Gymnastics

We decided to enroll Natalie in Gold Medal Gymnastics, and boy is she having a blast! The teachers make it challenging, but are also helpful and understanding of their age and abilities. Normally grandparents get to take her there since her class is on Wednesdays, but I got a chance to watch her on Fall Break. I think she likes the challenge, because I didn't see her get frustrated at all (which she'll sometimes do at home), and I think she really wants to please her teachers. I'm guilty of getting frustrated easily and I STILL have the need to please others. No wonder she's my daughter.  :)

 

Children's Play and the 100 Year Flood

This fall's performance at the EVTC was "Wonderland," based off of Alice in Wonderland. My mother made magnificent costumes! I'm sure she'll win some awards.  :)   Natalie was able to sit through the entire performance!

Natalie liked touching the balls that the Pawns wore on top of their heads.

Natalie with the Mad Hatter (named Hatta) and Alice and her mother.

The Red Queen!

The White Queen

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

You'll notice that Natalie is wearing her rain boots. That's because the show was the weekend of the 2nd flood that AZ received, and we BARELY got there in time due to trying to drive in the massive amount of rain!  The first flood (2 weeks prior to this) was even worse! Luckily, we did not have much damage to the house. There was a leek in the window sill to Natalie's bedroom, so the front foot of carpeting near the window got soaked, and it leaked downward into the garage, too. That storm was intense! It woke us up at 2:00am when it started with loud thunder and lightning (but did not wake Natalie, somehow). Here is a picture of our back patio after 5 hours of rain over night (totaling 5 inches!). And it kept raining the rest of the day! 

You can see that our fountain filled-up (which is 5-6 inches deep, and was empty beforehand).

Here are pictures on my drive to work. I didn't think I would make it out of the neighborhood! Many cars were stranded because they flooded the engine. I should have just stayed at home, because I only had 6 kids in each class.  =P

Here's a picture of one of the overflowing water-retention parks.

Here is a picture of the water-filled amphitheater at my high school.

After work, Natalie and Brian took a kayak ride in the water retention park (which was only 5 ft deep by then), and could paddle all the way up the street to our house!!! Crazy times! We probably won't see another flood like this in our lifetime.

September

Oops! I fell a little behind on my blogging. I'm spending too much time grading papers - ugh!

Natalie loves to sing, whether it's a TV show theme, Disney movie song, Sunday School song, or just making-up her own songs! I love her originality and spontaneity!

Just shopping at Khol's, she sees and wants to go to the "party section." She starts to build a castle out of ribbons and bows, and proceeds to walk circles around the castle, asking me to take pictures of her walking in circles.

 Her dress-up collection has really grown, and she loves to pretend! She also likes to pick out several items of the same color, and calls herself a "pink girl," or says it's a "purple day."

Here is her latest family portrait (drawn with crayons in the tub). Her faces have recently included legs - yay!

As most kids, she likes to also pass the time playing iPad or iPhone. 

Brian is the best bedtime story reader because he makes the stories come alive! For example, after he reads "Goodnight Little Bear," he puts Natalie on his shoulders and proceeds to look around the house for his "lost daughter." After looking in a few hiding places, he then realizes that she's on his shoulders. Cute! She eats it up.

Here's us having fun with the camera before bedtime.

September also held 2 birthdays: Grandpa Gail's, and Uncle Jon's. We celebrated Grandpa Gail's b-day at Abuelo's!

And we celebrated Uncle Jon's b-day at Chipotle followed by brownies at home.