Natalie is 5!

Happy Birthday Natalie!  We are so proud of how much you've grown in the last year and how much you've accomplished.  You give so much love to everyone you meet and we're so happy you are our girl.

Love,
Mom and Dad

Natalie and Konrad's birthday celebrations are more quiet this year since they had the big party last year.  Yesterday Natalie opened her big birthday present: a scooter.  There are two important things about this scooter:  1) It's pink, and 2) It has three wheels.  Konrad's first comment when he saw Natalie's present was, "Lukas has a scooter and Natalie has a scooter."  Hmmm...a little jealousy?

Then we had friends Seth and Yocelyng over for dinner with their three kids, Bella, Adam and Esperanza.  Before dinner the kids enjoyed playing by the light of the Christmas lights that Tom and Lukas had installed that morning.  Please excuse the blurriness...somehow the camera got set on "mountain range" and this is what happens to portraits when the camera thinks it's looking at mountains.

 Lukas and Bella up the tree...

 ...when Bella was done, Konrad was more than happy to sit in the tree.

The guys holding their babies.

I was sure Natalie would blow out her candle with no problem (so I didn't practice with her in advance), but she hesitated for about 30 seconds, so Konrad did it for her.  She had no problem eating the cupcake!

Dominik was overjoyed to have someone to play with who is less than a year older (Espy is 14 months).

Whew!  The camera is finally set properly and the kids are watching cartoons so the adults can talk.

This morning, Natalie enjoyed reading her mirror in the bathroom...

...and she told everyone at church that she is five years old!  Yeah Natalie!

On a side note, I've had Natalie's birthday ticker on the side as a little girl riding a trike for the past two years:  it's been my hope for so long that she would ride a trike.  And she's started pedaling in the past few months!  We are so proud with how far she's come and we know she has so much more to show us this year.