Natalie is 4!

Today is Natalie's 4th birthday! I'm having a great time looking back on pictures of her from one, two, three, and four years ago. I can't get over how much Natalie has grown and changed in these first 4 years of her life. I'm lucky to be her mom.

Duncan Leaks!

You saw it here first! Today only! Exclusive Duncan family leaks that are downright mortifying. See us like you've never (wanted to) see us before. It's embarrassing! It's scandalous! It's ... delicious! I made Potato Leek Soup for the first time tonight and it was pretty tasty. I've never cooked with leeks before, hence the unnatural excitement and inability to overcome the urge to pun. Please forgive me.

Many thanks to Elise at Simply Recipes for the yummy recipe. My substitutions: I didn't have marjoram, so I used oregano & basil. I pureed the whole soup b/c I didn't like the look of the leek floaties. It made a very thick, satisfying soup with very little fat.

What else do you all make with leeks? Any suggestions?

No Kindle for me, thank you

I just got A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from the library and began reading it. This passage explains why I can't get into the eReader sensation. (Besides the fact that they cost an arm and a leg.) Here it is, from sweet Francie Nolan's perspective:
"The story of Francois Villon was more wonderful each time she read it. Sometimes she worried for fear the book would be lost in the library and she'd never be able to read it again. She had once started copying the book in a two-cent notebook. She wanted to own a book so badly and she had thought the copying would do it. But the penciled sheets did not seem like nor smell like the library book so she had given it up, consoling herself with the vow that when she grew up, she would work hard, save money and buy every single book that she liked." (p. 25)
I'm thinking A Tree Grows in Brooklyn may be one of those books that just needs to be bought. So far, so good.

Breakfast for Dinner Nirvana

I think most people who check out my blog come here for the kiddo pics, but I just have to share the details of last night's successful dinner. I just might post a pic of the kids at the end to thank you for making it through my post.

Yesterday I got a loaf of white bread free at the store. What on earth to do with white bread? Ah! French toast! I enjoyed it as a child, but for some reason have never made it since I left home. (Probably because I never have white bread in the house unless someone's throwing up and therefore on the BRAT diet.)

Anyhow, I wanted to make an egg dish to go with the french toast, and I didn't have the right ingredients for any of the usual suspects. So I tried the Puffy Omelet recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (also where I found my french toast recipe, in case, like me, you actually need a recipe for it).

Omelets make me nervous and never turn out quite right for me, but this one was BAKED and thus much easier. No scary flipping needed. It turned out VERY fluffy, as the name suggests. I wrote the recipe in my Favorite Recipe section of this blog if you're interested.

The kids loved it all. We were wishing we had more of the omelet--I only made one for all 4 of us to share. I increased the eggy goop for the french toast and was thus able to use the entire loaf--we're saving the extra french toast slices in the freezer for a yummy (and easy!) breakfast to come. I loved the smell of the cinnamon and nutmeg in the french toast. Have I mentioned that I'm REALLY excited for fall? I am. Not just the food. Also the crisp, misty weather. But mostly the food.

We had our summer fun, and now let's bring on fall!

There's something I love about a good windy picture.

Natalie helps David eat golf balls when we run out of omelets.

First Day Recap

Well, Natalie loved preschool! I went with her today, and it was just an hour so she could get acquainted with her teachers and with the classroom. She loved playing with the kitchen food, plates, and utensils. I had to choke down the instinct to push her to play with everything else! She'll get there eventually, right? She also colored a picture, then everyone cleaned up, had snack, listened to a story, and sang "Hello" and "Goodbye" songs. Afterward, she was asked by 3 different people what her favorite part of preschool was, and each time she gave a different answer. I think that's a good sign. It's ALL good!

A photo after her big day.

First day nerves

The night before school started when I was little (OK, all the way through high school), I would have a tough time sleeping. I'd be just plain excited for the new year! I loved school, and it was so fun to think about my teacher(s), classmates, etc. But I never envisioned that I'd have trouble sleeping the night before my KIDS started school. Yet here I am. Natalie starts preschool tomorrow, and I'm sure that I'm more excited than she is. (I'll probably sleep just fine tonight, though, because I'm a busy mom who finds it hard to resist a good night's sleep on a comfy bed.) Natalie doesn't know what's coming. I have a bit of an idea. I hope she loves it as much as I did.

Our baby boy is 1!

David celebrated his birthday in fine form yesterday. Note to self: Don't schedule well-child visits for the morning of a birthday party. Particularly those well-child visits that involve 3 immunizations. Poor guy! And then 3 immunizations became 4 because Natalie ended up getting a flu shot as well. Thankfully they recovered well enough to enjoy the festivities that evening. Many of our family members came, and Dave's parents even celebrated with us via webcam.

Singing to the birthday boy

First taste of his cupcake

Loving it! He devoured the cupcake faster than anything I've seen before. We will post the video soon!

One cupcake is not enough.

Bring on a second cupcake, and all is right with the world.

A close-up for Grandma & Grandpa Duncan.

A happy birthday boy!

It is hard to believe David is a year old! But he sure is growing and learning by the day. He took his first few steps last week, and he's talking more and more each day. To close, here's a comparison from birth to now:

Burning questions

Dave was driving in the car with Natalie the other day, listening to the Mary Poppins soundtrack. We are always listening to the Mary Poppins soundtrack. It keeps Natalie entertained, and there's nothing better than hearing her imitate the old men of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. Anyhow, on this particular day, as "A Spoonful of Sugar" played, Natalie said, "Dad?" Then she hesitated for a bit and asked, "Do you have birds sit on your finger?" I love these insights into the workings of a preschooler's mind.

Hello, Chicago!

Dave had a conference to attend in Chicago at the beginning of December, and we all decided to come with him! We stayed for one night in a hotel, and we learned that road trips and vacations are a whole different ballgame with two kids, even when you're only on the road for 2 hours and only away from home for 2 days. Natalie successfully navigated the hotel's double bed without falling out--phew!--and David slept fairly well in his carseat, which is where he usually sleeps anyway.

We packed in a lot of fun stuff during the day--we visited the Field Museum and the Children's Museum, rode the L Train (EL Train?), and we ate Chicago-style pizza. Natalie loved the train. Her excitement was so contagious that she even made the tired commuters smile. How can you not smile when a cute 3-year-old (no bias here) in a bright pink coat says "Whee!" everytime the train starts moving, and repeats the names of the stops as she hears them over the intercom?

We don't actually have pictures from our favorite part of the Chicago Children's Museum. It was an indoor snowball fight, complete with white puff balls the size of golf balls and snowflake-shaped cardboard cutouts you could stack to create barricades. We had such a blast, and we weren't freezing cold afterward. Fine family entertainment!

Kitchen helper

Here's Natalie getting more mileage out of her Wisconsin tee. This time she's helping me roll out sugar cookie dough. As you can see, this is a full-body effort.


Ah, my favorite sight! Natalie & Dave working side by side in the kitchen. Natalie loves doing the dishes so much that she cries if we won't let her help. Here's hoping we can keep the dishes excitement coming when she's in high school.

Daddy-daughter date

Dave & Natalie love riding the bus to the Madison Children's Museum. Here they are, all decked out in UW regalia, ready for a fun day together. Thanks, Mom, for the fun tee shirts!

Smiling baby

These days David loves laying on the floor and ... smiling! Baby smiles are the best.

Halloween 2009

This Halloween we ended up pairing up Dave and David as Batman and Robin, and Natalie and I were Cinderella and her fairy godmother.

Wham! Zowie! The Dynamic Duo is back in action! After I found the idea for this Robin costume online, I was really happy that Dave was willing to play along as Batman. Aren't they cute?

As we read in the previous post, all of Natalie's dreams came true when this dress arrived at our house. I was really excited at the prospect of spraying my hair silvery gray! The only difficulty I had was convincing Natalie that the magic wand is for the fairy godmother, not Cinderella.

Cinderella, dreaming of all the candy that's sure to come her way:

Robin, who has no idea what's going on but looks adorable nonetheless:

Grace and toys go!

Natalie's new obsession is Cinderella 3. I'm normally pretty opposed to movie sequels, especially straight-to-video-Disney movie sequels. But when that sequel keeps my daughter entertained for a good 45 minutes or so and allows me to maintain my sanity, I can make an exception.

Natalie's got a terrific arsenal of quotes from the movie. One of her "quotes" is, "Grace and toys go!" Translation: "Grace and poise, girls." (Spoken by the Stepmother as she's trying to keep Anastasia and Drizella in line. If you knew that without having to read this explanation, call me. I'm sure there's a lot we can sympathize about.) Anyway, when she says this, it cracks Dave and me up, so she says it more. And more. There are also some great quotes like, "I DO! I dooooo. I do..." and "Whatever you do, stay away from the palace. Stay away from the prince!" It's a little disturbing when your toddler has a terrific menacing voice.

In keeping with the Cinderella theme at our house, Natalie decided she wants to be Cinderella for Halloween. My sister lent us a Cinderella outfit and it arrived in the mail on Saturday along with some new (sparkly!) shoes from Grandma. Putting on the dress elicited more quotes from Natalie: "Mommy, Daddy, all my dreams have come true!" and "They're the perfect shoes!" Needless to say, we're pretty excited for Halloween. Here's a sneak peek:

Back in Action

We're slowly but surely adjusting to life as a family of four. This past Sunday we went to church for the first time since David's birth. It turned out that the heat wasn't working in the chapel, and it was a cold, cold day, so our bishop cancelled all the meetings after the first hour (for those not familiar with LDS services, church is typically 3 hours long). It was kind of a nice way to ease back into the going-to-church routine. For everyone except Natalie. After sitting in Sacrament Meeting for an hour, she was more than ready to go to Nursery for the next 2 hours, and she flatly refused to leave the building. Dave carried her to the car, and she cried the whole way. Here's a post-church photo op, with David crying in his cute first day of church outfit, Natalie with her tears all dried (happy to be holding her beloved Sally, no doubt), and me already in my post-church comfy clothes.

Along with attending church again, we've resumed some other activities that for the past month or so were not happening much, if at all. Like hairbrushing! OK, hair-doing. Natalie's hair has been brushed every day (almost), and sometimes I would put in a quick hairband, but when the hairband invariably came out a few minutes later, there was no redo. But now we've jumped into pigtail territory, and there's no looking back! My mom put Natalie's hair in pigtails while she was here helping us, and my goal is to one day do pigtails for Natalie that are ALMOST as perfectly formed as the ones my mom would create.

Grandma's Pigtails

Mommy's Pigtails

We've ventured out several times for walks, hikes, and bus rides, and most trips have gone really smoothly. David tends to sleep in the Baby Bjorn, which works well for us. Here's a photo of him after our trip out to State Street on Friday evening. It was cold, so we bundled him in his reindeer sleeper, and the poor guy was so bundled that he reminded us of Ralphie's little brother Randy in A Christmas Story--you know, when the mom says to him, "You can put your arms down when you get to school!"

David, snoozing after a ride in the Bjorn

Here's Randy. See, David, it could have been worse!

Welcome, David!

David Carlson Duncan was born on Monday, September 7, 2009, at 10:40 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. We're thrilled to have him here with us 10 days earlier than expected!

We're soaking up all the newborn baby snuggle time we can.






So far, Natalie is fond of her new brother and she treats him very lovingly. Except his crying freaks her out. But for the most part, she seems to think he's pretty fun. The first thing I remember her saying about David is, "He's squeakin! Squeak, squeak!"

The Quotable Natalie

"Mommy, there are bugs in the salad dressing."

Natalie is forever telling us about bugs and spiders she's found, and it never fails to freak us out for a second or two before we realize that the spiders are empty grape stems from lunch or the bugs are actually bits of fuzz on the carpet. Or, in this case, poppyseeds. I ate some of the alleged bugs to show Natalie they were OK. When I see her popping a june bug in her mouth someday, I'll probably realize I didn't make the best choice.

Rochester to Madison Roadtrip

We stopped in some great places on our way to Madison. And I use the phrase "on our way" loosely. Philadelphia & DC are not generally on the way west of Rochester. But we'd wated to see these places for a long time, and we finally took the opportunity!

Highlights:
Getting used to seeing minutemen and other period folks all over in Philadelphia. We actually bumped into a minuteman on the way out of our elevator at the hotel parking lot. We were too surprised to request a photo op, so we settled for a pic with a cardboard cutout of Ben Franklin. I, for one, would have loved to have an "interactive breakfast" with him as advertised, but unfortunately our itinerary didn't allow it.

Seeing the coins made at the US Mint. I didn't realize how much they rely on robotics to turn the huge rolls of metal into coins. Sorry, no photos allowed here!

Viewing the Liberty Bell as well as period copies of the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, and the Declaration of Independence. Standing in the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Dave and I had some great preparation for this--we watched 1776 the musical! (Sing with me, "He plays the violin...." or how about, "Sit down, John!")

Checking out the memorials on the National Mall in Washington, DC. I won't lie to you--it was hot and humid and I was exhausted most of the time, but I am so glad we saw DC. There was so much to see; we just hit the tip of the iceberg. I would like to spend a couple weeks. Or a month. I would go to every museum, and it wouldn't be June, and I wouldn't be pregnant.

We love the Smithsonian! We had to restrain ourselves from asking the guards when Ben Stiller's shift began.

Meeting up with Dave's friend Kelly who lives in DC. We had a great visit with him, and he did an excellent job of helping us navigate the public transportation, and teaching us what was realistic. Sample, "Julie, you don't want to walk all the way to the Jefferson Memorial. Trust me." He was right. We drove.

Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns. This was the most moving experience of the trip for me. I felt such intense pride and gratitude as we walked along the memorials of all the soldiers who sacrificed so much for my freedom.

Just love this pic. I especially like that Natalie's smile occurred spontaneously. I think my cheesy grin in most of the other Julie-Natalie photos comes from the fact that I'm saying between my teeth, "Smile, Natalie!!"

Fallingwater was amazing. It was such a beautifully designed house. The only disappointment about this was that we arrived too late for both of us to take the tour (we were planning to go separately b/c no kids Natalie's age are allowed). Dave let me go b/c he knew how much it meant to me, and every time I think of the visit I appreciate him so much for that.

Our tradition is to buy a Christmas tree ornament as a souvenir wherever we travel. I can't wait to put up our tree this year and be reminded of this terrific trip!