NATALIE SHOWS OFF HER NEW TUTU...

...TO HER MOMMY AND DADDY VIA THE WEBCAM!

This was too cute. She seems to have to kick up her bottom to show off her tutu and her fairy wings. It was quite funny and oh so sweet.

I love this one. She and Randy seem to have the same expression showing here.

One of the sweet happenings of our weekend.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

NATALIE HAVING FUN AT MIMI'S

This costume recently came in. I decided not to mail it to her...the package was big for one thing, but the main reason is because I wanted to see it on her and see her reaction when she saw it the first time. (I am glad that I did. It was priceless.) We had showed it to her on the webcam. Randy tried to convince her it was his Jamacian hat...strange, but he explained it (long story). Not long after she was here, she found it and started trying it on.

I will wait until later to show full the effect of this so it will be a surprize, but I couldn't resist showing at least a few of these because Natalie had so much fun with it. She tried it 3 or 4 times.
As I look at this images, I am reminded that Cari informed me that we were putting the wings on upside down...oops!



I needed to clean the kitchen a bit so that I could cook up some simple supper. So we played this ABC card game (I made up the way we played it) and since she was already hungry she had a healthy snack.

the ABC game...

the game and the healthy snack Dora yogurt smoothie and roasted pecans...

JUST BEING SILLY AND PLAYING WITH MIMI....

I was also glad to see Natalie wearing this new cute little out fit that I recently purchased for her from Gymboree for the Prep School line. I assume that she wore this to school this day too. It looked really cute on her with little Sperry boat shoes that I had sent to her too. It also has a cute little hat too. I love little outfits with cute hats. I am such a sucker for them!

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

CHOCOLATE SUNDAE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP

A little story behind the chocolate sundae. I love to get Carmel Java Chillers at the Sonic. I introduced Natalie to shakes first and then to chocolate sundae. The Saturday night that I picked her up at Nonna's house (before Labor Day/the storm), we took Natalie to McDonald's since she had already had supper (we hadn't), she got a sundae. She wanted a cherry on top. Remember the post of her eating desert before moving at the Mexican restaurant. That's when I found out how much she loves the cherry on top too. Of course, McDonald's sundae do not have cherries on top. She still enjoyed her sundae, but before she had to go back to BR, I wanted to make sure she had one more sundae, but this time WITH A CHERRY ON TOP!

I gave Cari my camera to document this adventure. This is me handing her the sundae!

her reaction of anticipation...

I know it's blurred probably because of the movement. This is her getting the sundae.

too cute, huh?

I put her bib on her over her car seat. I am so glad that I did. She thoroughly enjoyed this Sundae. And car seat would have enjoyed it almost as much had I not had the bib. I know some of you had long go rid of the bibs by the time your child turned three, but not me. I tried to make my kids (and Natalie too) wear them until they are 3 or 4. I would rather have stained bibs than clothes.

Then Poppa enjoyed the rest of what she didn't eat. What a mess, but what a fun memory too!

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

Natalie at Wal-mart...

NATALIE AT WAL-MART IN NATCHEZ AFTER WE SHOPPED FOR FOOD TO TAKE TO BATON ROUGE FOR HER AND HER PARENTS. IT WAS QUITE AN ORDEAL. LOTS OF PEOPLE WERE TRYING TO REPLACE THEIR FOOD LOSSES THIS DAY.

The story that goes with this image was actually posted on "Worth Remembering". It was more about my thoughts than "Natalie's World". But I did want to include one of the images here in the sequence of the events.

http://ainsworthremembering.blogspot.com/2008/09/work-work.html

http://ainsworthremembering.blogspot.com/2008/09/recovering.html

So if you're interested and if you have already read them, the links are above this text.

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

A QUICK TRIP TO GIGI'S HOUSE

I missed this image in the post and realised it as I was viewing this before "publish the post". When Danny and Maria were leaving I remembered to the get the camera out. I didn't get any of Jackie and Denise. They left the night before. And my camera was still in the bag. I am trying to get better about taking photos of the little things like short visits with family.

"ARE WE THERE YET?"

That's what Natalie kept saying about 30 minutes after we left. Eventually we taught her the "I Spy" game to entertain her.

Saturday evening, September 7th, we left here for a visit with family and funeral in Bastrop. It happened to be that some of the other the family was at Mom's too for the weekend. Randy's mom's friend had passed away the day before. Randy had already scheduled his crew to work for Saturday...that had much to do with ginning season just around the corner. So we didn't leave until he finished his day. Since Natalie was still here from the storm, she got to go along for the ride too. Of course, my family was more glad to see her than us. We'll you know what I mean!

So these days I am tryng to remember more to document little things like this. Right after we got there Sat. night Natalie handed books for GiGi to read to her. This was photographed then, but I wanted to remember that moment so I asked them to get a book.

Natalie with Brooke and Aunt Cari.

I didn't actually get a great photo of us looking at the same time. Me looking, but not Natalie.
Laughing at each other...
I saw this for the great opportunity it was...

Now I am smiling good and Natalie's wants to kiss. I really like this one. Not what I was going for, but it will always be very special to me.

Natalie on Papaw's new mower.
Natalie and Papaw
Poppa and Natalie

After we photos, we soon left for our trip home with a promise to stop in Delhi for ice cream sundaes!

We had a great visit with family. I hate that Mr. Cecil passed away and that's Randy's mom is dealing with this loss, but I am glad that we got to see our family and that they got to see Natalie and her see them again. They all love her so much too!

~~Natalie's Mimi~~

HAPPY BE-LATED BIRTHDAY...

AUNT JACKIE! Forgive me Jackie for being over 2 weeks late on this post. I am actually over two weeks behind on all posting...so maybe it's forgiveable.

As a child growing up, my sibs and I all had our b'day 3 months apart: mine-July 22, my brother's-August 15, and then my sister-September 6th. It was sort of neat (but more for Danny and Jackie because they also shared b'days with aunts...I always felt a little left out or just little less special because I didn't...okay, I guess that was just a kid thing). I do have another brother, but I was almost grown by the time he started have b'days. He was just 4 years old when I got married. So he didn't exactly grow up with us. He is actually closer to Cameron's age (Natalie's daddy). He is only 8 years older than him.

Okay, if you keep up with "Natalie's World" you are wondering what's the deal with the b'day photos with such old images. After all Natalie is much older now. I may have more recent images, but these were just easy to find. This has also made me realize that when we have family get-togethers, we usually just photograph the children...sometimes the child with the grandparents, etc., but mostly just the kids. Probably because most of us don't feel as photogenic as we once were. LOL!

So as you can see these images from the hospital, the first time Jackie met Natalie. "Happy Birthday, Aunt Jackie" from Natalie.
With all the disruptions of life as we normally know it, Jackie's birthday was a little overlooked by me...not that we are that great at keeping up with this at our age! But I did want to make a post in honor of Jackie, my sister, Natalie and my children's aunt.

Hope you had a great day, Jackie!

we love you...

natalie and jami

A LITTLE FUN AFTER THE STORM:

After the yard was cleaned up from the storm and before cooking supper, on Thursday evening (09.04.08) Natalie had a little fun out in the back yard with her new "Dora" soccer ball. Cari and I found this ball earlier this day at Fred's. We went shopping at Fred's just to get out of the house for a little while. We had already done some work outside earlier that a.m.--sweeping leaves and small limbs of the steps and porch. It was much cooler working outside with the Fall-like breeze blowing rather than the alternative, no air conditioned house. The first phot is of her getting the ball out of the car...I left it in there when we came home since it rolled to the back. It is much easier for her to climb in to get it than us.

Earlier this afternoon we finally got to watch the Little Mermaid movie that we checked out several days ago. She liked and had many questions about the witch and such. She still seems to enjoy shows like Dora and Diego that interact with the child viewing the program. They interact by asking them questions, asking them to repeat things and to do things like jump, etc. according to the adventure of the show.

The following images are her playing with her daddy and her aunt Cari. Her mommy was working. She called the Sand Bar and told them that she was "in" for the storm and asked if they could use her to work. So while they were in, she got to make a little extra cash.

I love this one with her knee up in the air trying to really understand this soccer concept!

After a litte soccer fun, Natalie and her daddy swing.

I love this one too. It shows her braided her that I braided while we were watching the Little Mermaid. She has never been too fond of you doing much with her hair. Evidently she is tendered-headed like her mommy. I never thought that actually existed until I have had many battles with her doing her hair. It turned out really cute and she seemed to be proud of it too.

That's it for now. While I was cooking supper this same night the rest of our power was restored. Actually, all of our power. We turned the generator off and finally had central air again. Yeah!

~~Natalie's Mimi~~