Christmas Day

Christmas Day was as perfect as it could be, we woke Isabelle up around 8:00 (I still cannot see how the kid could sleep so late on Christmas, if it were up to me which apparently it is not DAVE we would have been up by 6:00 at the latest). After she finally got up we watched her open all of her presents and then we opened ours with Dave's sister and brother-in-law who were in from Borger, TX to visit. One of the best things about this Christmas was pretty successful at keeping Dave's Christmas present a secret. First of all I LOVE Christmas and so when I get someone something I am pretty sure they are going to love I want them to open it right then and there. This year I decided that I was not going to even risk Dave finding out what he was going to get for Christmas so I did all of my shopping without Isabelle, and never mentioned to her what I bought him. Dave's mom had asked us if we wanted a Wii for Christmas and we had been discussing it but decided against it. Then Dave kept talking about it so I knew that he secretly wanted one, I had already bought him an electric razor so instead I took it back and bought the Wii. Well I guess Isabelle over heard me on the phone talking about the razor (after I had already taken it back) and one night at dinner she accidentally let it slip that I had bought him one. This worked incredibly well in my favor because he bought it, so for weeks he was under the impression that he knew what he was getting and who am I to tell him he was wrong.. he he he The bad thing about Dave (and his Dad for that matter) is they are awesome gift guessers, you can give him the present completely wrapped and he knows what it is, ridiculous!! So on Christmas day he had no idea, I handed him the present and of course he knew it was no razor, urghhh! It took him a few minutes to guess but he finally did, I still consider this to be a success on my part seeing as how he made it all the way to Christmas day before even the slightest hint of what it could be.. YEAH! Oh yeah, then his dad comes over and is opening his gifts. Holds one of the gifts we got him and within 30 seconds announces that it is probably apple butte.. what the heck, this has to be some freakish ability!! I can see him guessing jelly or something like that since he can apparently tell it is a jar but how in the world does someone guess apple butter and actually get it right?? WHATEVER!

Jesus birthday cake- This cake was made in loving memory of the late Mom Mom Wink, I tried to duplicate her cake but it was a little dry. I will try again for Dave's birthday!

Isabelle opening her Santa gift- a pink leapster

Dave loves funny shirts so I had these made especially for him. The first one says "No I will not fix your computer", because everyone asks.. LOL He does not mind fixing peoples computer but I thought it was pretty funny. The other shirt we saw in Ocean City this summer and it says D.A.D.D. Dads against daughters dating

I had to show a picture of our tree, it is so big we have no where to put it. The angel is touching the ceiling, so it looks like it is wedged into this spot as if it is holding up the entire house. LOL
Isabelle finally got a robe and slippers for Christmas, she has been dying for a robe like Mommy =)

Her new Cinderella outfit, completely with a crown and "glass slippers", as she takes her princess bow

Mommy and Isabelle both got new purses for Christmas, Isabelle's just does not have a signature C.. he he he! -Alright the Jesus in the box, there is a story behind this one. If you promise not to judge I will tell you the story, but if you are going to judge stop reading now. First I would like to say that we are in no way making fun of Jesus this is just a gag gift that has been in the family for the last 4 years. 4 years ago my sister-in-law, Melissa, and I were at Walmart after Christmas looking for deals and we saw this Jesus figurine. We found it a little funny and tacky and so Melissa bought it and put it on our mantle to see if Dave would notice as a joke. Well of course he noticed and thought it was crazy and so the very next year we wrapped it up and gave it to Melissa as a gag Christmas gift. Last year Melissa decided to take it to a whole new level and so she made a cookie jar out of it and gave it back to us for Christmas. We then had to lay out some rules for Jesus, you have to give him back each year so we rotate, you cannot permanently affix him to anything, and you can in no way destroy Jesus. So this year Dave and I went all out, oh yeah we got them good. We put Jesus in a box and made him pop out of the box with a spring, but it doesn't stop there when he pops out the box sings the Hallelujah Chorus. It was awesome! I cannot wait to see what Brandon and Melissa come up with next year, and I am honestly a little scared =)

A Snowy Christmas Day (as planned by Isabelle)

To our amazement (and joy) there was still plenty of snow on the ground when we woke up Christmas day. After opening all of the presents I made everyone rush out (still in the jammies) and take pictures in the snow, I mean how many times do you get to see a white Christmas in North TEXAS?? According to the news the last time was in 1926, 83 years ago!

Isabelle making snow angels, but she is not heavy enough to even make a dent in the snow.. LOL

A look down our street, the road is absolutely frozen. Isabelle bit it twice on the side walk alone!

Twas the Night before Christmas

Christmas Eve was bittersweet for the Wink Family. Every year since I was a little girl we spend Christmas Eve at my Papaw and Mamaw's house, this was the first year that the tradition was broken for our family. The good news was that it snowed! Isabelle was under the false impression (not sure how she got this idea) that Daddy said it would snow on Christmas. I don't know how where she got this idea but I kept telling her that it would probably not happen because it doesn't really snow in Texas. Well on Christmas Eve it snowed like crazy, it was as if she had some special insight =) So we were very excited to see the snow but it did keep us from going to Mamaw and Papaws that evening. The roads would have been perfectly fine on the way out there but the way back would have been a nightmare! Boy did we make the right decision to stay put because that night there were over 100 accidents and many people ended up spending the night in their cars because they were not able to get home.

Luckily Isabelle was not to upset, but I think it had to do with us allowing her to open one present early. I was so excited to see her open her present and was not at all disappointed in her reaction. As she opened her first present of the year she was speechless! She could not come up with anything to say, we had gotten her a barbie styling head and she played with that thing for hours that night! When it was time to go to bed, she decided that instead of leaving cookies for Santa that she wanted to leave him a healthy snack.. LOL The snack of choice was some pieces of cantaloupe, a drink yogurt smoothie, and a bag of baby carrots (she had to put them in a bag so it would be easier for Santa to take them to the reindeer). Santa was very appreciative of such a change in pace I am sure =) Although we were sad that we had to stay home we had a great evening, and were safetly snuggled in our beds when Santa came.

Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

We attended out very Tacky Christmas Sweater party this year and had an absolute blast! Dave and I looked everywhere for something creative and fun to wear and could not find anything. I looked at the CCA and two Goodwills figuring they would have something but apparently these parties are popular now and they were sold out so we were forced to make something. So for Dave we found a wonderful red sweater vest and in the decoration side of the Goodwill we found this lovely snowman wall decoration. The snowman had a little pocket to put something in so we stuffed some candy canes in it, sewed it to the vest and we had the perfect outfit for Dave. As for me I just used puff paint and sequins and had an outfit for myself. For Isabelle I bought an over sized velour dress and made a snowflake belt to match. We all looked incredibly tacky, so tacky in fact that Dave and I won best couple =)

Our homemade sweaters, I should have wore it on Christmas Day but completely forgot (darn). Isabelle and Haylee, so cute these girls =)

Isabelle with Santa, she had been asking for a Snuggie and it just so happened that Daddy won one at the office white elephant gift exchange.. LOL She was so excited, yeah a Snuggie for kids!

Isabelle with the big guy, her beautiful tacky outfit and her excitement in getting a Snuggie for kids from Santa =) This was such an awesome party and we really had a great time!

Christmas Show

The week after Thanksgiving Isabelle's teacher told us that Isabelle was going to have a special part for the school play. For some reason they did not even start working on it until well after Thanksgiving so I was a little freaked about about her remembering her words, especially once I saw what she was suppose to say: Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.. Oh man, did they forget that she is only 3.5 years old?? So we started working on the saying and she seemed to pick it up much quicker than I thought. Well the Tuesday before the party when I picked her up at school her teacher informed me that Isabelle was very nervous, started to cry and said that she did not know her words. What, we have been practicing like crazy she knows the words!! Then Mrs. Leath told me that they were going to shorten it for her, yeah right we have been practicing wwaaaayyy to much for that.

So when show day come along I was so nervous that she would forget to say her words but she got up there and did it like a champ, I was seriously on the verge of tears. I took video of the whole performance but it was on the video camera and was way to large to load on the blogger site, so I made her reenact the whole thing this morning.. LOL


The first video is her lines that she said in the play all by herself, the next to videos are of songs that she sang as a class. So sweet I could cry, I am so proud of that little girl =)

After the show they went back to their class room for an ornament exchange, pizza and cupcakes. Isabelle really loves her class, her new friends, her teachers, and her school. I am so glad that we decided to put her in preschool two days a week, it is amazing all of the great things that she has already learned.

Isabelle's thoughts on a new baby

Isabelle is incredibly excited about Mommy having a baby and of course she has all kinds of things to say about it. One night we were at dinner with Mom Mom, Dave's mom, and we were asking Isabelle what she wanted to name the babies if it were twins (this was before we knew there was only one baby) her reply was if it were twin boys then she would want to name them Son and Holy Spirit.. LOL I thought Sandy and I were going to die laughing and of course you can image what she said if it was triplet boys, we get the Holy Trinity- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I wonder how this would go over when we introduced the triplets to the church!

Once we found out that it was only one baby she was a little upset but she is learning to cope =) She now has decided that if the baby is a girl that we are going to name the baby "Baby Isabelle" and she is going to change her name to Carolyn.

Then one night I was reading her a Bible story before bed, I had a feeling that the story (the way it was written) was going way over her head but boy was I ever wrong. Once I was done reading the story, we said our prayers and once we got to the part that says "God bless the baby in Mommy's belly", she announced that if it was a boy she would have to kill it. I took a double take asked her why she would do that and her answer was "because it says so in the Bible". Apparently the story did not go over her head at all, I read her the story of Moses and how the Pharaoh ordered all of the Israelite boys to be killed. Now she was under the impression that boys were bad and that the Bible says to kill them.. So we had a long talk about how that is not good and we do not kill people but of course that just led to "it was in the Bible, how could it be bad"?? Wow, what a discussion but I think I left it pretty good after all was said and done and she understood.

At a Christmas party a few weeks later Isabelle was playing with a little boy, he was probably 2 years old. They were sitting on an ottoman together and the little boy kept trying to push a tray off the table onto the floor, Isabelle told him numerous times to stop doing that. Finally after about 5 minutes of this she looked and Dave and I and announced , " Do you see why I don't want a baby brother, they are sooo bad". So it is now official Isabelle is hoping for a girl...LOL

Last funny baby story happened on Tuesday. Since finding out I am pregnant Isabelle is obsessed with some of the baby shows on the Discovery Health Channel. At first I was a little nervous about her watching them, but she is such an inquisitive child that I know this will probably help her to understand the whole process. She has so many questions and I know that she is bound to find out about the mystery of childbirth. I'm not about to have "the talk" with her, for all she knows God magically puts babies in your belly but she did/does have questions about how they come out that needed addressing. Anyway I guess she has picked up on the fact that some mom's smoke while pregnant, normally on the show I was pregnant and didn't know it. So the other day she asks me," Mommy will you please start smoking so that the baby will get here faster"? Of course I told her no, and she started to bed "please, please, please Mommy.. I want to know if it is a girl or boy and I can't wait any longer".. LOL After a long talk she agrees that smoking is not good for Mommy or baby =)

Santa Clause

Isabelle loves, loves, loves Santa Clause. She was so excited to see him, and I was so proud of her for jumping right up on his lap and taking her picture with him like a big girl. She asked him what kind of cookies were his favorite, he said that he likes them all (just in case you were wondering). Then she asked him for a pink leapster and a banana phone.. A banana phone?? dang that Curious George, where in the world is Santa suppose to find a banana phone this close to Christmas?? She was a little upset when Santa brought the leapster but did not get the banana phone, I guess mom and dad are going to have to figure that one out for her birthday. What the heck is she going to do with a banana phone?

Kaitlyn turns 4!

Isabelle was so excited that one of her best friends ever, KK, turned 4 years old! She had such a magical birthday party and Isabelle had an absolute blast! KK had the "real" Belle, that's what the kids called her, come to her house and host a princess party. She gave all of the girls magical princess dust, showed them so great magic tricks and played games! Kaitlyn seemed to really enjoy her birthday party and is getting so big now, pretty soon my little princess is going to be 4 years old too.. My, my how time flies when you are having fun, pretty soon the girls will be headed to prom.

Thanksgiving

What a treat we had this year for Thanksgiving, Dave's Uncle Steve, Julie and Pop Pop Fish came down from Baltimore to visit. Isabelle was so excited, as we all were, to see everyone! We picked them up from the airport and had a fun filled week to spend with them. We took them to the Omni in Fort Worth to see the Polar Express, we went to the Willie Nelson concert at the WinStar in Oklahoma, attended an engagement party for Beth and Danny, celebrated my birthday at La Hacienda Ranch (yummy), did some shopping on Black Friday, and visited Stonebriar church to see Julie's favorite pastor Chuck Swindell.

I am so disappointed in myself though because I hardly took any pictures while they were here, but here is what I did get..

Thanksgiving Day... Isabelle smelling the flowers outside, she said that it smelled like peanuts LOL, I think it had to do with the fact that Dave and Uncle Steve were frying a turkey in peanut oil right next to her. This was Steve, Julie and Isabelle after a big Thanksgiving dinner =)

Dave and Steve frying the turkey.. sorry about the lighting

Belle's Thanksgiving Party

The same day that I found out I was expecting Isabelle had her Thanksgiving party at school. She was so cute, the class sang "Bless the Lord oh my Soul" again and showed us all of the great things that they have learned about God and the Bible. We ate a Thanksgiving Feast and had a wonderful time with all of her class friends =)

Can you believe this??

I could hardly believe it either?? I was suppose to take a pregnancy test on Friday but instead I woke up on Thursday morning after telling Dave the night before that I was going to take the test a day early. I completely was NOT expecting to get a positive result. I had already talked to the doctor about what our next step would be, researched IVF and was fully prepared to start with the IVF process. I had pretty much given up on the thought of actually being pregnant. Anyway I woke up Thursday morning and had to pee sooo badly. When I woke up I one of my contacts had fallen out in my sleep or something, which has never happened to me (so weird). So I am in a frantic race to get pee with only one functioning eye I am trying to read the direction on how to take the test. (Seriously, at this point I have taken over 30 test throughout the past 20 months of trying I am an expert at the test taking process but I still feel the need to read the direction because maybe I have been taking the wrong?? I don't know whatever). I do my business, set the test down and within 30 seconds look down to what I think is 2 LINES!! I frantically cover the eye that I have no contact thinking that maybe I am seeing double because there is no way that I am actually pregnant! I run into the kitchen to have Dave verify and HOLY COW there are 2 lines, we are actually pregnant!! This was exactly a week from my birthday, what a wonderful birthday gift... Thank you GOD!

It would be nice for me to tell you all of the creative ways that we told the family and Isabelle about how we were finally expecting but it would all be lies! We were so excited and after 20 long months of trying we called EVERYONE! There was no waiting, no special way of surprising them, just tears of joy calling people to share our good news.

I have to say that I have been so nervous about the whole thing. I have had so many friends and acquaintances that have had miscarriages recently that I have been terrified. Now at 10 weeks and after seeing two sonograms of a baby with a heart beat I am feeling a little better. It is just so scary to think that we could loose a baby after such a long time of trying but so far everything has gone beautifully, so we expect one sweet cuddly baby on or around July 29th! Yeah!

My Song

While I am in the office working on updating the blog Isabelle is "checking her email" (which means she is playing on her websites). This song came on and she started yelling "Mom it's your song", I love this song and I love that girl. I just had to share, it is the best song ever!



Family Reunion- November 15th

In November Dave, Isabelle and I drove up to Oklahoma for the day for a family reunion. The reunion was for my mom's side of the family. I have to say that it is absolutely amazing what two people can start (my Grandma and Grandad Hanlon) so many years ago. I hope that Dave and I can build such a huge family by the time our days are done. Here is the group picture (and there are actually quit a few people that are missing, many were not able to attend):

The reunion was at Lake Murray lodge and it was the perfect place! There was a place where we all sat down and ate and afterward we all headed outside. There was a beautiful lake with a dock, ping pong tables, volleyball nets, games for the kids, etc. Everyone had a great time and it was the perfect day for getting a bunch of pictures =)

Isabelle with her cousins Collin and Conner

Having a blast in the leaves

Jennifer (my sister-in-law), Tosha (my sister), Baby Sophie and me.. Jennifer and my brother Randy

These are two of my FAVORITE photos ever! This is my grandma and grandad with all 5 of their kiddos! From left to right Kristi, Andy, Grandma, Grandad, Kathy, Kelly and Karmen (my mom).

Grandma, Grandad and grandma's brother John... My mom with all the grandkiddos

The loving couple