Hello!

We have had so much fun this past week and weekend. Natalie is just a complete crack up. Here are some photos of what we have been up to!

One of Natalie's favorite things to do is sort the recyclables. She loves to empty out the magazines and newspapers and then put them all back in. It is too funny.


This is Natalie at Tumble Tots at the YMCA. Above she is doing a forward roll. She loves to do them and always tries to do them at home. Below is her and Ms. Meg on the big trampoline. She is trying to get Natalie to jump. She loves the tramp, but doesn't understand exactly how to jump. It is funny to watch her try, she is so cute!

Now that I am home with Natalie we play a lot together. When there is something I need to do that I can't do with her, this is usually the scene at my feet. She's just too cute for me to resist!

It was 77 degrees today, so Natalie and I went to play at the park. We had a great time. She loved climbing around the equipment, sliding down the slides, swinging on the swings and playing in the sand.

After we played at the park we had a little snack in the back of the car. Grammie came and joined us and as you can see from the photos, she and Natalie are a pair!

We went out to eat and when we got home Natalie wanted to put on one of Jeff's socks. I thought it was funny because it came up so high on her leg!

So, Natalie loves to slide. She started sliding at Tumble Tots and has just fallen in love with it. When I went to Wal-Mart the other day they had some on sale. I picked on up, because I thought it would be great to put in the yard this summer. Below are 2 videos. One of her going down the slide at our house and then one of her going down a slide at the park. She even goes down the really tall ones. She is totally fearless. It is awesome. I wish she can keep a little of that as she grows up!

Expressions By Shannon...Save your money

So, as you all know I love to have Natalie's photo taken. I am always venturing to new places for new background and props. Anyway, I heard about this lady who took pictures in her basement and was even located on the west side of town, what a great deal...or so I thought! After what I went through with her, I would never go back.

1. When we got to her house it was filthy. The white background she was using had feet print all over it and at one point Natalie was eating a snack and dropped one on the floor. When she picked it up she also picked up like four hairs with it. GROSS.

2. We had our photos taken on a Monday and were promised them back by Valentines day. I had to e-mail her on Friday to ask if they were done. She e-mailed me back and said they were, but she wasn't going to be home and that she would leave them on the porch. How totally unprofessional. She didn't call me when they arrived and then left them out in the elements.

3. When I got the photos, the coloring was totally out of whack. I thought it might just be me, but everyone I showed them to agreed.

4. Here is our e-mail exchange below. I won't be going back and wouldn't recommend her for anything.

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From: Amy
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 7:39 AM
To: Shannon
RE: Photos

I am sorry to hear that, but most of all I am sorry to hear that you thought the printing looked OK. Everyone I have showed them too says that the color is terrible and Natalie’s color looks strange in them. I don’t see any reason to reshoot, as the next round of photos may print the same and you may think they look OK too.

I understand that you may not think the printing is your “problem”, but I am your customer and my satisfaction should be your ultimate goal. It is unfortunate that I have $60.00 worth of photos that I am unhappy with.

You can be sure I won’t be passing your name along to any of my friends or associates.

Sincerely,
Amy

From: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 9:04 PM
To: Amy
Subject: Re: Photos

I apologize, I did not get your email. I am also sorry that you were unhappy with your photos. I did not see a problem with them and if there was any major coloring issue, my developers would have stopped production and notified me. I do not give refunds on orders if a customer is unhappy with the printing. That is a developing problem. I can schedule a reshoot if you would like to do that or I can talk to the developers and see if they notice anything and if so, correct it and resend it.

Thank you
Shannon

----- Original Message -----
From: Amy
To: Shannon
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:00 PM
Subject: FW: Photos

Shannon,
I just wanted to make sure you received the e-mail I sent below. Please let me know when there is a time that would be convenient for you.

Thanks,
Amy

From: Amy
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 7:11 PM
To: Shannon
Subject: RE: Photos

Shannon,
I just picked up my photos and I have to say that I am extremely disappointed. The coloring is all wrong making Natalie’s lips and feet look blue and all the shadows look purple. The photos just seem extremely bright. Since they were to be Valentine gifts, trying to correct the color and reprinting them is not an option. I would like to return the photos for a full refund that includes my $10.00 sitting fee. Please let me know when you will be home so I can bring the photos back and pick up my money.

Thanks,
Amy

From: Shannon
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 4:52 PM
To: Amy
Subject: Re: Photos

I went ahead and put them by the front door packaged up in case you decide to come by tonight.
Thanks so much and have a great Valentines Day!

Shannon

----- Original Message -----
From: Amy
To: Shannon
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 4:23 PM
Subject: Photos

Hey Shannon,
Just wanted to see if our photos were ready?

Thanks
Amy

Last week and Valentine's Day!

I take Natalie to a couple "gym" classes during the week at the YMCA and she just loves it. Below are some photos of her at the gym going through the obstacle course. She really doesn't follow any directions, she just runs around like crazy. New last week she learned how to jump on the trampoline and slide down the slide all by herself.

On Friday I took Natalie to a Valentines Day party with a group of stay at home mom's. It was in a church out east and Natalie had a lot of fun. She made a Valentine bag and had some yummy treats! When we got home she had a great time going through the bag and looking at all the Valentines.

Valentines Day was a lot of fun. We hung out as a family in the morning enjoying our favorite sausage stuffed rolls for breakfast. Below is the front of the cards I made for Jeff and our families.

In the afternoon I went shopping with Carrie. We went to the Carters outlet store. They were having a huge sale and we both got some good deals! I got Natalie some sunglasses because Emily loves to wear hers, and it seems she likes them. She is super cute in the too. There is also a little video of her showing them off!

That evening we were invited to a Valentines Day dinner with Thom and Jenny. We invited Joe and Carrie to join us. It was a lot of fun. I thought it was in Thom and Jenny's hometown, but it wasn't! It was so funny. We were following them and it was like, wait, where are we going? Anyway, we had dinner, way too much wine and there was even a raffle where I won something! Mom watched Natalie all night so it was nice to have a night out!

Here we are all ready to go out!

Jeff and I at the dinner.

Jeff and Joe enjoying a moment.

I won some canisters that spelled "Faith", but the table thought it would be funny to try and come up with other words. All they came up with was "Fahti".

Jenny and I enjoying some of the free wine - thanks to her hubby!

Natalie has had a terrible diaper rash. Poor thing never had a diaper rash when she was a baby. I think it might be the antibiotics. Anyway, mom suggested dunking her in the sink after a messy diaper instead of rubbing her with wipes. It seems to be working - she enjoys the baths much more than the wiping!

Childproofing is so overrated!

Don't you love her morning curls?

This weekend

We had a very full weekend. Friday started out not so hot when I went to the doc and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Ugg. Jeff came home at lunch and let me sleep all day and into the night. On Saturday he got up and let me sleep till around 9. I was feeling pretty good when I got up and we had a wonderful day. I think it got up to 70. Anyway, in the afternoon we ran to the Zoo for about an hour to get some fresh air with our friends Joe, Carrie and Emily. It was nice to get out of the house and I think it did us some good.

Sunday we went grocery shopping in the morning and then headed for naps. We went to a neighborhood get together and then out to dinner with Joe and Carrie. The grandma's watched the babies for us. It was nice to get out for some "adult" time. This week will again prove to be very busy, but with Natalie and myself still not at 100% I think we will try to scale it back this week and just hang out.

She talks!

Natalie has been saying a couple of words every now and then...words like ma ma, da da, bubble, whoa and uh-oh, but the other day she said ball, it was really the first time she identified an object. Here is a little video of her saying "ball". She is too cute.

Natalie also has a really bad stuffy nose and cough right now. We took her to the doc today and he said it was going around like crazy. Poor baby. He even took a chest x-ray. Hopefully in a few days she is feeling A LOT better!!

Superbowl Fun

This weekend was a lot of fun and really busy! It was topped off by having Joe, Carrie and Baby Emily over for the Super Bowl. Saturday we went to swimming lessons and Natalie got (yes, another) new swimming suit. She is so cute in it. We also went to a birthday party for one of Natalie's friends from daycare and she fell in love with this musical alligator thing. Anyway, I picked her up one today and surprised her with it. She just loves it. She has this really bad cough, I am hoping that it doesn't develop into anything else. We have a busy week planned, so I hope she is feeling up for it!Jeff is usually a 49er's fan, but he let me dress him up in Steelers gear for the big game. You can see we went all out - Sharpies and white t-shirts. Natalie even got to join in the fun. There is also a photo of Natalie on the phone. In fact, she called our friend Carol tonight on accident! We didn't know it and Carol called back and said the answered the phone and no one was there, but they could hear us talking. Too funny. Anyway, hope everyone has a good week!