The same sort of thing with two year olds - only three grumpy hours at a time, then one hour of total cooperation and smiles.
   
5. Mute buttons, or at least volume controls - this goes for children, dogs, lawn mowers, construction at 7am in the morning across the street when you've been up 20 times during the night with new baby. And thunder, yes thunder should be muted when little ones are sleeping. Especially for the ones who are afraid of thunder!
6. And gravity - gravity needs to have exemptions and exceptions. I mean really, it's great to keep us firmly planted, but does it really need to pull so hard on anything besides our feet and inanimate objects? NO, I don't think so.
   

Please feel free to add to this list, maybe we can start some sort of petition?

Natalie-isms Part 2

Chris brought Natalie a Spongebob t-shirt home one day when he had been running errands. A couple of nights ago, we were getting her ready for bed and...

Chris: Do you want to wear Spongebob to bed?

Natalie: "Noooo" (she cries, it was past bedtime and she was cranky).

Chris: "Why not? You don't want to wear Spongebob?"

Natalie: (more tears) "Noooo" (she wailed, with tears rolling and volume increasing)

Chris: "Why not?"

Natalie: "It's too funny!" (she loudly wails)
Kids.


"I want to go to Target"
This is said every couple of days. Two years old and she is already addicted! What have we done?

"You're smelly"
She says this to me EVERY morning after I put on my perfume. "Smelly good, or smelly bad?" Then too much thought, so I say "do I smell good?" "Yes, smelly good." Hmmm, she had to think a little too hard on that one.

"Let me see your belly button"
When I was very large pregnant, she thought my popped-out belly button was the funniest thing. Now she asks anyone she knows to see theirs! So far not many have obliged...

Said in a matter-of-fact, slightly offended tone of voice...
"No, I'm not (add adjective here: beautiful, sweet, etc), I'm NATALIE."

Natalie has some (for lack of better words) "artwork" above her bed. One piece of it is a paperdoll dress made of fabric scraps. She has LOVED this dress ever since I made the art for her. She asks to wear it. Tonight when I was tucking her into bed, I told her we would make a craft tomorrow - one of her favorite things to do. I asked if she had anything she wanted to make, thinking she would say a puppy, a kitty, or something like that. She points her little finger and says "THAT. I want to make that dress. I want to wear it." Ohhh boy.

"We don't eat people."
You know how you grab a little one and pretend to eat their belly or cheek or arm, saying "omnomnom" in a monster voice? And then blow on their belly button? Yes, this is apparently unacceptable behavior.

Life Lesson Number...

We were getting ready to leave the house. Graham was buckled into his seat, happily sucking on his binkie, for the most part asleep. Natalie was buzzing around downstairs playing with various things. I was in the kitchen, filling the formula container for the diaper bag when I hear Graham scream bloody murder. I ran into the foyer and Natalie is kneeling beside his seat. He's no longer squalling, but is now starting to grump because binkie is not in his mouth. Confused, I notice that Natalie is not comforting Graham as I first thought, but she is snickering. Keep in mind: Natalie is two, Graham is two months. She is very gentle and sweet, but is sometimes a little ornery. And the conversation goes like this...

Me: Hmmm, he's fine now, what are you doing?

Natalie: (grinning) I poke him - I poke Graham!

Me: You what? You poked him? (I could not see why he would possibly have screamed so loud)

Natalie: Yes, I poke him - I poke him with THIS (she says, eyes twinkling and a BIG smile, as she pulls an open SAFETY PIN out from under his blanket)

Me: WHAT!?!? Why did you DO that?!? (then getting a grip & retracting claws) Natalie, we DO NOT POKE people with pins, not ever. You hurt Graham.

Natalie: (confused) I hurt Graham?

Me: Yes, pins hurt, have you ever been poked by one? (now finding the humor in this and finding it hard to keep a straight face)

Natalie: No, pins hurt?

Me: (uh-huh sure, surely she's not fibbing though) Natalie, you want me to show you how it feels to be poked with a safety pin?

Natalie: (enthusiastically) YES! Poke me mommy! (as she sticks her sweet little hand towards me)

*POKE*

Natalie: OUCH! (she shreiks with actual shock) THAT HURT! YOU POKE ME!

Me: Yes, it hurts, and it hurt Graham when you poked him. You need to tell Graham you're sorry.

Natalie: (with worry and genuine sorrow in her voice) Oh Graham-y, I'm sorry.

Graham: zzzzzzzzzz (as he contentedly sucks on binkie, completely forgetting about the poke)

So lesson learned, we do not poke people with pins. No, not ever. EVER.

Family Photos

A friend of mine, Cheryl Barton (photographer/graphic designer extraordinaire), came to our house to take our photographs both before Graham was born and after. I had seen her wildlife photography and was totally wowed by it, but I had no idea how beautiful she would make our family pictures look. We are our own harshest critics, but her photography actually made me tear up. View Cheryl's photo website and her etsy shop.



Her photography was sent on a traveling show, which just came back and is now featured in Arsaga's coffee shop on Gregg Street in Fayetteville, AR. She has also been featured in many NW Arkansas publications, as well as At Home in Arkansas magazine which will be on newstands soon.