Isabelle is three!! We decided to have a big party for her this year, since for the past two there have been reasons that we haven't done much for her birthday. She also has a little more of an idea about what birthdays are and what goes along with them... like presents. But mostly she likes the cake!!

Those of you who are diligent about reading the blog may remember that we went to a birthday party in the summer at a "bounce-house." Isabelle had such fun that we decided back then that we'd have her party there too. For those of you who don't know about these, they are basically a big room with several giant inflated bounce tents, slides of various heights, little obstacle courses in some... you get the idea. It gives new meaning to kids bouncing off the walls. Anyway, we invited a handful of her friends, family and some of our friends who are particularly fond of the kids. There was an hour of bouncing and then an hour in the party room for pizza presents and cake.

We had a super fun time!!

I love that the kids are starting to appreciate each other more as they get older, and I hope they are close for ever and ever...

They seemed to really bond closer during the holiday break, maybe because they didn't have any other kids to play with? Anyway we also tried to wean David off of his a.m. nap. He still sort of needs it, but when we let him nap in the morning he doesn't want to nap in the afternoon until 2 or 3pm. This presents a problem at daycare, as all of the other kids pretty much nap that the same time.

Sooooo... after the break the kids go back to daycare and routines resume. The first day back, David is pretty worn out by naptime. Noah brings out the napping mats that the bigger kids use and David runs to Isabelle's and plops down on it. Since he sometimes takes a bit longer to get to nap than others, Noah goes about taking care of the other kids and by the time he returns David is fast asleep. "Isabelle, " he says, "David is sleeping on your mat... what should we do?' Isabelle had a simple solution. She went over and laid down next to him, put her arm around him and went to sleep too!"

Welcome to Hollywood!!



Dahling, you look Mahvalous!!



I love you Sissy. I love you too buddy, even though your poop makes me choke




She really loves me a super duper lot

David has started to try to say more words. He's pretty clear with "Mamma" and "bye" and "Hi". Now he tries to say breakfast, big red bus and Truck!!!

He loves to wave and say bye to John when he leaves for work in the morning, and climbs up to the window to watch him drive away. That window is also a great place to watch all kinds of very interesting things like cars being towed away, the maintenance workers and the "green" tractor and truck that come weekly to get the grass trimmings from the curb.

Later this month he has his last developmental assessment. I hope they tell us he's all caught up. He seeems to be!!

Here are some fun pictures of him being adorable! And of he and John playing with the giant tiger that Unle Matt and Auntie Joan got us for Christmas. The thing is bigger than David and is a little bit reminiscent of the giant cow balloon!!!

My little sassy girl... so, Isabelle is clearly getting ready to turn three years old. The only close experience I have had prior to having kids was spending time with my niece and nephew when they were little bitty. I distinctly remember that my nephew was significantly more sassy at 3 than "terrible" during the terrible twos. And Isabelle is not so different. She has begun to use a "tone" with us that I don't like, which leads me to say things like "who do you think you're talking to?" and "You don't speak that way to your mother." Being the very independent child that she is, Isabelle has begun to react to this a bit.

One day, while she was busily playing with her stuffies, I said, "Isabelle, are you ready to eat lunch?" To which she replied, "No Mommy, I am not. I said no. No I said." I watched her to see if she was actually responding that way to me or if somehow incorporating her critters into the conversation as she sometimes does. Then she looked up at me with a sly grin and said... "I'm being sassy to you."

Here are some pictures of Isabelle's latest favorite expression when we take her picture.

More pictures...

Here we go again with almost a month transpiring since the last post. Oh well. Happy New Year! I hope everyone has a great 2007.

As far as the last few weeks of December, I really don't remember that much, until Christmas of course. Julies Mom and her husband came out for 12 days. We had a good visit, and with each day Isabelle was a little more friendly with our guests. At first, she didn't really want to look at them, and she certainly didn't want to talk to them or play with them.

We had Christmas morning up here, and we knew that with both families, and all the goods, we wouldn't have enough room in our little living room. So we rented the club house for the complex. Turns out the clubhouse is currently doubling as an office for the management, but we had enough room, and a discounted price. So if you see some file cabinets in our photos, that's why.

It's always good to get the family together for events like this. Unfortunatley, since everyone has to drive so much, there never seems to be enough time to really see each other. Unless, of course, they come and stay for 12 days. ;-)

Here are a few pictures of our excursion to get our Christmas tree. We had planned to get a Christmas card photo out of all this, but since you didn't get one from us, you can tell the photo shoot didn't go very well. At least not for a Christams card.






And then there were the presents. These kids had a great time. Jim and Judy got them a little table and chair set, which was a big hit. And then there were the bows. Yeah, all those toys, and the bows on the boxes were one of the biggest hits. The kids didn't get up too early, but they got tired anyway, with all the excitement. That's why all the pictures in the club house are a bit shy of David. Except for the one with him in Judy's arms.

Looks like we've been a little remiss in our updates to the blog, and for that, we apologize. We've all been battling a cold here and there, but the kids definitely get it the worse. Poor David had a persistent cough, so we took him to the pediatrician, and she saw an ear infection, and he got some antibiotics. As soon as that cleared up, he got a new cold within 48 hours. Isabelle has also had her fair share of coughing and runny noses. Incredibly, they don't seem to mind when we approach with the Kleenex.


Let's see, four weeks to catch up on. Well, about 28 days ago, we headed over to Mike and Heather's. Our kids and their kids are starting to be friends. It still takes Isabelle a little while to warm up to people, but after less then an hour or so, she starts running and screaming like they've been playing all day. David, the explorer, keeps us busy at all times. There was an added bonus with this visit, as Paul, Amy, and Haley were also visiting. It was the first time we got to see Haley, who is just as cute as could be, and we haven't seen Paul and Amy for months and months. The little girls got to play after a little while, and the boys were, well, boys. Collin ate and slept, and so did David. But David also has a little adventure time, enjoying the sound of a fine wine bottle hitting the floor. That kid is so quick when he spys the opportunity to run away and get into something. I swear, I put him down to hand something to Isabelle, then, BOOM! He's in the other room pulling bottles out of a rack and watching them roll on the floor.


The following weekend was Thanksgiving. We had a really nice dinner at home this year. Don't worry about that face Isabelle is making, she was in the middle of saying, "look at all the food!", and the camera just got a strange expression.
With the two kids needing naps in the middle of the day, and the prospect of driving an already over congested freeway for hours, we just didn't want to have miserable tired kids driving for most of Thanksgiving. My family did get together at Joan and Matt's house, where my aunt-in-law, or sisters mother-in-law, or however the phrase goes for Matt's mom, brought over a big dinner prepared by Marie Calandars. I hear it was very, very good.

We did get to see most of my family the weekend after Thanksgiving though.
We all met at a half way spot for lunch, which happens to be a Japanese buffet, so there is enough of a lot for everyone. I know, Japanese for a Thanksgiving meal? Sure.
As long as we are together. And, it's kid friendly.

In other news, David's getting closer to talking. He is starting to say syllables, but no words yet. And he doesn't really have the correct enunciation yet, but then again, neither do I half the time. He says, "Hi," but it sounds more like 'Heh'. And "Hello" sounds more like "Heauw." I'm still waiting on Daddy or Mommy. Of course, Isabelle's first word was nothing as endearing, but just as memorable:
"Uh-Oh"

Isabelle continues to make us laugh. The other night I walked into the living room, which had just about every book they have strewn about on the floor.
So, since I am trying to encourage her to clean up her messes, I said, "Somebody left all these books on the floor."
To which she replied, "Yes, SomeBODY did!"

She also has developed her own unique potty humor by singing her version of the "Farmer in the Dell." On Isabelle's farm, the child take a pee and the Farmer takes a poop. Hi-Ho the Dario!!!

Tia a blanket around your neck and what do you get?

The Super Kirbys!!!
Featuring: Super Daddy!
Super Belle (aka Super Frog)
Super Giggles

So here's a funny story... Tonight at dinner we're all sitting around the table and Isabelle passes gas. My eyes get big and I say, "What was that?" (Isabelle is smiling proudly.) John says, "That was a motorcycle!" Then Isabelle says,"that wasn't a motorcycle silly, I gotta frog in my bo-bo!!" Talk about an out of the mouth of babes moment... and all this time we thought she really believed that frog were making those sounds...

Here's a shot of Isabelle's latest masterpiece. She sat down at the table and said "I'm going to draw a rhinosuarus!" and this is what she turned out. Brilliant, isn't she?


Here'a also a cute shot of John, David and Loopy on a lazy Saturday...