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Almost all of Natalie’s pictures are of her family.

The lollipop looking figures are all her dolls.  Amazingly, she even has more in real life.  She also likes to sign the pictures with each of our first initials – usually arranged in a square pattern, as well as with her name, which is written in the correct order (first N, then A, next T, etc.) but often doesn’t come across from left to right in a straight line.  Its just so fun to see her create and put meaning behind her pictures.

And, here’s a self portrait made at school (looking into a mirror), which reminds me not to read in too much.  Sometimes, lines are just lines.  Decorations are just decorations.

As everyone in the Midwest knows, its been a lovely winter in Chicago (at least lovelier than in Boston).  Natalie’s school has already been canceled 4 times – once for snow, three times for cold.  Here are some pics from just before the snow day three weeks ago.  We got outside before we were 100% inundated (and for the later part of the afternoon, Elliott just stared out the window at the construction truck trying to get another truck unstuck – a dream come true.)

Cheese... okay, Mom, now how do I move?

I'm up to something - I'm not sure what, but it will be good...

What can I get for you? Peanuts? A popsicle?

Um, this is a lot of snow...

Natalie loves to read – and I love when she makes connections between stories, or between something happening in her life and a story.  However, these literary connections are starting to backfire on me.  Case and point:

When I asked Natalie to clean her body while in the shower (instead of just playing around and/or cleaning her brother), she said something along the lines of: “Mom, this is reminding me of Merida (from Brave).  Her mom wanted her to get married but she didn’t want – and didn’t have to because it was her body.  And this is my body – I don’t have to clean my body right now because its my body.”

(And, I promise, this truly was a literary connection – she hasn’t watched the movie.  princess.disney.com has a story you can read for free for every Disney princess).

She proceeded to make another connection to Frozen, which is escaping me at this point.

My rebuttal was something along the lines of princesses still need to have clean bodies.

Here are some fun pictures from Jan & Feb… on my awesome new phone, courtesy of my hubby!  My phone is bigger than I’d like, but the picture and video quality is impossible to compete with (for a phone)!

Despite the frigid weather, Natalie and Elliott often like to give a concert on the little step from the garage to the house:

LAAAA!!!!

Natalie’s first library card. She was so excited. It took her two months to get up the nerve to ask! (The birthday shirt was just a coincidence – no, there’s not a minimum age requirement to getting a card!)

Card carrying member - of the Chicago Public Library!

The Frozen craze continues…. at a recent play date at Natalie’s best friend Finnoula’s house, the girls kindly swapped Elsa dresses.  Never mind the meltdown that ensued at the end of the play date, regarding a miscommunication about swapping dresses for the long weekend.

Hi - I'm Elsa. Have you met my best friend, Elsa?

When Natalie’s at preschool, Elliott and I will occasionally visit Aunt Jira and Clayton.  Elliott is always a little confused as to why Issy, Nana and Pop aren’t there, but he still likes to have full run of Clayton’s toys and the house in general.

Cars, cars, and more cars - Clayton and I definitely share this interest!

Didn't you know all great executives chew on their fingers when they are teething?!?

We live really close to an awesome swimming center so we signed the kids up for lessons.  The best part is that they must keep the water at 95 degrees, so neither Jordan nor I dread jumping in with Elliott.  Here are Natalie and Elliott the first day of class….

Let's go!

Natalie is no longer this smiley on swim class days – she really doesn’t like getting her eyes and head wet (“zooms” under water are the worst, in her opinion), so we’ve taken to a far amount of negotiating.  Even with the carrot of a new Princess Sophia figurine every class that she gets her eyes/head wet 3 times, she still tries to delay, stall, and avoid.  For example, last week, she claimed she had to go to the bathroom, so she hopped out of the pool.  (When the actual visit to the bathroom is lacking action, its easy to detect that stall technique.)  Later, she simply hopped out, and when I went to go ask the teacher what he recommended – I’d even pick her up and toss her back in, she went behind my back, grabbed the towel and just started walking away.  Her teacher caught up to her half way across the pool deck.  It was pretty funny.

Again!

Jordan and I trade off weeks for who goes in the pool with Elliott.  He is pretty eager for the first 15 minutes, but then tires – especially with Jordan, who gives him a tough work out.  Last week, Jordan asked Elliott to show me how he could monkey climb along side the pool and Elliott’s arms were so tired, he hung on as long as he could and then just let go, sinking under the water.  I’m chuckling even as I type this, as his facial expression was priceless.  He didn’t even have an ounce of energy to complain or protest – he was just 110% worn out.  (Obviously, Jordan was 1 inch away and “rescued” our tired son.)

So, $20 to the person who can guess which of our kids graduated to the next level… 🙂  Jordan and I decided to take the next session off though, as Saturday morning battles about going to the swim pool are not our cup of tea.  Maybe a summer session – could the nanny do it?!? 🙂

At bedtime tonight, Natalie asked a series of questions, which ended up in a discussion on homelessness.  I think this was spurred by our awesome nanny Alison, who had the great idea of baking muffins for the firefighters.  They baked yesterday and delivered today.  The firefighters loved the muffins and showed the kids around.  They even sat in a fire truck.  It was Elliott’s dream day.  I’m not totally doing this story justice.  Sorry.  Anyways, back to Natalie’s questions….

Natalie: Why did we leave our old home?

Mom: We needed more space.

Natalie: But I really miss it.

Mom: What do you miss?

Natalie: The long hallway for running.  We only have a short hallway here.

Mom: Yes, that’s true, but we can run around the couch here and throw balls down the stairs.

Natalie: Why don’t some people have houses?

Mom: (Please forgive my imperfect attempt at answering these rather challenging questions to a 4-year-old.)  People need money to have a house and sometimes they don’t have a job or don’t have a job that pays them enough to have a house.  So, we need to help so that people can get good paying jobs.

Natalie: What if we didn’t have a home?

Mom: Don’t worry.  Daddy and Mommy went to college, so we can always get a good paying job.  We are really lucky.  We will always have a home.  And, if we ever didn’t, we could live with Nana and Pop or Grandma and Grandpa.  Isn’t that nice?

Natalie: Yes. What if people didn’t have family or friends to live with?

Mom: Well, sometimes there are shelters that people can live in.  God tries to find many ways to take care of people.  That’s why we need to help by giving money at church or making lunches for homeless people.

Natalie: Yeah, we can make lunches.  Like broccoli, peas, salad.  Sandwiches.  With a little cheese. And a little turkey.

Mom: Yes, I know our church makes lunches for homeless people.  Do you want me to look into us being able to help?

Natalie: Yes, but what if they don’t let us have the food I want.

Mom: Well, let me check the rules.  Sometimes, they might even add an extra thing.  Likea  cookie.

Natalie: Yes, we should give a cookie!

Mom: Okay, I’ll email them.

Natalie: Why don’t people have homes?

“But is Dad going to get lost because its Lost Vegas,” questioned Natalie, very concerned about Jordan’s 36-hour work trip.

“Mom, I love you so much.  I am going to live with you in this house until I am really really old.  And my kids can live here too. But what if they wanted their own house?  Well, I would tell them that I need to stay here with you because my mom and dad would miss me too much.  I’ll stay with you here until I am really really old.  And Elliott is really really old.  And Dad is really really old.  And you are really really old.  And we’ll all have canes, so that’s a good thing.  And we’ll all go up to heaven and see each other and Jesus too, so that’s a good thing too.”   – Natalie (the entire thing – even the back and forth dialogue)

Natalie fell asleep while I was reading her stories tonight.  (She had a very busy day – instead of her usual downtime with the occasional nap, she instead went to the beach with Poppy and Nana – and had a joyous time, even convincing them to sit in the cold ocean).  So, I tucked her in 30 minutes early, without saying good night to her bro.

Then, Jordan and Elliott came in to say good night.  Elliott gave me a fantastic cuddle, hug and kisses.  Then he said, “Ssss”, looking for his “Sissy” Natalie – who he always cuddles with before bed.  Too sweet.  He had to settle for blowing her room a kiss.

Two very sweet moments tonight from two very sweet kids.  I’m the luckiest Mom.