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!

My Girl E

Isabel is really growing up lately!  She is changing a lot.  The biggest thing that has happened suddenly is her ability to write letters!

Her sense of style hasn't changed!

I think this is a really great picture of her.  She brought me these dandelions one day and told me we should both wear them in our hair so we could look pretty.  

So one day, we were just all our in the backyard sitting around the patio.  Isabel had asked me to get her the sidewalk chalk out so she could "practice writing her name."  Usually, this consists of scribble letters and drawings of sun shines and rainbows.  On this particular day (May 27th 2012 - 4 yrs old) she actually wrote her name!  And what's more amazing - she spelled it right!  

She is also getting way more into her hair!  She loves to have it done and she actually sits still while I do it!

As for these two - they are little peas in a pod!  Wyatt is so glad to have James home for the summer!

Dirt & Ice

Last Friday James had field day at school.  This is an event he'd been looking forward to for nearly a month!  That's a super long time when you are 5!

The school had planned a day at a local fun ranch here in town.  Buses were to leave the school at 8:45am and arrive back at 2.  One BIG, fun day of outdoor adventure.  (Let me just tell you - the morning of the field day, I had zero trouble getting James out of bed and ready for school!)  He was so excited he could hardly choke down his breakfast!

Parents and siblings were invited to come, but with Quatro baking and Isabel and Wyatt still being so little, I opted to stay home and let him have mom-free fun.  Therefore, I don't have many pictures of the big event.  Just one picture of him caked in mud when I picked him up from school!

 
Apparently they had tug-of-war over a giant mud pit at one point.  And there was a zip line that he loved, and a paddle boat that he rode with his friends.  There was also games and plenty of running around and playing!  I am so happy he got to have such a fun day!

This same day, we had tickets to Disney on Ice.  My dear friend Stephanie had extra tickets, so we were able to go along with her family.  Again, something James and Isabel had been looking forward to for nearly a month!  Especially Isabel - she was so excited to see ice skaters from Disneyland!  In fact, she was so excited, she agreed to take a nap before the show started so she could be rested to stay up late for it.  A tactic that also worked on James post-field day pickup!

JL stayed home with Wyatt.  There were only 3 tickets available, but I don't think I would have done it differently even if we had more seat available.  By the 2nd act, even Isabel was starting to tire and ask to go home to bed.  :)  I can only imagine poor Wyatt.  Maybe in a couple more years he'll be able to join along in the fun.  But for now, it was just me and my two oldest.  

Here they are with friends Rose and Ginger.  Standing outside before the show.

Practicing their skating moves. :)

Waiting for the show to start.

So excited!!

There they are!  Isabel loved the slinky dog.  James thought the potato heads were too funny!

We all enjoyed it!  My favorite part was Mickey and Minnie coming out at the very beginning to welcome us to the show.  There is just something about those two that takes me back to my childhood.  James' favorite part were the army guys.  They even parachuted down from the ceiling and landed ont he ice!  He was in shock to see such awesomeness!  Isabel's favorite part was the skating Barbie.  The show was Toy Story 3, so all their favorite toys from the movie were there.  It was so much fun!

After the show:  James showing off his Woody the Cowboy sword.

Here's Isabel with her Jessie the Cowgirl magic wand.

Haircuts

A couple weeks ago, Isabel and I went in for some much needed haircuts.  JL stayed with the boys, and she and I had a lovely girls' morning out.  

She was a little hesitant at first.  She worried her "princess hair" was going to be cut all off.  I tried to explain to her that a haircut will help her princess hair look even more beautiful and would help with the snarles, but she didn't buy it.  She was sure her hair was already beautiful and perfect the way that it was. :-)  But, after she watched me get nearly 8 inches taken off, she was feeling better about it.

She really enjoyed the washing part.  One of her least favorite things about water is having it in her face.  She loved that she could lay back and not get her face wet at all!  Plus, the shampoo smelled like coconuts and she really liked that.

Here she is right after getting her hair washed.

This is the picture she took of me.  She thought it only fair she was able to snap my picture seeing as how I wouldn't stop taking hers!

She was so patient and still while her hair was being cut and styled!  Totally rare for my girl - she's a wiggler!

Doesn't she look beautiful!  She was very happy with the results, and so was I!

Izzy turns 4 !!

Our little Valentine Baby turned 4 last week!

She wanted blue Jello with her special dinner
She was also very particular about her cake. She picked out french vanilla with strawberry cream frosting.
She loved helping me make it! Mostly, just so she could taste along the way!
Naturally, a heart with prink frosting and pink sprinkles.
Time for presents!



We got her a Karaoke machine. If there is one thing our girls loves to do - it is sing!
James enjoyed dancing to her tunes
She takes her singing very seriously. She wanted us all to be super quiet and just listen, yet she'd get shy if we listened too much!




A few things Isabel says:
Are you kidding me?
Holy Smackaroni, Mom!
What you talking about, pork chop!
What is taking furfurever?

Some fun things about Isabel at 4:
She loves to sing and dance. Often, dressed in one of her princess costumes.
She is extremely kind and thoughtful. She is always observing and looking for ways to help! She'll often hear me say I need something and then *poof* show up with the item in her hand!
She loves to cook. One of her favorite things to do is be in the kitchen with me helping me make breakfast/lunch/dinner. She can make her own PB&J sandwiches (although, she takes them without the J) and can make pancakes. She gets her apron out, the step stool, and she's ready to go.
She loves to take care of her baby dolls and play like she is the mom
She has excellent taste in clothes. Each morning she will dress herself, and I'm often amazed at how wel her miss matched items go together! Even if it's 2 different socks paired with capri pants and a sweater - she always looks cute!
She loves to be around animals. Out of all of us, she has a real talent for being around them. She's our little animal whisperer. Each of them responds well to her gentleness and seem to enjoy being around her above all the rest of us. Her kitty Beauty, despite being mauled and loved and hugged to death, actually seeks Izzy out in the nights so she can sleep with her in her bed.
She is extremely self sufficient! This is a trait I am so grateful for! Despite her start as my most high-maintenance baby, she has long left that in her past. She makes her bed, gets her own food, dresses herself, brushes her own teeth, and pretty much is game to try anything else I may ask her to do.
She has confidence for days! There is nothing she can't do - and I admire that!
She's a joy to be around and we are so happy she's part of our family!