Howland Family

January 25th

2012-01-31T17:02:00.001-06:00

Today started with Chapel for Isabelle. I will be sad when she starts kindergarten and isn't going to her preschool she is at now. I love it. So grateful she is able to go.

Then our friends the Miller's came over for one last visit before they moved to Austin. The Miller's have been our best friends since we moved to Texas! They were the very first friends we made in here in Texas.

We love them and their kiddos. We are so sad to see them go, but excited to have someone to visit in Austin!

January 24th

2012-01-24T22:46:00.002-06:00

Today was Isabelle's second class and the last 15 minutes were "show off time". I got to see her try to do a cartwheel and handstand.

*Reese Monkey slept from 8-8!!

January 23rd

2012-01-24T21:57:00.001-06:00

We had lunch with Doctor Daddy today. It was short but still nice. I can't remember the last time I got to meet Nicholas for lunch. Rockwell wore his "work clothes", he looked to stinking cute!

January 22nd

2012-01-24T21:49:00.000-06:00

Church 8:30am Boo! You would think that it would be awesome to come home and take a nap, but the last couple Sunday's Isabelle and I have had some good "us" time. Rockwell is sleeping away and that gives us time to hang. Today we made crayon hearts. Isabelle you are REALLY into recycling right now. You were all to thrilled when I told you we were going to be recycling the old crayons to make new ones. It was lot's of fun. Isabelle suggested that we do "team work" and I help her peel the crayons, that ended up being code for Mom you peel all the crayons. They turned out great. Haven't decided if we will use them for valentine's or save them for her birthday party. Daddy did some studying by us and even let mom take a little snooze!

Making wishes on "pom-pom flowers" Isabelle's wish every time she makes one, "I wish to be a mermaid." Every time.

5:30 wiped out from 8:30 church. We are going to have to start taking naps after church. Isabelle feel asleep at 5:30 and woke up at 10:00 thinking it was time to party. She ate dinner and was sent back to bed. Crazy!

I love that Chocolate Dog is always curled up by the kids. She is the sweetest dog.

January 21st

2012-01-23T22:50:00.001-06:00

We wet to a princess birthday party today. Isabelle made a prince crown for her little brother and a princess crown for herself. Isabelle got to go to the sea shell shop with her Dad while I went to a baby shower. Sea shells are one of Isabelle's most favorite things right now. She has them lined up all over her room, they really are everywhere. I will need to take a picture of that! Today was the the first time Rock has seen Daddy awake in probably 7 days. We enjoyed an hour of family time on the couch before Daddy was off to study. Days like today are good. We miss spending time with our Daddy. We are so proud of him and how hard he works. Scott called yesterday and told me that in one of his classes they had been working on percentages. They used the amount of hours a resident works in a week. He told me that there was a .007% chance that Nicholas would ever work a 40hr work week. Crazy, but true I'm sure. Love you Picky Poo!
Our Princess...

And our most handsome prince... I could just bite those cheeks! Love him.

Wonder what color eyes this boy will have. They look like they are turning brown around the pupil.

January 20th

2012-01-22T18:16:00.001-06:00

Rockwell went for his first jog today, didn't really enjoy it to much. Much different pushing 2 babies! Crazy that it is January and 78 degrees. We spent a couple hours at the park enjoying this beautiful weather.

January 19th

2012-01-20T00:16:00.002-06:00

January 18th

2012-01-20T00:13:00.000-06:00

January 17th

2012-01-20T00:10:00.000-06:00

All smiles, all the time. He is the happiest, most sweet baby.
First day of tumbling. Daddy's first response to these pictures was "Is that our daughter? That's frighting, she looks 16."

January 16th

2012-01-20T00:05:00.000-06:00

January 15th

2012-01-20T00:04:00.005-06:00

January 14th

2012-01-20T00:03:00.002-06:00

January 13th

2012-01-20T00:02:00.000-06:00

It's January 13th and our tree is still up. I'm sick, Reese Monkey is sick and tomorrow is another day.

Isabelle had her fist day of Ballet! We were both so excited. I had my camera to snap pictures but of course there was no card in the darn thing.

First thing she said as she came running out "I loved it!"

January 12th

2012-01-19T23:58:00.000-06:00

Rock had his 2 month check up and shots today.

January 10th

2012-01-19T23:56:00.000-06:00

First time flying with 2 kids, not so bad.

January 9th

2012-01-19T23:52:00.000-06:00

January 8th

2012-01-19T23:51:00.000-06:00

January 7th

2012-01-19T23:32:00.000-06:00

January 6th

2012-01-19T23:29:00.000-06:00

Ohhhh, I love this little boy!

And we love this little boy!

January 3rd,4th and 5th

2012-01-19T23:28:00.000-06:00

I'm sure we had a blast in Utah and I took no pictures to document it. Spent lots of time with our daddy on his week break, slept in every morning, ate yummy food & went brunette.

January 2nd

2012-01-19T23:21:00.000-06:00

Car ride from HELL! Headed to Utah from Colorado. Miss Savy Jane I love ya darling, it's a good thing you are cute. Made some fun memories.... Tyler almost flinging Reese Monkey out of the car in a rage of furry because Sarah and I spent 30 minutes in the Grad Junction Mall. Good times in the Sienna!

January 1st 2012

2012-01-17T23:06:00.000-06:00

We blessed Rockwell on New Years day in Colorado. We were able to have all of my family and all of the Howland's there. It was a wonderful day. So grateful everyone was there and able to share with us.

The shoes Nicholas was blessed in...

Couldn't decide which I liked better.

Assistant Isabelle

2011-08-27T19:57:00.002-05:00

My "helpful" assistant Isabelle. "Helping" me set up for a photo shoot.

She is awfully cute though!

Back!

2011-08-26T23:08:00.001-05:00

We are back in Texas and back to blogging....

Polar Express

2010-12-16T11:41:00.001-06:00

We got to ride the Polar Express this year! I have wanted to do this for the last 3 years. It seems like Isabelle is just the right age for everything. She was so excited. We started off watching the polar express and then took a nap at G-moo's house. When she woke up she opened a new pair of Christmas jammies to wear on the train. She picked out a really cute little music box at the train gift shop. She was in love with it. When we asked her how much it was she said... "It doesn't matter you told me I could get one thing, whatever I wanted." So of course the spoiled girl that she is she got it. We got to eat dinner on the train, color, eat cookies and hot coco. The head elf read the night before Christmas, and we sang carols. When we pulled up to the North Pole Santa was outside to greet us. The best part of the night was Santa getting on the Train with us! Isabelle gave him her list and got her very cool bell. It was really, really fun! Definitely something we will have to do again. My only complaint is the flipping light were off. Making it very difficult to get good pictures!!

Christmas Countdown

2010-12-06T21:27:00.000-06:00

Isabelle and I made our Christmas countdown today. We will also be using it as our Daddy countdown! We are missing him, and getting excited to spend Christmas with him!

The Nutcracker

2010-12-03T19:36:00.001-06:00

I have been so excited to take Isabelle to The Nutcracker! I wanted to take her last yer but I knew she was probably still to little. I was right. This year was perfect! She was so excited to see it. I have been telling her the story before bed every night for a month. She was very interested in the Mouse King! She was so excited to get dressed up, she thought it was very "fancy". We went to dinner at Olive Garden before hand with Grandma and Grandpa. There was are few other girls there who were going to The Nutcracker as well. None as cute as my Isabelle. She opened her very own Nutcracker from her Grandpa. She was so excited! She held him through the show, slept with him, and took him to school for show and tell. I had fun just sitting and watching her face as she watched the dancers. She told me that she didn't want to go to dance class, she wanted to go straight to the stage! After the show she got to eat cookies with the cast. We picked the perfect night!
It really was so much fun! I love having a girl!

And once again Isabelle's pose...

Her conversation with the Nutcracker himself....
Nutcracker: Would you like a picture with me?
Isaeblle: Actually I just wanted a picture with girls, sorry.(Picture her with her little hand up in his face!)
Nutcracker: Can I just kneel behind you?
Isabelle: Fine... (She says with a sigh.)

Settign up the tree....

2010-11-30T11:33:00.000-06:00

Isabelle's signiture pose as she set the tree up with Grandpa. She was very "helpful"!

First day of school!

2010-11-22T23:42:00.002-06:00

Isabelle was so excited to start school! She picked out almost all of her clothes and had to have the DOTS lunchbox. It's her grandpa's favorite! She is really enjoying school and is learning quite a bit. She learned the pledge by the 3 day. It's absolutely darling. Her teachers are wonderful, I really can't say enough good things about this school. I must admit it was odd at first to have the time to my self but I rather enjoy it. Here she is my baby girl on her first day of school....

A comfy cozy home.

2010-11-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

Isabelle came in one day with a ton of BUGS! Lady bug and other little bugs. She really needed something to make them a "comfy cozy home". She had 2 lady bugs in her jar. Their names were Rose, and Stick. We had these lady bugs for at least 3 weeks. She finally let them go the other day. Oh how I love this girl!

Thanksgiving Program

2010-11-21T00:48:00.002-06:00

Isabelle missed 2 weeks of school, I'm guessing that is when they learned the scripture in the begging of this video because she know none of it! Very, very shy. I'll have to post a video of her singing at home.

For Daddy...

2010-11-19T18:14:00.000-06:00

We missed you at the Thanksgiving program! Isabelle was a little shy. Grandma got to come and enjoy the Thanksgiving feast. Isabelle and I (mostly me) worked on turkey cookies the night before. She was really concerned that the turkeys have a waddle. I was impressed she knew what a waddle was. I was also impressed with my turkey cookie skills. We love you and miss you so much Daddy!

Baby Chicks

2010-03-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

Isabelle is loving our baby chicks. She is going to be sad when those have to go. She is constantly checking on them and putting blankets around their cage. This morning she woke up telling me " Mom my baby chicks are crying for me!"

Rizzy Roo

2010-03-23T17:42:00.002-05:00

Ducklings

2010-03-15T22:52:00.000-05:00

Sunday we had a lesson on the creation. It was the best lesson. Very fitting that after church we went to feed the ducks and ended the night with this beautiful sunset.

We found newly hatched ducklings. So cute.

Isabelle's best buddy Brooke. It is truly hilarious how muc these girls like each other!

Our baby turned 3!!

2010-03-09T19:44:00.003-06:00

Our baby turned 3!! This was such a fun day with Isabelle! We had hot dogs at sams, Isabelles favorite. Went cake shopping. I fully intended on her picking the big expensive princess castle cake but no, she wanted a really small cupcake cake. Great for us! She picked her own balloons. Princess of course. She was so excited, it was so fun. I took a million and one pictures. This girl has had a birthday month. Presents are still showing up. She opened a barbie learning lap top. Died and went to heaven! "This is actually what I have been looking for!! YES!" Funnest day ever!

1AM

2010-02-22T01:15:00.001-06:00

It's 1AM and I working at the computer. My husband is working hard at the hospital. Isabelle is watching her I pod on the floor next to my feet. Mother of the year I know... but my BABY will only be 2 years old for one more day. So for now I'll let her stay at my feet. I can not believe that she will be 3. Time continues to play tricks on me.

FHE

2010-02-18T10:13:00.000-06:00

My sweet little brother on a mission in Argentina writes the best letters every week. It is so fun to hear just how much he grows and matures each week. A couple of weeks ago he gave our family the challenge to do family home evening each week. We are trying. It's been tough to keep up with Nicholas surgery schedule these days, but we are trying none the less.

I have to throw in this picture of my awesomely delicious pizza I made! Jodi it is almost as good as mosses tooth. Seriously! It's like I stumbled upon their artichoke pizza recipe. So yummy!

2010-02-16T22:09:00.003-06:00

Isabelle Grace Howland MD

2010-02-16T13:04:00.002-06:00

Like father like daughter! Isabelle loves to play Dr. So when I found these jamies at Carters I had to buy them. (They came with pants but Isabelle opted not to wear those!) She had her Dad bring her home all the essential Dr gear from the hospital. When he showed up with purple gloves, she threw her hands in the air and said"Uggggg were they out of pink Dad?" Every night when she goes to bed she says "I better get to sleep, so I can see the patients early in the morning." It will be exciting when she can actually go with her Dad. She will be in heaven.

Happy Heart Day!

2010-02-14T22:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines! Here are my valentines this year.
I vowed to be a better blogger this year, so that at the end of the year my blog book would be a brezze. Ha! No such luck. I have given up on trying to catchup on all of my pictures. If I waited to post until that happened it could be October! So I will slowly be updating the blog with pictures from JULY 2009!

2009-12-12T12:52:00.000-06:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Where has December gone? I feel like it is flying by. Here is what has been happening around our house. Isabelle going to grandma and grandpas house for 2 whole weeks!! Nicholas working and studding hard. A and wonderful trip to New York.

Big Girl Bed!

Crosswords with dad. Love this!

Isabelle's new love.... Mcdonalds cinnamon rolls.

Here's Isabelle way to excited to be leaving her parents for 2 weeks.

Are little diet coke fiend!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-18T15:51:00.002-06:00

Halloween with the Howlands

2009-11-04T12:29:00.000-06:00

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Halloween. This Halloween was fun Isabelle was loving it. I have so many funny stories I want to write down before I forget! Let me start off with I bought Isabelle a lady bug costume last year. I had told her that was what she was going to be this year. Isabelle had other plans though and me not wanting to be "that mom" let her pick what she wanted to be and spent another 60 bucks on her kitty costume. She loved it up until the week before Halloween, when she then decided she wanted to be a ladybug! Grrrr. So we compromised. She was a Kitty for our trunk or treat and a lady bug in Halloween. I'm so glad I let her be the ladybug. It was priceless. She was so excited about the costume and thought that she looked amazing! She was on cloud 9. So worth it!

I really didn't take that many pictures of her in her Kitty costume that night. I thought she would wear it again the next day. You get the idea!

Nicholas and I were a Cowboy and an Indian. Do you love my husbands stranded crazy picture taking face??

The next morning this is what walked into our room. A little clown. She was so impressed with herself. She said she looked like a clown. She did a pretty good job.

Here she is half way thought her trunk or treat candy.

Here she is with her chocolate dog. Now I'm not one to buy clothes for their dog or costumes but we got this last year on clearance for 2 dollars. Chocolate the "spoody witch".

My camera died after this picture. LAME! I didn't even get a picture of her at the door. I do have some priceless video I will post though.

So here are some fun things she said while we were trick or treating. After the fist house she turned around and said "Duys we are not going home until my bag is at the top!" as she runs across there lawn to the next door.
At everydoor they would give her some candy and she would just stand there, a little awkward. She would then ask can I have some candy for my little brother Kingsly? The homeowners would then look up at us and see we had a wagon I'm sure thinking that we have a little brother in there and give her some more. Here's the thing we DON'T have a little brother! So after we discover what she was doing we told her that as not polite or honest. So at the next house she looked over her shoulder with a smirk at us and said "can I please have some candy for my dad?". Talk about embarrassing!! She is a smart little bugger.
She also really like skittles I found out. Every house that had skittles in the bowl and didn't give her some she would say " can I have those skittles to?" as she is reaching her hand in to take them. Also any pink colored candy had to be hers as well. We will need to work on our trick or treating manners for next year!
We trick or treated for 2 hours. I finally sent Nicholas home to get the car while we finished up the neighborhood. True to her word she was done when her bag was full. I wanted to keep going until Nicholas got back to the car but she wanted to just sit in the wagon and wait. Her bag was full.

Our night ended at home with some hot coco and the Movie Monster House.

It was an awfully fun Halloween on our lonesome. We had yummy Chili by Gar, and pumpkin pie.

Scott goes to the MTC!

2009-10-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Utah for my mother if she didn't get to eat at Chuck-a-rma! Luckily this wasn't Scott's last meal. We did this after a session at the Salt Lake Temple.

Here he is the morning of the big day!

It was hard to say goodbye for 2 years! Here he is walking with Isabelle to the MTC for pictures. I wish that I would have taken a picture of Isabelle when she was saying goodbye. She saw all of us crying and started to wail! It was sad but we all chuckled. She will miss her "Uncle Stott"

It was such a gray rainy day. But the leaves were beautiful.

You have to say your goodbyes at the parking lot across the street from the MTC. Then drive across and toss them out.

Our last photo of Elder Brown! Should have gotten him walking away. My mind was in another place. My eyes were so teary I couldn't even see through the view finder. LOVE THIS BOY!

Elder Brown

2009-10-21T11:38:00.000-05:00

Well we are home from dropping Scott off at the MTC. It was very sad but exciting! I will post some pictures of that later on. I wanted to post a link to the blog I made for him where we will post pictures and letters. I posted 2 letters from him today. There is also all his information on the blog.

Here's the link www.elderscottbrown.blogspot.com

Farewell

2009-10-06T00:21:00.003-05:00

I think I have been delaying this post thinking that if I didn't post Scott wouldn't leave. But alas he is. Scott has been called to serve in the Argentina Buenos Aries mission.

It's interesting how having a child broadens your ability to love. When I had Isabelle I didn't know that I could love someone so much. Shows you how your parents and you father in heaven must feel about you. I love Scott. I have loved having him in our home for the last 2 years. To say that I'm proud of him would be an understatement. He has worked so hard to be where he is at. I'm so grateful that he made the choice to go and serve. It has been wonderful to be with him as he prepared to go. Being set apart, receiving the priesthood, taking out his endowments, and receiving his call.

Isabelle loves her Uncle. She misses him terribly already. She was sure that he was going to serve in "Flo-i-da" or "Salt Lake". Every time she sees anything resembling a map she tells us Scott's in Argentina far away, way down there. We miss our live in babysitter!

It has been so nice to have Scott around. He has been my babysitter many a times. I will miss going to the grocery store alone! But mostly I will miss his company. His silly singing, and funny stories. He has been such a good friend to have around.

My little darling.

2009-09-24T07:22:00.000-05:00

Funny story about Isabelle... Nicholas had put Isabelle to bed and he kept hearing this high pitch noise and he couldn't figure out what it was. It would start and then it would stop for a while. When he finally got up to check he realized it was coming from Isabelle's room. When he went in to find out what it was he found Isabelle lying in her crib blowing a whistle. She looked at him and said "Where ya been dad? I been blowing this thing for hours! Get in here and give a kiss!"

Oh you are a busy one my little darling. Even though I can't turn my back for a moment and you make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, I still love you! Isabelle's latest naughtiness.

Visit from DFW cousins....

2009-09-17T22:29:00.002-05:00

We had a visit form our Dallas cousins. We had a blast and are counting down the days to our next visit.
We hung out at the pool, went to the beach, and ate some good food.

Peirce and Isabelle get along super. They are both into sparkly pink things!

This is my favorite! Here is P-dog going in for the kiss in slow motion.....

I hope she feels this way about kisses from boys for a long while!

And last but not least "Are you in good hands?"

San Antonio

2009-09-14T19:01:00.000-05:00

I don't even know where to begin I have so much to catchup on!

Here are some pictures from Nicholas and I's weekend getaway a couple of months ago. We went to San Antonio and stayed on the Riverwalk. I always love staying on the Riverwalk, I think it is so fun. We floated the River in New Braunfels with some friends and that was awesome. It will defiantly be a tradition from now on! So entertaining!!

Here is my WONDERFUL!! Husband. I'm a bad wife I never posted about his board scores.... He scored in the top 99%. That's right he is AWESOME!

I'm sure he is going to kill me for this....

And my Rizzy with her pink cowgirl hat we got her on the Riverwalk. Thanks to our wonderful babysitters for making this trip possible!!

Matilda Jane Trunkshow

2009-09-05T17:35:00.005-05:00

Mark your calendars for a Matilda Jane Clothing trunkshow I will be hosting at my house September 19th at 6PM! There will be yummy treats and plenty of darling clothes just in time for the new school year!!!

Swister

2009-08-09T20:36:00.004-05:00

Isabelle had a little sleepover with Jadyn her "swister" the other night. We miss our friends very much. It was so fun to sleep with a new little baby!!! I love the baby smell. Isabelle always says "I looove her sooo much." It melts my heart. She will be a good big swister some day. But until then we have baby Jadyn.

Stories of the Riz

2009-08-07T10:21:00.002-05:00

This child is the biggest pack rat! She reminds me so much of her Aunt Brinly. She got this backpack for Christmas. It is supposed to be a baby carrier but all that really gets carried in this is junk! I should really take a picture of what she has inside. Note cards, receipts, pretties (lip gloss she has stolen from random people), loose change, all kinds of stuff. She brings it everywhere. My husnad always wonders why the back seat of my car has crap everywhere... it's becasue of this child. Everytime we get in the car so does her bag of crap!! Here are some pictures of her with her backpack and all her other garb. I especially love that she puts her phone and wallet in her poket aka her UNDIES! Love.

Lately Isabelle has been getting pretty jealous of me taking pictures of other people. It's been kinda nice!! She will actually ask me to take her pictures when I'm getting ready for an appiontment. She is really into make "funny faces"....

And here you see she has her trusty backpack, never leaves her side.

I can't believe how blonde my baby is. She came waltzing in looking so old to me. I love her.

Another totally heart melting story... So we lost our dog a couple weeks ago. We looked everywhere for her. We decided this would be a good opportunity to teach Isabelle to pray and ask for help. So we knelt as a family and said a prayer asking for help to find our dog or have someone kind find our dog. We had family in town so we left food out and headed to the beach. When we got back the were signs all over our neighborhood saying found dog. It was our Chocolate Dog! Isabelle was so excited!! So Last Sunday was fast Sunday and Isabelle was coloring not really paying any attention or so I thought. She looked up at me and said Mama my Heavenly Father found my Chocolate Dog. I love him so much. Awwww! You had to be there it was the sweetest moment! She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tight.

I have so many more things I need to record before I forget!! More to come!!

Helpful Hannah

2009-07-24T16:41:00.002-05:00

Here is my view form my desk. My little helper keeps coming in to help me. So grateful I have a babysitter coming soon so I can get some work done!!

She naked because she's in between one of her 30 outfit changes for today. Ugggg! I'm doing twice the amount of laundry these days. Love it! She is actually becoming quite helpful she helped me take out some trash the other day, and cleaned her room by HERSELF!! Hallelujah. She maneged to almost everything where it belonged.

She drives me crazy but then gives me this face, who could stay mad?? I love you Rizzy!

vacation post

2009-07-21T10:57:00.004-05:00

This is the dreaded vacation post. I call it dreaded because it takes so much time to go through and narrow it down to the pictures I want to post. I haven't been very good about documenting our trips. It seems like I get home and get caught up in getting back and forget about it. So for journling sake he it is. Our 5 week trip. We spent the first 2 weeks in Utah visiting Nicholas's family.

Isabelle had a last with her cousin Cole. She and Cole are at very curious ages. It was exciting!

I got to meet the Gals from Good Things Utah my favorite talk show ever! I so wish I could watch it here in Texas.

We also headed to Vegas for a few days for a girls getaway! It was perfect. Sunning by the pool shopping and fun dinners.

We went out to dinner at Dicks Last Resort. It was hilariously fun! They are really rude to you and throw your food at you. It was fun. They also made this wonderful hat for me. ;)

We went to serendipity for deserts. YUM! Their frozen hot chocolate was to die for. They have packets you can buy to make it at home and I'm really wishing I would have bought some.

Isabelle was introduced to S'mores while we were in Utah and she's in love. She thought the while process was great.

Isabelle snuk the box of matches away from us while we were paying games and proceeded to light the whole box. Lucky we had Pa Rand there to supervise her. I'm an awesome parent.

Isabelle really should have been born to her Aunt Sarah. I swear she thinks she is her mother. When Sarah is around she will have nothing to do with me. I just don't get it.

We spent memorial day at Grandpa Gar's. Isabelle loved the slide. She went up and down up and down until Uncle Tyler was to tired to take her. He is such a good sport! She came up every time with the biggest smile on her face.

We then headed over to Colorado to hang with my family for 2 weeks. Isabelle is still talking about camping in the motor home it was the highlight of her trip. We did some many fun things. Sand Dunes, alligator Farm where she actually held an alligator and a snake.

Isabelle woke up every morning stripped her clothes and swam in the hot tub!

We headed back to Utah for a week in Lake Powell. We picked up Nicholas who meet us in Salt Lake after completing his boards. Isabelle knocked a man over on the escalator pushing her way up to her daddy. She was so excited! This was the view from my rear view mirror. She made him sit by her.

Isabelle hanging with her Aunts in Powell

The water was freakishly cold!! Isabelle had Aunt Brinly paddle her around on this raft. She refused to get in. I can't blame her I had a sweatshirt on the whole time.

I love her!

My sexy husband on the air chair he is such a pro!

We had so much fun with all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Gmas and Gpas! Isabelle talks about everyone pretty much everyday. She is anxious to get back on an airplane and go back. It is really quite sad that we live so far away from everyone! Thanks to eveyone who spoiled us while we were there. Someday we will return the favor(you know who you are)I promise!

So SORRY for the embarrassingly long post and I'm sure the many grammatical errors!

This little girl....

2009-07-09T20:55:00.002-05:00

This little girl is missing her grandma and grandpa terribly!

This is a mile long...

2009-07-07T12:47:00.002-05:00

This is a mile long post! We had so much fun on the fourth!! Nicholas was on call so we couldn't go anywhere. It was just Isabelle and I. I made Scott come with me to the parade and out to breakfast at IHOP where Isabelle ate an entire grand slam french toast meal. You would think we hadn't fed her in days!

I will be so sad the day you out grow these!!

This is Isabelle telling me how excited PaPa is going to be because someone was throwing DOTS from their float.

After we got some food in her, she was so much fun. She keeps us entertained!

We headed to our pool and Nicholas was able to come meet us there. It was really fun our neighborhood had 3 big bounce houses, a dj, and was grilling hamburgers. It was a perfect way to spend the 100 degree day!

Isabelle couldn't have been happier the dj was playing all her favorite tunes! Flo Ridder, Beyonce, what more could a girl want?

After a family nap we headed out to see the fireworks. Isabelle did her popits and was entertained by the fireworks for about 30 seconds. "Oh a pink one, that's great dad!"
So we went to Chilis and ate chips and salsa. We could see the fireworks out the window of Chilis.

We did some sparklers at home which Isabelle loved. Her Grams sent them to her in her 4th of July package. When we were done she immediately wanted to call and tell her to send more. She loved them!

And of course who doesn't love new jammies!!

You made it to the END! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

Family Night

2009-07-02T22:48:00.005-05:00

So I know I already used this song for the last video but I thought it went perfect with these pictures from our night together. Not the greatest pictures but captured some great moments! And sorry you will have to scroll down to the bottom and pause our super cool music.

Isabelle took 2 of the pictures in this video! And eventually I will figure out how to make this bigger. I also wanted to post some video of Isabelle but that will have t be another day as it is turning out to be a daunting task!!

Awww.... Tender!

2009-06-30T11:13:00.002-05:00

Deja vu

2009-06-28T18:58:00.005-05:00

Last night we were feeling some deja vu! It hasn't been much more than 2 months since Isabelle's last set of stitches and she was back for more last night. This time 6. I think I held it together really well last time. It was really tiny, this time however I was a little more sad. It's a little higher and wider than the last. I just kept saying to Nicholas "She's a girl!!". She will have not one but 2 lovely scars on her chin. Hopefully this whole plastic surgeon thing works out because I'm beginning to think Isabelle is going to need one! She was getting out of the tub last night and her foot slipped on the side of the tub. She didn't even get upset. She saw the blood and immediately began reasoning with me. "Mom it's otay, I'm otay. I don't need stitches. Let's just eat some dinner." She was awfully cute.

While she was getting the stitches we didn't really even have to hold her down! She layed down and said " Just do it really fast, little tiny, just a little tiny."She was so brave. She quietly had little tears running out of her closed tight eyes and tried really hard to keep her mouth closed.

Here she is this morning proudly showing off her stitches...

And one of the Fam for church.

Swister Jadyn is here....

2009-06-23T13:18:00.002-05:00

Isabelle's swister Jadyn is finally here!! Our best friends welcomed their new baby girl yesterday. Isabelle was excited to see her and didn't want to leave the hospital. She looked at the baby and said "It's for me? Thank you!"

As we were leaving the hospital she said "Daddy my tummy hurts. I need some attention." How my 2 yr old knew this I don't know. I do know she is going to have a hard time with a new baby in town. Good thing we're not having another for a while! I'll admit I've got the baby itch... I guess I'll live vicariously through these guys for a while!

Heather and Monie have really made our move to Texas bearable. They are are family here and we are thrilled for them! Congrats guys! You can see more of baby Jadyn at my photography blog! Hillary Howland Photography

Miss you Daddy!

2009-05-12T09:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a sad day! We said goodbye to our daddy for a little over a month. We are thrilled to be visiting cousins, and family but will miss our daddy. He is studying for the test that will determine the rest of our life! BOARDS! If you think to include him in your prayers as he prepares for this it would be much appreciated. And if someone wants to throw a sandwich under the front door he would love it I'm sure!

Daddy we love you and miss you! We are so proud of your dedication and hard work.

Washed and Dryed...

2009-05-11T12:48:00.002-05:00

I blew Isabelle's hair dry the other night, she was so excited. I couldn't believe how long it was. Here she is. I couldn't get it strait. Poor girl is going to have her mothers hair!

LOVE HER!

Cousinly Love!

2009-05-07T19:50:00.003-05:00

Isabelle and I went to Dallas this weekend to welcome P-dog and family to Texas! WE are so excited to have some more family here!
Here are Isabelle and P-dog swinging in the yard!

These are pictures of what 2 peas in a pod did while I was getting ready. I can't turn my back on them or a minute. Defiantly partners in crime!! It was blue foam soap. Stained everything!

It is crazy how much a like these 2 are. NAUGHTY!

So I know these cupcakes don't compare to Sprinkles but they were pretty delicious! I couldn't decide which one to eat so I took a bit of each! I'm glad I don't live close to these it would be dangerous!

These pictures don't do the cupcakes justice. And they had the cutest ones for mothers day with glitter and sugared flowers. Darling!

We are counting down the days until we get to see our cousins in Utah!! Woot, woot!

more, more, more

2009-04-29T16:21:00.003-05:00

I could post picture after picture and my mother would still call and say post some more!! So here you are mother. Here are some more pictures.

And as I was making this post my daughter was slamming her hand down on the desk saying " Det off this putter right now! Let's get on the hairplane, do see Drama!" She is really excited to come see all her Dramas! I'm counting down the days!!

Isabelle and her "Chocolate Dog". She dosn't just call the dog by it's name which is Chocolate, it's Chocolate Dog

This face...

2009-04-28T17:21:00.003-05:00

This face is the first face I see in the morning. Yes, I'm that mom! The mom that lets their child sleep with them. Well I usually go and get her out of her crib after she is asleep. I know that this probably isn't the best habit but this little girl isn't going to little for very long. She changes and grows so much these days. So I can deal with the fingers up my nose, and hair being ripped out by the climbing monkey on my head as a wake up call for a while longer.

Isabelle can't really say her G's. I love to hear her say "dood morning mommy, you sleep dood?" I love it!

Stitches came out.

2009-04-19T20:34:00.002-05:00

Isabelle got her stitches out Wednesday night. Not quite as traumatizing as getting them out but pretty close. You can see how red her face is in the picture. Nicholas took them out with an 11 blade the doctor gave him. I think he was really excited! Isabelle was moving all over and screaming which I think stressed him out. I got the 11 blade in my arm! :)

The rain came down and floods came up!

2009-04-18T16:35:00.002-05:00

So it's pretty amazing how fast a flood can happen. When we looked outside to see my brothers car under a good amount of water we were a little concerned!! Nicholas waded out as garbage cans floated by, to move it into the driveway. When he he pulled it up onto the driveway it was like something from a movie water started poring out both sides. Isabelle has been seriously traumatized by this experience fir some reason. She just stood in the garage sobbing. She is still asking about the trash cans. I'm not sure what she was freaked out about.

Anyway Scott here are some pictures of your car sorry they aren't better I was worried about my camera getting soaked.

Isabelle is a BIG fan of American Idol! She came out today with sunglasses and a microphone climbed up on the counter and shouted.. "And this is Ameritan Idol!!" She was hilarious!

Hello!

2009-04-17T16:14:00.002-05:00

So today was a totally better day!! The sun didn't come up outside though it felt like such a better day! So I should say that I LOVE my daughter to pieces... Sunday we got ready for church. I always get Isabelle dressed like 2 minutes before we walk out the door so nothing happens to her dress. I dropped her off in Nursery only to have them come get me 2 minutes after saying Isabelle said she needs to go potty. I took her to the bathroom to discover she wasn't wearing a diaper!! I asked her where it was and she told me "I took it off at home. I'm ready to be a big girl today." Sometime in between me getting her dressed and hurrying out the door she had taken her diaper off and and gotten her tights back on. I was impressed. So we let her finish church with no diaper. She was accident free and asked to use the bathroom 3 more times after that. I was super excited thinking could it be this easy to potty train my child?? Well... we got home she took a nap accident free. Woo hoo. It really could be this easy! NOT. She had an accident! She just stood there watching TV and had an accident. So I have continued into this week thinking it would get better but she just keeps having accidents over and over. So my question is how long does this take?? I'm ready to just go back to diapers. Should I keep going?? Is she ready?? Anybody have any killer potty training tricks??

Rewarding??

2009-04-16T20:00:00.004-05:00

It has most defiantly been "one of those days" at the Howland house. It's 8:20 PM and I'm still in the clothes I wore to bed last night. I spent the majority of my day cleaning up vomit, urine, and Easter grass. My daughter has spent most of the day in time out, where she has been singing "I love you, you love me we're a happy family. With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you" REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT! Which is just adding to my mother guilt. My phone has completely been submerged in diet coke twice today. Between my dripping runny nose, hot flashes and the headache throbbing behind my eyes I'm going to LOOSE MY MIND! We have consumed a gallon of milk today. (Anything to keep her quiet!!) When I told Nicholas the happenings of my day he turned and asked Isabelle if she had some issues today. She replied " No Daddy my shoes are in the closet." How did my mother do it? How do you do it?? And now for the icing on the cake I went to get a diet coke from the fridge only to find an EMPTY BOX!! COME ON!

It happened,

2009-04-12T21:35:00.001-05:00

it finally happened. Isabelle got stitches. I'm truly surprised she made it this long without any stitches or broken bones. She is so crazy. Friday night she was climbing on the kitchen counter so she could wash her hands. (She is a little OCD about her hands being clean!!) I knew she was going to fall but just didn't get there in time. She hit her chin on the granite and busted it open. Nicholas and I are both surprised at how calm we were with each other and her! It wasn't until I was literally laying on top of my child with all of my weight while the Dr was trying to numb her chin did I start to freak out. That was pretty traumatizing for all involved. She screamed so hard and for so long she has broken blood vessels in her neck. She got her first 2 stitches and I'm sure that it won't be the last with our little lovie! We are just grateful to know such a wonderful Dr!!

Hopefully she will heal perfectly!

Easter egg fun.........

We died easter eggs between conference sessions last week.

Once Isabelle caught on to what was going on she was excited!

And here are our beautiful speckled eggs! Happy Easter!

P.S. Mom and Mother-in-Law... I missed you terribly today! I was wishing I was eating a wonderful dinner at a beautifully decorated table!

Strawberry Patch and a Burn Victim

2009-04-08T19:50:00.003-05:00

We have taken a couple trips to the strawberry patch lately. It's really close to our house and Isabelle has a blast. I'm going to attempt to make strawberry jam. (we'll see how that goes) Today as we were leaving to meet some friends there Isabelle reached up and grabbed the iron. Of course it was on and she burned her hand pretty bad. It'sa 2nd degree burn and blistering. She cried for about 2 hours!!! :) love. I wanted to cry as well it was very sad.

Here are some pictures from are trips.

She is such a stink when I get out the camera!! Do you love her pout face??

Here is her little hand... so sad.

Prayer time with Isabelle...

2009-04-03T10:06:00.004-05:00

Prayer time is now one of my favorite times with Isabelle. I can't wait to hear what she is going to say!

Tuesday night we knelt down for family prayer and she began with her usual "Thank you for this day." she then proceeded to name the blessings she was thankful for.... "Thank you for Ameritan Idol and bless Ameritan Idol." It's in every prayer now. She is also sure to mention that her Uncle Scott makes her lots of monies at work.

She uses prayer time as a way to manipulate as well. She will say something and then get this sad look like she is going to cry. example: Bless Mommy at work and bless Daddy, Scott, and Isabelle cause she leaves them at home. POUT POUT POUT! Squeezing out some tears. Really? Really? Tug on my heart strings!

Here is a picture of her latest craft project. Is it just me or are the days getting longer?? I can't wait for the pool to open!!! I'm running out of ways to entertain this animal and stay sain. But I love her!

And so these are the days of our lives...

2009-03-31T17:51:00.011-05:00

What have we been up to the last two weeks?? A lot. Isabelle keeps me on my toes for sure! Isabelle got her very first ear infection and it was SAD! She started hitting herself on the side of the head screaming " fire, fire, there is fire in my ear." She still has a rotten cold. Hopefully my child never gets a serious illness, I couldn't even handle the ear infection. It breaks my heart!

She is quite the singer these days. She has a whole routine of songs she likes to sing. She is loving gymnastics. I however think it has just given her more advanced climbing skills! She is a flipping MONKEY. Everywhere we go she is climbing up things.

She also has a new fascination with money. We got her a piggy bank after taking her with us to the bank to deposit some checks. While at the bank she asked "Dad what doing?" Nicholas answered we are putting money in the bank so we can save it. It's always better to save our money." Isabelle replied "No Dad, I spend the money." We thought this was a good time to begin teaching her the saving process. Well now we have some other things to work on. We gave her some change and 10 dollars she got for her birthday. She was thrilled and then went hunting around the house for more money. 2 days went by and Isabelle had a full piggy bank! After she went to bed we opened it to see how much she had... $19.00. The kid found $19.00 around the house. That was on top of her money we gave her. She is still coming up with money!

We also enjoyed a visit from Nicholas's brother and his wife. We had a blast! Ate at lots of fun places and shopped of course! Got some golf in. We rode the boardwalk bullet which was actually really fun.

I'm pretty sure Isabelle wishes Sarah was her mom. She really only wanted her the whole time she was here and still asks for her!

Nicholas turned 27 and is studying harder than ever! He has boards coming up and then starts rotations right after. I think this year has been the hardest thus far. I don't know if second year is just a bad year or if throwing a hurricane onto the middle of your year thew us off. I'm ready to start third year! Although I'm sure it doesn't get much better. At least due to the hurricane most of his rotaions will be just down the road at the hospital close to us. Hopefully we will get lucky and he won't have to travel to Austin or Dallas.

I turned 24! Woot woot. Between work, Isabelle, the house and church callings life is busy. I miss UTAH like crazy. Never thought I would say that. I'm just not loving where we are at right now. Well I love my house and like the heat and no snow thing, I guess I miss family and friends the most. I have taken an active interest in our yard though. Keeps me busy when I'm not busy. I like it. I have beautiful roses coming in!

Time Out

2009-03-16T21:49:00.003-05:00

My mom came down to go to Time Out with me. It was lots of fun. Of course you can see that I brought my really BIG diet coke with me. And there was a super smart young women there selling girl scout cookies!! We bought like 5 boxes! (I think we came home with 1.) Sheri Dew was an amazing speaker. I learned a few new interesting things from Chris Stewart. All and all it's just nice to go and be reminded of the things I know I should be doing. It brought up some things for me that I would really like to study and know more about. It was great!! I found something really cool there as well that I will share with you in a later post!

ABC's and

2009-03-16T20:35:00.005-05:00

and 123's. We have the letters and alphabet down. I absolutely love to hear you sing the alphabet Isabelle. It is hilarious! Now it's time to start working on numbers above 10.

The other day Isabelle came into the kitchen while I was cleaning and starts singing this song....

I speak Spanish and English to. I like them both how about you?
ariba up abajo down and on and on with the Spanish words that I don't know.

It was shocking to me that she has picked up as much as she has from her friend Dora. She now says gracias when I give her things.
I'm thinking we should both learn Spanish together!!

Is it.....

2009-03-16T20:30:00.002-05:00

a lion or Isabelle? The other day I decided to roll Isabelle's hair at night instead of in the morning. This was the result. It actually looked really cute after I brushed it and it tamed down.

When Isabelle saw herself in the mirror she said "Mama yook at me, I'm a lion. Raaaaaa!" It was so funny. So here is her Raaaaaaa face.

Happy Birhtday Lover!

2009-03-13T11:04:00.003-05:00

You are the best ever! I'm sorry that you have to be up at school taking tests and studying on your b-day. You are the most hardworking dedicated man I know. I love you and hope your birthday is fabulous!

So this is a typical Nicholas face! Gotta love him. Everyone reading should defiantly call and sing happy birthday to Picky!

Scott Dog

2009-03-02T22:52:00.003-06:00

gets the priesthood! WE are so proud! It has been really fun to have S-man living here with us. Sunday was an exciting day for him. We were glad we got to share the moment with him.
Congratulations little brother!

CANDY LAND!

2009-03-02T22:40:00.008-06:00

Homemade cake! Probably my last!!

The decorations held up pretty well considering we had hurricane force winds!

This is where Isabelle spent a lot of time during the party!!

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of Isabelle's bounce house. It was a giant hot pink castle. She was in love. Thank you Heather for snapping all of these pictures for me. I'm so glad you thought to bring out my camera!

We had to pretend blow out the candles due to the flipping wind. Isabelle still loved every minute of it though.

She thought she was pretty cool having everyone sing to her. It was fun to watch her reaction. It was completely different then when it was just us singing to her. She was thrilled.

Isabelle has such a good time! And even though my baby may not remember that she had this birthday, I made some fun memories with her. It really was a good birthday!

Isabelle's Birthday

2009-03-02T22:19:00.005-06:00

So here is how your 2nd Birthday went down Rizzy. When you woke up the house was decked out with balloons and streamers. You looked around in amazement and then asked me if I did it, and I answered yes. You through your arms around me and said "Oh thank you Mama, thank you very much!" It was very cute! You then started the day out with some yummy pancakes with your family at Denney's. Yum! Then went home and opened lots of presents from lots of people who love you!

Then your fantastically, wonderful Mother talked your Dad into Chuckie Cheese. You had the time of your life!! I had so much fun just watching you.

Ahhh like mother like daughter. The quarter game. If anyone wants to know what to get me for my birthday which is coming up this game would be perfect! Isabelle you dominated this game all on your own. You drew a crowd!

Due to the fact that your Daddy has signed his soul to the devil... he was studding through most of the Chuckie Cheese experience but he did take a break to ride this really lame simulated roller coaster ride you couldn't get enough of.

Here is the princess decked out in all her prities she bought with her 900 tickets!

After all that fun we went home to sing happy birthday and web cam with your Grams and Pa Rand.

Isabelle it was such a great day! You had so many people call and sing to you. You are so lucky to be loved by so many people! But most importantly by me! I can't beleive it has been 2 years Happy Birthday!

No more bottles

2009-02-27T10:28:00.005-06:00

for Isabelle. We decided that we would just get rid of them all together the day after her birthday. She has not been a happy camper. The other day she was just walking around the house crying and begging me "Mama please Mama please." I told her we didn't have anymore and she said "Why you do this to me huh? Mama why you do this?" It was funny but it also broke my heart.

She's boycotting milk all together she hasn't had any since Monday night. If she can't have it in a bottle she wont have it. Hopefully she will get over her pride, milk was her main source of nutrition. The kid never eats!!! She is to skinny!

Nothing is safe

2009-02-25T21:16:00.002-06:00

I mean nothing. It doesn't matter how high I put it or how child safety locked it is Miss Isabelle will find it. A couple of weeks ago I got out of the shower to find Isabelle lounging on the couch watching mickey mouse clubhouse and sipping on childrens Tylenol! I couldn't get to my camera fast enough to snap a photo of this but it was so funny. I came walking out and she was just hanging like she was drinking a bottle of milk. I don't know how she got the lid off, I sometimes can't. I had to hide the rest better than last time. I probably won't be able to find it when I need it. Oh well. Gotta love her!

Birthday Girl!!

2009-02-24T21:26:00.008-06:00

Happy Birthday to Isabelle!! I had planned to post this on her b-day... but I'm a little late. :)

Where has the time gone?? I cannot believe that my baby is 2. It seems like yesterday my blue Verruca was born. I was so thrilled to be having a girl! I absolutely adore this sweet girl of mine. She's my little helper, my little friend and daughter. I can't imagine life without her. Isabelle is such a sweet girl, everyone is her friend. Everywhere where we go, when we meet new people she is always sure to say Hi friends and bye friends when we leave. Isabelle defiantly keeps me on my toes. She never walks anywhere! Happy Birthday Isabelle! I love you!

Picture overload! I'm such a wimp, it made me cry to go through all these pictures of her to see her getting so big. But it reminded me that time goes so quickly and to take advantage of every minute that we have.

I have a ton of pictures from all the festivities of her Birthday I will post. She's SPOILED!

Mardi Gras

2009-02-22T21:05:00.004-06:00

We had SO MUCH fun at the Mardi Gras parade. To say that Isabelle loved it would be an understatement! She was so cute. Danced to the music of the floats and giggled everytime someone gave her beads. People from the floats were taking pictures of her. She was clapping and dancing for more beads.

Her loot.

We missed Damn-ma and pa pa this year!

I'm really not sure how it's possible to love her as much as I do. I'm off to prepare for her birthday tomorrow.

You are my sunshine.

2009-02-19T19:13:00.006-06:00

Isabelle you are my sunshine! You are such a sweet, tenderhearted little girl. If you ever suspect that something is wrong you just come over and throw your arms around me and say "Mama it's Otay". I love you so very much. I can't believe that you will be 2 in 3 days.

"Valentimes" Day

2009-02-17T12:51:00.008-06:00

Friday Isabelle put together her Valentines for a few of her friends. She was so excited to deliver them.

We had a wonderful "Valentimes" day! Friday Isabelle put together her Valentines for a few of her friends. She was so excited to deliver them. Saturday we woke up to a great breakfast from Daddy. Russian pancakes, yum! I'm not going to get the mom of the year award. I let Isabelle have a huge chocolate cupcake for breakfast. She was thrilled!

It was such a yucky day out so we decided to take some pictures. Here are a couple. I was happy we even got these!!!

Playing catch up.

2009-02-17T12:43:00.003-06:00

I'm playing a little catch up today. Isabelle had a visit from her Grandma and Grandpa last week. Of course she was spoiled and loved very much while they were here. It's always fun to have parents come and take you to delicious dinners, movies, and get some fun prizes!! We can't wait for them to come again. We ate at the best Sushi place. Sushi Red. I'm craving it!! I don't now why I didn't take any pictures.... I have been totally lame with my camera lately! So here is one from my phone :) Isabelle and her Grandpa going to a movie.

SWISTER aka SISTER

2009-02-08T19:31:00.005-06:00

I would love to know who put her up to this!!!???!!! So Isabelle has a new friend. She talks to this friend in the car and plays with her in the tub. Here is a conversation we had the other day as we were getting out of the car...

Me: Come on lets go.
Isabelle: Can my Swister come?
Me: Who?
Isabelle: My Swister!
Me: Sure
Isabelle then turns to look back in the car... she turns back around to me and says: OH NO my swister she's gone! I lost her!
She cried all the way into the store. Her swister was lost for about 4 days. Then the other night at dinner she pulls another high chair up to the table. We asked her who it was for and she said my swister.

When we go to Mc Donalds she orders chicken nuggets for her and a cheeseburger for her swister.

Her swister is her best friend. Poor girl. We really hope her Aunt Sarah is having a girl!!!

But really who put my daughter up to this? She is totally guilting me into wondering if we should have another child.... for about 5 minutes!

Gymnastics

2009-02-08T19:12:00.003-06:00

I signed Isabelle up for gymnastics. I was feeling guilt over her recent experience at the gym. She was so excited when we took her in to sign up. She cried and cried when we left. Her class was the next morning and she was ready! She was able to do almost everything. Her Coach was impressed with her balance beam and splits ability. She is also a pro on the bars. I felt like I was with Napoleon Dynomite. After she would hang on the bars she would jump down and say "yeeessss" It was hilarious. She has no fear that's for sure! Here are some pictures of her in her new Leotard she picked out. She really did pick this, she agonized between two it was very cute. I will have to take some of here in her class. I don't know what I was thinking I have forgotten my camera twice now.

Her second class was great! She thought she was a pro she would run through what Coach would say and then run to the next activity. We will need to work on the waiting and listening thing. Her Damnma Amy was able to come to the second class and Isabelle was making sure she watched every move she made.

Oh Isabelle...

2009-01-25T00:12:00.003-06:00

Oh the joy this child brings to my life. She keeps it interesting!

The other night I told her to grab her mini we were going to get the mail. I thought she would be thrilled to drive her car all the way to the mailbox!! She looked at me, threw her hand out in front of her and said "I'll be right there I have to check my e-mail." she then ran to the computer typed a little on the keys and said " There I'm ready, let's doh!"

This picture is from today. She had a princess birthday party to go to. She was really excited and while I was fixing her hair she put her "maketup" on. Do you love the purple eye shadow?? I told her she could spray some glitter perfume on her arms. So we did. She then turned looked back in the mirror and said "Oh mama I yook sooo pretty."

Everyday is so new and exciting with you Isabelle. I wish I could freeze this time forever. But tomorrow is another day and I can't wait to see what you will say and do.

Tub Time

2009-01-21T11:32:00.002-06:00

Here's a little tub tie with Rizzy. She loves to sing in the tub. Like her Father! This particular bath she was singing "Sunbeam". Oh how I love her.

My 2 loves..

2009-01-17T21:14:00.005-06:00

I love this one! It's both of them completely. Check out Izzy's tongue.

Nicholas took Isabelle golfing so I could get all the Christmas decorations down. Thanks love. She had a blast. Nicholas was so excited that she liked it so he took her to get some clubs her size. They had one pair in but the bag was orange. Isabelle threw a fit and they left because she wanted a pink bag. She's a girl.

Getting ready for their nightly run.

23 months... UPDATE

2009-01-16T21:43:00.003-06:00

Here's an update on Isabelle. She is 30% for weight and 75% for height. Tall and skinny like her parents WISH they were!

So we bought a scale today. I was feeling especially "heavy" after Christmas and then Hawaii! Not a good idea to stuff your face for two weeks only to go on a week long vacation eating out for three meals a day!

When we got home I was nervous about busting out the scale. I set it on the living room floor and jumped on.... 170 pounds I screamed! I weighed that 9 months pregnant with Isabelle. I called my husband in to witness this. He told me WOW-ZER. Thanks baby. I then decided to move the scale to the tile and try again. I could barley see the scales through my sobs. Apparently when you use scales on carpet they add Over 30 pounds!!!!

So I did gain a few lbs. Nicholas and I are doing our official weigh in tomorrow morning.
I'm singing a little tune in my head "back to life, back to reality"
Amber wanna hit up the gym Monday??

23 months...

2009-01-16T10:32:00.001-06:00

I can't believe that she is 23 months old. The time slips away to fast.

Called To Serve...

2009-01-13T17:26:00.002-06:00

I took some mission pictures for my brother Scooter today. He will be putting in his mission papers soon. It will be sad for us...me especially. It has been so great to have him living with us for the last 9 months. He has been good company and has helped out with Isabelle a ton. We will need to get a babysitter when he leaves.

We are so proud of him and will miss him.

Christmas Morning

2009-01-13T09:10:00.004-06:00

Here is Isabelle coming down the stairs. She's excited!

The girls was a little spoiled this year! She got a mini cooper. And she LOVES it! We couldn't get her out of the car so she opened all her presents sitting in the car.

Love the look of excitement. She got a smart cycle. She was thrilled with the Dora games that go with it.

Needed a shot of milk in between present opening.

Here she is with her "Diet Toke" chap stick. I think we could have just giving her Coke lip gloss and she would have been a happy girl.

Nicholas's little sister got some band aids in her stocking and Isabelle was a little jealous. She was kind enough to share with here.

After the dust settled she noticed her gumball machine and I decided that probably wasn't the best idea Santa has ever had. The gumballs lasted 5 minutes!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-13T08:58:00.005-06:00

Christmas Eve was a blast. We started out with our Traditional movie and dinner. We saw 7 pounds. Then headed to Chili's where we of course fought to keep Isabelle in her high chair for an hour.

This year was especially fun though. We all headed to Nicholas's dad's to spend the night. It has been a while since we all have been together and it was a first at his dad's. We opened our Christmas pajamas and sent the kids to bed.

My step mother in-law working the camera.

Here is the whole gang.

Love!

2009-01-12T23:25:00.001-06:00

I absolutely love this dress. And the girl wearing it!

Home Sweet Home

2009-01-12T21:01:00.005-06:00

So we are home from the holidays and I so was not ready to come back to reality and Christmas decorations!! Today was a LAZY day. It wasn't a complete loss though! Look at my darling daughter.... she was feeling uber cooperative!

She told me this was her sad face!