Life at home

So Natalie's school life is, indeed, exciting. Or so we think; she's not really able to explain that much, and school does send home a sheet indicating her snack and lunch consumption, we see the art projects they do, and we get brief snippets from her teachers, but, still, much of her school day is a mystery to us.

Not so the home. In fact, at home, Natalie is as busy as ever. First, Bubbe and Grrr and Aunt Jenji gave Natalie a wonderful kitchen for her birthday. Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Neil sent some dishes and pots and pans. And we had some food, and I'd bought / knitted a few other items. So the kitchen is stocked!

(Like all serious chefs, she suffers from a lack of prep space.)

In the other kitchen, Mike's been cooking up German pancake and whole wheat rosemary Parmesan pine nut biscuits (take that, Texas!).

Okay, well, in addition to cooking, there's also . . . tiger taming!

And laundry (hey, someone around here has got to do it, right?).

And, of course, chillaxin'.

And swimming! Actually, the swimming has been a bit of a struggle, despite our fun at swim class last year and t the beach in Hawaii. A few weeks ago, we first started trying to take her to the indoor pool at the Y. She adamantly refused, and would have NOTHING to do with her bathing suit. Well, kid, it's going to be a long, hot childhood with that attitude. Two weeks ago, we persuaded her just to go and look at the pool and see the fun others were having. While there, she took great interest in the float-y foam pool noodles. Last week, we actually made it to the pool, got in, and had a great family swim (with much clutching of the pool noodles!).

Natalie has also really been doing some super-sweet pretend play. Here she is reading to her baby, and giving her Hello Kitty some water.

(Is that not so adorable? So far, two is, to use a simile of the moment, like a hurricane: storm and fury, interspersed with enough beauty and sweetness to make you almost forget the rest of it. We'll take it.)

We also went to an event at the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. This is not, as one of us initially thought, an homage to the Dallas C0wgirls (no linky; you're on your own there, folks!). Rather, it's actually a super-interesting, perfectly sized museum about the relationship between women, horses, the West, and show-womanship. I have an ambiguous relationship with horses (see: creepy and expensive, but also functional and cool), and I found it really interesting. Natalie also appreciate the historical perspective (I kid, but there is a really great kids' area of the museum).

Here are a few other shots of Natalie and daddy horsing around:

This week also marked another first: Natalie's first birthday party invitation. That's right, we attended a party for another child in her class. The theme was pirates, and the kids got to dig for "treasure", play on the pirate ship jungle gym in the backyard, and eat veggie booty. Natalie loved it, but mostly for the shovel she was given for digging, the two golden retrievers that were about, and the veggie "chips" she got to eat! (Although the party started at 10am, it was outside, so these pictures also nicely show off Natalie's amazing flushing abilities. That isn't a sunburn, although we are often fooled....)

 Be good, mateys. We're keepin' an eye on ya!