Valentine's Day

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Izzy turns 5 !!

My beautiful girl is 5!  Hard to believe - she seems much older!  Isabel is my right-hand gal!  She is so capable - and she is more than willing to help out.  She is always happy and singing songs or skipping around the house.  Her attitude brings a lot of happiness to my day!  

She is big into helping me with my chores.  She absolutely loves to help in the kitchen.  Any little task she can do to help prepare a meal just makes her day!  Taking care of Cody and Wyatt is another of her favorite activities.  She can dress Wyatt from head to toe and is currently helping me try to motivate him to potty train!  Another thing she is very good at is bringing a smile to Cody's face!  She sings to him and dances for him and he is mesmerized by her!  

She is a very hard worker.  Her list of ranch chores is long, and difficult but she faces them with a smile and a can-do attitude!  She amazes me all the time with how willing she is to do tasks that are difficult for even me!  

Another thing Isabel loves to do is learn!  She always has her nose in a book!  She can read some words and is always more than willing to try.  She can write her name and about 10 other words (not including the names of everyone else in the family.)  She constantly is asking me if she can spell words.  You can tell what things she loves in this world because she immediately wants to write it down and practice spelling it!

We love her beyond measure and are so glad to have her in our family!  She is a wonderful girl and a delight to be around!

Here she is on the morning of her birthday.  This is her "mom, I have better things to do than pose for a picture" smile.

Her special pre-lunch snack!

She helped me make the cake (of course!)  Here she is waiting for it to cook.

As soon as James got home from school - it was time for presents!

James did well this year by giving her an Angry Birds Star Wars t-shirt!

She was shocked when she opened my gift.  I gave her my My Little Ponies from when I was her age.   She had never seen ponies like that before!  The current ones don't look anything like the Ponies from days of old.  

These two goofballs watching the present unwrapping

Aunt Myrt sent craft supplies!  Another one of Isabel's most favorite things to do.

Pony Castle

Adorable new outfit from Grandpa and Nana

Her special, requested b-day dinner

Her customary pink heart cake!

This year was also a "kid party" year for Isabel.  She decided to have a princess party (what a shocker!) so we glammed her up and went pink decoration crazy!  8 of her sweet little friends joined us to celebrate her special day!

Izzy in her party dress.  She had seen this the other day and wanted it SO bad.  I later bought it and surprised her with it.  I just decided - how often does your only girl turn 5?  What better way to celebrate than with an over-the-top poofy dress!

She LOVED it!

We also did her hair in a beautiful princess style.  It was so cute it nearly brought tears to my eyes!

5 !!!

Cupcake tower.  Isabel wanted rainbow cup cakes for her friend party.  They were wildly popular.

"Pin the Pascal on Rapunzel"

My Birthday Princess

Happy Birthday to You!

Present time

After everyone had gone, we did a little of this to cap off the day!

Leftovers

I think he looks just like Izzy here!

James' 100th day of school

E named this "Farm Girl"

The In-Between

Since Christmas and now - we have mostly just been playing around the ranch.  James went back to school.  Izzy has become and more involved in Cody's care, just as I hoped she would.  Wyatt is as sweet and gentle as ever.  He has become the master of the dogs.  He feeds them, waters them, and lets them out.  He LOVES the dogs.

The kids are also growing like weeds.  I swear, James is taller than he was pre-holidays!  And Isabel is nearly 5!  The weather has been mild and pleasant.  We've been outdoors a lot.  The house projects have also been in full-swing.  More on that here and here and here....

I don't know what I'd do without this girl!  She is a tremendous help!  And she never complains about it!

Look at that gut!

I told ya playing in Isabel's room was super fun

January.  JANUARY!

Baby playdate!

Beautiful E

Wyatt says to me "Not now Mom, I'm learnin!"

Codeman LOVES to chew on his keys

This boy LOVES Cars right now.  He calls Lightning McQueen "Cars 2"  Everything is just "Cars 2" or "Mater."

Really?

Cody: 4 Months

4 months have sure flown by!  

Cody is sleeping a solid 12 hours at night now.  He is giggling and laughing and trying to talk to all of us.  He makes coo's and goo's and sometimes he just makes noise.  (I think he is trying to let his voice be heard among the other loudness.)  He is big into chewing things right now.  He also sucks his thumb (like Izzy and Wyatt) AND his fingers (just like James!)  He really hasn't made up his mind which will be his preference yet - it's cute in the meantime to see him do both!

4 Months also marks the beginning of baby food.  Day 1 (Jan 20th) Cody did NOT like it.  He was fussing and mad and finally just spit it all out!  This happened to be the same day as Wyatt's birthday party - so I'm not sure if he wasn't just really tired and ready for bed!

By day 2, he was a pro at it.  He even would open his mouth and smile after each bite!  His favorite right now is oatmeal mixed up with some apples.  He is not a fan of green beans!

Another great about this past month is Tummy Time!  Cody LOVES tummy time - more than any of my others have!  He has excellent head control and can grab stuff and pull it right up to his mouth.  He also really likes to "talk" to stuffed animals and listen to music of any kind.

Often times he is just very still.  Listening and watching all of us.  But always happy!

What a sweetie and a blessing!