I should've known

This is pretty much the picture I wanted -- minus the bunny, which she said she wanted to be a chick instead. But these are the pictures SHE wanted...

I titled this last one "honestly, we're not rockers" -- doesn't she look like that? She also mentioned to me that she didn't want to wear her "pirate" pants because, well, pirates are for boys. So I should've known that this day was going to be "interesting" with her. When she gets in these ultra silly moods, it can sometimes also mean wild, crazy, and somewhat stubborn. I don't need to talk about the stubborness because we all know that ends in discipline, but some of the crazy things were running and hiding when she was about to be disciplined, she asked if she could go talk to Amelia when she heard Amelia waking up from a nap --- I went in to find that she had climbed in the crib with Amelia, I believe she is either part monkey or gymnastics is having an adverse effect. She also was wild at the restaurant today with friends and climbed up on something and might as well have had a shirt on that said "My mommy is not doing a good job" because that's probably what those around me were thinking -- who am I kidding, I was thinking that today too. Oh and the day is only half through....... :)

3 1/2

We don't actually celebrate 1/2 birthdays around here, but today my sweet girl is 3 1/2!! Why does that sound so much older than 3 to me?! I didn't tell her it was her 1/2 birthday or she surely would have expected presents and a cake, but we did get to go to a movie this morning, so I guess we actually did do something special. She really does keep getting sweeter and sweeter all the time. She has the best little personality (although not immune to rottenness too) I wish I could share all of the ways she makes me smile and laugh on a daily basis, but then I guess I would miss it all sitting in front of the computer. :) She is so precious and I am so thankful that God has entrusted her to us!!!

A toy store is a toy store to a 3 year old

Here is proof that my 3 year old is pretty easy to please. Last night, I convinced my husband to take me to a thrift store. I have been browsing on some sewing/craft sites and ladies were mentioning that they had found some cool vintage sewing patterns and material at thrift stores, so I decided that I wanted to try and see if I could happen upon anything interesting. To begin with, the one we chose to go last night was not a good choice. There might have been a great vintage pattern there, but if so it was at the bottom of the bin -- literally. We went to a Goodwill, but it was a Goodwill Clearance Center -- which cracks me up, now thrift stores aren't even cheap enough you have to have a thrift store clearance center. Definitely a clearance center, everything is 99 cents a pound. Everything is thrown in these HUGE bins, no rhyme or reason EXCEPT for the toys, they are all in one area. So as soon as we walk in, Isabella is excited to see bins and bins of toys. It made me laugh to realize its not just the toy area in Target, Wal Mart, or Toys R Us -- even old broken toys get this child excited. Well, the trip wasn't a total waste, we got a frisbee for the dog to chew up, I found a Disney dress up dress for Isabella (its in the washer as I write) but best of all -- Isabella found her "treasure" -- this is what she wanted, we couldn't convince her otherwise.

May I present, Dancing Cow -- as she has named him. Now all of you rush out to your local thrift store in hopes of finding a "dancing" wooden cow with a broken ear!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my honey!!!! He's the one on the right with the Urkle pulled up pants with the huge roll up at the bottom. HA! What an outfit. (And Tanya if you read this, don't laugh to hard, that's your hubby on the left. :) I think he had a good day, we met him for lunch and Isabella got to take Daddy some balloons. They also were as cute as can be because I had embroidered some shirts for them to wear to his work that say "My Dad's the Coolest", he liked those the best. (See below for pictures) Then tonight he actually got a small surprise party, which we never do parties for us, so any party would probably be a surprise. I had mentioned to the teens that it was Kenny's birthday on Wednesday so I was going to bring a cake and ice cream to youth group -- well, they decided they wanted to do something so they went out and bought decorations and cards/gift for him. I had to make up some excuses to hide things, but I got there early with the teens and helped them decorate and he was surprised when he got there. They also had asked me for some pictures of him that they could blow up -- I REALLY need to get some more "embarassing" pictures from my in-laws. :) Actualy, I think he's had a whole birthday week, because I gave him his present on Monday, we got together with my parents, brother and sil last night to celebrate 3 birthdays, then today was his actual birthday and we celebrated. I hope he remembers this week long celebration when my birthday rolls around. :)












I was trying to get Amelia to smile in this one by singing "If you're happy and you know it..." but Isabella decided to play along too. :)

AND, since it is Daddy's day, I thought I would share a little conversation Isabella and I had the other day.

Isabella: When Daddy gets home can he do..... (I won't write it all out because she was making no sense what she was wanting :)
Me: Honey, I don't know what you are talking about, but I'm sure if you ask Daddy he will try.
Isabella: I love my daddy, SO much.
Me: You have a good Daddy don't you?
Isabella: Yeah, he gives me lots and lots of kisses. *pause* He's so handsome and pretty. (She's giggling because she called him pretty)
Me: Silly girl, not pretty.
Isabella: He's so handsome and cool!

I agree honey, you are so handsome and cool. :)

Watching what we say....

I forgot to share this earlier, but I thought ya'll would get a kick out of this. A couple weeks ago the girls and I went out to the store. I put the girls in the double stroller, but Isabella doesn't like to be in the stroller -- she's a big girl, you know?! She may be a "big girl" but I know my child, she would be running around the store like a crazy woman if I let her just walk around. So we kind of "compromise" - I tell her that if she sits good and behaves that I won't lock her in -- she hates to have the buckle on her -- but she HAS to be a good girl and not get out of the stroller. While we at the store, as it seems to happen everywhere we go, a stranger came by and started talking to my girls. Actually its more like a stranger walks by and Isabella starts talking to them. She is my little social butterfly and loves the attention so she of course did her normal "What's your name?" etc routine. Then out of the blue she says "If I'm bad, I get locked up!" Thankfully, I don't think the person really even heard her, or maybe she was just pretending like she didn't hear -- I don't know but either way I know try to say buckled in rather than locked in.

4th of July

Thought I would share a couple pics from the 4th. I'll probably have some more after this weekend because we are having our church 4th of July picnic Sunday. We had a great 4th.
This first picture of my girls cracks me up, I really just wanted to get a picture of Isabella all dressed up -- not that I didn't want one of Amelia, but I thought there would be no way that I could get them to sit together, I thought she would either crawl away, try to grab the camera, etc. Instead I told Isabella to go stand so I could get a picture of her and right before I snapped it Amelia walked over, sat down and grinned. :) (Of course, neither one is looking at me, they're looking at Daddy)

I love this picture of Amelia and Kenny -- I'm not sure who adores who more!

After afternoon naps, we went over to our friends Randy and Andrea's house and then went swimming, had a cookout, and shot off a couple fireworks. This is Isabella's little friend Makenna -- I at first couldn't get them to pose until I asked them to hug and pose like they are always doing. We will go out and they will hug each other like this and say to us, take a picture (of course its when we don't have a camera) and then they will try to walk while they are hugging each other -- so cute!!

Everyone enjoyed the sparklers, I love the pic of Amelia looking at the sparkler, I left the flash off on purpose, so it may be a little blurry, but it was on purpose. We didn't get to go see any big fireworks because this is how Isabella watched the small ones Daddy was doing. She loves to see the "pretty fireworks" but doesn't want to hear them. And yes, that is her nose smashed against the window -- sorry Andrea, you probably have a mark on your window from that one. :)

Cute as a button,....

Sweet as Sugar.....

....Stubborn as an ox, and mean as a snake! :) I know you're thinking I'm being a mean mommy, but honestly, I love this little girl SO much -- but I can no longer hide that she has some faults --- dare I say it she has a sinful heart. We realized the stubborness some time ago, but as she gets older it is all too clear to us. When she wants her way, she wants her way and she expects you to follow suit. Just this weekend we went camping and she just wanted to run -- everywhere -- fast --- by herself. Well, its just not possible at a campground where she easily is running, then rolling down a hill. I decided to take her hand and we would walk. This was not her plan, she decided after we were walking for a while that she no longer wanted to hold my hand, she started pulling away, then realized that wasn't going to work, so she was trying to use her other hand to push/pry my hand off of hers, then she was leaning and pulling thinking she could get loose ---- all while letting out little mad screams, then she decided to just pretty much go limp on the ground. Some ladies were passing by and I said "She's 15 months, I really didn't think temper tantrums would start this soon" They kind of chuckled and gave me the "we've been in your shoes" nod. I haven't, Isabella never did this. And as for being mean, Ok, so mean as a snake is really harsh, but its the only catch phrase analogy I could think of. She actually cracks me up and I have a hard time not laughing as I scold her. She will reach out and out of the blue grab Isabella's hair, Isabella will yell, I will look and Amelia will be smiling like a hunter catching her prey. And then, if I give her goldfish (or peas for goodness sake) and decide to let Isabella have a couple, she yells and gives a dirty look. And if Isabella comes near her food, she pushes her away. Like I said, its kind of funny (now) to see her trying to push Isabella away from the possibility of eating her peas, but selfishness is rearing its ugly head. BUT -- she is still CUTE AS A BUTTON and SWEET AS SUGAR!!! :)