Confession Time

I have not picked up my camera in at least a week. Unpacking has been hectic, and while things are starting to finally feel kind of put together, I just never seem to remember to take any pictures. I'll try to revive Project 365...we'll see what happens.

Until then, here are a few pictures I have taken with my cell phone.

Natalie's first day of Little Gym in Houston. She fell right in to place!

Hangin' out on the couch

This was Natalie's first trip to the Galleria that she can actually remember. Serious excitement overload for a four year old! The ice skating rink, two-story fountain, Chick-Fil-A, Build A Bear, the Disney Store, a giant candy store, and the sheer size of the mall had her eyes bigger than dinner plates. And she is now already asking to go skating!

First Day of Pre-K!

Where did our baby Natalie go?!

Kentucky

We took a trip to Kentucky to visit Brad's grandparents and extended family before moving back to Texas. The drive from New Jersey to Kentucky is much shorter than the drive from Texas to Kentucky, so we decided to take advantage of that. The girls did surprisingly well on the car ride there...a little worse on the car ride back home, but still overall, they did great!

Crossing our first state line...only about 10 minutes from home!

In to West Virginia...

...and then Ohio. Little did we know at this point that we'd be hitting 5 mph traffic for about an hour and a half in Ohio. As miserable as it was, the girls hung in there.

We made it!

Natalie wasted no time getting Grandmother to read her a story.

And shucked corn with Granddad.

Here are the girls playing Ants in the Pants with Grandpa.

And coloring pretty pictures on his sidewalk for him.

Four generations!

Lots of little girl cousins working in the garden...Natalie had a blast with so many little kids around (on both sides of the family, but I didn't have my camera with me for one of our other visits).

Sisters!

Swinging with Grandpa.

Julia's sleep schedule was a little thrown off on our trip. We were keeping her up later than usual in the evenings and sometimes she woke up too early from her naps. It would have been better for her to sleep in her bed the entire time, but it sure was fun to have her fall back asleep on us!

A park close to Grandmother and Granddad's house has a big fort, which Natalie loved.

My pretty big girl...

...and my pretty little girl, always handing things to people.

On the last day, we drove in to Cincinnati to visit the museum complex. The girls loved the children's museum and Natalie enjoyed the science museum. Here Julia is trying to catch the fish in the tank.

Project 365: Weeks 33, 34 and 35

These weeks are incomplete because we were in Kentucky part of the time. I am going to make a separate post with Kentucky pictures, so I'm combining these two Project 365 weeks into one post. There are also a few days without pictures...some days I just didn't pick up the camera in the middle of all the packing craziness :(

8/13/12: I love the expression on Julia's face when she gets a hold of something that belongs to Natalie. She knows she has to savor the moment since it could be ripped out of her hands at any moment!

8/15/12: This ended up being our last trip to Terhune, although we didn't know it at the time. It was perfect to be there with friends one last time. Natalie and Teagan really became great buds while we lived in New Jersey, so it was especially hard to say goodbye to that family.

8/16/12: One last trip to Sesame Place before moving!

8/24/12: Brad and Natalie doing a P90X DVD. Julia got in on the action too, but I was a little too late with the camera to capture it.

8/27/12: A group picture of all the kids who could make it to the last playdate before we moved. It perfectly captures the moment and the group -- someone throwing a fit, someone hidden behind someone else, a couple people distracting each other, and lots of people not looking. Love those kids!

8/27/12: Last mom's night out before we moved. I love these ladies so much and am so sad to not hang out with them anymore!

The Big Move!

Things have been crazy around here lately. I know I am a couple weeks behind on posting the Project 365 pictures. I will do it when I get to Houston (tomorrow!) and can come up for air.

Yeehaw!

Project 365: Week 32

8/5/12: While Brad was out of town, I took the girls to a relatively new children's museum in PA. It was small, but really cute! They had lots of different activities...here is Natalie working at the post office (I think she is actually wearing a police officer costume, but never mind that).

8/6/12: So glad to have Brad home after a long 4 days without him! Julia watched him mow the lawn and yelled "Dada!" the entire time.

8/7/12: She looooves putting on the glasses that go with Mr. Potato Head. And is so proud of herself when she actually manages to wedge them on her face!

8/8/12: Natalie made some Shrinky Dinks...the girls enjoyed watching them shrink in the oven :)

8/10/12: Tackle!

8/11/12: We went to lunch one last time at Cream King before leaving Pennington. I think Julia liked the ice cream!

Project 365: Week 31

7/29/12: Julia first experience with pasta that isn't cut into bite-sized pieces. She was flopping it all over the place!

7/30/12: Sister tickles!

8/1/12: Natalie is pulling her weight around the house when it comes to packing!

8/2/12: Julia LOVES sticking her finger up her nose. Part of the reason she may love it so much is because she knows it will get a laugh out of us. Taking pictures probably doesn't help discourage it either. Oops.

8/3/12: Natalie and I were playing Barbies. She said the big Barbie had 2 babies in her tummy so she named her Kim (my friend Kim is pregnant with twins right now). On the day the Barbie had her babies, she took them to the beach and gave them an iguana as a birthday gift. So thoughtful and totally realistic, right?

8/4/12: I did battle with Natalie's bean bag chair one night after the girls went to bed. I emptied all the little styrofoam pellets in to trash bags (NOT fun, VERY messy), washed the covered, and filled it back up with all her stuffed animals. She loves it!

Fun at the Park

Playing together in the sand. Julia clearly does not have any problems getting dirty like Natalie did when she was little!

Sliding with Daddy...

...and Mommy!

Julia alllllmost fell asleep in the swing. Drool was dripping down to the ground and everything.

"What, me? Asleep in the swing? Nooooo..."

What a good big sister!

Project 365: Week 30

7/22/12: At Sadie's first birthday party. My friend Mindy had a couple bounce houses set up, and separately had cans of shaving cream for the kids to play with. Sean got the idea to take the shaving cream in the bounce house, and the rest is history! The kids had a blast, and thankfully everything could just be hosed down (children included)!

7/23/12: We went to see a juggling show at the library. They did all kinds of tricks including spinning plates on sticks. Natalie made her own setup when we got home. Pretty clever if you ask me!

7/25/12: We picked two of these containers of blackberries at the farm!

7/26/12: Homemade lemonade!

7/27/12: Julia was walking toward Natalie and fell tooth-first into her face. Poor Natalie cried but recovered quickly. The mark is pretty much gone already.

7/28/12: Julia has always hated shoes so I never really pushed her to wear them. But we went to the park on Saturday morning and she really needed something on her feet for walking around in the mulch. She stopped playing every once in a while to look down at her new footwear.

I took a bunch of pictures at the park, so I'll post some others soon.