McKinney's 1st Oktoberfest

Last weekend was McKinney's first Oktoberfest and Isabelle was so excited. She has been watching John and Kate plus 8 a lot lately, and we told her that there would be animals there like on J&K+8. We knew there would be a petty zoo as well as horses and Isabelle was just beside herself in excitement. When we pulled into downtown McKinney the first thing she saw was a store that had horses painted all over the front windows.

I-Horsie Store
E-No Isabelle that is really a floor store that has horsies painted on the windows
I-Because why?
E- Because the owners like horses but they do not sell horses there
I-Because why?
E-Because horses like to be outside
I-Because why?
E- Because they have more room to run and play
I-Because why?
E-Because they like the sun and need exercise
I-Because why?
BECAUSE I SAID SOOO!

So after using the horses as bribery to gey Isabelle to eat her lunch she finally got to ride, she was so excited.




On a seperate note this week in Bible Study we talked about gratitude and different ways to express your gratitude for someone/something. I have to say that Isabelle's face, her smile, and her excitment are enough thank you for me. Sometimes that means more to me than words themselves. Just look at her, such sweetness!

Why did I want her to start talking?

Do you ever wonder why you ever wanted your child to start walking? Was it because you wanted them to run away from you so that you could chase them.. Noooo Why did you want them to start talking? I have been asking myself this for a while now, and it seems to be an everyday question since we have entered the ,"because why" stage of life. Holy cow, how could a child have so many questions? and the bad thing is that she doesn't even care about my response she just wants to say "because why" again, and again, and again! So Dave and Isabelle were playing the because why game the other night until it got to the end, you know the end when you finally say ,"because I said so" and then she finally leaves you alone. Dave being the trickster flipped the script on Isabelle and started asking her, "because why" for everything. Until finally she said, "because I said so". I think we have set a new record for sounding like your parents, you know when you sound like your parents at 2.5 thats bad!

There are some upsides to talking don't get me wrong. Isabelle does say some pretty cute things. For example yesterday we were leacing for church and I asked Dave to grab me a "W-A-T-E-R" (I am sure most of you know what it is like to have to spell everything, if I don't Isabelle will want whatever it is I am asking for). So after I asked for the water, Isabelle said "Mommy get my P-R-S"!! LOL what the heck is a P-R-S you ask, I asked Isabelle the same question. It turns out it is her Penguin backpack. This just goes to show that you had better watch everything you say around her or she will repeat it and you could be very sorry, embarrassed or BOTH!

Something else that was so funny, we were in the car listening to Mr. Isaaac (he is a performer that used to sing at Isabelle's daycare when she went). Isabelle started on one of her talking tangents that you can only make out every other sentence but I kept hearing her say, "my chicken school". When she was done telling me her 5 minute story I asked her what her chicken school was, "you know my chicken school" was her responce. Then it finally dawned on me that her "chicken school" was Primrose (her old daycare). The chicken is really a rooster in their logo, I cannot believe that she would remember that!! It has been 7/8 months since she has been to Primrose, she amazes me everyday.

Isabelle Made You Tube

Isabelle and her good friend Kaitlyn are in dance class together and have been working on their Christmas dance. Our friend Jaime took a "secret" video of the girls practicing. (If they knew they were being taped neither one would actually dance. Sorry their backs are to us, but you can get the idea.

Isabelle's Contribution

Isabelle saw I was blogging and said she wanted an "Isabelle Movie", she loves to watch herself on the blog. So here is Twinkle, twinkle little star- Old McDonald- You are my Sunshine

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Getting Ready for Fall

Isabelle and I have been getting ready for fall, I just love this time of year. As many of you may know I have started the tradition of putting up a fall tree year every year. Dave and I were under the agreement that we would not put up the tree until October 1st, but low and behold Fall officially started on Monday. How could I possibly wait until October 1st when the first day of Fall was Monday? So Isabelle and I went ahead and put up the tree yesterday. We also decided that we would have a Halloween tree, then after Halloween transition to a Fall (Thanksgiving tree)... Then it's CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!! Yeah, just so you know as of today there are only 89 days until Christmas- so exiting!

So here is a picture of the beginning of the Halloween Tree, I still need to get a few more things.

(This picture does not do it justice)

Isabelle was so excited about decorating, when I opened the tub that has all of the decorations in it she yelled "This is so exciting" and ran around the room. She has also developed two new friends, they are some scarecrows that I bought last year. She carries them around, and I once caught her lining them up and putting her hands on their shoulders to do the choo-choo train like she does in her dance class. Sooo cute

Halloween Pictures

Yesterday, my friend Jaime and I took our girls to the Dallas Arboretum so we could take some Halloween pictures of them. They turned out sooooo good, I am so tickled and cannot wait to share them. We made matching tutu's for the girls, and I must admit they were the cutest kids there. =) It was my first time to go to the Dallas Arboretum but if you have never been I would highly suggest going for the Fall and take a bunch of pictures! They have an awesome pumpkin display!

(The only bad thing about this slide show was that it would not let me fit the whole picture in the box, so some of it was cut off)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I also have a neighbor who is a photographer and he taught me a neat trick using my photo editing software. So I played with some of the pictures last night, they are not perfect but check them out.

Broadway here we come!

I took some pictures last Wednesday of Isabelle and Kaitlyn at dance class. Isabelle is love, love, loving dance class. She talks about it ALLLL of the time, and is so excited when Wednesday rolls around. She is doing such a great job, not only does she dance but she sings the songs while dancing... Broadway here we come!

My Creative Weekend

So while being all doped up on pain medicine and desperately needing a root canal I managed to once again bite off more than I can chew. My sister, Ashley, and my dad share the same birthday (Sept. 15th) and so I volunteered to make the cupcakes for my sisters birthday party on Saturday. After cutting out 60 candy ears, dipping 180 pieces of spaghetti in chocolate, and counting out a ton of M&M's, these are what I came up with:



Not only did I do cupcakes but I spent hours making a last minute gift for my dad. He has to be one of the hardest people to shop for, so earlier in the week I was racking my brain as to what to get him. Finally I came across a magazine where a women made a t-shirt quilt when it dawned on me that would be a great present for my dad. He lost a ton of weight a few years ago and has a bunch of Harley shirts that he does not want to part with. So I spent a couple days knocking out a quilt.. Take a look, I was so proud of it:

Say Your Pregnant

I have to say that there is nothing worse in the world than tooth pain. For those of you who have never been there, just take my word for it. Not only does your tooth throb but your jaw hurts, your ear hurts, then your whole day is just ruined. You would think that the smiling face of a sweet 2.5 year old would cure you, but this is too big for even a cutie like Isabelle. Not to mention when you have all of these symptoms she makes things a little worse, with her constant talking, and two year old behavior. I love her to death, but I would highly recommend shipping your toddler off to grandma's house when you have a tooth slowly dying in your face...

So my tooth was killing me and I went to the dentist to find out that he was going to give me a antibiotic and painkillers and see me in a week. Word to the wise, when you break a tooth or feel like you might need a root canal lie and say you are pregnant. I broke three teeth while pregnant with Isabelle they fixed them the very same day, there was no antibiotic call me in a week!! So I begin the antibiotic and by Monday by face is all swollen, which was not even a symptom I had on the Wednesday before. Come to find out the infection has bored through my jaw bone and worked its way into my neck... What, that sounds awful (should of said I was pregnant). Then the dentist proceeds to tell me that now I have puss coming out of my gums, leaking into my mouth. Now I noticed that I had a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, but I didn't think it could possibly be something so gross. Why can't they just spare me the details and DO THE ROOT CANAL.

So it is now Wednesday night (one week from my original appointment), I have my root canal scheduled and I am soooo dreading it. Tomorrow is the big day and there are so many more things that I would rather be doing. Again another reason to just say you are pregnant, you don't have all of this dreaded build up to the procedure.

Blessed

So today I thought I was going to lose it, a pretty rough day. So Isabelle and I are on our way home and I am about to burst into tears or scream (not sure which would come first) then this song came on the radio.



You know the songs that just change your whole outlook on your day (sometimes life), well this is one of them. I immediately turned it up and sang as loud as I could, Isabelle briefly thought I was crazy but hey it was better than crying!! Thought that I would share it with you all! I really am blessed!!

(I did not create this video.. I just stole it from youtube, it was the only version I could find)

Picnic at the Park

One of Isabelle's many bribes this week was if she went to bed without crying that Mommy would take her on a picnic to the park. Here are some pictures of our outing... We had tons of fun!

Locked Out!!

You learn something new everyday with a toddler and my lesson on Tuesday was... Don't walk out the front door without a house key!

We were selling our desk on Craigslist and so I was walking the guys who purchased it outside. Isabelle was inside sitting quietly on the couch (that should have given me a clue she was up to no good). I said bye to the new owners of our desk, walk back up to the front door to find out I had been locked out. I guess when I left Isabelle decided it would be funny to lock mommy out. So I peek through the door to see Isabelle sitting on the couch laughing and staring at me. Oh my gosh what do I do... Then it dawned on me that the garage door was open. Thank GOD that Dave took the motorcylce or the garage would have been locked, and thank God that the garage door opener was broken or I wouldn't have been able to get it open. Normally I would have been able to crawl through our dog door but I had locked Tootsie outside so she would not bug the guys moving the desk.

God was really watching over me that day, Isabelle would have been stuck in the house all by herself until Dave could get home with a key. That or imagine me trying to talk a 2.5 year old into unlocking the door. I think locking is a lot easier than unlocking, what a turd she is!

Reunited

Isabelle talks about "my Jonah" all of the time, he is a friend from Primrose. It has been a few months since we got Jonah and Isabelle together but they had a date night on Thursday. (It was chaperoned of course) We met the Schneider family at Peter Pipers and had a great time. The parents caught up while the kiddies were playing. At one point Isabelle and Jonah went missing for a moment then Monda (Jonah's Mommy) heard laughter in the bathroom. Both Isabelle and Jonah were in the bathroom flushing toilets and cracking up, Monda nailed it when she said, "we are having a Brittney moment" horrible parents we are...LOL The kids had a great time and we are definately going to have to do it again, Isabelle loves her Jonah!!

Isabelle and her motorcyles, she just loves them. The only thing better than a motorcycle is Jonah on a motorcylce.


Isabelle's blonde Cassanova


Uh-oh, Jonah you are in trouble.. This wack-a-mole was great she started out using the mallet


gave up and went for smacking it with her hands.


Congrad's to the Schneiders, they are expanding their family. We are very excited and jealous!

My Pavarotti

As we are getting close to winning one battle (battle of the diapers) we are coming up on sleep issues AGAIN! Just when you think you have her trained her resorts back to the same old, same old (you'd think she was a man..kidding). Anyhow Isabelle has started giving us concerts while she goes to sleep at night... it is so precious. I love her Twinkle, twinkle little star. When she gets to, "up above the world so high", she says, "ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba" it is so cute!! Dave and I tried recording her the other night, it is through the monitor so the sound quality is a little yucky.



Isabelle is really into this singing thing, last night we went to Peter Pipers and she stood up at the table and started singing all kinds of songs. She was even taking requests which is very rare for her, usually she only sings what she want to.

Where have I been???

I am sure some of your are wondering why I have not been blogging lately, it is because I have been pottying!!!! Duh (as Isabelle would say)

I am so proud of my little girl, she is doing soooo well. I cannot believe that I have a semi-pro pottier. It was a week ago yesterday that we started the new phase in our life and after much bribery, candy, and praises I think she is mastering it. She came out of the potty the other day and said, "I am so proud of me". I mean come on people it doesn't get much cuter than that.

How does she go from this???

To pulling down her own pants, panties, and going potty... Diapers were the only remnant of a baby that I had left and now it is gone. Gone forever! Next thing you know I am going to catch Isabelle making out behind the bleachers with some pimply face boy, followed up by me bailing Dave out of jail for attacking a minor.

Potty Day 4 & 5

Good news to report the trainee is doing well.. She has had two back to back days in panties with only one accident per day. Yeah Isabelle!!

I cannot believe how big she is getting. Today when she was done going potty on the potty she told me, "I am so proud of me". LOL What a cutie!!!

The Saturday from H-E double hockey sticks!

Do you remember saying H-E double hockey sticks when you were little because you would get in trouble for saying Hell?? he, he,he

As you may have already read we are starting to potty train, and let me tell you Saturday (day 3 of potty training) was awful!! First we get the horrible news from our neighbors that their entire family was in a car wreck on Friday on the way home from Six Flags. They have three little girls and everyone in the car got really beat up. The brunt of the beating was one of the twins Abby who was care flighted away, is currently in a comma, two breaks in one arm, a bruised lung, and swelling on the brain. Luckily she is responding by squeezing hands on demand, etc. but still very, very, scary and horrible. Please keep her in your prayers, I believe she is about 9 years old.

Obviously nothing compares to the kind of day that my neighbors were having, thank God, but it was pretty bad. So Isabelle was doing great on the potty bare bottomed but you threw panties into the mix and that was a whole new story. I mean it is cute seeing a baby run around bare bottom, but the preciousness starts to run out and you begin to feel a bit uncomfortable. Especially the moments when she is spread eagle on the couch laying down with her babies. So I was bound and determined to get some panties on this girl.

She had accidents ALL DAY LONG! Once one of the accidents was over we decided that we would be brave and take Isabelle to Wal-Mart. We get there and of course Isabelle has to go pee-pee. I just want to say now that I am not a huge Wal-Mart fan, then to go to their filthy nasty bathroom.. OMG I thought I would die, but what do you do the girl has to "pee". I say pee with quotations because as many of your parents know, she didn't really have to pee she just wanted to check out the facilities. So I get her off the toilet, completely covered in cooties I am sure, and try to get the thought out of my mind that she is not contaminated. We wash the hands, get out to meet Dave, walk 50 steps and Isabelle has to "pee" again ! Urghh, I ask Dave to take her only hoping to get a break and he agrees. He walks into the bathroom and immediately comes out to say that all of the stalls in the mens bathrooms are taken. What the heck, how many people really need to poo at Wal-Mart!!! So I take her in AGAIN! Of course no pee-pee but now I am beginning to get dry hands from all of this hand scrubbing. We quickly pickup the things we need, and then Isabelle has to go pee in the back of the store now. This time Dave was able to take her. We finally get into the line and we are about to pay when Isabelle says she has to pee again!! That kid!! So I take her again, she walked in the stall took one smell and decided that she was ok it was too stinky. By the time I get back to the line Dave is asking me where my wallet is. We have no $$$!! Dave thought I had my wallet (so did I) so he didn't bring his. Now we have to drive all the way back home and come back..

Then Isabelle lays down for a nap and goes poopy in her pullup, which of course gets everywhere. We clean that up and head down stairs to make our weekly shopping list. While cutting my coupons I spill my drink all over the table only to recieve a lecture from Isabelle about how I need to be careful. Thank you Isabelle for the lecture!

I clean up that mess, head out to get an early start on my grocery shopping for the weekend only to realize that half of my Tom Thumb coupons are not good until 8/31.. Thank you so much early Sunday paper, urgghh!! So we go ahead and get our Kroger shopping out of the way, making plans to come back on Sunday to get Tom Thumb done. The whole time in Kroger Isabelle is telling us how she has to go potty but of course we are done with pretend potty are decide to redirect.

We finally get home with half of our grocery shopping done, unload the car and Dave drops a bag. What is in the bag you ask?? Eggs of course, so now we have lost 9 out of 12 of our eggs.

The only ray of hope we had was Isabelle finally made it to the potty right before bed with panties on, yeah!! Thank you God for helping us make it through a stressful Saturday.