Slideshow of Playgroup Birthday Party

A Couple of Zoo Pics

I don't normally have pictures with me in it because normally I am the one taking the picture. But today I asked someone to take a picture. Here we are on the train ride. We also went on the carousel as well.

I think this picture is funny. I told her she needed to make sure a bird didn't poop on her head (there were lots of birds flying above us - it was indoors.)

We went to the zoo with our playgroup. I will post the slideshow in a bit. It was a lot of fun. We carpooled with Lori & Rachael. The girls on the same nap schedule, but it didn't work out so well. She napped for 15 minutes in the car and then about 15 minutes in the house and that as it. Maybe I'll get her to go down for a later nap.

She loved the fish again. I have a feeling that someone may be asking for a goldfish in a couple of years. She really liked the elephants too. She liked seeing all the animals, but the elephants & fish were her favorite.

Tonight we are hoping to take her to the Books & Co. Pajama Party storytime. Although, lately she has not been good about public storytimes. She doesn't want to sit still and just wants to run around.

Apparently, we made national news because a church downtown blew up. It was about 6-7 miles away from our rental here. And speaking of our rental here, the neighbors just put their place up for sale for $1,375,000. Crazy. We don't know the neighbors, but my theory is that it is a divorce. The guy would yell a lot at the wife & kids.

Easter Egg Hunt at Midwest Twisters (KUDOS!)

This morning we went to Midwest Twisters in Hartland. This was Isabel's first Easter Egg Hunt and I have to say that I was very impressed. It was well organized and executed. When we got there, they had us fill out a raffle ticket and then the kids just had to wait for a little bit for them to give the instructions. We were there for the walking-age 4 egg hunt. There was one for older kids later on. It was great that it was just younger kids there, so they weren't getting run over by the older ones. They had eggs with candy in all over the gym in plain sight and they also had older kids (gymnasts from there, I presume) going around and putting out more. The kids all got TONS of eggs. Not that Isabel needed that much, but she did have fun.

They got the egg hunt underway before they had the Easter Bunny come out and when he did, they announced it, which is great so parents can prepare their kids and they don't get scared. Isabelwas the second kid to run over to the Easter Bunny. I wasn't sure how she was going to do with EB since she was so scared of Santa in-person. But when she saw him she started pointing and yelling, "Bun! Bun! Bun!" and then went over and gave him a hug and offered him a balloon.

After all the hunt was over they had the drawing, which EB picked out names. It all went very smoothly and very efficiently. It is very important to be organized with a bunch of toddlers that can't keep their attention on any one thing for very long. I definitly recommend this Easter Egg hunt to anyone. We will plan to go back next year.

They also had a lot of helium balloons that had postcards and pencils about the business attached to the string. Isabel loves ballons, so this was great for her. She was collecting as many as she cold. But of course, when we left we didn't take all 9-10 that she had gathered and given to daddy. We just took a couple and she didn't notice the difference and has had a great time playing with them at home.

Now, it was all fun & games until we left and she started to go crazy for the candy. That part was not fun. She ate quite a bit and I managed to get the rest away and hide it. Daddy will take the stuff I don't want her to have to work and put out at his desk.

This evening we went to try out a new church our friends recommended to us. It is a non-demoninational Christian church and that is what we are looking for. It was nice. I was really impressed with the childcare/church school program they had there. Isabel seemed to really enjoy it. She got to color and have a snack and play with bubbles & play-doh. We do plan to go back again and we liked it for ourselves as well. We did see our friends there and were able to sit next to them during th service and Isabel was in the classroom with their son.

The Past Few Days

Well, these are some pictures that my friend Carrie took of the kids when she was babysitting Isabel for us. She said Isabel was really good, which is so nice to hear.

Well, Sunday evening the furnace here went out completly. Luckily we have space heaters and an electric mattress pad. The repairman for the furnace came at 11am on Monday, so I took Isabel to the Y in the morning and worked out and came back for our 10-12 time frame. I had the slow cooker going already with supper in it, then I baked cupcakes for playgroup in the afternoon and make Mac&Cheese on the stovetop to help warm up the house while I was doing stuff I needed to do anyways. I also made it laundry day to keep the dryer going & giving off heat. And I had a space heater & candles going in the living room so my little girl wouldn't get cold. I just let her sit on the couch with a blanket over her lap watching her shows while we waited for them to get there and fix it. Luckily it was fixed and by noon we had heat again and I didn't have to cancel playgroup and put on our snowpants. :)

So, that afternoon was playgroup at our place. There was 4 other families there plus us. It was a good size playgroup and the kids made a good size mess, but the moms helped me clean it up, which was greatly appreciated.

Today, we went to the Y for my yoga class, then grocery shopping and then our friend Elizabeth, Sophia, & Thomas came over for lunch and to hang with us for a while. After Isabel's nap we went to the library and picked up some new books. We have been going to the library weekly. Sometimes we pick out duds and return them right away and sometimes we just get sick of reading one so much, and then some books we keep the 3 weeks we can, and there is even one that is due this week that I just renewed because we like it so much. One of the books I picked up today that I really like is First the Egg. Another one I think is cute is Flamingos on the Roof. It has cute poems and neat paintings. I have enjoyed reading Isabel a few of them already.

Tomorrow we are going to playgroup at our friends Jamie, Will & Jack (see Brigger Boys on sidebar).

90 Weeks Old

Here is Isabel eating a Chocolate Pudding Pie. We had some family (Jeff, Lynn, Luz & Uncle Henry) over for a little dinner party tonight. Isabel quite enjoyed the chocolate pudding pie. We had a good dinner. I tried a new recipe (Crockpot Beef & Mushroom - kinda like a beef stronganoff) that was served over whole wheat penne, steamed broccoli, semi-homemade bread, salad & the pie. Why I try new recipes for dinner parties, I don't know. But this was very good and it went a long way. They brought some very yummy wine and we had an assortment of crackers out with Rondel (sp?) cheese spread as an appetizer. So, it was good food, good company, & good conversation. It was a good evening.

Earlier in the day we went to check out a couple houses (no - ours hasn't sold, but we just thought we would check out some open houses). One wasn't for us at all, the other was a possibilty, but the lot was kinda small, so we would probably pass on it.

Painting Slide Show

You've been waiting for it....and now it's finally here: Her Painting Slide Show. It's just over a minute long.

Happy Saturday

Well, we'll start with yesterday. We met some friends at the Y and walked around the track and then had lunch with them while we were there. In the evening we went to storytime at the bookstore. They read stories about winter & we made marshmellow snowman and had hot cocoa. When we got home, Isabel was still not tired (probably from her recent ingestion of sugar) and we had a pillow fight. She definitly enjoyed that.

Today, mommy & daddy took turns going to the Y to workout while Isabel stayed home all day with one or the other. This afternoon she helped mommy make veggie lasagna. Mommy would chop the vegetables and Isabel would put them in a small bowl and then later dump them all in a big bowl. This is what we had for dinner. It was very good. She also watched Peep and we have a short 15 sec. clip of that, sorry for the lack of image, it's more of a sound thing I guess. She loves Peep and always clap when the intro comes on. Sometimes when she is watching it she will start laughing at what is usually going on, that is usually when Quack is falling down or getting hit on the head or something.

No big plans tomorrow. I think we'll go swimming at the Y after dinner. If it is warm & not raining (not raining will be the key) we may go to Concord zoo and feed the animals there. She likes that she can feed them rather than just look. Mommy thinks that is more fun too.

Feel Better Soon Grandma

Isabel's grandma (daddy's mommy) had surgery on her back yesterday. She should be home today. We home she feels better soon.

Daddy had to take in the car today to see what was wrong after someone ran into him (& drove off! F-ers!) He has a side mirror to replace, hubcap missing, & bent tire rim & some dents & painted scraped. I don't think we'll really worry about the dents. Daddy was ok, just shaken up.

I am uploading a video of her babbling onto YouTube, but it is taking a little while longer than normal. So, you'll see a link to it once it is complete. Daddy thinks her babbling is so cute and thought we needed to video tape it to remember it, so while she was playing after lunch I thought I would get some footage, because there was a lot of babbling going on. She took the bow out of her hair, so she has a Beetle look to her today.

She got several puzzles for Christmas. She doesn't have the fine motor skills to get them all the way correctly, but she has the knowledge to know where they all go. Some are a little easier than others, but I am sure she'll have them all figured out soon.

We are working on her saying her numbers. She is particularly fond of "3", but also likes 2, 4, 5, & 6. She doesn't care too much for 8 yet; it's kinda hard to say.

We started trying to learn how to use the potty yesterday. No actual poop or pee made it into the potty, but she did sit bare bottom on the toilet for 10 minutes while we read books. We tried 3 different times yesterday. Today we have only tried once and she popped on the potty. Woohoo! Although, I know she didn't poop as much as she had in her (that all came out in her pull-up after we got back from the Y.) But she did actually poop in the toilet & got hugs & kisses & cheers, which she was very happy about all that. At first she looked embarrassed (after she pooped) like she did when she would have an accident in the bath, but once I started congratulating her and hugging her she started smiling and giggling and I think then she knew it was ok. We bought some new books yesterday that she just gets to read while she is on the potty. And since she loves to read it was a good way to get her comfortable with sitting in the bathroom for a while.

This afternoon we are going to playgroup. It has been a little while since have seen some of the kids and moms due to the holidays & illness. It will be nice to see a bunch of them again. Tomorrow we plan to go to storytime in the evening at the bookstore. They are reading books about winter, making marshmallow snowman & having hot cocoa. It sounds like fun.

Christmas Pictures (Round 5)

This weekend it was Christmas at Grams & Gramps' place. Grams made Isabel this big frosted sugar cookie that was shaped like a stocking. Of course, Isabel shared it with her mama & papa, but she did have quite a bit of it herself. BTW - her hair looked cuter before she took out her pigtails.
While we were there we went out to the barn to see the cows & calves. She was very excited that she recognized the cows and kept yelling "Cow!" They were all mostly afraid of her, but one calf het her pet it and licked her hand. And she was feeding the cows some hay she picked up. They have lots of barn cats too, but they were afraid of her too.

Here she is at present opening time. She got her nice little cleaning trolley from grams & gramps, so now she can help clean things up. She also got an apron, some books, a savings bond, & a very cute outfit.

This is a train that Aunt Razz made out of Sugar Wafer cookies and marshmellows & lots of candies. I thought it was pretty neat and thought maybe we would try this net year instead of a gingerbread house.

Christmas Pictures (Round 1)

These are pictures that grandpa took.

The whole family (minue the ones living in Spain). This is daddy's side of the family.

Nevemind my devil red eyes. Isabel was so tired, as she took an hour nap earlier this morning on our drive up, but didn't nap anymore than 5 minutes in the afternoon. She did go to bed early. We all received some very wonderful presents. I will post pictures later of her playing with her cousin Travis.

Here is daddy with 2 of his 3 brothers. They are goofy when they get together.

19 Months Old

19 Months Old

Here she is putting her play construction hat on Baby Susie and giving her a hug. (Baby Susie is also wearing a cowgirl top - she can do it all!) We went swimming for an hour today at the Y with our playgroup. That was fun. Then she fell asleep in the car on the way home and kept sleeping as I carried her in and took off all her winter clothes and she took a half hour nap. That is the ONLY nap she took today! Something is going on this week with our little girl. I looked up a teething chart and it says she can start getting her lower 2-year old molars at 20 months -- well, she's almost there. She has just been very whiney this week, very clingy, and quick to throw a very emotional tantrum. She has not napped well at all, as a constant runny nose and drooling a lot & taking her pacifier even more and constantly wants to be held. I stuck my finger back there last night (I was brave) and I didn't feel anything on the bottom (I didn't try the top.) So, it may be an interesting drive to MN & weekend.

We opened a couple of presents tonight just because we wanted to have them for the trip. Plus there will be plenty of presents to open this weekend & on Christmas & next weekend. She opened her travel-size magna doodle. She loves it. Although she doesn't get why she can make marks on anything else with the "pen". That will come in handy as an extra car toy these next 2 weekends. She also opened her new baby doll, but that was only because the box got all wet from when I watered the tree and we wanted to make sure I didn't wreck anything. She doesn't have a name yet. When I ask Isabel what her name is, as she says is "Awwwwwwww." And we all opened our new pajamas. I thought it would be nice to wear our new pjs at the start of our xmas celebrations. So, we'll take them to MN with us. Mommy also got to open the present of a car food/beverage cooler/warmer. That will come in handy to store our sandwiches, etc. as we make our journey. I always pack stuff, but if you don't dirnk/eat it right away it starts to warm up and then it might not be as appetizing.

So, tomorrow we head back to MN to our home there. We'll get there early Friday evening and stay through Sunday morning. Then we are going to the Cities to grandma & grandpa's house. That afternoon we are taking cousin Travis to an indoor waterpark with us as part of his xmas present. We'll spend a couple hours there and then we'll head back to grandma & grandpa's to enjoy the xmas festivities there. We're spending the night there and then Monday (24th) morning, we'll head back to WI and do our own xmas thing -- just the three of us. Next weekend we travel north to grams & gramps to do the xmas thing with them.

Gingerbread Houses

We had our friends Carrie, Leah & Ryan over today to build gingerbread houses. It was sure messy and the kids ingested a lot of sugar. We had fun though. We used a pattern I found online that used graham crackers and I also made royal icing (the "glue") and we used lots of different candies. I wasn't so sure the kids would eat the lunch I made after all the candy, but they did. You can see our finished product. Isabel handed me M&M's & skittles to use, plus she dumped a bunch of "snow" (coconut) on the house. The icing made it all nice & hard. Now we'll put it out & watch her pick all the candy off to eat.

They had some time to play as well and played with her Little Leaps and also watched a little Peep. When they were watching Peep, Leah & Isabel were snuggled up next to each other. It was very adorable.

We went to the last storytime of the year this morning. She got a little homemade stuffed bear from the library. Apparently some woman makes them every year for the little ones. Storytime will start again at the end of January.

Yesterday

We received almost 6 inches of snow yesterday, as well as some sleet & rain. The roads were awful, most schools were closed in the area, and many businesses were closed or closed early. So, we stayed inside rather than going to the Y for my yoga class (I just did yoga at home to a show I tivo'ed from PBS.) Anyways, we had to play with anything & everything.

Bubble Video

It's a little over a minute long. Just her playing nicely in the bathtub.

Another Sunday

We took her out sledding this afternoon. It was ok until dad dumped in the snow. Then she was mad at him and didn't want to go by him. But he made it up to her by playing her computer game with her.

She is in the dog crate. She put herself in here. It was out because Auntie Phanie & Uncle J put their dog Cyprus in here last night. She just thought playing in there was the best thing. She did good for her babysitters last night. No cries at all, which was surprising. Guess we know who we'll call next time we need a babysitter.

Cool

This is a really short clip. Sorry, it's on it's side. I don't have time to figure out how to flip it. Guess I need to remember to always hold the camera horizontal.

81 Weeks

This afternoon we are going swimming and then Auntie Phanie & Uncle J are coming over to babysit so that mommy & daddy can go to a work holiday party. They will spend the night and maybe will hangout with us tomorrow for a while

Setting the Table

Isabel is a good little helper. Here she is helping me set the table. Actually, she set the whole table. I give her a piece and tell her which spot it goes and she sets it there. She even put the napkins on. Granted I have to straighten it all out, but things are where they are supposed to be and she helps out nicely.

She likes to help with laundry too. She will take verything out of the dryer & put it in the basket. While she does that I put the wet stuff in a basket so she can put that in the dryer. And when we put away laundry she helps put away her bibs & the kitchen towels.

When I do dishes she likes to help too. I have her put away storage containers since they are stored at her level. Other times she will hand me dishes to put away.

She likes to try help sweep & mop, ut sometimes that is just a hassle.

Midwest Twisters

We met her friend Maggie & Drew here today for playgroup. I wasn't sure if she was too young for this, but it was perfect. She knows what she can do and was very good about self monitoring, although I need to be right there by her. She had so much fun. We will definitly go back when it works into our schedule. They have a card that you get stamped everytime you go and after 5 times your 6th time is free, which is cool. It costs $5 for her to go play for 1.5 hours. The have open gyms on Tu, W, & F (but W is during naptime.)

I saw this Hopscotch Mat on Martha Stewart Crafts (I decided it might be fun to start watching that.) She's too young for it, but it would be something fun to make for her when she gets old enough.

Isabel Meets Santa

Well, it didn't go as well this year as it did last year. She had her "stranger danger" alert going off. We had been reading Santa stories and she likes the picture of Santa on this big poster cutout and she liked the real Santa when he fist walked in the door and was 30 feet away from her, but by the time he was 5 feet away she was scared. She was already crying before she sat on his lap.

We went to tne Community Center in Dousman where their Chamber of Commerce sponsored this Children's Christmas Party. It was all free and was very nice. It was nicely decorated and the middle school band was playing Christmas Carols. Isabel loved the band and clapped right after every song. Instantly when the song was done she started clapping. She would clap and giggle and have a huge smile on her face. Daddy waited in line for Santa (they actually had these staggered rows of chairs, which I am sure parents appreciated.) Anyways, while daddy waited in line we sat at a table and colored. They also sold food and xmas cookies there. It was nice. They also gave each child a stuff xmas character (she got Rudolph), a candy cane, & a sugar cookie.