Birthday Bash

According to Isabella, "It was the best birthday party ever!!". I'm so glad she had so much fun, and it's not even her birthday yet! I have to say I was relieved when she requested a cupcake party, since cupcakes are easy to make. I've made some extremely time consuming birthday cakes in years past, and although I enjoyed it then, I really didn't feel like doing it this year.

My big girl! Can't believe she'll be 5 in a few days!

The birthday party set up.

I made an ice cream cake, too . . . so I don't think even one person tried a cupcake.

Opening presents . . .

Her cousin showed up in the same outfit, just different color!

Trick or Treat

It's a fun fall weekend around here. This morning was our town's fall craft fair, this afternoon our local nursing home hosted a halloween party for kids, followed by trick or treating at the nursing home. We also carved our pumpkin this afternoon, and in between everything else I've been baking for a bake sale, and preparing food for Isabella's birthday party tomorrow.

And as a side note, I just have to say there are very few things that aggravate me more than people who use foul language. I am SO sick of every public place I go to, (restaurants, grocery shopping, etc.) I have to listen to people swearing! But what bothers me even more is when my kids hear it. For example, the last time we were at the zoo, a guy standing right next to us was dropping f-bombs! And today (at a KIDS halloween party) the guys right next to us were also swearing up a storm. I gave them a not so nice look, and inside I was furious that my kids were hearing that! What to do you in that situation? We moved away from them, but I was SO tempted to say something! And that's my rant for this evening, I better get my house in shape before Isabella's party tomorrow.

My little lion. We kept calling him "Lello" because this is one of his favorite books. Don't look too close at the picture! We were given this costume as a hand me down, and it's size 6-9 months. I was determined to squeeze my 14 month old in it, just to get some use out of it!

And I was thrilled when Isabella said she wanted to use her costume from last year. Her shirt is a little small, too, and her wings were a little crumpled from poor storage, but oh well!

This and That - Fall pictures edition

This should probably be more than one post since there's so many pictures . . . that's what happens when I don't post for so long! I think we have entered the cold, can't play outside too much anymore, stage. But we did have a great fall, with very mild, warm days.

I'm in my second week of teaching piano lessons at our house, and it has been going great! I have 4 students (with a 5th one starting in the next couple months), and I teach Tuesday and Wednesday late afternoons / evenings.

Jaymes is getting too big, too fast, and that's all I have to say about that. :( He's 14 and a half months now, and not quite walking yet, but VERY close. He wants to so bad, but doesn't quite have the nerve to let go of one of our hands and try it on his own. I can't believe how close he's followed Isabella in his milestones, so if I go by what age she started walking, he should be walking in the next one to two weeks. And then . . . can I still call him a baby? I'm going to . . . :) He's perfected some baby sign language (mostly any sign language that has to do with eating, he LOVES to eat!) in the last couple months, and it's too cute to watch. He always claps for himself whenever he does a sign because that's what we always did when he learned them! He's also learned more words, and loves trying to imitate whatever we say. He was at the Dr. last week, and he now weighs 20 pounds, he also kept telling the Dr. (with his sign language) that he was "all done" with the Dr! I can tell he has had a big growth spurt, and is now in all 12 month clothes. I never dreamt I would LOVE having a boy as much as I do, and I've decided I'm going to baby him forever! :)

I can not believe that a week from today I will be the mother of a 5 year old! I'm getting old. Isabella is super excited for her cupcake themed birthday party this weekend, and as usual, this time of year brings out a lot of emotions in me. Her birth, and time surrounding it, is on my mind a lot every year around her birthday. It's hard to describe one of the best days and one of the scariest/ worst days of your life all wrapped into one, it's such an odd feeling. Still SO incredibly thankful for our miracle girl, and all the Dr.'s and nurses God surrounded us with that saved her life that day!

Isabella is still loving preschool, but since her switch to afternoon preschool, she is extremely tired. When she's tired she gets weepy and emotional, so we've seen quite a bit of that in the late afternoons/ evenings. She now goes to bed when Jaymes does, at 6:30! I have got to have two of the world's sleepiest kids, they just can't handle much.

Every night in the last week, I have talked about all the things I want to get done in the evenings, and every night Monte and I end up playing Monopoly, and I get nothing done. I always thought I didn't like that game, but I guess I do!

Jaymes is excited because he is finally tall enough to see out of our living room windows. He spends a lot of time there!

And here, in his usual fashion, he's ransacking his room.



"Pink Day" at school.

I was going to do a whole post about this, this summer, but never got around to it. Isabella is obviously too big for a stroller, but I wanted to be able to go for lots of walks. I go a long distance 2-3 times a day during the summer. Too long of distance for her to ride her bike (plus she's super slow at riding her bike). I knew if I had a bike trailer that doubled as a stroller she would fit okay, and the kids and I could still go for all of our walks that we enjoy so much. I was looking for a used one since they are so expensive, but used ones are hard to find, and still kind of expensive. I went to several rummage sales (as soon as they opened) that had them advertised, but they were gone already. I prayed that St. Anthony would help me find one, and the NEXT DAY I was at a friend's rummage sale, she asked me if I was looking for anything, and when I told her, she said she had one not on her sale (so it wasn't advertised) but would get rid of it for $10! We have way more than gotten our money's worth out of it. And because of it, the kids and I were able to walk everywhere all summer.

Isabella was in her first homecoming parade in September, she was so excited she could hardly stand it!

Jaymes has had so much fun lately playing with the kitchen. And when I'm in the real kitchen, I can see him playing in his kitchen, so it's been a great way to keep him occupied while I'm cooking.

We celebrated Monte's 32nd birthday this past weekend, the weather was beatiful for a hike, followed by going out to eat at his favorite restaurant the next day.

Isabella is learning how to use the camera, she actually got our heads in this one, so she's getting better! :)

I made him the Duggar's ice cream cake recipe. It was out of this world! He thought it was better than a Dairy Queen ice cream cake, and Isabella requested it for her birthday after trying one bite!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

We decided, spur of the moment, to take a trip to a pumpkin patch this evening. It was great fun for all of us!

I LOVE this picture of my sweet little guy!

She's trying to get him to look at the camera, but he was too involved with the dirt. Don't you love her sunglasses? :) She had to use mine since we forgot hers, and she's obsessed with sunglasses.

This picture makes me chuckle, I had no idea she was doing that.

Me and my kiddos.

Baby's first haircut!

A friend and I were talking about this a couple weeks ago, about how a lot of parents wait way too long to get their child's hair cut, and I'm pretty sure she brought it up as a hint for me! :) There's just something about that first hair cut, it's like they look so much more grown up after that. But then, the greeter in Wal-Mart asked if she was old enough for a sticker (despite the very boyish outfit he had on). And then, on our way out of church last weekend, the priest (we have a different priest every weekend while we wait for a new one to be assigned, so we didn't know him) asked me if this was a "gal or a fellow"! So, it was time . . .

Before- we fluffed it up for the picture, so it didn't usually look quite this bad, but it was getting there.

After - SO much better!

House Pictures

It is a great feeling to have this all behind us, we have been enjoying the extra space for a couple of months now.

This is the hallway before the addition.

This is the same view now.

The next three are of the new family room.

The new master bedroom. I still need to put stuff up on the walls, they are looking pretty bare.

We use the new space all the time, Monte and I always spend our evenings out in the family room now. My favorite thing about that room is the fireplace, I can't wait to spend cold winter evenings out there, curled up with a book!

New Discovery

Today was more than likely our last hot day of the year. It was 90 degrees (very unusual for this time of year here) and beautiful! I knew we had to do something to enjoy it, so after lunch the kids and I got in the car, and all I told Isabella was that it was a surprise where we were going. There is a man made lake 15 minutes from us that we have never been to, and I cannot believe we live so close and have never been there! It certainly wasn't our last time going there! There was a couple of smallish waterfalls, fun bridges, picnic areas, hiking trails, a playground, and a really nice beach area. I got a good workout, as the hiking trails are definitely not meant for pushing a stroller (I think I'll use the Ergo next time)!

This tee pee was fun, Isabella loved playing in it.

She spent the most time just playing on these rocks!

I love the fall colors that are starting to show up!

I asked Isabella to take a picture of Jaymes and I!

She brought a bag to collect fall items . . . we brought home lots of acorns and leaves.

We had SO much fun, and we can't wait to go back, and hopefully take Daddy with next time. I told Monte I felt like I was a good mom today. :) Not that I usually don't feel like one, but there are definitely days . . .