Passed Level 1 - MANATEE

Isabel has been swimming for over 2.5 years now and finally was able to be tested for her first ribbon. She was actually close to getting ribbon 2 as well but there is a few more things we have to work on.
This was the test she had to take...


She did a great job and was so pround of herself now she can not wait to get the red ribbon then the next will be a necklace (we know it as a medal)

Hanging with the cousins...

We went to Thomas and Auris today to have a "playdate" with the cousins. They played so nice together it was nice all of them are getting to that age that they can interact with each and play more then us getting them together for a photo shoot and pretending that they were having fun.

SNOW DAY!!!

We had our first real snow day. Isabel LOVED being out in the snow. The kids were out in the yard for about 2 hours, they liked going down the slide and falling into the snow it was very cute. I have to admit bundling up 4 kids with snow pants, boots, jackets, gloves hats etc... and then having to take them all off WET not my cup of tea but totally worth watching them have so much fun. Makes you wish you were a kid again !!!

Happy Birthday Isabel!

Love, Ben and Chris

Sorry, Chris was a little more interested in the muted TV show ;)

Party Weekend!

Kristin came in from Indiana with Shalyn for the weekend, so friday night Isabel had her first real friend sleep over. Mommy and Aunt Kristin went out. The girls had a great time but of course Isabel was not going to go to sleep for anyone else but me. Shalyn was a little upset that she did not sleep in Isabels room that she cried... How cute are they??

The next day we started the day off with a special guest at dancing school I so wish they lived closer they were so cute together.



Then it was off to the party. Here is the invite we did.

With a few melts downs of the morning because of lack of sleep we finally made it there with a 6 minute nap in the car. It was a lot of fun the kids had a great time played, danced, got nail polish and tattoos. It was so fun to see her with all her friends playing she truely had a fantastic time.


Click on the photo to see all the rest of the party

Isabels bday party

3 year old pics and hanging with ROB THOMAS all in one day.

OMG can someone tell me how to make a 3 year old (well almost 3 year old) smile without the cheesiest expression ever. I thought the photographer was going to kill us both she was really good but just trying so hard. In the end I think we got a few good ones. She looks so grown up in these pics I can not believe it is almost 3 years.


Jen invited us to meet up with her at work so since we had the day off and to our surprise MATCHBOX 20 was there doing some interviews ... lol Good thing we always have a camera. Rob Thomas has the same birthday as Isabel so he was discussing with her what kind of Valentine cakes they get. It was really cute. She keeps calling him Robby Thomas.

Ice Skating

Kristin was in for the holidays so Jeanine, Kristin and I took all the kids ice skating. Isabel did suprisingly well she really liked it. My feet were killing me so I did not have a good time....hehe

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Just a fun photo shoot

I wish she was a little bit more cooperative but she has a hard time not making silly faces and since I am trying really hard to learn to take better pictures and my subject is always moving, dancing and making faces I will be "just learning" for a long time.

BYE BYE PACI!!!

THANK GOD I thought she (ok I)was never going to give this up. I let Isabel have her "paci" at night while going to bed, it was probably so much more my issue then hers but she was so good about giving up her bottle, getting out of diapers, adjusting to a new room and bed (no more crib) that I just didn't want to take it away from her BUT she is going to be 3 soon it was long overdue.
I asked her if she would give her pacifier to Santa Claus so he can give it to other baby's for Christmas and she said OK so I had to jump on it. We put it in a box and I let her wrap it. Got her dressed and headed out to the mall.


When we got there and waited on line for Santa you can see in her face she was excited but yet nervous. Got to the top of the line and she brought her gift over to him and he was AWESOME he said "what do you have for me?" and she whispered "a paci" and he said "what a great helper you are that is just what I needed this year, I am so so proud of you." she turned to me and said "mommy, Santa is proud of me"


When she was all done Santa handed her a present and when she opened her Princess Castle she was so so so excited she was hugging and kissing the box she loved it and was so proud of her decision. When we got home it was late and she played with her castle for a little while then I had her lay on the couch with me and she just had a melt down, crying she needed her paci back. She wanted me to ask Santa for it back she would even give up the castle and then in the morning they can trade again...lol SLICK RIGHT??? Well she finally fell asleep and after that it was smooth sailing, never asked for it again. WWHHHOOOO HOOOOO for us!!

and now for the show !!!!!

We have one of these shows everyday but usually when I take out the video camera she stops, today she was not one of those days.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

First Ear infection :(

Friday night she woke up at 1am with a high fever about 104 then all day sat. we went to the Dr. instead of seeing High School Musical on Ice like planned, he said it was the start of croup and gave her a steriod to hopefully help the coughing. Sat and sun we were in all day getting cabin fever ...lol Her fever finally went down to 100.7 Yea finally. BUT then on Tues. right before bed she spiked a fever of 105.1, crazy how high her temp gets. More motrin and a trip back to the Dr. today and she now has an ear infection in her left ear. Hopefully now with a little antibiotics we will be OK tomorrow for Thanksgiving, lets keep our fingers crossed.

Halloween cards went out...

Got out a few cards this week. Lisa helped me AGAIN with them. My darling was not cooperating for pictures but I couldn't blame her we were in the yard trying to get a few photos and we were both getting eaten alive by these little black bugs so we only got a few.

Went to Adene's for a visit and maybe some pumpkin picking. Well we didn't get any pumpkins (they were ridiculously expensive) but we went on a Hay Ride and a Pony Ride. Isabel loved the pony ride, that was her favorite part. This was the kids waiting their turn ...



There was this HUGE inflatable slide but Isabel wanted no part of it until she saw the oher kids going down she wanted to take a chance took forever for her to get up those stairs but she did it and had fun!

What a face

This is the face I get when I ask if I can take a picture. Does she not know that I like taking so many pictures or she knows and wants to be a pain and not cooperate?? I just can not get her to sit still anymore for me.....:(

Finally started dancing school...

and she loves it. The girl walks around dancing and singing ALL day. I was not sure how she would take to dancing with direction instead of just spinning around freely but she really liked it. She loves when she has to change her shoes to "TAP" Ms. Lauren is her teacher and she has only 5 kids (including her) in the class. All the kids are around 4 and 5 so she is the littlest one but so far she is able to keep up.