Happy Little Girl

This was my favorite picture from today. I took a lot of pictures to make up for a few days with no pictures.

Yesterday I spent some time making phone calls and getting us set up with new dentists, ob-gyn, & eye doctor and also getting our end/cancel date set for dish network & qwest (since we have to use something else at the rental house.) Isabel has her first dentist appointment that first week we get out there. Today I talked to my hair stylist here and she is coming in on Saturday to cut my hair (since Andy is home to watch Isabel). My hair getting all sorts of dry because we are outside in the sun so much. I really appreciate her coming in (she wasn't initally planning on working) to cut my hair one last time. And I set up a time for Isabel & I to go to her old daycare next week for a playdate & to say goodbye. We will miss Cathy. She was really great for us.

Lots of Photos

She loves to play basketball. And when she does she likes to hang on the rim after she throws the basketball through. When she makes a basket I cheer and say, "You're a superstar" and she just smiles & giggles. I kinda want to move it up to the next level for her, but there is like 3-4 inches to the next level and I think that may be too far. She's far too good at the first level, even after graduating from base level.
The bottom picture here is also a favorite. She is gnawing on a pinecone from our bushes. We went and picked a few off the ground amd she was facinated by the texture. She loves this little car. She still doesn't foot-power it herself, but loves being pushed around in it. She holds up her leggs the entire time - that has to be building some amazing leg strength.
We played in the sandbox for a while today too. We played with everything outside a while today. It is such a great day out. The top picture she is picking her feet out of the sand after I buried them. She is brushing them off too. Just last week she hadn't figured out yet that she can pick up her feet to unbury them; she was digging them out before. It's so neat to see them learn things and figure things out.
She tried eating the crabapples that were on the ground, but those don't taste so good. So, we went to the apple trees & picked one (BTW - they are ready to be picked - early this year!) She thought it was very tasty. Actually, she likes picking things and then eating them. Normally she isn't a fan of raw tomatoes, but if I let her pick it herself from the plat then she wants to eat it. I can't wait to have a big garden with her. She's going to love it.
I took these while she was playing in the sanbox. The one with the big open smile looks so different from the closed mouth pictures. She is cute in all of them.

Another Rainy Day

Today was just one of those days. It seemed to start off fine but then I gave her Vit-a-Sol and some of went down the wrong tube. I can't imagine that it felt well and she was cranky this morning. We went to storytime, except there was no storytime. You would think they would have said something last week or had it on their website or had a little sign about it. Oh well, we needed to return a video and pick up some more.

She did take a nice long nap this morning & I was able to start watching a movie. This afternoon when it was rainy we tried out this yoga video we got from the library, Kids Musical Yoga - Let's Go to the Ocean. She mostly watched while I moved her around to the poses, but she did catch on to the clapping and did that. Then we played some games (First Steps) on her Little Leaps. We rarely take that out to play with. She completly understood when it said to push the button and would get excited when she could do that.

Since I was able to start the movie before I was able to get into it and then I could play with her while I finished it. I was watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The last half I was crying and Isabel came up and gave me a hug and gave me her dolly. It was very sweet.

Then later on she went to turn on her Wiggles CD and she didn't realize she had turned the music WAY up and when she turned it on it scared the bee-jeezus out of her and she leaped into my arms crying and then went & got dolly and brought her back to me so I could hold her.

We did have some good moments, but hopefully things will be even better tomorrow. We don't have any plans, but it is supposed to be a nice day so I think a walk to the park will be nice.

Hey - Check It Out!

I have updated the slide show. Some of the pictures were on the slide show already, but some are others we have seen in the past, so keep watching.

I am typing this post while my pictures upload....so it will be up and ready to view very soon.

Happy Monday!

Well, today was filled with fun. Seriously! We stayed home in the morning and she took a nice long nap. She is definitly pushing through her lower right cuspid. It's right below the surface and I can see it.

After lunch we walked to the park and played for quite a bit. I never saw so many kids there. We also saw a lot of kids outside playing too (as we walked by.) I don't know if it is because it is the last week off before school starts or if people were just sick of being cooped up the last couple weeks. But it was nice to see so many kids playing.

After than she played at home for a while and then took a short 20 minute nap and then we went to the indoor waterpark for a playdate with our friends Rhynda & Charlie. That was fun, but it's hard for us to talk when you have to watch the kids so much there and they might not want to be doing the same thing. We played and swam for a little over an hour. Isabel loves it there. As soon as we were walking down the hallway towards the waterpark she recognized it and started getting all excietd and when we got in there, she got REALLY excited. We set up one last playdate with them before we move.

Then we came home and ate supper and then she fed her babies after that (see above picture) and I checked her mouth. It's so hard to check her mouth these days because she thinks it's only fair that if you stick something in her mouth that she gets to chomp down on it. But that tooth is definitly coming in.

Tomorrow we are just going to storytime at the library.

Camping Photos

We took this picture right before we left. Isn't it sweet!

Check was at 1pm and we left about 12:45......although we never got around to swimming again. But that's ok, we have aplaydate tomorrow late afternoon with Rhynda & Charlie to go the the indoor waterpark. That should be fun. She loves it there. Hopefully the water isn't too cold, as it sometimes can be.

Last night she decided (after daddy accidently woke her up) that she was going to be up from 12am-1:30am. This less than thrilled mommy, but she did sleep in then until 8:30am. She was kinda cranky and clingy today and so drooly too. I wonder if she is pushing through those cuspids. I hear those are not fun for babies to push through. I can tell it's not the lower and she wouldn't give me a good look at the upper, but they start coming in around 16mos. (until 22 months)...She has tended to push through her teeth in the first month of the range.

Well, she might be weaned. Yesterday morning she kinda cut our time short (just like she did when she started cutting out other times) and today she did not indicate that she wanted it so I didn't offer. Although it makes me a little sad. I kinda want one more last time so I can think about it being our last time and have that memory in my head. Although, maybe it will be different now that we are back home. Who knows.....Although, when she cut out the evening time it was when we were visiting Grams & Gramps.

She is just growing up way too fast. I am glad I am staying home with her now, as I don't want to miss any of these moments. Although, I am sure I will have frustrated days and days I miss working, but today I am glad. Just look at her eating at the picnic table like a big girl.

A little while ago she started making the sign for bath......she has always responded to a sign in a way to let us know she wants that, but she has never made the sign back. Actually, we started using our signs less & less and then one day we would ask if she wanted to go take a bath and she made the sign. It totally threw me by surprise and I was so proud of her. We only taught her a few signs and so far that is the only one she has made. Although one of the signs was nursing, so I guess we may never see that one. I think I will add a couple new signs in there and see how they go.

And Kudos goes out to the MN Wayside on I-90 by Rochester. We made a stop there today on our way back and it was very clean, but best of all it had a playground with a slide (she loved it) and a tire swing. Mom kept a hand on her, but she held on and was swinging like a big girl. She was starting to reach that point of getting cranky because she has been in a car for 1.5 hours (that seems to be her breaking point for sitting in a car) and that helped out so much. We had never stopped there before and mommy needed to use the restroom, so it was nice that this came along and had a nice little playground.

Camping So Far.....

Well, today we all initially got up really early because daddy had to use the restroom and to door is eeerily creeky and work up Isabel. Although, after abit she did go back to sleep and we all slept in until 9am. Woohoo!

We just stayed at the campground all day. She took a nice long nap (so did daddy!) and we went swimming, walked around the campground and went to an ice cream social. Oh, and we played a lot with her toys we brought along and in the sandbox.

Checkout is at 1pm, so I am sure we'll be here until then. Hopefully she will take a short morning nap and then we can go swimming and eat lunch before we leave.

I did take a couple pictures both days so far, so I will post them later.

Camping This Weekend

We are camping this weekend.....not sure if I will put any pictures up or not while we are here....the campground does have high-speed wireless, which is nice.....

We are staying at a KOA in a Kamping Kabin. It's right off the highway, so there is traffic noise, but it's ok. We went swimming tonight before supper. They have a heated pool here. And we play at the playground and in the sandbox.

Isabel did ok taking a nap in her pack-n-play, with me taking a nap in the bed. She has gotten really cingy to me in the past few days, but I think it's because she got this last little bit of her 4th molar to push through and it is a little incomfortable. She's sleeping inside the cabin right now and we are on the porch. The door is squeaky, so I hope we don't wake her when we go in.

I also hope that between our tossing & turning and daddy's snoring that we don't wake her. Daddy hasn't slept in the same room as her since she was only a few months old. Since then when we have visited people she initially didn't like her separate sleeping arrangements (but in the same room as mom), so she ended up sleeping with mom and dad was in a different bed/futon/couch and then recently she has her own room & cleeping arrangements at the places we have visited and did fine in those.

She has decided it is not as comfortable to crawl around here and it is now more necessary for her to walk so she is starting to walk all over the place today (& crawl all over everything as well.)

So, hopefully our little camping trip continues to be fun.

Another Rainy Day....

Well, today was another rainy day and we couldn't play outside. We did outsid yesterday after supper and she got nice & dirty. The clothes went in the wash right away (as well as the baby had a bath right away) and everything was clean again.

Today, though, it sprinkled & rained & misted all day. We went & picked up groceries for camping and then went to Russell Stover. I was disappointed that they didn't have any free samples out. They always have free samples out. Well, we just found some chocolate & bought it and left. Usually when there is free samples I stay there longer and end up purchasing more. Oh well.

This afternoon we were supposed to go for a walk wtih Carrie & Gavin, but that wasn't going to happen. So, we met them at McDonald's. We were actually there for almost 2 hours. We first had a snack and then played. The playland tubes say they are for 3-12 & parents too, but that's all she wanted to do; she wanted nothing to do with the lone baby slide. So, I figure if parents can climb around in it then I can closely follow her. Carrie & I took turns (that way we both got a little exercise) following her and going down the slide. It was fun.

Tomorrow we head out to go camping for the weekend. This is the first time she is going camping. Looks like the weather shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully it will be a good time. The campground has an outdoor heated pool, so hopefully we can get in there several times.

Chuck-e-Cheese

This was her first time at Chuck-e-Cheese. We had a good time.

Meeting Big Foot

Ignore mommy in the picture. She didn't want to leave my side, so I had to stay there and have someone else take the picture. Daddy wanted me to get a picture of her in the wheel. Tall girl doesn't look at that small in the tire.

Big Foot was at Anhorn's Gas Station in town for their annual customer appreciation day. They are also having a drawing & had a little picnic of hot dogs, chips & pop for their customers. We ate our fruits & veggies and then walked over there for a hot dog and chips.

Earlier this morning, we went to storytime at the library. The lady who does Kindermusik did the storytime. Isabel liked it. It was a small crowd this time, which was nice also. This afternoon we are meeting our friend Jessi at Chuck-e-Cheese for supper. That should be fun. She has never been there before.

15 Month Measurements

Weight Chart

Her weight slightly increased, but keeping her at the 80th percentile.

Length Chart

No gains in length this month. She remained the same, but still in the very top percentile.

Her head circumference remained the same as well.

15 Months Old

Another rainy day.......we tried not to be to couped up.....so we ran some errands this morning and then this afternoon after lunch we went to Cabela's. We went there for two reasons: 1) to entertain Isabel and show her the animals and the fish in the aquarium and 2) buy a Christmas present for Uncle Shane.

Today she got her first timeout. She was throwing her grapes on the floor and I would tell her no and pick them up and she would laugh. So, after a few times of this happening, I took away her food and I sat her in a chair in the corner of the kitchen and told her she would have a time out and could get up after the timer went off. She gave me big pouty lips and tear filled eyes (but never did cry) and just sat there for 1 minute (I have read numerous spots that the timeouts should be equal in minutes to their age. I just went about my business filling up the dishwasher and ignored her. When the timer went off she got all happy - it was like she completly understood, even though we have never done this before. Anyways, I told her if she was sorry she could give mom a hug and come off the chair. She immediately gave mom a hug and we left the kitchen.

Tomorrow we have a lot of plans, so heopfully she takes a nice good nap in the afternoon. Hopefully since we have several excursions planned she will get some energy out. She really needs to crawl all over the place.

She is really into pushing buttons these days. She turns the receiver on/off and gets her Wiggles CD playing. She turns the TV on. We've been working on turning on/off lights and she gets the pull chain for the ceiling fan light and the push button for some of the lights, but the switches that go up & down confuse her a bit yet. She also likes to ring doorbells. And finally she can be more interactive with her Little Touch Leappad. Since she can push on different pictures to make it do things she is really into it now. We were playing with that today.

Steele County Free Fair

Today we went to the SCFF. It rained all day yesterday so far has been raining much of today, but we managed to pick a decent time and only got sprinkled on a bit.

We visit the poultry & rabiit barn. She loved the bunnies and this one was particularly friendly and would nibble on your finger which made Isabel giggle a lot. She was interested in the rooster below, but we thought it kept eyeing her up as tonight's supper.

We had a bunch of fair food (cheese curds, mini donuts, shish-kabobs, corn dog, chili cheese fries, hot dog, & chicken sandwich.) That is what we all had -- not just baby. We ate in one of the 4-H buildings because it was indoors, plus they give a side option of fruit, which is nice to be able to have grapes and strawberries with all the other crap.

The showing cancelled for today. I guess the wife really wants the house and the husband really wants central air. Our realtor has to get them a couple quotes on converting before they will reschedule the showing. So, it still might happen.

This week we plan to go the Mommy & Me at Crown Theatres with our friends Rhynda & Charlie and we have a couple things scheduled to get together and do with our friend Carrie & Gavin. We are thinking that maybe this coming weekend we may go camping after all. This would be her first time camping.

Oh - and for my local friends - I did find out that if you to the indoor water park at HI you don't have to pay admission for kids under age 2 (once they turn 2 you have to pay.) I thought it might be fun to go there one more time before we move. She loves going there and loves the little toddler water slide. Monday is their cheapest day - at $5 admission and Thursdays cost $6 and other days just go up from there.

65 Weeks Old

I just like the phot because it is such a real "caught off guard" expression. It has been raining all day so we have been in the house all day with the exception of picking up daddy & dropping off daddy as he got his oil changed.

As you can tell, she is dressed warmly because it has been chilly today since it has been rainy. We hope the rain holds off a little tomorrow because we have a showing and we were hoping to go to the fair while the realtors showsout house. This showing is a result of an ad mommy did. I believe the last one was as well, since these were both arranged while the hosue was off the market and it just got put back on the market yesterday. There weren't any other advertising being done except the ones that mommy had arranged.

Splish Splash

Tonight she was all about splashing in her bubble bath. Only very occasionally do I put bubbles in and she gets to explore then and try to figre out what is going on. She only wanted the one turtle toy in her bath tonight, the rest was splashing, I got soaked tonight, sitting next to the tub.

Afterward she just wanted to go pet Larry, who was sitting outside the bathroom. He is so tolerant of her. She was petting him and then she gave him a big hug, which you see here.

She loves her animals. Lucy even lets her pet her and doesn't always run away. And she loves Molly. She always wants to give Molly her dog toys and show Molly her own toys. She even tolerates the doggie kisses she gets from her. Molly is really good with her. When Isabel was giving her some of her Goldfish crackers from her snack, she gave a couple to Molly and Molly is so gentle about taking them from her and makes sure her teeth don't touch Isabel's fingers. I can't imagine it's easy to take a tiny cracker with your teeth and not touch fingers at all, but she does it. Molly is a good dog to have for Isabel and Lucy & Larry have turned out to be great cats for her. We knew Isabel & Larry would become best buds (more so for Isabel right now.)

Friday at Home

We just went to the local park. There was a little boy named Isaiah who took a fond interest in Isabel and kept trying to interact with her. He's in the last bottom picture (in the 9 picture block). His grandma took the picture for us.

Isabel was being super silly on the swing. She likes to reach out to me and have be grab her arms.

A couple of things she started doing in the last couple weeks is ringing doorbells and pulling the chain to turn th light on/off on her ceiling fan in her room (with mom proping her up there, of course.)

If you click on the picture, you can see the images larger. Her favorite slide was the tallest, twisty tube slide. So, of cours mom has to follow right behind and go down with her. It's a fast slide and is a lot of fun. We wore ourselves out there this afternoon.

When she was done, she climbed down the stairs to me and pointed to the car. I picked her up and she put her head on my shoulder and we left. She went down for a nap right when we got home.

She took a nice hour nap this morning. My friend Linda came to babysit (w/ her daughter & daughter's friend) while I went to a dr. appt. She did great with them. I don't even think she realized I was gone whenshe woke up because she saw the big girls there and wanted to watch & play with them.

This was before we left for the park and she was being silly. Her newest word in the last few weeks is "Arr", as in Larry. She can't quite do the l or y yet, but she only sayd it to him or when she wants him to come to her (like when she takes a bath, he always comes into the bathroom and sits while she takes a bath and she gives him a dish of tubwater, which he drinks.)

We have another showing of thehouse on Sunday, late morning. So, hopefully the weather holds out and we can go to the fair during that time. Otherwise we might not get to the fair (it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow.)

Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday

Well, we started out Tuesday by meeting grandma at the Mall of America for Toddler Tuesday. Isabel received a little coloring book & crayons (which she tried to eat) and a treat of animal crackers and got to meet Strawberry Shortcake (even though she has no idea who she is.) They also gave us a coupon to get one item for 50% off at Carter's, so we bought a onesie that was on sale for $3.99 and got it for $1.99 and they also gave us this cute little soft stuffed bear that makes kissy noises for free. What a deal. We also went to Legoland, which she enjoyed because she got to move around and play.

Finally, we ate lunch at Twin Cities Grill. Then we went to grandma and grandpa's house (we stayed there Tuesday & Wednesday nights) and we went to a park near their house. Isabel loved the park there. It had a lot fo slides for her to climb up the wrong way on.

Wednesday, we went to Como Zoo & Conservatory. I liked it better when it was more a zoo and not such an amusement park. They have changed things and I would say that I prefer the MN Zoo better now. While we were there, we did check out the Tropical Encouters Room, which I was not that impressed with.

The picture where she is bending down was not taken weird. I took that in the Tropical Encouters Room and a bunch of mist was being shot out in that area.

The onesie in this picture is the one we bought at Carter's the previous day.

We did take a ride on the Carousel. I had never been on it. It always seemed to be closed or under construction before. It was nice, kinda long.

In the morning we had gone to the park again. It is only a very short walk to it, which is nice. Grandma came with us to the zoo. And then that evening, mommy met some friends at Benihana's for dinner and Isabel stayed with grandma & grandpa. It was the first time mom ever let anyone besides her or daddy put her to bed. Any other time Isabel has had a sitter we put her to bed before we left. She did just fine, but I don't think mom is quite ready for a full overnight w/o mom yet.

Today (Thursday) we drove back home and then in the afternoon we met our friends Carrie & Gavin and went for a walk and to the park. We made plans with them for next week as well and also plans for them (& Kyle too!) to come visit us at our new home in WI in a couple months.

Portraits

Today I had an appt to get one last set of portaits done at WM before we moved away. They have a package to get a boat load of pictures for $5.88. And they also had this new promotion where you pay $9.95 and you get the pictures on a CD and sticker paper and magent paper. So, that allows me the freedom to show people the pictures right away.

These two were my favorites.

It was kinda a pain in the butt today because they were behind schedule (and of course we had arrived early.)

The top left picture with the tea party is the one I have the package of. You have to take the first picture as your package pose, that's the deal. Then they try to sell you on the cuter ones they take later and get you to buy more.

Isabel was very kissy while we were there and the photographer wanted a picture of that, which was easy to get. She loves giving mommy kisses.

The dress she is wearing is one that Grandma bought for her. I thought it was definitly a picture worthy dress. Although, I am still saving the cute outfit from Kendra & Tim for her 18-month pictures. That one is warmer than this one, so it needs to wait a bit.

Tomorrow the house is being shown -- woohoo! Say some prayers this family wants it. It's a big family looking for a big house, which that is what we have.

Making a Collage

We spent a little time making a collage today. I cut out pictures of famous babies and put glue on the back and she put them on the paper. We used 6 pictures and by the ;ast 2 she knew what to do, but wasn't so sure about the sticky glue.

Somewhere today (at home) she misplaced her favorite dolly. She is going down for a nap now without it and hopefully it will be ok. I am just now sure where she put it.

Funny Little Story

Well, at least I thought it was funny.

Isabel was playing nicely by herself in the playroom while I swept & mopped and kitchen floor. Then, along comes Lucy and sits in the middle of the kitchen, who Isabel loves to try & chase. Isabel takes after her only to slide off of her hands the instant she touches the kitchen floor and Lucy takes off out of sight. Not sure what's going on, Isabel keeps slipping & sliding & falling until she gets to the middle of the kitchen where Lucy was. Then looks at me at the other end with my mop bucket, tries to crawl some more and completly wipes out. Well, now she has no cat to chase and is frustrated with wiping out. She whines to me, but I am not tracking anything across my newly mopped floor. She figures out how to shimmey across in a way that she doesn't fall anymore and gets to the point where I can reach her and slide her the rest of the way to pick her up. I think she was thoroughly confused about what was happening.

This Weekend

Well, it was so nice to be outside today, since yesterday was so yucky and humid. Friday afternoon, mommy & Isabel went swimming at the community pool. That was nice. Also on Friday, she finally pushed through that 4th molar and now has 12 teeth in her mouth. I only check once a day, because she thinks it's only fair to chomp on my finger if I stick it in there. The only eral event on Saturday was meeting with our new realtor. Let's get this house sold! And today, we hung out around the house and did lots of playing.

These pictures all happened in a matter of minutes. She was fun & silly, then decided to try eating it and then went straight to tired and whiney.

This week our plans are to meet grandma on Tuesday at the MOA for Toddler Time (1st time checking that out) to see Strawberry Shortcake and then we will spend a couple days at grandma & grandpa's house. We plan to go to Como Zoo sometime on Wednesday. The Thursday, we are hoping to get together with some friends and Friday Isabel will have mommy's friend Linda babysit her while mom goes to her appointment and sometime next weekend we might like to go to the county fair. We also might have some friends over for dinner and maybe go the the Children's Museum - wow that's a lot. I don't think we will do all three things this weekend. Probably just 2 of them.

Trying Out the Potty Chair

We have not begun potty training yet, but I have had it out and letley she has been interested in figuring out how it works and what it is. Usually she just takes it apart, but today I showed her how to sit on it. The pictures are not in focus, but oh well. I don't know when we'll start trying.

64 Weeks Old

We went outside several times today since the weather was nice, warm, and not very humid. It won't last long. She loves to play basketball. At first it was as low as it could go and a month ago (I think) I raised it to the first notch. I think I can raise it to the second notch for tall girl. She likes to hang from the rim.

She isn't always happy. Her tantrums are usually short-lived. The top one was just because she was tired and wanted to go back in the house, which we did right after the picture. The bottom one is because I told her, "No, this is mommy's camera." She collasped into my lap and started the alligator tears and I laid her on the floor and took a picture of her.

Being a Student

I bought this little desk, which is an actual antique small child's desk, to use as decoration several years ago. When I no longer wanted to use it I decided I would keep it for our children. I had my own antique child's desk, but it is for a much older child and this would be one to use inthe meantime. She loves when I give her things to sit on that are her size. I took it out because I thought it would be a great place to have her color, rather than having her sit on my lap. I didn't want to put her in her highchair, which I could have done too.

She is defintily enjoying coloring more each time we do it. She loves choosing which color she wants next. Although today she thought she would see what the orange & blue taste like - they don't taste very good.

Today we went to check out the new Mom's Club in the area. Although, on the way there we talked to daddy and found out that our application was accepted for our temporary housing (9 month lake house rental), so turns out that we won't be around this area much longer to really join the club. Although, since we were on our way and Carrie & Gavin were going too we thought we would see what it was like because I would like to join one in our new location. The ladies all seemed very nice and I think it will be a nice group. Tomorrow they are going to a nearby waterpark that we have not been too yet, but it all depends upon Isabel's nap schedule. She is starting to transition away from 2 naps to only 1 nap, but somedays she still needs 2 and others she needs 1.

I also made her do some more walking for me. Today it was 9 steps. Usually when I try she just takes 1-2 steps and plops down and crawls.

Settling Back into Our Routine.....

She got her regular naps in (she should be getting up from her 2nd one soon.) I took this picture this morning . We had a "juice" party, but as you can see, much of the juice didn't make it in her mouth. She doesn't quite get the fake food part and would rather have real food.

We had plans today, but changed them since I was sick of driving and just wanted to stay home. She is happy to re-discover toys she has not seen in almost 2 weeks.

Pictures from Sunday

The first picture she has her cheek pressed against mommy's, but we cropped it to just see the cute toddler smile. Everyone is saying that she is thinning out a lot and starting to lose her baby fat. Somedays she just looks like such a big girl already.

68 Weeks Old

These are pictures from Saturday. I think she just looks too cute. Auntie Razz - how do you think Blake would look in this outfit? Isabel looks absolutly adorbale in it, so thanks. Here in this picture she is having a snack of milk, whole grain goldfish crackers and cucumbers.

The Ride Home Monday

So, you read about our stop at the Ripon park, and our 2nd stop was at a wayside near Sparta, WI. It was an adequate wayside with plenty of picnic tables and a little trail that went up a hill into a wooded area and overlooks the highway. We walked up there. I made Isabel walk up a few steps, but then after a while she didn't want to walk anymore so I carried her the rest of the way up and found a place to watch the cars and for her to play with leaves and grass. We had a nice picnic on one of the tables there too.

Once we got home she was really tired because she only took one nap (after I wore her out at the park in Ripon), but she was so excited to be home and see her animals that she had to put off the nap for 40 minutes, but when I finally did put her down she protested for maybe 30 seconds and then completly zonked until I woke her up for supper.

She was very glad to see her cats and dog and was squeling with delight at them. Lucy even tolerated her and approached her because Lucy was in need of affection and petting. But as I type this, Larry is annoying me because he too is in need of affection and petting. I have a feeling my sleep will be very disturbed tonight.

Kudos to Ripon Park System

We were at a point in our ride back to MN when we needed to find a play to play to tire the little girl out so that she would take a nap. I found this park just a block off my route. Actually, Ripon has signs along the way directing you towards their parks, which is very nice. You cannot really tell how big this park is, but it is a very nice size and we were the only ones there for the 20 minutes we were there. They have 4 different playsets w/ slides (1 wooden playset and 3 plastic) and their is one more for toddlers and they also have the baby/toddler swings closer to them and not by the big swings. I like how they have it arranged so that the big kids will play is a spot near, but away from the toddler. They also had 3 spring ride on things and sand volleyball courts, and benches and gliders along the river. They also had a pavilion with picnic tables and a chalet type building. It was a very nice park that catered to all ages. Kudos!

This past weekend

I will post pictures after I get back home, but I thought I would give me readers something to read at least.

Friday afternoon we headed to Sheboygan to stay at Auntie Phanie & Uncle J's house.

Then Saturday we went to the Old Wisconsin store (to pick up more goodies for my neighbors) and grocery shopping andthen finally went driving around Port Washington & Saukville and went to the YMCA in Port Washington. Isabel had a good time swimming, she always does.

Sunday, we went driving around other areas (Butler, Glendale, Meqoun, Thiensville, Cedarburg, Lakefield) and check out a couple places. We came back and made a nice dinner for the 5 of us and worked on Isabel walking. We got her to walk w/o holding onto anything several times. Each time she took more steps. The most steps she took was 5 steps before falling to the ground. So, she's going to be walking all over the place real soon.

She has done really well on this entire trip, let's just hope the drive back to MN is good as well. I left the house clean and with an empty fridge, so it's always nice to have a clean house and I ordered groceries online last night to have them delivered after we get home, which will be nice that I don't have to scrape up stuff and don't have to find time this week to go to the grocery store.

Stay tuned for pictures. I took some really cute ones on Saturday.

Last Day of our Visit to Grams & Gramps' House

We went and bought some cheese today....Mmmm....fresh curds are so good. It was the first time Isabel ever had them. She enjoys them very much. We picked up some for ourselves and some for our neighbors who are watching our animals while we are visiting. We also went to the library in town and they have some nice kids things to play with -- a little tent with a ball pit and this fisher price toy and some blocks. Isabel enjoyed playing with the toys, but couldn't sit still for storytime.

As soon as she wakes from her nap we are going to Auntie Phanie's and Uncle J's house for a few days and then we will head back home. While we are there we will check out some of the neighboring communities and find some stuff to do and see what we think. I probably won't post any pictures until we get back home because I don't have my cord along (luckily, Grams has a similar camera and we could use hers).

Swimming at George's Pond

This is a picture from last night when we went swimming.

Thursday Pictures

I put her in the swing we had given to Grams to use here for the grandbabies.....she can almost touch the floor, but she liked swinging in it for a while.....the walker she is just too tall for, even at the highest setting....

We didn't go swimming yesterday, but we did go visit great grandma & great grandpa....today we plan to go visit great-great aunt Mary (one she wakes from her nap.) And then we are hanging out here this afternoon until we go swimming this early evening.....

Another Picture from Yesterday

She has this thing about sitting sideways in the highchair at Grams' house. I put her in there the right way and she turns to the side sticks her leg out the side. Silly.

She is very good at self-monitoring her food intake. She doesn't overeat all the time or anything. Actually, this cookie she is eating....she only ate about 2/3 of it and then gave it to me to get rid of.....she used to throw stuff on the floor when she was done eating it, but I taught her to give it to me if she was done with something....she has this thing about having food off her tray when she is finished with it....

Having Fun

This is a picture from this morning. I put her in a onesie and her little black tutu. It's going to be a scorcher today, so I thought we would dress lightly. Anyways, Grams got out a bucket of matchbox cars for her and she loves playing with them. Then she would go grab a dolly and bottle and feed the dolly and back tot he cars again and back to the dolly.

We went out to the barn so that she could see some new baby twin calves. She was amazed at how many cats are in the barn. She usually just sees the one that likes to hang around up by the house, but in the barn there are many more. And then we went to pet the dog for a bit, then a ride on the baby swing until she get distracted by a cat and wants to go by it. She loves cats.

Yesterday, we went to the O.F. library because they had Duf the Clown there. It was ok, but she got restless, so we went to check out the children's area. They have a nice children's area there. It has a nice big tiered area, a tent to play in, a kids picnic table with a puzzle on it (Isabel enjoyed playing with that), a little puppet theater and probably around 75 different puppets. It was an amazing collection of puppets and they were all really nice ones too.

In the evening we went swimming again and gramps kept trying to catch a turtle. She has claimed the floating raft as her own.

No real plans for today except to probably go put up the decorative wallpaper border at Auntie Razz's place in the nursery. And we'll probably go swimming again this evening.