pumpkin patch

natalie at the pumpkin patch in 2008 (age 10 months)

what a difference a year makes! 22 months

watching the hay riders

she loved the animals!

the life of a toddler...from happy to sad in 10.5 seconds ;)

she wasn't sure about the hay ride at first

my little punkin

it's a beautiful day...

...don't let it get away!

a little girl and her purse...

shoes. the most difficult part of our day. natalie never likes the shoes i pick out for her...and if i offer choices, they're never the right ones. this girl is very opinionated about her fashion-she must take after her aunt katy. she especially loves to try on my high heels and my flip flops and prance around the house!
she is so proud of these little brown shoes that gam bought for her. she wants to wear them with everything, even though i told her they didn't match her black zebra pants!

the girl loves her shoes, purses and baby dolls. what a princess!

making new friends...

natalie's absolute favorite toy at the library...the rocking horse

sharing with ashlyn

natalie and cayla...

natalie and i love going to "building blocks" at the library on wednesday mornings. she especially loves singing the songs at the end of playtime! it has been a neat way to meet new people...a couple months ago, we met sweet little cayla and her mom beth. they have been a true blessing to us!

girl, we are done goin' to the chapel...

My sister, Katy, is something else, I tell you. This year, she has been a wedding planner for 6 weddings..all the while ...planning to become a mama to sweet Molly who was born in August! She's really great at what she does, and I'm very proud of her. Early in 2009, she decided to hire me to be her 'assistant' of sorts on the actual wedding days, and boy have we had some adventures. It has been so much fun to hang out with her on those lovely, but grueling 12+ hour long Saturdays.

We've laughed, freaked out, loved and cried.
We've met some sweet and incredible brides, grooms and families.
We've done some crazy things.
We've become heavy equipment operators, manual laborers, florists, cake cutters and servers, chauffeurs, centerpiece arrangers, improvisers, re-arrangers, seamstresses (when a bride's bustle broke about a million times).
We've been sweet and bossy...telling those groomsmen to spit out their gum and put that beer down OR ELSE.
We've had a fun, late night meal at the Waffle House.
We've joined the wedding crowd in a shout out song to the bride's home state of west virginia: singing, "country roads, take me home, to the place where I belong...west virginia, mountain momma, take me home, take me home" and we both cried during it (dad's from WV)!
And this weekend I actually threatened a group of groomsmen who wanted to leave the church before the wedding to go on a little adventure-and they listened to me...ha!

Don't mess with a Woodward girl who is trying to ensure that the bride has a perfect day! We are quite a team.

This past weekend was the last hoorah...It was quite a beautiful wedding, and we worked very, very hard. Katy--my girl--we are DONE goin' to the chapel for a little while. It's been a blast. I love you so much and I'm so grateful for these great memories. Good work, Sis.

katy and i as little tykes

on molly's birth day

crying because we love each other (dave looking on wondering what has happened to us)

love you katy!!

when we were little...

sweet little dave

me and my mama...

it's an ongoing discussion...who does natalie look like? of course, my side of the family is certain that she looks just like me. dave's side is certain that she is the spitting image of a little dave sprinkle. i think she's somewhere in between ;)...time will tell!

rain, rain, go away...

rainy morning and a little toddler and her mama...both with a case of the sniffles.
natalie and i are ready to feel better. and this tike can't wait to be able to play outside again!
(natalie wanted to thank gam for her raincoat today. she loves it!)

come again another day...

stone mountain saturday

the sign above depicts the project that dave's firm is currently working on!

natalie's favorite part of the day was certainly riding the choo choo train!

natalie was so glad that her grandpa and grandma came along...

family picture time...

natalie's first view of the train

we had a great time on saturday afternoon enjoying stone mountain park. we got to see where dave has been spending all of his time at work...and most importantly, we got to ride the train. my child was so excited about riding that train that she refused to nap that day! "choo choo" was all she could say all day long. she really had a great time and it was so neat to see the look of excitement on her face!

a few of natalie's favorite songs

Natalie loves music, and I do too! She loves to dance and sing, and her mama surely thinks that her baby is a really good dancer and singer. Dave and I get so tickled to watch her dance and sing!

Her new favorite song is the ABC song. It is hilareous to hear her rendition. Natalie loves watching this one on youtube...The Alphabet with Elmo.

And this is definitely my favorite CD ever (if you have a little one, you should buy it. i love every song on the cd). I find myself singing to the songs (even "froggie went a courtin") even when Natalie isn't in my car! Here is a link to one of the songs on youtube...It is Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Sunshine.

We also love anything Hap Palmer.

She won't let me video her dancing, but I caught her doing a little jig here: :)




I tried again ;):

prayers for bigma

Many of you know my great-grandmother, "Bigma." My sweet and precious Bigma...She's 100. Above is the invitation from her birthday this year. She is so beautiful and so special to all of us...

She is in the hospital, doing much better today, but I still ask for your prayers as she continues to heal. She was feeling very weak and short of breath on Saturday and they admitted her to the hospital for anemia. Please also pray for my sweet Grandma as she cares for Bigma and Grandpa (who is doing much better!).

Thank you for being such sweet friends and for keeping up with my family.

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12