Wink Family

Baby Showers

2010-10-21T18:10:00.002-05:00

I had to of the most amazing baby showers a girl could ask for. The firs was hosted by my amazing mother-in-law, Sandy, and awesome sister-in-law, Melissa. They did a wonderful job, everything was super:

Isabelle with her big sister gift

Everything looked amazing!

Diaper Cake and Mum made by my SIL Melissa.. they turned out great

My second shower was thrown by my mom, sister and SIL. They too did a wonderful job and my sister, Tosha, did a ton of the work. (Thank you Tosha, love ya!) I am truly a very blessed person to have family that loves and supports me.

Tosha made this diaper cake, it turned out really cute :)

My grandmother makes all of the great grandkids (and grandkids for that matter) a blanket. Isabelle cannot function without her "white blankie", I hope Davie loves his even half as much as Isabelle loves hers.

Ok I had an edited version of this picture that had Isabelle with a clean mouth but I cannot find it, so here you go the raw unedited picture of my child with a nasty mouth.. Whoever took this picture should have mentioned something.. LOL

Maternity Pics

2010-10-21T17:52:00.004-05:00

I never took fat chick pictures with Isabelle, so I decided with Davie that I was going to have to capture my big mommy belly on camera. I am so glad that I did, I think they turned out great and Laura did an amazing job as usual www.watermelon-photography.com:

I have to say that my daughter is amazingly beautiful! I just love this girl!

Summer Parties

2010-10-21T17:01:00.004-05:00

So lets's do a quick catch up so that I am not completely depressed that I am missing out on capturing all of our memories of my poor sweet children :)

Today we are starting with Summer Parties, what is a summer party you ask?? Well that is a very good question, I had never heard of them either but apparently all of the cool kids are having them.. LOL Isabelle proposed the idea that we have some friends over, get a pool, maybe a sprinkler, popsicle and then call it a summer party. My response being that i was 8 months pregnant at the time was NO WAY, that was way to muck work in the hot sun and maybe "next year sweetie". Next thing we know we are hit with two Evites from friends saying that THEY are having summer parties.. What the heck, whoever hear of this nonsense. Next thing you know we are sending out invites for our very own party.

Isabelle had a blast and was quite the hostess :)

Where has the time gone??

2010-08-19T15:20:00.005-05:00

Wow, so the last time that I posted anything to my blog was 4 MONTHS AGO! I cannot believe it, and when I posted 4 MONTHS AGO I was playing catch up from the last time that I slacked off. Clearly I am a horrible person and cannot get my act together, but I can promise that I am doing my very best. I am so sad that I am so far behind but my new plan (since the old one of catching up on everything in one day is not working) is to start anew and whenever I get a few moments one day (haha) I will catch up on everything in between. I just am do not want to miss capturing anymore memories and I know that the new ones will get lost in the shuffle while I am waiting to get caught up, so here it goes.....

WE HAD A BABY!! LOL, should not be news to anyone he is now 4 weeks old and I cannot even tell you where the time has gone. It seems so crazy that this time last year I was in tears after numerous failed pregnancy test (2 long years!!) and now I have my sweet little boy. We welcomed David Edward Wink III into the world on July 21st at 10:14am weighing 8 lbs and 5.7 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 inches.

D-day was awesome and so much different than Isabelle. Davie was a planned C-Section (as was Isabelle) but I guess because it was my second I was not as stressed. The operating room was even different, so incredibly laid back they were even playing the iPod as Dr. Roberts cut me open. The whole time we were laughing, joking and cutting up it was surprisingly a wonderful experience. I was so happy to finally hear Davie's first cry, it was definitely music to my ears. Being pregnant (at least for me) is so stressful I am always monitoring the number of kicks, making sure he is still moving, and hoping that everything is ok so the moment that they pulled him out and I saw his sweet little face I knew that everything was going to be alright. Well with the exception of him being surprisingly very quiet. He did his first initial cry as most all babies do but then he was just quite and alert checking out all that was going on around him while they sewed me back up. Isabelle screamed for at least an hour after she was born so I was kind of expecting the same thing but Davie was just quite, so of course being a worry wart I had to keep asking Dave "are you sure he is ok"? Surprisingly enough the silence did not last long at all!

Our last picture as a family of three

Mommy and Isabelle with our matching diaper bags, and Isabelle with her new baby (she named him Jonah)

our first picture as a family of 4!!

Three generations David Sr., David Jr, and David III ... Proud big sister!

Our precious little boy and all of that hair!!

More to come later, have a baby to take of........

The Painting Blues

2010-04-16T14:20:00.002-05:00

I have started my "nesting phase" early with this pregnancy, don't know if it is because it is baby #2 and I know I am not going to have as much time to do things or what but I am driving myself crazy trying to get all kinds of things done before Baby Davie gets here. One of the big things on my two list (besides updating the blog-which will officially be updated after this post, yeah!) is to get the nursery painted, along with the front door, our bedroom (just needs a second coat) and the bathroom upstairs. I have been dreading all of this painting and now that I am 25 weeks along it is not a good idea to be climbing on ladders to paint, and god bless my wonderful husband but he was not blessed with a painters touch. Just take a look at the ceilings in the rooms that Dave and I painted by ourselves and you will see a little extra on the ceiling of many of the rooms where Dave lovingly left his mark.

So the past couple of weeks I have had about 5 different painters come in and give me quotes, we had complications with the original painter we choose so now we finally found someone. The trouble I have been having is choosing a paint color, what a nightmare! This has been the hardest decision ever and I am not sure why I am making it a big deal. The bathroom, door, and master bedroom have been a breeze but when it comes to Davie's room I am freaking out. I showed the painter the colors that I was thinking of and he quickly let me know that he would be happy to paint the walls any color I wanted but that I was going to hate the colors I chose once they were on the wall. I have had a million different opinions on what to do and am so lost that I finally broke down and hired a professional. I have a customer (I do her business cards) that is an interior designer, I figured it would be cheaper to pay her for her professional opinion than it would be for me to repaint the room when I absolutely hated it! So the final colors are a cream yellow on top and an orange on bottom. The two colors will be divided by a white chair, and hopefully will look fabulous. I am so nervous about this decision but it is done so please stay tuned, keep your fingers crossed, and say a little prayer for me..... Painting will begin on Monday!

Discovery Museum in Amarillo

2010-04-16T13:14:00.007-05:00

Saturday (still in Borger) Melissa had a fun trip planned to the Discovery Museum in Amarillo. It was a great time, they had a lot of interactive fun for Isabelle.

We started out at the planetarium where we learned about constellations, Isabelle thought it was so much fun yelling out what she thought were the right answers to the speakers questions.. LOL Then we moved on to the body, where Isabelle played with bones, jumped on a tooting machine, checked her pulse, and more. I promise Dave was not torturing her with this jaw bone =)

Flying high in the sky with Daddy!

This was a game to see how fast you could throw a ball, it was hilarious because Dave and Brandon turned this into a competition. Once one of them got a faster time than the other the other person HAD to go again, typical males =)

This machine would have been really cool if it worked, but you stand on the pedestal and pull the rope up around you to make yourself fully enclosed inside of a bubble. To bad there wasn't enough bubble juice in it. The object of the basketball game was to bounce it underneath the glass and into the hole, but Isabelle gave up and decided to just go under the glass.

Our little hockey player

Aunt Missy flying like Super Woman..

Isabelle and Uncle Brandon making sculptures taller than their selves.

Thank you for having us Melissa, Brandon (and Dori) we had a great time!

License Plate Disaster

2010-04-16T13:04:00.002-05:00

I am a little upset with the state of Texas right now, I don't know if they were trying to be funny or something but here is my new license plate:

How rude is that? I was thinking a few days before I got the plate that I hope I didn't get some crazy plate with 666 or something on it, but I could never had guessed that I would be end up with this little gem. Oh well, at least I am happily married despite the HO message you get from my plates.

Look Out Borger here we come.....

2010-04-16T12:31:00.005-05:00

Dave's sister and brother-in-law, Melissa and Brandon, always come to Dallas to visit and since I have know Dave we have not once gone to visit them. I suggested to Dave that we take a little weekend trip to see them, and 7 hours later (with a few potty, leg stretching breaks) we were there. Aunt Missy had bought all kinds of stuff for Isabelle to play with, a puzzle, side walk chalk, bubbles, snacks and even some new princess cups. Friday night we relaxed, ate dinner and Isabelle and Aunt Missy played. On Saturday it was the moment that Isabelle had been waiting for so long, she finally got to visit jail. She has been asking Dave and I so many questions about jail like, what do you do in jail? is it fun? what do you eat? do they have toys? the list goes on and on.. So Uncle Brandon told us that when we come down he would take us to work to see jail.

Once we were at the jail Isabelle was a little shy. She was kind of scared to get in the police cars because she was afraid that they would go to fast (she watches way to much Cops). Finally Daddy got in with her and assured her that not only would it not go fast but it was not going to move. She was ok with it then.

Dave was going to be locked up but unfortunately there was to much mischief in the town the night before so there were to many prisoners in there for us to check out the cells. Darn outlaws! So instead we just put daddy behind the jail door.

Isabelle with Uncle Brandon's name plate, and Uncle Brandon taking Isabelle's fingerprints. (For some reason that looks like a giant pit stain on Dave's shirt.. LOL, I promise it is just a shadow.)

I made this wanted poster to go with Dave and Isabelle's mug shots =)

The First Call to Poison Control

2010-04-16T12:17:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago I got to make my very first phone call to Poison Control! Now that I have a little boy in my belly I should probably go ahead and put their number on the refrigerator since boys are naturally a little more inquisitive, but this was the first time I ever had to call them for Isabelle. Belle as a new infatuation for taking pens apart, and Dave and I have asked her on many occasions to stop I don't really know what she sees is in but I can guarantee she took her last pen apart a few weeks ago when she learned her lesson.

I was in the office working on some invitations when she yelled, "mom are the dishes in the dishwasher clean or dirty". She asked that on occasion so that she can get herself some water, but on this particular day I had just gotten her a drink so I knew that she was not getting water. I asked her why she wanted to know, her reply "I cannot tell you". Like I would have just said ok to that response (I don't think so), my motherly reply "you had better tell me"!! That is when she walked into the office bawling with ink all over her hands, her mouth and completely coating the inside of her mouth. I scooped her up and took her to the kitchen to start swishing around some water and reassuring her that it would be ok. She was sooo upset, I think she was terrified that she would be in trouble. I wanted so desperately to take a picture because I knew it would make a great picture for the blog but as upset as she was I knew she would not be happy with me taking her picture. After swishing with water for about 5 minutes, brushing her teeth, and then following up with some mouthwash I was surprised that she was relatively clean with the exception of her now black tongue. The only thing in the house that really was damaged was a decorative towel that she decided to wipe her hands on before she told me what had happened, and luckily with a little hairspray and a lot of combing it came right out.

I googled to see if ink was poisonous but it said you would need to swallow an ounce or more, and Isabelle had assured me she had now swallowed any. Of course there is not even an ounce of ink in a single pen but I thought I would call anyway to be safe and was very impressed with the center they were very quick to answer and assured me that she would live =)

I guess every now and then we have to learn our lessons the hard way, but I can assure you that Isabelle has not taken a pen apart (or put one in her mouth) since this day.

Easter 2010

2010-04-16T11:36:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful (busy) Easter this year. Isabelle woke up Easter morning to find the Easter bunny left her all kinds of goodies. He left her a baby lamb, window markers, paint brushes, color books, new crayons, a soccer ball, and even some jelly beans. Mommy and Daddy even got her a present this year, we bought her a Bible. At Sunday school they are asked to bring their Bibles so when better to get your own but on Easter. She was so excited and immediately began reading it and telling us all about how they moved the big rock to reveal the tomb and Jesus was not there, I could not have been prouder!

After a wonderful service we headed over to see Mom Mom and Pop Pop (along with the rest of the Wink Family) at Jackie and Mike's house. After lunch it was off to see Meme and finally our last stop was Mamaw and Papaws house.

We had a great time seeing everyone, did some relay races, an egg hunt and finally some swimming in the hot tub. I made a smilebox but I had to share a few of my favorite pictures of Isabelle:

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School Easter Program

2010-04-16T10:45:00.002-05:00

Isabelle is horrible at keeping secrets, but when it came to her school program you could not get her to tell you any of the songs that they were going to sing. She was so sweet, every time that you asked her she would just tell you that it was a surprise and you have to wait and see. When the day finally came she spilled the beans that the reason she would not practice her songs in front of us is because she was afraid that if she told us that we would not come because we had already heard her sing them. What kind of parents does she think we are? Of course, we would come to see her sing she is the light of our lives. It brings me such joy to see our little angel singing God's praises, I almost cried during the entire program it was just so precious.

We caught the whole thing on the camcorder so unfortunately I cannot post it to the blog =( Good news is that we will have the video to show it at her wedding, in many, many, many, years to come.

Oh the bangs, I will have you know that I did cut them before Easter.

Jonah's Birthday Party

2010-04-16T10:12:00.003-05:00

On Saturday 3/27, we had a busy day. We started off with an Easter Egg Hunt in our community. It was the best community event that I have been too in two years! I say this because for the past two years I have been the Social Committee chairperson and had to coordinate all of the events, I passed on the baton a few months ago and it is so nice to be able to attend an event without having to do anything. As many of you know I take on waayy to much and so the new me has decided that I need to stop saying "yes" to everyone, and maybe even do some delegating of tasks. I saw the benefits of it on this Saturday when Dave, Isabelle and I were able to walk to the park (stress free) and take place in the egg hunt without anyone complaining about the way things were ran, what time we started, etc.. Pure Bliss! Anyway here is a picture of Isabelle's first egg hunt of 2010!

After the party we headed over to Jonah's birthday party. It was an adorable party with a Knights and Princess theme. The kids got to borrow dress up clothes from the facility, they played games, jumped in a bounce house, ran an obstacle course, got tattoos and of course indulged on some cake and ice cream. It was so much fun and Isabelle and Jonah looked as cute as ever =) Happy Birthday Jonah!

The birthday boy and Isabelle (I mean Snow White)- By the way this had to be the best Snow White costume ever, it even had the little collar that stuck up in the back. Way cute!

The party goers

Baby Davie

2010-04-08T16:29:00.002-05:00

I am a horrible mom to be, I have barely even shared anything about Baby Davie on the blog =( Really, I have just been awful about posting in general. So here he is, our little boy in the making at 21 weeks:

Today I hit the 24 week marker and I have to say that I am a lot less stressed about the well being of Baby Davie now that he is getting bigger and I can feel him kicking around. In the beginning I was so worried but those little reassuring kicks all day long really warm my heart and ease my mind. Dave, Isabelle and I are so excited for him to be here although we are not at all ready for his arrival. I decided that I was going to make his bedding, as of today I have the bumper pads and dust ruffle completed but still have the quilt, curtains, sheets, and pillow sham to go. It is definitely a labor of love, but I am sure one day he will appreciate it (right)? We are going to have his room, along with some other rooms, painted next week so I think that is going to be a huge leap toward getting ready for our little munchkin.

Everything is going as planned and my next appointment is April 20th, I think after that it will be time for the blood sugar test (yeah!).

Isabelle's First Date

2010-04-08T14:24:00.005-05:00

Over spring break we purchased tickets to Disney on Ice, we had purchased a couple of extra tickets so we asked Isabelle's good friend (aka boyfriend) Jonah and his mom to join us. Isabelle was so excited about the show and even more excited that Jonah was going to get to go with us. She decided that she wanted to wear one of her princess costumes so that "when the princess see her(me) they would know that she(I) am a princess too".. The princess of choice was Cinderella and she kept referring to Jonah as her prince charming. She even told me while I was doing her hair, "mom, me and Jonah are going to have to kiss because that is what Princesses and Princes do". I know now that she is going to be a handful.

When we picked up Jonah and Monda he was so sweet and brought Isabelle her very first roses, she was in heaven. Surprisingly enough their outfits even matched (it was not planned that way), they looked like to love birds going to prom. On the way to the arena Jonah talked with Isabelle in the back seat about what movies she had seen lately, he showed her his school, and even showed her the McDonald's he like to go to.

Here are some of the pictures from the event:

When Cinderella came out dancing with Prince Charming Isabelle asked Jonah to hold her hand, and then made him stand up and dance with her.. It would be so sweet if they actually got married (when they are MUCH older of course), the wonderful stories that we would have to tell.

Isabelle with her first roses from a boy- Thank you Jonah

Spring Break- A trip to the Zoo

2010-04-03T23:12:00.004-05:00

For spring break some of my brothers and sisters came over for a visit and we headed to the Dallas Zoo. I knew that it was going to be crowded because of Spring Break and all, but it was more than I had expected. Despite the crowded entry and parking in the over flow lot it was really not that bad once you got into the park. Isabelle loves going to the zoo and she was so excited that Uncle Shane, Uncle Troy and Ashley were going with us.

Isabelle taking on a Tiger (from a distance)

I love when she strikes this pose, it is called "be pretty like a Princess". I think she believes all Princesses rest their head on the hands when the take pictures =)

Going to the Lodge... the Great Wolf Lodge

2010-04-03T22:44:00.006-05:00

Isabelle is really big into commercials and one of her absolute favorite is the Great Wolf Lodge commercials, she has been asking us to go for months now. One of her friends from school went last year and she heard how much fun she has, so the Lodge was permanently ingrained in her brain. We finally booked a weekend stay there since we knew that with Baby Davie coming in July we would not be taking our normal 2 week trip to Ocean City, MD this year. Isabelle talked about the trip everyday for a week until finally it was time to go =) I am not sure what I was thinking booking a trip to the water park with a child that is really not that into swimming but all in all it turned out to be fun.

When we first arrived we checked into out room and went straight upstairs to check it out. We upgraded to a wolf den suite so that Isabelle and Grandma (my mom) would have there own private room, well it was semi private. Grandma had to work until late that evening so we went to the waterpark to check it out before she got there. Isabelle liked the park but for some reason the girl is just not a big fan of the water, she does not like to get splashed and she is scared of people running her over or bumping into her when she is in the pool. (I think that has to do with how little she is =) Anyway after not much time in the pool she was ready to get out of the waterpark and check out the rest of the hotel. The Lodge has a magic wand that you can purchase to go on an quest with, where you find different clues that make pictures light, items in the hotel talk and even move. We knew Isabelle was much to young to do the quest so instead we bought the wand and left it in demo mode, it was great! She was able to shake her wand at all kinds of things that would light up, move and make noises.. This had to be one of her favorite parts about the mini-vacation. When Grandma finally got off of work Isabelle and I went downstairs to wait for her outside near the front entry. We were standing by the doors when someone lit a cigarette. Isabelle tells me,"Mom we need to get out of here that man is smoking and it is not good for the baby. Baby Davie breaths what you breath and he does not have thumbs yet so he cannot hold his nose. Smoking is bad for babies, and I am trying to be helpful so let's move".. LOL What a thoughtful, sweet little girl I have.

Isabelle and her magic wand growling like a bear.

Isabelle and Grandma's wolf den, it came complete with Isabelle's own TV she was so tickled to finally have a TV in her room.

One of Belle's favorite parts of the GWL was story time. Every night at 8pm they would have a story time downstairs in the lobby. There was an anamatronic forest that would come to life, singing and dancing for all of the kids. Once that show as over they would read a story and you got to hug the wolf goodnight before you were off to bed. The night the above pictures were taken we all went to the Melting Pot for dinner and were absolutely miserable, but it was so delicious. Isabelle had a blast cooking her own shrimp and would even talk to them, she would say," Don't worry little shrimpie this will only hurt for a second".. LOL

Views of the waterpark from the main lobby

Isabelle with her new stuffed Wolf that Mommy and Daddy got her, Wolfie is his name. It turned out that on the last day we were there Dave won Isabelle a second wolf from one of the claw games. Dave is a claw game master, so now Wolfie has a sister.

Grandma and Isabelle, and me with my angel =)

Donuts with Dad

2010-04-03T18:36:00.003-05:00

One Thursday morning Isabelle sent an invitation to her Daddy inviting him to Donuts with Dad. She was so excited that morning to take her Daddy to school and show him off =) We are truly blessed that Dave can actually work from home sometimes and take his little girl to school to celebrate such a special day. She loves her Daddy so much! (even the though the pictures below looks like Dave has been homeless for a week and Isabelle just woke up from a comma, I could kill these two what an awful picture.. LOL)

The little girl who eats very little actually managed to eat 1 1/2 donuts that day!

4th Birthday Party Take 2

2010-04-03T18:09:00.007-05:00

So for Isabelle's family party this year I decided to use the K.I.S.S. method and keep it simple (minus the stupid)! I bought a beautiful Princess cake from the fancy new Kroger down the street, we had munchies and a bunch of family show up to celebrate Isabelle's 4th birthday!

People came from near and far, Baby Tyler even made an appearance =)

Isabelle sat on the ottoman as she opened her gifts and then she would ask that people come up and sit with her as she opened her gifts.. LOL When I would tell her who the gift was from she would say, "come on up"! It was what she did at her party the day before so she wanted it to carry over. We tried to explain that adults didn't want, but Mom-Mom went ahead and indulged her.

She received so many wonderful gifts, one of gifts she got was from Grandma (my mom) it was an "American Girl Doll". She got one from her party the day before and now she has two! She also received the bathtub, a couple changes of clothes, a slumber party set, and an entire closet of shoes.... The girl is in fake American Doll heaven =)

Isabelle had a wonderful birthday weekend that was magical and fun. It is hard to believe that our little girl is actually four years old. She has grown right before our eyes from a tiny little infant to a full grown little girl that can write her name, say the Pledge of Allegiance, and ride a bike. She constantly amazes me with her wit and charm, and I love her more every single day. Isabelle is cautious, calculating, and loves to snuggle with her Mommy (which I pray will never go away).

Isabelle- Daddy and I love you unconditionally and you are the apple of our eye. The next big adventure in life for you is going to be being a big sister and I know as caring, loving, and nurturing as you are you will be the best big sister a brother could ever have. Happy Birthday sweet Angel, we love you.

Birthday Party #1

2010-03-01T15:46:00.009-06:00

Isabelle is blessed enough to have so many people that love her, so this year we had to have two birthday parties for her! The first birthday party was on Saturday, her actual birthday, and the theme was a princess tea party. All of the girls dressed up like princesses and the boys dressed up like superheros. Isabelle insisted upon real glasses dishes for her tea party, so I have spent the last month at every Good Will and CCA in the area but finally managed to find enough cups and saucers. The kids started off with coloring and the tea party and we actually managed to have no spills (a miracle). Then Abby (who even spent the night that night) went around and did the girls make up while I sprinkled princess dust in their hair. They decorated their own cupcakes, did the pinata and finally retired upstairs to play in Isabelle's new playroom. The best part was it was a magical day for my sweet little princess, she truly had an amazing time!

The cupcakes I made for the parents, they turned out so pretty =) I had to do boy gift bags and girl bags, did not think that princess bags would go over well for the boys!

I asked Isabelle why she kept putting her hand up, her reason was so a bird could land on it like Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Last picture is Isabelle and Abby, Abby was such a big help with the party and Isabelle was so tickled that she was spending the night in her new bed with her.

The four year old banner I made her, it was so fun looking back at the old pictures I have of her.

Isabelle's Prince Charming, Jonah, as people would come to the party she would open the door and say,"welcome to my castle" but when Jonah got there she ran across the room and yelled, "Prince Charming is here" and was he ever dressed the party (ADORABLE, the little love birds).

This is Isabelle explaining to Abby that the doll she just opened is an American Doll.. LOL Isabelle recently discovered the American Doll catalog, after reading it she closed it put her hand on the top and said, "that was the best magazine I have ever read". Since then she has been wanting one, so we are letting her just believe that this doll is an American Doll, is that so wrong??? The answer is NO, those stinking dolls are $100 a piece please let me live my lie for as long as possible.

For the past two years Pop Pop Fish has sending Isabelle fruit bouquets for her birthday, the girl absolutely LOVES fruit! She was so excited to see that she got another one this year and immediately dove into eating it.

Abby is Isabelle's role model now, so when it was time to go to dinner Isabelle had to put a dress on that matched Abby's and do her hair the same. Meagan the "American Doll" even made it into this picture =)

Snow Day #2 for 2010

2010-03-01T14:25:00.007-06:00

Some of the snow had melted by the time I took a picture of the house, but an impressive amount of snow had gathered on the table on the back porch over the past couple of days.

Daddy told Isabelle that once he was done with work he would help her build a snowman, so the fun began as soon as Daddy was off his conference call. It was clear to me that this was not Daddy's first snowman. I love the picture of Isabelle falling in the snow it reminds me of the Christmas Story when the little brother fell down and could not get up, she was all bundled up this day.

The first picture is the beginning of a snowball fight with Daddy, apparently the girl is not very good at picking out opponents but luckily Daddy went easy on her.

The snowball battle continues!

We used Mr. Potato head pieces to build the smaller snowman, and Isabelle and Daddy built the bigger one all by themselves (as I manned the camera).

Snow Day #1 for 2010

2010-03-01T14:05:00.006-06:00

After the Valentine's Day party we headed home to play in the snow for a little while. I have lived in Texas my entire life (with the exception of one year) and I have never seen this much snow in the DFW area. Isabelle and I had a blast playing and building our first snowman. I have to admit this was my first snowman ever, with the exception of a small one foot snowman and I hardly think that counts. What I am trying to get to is I need some serious practice when it comes to snowmen building =)

Isabelle was trying to catch a snowflake on her tongue like Caillou does.

She is in love with her snowman, she called him her husband. Later that evening she told me that she was worried about her husband being outside all by himself in the cold and she hoped he would be ok.

Valentine's Day Party!

2010-03-01T13:57:00.003-06:00

The day of Isabelle's Valentine's Day party at school was the first day of a ridiculous amount of snow. I probably would have just let her skip school that day but of course I had volunteered to pick up lunch for the party so I was now obligated to go. It turned out being fine, although there was a lot of snow the roads were not to bad and my sweet hubby was not going to take a chance with his pregnant wife so he decided to drive me to the party on his lunch break (love that man!).

The party was short and sweet but the kids still had a great time. They passed out Valentines Day cards, ate a Chick-fil-a lunch, and decorated heart shaped cookies.

My Little Buddy

2010-03-01T13:47:00.003-06:00

It absolutely amazes me how creative and imaginative Isabelle can be sometimes. One night Isabelle was playing in the office while I was working on the computer. She found the end pieces to a sheet of address labels and called Daddy into the room. She had him lay on the floor then put the label piece on the top of his eyebrow and begin to "wax" his eyebrows like how Mommy does at the nail place. Cracked me up that she would see that little piece of paper and even think that, needless to say Daddy's eyebrows look beautiful now thanks to Isabelle =)

Ouch, right across the entire eyebrow thank goodness it was not real wax or he would have looked a little crazy.

Isabelle's Room Makeover

2010-03-01T13:32:00.004-06:00

A little over a year ago I moved Isabelle from her nursery into a big girl room across the hall, painted the room, made a comforter and went with a monkey theme. We had ever intention of just letting the new baby sleep in the old nursery (redecorated of course). Once we finally got pregnant my opinion changed. Dave and I had secretly wanted to finish out part of our attic for a playroom for Isabelle and being that the attic was off of the nursery room it made more sense to move her back into the nursery. So for her birthday present this year we decided to give her a new room, new furniture and an attic makeover. She is so excited, here are some pictures of her as the room progressed I am going to have to take some pictures and post the finished product pretty soon. The room turned out so cute =)

Isabelle sleeping in her new room, in her new bed for the first time.. she was so tickled! When we told her about finishing out the attic I don't know that she could really imagine what that was going to look like, but once their was plywood on the ground and drywall she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. She walked it and started planning where she was going to put things, a doll house here, babies there, etc.. She could not stand it any longer the day there was a floor and the contractor gave her the go ahead to play in there she was bringing in toys. We had to take them out that night so the drywall people could come and texture but she didn't mind!

Now that the room is done she has a space that everyone loves to play in, well everyone except for tall people with a low roof it makes it a little hard =)

12 Week Testing

2010-03-01T13:15:00.005-06:00

A few months ago I went in for some 12 week testing with a perinatologist to see how the baby was doing, and hopefully find out the sex of the baby. It is crazy how far science has come in the short 4 years it has been when I was pregnant with Isabelle. When I had her Dave and I opted to not have any testing done because nothing was going to effect the outcome of whether we had her or not, although we absolutely feel the same way about this baby we felt like for Isabelle's sake we should probably have some of the testing done. If anything was wrong we wanted to be sure to have plenty of time to prepare and talk to Isabelle about what to expect. Thank God the baby looked wonderful, and the first gender prediction is a BOY! The perinatologist we saw has been wrong 2 times in the past 5 years, so I think our odds are pretty good especially after seeing some of the sonogram pictures.

I love the second picture it is a shot from the top of his head as he raises his little arm to wave!

It is still a little early at 12 weeks to make a 100% positive prediction but we are pretty sure we are expecting a boy in July! Isabelle was fine with a boy until we got in the car, then she told Dave and I that she was very mad at us because she told us she wanted a little sister. Although she was hoping for a little sister she is still incredibly thrilled just to have a sibling, she is going to be such a big sister. She has also made up her mind that the next baby (a year from now, she says) WILL BE a girl, we have tried explaining to her that God decides not Mommy and Daddy but she is pretty sure God will decide for us to have another girl!

As for the rest of the testing we later found out we have a 93% chance of the baby not having down syndrome and a very slim to no chance of the baby having Trisomy, we are truly blessed!

My baby will be 4 soon!

2010-03-01T13:04:00.004-06:00

In January we had my good friend Laura (www.watermelon-photography.com) take Isabelle's 4 year old pictures. I cannot believe that my little baby is turning 4 years old, where in the world has the time gone??

New Years Eve

2010-03-01T12:56:00.003-06:00

For New Years Eve Dave picked us up some sparking grape juice to celebrate the New Year. All day Isabelle was anxious to drink out of the "Mommy Daddy glasses". Finally the time came, the moment she had been waiting for all day. See for yourself how much she enjoyed it:

She was so giddy, and she just knew that this was going to be so cool drinking her "wine".

YUCK! After one sip Isabelle decides that wine is not for her (thank Goodness)!

The Day After Christmas

2010-03-01T12:29:00.004-06:00

So it has been 3 months (to the day) since my last blog post, ridiculous I know! I am not going to make any more promises about the frequency of the post to come, because obviously I cannot live up to that promise. However, today between loads of laundry, dishwasher loads, making a grocery list, entertaining Isabelle, and cooking lunch I am going to try and catch up a little.

I left off on Christmas day, so lets pick up there... The day after Christmas Dave, Isabelle and I made our rounds around town to see family. First stop was Meme's house and we had a great time! Naturally the kids were so excited to open presents:

Poor Conner was so excited on Christmas when he thought he got a Tag reader, come to find out he didn't get the reader all he got was the books (small misunderstanding). He was so disappointed when he found out that he did not have a Tag pen. Dave and I heard on the way to Meme's house so we had to stop by Wal-Mart on the way and get him a Tag, poor guy. When he opened it his first question was, "does it have a pen". So sweet =)

Shane helping Collin open his presents and Ashley helping Isabelle, what good Aunts and Uncles they make.

After Meme's house we went to what Isabelle calls "regular Grandma" house. (That would be my mom, she calls her regular Grandma and calls my moms mom real Grandma) Grandma gave her one of the gifts that she has been dying to have a doll that poops and pees for real! When she opened it she was so excited and announced that it "real blinks" while blinking her eyes rather hard. So I introduce to you, Isabelle's first pooping and peeing baby now known as Caroline:

She has to be one of the scariest looking babies, but like all mothers Isabelle loves her anyway =)

For dinner at Grandma's we ate lasagna and I was worried that Isabelle might make a disaster of her white outfit so Isabelle put on one of Grandma's Olive Garden shirts. It was quite big on her so after some accessories courtesy of mom she was styling while she ate dinner.

Isabelle in her Cowboys cheerleader costume courtesy of Nana and Pops who do not want their granddaughter to choose her Daddy's team, the Redskins!

Christmas Day

2010-01-01T14:27:00.008-06:00

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)

2010-01-01T14:16:00.006-06:00

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

2010-01-01T13:56:00.003-06:00

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

2010-01-01T13:33:00.003-06:00

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

2010-01-01T12:56:00.004-06:00

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

2010-01-01T12:30:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-01T12:18:00.004-06:00

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!

2010-01-01T12:08:00.003-06:00

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

2010-01-01T11:38:00.003-06:00

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

2010-01-01T11:33:00.002-06:00

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??

2010-01-01T11:16:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-01T11:08:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-01T10:31:00.007-06:00

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

Isabelle tries, tries again...

2010-01-01T10:16:00.003-06:00

For some reason Isabelle has an aversion to writing her name, I am not sure why but for some reason she just does not want to do it. I know that she can, she has most of the letters down in the alphabet but for some reason she refuses. On this day Isabelle was going through the Toys R Us Big Book, you know the one you get before Christmas, and was circling all of the things that she was going to ask Santa for. Well she came across the doll section and circled three baby dolls in a roll. When I asked her why she circled all of the babies she said she really wanted a baby that pooped and peed and all three of these babies did that. I read the descriptions and only 2 out of the 3 babies pooped and peed, so he made a huge X threw the baby that didn't. Then she asked "mommy, how do you spell I changed my mind"? So I started to spell it for her, and she did REALLY well that is when I put my foot down and told her that she was going to spell her name. When she finally wrote it she was so tickled with herself, I knew that she could do it! We still struggle with getting her to do it on a regular basis but we are getting there, what a big girls she is =)

Holy Cow, WHAT HAPPENED??

2010-01-01T10:10:00.002-06:00

The Wink family did not fall off the face of the earth, we still have internet access and we are all fine! I cannot believe that it has been 2 MONTHS TODAY since my last post. One of my many New Years resolutions is to be better about updating my blog. I am so mad at myself about falling so far behind, this is such a great way to "scrapbook" all of the great memories that our family shares so I have to get better about it. I give you permission if you see that I have not blogged for let's say a week then feel free to send me a nasty email calling me on how much of a slacker I have been =)

So today, I am going to do my best to get us caught up from November 1st through the rest of the year.... so much to do!

Scare in the Square

2009-11-01T22:52:00.004-06:00

It was a sad day at the Wink house on Friday. We have all been so spoiled by Dave's job that he never misses anything, he can either work from home, leave early, go in late, etc. but he never really misses any functions or appointments. Well Friday was the first time and as depressing as I make it sound it was totally not a big deal. We had planned to go to McKinney's Scare in the Square but the darn thing went from 4-6pm so we knew by the time that Dave got home and we got to downtown McKinney that it would be over and done with. So Isabelle and I decided to go on our own, Dave was worried that Isabelle would be upset but she could have cared less when she found out there was candy involved.

So on the way we started discussing what pirates say and all week she has been saying "Argg Matie", well on this particular night she told me that they say Arrgg Smartie. I told her that they do not say Smartie and that was when Iz said, "Mom, don't you know that Smartie means Matie in spanish? Maybe you need to take Spanish classes". Well apparently I do because I was not aware of that tidbit of information.. LOL Her and all of the spanish words that she makes up, now she has started to throw in "sign language" on top of the spanish.

When we got there we trick or treated up and down the streets of the heart of downtown McKinney it was really kind of fun. The only bad thing is that none of the shops were open, they have apparently got some new stores since the last time that I have been so now I am going to have to make another trip out there. Iz was not being very patient that night, anytime there was a line with more than 10 people at a particular store she would say "I don't like this line, let's just skip it".. LOL, it worked for me so we would skip the store and go on to a shorter line.

This was our first year there and it was ok, I think that I had a little to much build up you know when people build it up so you expect so much more.. I was a little let down but I am sure we will go again next year, hopefully Dave will get to come then =)

She was so excited about taking a picture with this witch that is until she thought it moved.. LOL It didn't move but you could tell by the look on her face she was a little scared.

Sophie Grace

2009-11-01T22:42:00.002-06:00

After Dave got of work on Thursday we headed over to Fort Worth to meet my new niece Sophie Grace. She is definitely a cutie pie, and the first thing that Isabelle asked when we left was if I had a baby in my belly yet. She really knows how to pull at your heart strings, I feel so bad telling her no. I know that she desperately wants to be a big sister so hopefully it will happen soon. =( I even thought about hanging out by the Safe Haven drop spot and wait for someone to drop off their baby but Dave wouldn't let me, he is such a party pooper. Anyway, Sophie is a cutie...

My sister in law, Jennifer =)

Isabelle's Class Halloween Party

2009-11-01T22:28:00.003-06:00

Isabelle had her class Halloween Party on Thursday and of course Mommy organized it. It was a lot of fun, the school had a Noah's Ark themed that they called Ark-tober fest. I had already made Isabelle her pirate costume but the school asked that the kids dress up as an animal from the Ark or as a bible character so Isabelle and I agreed upon a bunny rabbit. Here is the little bunny girl:

The school really did a good job of organizing the party. They had each class host two games inside of their class room and then all of the kids would travel from class to class taking part in the games. Myself and another mom helped in the 3 year old room by doing the face painting. The kids were so cute, of couse we were not professional face painters but we did have some crazy requested. One of those request being from Isabelle who wanted a moose, why in the world would she want a moose? Instead we compromised for a heart.. Another little boy wanted Lightning McQueen, yeah right, instead I painted a bolt of lightning. It was a lot of fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Since it was raining all of the events were inside which was perfect, a bounce house in the chapel followed by a popcorn picnic at the pumpkin patch (aka Mrs. Kiser the music teachers room).

The gold fish filled witches that Isabelle gave to all of her friends for Halloween, so mad at myself for not getting pictures of the cupcakes that I made. Urghh!

SUMC Trunk or Treat and Blood Drive

2009-11-01T22:10:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday we went to the Trunk or Treat and Blood Drive at our church. We had a great time but Isabelle for some reason is going through this shy, timid, everything is dangerous stage in her life. I am not really sure what is up with her but I am hoping that it passes quickly. She has been like this for a few weeks now but the first evidence of the day was on the train at Trunk or Treat. Isabelle was so excited to go, waited her turn in line, jumped in and then all of the sudden she decided that she had to go potty and did not want to ride. She really didn't have to go potty that was just her excuse for getting out.. At least I captured a good picture of her before she got out so it appears as if she rode =) She did however jump on the saddle at one of the Trunk or Treaters cars and pretend to ride the horse.

After the TorT Dave and I decided to go donate blood, now that was the experience of the day... I want it to be known that I am not scared of needles, I am not a wimp, nor do I mind giving blood. After I was done giving blood that blood sucker (I mean worker) as me if I was ok and I told her that I was feeling a little light headed. She calls Dave over to bring me some juice and Dave later told me that I was as white as a sheet. After I drank the juice I told her I was feeling a tiny bit nauseous (HUGE mistake do not ever do this). Next thing you know the technician is lifting up my shirt to put a cold rag under my shirt on my head, and throws a enormous red trash can in front of me to throw up in. I told her I was no where near throwing up but she insisted that I hold it, I was so embarrassed! Then she wants me to take off my sweater, I had to draw the line there and insist that I was going to be fine.. I don't know why I got so lightheaded but I was so embarrassed, hopefully someone will end up using the blood I donated that way it will all be worth it. The funny part is that about 2 minutes before all of that happened Dave had just sent Isabelle over to say, "Mommy are you flat lining" little did they know I was.. LOL

Brooktone Fall Festival

2009-11-01T21:52:00.003-06:00

I have to say that we the Social Committee really outdid ourselves at the Fall Festival this year, we had soo much stuff planned. We did kind of a carnival style festival with small games for the little kids, games for the bigger kids, Trunk or Treat, pumpkin pie and glow in the dark necklaces. There was a lot of preparation for getting ready for the event and Isabelle decided that she had to help. She is getting so big and wants to help with absolutely everything, good part is that if you give her a small task many times she can actually be productive =) Dave, Isabelle and I had to make some goody bags for the kids and Isabelle's job was to put two pieces of candy in the bag, pass it to Dad so he could put two additional pieces and then I tied it. It was hilarious, Isabelle would put her pieces in and then carefully watch Daddy to see what pieces he was putting in. A couple of times Daddy got yelled at for putting her favorite kind in, so we had to explain to her that it was for the community party. She helped for about 30 minutes and then her attention span was spent and it was on to bigger and better things.

At the festival Dave and I seem to run around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to make sure that everything runs smoothly. With so many games and things going on it seemed like both of us were running a little thin. The bad thing about these events is Isabelle really suffers the consequences of Mommy running it because neither one of us can spend much time with her letting her participate in on the fun. So Dave was "watching" Isabelle while running the Pass the Pumpkin game (like musical chairs), and I was trying to serve up pumpkin pie. I stepped away to go check on Dave and Isabelle and went to were I last saw them and asked someone where Dave and Isabelle were. The answer I got was, "umm, they actually just left to go look for you". So as I am walking around looking for thw TWO of them I run into Dave who was infact not looking for me but for Isabelle he had LOST her, the guy I had just talked to was apparently covering for Dave. Later I found out that he was not covering but mearly "not going to cause a mother to panic by telling her that her child was lost".. I guess I can appreciate that, kind of .. Luckily we quickly found her and she was fine, she had found a friend and was off playing with them. Ewww! Next event I am going to have to figure out some kind of solution to make the event fun for Isabelle without loosing her=)

Isabelle and Mak being partners in the candy corn toss game.. they were so cute =)

Trunk or Treating

Sorry for the bad pictures I took the crappy camera instead of the good one.

Crafts, crafts and more crafts =)

2009-11-01T21:34:00.003-06:00

I have been working on getting my new room organized all day today and I am in desperate need of a break. You know when you stare at things to long, you have rearranged them a million different ways, and you suddenly become overwhelmed.. that's me right now! So while Dave is researching all of the possibilities of what could be wrong with our dishwasher on the internet (did I mention it broke.. urghh, just another reason I am overwhelmed right now), I am going to take the time to catch up on my blog a little =)

The past couple of weeks in the Wink house have been somewhat of a blur, we have been going non-stop. Among all of the things that we do here one of Isabelle and my favorite things to do is craft projects! I am blessed to have a daughter that loves to do craft projects, she is definitely her mother's child. I cannot wait until she gets old enough to learn to sew, we are going to have so much fun. I even saved her my old machine so that when that joyous day comes I can pass it on to her, I get so giddy just thinking about it =) Focus Erica, focus... So anyhow I have been dying to make a Fall wreath but just have not gotten around to it. Of course when I bring it up to Dave he says, "do people really do Fall wreaths??" Of course they do, so the last time we drove through the neighborhood I was happy to point out all of the wreaths on the neighbors doors and wha-la I have now finished my first Fall wreath...

(Isabelle just had to be in the picture with her piece of candy.. LOL) Now there are a couple of things wrong with the picture. First, my door looks pitiful and really needs to be restained (on my to do list), second the picture does not show all of the sparkliness (if that's a word) of the wreath, third thing is that the darn wreath will not stay on my door. What the heck, by the time I come up with a solution it will be time to hang up a Christmas wreath!! I first bought a suction cup to hang it up with and because of the drastic temperature changes it kept falling off. Then I bought a hook but because of the grooves on the door it makes the wreath stick out 4 inches from the door. So now, when I get a chance I am going to go buy one of the magnetic wreath hangers. I hope this works because I am tired of seeing all of that hard work just laying on the dining room table.

The other craft projects Isabelle and I did were decorating the Halloween gingerbread house and decorating our Halloween tree. Yes I said Halloween tree, laugh if you must Isabelle and I like to be festive. Sad to say that this week it is being redecorated from a Halloween tree to a Fall tree.

Again the picture does not do the tree justice, it looks a lot better in person. As for the gingerbread house, Wilton has now made me do one for every single holiday! Since our first gingerbread house last Christmas Wilton has started to come out with Easter houses, Halloween houses, etc.. Of course Isabelle has to do them all, just can't wait to see what they are going to come out with for Valentine's day, cupid's crib??

CVS Adventures

2009-10-19T21:27:00.003-05:00

The other day Isabelle and I were at CVS and she wanted to try on some Halloween masks. Then she showed that she really knows her Mommy when she said, "take my picture and put it on the blog".. LOL I had completely forgotten about it and before taking her to bed tonight I told her that I had updated the blog and she could look at it when she woke up in the morning. (She is a follower of the blog, she looks at the pictures and watches the videos all of the time) She then asked me if I remembered to put the mask pictures of from when we went to CVS, and I had totally forgotten since they were on my phone and not on my camera. Isabelle, just for you I posted the pictures.. Love you girl!

Oh yeah, and this is the other side of the Halloween outfit I made with the witch embroidered on the front!

Photo shoot at the Arboretum

2009-10-19T20:41:00.007-05:00

Today Isabelle and I, along with our good friends Jaime and Kaitlyn went to the Dallas Arboretum for a photo shoot. We did this last year too with the girls, and although it is absolutely exhausting it is incredibly rewarding. Rewarding in that we get great pictures, exhausting because you are fighting with three year olds all day to get pictures. We packed at lunch and headed out, when we arrived we found that we were apparently not the only ones with this idea. The line was crazy, I guess this was the first non-rainy Monday in 5 weeks so people were coming to take advantage of it. It was a beautiful day and perfect for pictures. Here are just a few of the good ones that I got:

There are a still a bunch of them that I need to make a some adjustments too, but these should be good for now!

Ladies and Gentleman it's Isabelle...

2009-10-19T19:52:00.003-05:00

I was so proud of my girl on Sunday, it was her very first singing performance =) At Isabelle's preschool they take music classes once a week and they have been working on a song to perform at the service this past Sunday. Isabelle was a little nervous at first but after a couple of rehearsals she did great!

I love how she emphasis the words with her lips, it's hilarious!

Party People

2009-10-19T18:21:00.005-05:00

On Saturday we had all kinds of fun parties to go to. We started out at our friends the Smerczynski's house for Haylee's 5th birthday. The party was pirate themed (Isabelle's new favorite) and so much fun! There was a pinata, craft projects, a gorgeous cake and cupcakes, and tons of friends to play with. Unfortunately, I am a moron and forgot to bring my camera. It was so much fun and I hope that Haylee had the best birthday every, we love you guys!

Following Haylee's party (we picked up our camera) and headed over to Isabelle's boyfriend, Jonah's house. Jonah and his little sister Meredith were hosting a Halloween bash! It too was really funny. There was another pinata, bobbing for apples sanitary style (with tongs), mummy wrapping game and Isabelle even got to decorate her own cupcake.

Look at the love birds =) The second picture Isabelle looks a little evil like they just got busted kissing or something.. LOL

Bobbing for apples, and catching spiders with straws

This icing somehow got everywhere; her jacket, her skirt, ME! Oh well, she thought it was yummy and she had fun that's all that matters!

Fertility Update

2009-10-19T17:26:00.004-05:00

The theme of the month is SHOTS! Dave and I went in for a consultation with the RE (reproductive endocrinologist) since we are still not pregnant. On our first visit he had told us we should be preggo within 4 months of treatment, but as you can see that did not happen so we had to regroup with him. He said that it could be that I possibly have endometriosis which if that is the case then I would need to have a laparoscopy to see if I had endometriosis and if I did then he would do his best to get what he could off of my fallopian tubes. The other alternative would be start doing FSH injections to boost the amount and quality of the eggs that I produce. The doctor recommended the injectables for now and if they don't work by December then I will go ahead with the laparoscopy.

With all of that being said we started the shots about 3.5 weeks ago. It is a good thing that shots do not bother me but I have to admit by the end of the whole thing I was starting to feel like a science experiment gone wrong. I went in to the doctors office to see how many follicles I had. There were a whopping 10-15 follicles but unfortunately only 2 made it to the grand finale =( I was really hoping for more but it only takes one, and hopefully one of these will actually take. We did the IUI two weeks from this Thursday and so I take a preggo test this week. I am not suppose to take the test until Thursday but I am very impatient so I will probably do it tomorrow, so please keep us in your prayers.

The good thing about the shots is Isabelle and Dave LOVE giving them to me. I have a feeling that a very small part of them will be sad when they don't get to give me shots anymore.. LOL Isabelle transforms into Nurse Isabelle, and she gets to wipe what she calls the "sanitizer" (really an alcohol swab) on my leg. Then Dr. Daddy give ms the shot. The first time that I got the shot in front of Isabelle she stood about 10 feet away and watched, you should have seen the look on her face when Dave shot me. I asked her, "are you ok, or are you freaking out?" She told me that she was fine and then admitted that she was freaking out a little bit because she thought maybe she would be next.. LOL Another time right after Dave gave me the shot there was the tinniest speak of blood so nurse Isabelle was quick to run over with her sanitizer and rub it off. Ever since then before each shot she tells me, "I hope you bleed". What a sweet little girl I have =)

Nurse Isabelle & Dr. Daddy

Tosha's Baby Shower

2009-10-19T16:56:00.004-05:00

My sister Tosha is having a baby this month, so my mom, my sister-in-law (Jennifer), and myself all threw a baby shower for her a few weekends ago. It turned out really well and Tosha got a lot of really cute stuff.

The diaper cake I made for baby Sophie.. Tosha and Josh (the babies daddy) with the diaper bag and accessories that I made for Sophie

The blanket that my Grandma made for baby Sophie. Grandma does this for all of the great grandkids, they are so nice=) The blanket that Grandma made Isabelle is her most favorite blankie in the whole world, she calls it "white blankie" and she ~~CANNOT~~ WILL NOT sleep without it. The last picture is of a Christmas outfit Sophie got that is ADORABLE! I am going to figure out a way to duplicate it for Isabelle, obviously a bigger girl version.

Isabelle's Halloween Wardrobe

2009-10-19T16:46:00.005-05:00

I have created Isabelle a Halloween wardrobe, so if you see a bunch of pictures lately with her in the same outfit it is because I am making her wear them everyday.. LOL Hey it is a lot of work making these outfits and she only gets a month to wear them so she is wearing them every chance we get =)

This outfit is reversible, unfortunately I do not have a picture of the other side (yet). I am sure that she will be wearing it again soon, I will capture a picture then.

I am so incredibly proud of her costume! I was very nervous wondering if I was going to be able to pull it of, but it turned out sooo cute! Unfortunately the belt is crooked in this picture but that is not the norm =) The patch work skirt was a serious undertaking! I don't think that I have every gathered so much in my entire life, but it turned out really cute as well. I have already purchased a turkey fabric to make a Thanksgiving one, my goal is to have it done before Halloween so she can wear it the entire month of November.

Daddy Daughter lawn mowing day

2009-10-19T16:35:00.003-05:00

I am not even going to comment on the fact that I have not updated my blog in forever, we all know it so lets just move on =)

A couple of weeks ago Dave announced that he was going outside to mow the lawn. Isabelle is now in her "helping stage" so she decided that she too was going to mow the lawn. Here are the pictures of the Daddy Daughter lawn mowing day:

Keep in mind that to actually get this picture Dave had to turn the lawn mower off so that Isabelle would get anywhere close to him.. LOL What a brave little lawn mower she is, she just stays on the patio and mows the side walk =)

Flu Shot Obsession

2009-09-24T11:31:00.003-05:00

Isabelle has developed an obsession with the flu shot! We went as a family on Labor Day weekend and all got our flu shots now all the girl can talk about is flu shots. On Saturday as we are walking up the balloon fest the first balloon Isabelle sees is this one:

Most people would see this as a First Aid balloon but not Isabelle she yells out "look Mommy a flu shot balloon, I think that is where you go to get your flu shot Collin needs to come here". So now she is starting to worry about people not getting their flu shots and Collin (because she knows he will be coming over in the next couple of days) is the first person she thinks of.

Tuesday I go to pickup Isabelle from school and she tells me that she is REALLY worried about her friend Jonah. She said that he has a cough and a little bit of a fever (he had no fever.. LOL) and she was not sure if he got his flu shot yet. She wanted me to call Mrs. Monda right now, Jonah's mom, to make sure that Jonah gets his shot..LOL I swear the girl is obsessed, but so everyone sleeps well at night Jonah already has an appointment to get his flu shot. Isabelle was so relieved when I told her =)

My little girl is such a carrying person.

Grandma & Collin come to visit

2009-09-24T11:04:00.003-05:00

These are two of my favorite pictures EVER!

Tuesday my mom brought over my nephew Collin to visit and spend the night. Isabelle has been begging me for months to have a sleep over, so she was so excited when I told her Collin was spending the night. I wanted to take their pictures in their pajamas so they both climbed up on the bed and posed. Some how the posing turned into cute little midget wrestling.. LOL They looked so adorable wrestling in their little footed pajamas, and I was surprised at how Isabelle was able to hold her own again Collin. Collin is a pretty solid little boy and Isabelle was flinging him around =) When it was time to go to bed I made the two of them a pallet on the floor knowing it was going to be a little bit of a battle getting them to sleep. I read them some books, turned on the baby monitior and left the room to hear what all was being said on the monitor. It is so cute to hear two little people carrying on a conversartion. Collin would tell Isabelle that he wanted his mommy, and Isabelle would tell him that his mommy was at home but she was there to protect him. Then Collin said "I want to go pick up my mommy" Iz "you have a drivers license??"... LOL They went on and on forever until Isabelle asked "are you having a problem Collin, my Daddy said if I have a problem that we can go get him". The next thing you know Isabelle and Collin are outside of the room, blankies in tow and Isabelle tells us that Collin is having problems.. There were a couple of "problems" throughout the night until Grandma finally laid with them until they were asleep.. They had so much fun together, and really enjoyed each others company!

The next day we deicded to have a picnic at Celebration Park. My Aunt Kelly was watching my cousins daughter (not sure what that makes her to me) Cylie, so we called and asked if they would like to join us. Cylie came and played with Isabelle and Collin and had a really good time, I am so glad that they were able to join us!

The Balloon Fest

2009-09-24T10:35:00.008-05:00

Last Saturday we took Isabelle to the Plano Balloon Fest, it was a first time for all of us and we really had a great time. The walk from the parking lot to the fest was ridiculous to say the least, but well worth it to see the awesome show! We packed a dinner, brought a blanket and found a spot on top of the hill to watch all of the events. It started off with the sky divers. Isabelle's only question was "why are they jumping out the plane".. Can someone explain that to me, why DOES a person jump out of a perfectly good plane?? I don't know the reason, but it made for great pictures:

After the sky divers Isbaelle started to socialize (as Isabelle does), and of course she found some friends. The people sitting in front of us had a little girl, Sidney, and Isabelle had a blast playing and trying on the hats that she brought with her.

She is such a natural performer!

Ditching Mom and Dad for her friend, I cannot believe it has already started so soon.

The Balloons were obviously the highlight of the day, there were probably 30 of them all within yards of where we were sitting. As they took off many of them flew over us, and the really amazing site was when they lit up after dark.

After the balloon show they had fireworks, which I kind of wish I had not told Isabelle about. Isabelle LOVES fireworks, and they were suppose to start at 9 pm which was past her bed time but I thought it would be ok to be a little late. The fireworks ended up starting at more like 10, so by the time we got home it was 11-11:30. We were all so tired, and Isabelle had fallen asleep in the car before we could even get out of the parking lot.

Catching Up

2009-09-20T19:56:00.006-05:00

I know, I know it has been forever since I updated my blog.. That seams to be my normal M.O. lately, I have to start getting better. Today I am sick in bed with allergy junk and completely shut out from the word so I thought to myself, "self, what better thing to do than catch up on the blog" So here is what went on this week:

Monday- my friend Jamie, Kaitlyn brought of Jamie's sister Lori, and her son Hunter for me to embroider a couple of bags that Lori had. I was a little nervous about working with the bags, thinking that I was going to somehow mess it all up and ruin her bags but things turned out beautifully.. Yeah! After embroidering the bags I was in craft mode and decided to whip out a flower barrette for Isabelle. I met someone a few weeks ago who's daughter had one in hair and it was adorable, she told me how to do it and mine came out all right but I think I have a few kinks to work out. Here is what it looks like:

Oh, and normally Isabelle does not walk around naked but she had just "woken up" from her "nap". (As you can tell with all of the quotations she clearly did no sleeping) When she takes her "nap" the only thing that she has left to play with is her clothes so she changes them, takes them off, puts socks on, gets shirts stuck around her neck.. you know the normal toddler thing. Speaking of clothes, I almost forgot to post this little gem of a picture =)

Last Saturday I let Dave pick out Isabelle's outfit, needless to say you could tell which of her parents picked out her outfit and "did" her hair. Well it was never more apparent to me that Dave was her Daddy until I caught her bending over playing I saw CRACK! OMG, she is definitely his child I am constantly getting on to him about pulling up his pants and now IZ is showing crack. I took a picture of both of them doing it together but did not think that Dave would be thrilled of a picture of his crack on the blog LOL

Tuesday- I dropped of Isabelle at MDO and went to go get my hair cut. I had been debating for a couple of weeks about how much to get cut off, but finally decided to bite the bullet and cut it after all it will grow back. When I showed the hairstylist the two hair styles that I was looking at she said she thinks that I had enough to donate to Locks of Love. I think she ended up cutting more than what I wanted but I was ok with that since after all it is going to a good cause. When I went to pick up Isabelle she didn't even notice, how do you not notice 10 INCHES! It was not until after I picked her up, put her in the car, put on her seat belt and got in the driver seat that I finally asked her if she noticed anything. She finally noticed and said that I looked like her teacher, Mrs. Leath. I have been harassed about posting pictures, and I took some when I got home but am not really all that happy with the pictures. Here they are anyways:

Tuesday was also my dad's and sister's birthday.. Happy Birthday we love you guys!

Wednesday was uneventful, nothing really to report.

Thursday Dave and I dropped of Isabelle at school and went to an appointment to the RE (or baby doctor as Isabelle likes to call him). We had a consultation about what the next steps would be. On our initial consultation he had said that we should be pregnant after 4 months of fertility treatment, well we are on our 4th month so know we have to see what is in store for us next. What the doctor came up with is one of a couple of things he said that my ovaries are really high up which could be making it hard for my fallopian tubes to catch the eggs. He also would like to eventually do a laproscopic surgery to check my fallopian tubes for endometriosis. This is just an outpatient surgery and you normally have to take it easy for a couple of days and then you are as good as knew. If he got in and saw that I did have endometriosis on the tubes that he could remove what he could of the endometrosis and if the fallopian tubes were a total loss than we would have no choice but to do an IVF. (which is like 10's of thousands of dollars and out of the question). Finally option would be to do FSH injections which has a couple of different side effects including multiple births, a 20% chance of times (which we would be fine with), and ovarian hyper stimulation. So what we have decided to do is to do the FSH shots for the month of September, October and November and then if we are not pregnant in December than we will go with the surgery. If everything come out ok on the surgery and we are still not pregnant we are probably going to take a couple of months off and get on birth control. The reason we would do that is because we got pregnant with Isabelle the same month that I quit taking my birth control pills. The doctor seemed to think that the reason we got pregnant so quick was that after I was now longer on the pills my body went into overdrive trying to get back to normal and made me extra fertile. That is our plan, but we will still have not eliminated the possibility that we could be pregnant this month. We had one follicle this month (which is all it takes), so I take a pregnancy test on either Tuesday or Wednesday this week. If I am not prego then I go to the doctor this week so they can teach me how to give myself the FSH injection.. Fun, fun, so please keep us in your prayers!

Thursday night we went out with my dad, Kim, Ashley, Papaw Stokes (my great grandfather), Meme (my dad's mom, and Tom for dinner to celebrate all of the birthdays for the week. My dad's and Ashley's the 15th and Meme on the 17th! Happy Birthday to all of you!

For those of you who know Isabelle she LOVES butter, she was in heaven when Meme completely drenched her bread in a gallon of butter. MMMMM!

Papaw Stokes and Iz

Craft Addiction

2009-09-12T16:21:00.002-05:00

Last week I mentioned that I have become addicted to a few crafting blogs. I find myself looking at these blogs and wanting to do so many of the projects, and I know that in a week or two I will forget all about them. Not to mention by the time I remember to do them with all of the blogs that I search I will not remember where to find them. The solution to the conundrum that I am in is to create another blog that is a "To Do List" of sorts, so that I will always know where to find them... So with out further ado, I inrtroduce you to:

The Crazy Craft Chic
http://thecrazycraftchic.blogspot.com/

A Rough Week

2009-09-11T14:42:00.002-05:00

We had a rough week at the Wink house this week. It started on Tuesday after I dropped off Isabelle for her 1st day of school. I went to the RE (reproductive endocrinologist) to see how many follicles had been produced in this months cycle. I was aggravated to find out that we only have one follicle again this month. The first two months that I was on fertility meds I was producing 3 to 4 follicles per month which greatly increases the chances of me getting pregnant. The Clomid worked great in that it gave me a bunch of follicles but it started to decrease my uterine lining (common side effect) which has to be a certain thickness to make a pregnancy stick. The thinning of the lining made the doctor switch me to another drug called Femara. I have know been on the drug for 2 months and it has been absolutely worthless to me. It has a reputation of being a much better drug that the Clomid but for some reason it didn't work for me. So Tuesday the nurse said that if I do not get pregnant this month then we are going to have to switch to injectables. She also gave me the heads up that injectables are $1,000 a month! That would be on top of the Ovidrel, Femara and the IUI that I have already been paying for out of pocket. We are now looking at spending about $1600 a month! I really, really, really hope this is our month. I cannot even describe to you how incredibly frustrated and emotional I am right now. I have so many questions, doubts, worries, mixed emotions, and anxiety that I cannot even see straight. I just have to put it in the Lords hands (which is incredibly hard to do), and know that there is a plan. I just wish that I had the secret decoder ring to know what that plan is....

On Wednesday Dave had to take Tootsie, our dog, to the city pound. It has been a struggle for both Dave and I the past couple of weeks deciding what to do with her. She tore her ACL last year on one of her hind legs and it was going to cost of between $2,000- $2500 to fix it. We could not afford to do that, but read that usually once one goes out the other one will be soon to follow. When we returned back from vacation in July we noticed that Tootsie was acting a lot different. She was not at all active and just laid around the house. Then we started to see more signs of her slowly worsening condition her hind legs started to loose muslce mass from not using them, she would jump up to chase things and start to wimper in pain, and one day she even fell down the stairs. It was time for us to do something for her and our best choice was take her to the city becuase they have animal advocacy groups that come in to try and take care of the animals. Dave and I are hoping that she was rescued and taken care of by one of the groups. We were not sure how Isabelle would feel so we decided that we wouldn't tell her anything at all until she asked. When Dave got home from dropping of Toots he cleared out all of Tootsie stuff so not to draw attention to the situation. Two days later she finally noticed, and I am not even sure she would have if I didn't point it out. We were looking for something for lunch and she said asked if she could feed Tootsie and I told her no. Later I told her that Tootsie was gone, that Daddy had to take her to the doctor and she didn't believe me. She started to laugh and thought that I was joking with her. It took me about 5 minutes to convince her that I was not joking and that Toots was not coming back, I though she would be sad but the first thing she said was "can we get a cat". Apparently I don't have to worry about her being upset, well other than the fact that I said no to the cat.

Isabelle's 1st day of School

2009-09-11T11:41:00.005-05:00

It was inevitable, Isabelle is a big girl now. When I am complain about Isabelle getting bigger Dave always tells me that it is suppose to happen that way, but I want her to stay my baby forever =( Tuesday was a big day for us, Isabelle's first day of school. I was a little worried that she would be nervous and maybe even cry a little when we dropped her off, but who was I kidding she could not get rid of me fast enough. It started when we were at home and she said "come on dad let's go, bye mom". I explained to her that I was going to go with them to drop her off at school. Then she asked me what was I going to do all day. I told her I had a doctor appointment, then I had to go to Costo, and then I was coming home. She was nice enough to tell me that I was going to be "alllllll alone". You have to read it drawn out like that because that is how Iz said it, sure to express how alone I was going to be =( When we got to school she said bye to me at least 3 times before it was actually time for me leave, she is over needing Mommy.

Her class lets out at 2:00 and I arrived around 1:50 to pick her up, she was so mad that I picked her up early! Not only was she not sad to see me go but she was now mad when I picked her up. Now I have to be sure to leave my house no earlier than 1:50 or wait in the parking lot for her.. LOL

The matching blanket, nap mat and tote I made Isabelle for school. I am not thrilled with the fabric, but Isabelle loves it because it has two of her favorite nursery rhyme characters the Big Bad Wolf and the Gingerbread Man. (why she choose them I will never know)

LD Bell Raiders

2009-09-11T10:34:00.004-05:00

Last Friday we went to Hurst to see my little brothers (not so little anymore) playing in the LD Bell band. Talk about a blast from the past, I never thought that I would hear the old school song again. Anyhow, they did a great job and I still can't believe that two of my brothers are what we always called "band nerds".. LOL (love you Shane and Troy). Bell ended up losing the game, but we still had a great time.

2nd picture- Shane is in the first row all the way to the right

1st pic- Shane is the one directly behind the girl to the right a little 2nd pic-taking a good guess, but I think Troy is third from the back (everyone looks alike in these uniforms which is kind of the point)

Troy playing the Tuba, and my nephew who has a good chance of making the KISS band.. look at that tongue

I think he could have reached his tongue if he only could have stopped laughing.. LOL

Meet the Teacher

2009-09-04T17:34:00.004-05:00

Last night was Isabelle's meet the teacher night for preschool, and she was so excited. We are getting the daily question of "am I going to school today", but she does not start until Tuesday the 8th. She is attending school at Redeemer Church right up the road from our house. When we arrived they had everyone meet in the sanctuary for introduction and brief update on some construction they are doing to the church. As we are sitting there Isabelle starts looking around and says, "Mom, I hear Jesus talking". I explained to her that it was not Jesus, simply the man on the stage using a microphone. (I guess the amplification of the microphone gave her the impression that Jesus was talking) Then she says, "Oh, is he God".. LOL She is so funny and cute! Lately her questions all revolve around God, she is so inquisitive =)

At first I was a little sad about the whole preschool thing thinking that she is growing up to fast (which she is), and that I am not ready to let her go even if it is only from 9-2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then lately I have been stocking up on a bunch of fabric and I though, oh my gosh I am actually going to be able to sew during day light hours while Isabelle is at school. How exciting as that! Not only do I have a bunch of sewing projects lined up but I have recently discovered a slew of blogs that have awesome project ideas that I cannot wait to tackle. My Tuesdays and Thursdays will soon be filled with endless possibilities.. Love it!

Here are some of the blogs that I am following from a distance from now, but will soon be diving right in:
http://sewspoiled.blogspot.com/
http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/
http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/
http://whimsycoutureboutique.blogspot.com/
http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/
http://www.modabakeshop.com/

Conner's 6th Birthday

2009-09-04T16:47:00.004-05:00

My nephew, Conner, had a birthday party a few weekends ago so I made him a cake. I have come to the conclusion that girls cakes are sooo much easier, I think it is a matter of motivation. With a girls cake they are so cute and pretty that I am excited about it, but I have to admit when Conner called and said he wanted a Pokemon cake I was not thrilled. I mean really, how in the world am I going to make a Pokemon cake cute and exciting. Not only did he want a cake, but he specifically asked for cakes and cupcakes. So here is what I made for him:

It is really hard to believe that Conner turned 6 years old! As we know kids grow up so fast, but I remember the day he was born. Funny enough the day after his birthday was Dave and I's first date, so his birthday is always like a little anniversary for us =) Conner is getting so big and is growing up to be a cute little man.

Isabelle with three generation so grandparents (my mom, my dad's mom, and my dad's mom's dad.. that hardly makes sense. My mom, my grandmother and my great grandfather)

Two of Conner's best birthday presents a bike from his Mom and Josh, and a BB gun from my grandfather. All I can think about it a Red Rider BB gun and "you're going to shoot your eye out".

Happy Birthday Conner, we love you!

A New Outfit

2009-09-04T16:41:00.004-05:00

A few weeks ago my friend Jaime and her daughter Kaitlyn came over for a sewing project. We worked the girls our first set of pants and a reversible top. I have to say that I was a little intimidated with the pants and then you add the whole reversible clothing in there and I was a little worried. It was so much easier than I ever expected (thank goodness), and have made Iz a set of capris since then. I have lots of plan for this particular pattern so keep an eye out for a Halloween outfit =)

The only problem I have with the outfit in the ribbons on the side. I think that they are a little to wide and since making it she wore the outfit and the ribbons come untied all of the time. Next time I am going to either use buttons or a ribbon that is not satin.

Arboretum Pictures

2009-09-04T16:27:00.005-05:00

First I have to say that I hate when I get this far behind on my blog, it seems like it takes forever to get caught up. Then you just keeping putting it off and when you finally do go to catch up you have forgotten all of the stuff you are going to write about. Oh well, I can only do my best so just deal with it people..

I will start with pictures from my good buddy Laura at www.Watermelon-Photography.com we took the kids to the Dallas Arboretum a couple of weeks ago to get a few pictures. Laura has a petty coat that I have been dying to get a picture of Isabelle in since it seems like way to much work to make one =) I did however whip her up this little outfit the night before we went so that she would have something to match the skirt, it turned out really cute. The pictures turned out great (as usual) I just wish that Isabelle would learn the difference between a real smile and a fake one..

Thank you Laura, we had a lot of fun and got some really cute pictures.

The Potty Song

2009-08-14T17:15:00.004-05:00

When Isabelle was potty training someone recommended Once Upon a Potty, so we bought her the book and the movie. She has now been potty trained for a year and half and she still loves to watch the movie. Not only that but she is always singing the song, so I decided to catch it on camera. I thought it would make a good memory, and a wonderful video to show at her wedding.

I had to stop half way into the show so I could catch the whole thing on video. (Disregard the boxes in the background, we aren't moving just getting a neighbors mail)

Swim Lessons are finally over

2009-08-14T16:31:00.004-05:00

We finally finished our last two week sessions yesterday and I am so happy. My little girl is a much better swimmer but also because I am sooo tired of driving all the way to Plano everyday. Enough about me Isabelle was definitely the star of the day. The past two weeks she has not complained about swim classes once time as a matter of fact even ask last Saturday why we weren't going. I was so relieved that this time it was more fun for her, that is until this Tuesday. Tuesday was the first day that they started going of the diving board again, I could hear her yelling, "No, No, No". It was so sad, but I knew it was for the better. Mrs. Margaret being the tyrant that she is just kept yelling at her to Knock it off.. LOL The woman is so sympathetic to kids fears, I just love it =) You may think that this is torture (and it kind of is), but the whole point of having them go off the board is to ensure that if for some reason they were curious and dove off when no one was looking that they could swim back to the side by themselves. She also teaches the kids how to get out the pool without the steps or stairs just using the side of the pool. Isabelle is like her mommy and likes to calculate the risk factors in her head, so I don't think she would ever do anything crazy at the pool. Just in case she has a lapse of judgment I can sleep easy knowing that she could (hopefully) make it out the pool or swim to the side.

Locky, Locky, arms up high before having them swim between teachers

Off the diving board

Isabelle with Mrs. Margaret, her report card and M&M's.

My addiction

2009-08-14T16:15:00.002-05:00

Hello my name is Erica and I am an addict, I am addicted to fabric... I am sorry I cannot help myself, I keep seeing all of these great fabrics and they happen to be on sale when I pass them so how can I say no?? I mean really, I am walking the aisles and they start saying, "Erica, Erica, we are on sale. Please buy me, I am so lonely. I would make such a great outfit for Isabelle". What would you do, just walk away? That would be heartless. Needless to say I have enough fabric now to make 6 outfits, when will I find the time? Whatever you do don't tell Dave, I don't think he has noticed yet. I do have a clear plan for all of the fabric I have purchased that has to mean something.

The good news is I made a great little tote for Isabelle when she starts Mother's Day Out. I am so proud of myself. The tote has three pockets, to magnetic closures, and a lining... Who knew I had it in me? Of course with the fabric addiction and all I also managed to buy enough fabric to make a matching blanket for nap time =) I will have to post pictures when I finish it, that means I need to start it.....

Isabelle new Favorite Show

2009-08-06T15:22:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning I was in the bedroom getting ready and Isabelle was in the living room watching TV. I kept hearing this sawing noise while I was getting ready and thought it was a little odd for a cartoon, but just ignored it. A few minutes later I go in the living room to find Isabelle absolutely mesmerized by an infomercial, not just any infomercial but one about a multi-use tool. I had to do her hair and she kept telling me to hurry so that she could go back and watch this great new show. She was going on and on about how they make old things new again, and it even can cut things.. LOL Apprantely the girl cannot be trusted with the remote control, and I guess we are going to be buying the MultiMaster for Isabelle for Christmas. Most three year old girls want dolls and dress up, mine wants power tools. Her Daddy is so proud =)

Here is a short video from YouTube, Isabelle has already watched it a couple of times today:

Going to School

2009-08-05T22:53:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe how big my little baby is getting. This week I signed her up for a Mother's day out program. She has been harassing me for months about going to school, she tells me she needs to learn things, she needs more friends, and besides that Caillou goes to school. Caillou was the final straw, if he goes to school then she has to go to how can I argue with that??

Starting on September 8th she will be going to school every Tuesday and Thursday, and I will be left alone watching Caillou all by myself.. Kidding, I am a little excited to get a little free time to work on sewing projects, my card business, and maybe even get my house organized. Don't get me wrong I will still miss the little princess. I cannot believe how big she is getting, you know you don't have a baby anymore when you have to buy a lunch box!

Funny story, we had to go to the doctor to pick up her shot records. When we pulled up Isabelle asked what we were doing at the doctor. I told her we had to get her shot record and she says-
I-"another flu shot" (with a little sigh and anxiety in her voice)
M- "no not another flu shot, we are just getting your shot records"
I- "oh ok"
We are walking in the door to the doctor
I-"What's that going to feel like?" (LMAO)
She is so smart, I explained to her that it was not going to feel like anything it was just a piece of paper. =)

Circus, Circus, Circus

2009-08-05T22:41:00.004-05:00

We took Isabelle and Dave parent's to the circus last week and had a great time. I have to say it was not as good as the circus last year but we still had a lot of fun. Of course Isabelle loved it, and this year I actually remembered to bring a camera with the memory card in it (could have killed myself last year).

The motorcyle ball was the best part, they actually had 7 MOTORCYLCES in this little ball going round and round. I was so scared they were going to crash, those have to be the dumbest 7 people on Earth! (no offense, if one of the morons is reading this)

Isabelle's Happy Place

2009-08-05T22:31:00.002-05:00

Isabelle in her Happy Place

Last year, right before Christmas Dave had to go out of town on a business trip. While he was gone Isabelle and I had some mother daughter bonding time. During this time I introduce Isabelle to hot chocolate. We laid on the couch with hot chocolate, popcorn, and watched Snow Dogs one night and The Polar Express the next night. Since those two nights Isabelle is convinced that when you have popcorn you have to have hot chocolate. So the other night we had a family movie night in our bed, we watched a movie, ate popcorn, and Isabelle drank hot chocolate. (Dave and I aren't crazy we know it is 100 plus degrees outside).

Mamaw & Papaw's

2009-08-05T22:24:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago we went over to my Mamaw and Papaw's house to practice Isabelle's swimming skills. (It was after the first week of swim lessons) We had a great time and Isabelle showed us how Mrs. Margaret taught her to hum under the water. The funniest part of the day was when Daniel was pulling Isabelle around the pool on a float, he got tired so he got out of the pool. Isabelle tried to talk him into coming in but he wasn't having it until Isabelle said, "Daniel I thought you were my good buddy".. Holy cow, he was just manipulated by a 3 year old! How could he have possibly said no after that comment, she had him right where she wanted him. Wrapped around her little finger.

Isabelle and her good buddy Daniel

humming in the water & feeding the fish in the pond

Swim Lessons

2009-08-05T21:47:00.004-05:00

About two and half weeks ago Isabelle started taking swim classes, and I have to say that I was a little doubtful that it would work out for her. She has been the biggest scaredy cat this summer when it comes to water. She will get in but she doesn't want to be splashed and she would prefer the kiddy pool or hanging out on the steps. When my good friend Jaime recommend Mrs. Margaret to me I knew that I had to get Iz started in classes right away. She was so excited about it until after the second day of class =) The first day all they really did was evaluate her and the other kids to see which class would be the best for them, day two was the day that the "fun" started.

At Mrs. Margarets house Mommys are not allowed back to the pool, you just sit in a designated area on the side of the house and try to listen as best as you can. You cannot see the pool and so really you have no idea of what is going on, other than the screams from small helpless children that assure you that they ARE being forced to go under water. Really this sounds a little harsh but it is all for the better. So on day two Isabelle comes out with her nose just pouring boogeys, leading me to believe that she inhaled gallons of water. I start to dry her off and see in her poor little eyes that she is starting to cry. I ask her what is wrong, the response I get is, "I don't want to talk about it". Enough said, no talking! The third day she tells me that she does not want to go but seems fine once we get there. The week goes on and I hear things like, "Mommy, I told you they are trying to drown me". The best was one day I could hear them all laughing really loud. When class was over I asked her what she was laughing about and she told me that they were just laughing for the Mommys.. LOL All I can think is that they told the kids to laugh loud so the Mommys could hear them so we thought they were having fun... Hilarous! One day I told her that if she didn't cry today in class that I would give her a treat and she tells me, " just save it for tomorrow because I AM going to cry today". Hey at least she has put a little thought into it.. poor girl=( It has to be the absolute hardest thing I have ever done, taking her to these classes knowing that she feels tourtured and hates it so much. There were days that I just wanted to cry and tell her she didn't have to go, but I worked through it and put on my strong Mommy face because I knew it was for the better.

So half way through the second week Mrs. Margaret tells me that she thinks I should sign Isabelle up for an additional two week session. Dave and I discussed it and I could not put her through another two weeks, she just hates it. We were convinced that we were going to wait until next summer and just sign her up for two sessions then, we did not want to traumatize her. That is until SHOWDAY... On show day Dave and I finally were able to go behind the mysterious gates of Mrs. Margarets pool and see what our little girl had learned over the past two weeks. I have to say I was absolutely amazed and almost brought to tears (but I knew Dave would make fun of me if I did that). Mrs. Margaret had the little girl who did not even like to be splashed going off the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool, she would go off the side of the pool and swim to Mrs. Margaret, off the slide, down to the bottom of the pool to get rings, and much more. Granted Isabelle was not exactly jumping off the side of the pool or the diving board with great excitment, instead she was having to be put into the water by another teacher but WHO CARES! She wasn't crying, throwing a fit or anything. Not only that but she would tell the teacher,"I don't want to jump in, can you please just put me in", that is a huge step from the NO, NO, NO's we used to get. It was at this moment that I looked and Dave and said, " we are signing her up for two more weeks no matter what". When the class was over Mrs. Margaret told everyone that if they wanted an additional session that she still had some spots open. Before she could finish her sentence Isabelle yelled, "no Mommy, I am finished, I don't want to come anymore". That's when I gave her the old, "we will talk about this in the car". Needless to say after a little bribery we have started our second session on Monday of this week =) Stay tuned for updates.......

I love the look on her face going off the diving board. She looks scared but she didn't cry or anything (good thing because there is a strictly enforced rule of no crying in Mrs. Margaret's pool)

At the end of show day Isabelle got her very own bag of M&M's and a report card. (After each day of class Mrs. Margaret gives the kids a couple of M&M's, so it is a real treat to get a whole bag) She was also able to pick a new toy at the toy store for doing so good in the show, the winning toy was a Little Mermaid water slide for the bathtub. I caught her last night while in the bath tub splashing it and saying, "excuse me, I got to get the slide wet". That is what Mrs. Margaret says when she sprays water on the slide, she splashes the kids at the same time and they all laugh.. So cute!

The Last Day at the Beach =(

2009-07-27T17:07:00.005-05:00

The last day on the beach we made Isabelle's hand print in the sand. This year we did her name too, because I had so many extra gems. After the beach we headed up to the condo so that I could start packing. While I was packing Dave and Isabelle watched Caddy Shack, or as Isabelle called it "the Gopher show". Isabelle found another favorite movie while on vacation, Ghostbusters, who knew!

For our final dinner at the ocean we went to a great little country restaurant. It was a great goodbye OC meal with good company.

The Last Day on the Boards

2009-07-27T16:50:00.004-05:00

Before we left OC we had to make one last trip to the boardwalk for Isabelle to ride her favorite rides. This years favorites are the bumper boats, the indoor boats, tea cups, and the train. We will have to see what favorites next year will bring.

While at the Little Gym summer camp Isabelle learned that pirates put one of the arms in the air, make an ugly face and then say "urrgghh". That is what she is doing in this picture with Dave.. LOL

The Day of the Boo Boo

2009-07-27T16:33:00.006-05:00

No vacation would be completely without Isabelle getting hurt, and I have to say that this particular vacation will go down in history. Iz was hurt more on this vacation than any other vacation we have ever had. First she was stung by a mosquito and had a pretty severe allergic reaction, her ankle swelled up twice the size that it normally is. Then she was showing us how she does the balance beam on a parking curb, fell off and scraped her knee and elbow. The big boo boo came when we were at the pool with the Fishers. Isabelle was running to get her towel and ended up in a head on collision with the cement. You can imagine who won. At first I thought it was just her nose but once she finally quit crying she said that her head was hurting a little too. I brushed her bangs aside to find a nice sized knot on her head.

Poor little baby- Luke, Erin and Isabelle

The boo boo's did not end here, Isabelle fell the very next day at Dumsers and hurt her knee. I swear someone is going to bring me up on child abuse soon.

Vacation Day 12

2009-07-27T15:50:00.006-05:00

On Day 12 Isabelle had someone to play with on the beach. One of Isabelle's relatives, Lucy, came over to play. (I am thinking she might be a third cousin) They had so much fun except Lucy loved the water and Isabelle did not find it appealing at all. At one point Lucy started running down to the ocean and Isabelle yelled, "stop the waters down there". At this point in the vacation she is still convinced that only Mommy and Daddy's play in the ocean and it is simply for decoration, and definitely not for kids.

I love this picture of Pop Pop and Isabelle. Staring out at the ocean having a serious conversation about life. - Isabelle and her new buddy Lucy.

This was about as close as Isabelle was going to get to getting in the water. She would stand there and when the water would rush up she would run up and yell I got wet, just as excited as she could be. She was so proud to finally put her feet in the water =)

Later that afternoon we decided to go up to one of the local hotels and see an old friend of the family play with his band. We had a great time and were able to meet family members that I had never met before. Everyone was so friendly and Isabelle met another friend and relative, Erin. Erin and Isabelle were told that they could play in the sand right next to our table. Just a minute later I look over to see that they are both gone. Dave runs after them and they are half way up the beach. Once he catches up with the escape artist he asked Isabelle what she was doing and her reply, "I was with my friend dad". Oh she was with her friend, I guess in her mind that would have been fine since she wasn't alone. Did I mention their total combined age is 7!

Isabelle and Erin making "sand angels"

Doesn't Erin look so pretty? - Pop Pop Fish, Teeney and Roland

Tricia, Larry & Jason- Steve, Dave, Pop Pop Fish, Roland, Scott, Larry, Jeff & Jason

Pop Pop Fish and Sandy - Steve and Julie

Vacation Day 11

2009-07-27T15:32:00.004-05:00

Isabelle has gone to Ocean City Maryland for the past three years, and the first year that we took her we went to a restaurant called Phillips. When we went in Isabelle was dressed so cute, hair in pig tails and a cute little outfit. By the time that she left she was a wreck! She had poured ice water all over the front of her outfit, her hair was out of the pig tails and she left in nothing but a diaper and tennis shoes. This year I had to get her picture next to the Phillips sign just as I did 2 years ago. What a difference two years can make:

July 2007 July 2009

Vacation Day 10

2009-07-27T15:25:00.003-05:00

On day 10 we spent the day at the ocean. After a stressful (ha, ha) day at the beach what better thing to do than eat at Dumser's Ice Cream. This would be the day that Isabelle had her first ever gumball!

She looks like a little chipmunk

The Fourth of July

2009-07-27T14:56:00.005-05:00

I will start off by apologizing to all of my blog followers (Sandy), I have really been slacking off on the blog lately. Between swim lessons, company all week, and trying to get out of vacation mode I have been busy. I am going to start making a much better effort. With all of that being said, lets go back to vacation:

The Fourth of July-
I have to say there is no better place to watch fireworks than laying on the beach. They shoot them right over your head and you can actually feel some of them in your chest (or as Isabelle says, "in your belly"). We headed down to the boardwalk a little earlier, grabbed dinner at the Dough Roller and then Isabelle said she wanted a sucker that was as a big as her head. It was a special occasion so why not let the kid have what she wants. Once we got to The Candy Kitchen Isabelle decided that a sucker as big as her head was a little much so she opted for a foot shaped sucker. Almost a month later she is still working the same sucker =)

The "fire cracker" dress I made Isabelle. I am not sure that she will ever wear this dress again because she is somehow convinced that you can only wear it when you are watching fire crackers.

Isabelle and Pop Pop Fish. Julie with the gigantic Barry the Bee that Uncle Steve won for Isabelle.

Isabelle watching the fireworks with Uncle Steve and Julie

Dave and his Thrashers french fries, they were so Yummy! A pictures of all of the boats lined up to watch the fireworks.

We had a magical 4th of July on the ocean, it doesn't get much better than that.

Vacation Day 8- A Traumatic Day at the Beach

2009-07-08T21:00:00.005-05:00

This day at the beach started out like every other. We greased up with sunscreen, got on the bathing suits and then carried a mountain of Isabelle's toys down to the beach. The only thing different from this day was the WIPE OUT. Isabelle has been a little scared of the water this year so I was surprised when she agreed to go out in the water with Dave. I was taking pictures of them out in the water when a huge wave snuck up on Dave. I quit snapping pictures because I was worried and started watching first hand rather than threw a lens. I am so upset with myself because it was a sight to see, Dave holding Isabelle up in the air so not to let her get under the water as Dave is drowning from this rouge wave. Her head never went under but she was still pretty upset and shaken. Now she refers to the ocean as purely "decoration", and it is only for Mommys and Daddys not kids.. LOL

the first look at the rouge wave

Way taller than the two of them

Dave turning the shoulder and taking the brunt of the wave

Before the wave, Isabelle playing in the sand. After Isabelle telling Pop Pop Fish about the horrible wave that changed her life FOREVER. What a drama queen

Isabelle taking care of naked baby, followed by her burying naked baby in the sand up to her head. We did discover that Iz will be a great big sister. We were sitting on the beach when a baby started crying, instantly Isabelle runs to the babies rescue and starts singing her lullabies. The baby stopped and would just stare at her watching her sing and dance. This happened every 5 minutes or so, it was so cute and sweet. We need a little baby!

Day 6 & 7

2009-07-08T20:10:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, day 6 of the vacation was a little overcast with a threat of rain. We did not want to risk getting out to the beach with Isabelle and her array of toys, just to be scared off the beach by rain. We took this as an opportunity to take Isabelle to see the new movie Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs. I was a little sad that the movie was not in 3D here, but it was still a great movie. I almost forgot to include that Isabelle has Sandy's father (Pop Pop Fisher) and Aunt Teeney (Pop Pop Fisher's sister) wrapped around her finger. The other morning we were all sitting in the living room and Isabelle, Pop Pop Fish, and Aunt Teeney were on the balcony. I look outside and Isabelle has the two of them lined up and showing them how to do ballet demi plia. As Mastercard would say it was PRICELESS, a 80 year old man outside taking a ballet lesson from a three year old.

On day 7 we spent the day together as a family, just Dave, Isabelle and myself. We decided that we would take a trip to the zoo in Salisbury, about 30 minutes from Ocean City. We packed a picnic lunch and were on our way. I have to say that I was not really impressed with the zoo, now I know why they did not charge for admission. We were able to see a couple of animals that they do not have at the Dallas Zoo so the trip was not a complete loss =) I got a great picture of a peacock with his beautiful feathers on display, and Isabelle was able to see a sloth like the one in Ice Age. We ate lunch at a really neat park that was right outside the zoo, Isabelle loved it!

After the zoo we headed back to OC to take Isabelle to play putt putt golf. We took her last year and she played for about 5 minutes then she was over the whole experience. This year she had a blast playing putt putt. Dave showed her how to hit the ball, right after she hit it she would yell "SCORE". Where she got that I don't know, but it was cute =) Sometimes when she would not make the first shot she would scoop up the ball and put it in the hole by hand. After each hole I would ask her how many hits it took her to make the hole (to keep score) and she would yell out a number. By the end of the game her score was a little over 250! That has to be some sort of record.

Isabelle and Daddy hanging like a sloth outside of the sloth display

These were some beautiful mosaics outside of the zoo at the park.

Day 5- The Boardwalk

2009-07-06T23:36:00.004-05:00

One of the best places to go in Ocean City is the Boardwalk for so many reasons, the food, the games, the rides, the food (did I already say that). Anyways, on Tuesday we decided to take Isabelle down to the boards to ride some rides. Last year when we took her we traumatized her by making her ride a ride called "the whip". This was one of Dave's favorite rides when he was little and Isabelle absolutely HATES it! So the whole way there she told us how she did not want to ride the whip. Once there she had a blast riding all of her favorites from last year and a few new rides as well.

A huge tire outside of Ripley's Believe it or Not, she just loves tires.

(This is so cute, I was giving Isabelle a thumbs up and she decided to hold up one finger instead of her thumb. I have been working with her and she can now do thumbs up)

I cannot believe how big she is getting . At one point Dave was standing in line with her, once it was her turn he was going to come and stand with me while she rode. Instead Isabelle turns to Dave and says, "Dad go stand with Mommy, I will be fine". Apparently she is so big now that she doesn't need a grown up to stand with her anymore. Then she said that there was no way she was going to ride a roller coaster. As she got on an airplane ride Dave asked me if he should tell her that this ride was similar to a roller coaster, I told him not to tell her. The first thing she said when she got off was, " that was just like a roller coaster". She then decided that she wanted to ride a real roller coaster, what a big girl! Dave told her that she was suppose to scream and put her hands in the air, putting her hands in the air seemed to dangerous to her so she just screamed =)

It was all fun and games until Isabelle decided that she wanted to get on a race car ride that she saw. Dave and I should have watched it to make sure we knew what the ride did before we let her on it, because apparently it is just like the dreaded whip. She rode around 2 times until she started balling. I had to have the operator stop the ride, thank God she was the only one on it.

As we were leaving Isabelle wanted some cotton candy so we stopped and bought her a bag. She reached in and grabbed a bite and then I grabbed the bag to take a bite myself. As I reached in the bag I noticed a little brown speck. As I started to look into the bag I noticed two ROACHES! OMG, I almost threw up. As we took the candy back and told the cashier about the roaches she actually asked if I would like a different one. Let me think, I am not a big fan of roaches do you have any with crickets?? Duh, I just want my money back. We walked further down the boards and paid a little more for some bug free cotton candy.

Vacation Day 4

2009-07-06T23:25:00.002-05:00

Just another day on the beach. It is so nice here, we have not had a day that was over 90 degrees with no humidity. Who could ask for anything more?

This year we decided to get Isabelle a little pool for the beach and of course we had to bring "naked baby". "Naked baby" comes to the beach with us every year. Doesn't Isabelle look like a proud Mommy?

Monday- First Day on the Beach

2009-07-06T23:11:00.003-05:00

Isabelle was so happy to finally be on the beach, she absolutely loves the sand! Before we actually hit the sand we had to go buy some sand toys, but once we had them we were good to go. Dave and I absolutely hate the sand but it is Isabelle's favorite place to be. Dave took one for the team and played with Isabelle in the sand. She made a short trip down to the water but was a little scarred of it. She would run up to the water and as the waves would crash on the sand she would run as fast as she could.

This first trip to the beach started Isabelle's social beach adventure. Every single day Isabelle walks around the beach looking for "friends" to play with. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to tell her not to wonder off, to make sure we know where she is. She is such a social butterfly. Here are a few pictures from the first day, but be aware they are taken with the point and shoot so they are not that great. Sorry =(

This was as close as we could get to burring her, she did not want us to fill in the hole.

Please Touch Museum- The Greatest Place on Earth

2009-07-02T23:49:00.003-05:00

On day two of vacation, Saturday, we went to a place called the Please Touch museum in Philadelphia. It was AWESOME, my personal opinion is it was better than Sesame Place (which is saying a lot). This place was designed just for kids to do all of the things that they dream about. Isabelle first drove a city bus, ran in a hamster wheel, rowed a boat, and then sat inside of a rocket ship. After all of this we went in a room where you build an airplane out of all of these parts and then hoist it up over 40 feet into the air and see if it flies. Dave and Isabelle built great planes and Isabelle hoisted them up into the sky, it was so neat. After the airplanes Isabelle put on a mechanics uniform and began working on a car, she changed the tires of a race car as a one girl pit crew, and then drove a Scion. She worked a dump truck, and then posed as the State of Liberty under a giant torch made of TOYS! Where was this stuff when we were kids?? She even got to run a city snack cart, which is right up her alley! After all of this we were on the water area. She put on a smock and began playing with boats, damns, and ducks. The only bad thing about this place was as she was doing one thing she would see something else, so she bounces off walls going from one thing to the next. It was like letting her loose in a candy store with endless amounts of candy stuck to the walls. After the water she climbed on a climbing wall and then danced on the floor piano from the movie Big.

The fun did not end there, it was just beginning.. The best was down stairs! As we got downstairs we wound through the Alice and Wonderland maze, dressed up and had tea with the mad hatter. She laid in the bed of the Three Bears, and hung up the mittens from The Three Little Kittens who Lost their Mittens. She drove a dump truck and then unloaded all of the bricks from it into a wheel barrel. She got to clock in and out on the time machine, luckily she got paid for all of this work.. LOL After the dump truck we headed over to a pretend McDonald's where she made her own lunch and than sat down to eat it (all pretend food of course). We then headed over to the hospital nursery where she put on a doctors jacket and took care of the babies, then analyzed some X-Rays. She shot a movie, cleaned a front porch, poured some friends some lemonade, and vacuumed. Her favorite part was to come where she had a little shopping cart that she actually got to push around and load up with groceries.. She went grocery shopping by herself!! After the shopping trip Daddy checked her out, then she checked me out. She said my total was $10,000 so I had to run, I didn't have that kind of money.

As you can imagine we had to basically drag her out kicking and screaming but she had an absolute BLAST! As we were leaving we had to get a picture of her doing a cartwheel in front of one of the signs. The sign was doing a cartwheel so she wanted to do one too.

This museum was once on Jon and Kate Plus 8, which is where we found out about it. Isabelle curious as to why they were not there that day, but she got over it. The Please Touch Museum was the greatest place on Earth! I can't wait to go back one day.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Sesame Place

2009-06-30T22:55:00.002-05:00

Isabelle slept the majority of the way to Sesame Place but kept waking up to make sure that we weren't there yet. At one point she woke up and I could see the Sesame Place water tower off of the side of the highway. When I pointed it out to her she yelled, "Daddy, just drive through those trees. Get off the road!"... LOL She has never been more excited. As we pulled into the park the gleam in her eye got a little brighter and she wanted to see and do everything. As we were walking to the gates we came upon the hand prints of the Sesame Street characters in concrete. We had Isabelle compare her hands to Elmo. While waiting in line someone actually had the nerve to complain about how hot it was, a whopping 85 degrees with no humidity. I wanted to tell that guys to get a grip and come visit Texas, but a saved my comment for myself. The weather was absolutely perfect!

The first thing we did was go jump on Ernie's bed, it was very similar to a bounce house but in the shape of a huge mattress. Following that we headed over to meet Elmo and get pictures taken with him. Isabelle refers to him as the Elmo that does not talk =) $20 later we had an official picture of Elmo and Isabelle, the park is nice enough to let you take your own pictures with the characters so you don't have to buy theirs. One of the coolest things was getting to sit in on Elmo's World! We saw Mr. Noodles, Dorothy the fish, played on Elmo's piano, took pictures with his easel, and checked out the whole set. (Not the real set, but a very good replica) Sesame Place had an awesome water park but Iz did not like it very much. She is not big into getting splashed and seems to be developing a fear of the water. We have her scheduled for swim classes when we get back and she is in for a rude awakening. She did enjoy playing at Sand Castle Park with her "friends", the girl makes friends wherever we go.

Her favorite ride of the day was the teapots, and they had a really neat cargo net maze that Dave and Iz climbed through. We were able to meet Bert, Ernie, Zoe, Abby Caddaby, and Elmo throughout the day. We went in Mr. Hoopers Emporium and bought Isabelle a Big Bird. We went pretend shopping in the Emporium on Sesame Street where Isabelle rang me up for $60,000 in fruits and vegetables?? I had to put most of it back because I didn't bring that kind of money. We saw Oscars trash can, Big Bird's mail box, and took a picture on the steps of Sesame Street.

Toward the end of the day the park does a parade with all of the characters. The clouds started to look really dark and it looked like it was going to rain. We started to get really nervous that they were going to cancel the parade, and we really wanted to see it. With the threat of the rain they started the parade right on time but hustled through in record time. Instead of the normal 20-25 minute parade they were done in 7 minutes =) As soon as it stopped raining we ran as fast as we could, and got in the car right before the skies opened up.

We had a WONDERFUL time at Sesame Place! Hopefully Isabelle will have some memories of it as she grows older.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our journey begins

2009-06-30T22:05:00.003-05:00

We left for vacation Thursday evening and started the first leg of our journey. Our flight left Dallas at 9pm and arrived in Baltimore, MD at 1 am. We thought that Isabelle would sleep the entire way, we put her in her jammies and were looking forward to a peaceful flight. Little did we know that she had different plans! She did really good on the plane as usual, but slept no more than 5-10 minutes. After landing we went and got our rental car (which was a bit of a nightmare) and then headed over to our hotel. I almost forgot to mention that our rental car is a Lincoln Town Car, I think that I have just aged about 50 years! It is a very nice car but it deserves it's own zip code. Anyways, because I knew we were going to be coming in so late I got us a hotel in the airport but I have to say that it was not very nice like most Microtels. Two chubby people, a toddler, and a full size bed do not mix. Let's not forget the temperature in the room, a refreshing stuffy 85 degrees. Dave and slept the majority of the evening with no blankets. At 2:30 in the morning who cares, all we cared about was getting to sleep. We woke up the next morning and headed to Sesame Place. From the moment she woke up that was all Isabelle could talk about, what she would do first, who she would meet first, etc. We headed out of the doors of the Microtel as Isabelle said, "that was a really fun place". As you can tell she is easily amused and has low expectations, got to love it! We headed out on our 2.5 hour ride to Langhorne, PA.