What a Christmas!

Christmas has now come and gone and what a fun time we had. I remember being disappointed last year when Isabelle didnt really get into it very much, she didnt know what was going on and satisfied just playing with the wrapping paper. This year she was excited to open gifts and really understood the fact that santa was brining her more toys...if she was good! Santa brought her a kitchen on Christmas morning and she has played with it quite a bit since then, Gina and I get to eat pretend lunches several times a day. Thanks to everyone that made this such a wonderful Christmas.

Santa made an extra stop to visit with Isabelle and her cousins Will and Keegan on Christmas morning. Isabelle was excited to see Santa and gave him hugs and said thank you. Last year she was terrified of Santa.

Buried in one of her many mountains of gifts....

Isabelle is really getting into her new kitchen and accessories. She has a blender and regularly makes us fruit juice. Below you can see she is putting some pizza's in the oven.

a visit with santa

Isabelle had a really good visit with Santa last weekend. She wasn't the slightest bit intimidated and jumped up on his lap and chatted his ear off about the toy kitchen that she wants him to bring her for Christmas. She even gave him a great big hug and thanked him in advance for the kitchen. It was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen.

tis the season

Its early in the Christmas season and we already recieved one really big gift. Sophie spent two nights in the hospital and returned to us a much happier and healthier dog. Her red blood count is still below normal but her body is now creating more red blood cells and eventually she should be back to 100%. She may be on the medication for a long time (or forever) but at least she is back at home. What more could we want under our tree....?

Isabelle had a pretty good time baking sugar cookies with Mommy and Me. Putting on the sprinkles was her favorite part.

Now that we are out of our townhouse we actually had the space to buy a real tree. It isnt the biggest tree in the world but it sure smells like Christmas.

Bowling

Isabelle had her first trip the bowling alley last weekend. We celebrated Cousin Kaylee's 4th birthday at a bowling alley in Big Lake. She seemed to have a pretty good time but got upset when she misseed all the pins...she pouted for a while but got back into it.

Our first baby girl, Sophie, is struggling against an immune disorder that almost took her from us last night. The disease is causing her immune system to destroy her own red blood cells. We went to the vet and she had critically low red blood cell counts. From there we went to an Emergency Vet in Eden Prairie and they gave her a blood transfusion and started her on medication that we hope will get her immune system under control. Gina and I were able to spend some time with her this afternoon and she seems to be getting better but the doctors warned that this situation will get better and worse over the coming days and even weeks. We are hopeful that she pulls through. We arent ready for her to leave us yet.

Santa and the City Council

Isabelle and her daycare group were honored by the Champlin City Council last night. They participate in the adopt a park program and spend some time on almost every nice day walking around Clyde Andrews park picking up garbage. The kids got a kick out of the city council meeting.

Last weekend Isabelle went with Cousin Will and Keegan to see Santa at the Woods in Maple Grove. They had santa and his reindeer, story telling, other activities and a fire truck. Apparently Isabelle thought it was pretty cool to hang out in the fire truck (see below).

Doctor Isabelle

Isabelle decided that she wanted to be a doctor for halloween. Not sure where that came from but it turned out to be pretty cute. We had a fun halloween in our new house but we underestimated the amount of candy we needed. We were out by 7! I had to make a run to walgreens to buy more and we gave out a ton of that. There were so many kids in the neighborhood that it looked like a parade. Isabelle couldnt get enough of the kids. After she was done trick or treating she ran to do the door everytime and greeted the other kids. She was very excited about the whole thing.

Doctor Isabelle

Grumpy Doctor Isabelle

Isabelle still wasnt to interested in carving pumkings she thought it was fun to watch for a while but eventually left Mom and I alone in the kitchen to do it ourselves.

Fall farm fun!

I guess summer is now officially over. We had a very fun and eventful summer, hopefully winter will be equally as enjoyable. This afternoon we went to Dehns Pumpkin Patch in Dayton. Isabelle was pretty excited for the trip and seemed to have a blast.

It was a little colder and windier than we would have liked but
Isabelle didnt seem to mind. Isabelle looked at a lot of pumpkins before finding just the right one.

Isabelle loves animals and the Dehn farm happened to have about 70 cows and two goats. I didnt think Isabelle was going to let us leave. She couldnt get enough of the animals.

I havent been posting very much lately so you think I would have more to write about but there really isnt that much going on. Isabelle is now pretty much potty trained. She still wears a pull up at night time and nap time but thats it. We are pretty proud of her. It seems like we just started trying to go potty and we are already done. Amazing.

We play a lot of play-doh at our house. Isabelle loves it. Her favorite thing to do is make food we pretty much always make pizza, pasta, fruit and other food.

Love the look...

We went to the zoo a few weeks back. Isabelle loves looking at the animals. She thinks the stuffed animals at Cabelas are cool so she thought the zoo was amazing.

She had a good few of the Giraffes from my shoulders.

second haircut...

Thankfully our second trip to the "salon" was much easier than our first. We went to the Pigtails and Crewcuts in Champlin. This place iks pretty awsome. They have a waiting room with toys and coloring books and kids movies playing all over the place. Isabelle really enjoyed it. She didnt get very much cut off, just a trim.

Isabelle continues to talk more and more. Sometimes I feel like we are talking to a teenager. Lately she had very little interest in listening to us but she is starting to understand the consequences a little bit. We are having a blast in the new house. Picking plums, apples and pears has been a pretty fun activity.

Here is a video of her singing one of her favorite songs. She also sings pretty solid versions of Old Mcdonald, twinkle twinkle, itsy bitsy spider and more...

is summer really almost over?

It is hard to believe that summer has almost come and gone. State Fair, Football, labor day...hello winter. Isabelle is starting to get good at going potty. We still have accidents but fewer each week. Next weekend Isabelle will be the flower girl in Auntie Stacy's wedding. Her dress is pretty cute (see below). I am a little nervous about keeping her awake for pictures and then squeaking a nap in between pics and the ceremony...then we have to coax her down the aisle. She is turning into quite the little social butterfly and isnt nearly as shy as she used to be, hopefully that will help.

what a look...

With a look like this does it surprise anyone that this little girl gets pretty much anything she wants? Nothing too exciting around our house. More yard/landscaping projects are getting scratched off the to do list so hopefully we will all or most of that stuff done by winter. We put in a fire pit so that is a new fun activity for us. Isabelle is really starting to get the potty training thing. Today is the first day that we are trying Pull-Ups instead of regular diapers, it sure makes the on and off thing a little easier.

vacation at the lake

We had a fun week at the lake. Our daycare provider has been on vacation for two weeks so I think Isabelle missed other kids. The weather was pretty ok. It was warm enough to play in the water but we only had one really sunny day (not counting the day we left) and one tornado warning. 6 adults, 3 toddlers and 2 cocker spaniels in a two bedroom cabin for extended periods can get a little crowded.

These three are pretty cute eh? They all played good together but about 30 minutes before we left Kaylee and Isabelle started really playing good together. It was like they realized after 5 days that they could do whatever they wanted together...then we left...bummer

We spent a lot of time outside, Isabelle didnt like to be in the water as much as the other two but she was very content to run around the beach and play on the pontoon boat. We took a boat ride every day after dinner, that was a big hit!

Isabelle loves looking at fish on TV and in aquariums but she wasnt very excited to get much closer than that. She was pretty fascinated with walleyes, northerns and sunnies, but clearly this was too close for comfort.

Here is a shot of the whole gang. Of course the weather is beautiful, it was the day we went home. I think it always happens that way.

Isabelle is showing flashes of potty training, but then they vanish. She spent most of last week with Grandma and turned into a potty pro. She even pooped in the potty. Then we get her home and it is all fun and games and she doesnt take it seriously. I think she was just showing off for Grandma. Yesterday we went to target and she got to pick out her very own potty seats (even though we already have two). Wouldnt you know...she picked out two Dora seats. Hopefully she will get excited about going potty with Dora...

its been a while...

It has been a while since the last post. Things have been really busy around here. We have had so much going on and it scares me to think that the state fair is right around the corner...and with the fair comes fall. Scary. Isabelle is such a big girl now. I cant get over how well she communicates and how much she understands. We are still in the middle of the terrible twos, but she seems to get the whole discipline thing...sometimes. Tonight Gina told her that if she didnt stop putting something in her mouth that she would have to take it away...Isabelle then called her "that sneaky fox"...a reference to the Dora character that steals other peoples stuff. She can still have quite the little attitude but is mostly a sweetheart. We are still enjoying the new house but it has been a lot of work. Maybe next time I will post some pictures of our updated landscaping.

painting and father hennepin festival

Another fun summer (sort of) weekend for Isabelle, Gina and I. We went to Father Hennepin Festival (in the rain) and had a good time. Isabelle only actually rode one ride, but we attempted to get her on a few, she did better than last year so hopefully she will enjoy them more next year. We played a few games, won a few prizes and even fed the animals at the petting zoo. We got up close and personal with a camel and it actually bit me on the shoulder when I ran out of food, it was a hungry little fella. Painting has become a pretty regular activity around our house. Isabelle really enjoys it...

Isabelle liked the fishing game and picking ducks out of the pond...

Here is our aggressive camel friend...

I am not sure she really enjoyed the ride, but managed to hang on without crying.