There is something about Wal-Mart . . .

that Isabella loves! I don't understand it. We go there pretty often, as it is the only place around to do one stop shopping (groceries AND everything else you could possibly need). The thing I don't understand is that every time we have ever gone Isabella sleeps the entire time we are there! We could be there 20 minutes or 3 hours, it wouldn't matter - she sleeps. We go to any other store and she looks around the whole time in amazement of everything she sees. I guess the nice thing is that I don't have to plan our shopping excursions around nap times as I know she'll get a good nap in while we're there. Silly girl!

We had such a nice day today, the only thing Monte had to do for work today was go to a town nearby and meet someone quick to get his signature. So Isabella and I tagged along. We went out to eat and to the mall. With the cool weather lately, I've realized Isabella doesn't have much for long sleeved fall outfits. She's got a ton of 18 month outfits for winter from my mom's friend, hopefully that's what size she will be in by then. So I picked up some 9 and 12 month outfits today. I actually hit some pretty good sales - so that was good. I am a bargain shopper thanks to all those years of my mom "teaching" me the right way to shop. I'm afraid I've passed on my love for shopping to Isabella, she gets the biggest smile and actually starts laughing at the mere sight of a dress. She's all girl! After our trip to the mall, we of course headed for Wal-Mart so Isabella could get her nap in and so I could get a bike. It is honestly the first bike I have had since I was about 12 years old! Monte's sister gave us a bike seat for Isabella, but I think I better practice up a bit first so as not to risk the life of my child, whose mother hasn't ridden a bike since she was in junior high. Anyway, with working the past couple of weekends it was so nice to be together as a family today, it wouldn't have mattered what we did.

Strange Weather

When I think of August I think of insanely hot weather, at least in the 90's. What is going on lately? It seems like most of the country is in a heatwave, but our temperature for the last two days has been 56! I had my heat on in the car today. It has been raining almost nonstop as well, but at least we're not getting floods like other areas in the midwest. There's more cool weather and rain forcasted for this whole coming week, that's just not a good way to enjoy the last days of summer!

Hopefully Isabella won't be needing this for quite a while!

Trying on her winter hat with Daddy.

Date Night

My mom has been here for a few days, so on Tuesday night Monte and I got to go to Church and out to eat by ourselves! Yay! It's so nice for just the two of us to get out once in while - just like old times. :) Isabella is definitely a grandma's girl, she loves to show off for my mom and is all smiles for her! We'll see how she is for me on Monday after all of this attention she's getting - my mom left today and Monte's mom is coming tomorrow for three days. I'll probably be boring mom to her after the weekend is over.
We've been very busy around here. Monte has been really busy with work, he hasn't been around too much lately. I got one whole side of our house painted yesterday while my mom watched Isabella, it was really humid which made me exhausted. I work today through Sunday, and in my spare moments I've been trying to get some canning done.

Outdoor fun and a Gardening Tip

Isabella had a great time with her daddy this weekend while I was working. I'm glad they get to spend so much time together when I'm working (although I'd rather not be working). I've discovered that she takes really nice, long naps after she's been outside, so I'm wondering what her schedule is going to be like when the weather gets cold and she's not outside as much.

And now to gardening . . .

I wouldn't exactly consider myself a gardening expert, but for anyone into flowers, did you know that in order to keep your flowers looking good at the end of the season you just need to cut them back. That's right, just take a scissers and hack off about half their length. I just learned this and it actually works. I wish I had a before picture because they were just about dead.

Isn't this basket cute - my father in law made it!

I just wish there was something we could do to make our garden look better. Last year we had so much produce we didn't know what to do with it all. So far this year, rabbits ate all of our green beans, our potatoes were rotten, and ants (yes ants) ate all of our sweet corn. I have never heard of ants ruining sweet corn! At least our tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are doing really good. It's time to start canning, last year was my first canning experience, it went rather well. I can't wait to get started, hopefully I can do it soon but we have a busy week ahead of us. My mom is coming for a few days, we've been working on painting our house since May, hopefully I can get a little more done while she's here. Then she's going to babysit on Thursday, I normally don't work two weekends in a row but I have to work Thursday - Sunday again this coming week. Then Monte's mom is coming for the weekend so he can hopefully get some painting done also.

Disappointment is . . .

1. Splurging on a twenty dollar package of spareribs to make your husband's grandma's recipe that is one of his absolute favorites.

2. Not eating hardly anything all day because you're looking forward to supper so much.

3. Waiting even longer to eat because you want to wait until after the baby goes to bed, so you can savor every scrumptious bite!

4. Having the meal be a complete disaster.

Morning Walks

One of my favorite parts of the day is taking Isabella for a walk in the morning before it gets too insanely hot. Of course we don't get to go on the days I work, darn work gets in the way of everything! I would have to say that my favorite baby item we have bought is our stroller, I love it. We almost didn't get one with the infant car seat attachment but we found one on clearance and now I am very glad for that. I am very much a person that needs a routine and we definitely have a summer routine going. We take the same route, first we meet the man walking his little white poodle, then we walk past the old man who is ALWAYS sitting outside just waiting for someone to stop and say hi. He always seems so happy but I can't help but think he must be so lonely. Then we stop at Church for a while to light a candle, say some prayers, and Isabella waves "bye bye" to Jesus. That all started when one day I told her we were going bye bye as I was looking at the tabernacle. So now she waves bye bye to Jesus in the tabernacle. I love it!! The other day we made a stop at the library. We have lived in this town for a year and a half, we live 6 blocks from the library and we have never been there before! We will definitely be going back on a regular basis from now on though. I'm afraid Isabella didn't do a very good job of obeying the "quiet rule" though. She loves to hear herself make noise, and the noise she usually makes is a VERY high pitched, loud squeal. She really prefers to make this noise in places such as Church, restaurants, libraries, and any public place in general. I don't think the librarian was too happy with us, but oh well. I tried giving her the pacifier but she wanted nothing to do with it, she really only likes it when she's sleepy.

I'm going to be so sad to see the summer come to an end. I'm enjoying every day, as I know our warm days are soon going to be numbered. I look forward to many summers ahead as we watch Isabella grow up, but for now I'm just enjoying having her the age she is!

Big Girl

This is such hard work!

I'm working up a sweat!

Yay! I did it, I can stand up all by myself! I'm such a big girl now!