Winter Greetings from Wisconsin

The snow has finally arrived in Wisconsin and Ally found this "heart" that was a warm spot in the cold.

Nat-Nat

And now...we interrupt the silence to bring you news of Natalie's birthday!

Yesterday, our precious middle-child turned four years old. Amazing.

We prefer to save parties with several friends until next year (or maybe the following year), so we asked her how she wanted to celebrate. In the end, we decided to invite over a precious family who has three girls, two of which are close in age to Ally and Nat. It was such a fun time together! The kiddos played and gabbed and laughed and screamed while the parents (tried) to hold a decent conversation. We were mostly successful.

So our traditional blowing-out-the-candle picture is a bit non-traditional. We had to interrupt their playing to draw them back to the table for cake and candle-blowing. It is clear by her hair that they were playing hard! Our little celebration took place on Saturday night.

On Sunday, her actual birthday, we had church in the morning and Awana at night, but she chose our lunch and opened gifts in the afternoon. She chose pizza, in case you were wondering.

As you will see in the pictures below, we decided to give her a dollhouse for her birthday. And we spread the word through the family, asking for furniture for the house.

It has been approximately 32 hours since she saw her dollhouse for the first time. Take away ten hours for sleeping and two hours for Awana last night. She has played with her dollhouse for no less than 10 of the remaining 20 hours. No exaggeration.

Natalie has rarely been an "easy" child and is the cause of more than a few gray hairs, but she is the source of such life in our home. Her energy and enthusiasm is such a joy and she is constantly teaching us valuable lessons about love, patience, and parenthood.

Should you care for a reminder, you can read her birth story here. Down on the right, you can search for 2008 posts, then select January for pictures and one of our favorite videos of all time, taken the first time Allyson met her new sister.

Happy 4th birthday Nat-Nat! We love you!