natalie can use a spoon

Natalie is learning to use a spoon and fork! She usually gives up on the fork but with a spoon she does really well! She ate her entire cup of yogurt all by herself!






Good job, my little munchkin! You are growing up so fast!!!

snow, snow, and more snow...

...and more snow, and more snow, and... wanna know how we all feel about it?


Okay, so a little snow is fun. Like, for a day. But we've had months of it now and this household is READY for some sunshine!!!! Especially Natalie. Samantha actually loves playing in the snow. She loves being outside year-round. But Natalie has not much cared for the snow any of the times we have taken the girls out. She just cries and cries when we stand her up in it.

Samantha thought it was funny to throw more snow at her...

...and at me!

Natalie tolerated being outside as long as she was held, while Sammi ran and ran around in it covering herself in snow!

After about 20 minutes, Dan came in with Natalie and they watched Sammi through the sliding glass door... She played by herself in the snow for another 30 minutes before Dan made her come inside to warm up!

So, I don't know about Sammi, but the rest of us are READY for some sunshine and warm days around here! I am SO GLAD we don't live on the east coast! I have my fingers crossed the warm long sunny days will be visiting us soon......

dan's superbowlthday party

Happy 30th Birthday, Dan! Happy Superbowl! Well, okay, in the end it wasn't so happy - but going into it we thought it would be fun to host a superbowl/birthday party for Dan since they fell on the same day! (Above are all fraternity brothers of Dan's.)

We all watched (some of us in horror) the game on the big screen...

I was pretty proud of the cake I made... note the 30 yard lines marked for his 30th birthday! :)

We had a football cake too!!

I asked everyone to bring a dish to share and their own drinks (I mean, could I have possibly been a lazier host?) - BUT, everyone brought amazing dishes and we had so much incredible food! Thanks to everyone for chipping in to make the party fun and delicious!!!
So...the Colts lost. And Dan was a little sad about turning 30. Definitely more than he expected. But, at least we have tons of wonderful friends to share in all of life's good and bad times!!!!! :) Thank you so much to everyone who came and everyone who sent Dan well wishes! He started p90x recently & is already feeling stronger and younger... and we are already getting geared up for next year's COLTS BABY!!!!

sarah b visits

Sarah B! About twice a year Sarah comes to stay with us for a few days and we loooooooove it when she comes!!!! Sammi is attached to her hip every time she comes, and it's easy to understand why!!!! Sarah (an art teacher, and a wonderful one) brought art projects to do together!

To celebrate Valentine's Day, they made clay hearts with faces and little legs and arms for them to stand up. They were adorable!

Snuggling on the couch showing Sarah her iPhone games...

Sarah, thank you so much for coming to visit!!! You are so busy and it means the world to all of us to have you come visit! We are excited to plan a visit to see you in Dayton soon too!!!! XOXO

visits with friends

I am SO far behind blogging! We have been busy working on the business site and so I've gotten really lazy about updating the personal blog! Over the last month we have had so many wonderful visits with friends - many of which I forgot to take photos, but this blog has some highlights!

My oldest friend in the world, Jessie, (our friendship is old - she's not old) :) came to visit from Texas during the playoffs and her son Cooper and Sammi got to play a little!

Love you, Jessie!

My amazing friend, JoAnn, also came in for a last-minute visit to a Colts' playoff game! They only came in for the weekend so she arranged for all of her friends to meet at MCL for dinner together in the banquet room. (JoAnn & I met while working at MCL about 8 years ago -ahhh, the memories!) Dan and I are going on a workation to Arizona and are staying with JoAnn in about 2 weeks. I CAN'T WAIT!

Lucky for us - some of JoAnn's friends are ours too! Including Radka & her girls - we were SO excited to see them at dinner!!!!!

Sam absolutely LOVES Sierra, Radka's daughter. She admires her so much and follows her around everywhere! Sierra is sooo good with her! I think we have a future babysitter lined up.... :)
SO many people came to dinner and it was awesome to see everyone!

This is Keller, my dear friend, April's daughter! She and Sam love to play together! They especially loved dressing up together on this visit!

April is expecting her third in June!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! I am soo excited. Can't wait to meet Keller & Caleb's new little sibling!!!

And of course we ALWAYS love seeing Bree and Kate! Becky, thanks for coming over & having us to your house too! Love playdates with you!!!! (Next time we'll have furniture.....) :)

a princess birthday party

Samantha is THREE! Natalie is ONE! Watch the slideshow to see the whole party and look below for photos and details! :)



Our little Natalie turned ONE and Samantha turned THREE in January! We had a princess party for our families and Sammi and Natalie's friends!

Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty all joined us... they were everywhere! :)

Preparation the night prior... our girls were in Fort Wayne with their grandparents while we worked on the party until about 2am!

Mixing chocolate cake batter for one layer and white for two layers...

Party favors...

Lots of balloons, streamers, noise makers, lipstick candy, candy necklaces, candy fingernail polish, confetti that spelled out the girls' names, princess confetti, and lots of pink filled the camera room of our studio and waiting area where we had the party!

We promised a special surprise for the kids... which was this huge princess bounce house for them to play in! Really shows how high our ceilings are!

We had pizza, of course, a favorite of both girls. :) We also had chocolate-covered caramel pretzels, pink M&Ms, fruit & veggie trays, and chips & dip.

The kids all enjoyed lots of time in the bounce house! Natalie wasn't so sure at first but she liked being in it with an adult to keep her from falling over!


The famous three-layer cake I dreamed about... and we actually did it! With the help & advice of Dan's parents and their cake & candy business, we pulled it off! YAY! (The right tools make a big difference!)

First cake!!!! Natalie got the top tier of our three-layer cake! She enjoyed playing in it much more than eating it, which is good by me!!!

A little bath in the sink before going out to play again! :)


We got so many, many presents... thank you so much to everyone. It was really unnecessary but very much appreciated!

After the guests left, the four of us played and played in the bounce house before they came to tear it down!

Natalie actually fell asleep half way through the party on her Grandpa Sherman!!! (I like to leave the photo last though because it summarizes how we all felt after the party!) In a GOOD way!!! :)
Happy, happy, happy birthday to our two beautiful, strong, smart, funny, sensitive, thoughtful girls!!!! We love you more than we could ever have imagined it would feel to be your parents! We are forever grateful to be given the opportunity to have you as our daughters.

We love you!