Christmas (2 of 2)

So Isabelle had a great second Christmas! We visited with all of her extended families on 5 separate occasions. She got some really wonderful gifts from all her family. Here are a few of my favorite Christmas pictures:

She really got the hang of ripping off the wrapping paper...
Playing piano with Cousin Blayne and Mommy

Spending a little quality time with her loot...from day 1

Isabelle had 2 separate meetings with Santa and scared to death of him both times...thankfully we didnt try the mall santa picture...

Isabelle got a Dora tent and was a little overwhelmed...Mommy is inside trying to coax her in, but it didnt work.

let it snow...christmas preview (1 of 2)

It has been a little while since my last post and I have too many pictures for one post so this will be the first of two posts tonight. It was nice to see some snow around for Isabelle to play in. Unfortunately we have been so busy that we havent been out much. I did build Isabelle a 5 foot snow hill in the front yard, hopefully it will work and she will like it..stay tuned...

Sophie is never too far behind Isabelle...
What a cute little bundle....

Isabelle now has a baby and loves to feed it...

Big smile...reminds me a ton of Gina's baby pictures...

feeding the baby and the pudding mess...

Today Isabelle grabbed her baby, set it in the height chair and started feeding it goldfish crackers, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She also had a pretty cute run-in with a pudding cup (see below). She is pretty good with a spoon but this time she got a little crazy with the pudding. Her language continues to develop really quickly, she starting to put together a lot more 2 word "sentences". We are excited for a little warner weather so we can get out and play in the snow.

pool party

Last weekend we went a water park in Otsego to celebrate Cousin Kaylee's 3rd birthday. Isabelle had a blast! She like the slides, the lazy river, the fountains and just wading in the water. She actually started to dunk her face in the water...I think that is a good sign. She starts swimming lessons next month so hopefully she will really enjoy the water. We had her 18 month appointment last week and is still in the 90+ percentile for height, weight and noggin size. All went well, she even got an H1N1 vaccine.

gobble gobble gobble

Isabelle had a great turkey day. She ate delicious turkey dinners with both sides of her family and is really excited to do it again tomorrow. Isabelle is almost 18 months old, the time is really flying by now...

Believe it or not there isnt that much new and exciting around here. Isabelle seems to add words to her vocabulary every day. She loves reading books and it seems like we can spend an entire day reading the same 10 books over and over. Her hair is getting really longand we may need to do another haircut soon. The first haircut wasnt fun so I am not looking forward to doing that again.

BOO!!!

Isabelle had a fun second halloween. Last year she had no idea what was going on and this year she participated a little more. She helped to carve pumpkins and went trick-or-treating for the first time. It was crazy to watch her just trot along down the streat eating some candy. Next year should be even more fun.

what a cute pair...
not a baby anymore...

Isabelle's friend Olivia stopped by...

learining how to do lawn work...

first pony tail!

I thought pig tails were really cute...but a pony tail may take the cake.

coloring

One of Isabelle's favorite new activities is coloring. The other day she grabbed her pad and just plopped down on the floor and starting drawing. She looked like such a big girl. It scared me a little bit. We recently hit another relatively big milestone. No more bottles. She had been down to one bottle (bed time) for a while and now we are at zero. Removing the bottle brushes and drying rack felt like a pretty momentus occasion (yep we are that boring). Isabelle is also eating with a spoon by herself, she does a pretty good job (most of the time).

Fun with pumpkins

We made a quick visit to the 101 Market in Otsego today. They had a lot of fun activities for kids but it was a little to chilly to really enjoy them. Isabelle thought the place was really neat and she was impressed by the size of the pumpkins...WOW...

16 months old

Wow....that was sixteen months? Time seems to go by very quickly these days. It is hard to believe how fast Isabelle is growing up. Isabelle's vocabulary has been growing quite a bit in the last few weeks. She is getting good with the names of her daycare buddies, numbers, letters and animal sounds. She continues to suprise me just about every day.

dinner for one

Isabelle has had a toy kitchen for a while now. A couple weeks ago Nanna gave her a nice dining room set to go with it. So this evening Isabelle decided to make herself dinner and sit down for a meal. She had duck (rubber ducky) a mushroom, onion and other delicious plastic veggies. I was really shocked that she got herself a plate, spoon and glass...cutest thing ever.

...a new car

Isabelle got her own "cozy coupe" this week. She has a ton of fun basically just getting in and out of it. Isabelle's vocabulary seems to grow a little every day. She still doesnt put too many word combinations together but is starting to. We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of her 4 "eye" teeth...these little buggers are causing us a few problems.

Isabelle is going to miss summer. She has really enjoyed playing outside and especially playing in her pool. Last week she got a slide and we our own little water slide, she had a blast. One Isabelle's favorite new activities is playing with blocks. She has always had blocks but just recently started to stack them up. She is still working on a few teeth but has seems to be managing the discomfort pretty well.

Pig Tails...

Pig tails might be the cutest thing ever! Believe it or not there isnt that much new and exciting around here. Isabelle is still a constant jabber box but hasnt added too many new words. She has started to combine words to say "no dada" or "thank you dada". It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn. We have her 15 month appointment tomorrow, 3 more shots. Fun.

Go Vikings!!!

Isabelle has mastered watching football. Like an old pro she runs around the house eating chips in her underwear and favorite Vikings jersey. She also got a new toy kitchen that she has tons of fun playing with. Today we started seeing signs of the dreaded "i" (eye) teeth. Apparently these are the worst of the teeth, that scares me because the molars werent any fun at all. Isabelle has her 15 month appointment next week.

Two games into the season and she is already a pro...

Isabelle has a great time playing with fake food and other kitchen items. Mostly she likes to put everything in a cupboard then take them out ...over and over...

finally summer...

Isabelle really enjoyed our one week of summer. She took advantage of the heat by hitting the pool, the sprinklers, the beach and eating some ice cream.

A big smile for the weather

It took her a while to warm up to the sprinkler, but I think she had fun!

Isabelle splashing around in her pool.

She did a really good job with her first ever DQ ice cream treat. She started with the spoon for a while then just grabbed handfuls of ice cream until it melted. It made quite a mess but was worth it.

I thought a would throw in a cute sun-dress photo...