SWEET boy!

We made the drive yesterday to my sister's to see my new nephew, he is the sweetest! We also went to celebrate my niece's third birthday. I can't believe my sister put on a party just FIVE days after giving birth. Five days after I gave birth I was still in the hospital, swollen from head to toe, bawling my eyes out, practically incoherant . . . but I digress. Yesterday was wonderful, the new family of four is great, and adjusting good. And Isabella is IN LOVE with her new little cousin. All she wanted to do was hold him, then she would pat and kiss him. Oh how she would love a little sibling . . . and I'm hopeful that she will get one sometime.



Isabella and I are heading back to my sister's sometime this week to stay for a few days, and help out, it should be a lot of fun!

Transitions

A couple months after Isabella turned two, we converted her crib into a toddler bed. About a week ago we decided it was time once again for another bed transition. She's quite tall for her age, and was looking like she was close to running out of room in her toddler bed. We really hyped up the transition, and it went SO smooth. Even the very first night, I put her in there, we said prayers, read a book, I left, and she went right to sleep like she did in her toddler bed. I think it really helped that she got to pick out her own sheets. She picked Tigger and Pooh sheets, and was/ is so excited about them! My mom got the comforter last year on clearance for her, and it matches everything in her room so well. And in keeping with her tradition of never getting out of her crib or toddler bed, she absolutely will not get out of her big girl bed once she gets in! Whenever she wakes up in the morning or from her nap, she still waits for one of us to come get her, silly girl.

Taggy Blankets

I am a huge fan of blankies for kids. Yesterday, during Isabella's nap, I whipped up this taggy blanky for my newest nephew. There are instructions all over the internet, I used this one at Melisssa Sews that Lenetta linked to. I love how it turned out.

And what would a post about blankies be without a picture of Isabella's pride and joy! She insisted her blanky needed his picture taken as well. If you have spent ANY amount of time around this girl, you know how much she loves her blanky!

Legwarmers!

Are these not the cutest things EVER! My friend, Lenetta, makes adorable legwarmers, she is so crafty. Isabella got these in the mail from her yesterday. I am super excited about them for two reasons, 1) Isabella is the coldest person I've ever seen, really. She wears layers upon layers during the winter. These will be so nice to wear under her pants this winter. And 2) Could they BE any cuter!

She sells them, so check them out here, and contact her blog if you are interested.

Thank you, Lenetta, for brightening our day!

A Week Away

Last week Isabella and I traveled to see my long time friend, Meredith. It was wonderful to get to see her! We had some late nights of chatting, what gal doesn't like to do that!? :) She showed us around her beautiful town, our kids played, we went for walks, it was an awesome time! And look at these two boys of hers, aren't they the cutest?! And she's expecting #3 in October, who is bound to be just as cute!

Isabella took a liking to her (who wouldn't!).
AND . . . not only did I get to see Meredith, but I got to see my ENTIRE family that week. We stopped at my brother's the first day, and stayed overnight, so we didn't have to do all the driving in one day. I don't have any pictures from then, but Isabella had a blast playing with her cousins, and my grandma even came over for supper. Then, on our way home from Meredith's, we stopped at my parents for the night. My niece was staying there, since my sister was not doing well in her last stage of pregnancy. Those girls LOVE each other, they pretty much disappear to another room, and go play together. I love eavesdropping on their conversations. . . so cute! The next day I brought Rachel back to my sister's and stayed there for the day, before heading home that evening. I drove 16 + hours last week, just Isabella and I, and she did great in the car! As usual, she didn't sleep much in the car, sigh, but I can handle that as long as she is happy. She pretty much listened to music the entire time.

She loved Rachel's new cat, Butterscotch. She calls him, "Scott".

Sweet Baby Boy

I am so excited to announce that my sister had a sweet baby BOY last night!! He joins 3 year old sister (she turns three tomorrow) Rachel. My sister was shocked, as she was SURE she was having another girl. I was very surprised also. My brother-in-law called about midnight last night to report the good news, he was such a proud daddy! Of course Isabella and I had to do a little shopping today for the little guy, and I got some material for a blanky for him. I haven't met him, but I love him already, and am SO antsy to get there. We'll hopefully be making the trip this weekend, and then Isabella and I will stay for a while to help my sister. Whenever my mom leaves, that is, although she informed me she's not leaving anytime soon. :) For those of you who know my family, and want to know the stats, here they are:

Jared Joseph
6 pounds 15 ounces
18 and a half inches long

What a wonderful blessing!

I'm still here

I guess I haven't had much of a desire to blog lately. Life has been busy. Isabella and I had a great week away last week, which I will blog about soon, but it also feels good to be home again. Monte was so glad to have us home, he took Isabella and I out for a special day yesterday - the zoo, out to eat, a little shopping, it was a great day! In my spare time, I've been cleaning/organizing like CRAZY. It's such a good feeling to know that my curtains, rugs, etc. are all washed, which means there's less dust around, even though I'm sure nobody else would notice. I don't know what's gotten over me, but I'm thinking it has something to do with the book I'm reading, I haven't gotten very far into it, but it's full of all sorts of great information. I haven't been this ambitious about cleaning in a LONG time.

Today Isabella and I went for a long walk around town, which included a visit to Church, the Post Office, the park, and the grocery store. We came home for a quick bite to eat and then headed to the library for a while. What are we going to do when the weather turns cold?! I hope Isabella won't get too bored. It seems like there's always something to do, or somewhere to go in the summer. Although, I am a little bit ready for less busyness, I'm a homebody. We are also waiting for my newest niece or nephew to arrive. My sister went in to the hospital about midnight last night, but things slowed down, so they were considering sending her home today. I hope he or she arrives soon, because my sister has been miserable. The baby has been on her sciatic nerve for the last few weeks, and she hasn't even been able to walk, she's had to rely on friends and family to care for her almost three year old, which is taking a toll on my little niece, who just wants to be with her mom and dad.

And by the way, there were TWENTY cups of sugar in my batch of chokecherry jelly! :)

A New Experience

I tried making and canning jelly for the first time on Friday. This is my third year of canning, but I have never tried jelly before. Monte and I spent a long time picking two gallons of chokecherries while at his parents.

I used things I had never used before in the kitchen, like a cheesecloth, and this contraption.

A HUGE mess in my kitchen, and seven hours later, I got this result. It turned out great, and I'm so happy! I was worried I would go to all that work, and it wouldn't turn out. Does anyone want to take a guess as to how many cups of sugar are in this batch of 24 half-pint jars??

Weekend During the Week

Monte had two days of insurance claims to work on, near the area where his parents live this past week. So we all went up to spend two days at their house. It felt like a weekend, since that's when we are normally there. Now I'm all messed up with my days. My mother-in-law and I (with Isabella's help part of the time) canned pickles, YUM! We canned 39 quarts that day, plus my mother-in-law canned another 39 quarts last week.

And the rest of the time was spent in their pool.


For some reason, she had to hold on to a swim noodle almost the entire time.

And I've found ONE thing I don't like about having a potty trained kid vs. a non-potty trained kid - taking a soaking wet kid out of the pool to go potty. It was quite the production.

Pool Time

It was FINALLY hot here this past week. It's been an unusually cool summer, I know a lot of people that like it cool, but I prefer the very hot weather. Other than this last week, and one week in June, it's been in the 70's and even 60's some weeks. I remember last summer I either took Isabella to the city pool or she swam in her little pool almost every day. This summer I have taken her to the pool once, and we just got out her little pool now that the summer is almost over! Although, I also attribute the lack of pool time to her hugely expanded assortment of outdoor toys (there's only so much you can fit in in a day!), thanks to friends, family, and strangers (jeep, swing set, etc.). Both she and I have been enjoying the hot weather, that has now come to an end once again. She is getting to be more and more independent in her playing, but likes to have me near, so I would grab a book, and lounge next to her while she splashed around in her pool for the majority of the afternoons.

She thought she would get out of the pool and read for a while. Here she is enjoying "The Firm" by John Grisham, I found the plot to be a little too advanced for her, but she found it quite interesting. :)

And a hot afternoon in the sun wouldn't be complete without enjoying a popsicle in the porch.

Flower Gardens

This past weekend we headed back to the flower gardens where I took Isabella's pictures in June. Ever since she and I went there, she's been talking about how she wanted to take Daddy there, so he could see all the pretty flowers. She was so excited about it, and as soon as we got in the car after spending a good part of the afternoon there, she said, "Thank you, Daddy, for coming with us." So sweet, it definitely made her day, but then again, any day that she gets to be with Daddy ALL day makes her day - see previous post. I LOVE this picture of Monte and Isabella!

This kid is obsessed with rocks. You should have seen the way her eyes lit up when she saw these huge things. Here, she's trying to pick one up . . . good luck with that.

Have I mentioned she's a Daddy's girl!

Right after Monte left for work this morning, Isabella said:

"I think you should work, Mommy, then Daddy can stay home with me."


I see how I rate.


Then, when she saw Monte come home really early today (because I had a dentist appt.), she was SO excited, that after all the screaming with excitement, she was actually telling herself, "now relax, just relax." Ha!

Ramblings

This week is our annual cleaning at church, where all the women of the church are assigned a task. I was scheduled for cleaning and polishing one section of pews, I wondered how long it would take before Isabella got bored since I had to take her. She picked out a few toys to bring, and for TWO straight hours I didn't even know she was there. She went off by herself, found a place to play, and did just that. I don't think she has ever played for two straight hours by HERSELF. Ahhh, she's getting too old! Of course it did take me two and half hours, and the last half hour I had a little shadow saying, "I want to go home."

In other church related news, when I got home I received a call asking me if I was going to teach CCD again this year. AND I SAID NO!! I can't believe I actually said no, that is so not like me to actually tell someone no. But I'm learning to do it more, and it's kind of freeing - if that's even a word. My experience teaching last year was a BAD one, to say the least. Although I did influence just one boy to start going to church regularly. He and his family never went, and after one of my "talks" with him, his whole family started appearing in Church! Also, teaching those disrespectful, awful kids (I will save you all from the comments one girl made to me that got her kicked out for the rest of the year!) made me seriously consider if we want to put our kids in public school. Please don't harass me public school lovers, I'm most definitely not anti-public school, but I just don't know yet what we want for our kids, and these kids left me with a bad taste in my mouth! I went to a public school, and I turned out just fine (I think), and our kids may very well end up going to public school, I'm just saying, we have a lot to think about, and I'm quite certain that it's not all about school, but rather parenting as well.

And in non-church related news I get to spend an entire day this weekend with a dear friend I haven't seen in YEARS! I'm so excited. Isabella is going to stay with Monte, while I meet my friend about an hour an a half from here for a fun filled day!

Wrapping it Up

I was just thinking these vacation posts have been drug out, we've been home for an entire week now. But I'm glad that I took the time to document it, because it will be nice to look back on. There are so many reasons to blog, I would say that my number one reason is to record family memories for us. I love looking back at posts from a long time ago, but sometimes it makes me sad to see how fast Isabella is growing up. :(

We spent one day in the little town of Keystone. It's basically a big tourist trap, with tons of cute little stores and shops, places to eat, etc. We love going to the taffy shop there, and watching them make taffy (but more importantly buying and EATING the taffy!). Isabella insisted we take her picture on this weird donkey looking thing.


Another thing we did while out in the Black Hills was wine tasting. We fell in love with Prairie Berry winery out there, and had to go two times! On our way home we stopped at the famous Wall Drug, which is where the picture below is from. It was a wonderful vacation, I was sad to come home, I could have used another week out there. :) But oh well, all good things must come to an end. And I was so happy to see that all my flowers didn't die from lack of watering when we got home. Our wonderful neighbor came over and watered for us.