Summer Cheerleading Classes

Hot & Cold

 YES! This was in the same day! Isabel & mommy went ice skatng indoors earlier then we came home and played on the slip & slide in the yard. Crazy, I know!

Swimming Videos

2 Videos

Isabel Swimming

Laughing & Swimming

Bay Beach

Chalk Playdate

Isabel's friend Isaac gave her a chalk set with 3D chalk and chalk paint for her birthday, so she invited him & his youngest sister to come over for a playdate to use it. The chalk paint didn't last long, but they sure had fun with it.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa on the Farm

Super Saturday

We started out our day with a trip to a (new-to-us) park for playtime & a picnic. Then to the barber shop for haircuts for daddy & Henry. Then the kids got to go to the candy store for a treat.

Then we came home and watched Gnomeo & Juliet while brother napped.


Then it was tim to play in the pool that we blew up & filled in the morning.

And in between all of that Isabel would play in her box house she made up. She had a "couch" and "bed" in it, some snacks, and a small couch & bed for baby dolly. This was all of her own creation.

And the day ended with roasted marshmallows. FINALLY! Isabel had been asking for about 2 months to have a campfire with roasted marshmallows and we have just not had good weather when we have been home, until now.

Baby Animal Day @ MHS

Beach Weather

These top two collages are from when we went to the beach as a family on Memorial Day. The water was a bit chilly for swimming, but the kids had a blast playing in the water and sand.

By 4 days later, the water was much warmer and we met one of our playgroups at the beach for some fun & the sun and water fighter. We brought some water balloons to share with others and have a water balloon fight. The water was warm enough to swim in. We thought about going back to the beach today, but have filled up our kiddie pool (larger size rectangle one) and have it warming in the sun to use this afternoon.

Isabel Graduates from Preschool

Isabel is not officially a a kindergartener. Such a bittersweet occasion. She is becoming such a big girl and so independent and is needing her mommy less and less. She is growing up too fast. I told her the other day she was going to be a kindergartener soon and after some dicussion about all the grades that come next I told her I wanted to keep her little forever, to which she told me she couldn't stay little and had to get bigger. And then I told her that she will grow up and go to college and move away and leave me. Then she told me, "Mommy, I'm not going to leave you. I can still live in MN and be a princess. I just need to find a castle." Awwww. My little princess. :)

Little Tykes Sports Skills: Soccer

I enrolled Isabel in a 4-week, once a night class on different sports skills. It meets on Tuesday nights and this week it was soccer. Next week it will be T-Ball. I really hope she likes the T-Ball because she is signed up for 5 weeks of T-ball that meets twice a week and starts in 2 weeks.

Family Birthday Party

Isabel was such a lucky girl and was able to celebrate her birthday for 3 weekends in a row. The final party was a family one. We did invite one family that our whole family is friends with. For this party we did frosted brownies. She picked out purple frosting and did the sprinkles herself.

Playgroup Birthday Party with Amelia

Another one of the many parties that Isabel had. This one was a joint one with her friend Amelia who turned 5 only 5 days after Isabel. They are in the same playgroup, so we celebrated by treating all their friends to supper, cake & chalk in the park on a rainy day. The rainy day was a bonus. I was very surprised how many families still showed. Most of the kids, however, thought it was wonderful that they got to play so much in the rain. It's not often that you actually go to park when it's raining and get to play on the equipment.

Preschool Field Trip

Isabel's preschool field trip was to the River Bend Nature Center. Mommy went along to chaperone. They had a scavenger hunt to do, but Isabel also brought along a notepad and marker to draw things that she found interesting (something her friend Casey did when we went on a nature hike with them to Kaplan's woods recently.) She had a great time and it was a beautiful day for a field trip there.

Lego Kidsfest

MN SEALife Aquarium

We also went to the MN SEALife Aquarium for her birthday too. We bought a membership there this fall, so we might as well go often. This time we decided to do the question scavenger hunt, which we had not done before. At the end she had time to color a picture of Sharky and then gave it to him when she met him.

Nickelodeon Universe

Isabel got an unlimited ride wristband to Nickelodeon Universe on her birthday from NU. As long as your sign up on their website and bring the email they send you as well as proof of birthday & come on the actual birthday (sounds like lots of hoops, doesn't it, but worth it for a free unlimited ride wristband that is worth $30) you get it for free. It's really an incredible deal. And because of her height, there are some rides a chaperone gets to ride on free with her and other rides she has to ride on by herself (or we can pay to ride with her).

We did buy a points wristband so we could take Henry on some rides and everything he was able to go on he got a free chaperone, so we just had to pay for him. There was just one ride that Isabel went on she could have done by herself that we paid to go on with her.

Eating Cotton Candy!

Daddy & mommy each got to go on a different roller coaster ride with her because she wasn't tall enough to go on it with out a (free) chaperone. She liked the one she went on with daddy, but the one with mommy was too fast & scary. In total she went on 12 rides (I think!). She was very happy and fell asleep as soon as we got in the car that afternoon.

Rainforest Cafe

We took Isabel to the Rainforest Cafe for her birthday. She dined on Mac&Cheese and chocolate milk (typical kids meal she chooses) . At the end of our meal they brought her a complimentary birthday sundae and sung to her. You can tell by the picture she was a little unsure about a bunch of strangers singing to her, even though she was excited for it. The top picture is of her & daddy working on the puzzles in the kids meal booklet.

Happy Birthday Isabel!

This was the morning of her birthday. We did the same thing we did last year and had birthday pancakes for breakfast as her "cake" on her birthday. With multiple parties, cake can get tiresome. This worked out well last year and she enjoyed it, so we did it again. It's just regular pancakes with syrup, but also whip cream and sprinkles and a candle. I also made bacon, which she loves and some apple kiwi strawberry juice, which she loves too.

She opened up presents from mommy, daddy & Henry this morning. Henry gave her a new Barbie & Ken doll set and some new Princess games. Mommy & daddy gave her a new bike helmet, the huge Princess Celestia My Little Pony (the one thing she asked for), a new chapter book, a new dance outfit, and Melissa & Doug wooden birthday cake.

BBQ in Oconomowoc

Here are some pictures of Isabel having fun at a BBQ at Elizabeth's house in Oconomowoc on our weekend visit.

Isabel & Rachael

Here are a couple of collages of Isabel and her friend Rachael. They went swimming at the hotel pool together, went out for gelato, had a sleepover, played inside & outside, went to a bbq and just plain had fun together.

5 Year Old Pictures

These are some pictures I took of Isabel in our friends' yard. The top one is my favorite and is the one I am going to make copies of for friends and family.

She looks so grown up in this one and like she has so much teenage angst. uh-oh!

I like this one because she was being playful and silly.

She didn't want to look directly at the camera. She had this thing about look just off to the side today. Not sure what that was about, but I got some cute shots from her.

Onalaska McDonalds

Great Serengeti Waterpark

Here are just a couple of pictures from Isabel at Maizee's birthday party.