What happens when Mommy leaves the room

Monte's response: "I think her bookshelf threw up."

Two More

I was going through the photos from today, and found two more that I didn't think were that great, but with a little editing I really like them.

My Sweet Girl - 18 Months

Wow, 1 and a half already! I finally got around to taking her 18 month pictures this weekend. Once again, I went the cheap way and took them myself. I think we'll go professional for her 2 yr. pictures, though.

Little Fishergirl

Fishing - her Daddy and Mommy's favorite thing to do. Today was her first time, she loved it!

How you know you haven't been anywhere by yourself in a while

(While driving) "Look at the cows Isabella, what do the cows say?" Oh yeah, I'm by myself!

Making Progress

Yesterday was the first time since Isabella was born that I have been able to vacuum without Monte being here to hold her! She has always been TERRIFIED of the vaccuum. She has some sort of odd love/hate relationship with it. She cries in terror when it is actually on, but if it is off she admires it from afar with the strangest look on her face, as if she is trying to convince herself it is okay. She pretends she is patting it and blows kisses to it, but the minute I turn it on you would think it was some sort of torture device! I'm getting sick of always having to wait for Monte to come home so I can vacuum, so I gave it a try yesterday without him. She did much better than I thought she would. She kept a VERY safe distance from it. She didn't cry, but she was constantly doing her "help me" and "all done" signs. If I would shut it off for a minute she would yell, "BACK, BACK" (as in put that thing back, Mom!). I hadn't put the vaccuum away yet when Sister came over for a visit. Isabella took Sister's hand and led her out to the vacuum, she then proceeded to go off in baby gibberish, pointing her finger, shaking it at the vacuum, yelling at it, and screaming "BACK" again! I wish I would have caught it on video.

Planting the Garden

Isabella and Daddy planted some of the garden today, while I worked up the ground for my flower beds. Unfortunately, it was extremely windy so we didn't get a whole lot done, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Posing for a picture before going inside.

A New Summer Do

Not only did my blog get a makeover for summer, I also decided to get my hair chopped off! I'm pretty sure this is the shortest I've ever had it! I'm usually not very good about getting my hair even trimmed, except in the summer for some reason. I got about 4 - 5 inches cut off. Whenever the only thing I start doing with my hair is putting it in a ponytail is when I usually decide to get it cut. I had complete remorse after I had it cut, probably because I didn't like the way the lady styled it. It was all poofed out on the sides, and I looked like a giant mushroom head! I did all I could to not gasp when she turned me around so I could look at it in the mirror. Then when I walked out into the mall afterward, I saw a girl with the cutest ponytail and I about went into tears. But this morning after I styled it myself, it's growing on me. (And it is SO easy.)

Time Magazine

A few days ago I posted an excellent quote by John Paul II about a mother's role in the family. Today I deleted it. When I checked my sitemeter today, I saw that people were being referred here (more specificly, referred just to that post) by Time.com. There is an article about the whole stay at home vs. working debate and they linked to MY blog post!! (How did they even find that?!?) I just thought it was a lovely quote by a wonderful, holy man about stay at home moms and society, and in no way did I want to get into some kind of debate on the whole issue. I was not happy, well, scared mostly, because I know who almost everyone is that I see reading my blog. There are a few "regulars" I don't know, but I am also guilty of "stalking" :) other people's blogs without leaving comments. But this, this was just too much for little ol' me to handle! Although I love the quote I posted, I could just feel a backlash of anonymous feminist, anti-christian sentiment coming my way! My first thought was to make my blog private, so only invited readers could see it, but I'm not sure I am quite ready for that. So for now I just deleted the post, and a blogger error message comes up if you click on the link at Time. Part of me thinks maybe I should have left it up, as a witness to my christian faith and vocation to motherhood, but I really don't think the readers of Time need to know all the other details of my daily family life. I also should say that if I am on your blog roll, I don't mind at all - it's just this whole Time thing is a little too much!

Sandbox = Fun AND Hours of Independent Play

And just another random picture from the day. . .

I was just wondering

what we did all day to keep entertained ALL winter long, because it's been cold and rainy here and we are stuck inside. Seriously, I don't remember the days of winter being this long, and it was a long winter! Maybe it's because we've gotten a taste of nice weather, and playing outside, which makes the days go extremely fast. Or maybe I'm going a teensy bit crazy from hearing an 18 month old saying "WEE!" every 2.2 seconds because she wants to go outside and swing, and can't understand why her mean old mom won't let her! Today I'm in the process of washing/packing up all my winter clothes and putting all my summer clothes in the closet. I really didn't think it would take that long, but I've gotten absolutely nothing else done. And now I'm not in the mood anymore, so I have a MOUNTAIN of clothes in my bedroom just waiting for me to do something with. Oh, and the little girl who has cabin fever has been hanging, and I really do mean hanging, on my leg the entire time I've been working on the whole clothing situation.

Countdown until Daddy is home - 2 hours!

A Week at Home

Two weeks ago I spent the whole week at my parents, and last week Isabella and I went to my in-laws for a couple of days so I could do some painting for them. Those are things I really looked forward to after I quit my job, being able to travel to see family. I love being able to do that! But this week I'm glad to be home. I'm glad I can see my husband all week and Isabella can see her daddy, and I'm glad my little girl can sleep in her own bed and get back into her routine. The only thing out of the ordinary we have planned for this week is that I'm joining a new weekly book club/ bible study. I'm excited because it's right here in my town, unlike MOPS. However, I'm a little nervous because I guess there's about 20 moms , I'm sure most of them have more than one child. A couple people I have already talked to have 4 kids. And how many people do you think they have to watch all these kids while the moms get together?! TWO! I'm used to MOPS where the kids are separated out into age groups, and there are several people to watch the kids. Just in Isabella's age group, there's about 10 kids and 4 caregivers. Also, Isabella has been quite the mommy's girl lately, so this should be interesting!

The Book Nook - New and Improved

A few months ago I posted about the reading nook I made for Isabella. We decided to use some of our tax refund and buy a book shelf for her books. I'm so glad we did because now that she can see all her books she wants to read even more!

Deal of the Day!

We've been wanting a turtle sandbox for Isabella. My parents thought she should have one, too, and said they wanted to get her one. I was glad to call my mom today and tell her it wasn't necessary. Our town has a city wide cleanup this coming Wednesday, you can set anything out on your curb. People have a lot of junk out, from old washers and dryers, branches, old furniture, etc.
On our walk today, Isabella and I saw this sandbox sitting on someone's curb alongside a bunch of junk. I thought they couldn't possibly be throwing it out. I walked by a couple of times, then we went on our way. When we got home I was really regretting not stopping to ask if they were throwing it out. So we walked back, the lady was home and I asked if they were getting rid of it. She told me we could have it! I speedwalked home, loaded Isabella up in the car, and we went right back to get it. When I opened the lid, it was FULL of nice outdoor toys and sand toys!! We brought it home, and I washed it along with all the toys, and it's all as good as new. I'm so excited, what a deal!

Our day in pictures

A new dress for Church.

"Helping" Mommy and Daddy plant some seeds to get them started inside before planting in the garden.

Isabella did her part by sweeping while Mommy washed some windows.

Can I help you Daddy?

And before you ask - yes, this is my bike from junior high. Can't you tell by the lovely 1990's purple and teal? I love this bike!

The best one dollar we've ever spent - sidewalk chalk! It has provided many hours of entertainment already!

My new sparkle buggy. My aunt Lisa got it for me for $2 at a garage sale!!

Home Again

Wow, do I have a lot of blog reading to catch up on! Our week at my parents was great, and went by so fast. We went somewhere every day, and Isabella is completely worn out. The weather was (and still is) cold and yucky, so Isabella didn't get a chance to roam around my parents' farm at all. She did get to see the baby lambs for about 10 minutes, and she was busy baaing like a sheep for the rest of the day! It was so nice to see my family. On Wednesday we met my sister and niece halfway for an afternoon of shopping. My mom bought me lots of cute, new clothes for my birthday present! She also gave me a canner, so I don't have to borrow my mother-in-law's anymore, which was kind of a hassle. We also got to see my brother and his family quite a bit since they only live a few miles from my parents, on Thursday they had a birthday supper for my grandma and me. And since the weather was so yucky, we got to see a lot of my dad, since he wasn't able to be in the field or work very much outside. And I have my cuddly girl back, at least she was at my parents. My mom brought us back yesterday, we were glad to see daddy, and he was very glad to see us! Isabella did great in the car for both of our long trips, we never heard anything from her, even though she didn't sleep very much. She loves just looking out the windows. Then Monte and I went out to celebrate my birthday, it was a great night of eating and shopping, we picked out all of our seeds for our garden this year. For some reason, that's one of my favorite things to do, I really look forward to going shopping for everything for the garden.