Hi friends,
I've created a new blog. Please report to steveandnataliemonsonfamily.blogspot.com for further details on our lives.
Love you all!
Natalie
Friday, November 30, 2012
Thursday, November 01, 2012
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My favorite part of trick-or-treating was that every few minutes, a new family or set of kids would see us and say "I see Waldo!" at the top of their voices. The best one was "HEY!! HEY I FOUND WALDO!"
Thanks for making it fun everyone!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
October showers bring...cold.
I love October. I love the changing seasons and the knowledge that three fun, distinct holidays are approaching. I'm crazy for pumpkin-flavored foods and those times that when you are outside, it smells like you're supposed to be drinking apple cider. I just love it all.
We got to have three dates last week. It was marvelous! Our first was a Wednesday. Steve had to go up there for work, so I gave the kids away and went with him. It was so nice.
Friday night was an adult-only Halloween Party. Steve dressed up as Agent Coulson from the Avengers and I was Black Widow. I was pleased to see my character on posters all over the room!
Here was my latest adventure:
My friend, Beth Dickson, is having her second baby girl in December. Since I'm kind of addicted to quilting now and she's my visiting teachee, I thought it was the perfect opportunity. I feel like it turned out well and I'm happy with it.
After machine-piecing the top, I hand-quilted the pinwheels on it.
Also in October, I got to finally teach pre-school. It was fun to watch these kids learn their alphabet and get excited about crocodile habitats. My friend Jordan showed me these cute owls and the kids just adored them!
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| Two of the 6 pre-school buddies: Joshua and Jude |
Last weekend, we got to drive down to Nashville, TN and we got to stay with Mallory and Tyler. We hung out with just them on Saturday morning and had a blast watching Tyler entertain our 3-year-old! Joshua adored "uncle Tyler" and loved that he was bought 4 different ice creams!
Monica and her new fiancee, William, drove up from Atlanta and we enjoyed the evening with all four of them--eating perfectly fried, southern chicken, eating popsicles (what were they called?), and seeing the sights from the highest point in Nashville.
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| Josh kept yelling: Come here Froggy! |
On Sunday, we attended the nearest LDS ward, and then drove out to see the Nashville Temple.
We got to have three dates last week. It was marvelous! Our first was a Wednesday. Steve had to go up there for work, so I gave the kids away and went with him. It was so nice.
Friday night was an adult-only Halloween Party. Steve dressed up as Agent Coulson from the Avengers and I was Black Widow. I was pleased to see my character on posters all over the room!
Here are some of our friends!
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| Lindsy and Ben Hartsock as the Thundercats |
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| The "Barn"es--a cowboy and "Clair"abel |
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| The Incredible Pages |
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| Nick and Mandi came as Ninja Turtles and their boys had the matching outfits the next night |
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| Those who are politically inclined: "A binder full of women" |
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| The Burtons came as Candyland pieces |
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| The Ahlstroms |
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| The Smarts |
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| Holgreens |
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| Popeye and Olive Oyl: the Moss' |
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Super September
In the beginning of September, we went camping. We had gone in July with Laura and Chris Coons and family, and despite Kelsey's high fever and our little sleep, we had a good time. So we tried again. Here were some of the negatives:
- I forgot Joshua's jacket, so he wore mine.
- Our pump ran out of battery about halfway through blowing up our mattress, so we kept rolling into each other all night.
- A huge gust of wind literally picked up our tent (even though it was pegged down and everything) and tried blowing us away--even while all you see was inside: kids, me, pak-n-play, airmatress, everything! We almost packed up and went home but we REALLY wanted to camp!
- It was FREEZING! Kelsey woke up a dozen times just cold and Josh climbed under my covers with me halfway through the night.
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| Kelsey is learning to pick out her own clothes. |
The kids have really been into music lately. Josh is always surprising us with Primary songs that he knows and we love it!
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| Sibling love--though I think Josh really was just trying to get her away from the gate. |
Mid-September we had a really, really good Chicago day. Lately, we've been seeing the negative things about living in a big city, so it was nice to have such a good weekend!
Our first adventure was renewing our Brookfield Zoo passes. They easily pay themselves off over the year, so we went the day that we bought them.
Our favorites are always the big cats!
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| My little slug |
At the zoo, there is a very peaceful walk around a little lake. We loved the nature walk.
That same day after naps, we went to Oaktoberfest--held in Oak Park. It was a short little walk for us to downtown Oak Park and they had festival food, homemade rootbeer, music and some fun things. Here Josh is holding a little baby chick.
I was terrified that Kelsey was going to strangle this poor little chick, so the lady plopped it on my head instead.
Mmmm....corn on the cob. It really was a fun festival!
Joshua and Kelsey love to watch for dad when he comes home. We look down to the left at the street and sometimes we actually get to see him pulling in!
New clothes!
Lindsy Hartsock introduced me to leg warmers. She taught that it is way cheaper to buy women's knee-high socks, cut off the toes and sew them under.
Fall clothes!
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| Snuggles with dad--she does her best not to let this blankie out of her sight! |
We also had a lot of friends come to play on various days in September. This is Jae and we adore him. Because Josh has so many friends, he calls them all his "Best Friend", depending on who he is playing with at the time. What is entertaining, is sometimes he calls them by the wrong name...
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