Happy Fourth of July!

Well, we spent the bulk of the day at daddy's aunt's cabin on a lake about 1.5 hours from our house. It was actually a perfect day, weatherwise. It was about 80 degrees and partly sunny the entire time and a decent humidity level.

Since the cabin is right on a lake there was lots of fun playing in the sand, swimming in the water, looking for snail shells in the water & fishing. Isabel had a blast.

She fell asleep in the car on the way home for an early evening nap, which was just fine because then we were able to go next door to the neighbors to watch them light fireworks. It was nice to go see their smaller display rather than drive somewhere to watch something larger & more crowded. And Isabel really like there son Brock, so spending the evening at his house was just fine with her.

So, this was a big family event. I don't have pictures of the entire group, but pretty much most of the family was here today, probably as close as it is ever going to get at one event since there is a whole segment of the family that lives in Pennslyvania and another part of the family that lives in Spain.

Part of the fun was celebrating July birthdays. There are a lot of them which include both grandma & grandpa, cousin Andres, Auntie Lisa, great aunt Dee & great, great aunt Joan.

Daddy also brought his new hand drum (I am sure there is some fancy-dancy technical name for it, but I don't know what it is), guitar & ukelele and he, Uncle Chris & cousin Jaclyn entertained us all. Isabel brought along her drum, but she didn't play too long as she was more interested in the sand & water.

Too Much Fun

We started out the morning with our usual Friday playgroup. During the school year we meet in the late afternoon because one of the moms is a teacher, but during the summer it's fair game, but we still try to keep in on Fridays. This is our small playgroup (minus one of the babies that stayed home with daddy for naptime this morning) which is a part of our big MOMS Club.

The kids had so much fun. Yesterday afternoon, Isabel & I (well, mainly I) set up the tent. I thought the kids would get a kick out of playing with that. And they loved it. I was going to get out the bounce house, but I didn't need to do that. It was 2.5 hour playgroup and we had a morning snack & lunch as part of it. The girls play so nicely together. It was fun watching little Gavin, who is turning one next week, try to get in there and be right with the girls. He didn't want to miss any of the action.


After lunch, our family from Spain (Uncle Brian, Auntie Ana & cousin Andres) came to hangout with us for the day. I was surprised at how well Andres played with Isabel, but he has a lot of younger cousins in Spain that I guess he plays with often, so playing with younger kids is something he can do. Isabel kept him so busy and he didn't seem to mind her bossing him around (although her bossiness today was starting to get on mommy & daddy's nerves.)

We didn't go swimming like we had planned, but we had fun hanging out at our house. Isabel painted a picture (with Ana) that she gave to Ana to take home. One of the things Andres wanted to do while in the U.S. was go bowling. I guess there isn't much for bowling in Spain and it is a little pricey to do when you do find an alley. So, we went bowling. I got a picture of Isabel during the only frame she bowled. She pretty much had a meltdown and refused to bowl (thankfully they had good summer rates, so I wasn't out too much money.) I left with her after the first game and daddy stayed there to hang with his brother & family. It is nice that he will have a little bit more time to spend with them and didn't have to leave because of Miss Crankipants. She did fall asleep halfway home in the car & is now sleeping in her bed in her day clothes.

Speaking of her bed, this is the new bed. Once we got pregnant we knew we were going to have to come up with a new bed for her because we were using part of the crib that converted into a Full-size headboard. So, we started looking for one, found it, finally purchased it, let it sit in the garage for several weeks, and finally today daddy & Uncle Brian put it together. As it turns out, I just found out last night that the crib just got recalled and we were going to have to take it apart and bring it back to Target. I presume they will give us store credit, so now we have to figure out a new crib for this baby. It's kinda a pain in the butt, but I would rather be safe and at least we were going to be taking it apart anyways and hadn't set it up yet. So, what do you think of her new fancy headboard & footboard, pretty girly isn't it. It is a higher bed, so now she really does have to use that stepstool we have in her room to get into bed.

Pictures

Daddy took this picture and it's just hard to get all the kids looking the same way and the same time & looking decent. It almost looks like she's getting choked here, but she's not. This is the 2nd time Isabel has met her cousin Andres, who lives in Spain. It was almost 2 years ago last time, so she didn't remember him. But he was willing to give her attention & tickle her, so she wa loving it. They are coming over to our place this afternoon & evening. We hope to go swimming if the weather cooperates and we plan to go bowling in the evening. Andres really wanted to go bowling when he came to the US to visit & Isabel likes to bowl, so this works out nicely.

This was taken Wednesday night, when the entire M clan went out to eat at Applebee's.


This was last night at the 11 @ 7 concert. I believe the name of the band is NiteRail. They did a 2-hour Blues concert. It was good. We had fun. Most of the concert are right around an hour, so a longer one was nice. And it was nice that daddy was able to join us. Usually it is just Isabel & mommy going to these because daddy is just getting home when the concerts start and we would still have to drive there, which cuts out on how much of the hour concert we can see. Plus, we like to go to the library before we head over to the concert.

Yesterday morning Isabel & I took grandma M to see the Wizard of Oz at the Stages Theatre. This was the last of the 3 ticketed events we had bought her as part of her Christmas present. Not sure if I will do that again this year since we will have the baby and I just don't want to plan anything until I know what he is like. Isabel was not the easiest infant and I had to be the nap-nazi if we wanted to stay sane, so I am prepared to have to be that way once again. Plus, she was not (still is not) a car sleeper and often hated being in the car as an infant, so if baby boy is that way we tend to refrain from long car rides unless we have too.

Anyways, it was a very good play. I really enojyed it. Normally the plays there are about an hour, but this one was 1.5 hours and she did pretty good. At the end she had a hard time staying seated, but there was enough action in the play that she was able to be redirected easily. I do recommend taking your kids to see it.

I do have tickets so that she & I can see 2 more plays before the baby is born. Next month we are seeing "Junglebook" and in September we are seeing "I Like Me". I'll wait until the baby is a couple months old before I get us tickets to any other plays or concerts.

Lots of Friends to Play With Today

Well, we started off our morning with a trip to Como Zoo in St. Paul. We carpooled with Carrie & Gavin and met our friends Lisa, Suzy, Heather & Amy up there. We were there for 3.5 hours, which is quite a long time for these young ones. We didn't get to see the butterflies or the conservatory, so I think Isabel & I will have to go back on our own time another day.

We came home and relaxed for an hour before we went to have a playdate with our friends Rebecca, Casey & Dani at their house. We like playing with them.

Last night, Isabel & daddy got to spend some quality time together since mom had book club, and they spent an hour at Cabela's (zoo). We call it "Cabela's Zoo" because she thinks it is a type of zoo with all the animals & fish there. We don't buy stuff from there very often, so really it is about visiting the animals and pretending to camp. She likes to spend as much time playing in the tents pretending to camp as she does looking at the animals & fish.

Yesterday, we had a lunch playdate at our friends' (Mary, Anthony & Benjamin) house and our friends Becky, Kennedy, Maddie & Ava came over as well. It was a good time.

Tomorrow should be more relaxing for us. We will go to the gym for mom's yoga class, but then are coming home to make peach freezer jam. And then for supper we are meeting with all of daddy's family since Uncle Brian & family are visiting from Spain.

Art Fun

We spent a good chunk of time this morning working on some art projects. When we went to the library on Thursday, Isabel picked out the book, Little Hands Paper Plate Crafts. I had brought this home from the library once before when she was about 2 and we did one craft, but now it is much more appropriate.

So, we made a ladybug craft (top right) and oyster craft (bottom) from the book.. It's hard to tell but the oyster shell is a light gray, which is the color she picked out and there is a tiny pearly bead clue inside the oyster. The top picture consists of a couple of painting of "statues of tall building" that she did and a birthday card for her friend Gavin, whose birthday party we are going to tomorrow.

Pictures from Isabel's Camera

Isabel took these two pictures of daddy when they were playing. I thought she did a pretty good job. We gave her our old camera and she is really having fun with it. You will have to check out the slideshow if you haven't already.

While she & daddy were playing he took some pictures of her and also did a really good job. It's amazing that this is a 3.2 megapixel camera.

To our surprise there were three pictures left on the camera from when we replaced it. These would have been right after Christmas of 2006, as she got that outfit for xmas as a gift from Auntie Razz, but mommy got a new camera for xmas as well. It was fun to discover these baby pictures. My, how much has changed in 2 1/2 years.

Pictures by Isabel

It was time to take the pictures off Isabel's camera. And now you can see what a 3 year old likes to take pictures of and what kind of a job she does. She actually does a fairly decent job.

Playdates & Water

This morning & early afternoon we went to Lisa, Suzy, Heather & Amy's house for a playgroup with them and Sarah, Lydia & Ian. There was lots of slip & slide fun and we had lunch with them as well.

After that we went to Becky, Kennedy, Maddie & Ava's house to deliver a meal & for Isabel to play with the girls. Ava is 10 days old today.

Then we came back & quickly changed and went to the pool for an hour. We were gone pretty much all day.

More Thursday Fun

Our days are always busy and we always try to have fun. After her nap, we went to the pool for an hour and a half. That was nice & cooling.

Then we came home and each ate a ton of fruit before leaving for the library. Today was the book fair where the kids could turn in their sheets for the first time and got to pick out a brand new book to keep. Isabel picked out Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Why we don't already own that classic, I don't know, but we do now finally. Plus they gave us a few other books, which was a surprise. We stayed at the library for quite a while and had our own storytime, just her & mommy & some girl who kept popping over to listen in.


Then we headed on over to Central Park for the next Thursday night concert. It was the Owatonna Community Band again. This time they were playing songs from American composers. I couldn't absorb much of when they would talk because I was busy watching Isabel. She listens & dances in between playing. we brought along some bubbles & chalk again and because she was willing to share, she became fast friends with a group of 5 girls that were probably ages 6-9. She had a good time with them and did a good job interacting with them. It was nice to see more kids at this concert and Isabel has certainly learned not to be shy around other kids she is interested in. And she did a great job sharing, I didn't even have to prompt her.

Actually, at the pool today she was sharing her toys with 3 girls that were a couple years older than her and she was very proud of herself for sharing w/o prompts. She kept telling me "I'm sharing mom. I'm a good sharer. They like that I am sharing with them." At 3 years old it is pretty amazing that she is willing to share & does it without prompts. I am very proud of her.

Preschool Day Camp

This picture was taken as we left this morning to bring Isabel to school for the first of four preschool day camps this summer. Each one is three hours long. When I brought her there she told me "Give me a hug & kiss before you go." And as soon as we got in there she saw play-doh and it was like Mom-who? I held her to the hug & kiss, as mom needed it. It was surprisingly easy, yet hard to leave her at school. It was in the preschool room she will be in the fall (which is the ECFE room we are in for classes) but the teachers are a kindergarten teacher and an elementary Speech teacher. Isabel knew several other kids there as well.

She was very excited when I picked her up and had lots to show me and tell me about. And she went down for a nap at 1:30 today, which is she does nap is early for her.

Dentist Visit

This is Isabel's fourth dentist visit. I know some are wondering what is wrong, but nothing is wrong. When she was about a year old I read that the American Pediatric Dentist Association recommended your first be between 12-18 months of age; I think she was about 17 months. Then again 6 months later, and again 6 months later, and now another 6 months later; every 6 months like you are supposed to.

She did fantastic. She didn't even need to sit on my lap. She just wanted to be able to see me and she was fine while they looked at her teeth, counted them, polished them and applied flouride to them. I wasn't sure how she would handle the sucking straw, but she got it figured out after a couple tries. She did everything they asked of her & it all went very quickly. She was very excited to get her new fun tooth brush and a prize from the prize box. She picked out this huge super ball.

The Week So Far.....

Here is a picture from last night when we went to RBNC for their campfire conversations. Luckily a short storm and slightly cooler weather came through in the afternoon, so roasting marshmallows wasn't so bad in the evening. Rather than mid-90's it was 80 degrees and the humidity dropped from 77% to 65%, so it all seemed so much better. RBNC is doing 4 of the campfire conversations throughout the summer; this was the first one. I signed us up for all 4, as I figured this was a good way to have some campfire & roast marshmallows this summer w/o having to maintain our own campfire and we can just watch Isabel and have fun.

This is from Monday as we are ready to head out the door to the pool. We spent a total of 3 hours at the pool on Monday, 2 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening. I had to take this picture because I thought her hat on upside down looked hilarious.

We went to the pool for 1.5 hours yesterday and had to leave because they closed the pool early because of the storm that was coming, which blew through rather quickly. I am hoping we can get to the pool for an hour or two right after lunch today. Later this afternoon she has a dentist check-up, so that is out as swim time.