Natalie Turns 7!

We had another birthday around here.  The holidays sure are a crazy time for us what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, 3 birthdays and an anniversary all in a 2-month span.  It was especially crazy this year with Thanksgiving so late.  Natalie's birthday was the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  That meant I had to actually think through things well enough to go shopping for her before Thanksgiving.  We were still forced to make a trip to the mall on Saturday (madness!) but we survived.

The important thing was that this girl turned another year older:

(Being the awesome big sister that she is)

I think she had a pretty good day.  Despite most of us not feeling so well, we managed to keep the tradition alive of putting up the Christmas decorations and decorating the tree on her birthday.  Then we had a fun addition to the party when Matt came to visit!  He was in SF for a conference and stopped in to stay with us that night.  It sure made Natalie's day.

We had the birthday dinner of beef stroganoff and then hit the presents.  It was a Harry Potter-themed year for sure.  She loved the firebolt broomstick that Uncle Matt and family gave her!

 

 Elijah liked it, too:

 Grandma gave her this pretty necklace:

 Elizabeth & Nate gave her this lego set:

(Our first venture into the world of legos! Our floor will never be the same again.)

 She also loved this music box from Grandma & Grandpa Allen:

 

It plays Edelweiss like one I have that I got in Austria which she was constantly swiping from my room.

Another highlight was receiving all the Harry Potter movies, too:

 Then Matt surprised us all with some Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Jelly Beans:

Those were a hit!  We still have a box of all the gross flavors waiting for some unsuspecting victim to stumble upon them.

 Then it was cake time:

She wanted an ice cream cake this year.  Unfortunately, I ran out of powdered sugar and couldn't make more frosting so we had to get creative with the cake decorations.  Simple but cute, I think.

Natalie sure is growing up.  One of her strongest loves is music.  It is also a talent of hers.  We started the girls in piano lessons again when we moved here and they are doing great.  We went with a less traditional-type of method called "Simply Music" and it seems to be going well so far.  Natalie is seriously on the piano all of the time.  She especially loves to make up songs or figure out how to play songs by ear.  I think she will be very good if she keeps playing so much.  It is nice not to have to nag her to practice.  She loves to sing, too, and I love listening to her.  I've heard her singing Christmas songs around the house a lot lately and I love it.

Natalie loves food.  Especially treats of all kinds.  She has unfortunately inherited her mother's preoccupation with food.  She will ask me some mornings before school what we are having for dinner that night.  I don't know of many kids who care that much about food.  It is very familiar to me, though, as I was just like that as a kid (and still am).  Sometimes this causes problems in the form of treat-stealing (from the cupboards or from her siblings) and lying to cover it up.  She is working on it, though, and making progress.  I am trying to strike a balance between giving my kids the freedom to prepare and choose what they want to eat while maintaining some level of health and order in the kitchen.  I'm not having much luck.  Any tips?  The good thing about all this is that some cookies or a night out to eat can immediately improve her mood and she is very motivated to do anything that involves a treat as a reward.  Again, much like her mother. :)

Natalie is fast!  She loves to run as fast as she can and always wants me to watch how fast she is.  She really is quick.  The other day she was racing with some other kids in the church gym and she held her own really well.  I need to get her back into some kind of sport.  We haven't decided what's next for her yet.

Natalie still loves to read.  Both of the girls are majorly stuck on Harry Potter and it can be difficult to get them to read much else.  Still, you have to love the series for motivating this 6-year-old girl to read a book this thick:

(An old pic from our house--ah, I miss it... :)

Natalie is such a wonderful sister and daughter.  She loves playing with her little brothers and is very patient with them for the most part.  She and Elizabeth are having more struggles lately.  I look back on some of the meanness that went on with my brother when I was about their age and think we may be getting into that stage with the girls.  Thankfully, there are enough kind and loving moments to prevent me from losing all hope that they'll make it through with their friendship and sisterly bond in tact.  I especially love to hear them talking at night in their beds.  It makes me think maybe they'll be OK.

We sure love our Natalie! I am so lucky to get to be her mom.