Natalie's 5th Birthday and other February Events

Natalie's 5th birthday was February 2nd. Wow - time flies! It seems like she was just a baby! We had her party on the Saturday before (Jan 31st). Grandma Phyllis & Grandpa Tom came to celebrate with us. We had a fun weekend. Natalie's party with her friends was at a pottery painting place, and all the kids seemed to have a good time. Natalie did a great job with her princess bank. Owen also had fun painting - he did a race car. He dipped his brush in every color before painting each stroke - so his car turned out a nice brown color. Henry didn't paint, he just watched, but he did enjoy sharing Grandpa's cake! After the party, we headed to Natalie's favorite restaurant, Carrabba's, for dinner. This year when they came to sing to her, she didn't hide her face, she just turned away with a smile. And she and Owen (and Henry too!) enjoyed the cream puff they brought her. She had a lot of fun opening her presents that night. Last weekend we had a laid back weekend. Natalie and Owen had a Rainbow Kids baby sitting night, and we had some friends over to eat. We enjoyed sitting outside that night - the weather was gorgeous. Last Sunday, we went to Natalie's friend's (actually her little boyfriend, Isaac) birthday party. I discovered while we were there that his mom is a principal ballerina for the Houston Ballet and I've seen her dance in many of the performances we go to. A lot of the other dancers were there (I recognized them from the programs), so I was a little starstruck. This weekend we celebrated Valentine's Day. We opened our gifts yesterday morning. After ballet, Natalie and I met Karien and Allison at the mall for some girls shopping (to get ready for our trip next week!). So now we are getting ready for our vacation to Mexico and we are all very excited!