Daddy's Boots

Just call him James The Kid.

Stroller Wars

Isabel is going through some turmoil with Dolphi (who is her ultimate favorite thing ever!) and her new baby doll. She can't quite decide who gets to ride in the stroller. I caught her having this debate earlier tonight and just had to giggle.





Plus, I just loved the little green outfit she had on today and thought I'd capture it.

My Family Visits

We had a wonderful time with my family! James enjoyed showing both of them his new "Christmas toys" and teaching Grandpa how to play baseball and golf. Isabel is a new woman suddenly! She had NO problem with her Nana and enjoyed snuggling and cuddling with her. I'm so relieved to see her branching out from her Momma!

Here's just a few highlights:


"Like this Grandpa - let me show you"

They did this for a good 30 minutes - then it was golf time!

Nothing better than a trip to Home Depot with Grandpa!

Scarfing down a Mighty Fine shake with Nana

Taking a rare brake

Park time

Izzy just loves the swings!

Everyone gettin' in the act

Soaking up some Nana loves

Come back soon Grandpa and Nana!

The Party

We had my Mom and Dad in town to help us celebrate Isabel's big day. I couldn't help but thinking that somehow Isabel knew she was center stage all day long. She was super happy and smiley the entire day. And she just glowed!


James post-bath

James made the cake!

Isabel loved the baloons!

Here she is looking over her loot

James helped her both open, and play with everything

New baby!

Trying out the pig bank - this one was a new early favorite

The snacks: Chocolate cake/cup cakes and chocolate covered strawberries

"I know just what to do with this!

"Got any more?"

Isabel turns ONE!

Happy First Birthday!!

It is hard to believe a full year has gone by since we welcomed Izzy into our little family, and we feel so blessed that she joined us. She brings a sweet, silly spark into our days.

We love you Isabel!

The prep work

James decided he wanted to send Valentines this year. Naturally, they were Lightning McQueen cards. :-) He spent a great deal of time looking at all of the pictures and deciding who would get what design.


He colored them, put stickers on them, and then I helped him write his name on them. Then we stuck them in envelopes and mailed them off to the family.


He was so sweet - he made one for Isabel and then hung it on her door. She was very excited to see it and even more determined to try to eat it.

Baby Steps

Isabel took her firs step this past Thursday! She's been standing a lot lately (without holding on to something) and balancing while playing with toys and stuff. So Thursday, I took her toy she was playing with and held it out about 10 inches from her arm. She took a step forward to grap for it and then tumbled forward. But I was so excited I started clapping and cheering! She looked up a little confused at first and then just started clapping along with me.


Since then, she's tried it again Friday and Saturday. Each time, taking no more than one step forward before falling down. But I think she knows she's doing something that makes us excited, so she continues to try. It's encouraging!

In related news, she has finally started eating solid food! She still loves her baby food (banana's in particular) but at least now she'll "chew" the 3rd foods and eat just about whatever I put on her tray.



She has also taught herself out to drink out of a straw sippy. This was done entirely out of determination to have whatever her brother has. She is constantly following him around just waiting for him to put his sippy down so she can swipe it up and start suckin'! NOTE - She has her own straw sippies...filled with the exact same thing...but somehow brothers' are better!


James is taking this all in stride. He is beginning to enjoy Isabel now that she can do so much more to enteract with him. And while, at times, he hates to share his stuff, he also enjoys having her around to play with. Often when she is sleeping, he'll ask me where she is and when she'll be able to play with him. It's adorable.

So, you think you're tough?

I challenge you to try this out for the month of February. JL and I took this challenge for January, and believe me, I've never been so glad for a month to end before!!

So here it is:

1) Go a whole day w/out spending money (Sundays do NOT count)
2) Go a whole week w/out using your credit card
3) Go a whole month w/out eating out


I got this challenge from Suze Ormond on an episode of Oprah that I just happened to catch during the first week of January. I loved the idea and decided to take the challenge. This is how it went for us....

1) Not hard at all. It's entirely possible for me to go 4 out of 5 weekdays w/out spending a dime. I usually try to stack up my errands into one big day, so the rest of the week the kids and I play and mess around (which usually is free!)

2) Not hard at all....for us anyway. We own ZERO credit cards.

3) Ok, this is where it got extremely hard. Now, I don't consider us to be huge eater-outers, but man, having to go a WHOLE month was a challenge. And, sadly, there were "exceptions."

JL lasted about 2 days. Then he went to a business luncheon with one of his friends from work. I lasted 22 days. Then I went to a church dinner with a bunch of friends at Olive Garden. BUT I consider these to be necessary activities, rather than breaks in this rule. It's not like we went out just because. We both had good reasons, right??

So give it a try! Test your will power a little!


NOTE : if you have already eaten out (4 days into February) just consider this to be day 1 and extend your challenge to the 4th of March!