Easter 2008

We had a fun Easter this year. The weather was pretty cold, so we didn't do much outside. They had a little Egg hunt here in our complex, so we went out for that. We had to wake up Isabel from her nap, and she was pretty out of it, so she didn't know what in the world was going on. She would sit there while we showed her an egg. Daddy thought it would be funny to take some of the deer sign (poop) and put it in an egg and have me open. Yah, really funny! We colored eggs with some friends, because let's face it, we needed an excuse to color eggs because Isabel can't do it yet! Mommy went a little overboard this year for Isabel. We had an egg hunt in the living room for her. Grandma Bailey also sent a few things for her (Thanks Grandma!). We we laid them all out in plain sight. We would make a big fuss when she picked up an egg. So she got the hang of it pretty fast. She would pick up an egg, eat it and then try and put it in the basket. Then she would look around and as soon as she spotted another one, she would take off crawling super fast to it. Then sit by it, pick it up, taste it and start all over again. It was funny to see her eyes light up when she found one and have a look of such accomplishment when she showed us one she found.
Easter morning, the Easter bunny left way too much stuff for her (again, mommy and Grandma went overboard). She got some cute summer clothes, sidewalk chalk, a kite, stuffed animal duck, a cute board book that I ruined that same day when I put her sippy in her diaper bag with the book and without the leakproof valve, oops!. She got a carebears ball that she loves to play with, a summer hat and a fun kiddie pool for the summer. Can you tell we are looking forward to warm weather? I forgot to get a picture in her Easter dress before church, so the only one we have is after her nap, but I think she still looks adorable. David spoke on Easter Sunday, he talked about the Atonement and it was so wonderful, the spirit was really strong. He always does such a good job. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family, I love my life!

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back!

Here is Isabel enjoying her first baby back rib. It was really funny to watch her eat them. When we first gave them to her, she got this really funny face, like she was grossed out by it. After a bit, she finally picked it up and tasted it. The rest was history. She started biting it and chewing the meat off. When she would eat all the meat off that she could, she got a little mad that she couldn't get any more and would throw the rib (what a temper!). As you can see, Isabel got the bbq sauce everywhere and really enjoyed herself. She is such a fun girl, we always enjoy our time with her.

Isabel's Birthday

Here are the pics from Isabels 1st birthday, finally! She had lots of fun playing with her toys. We took a little trip up to Desoto wildlife refuge and she had fun watching wildlife. Okay, she had no idea what was going on, but David enjoyed it. Isabel liked her cake and figured out how to suck the frosting off her fingers. She is definitely a girl, because she didn't like being messy for long.
A few weeks ago some of our friends took us to a cajun restaurant in downtown called Jazz. Matt is from the south as well, so he knew David would enjoy some cajun food again. It was a really fun atmosphere that the kids enjoyed. They each got a dozen or so Mardi Gras necklaces and Isabel still loves to play with them and try to put them on her. David got a big basket of peel and eat crawfish, but after our adventures up at Scofield this spring, I couldn't stand the thought of eating crawfish yet. We love to try new restaurants, so thanks so much to the Smiths!

catching up

So I know I am waaaay behind in posting pics, so this is the fastes way for me to catch up. Here are some pictures from February and March. Isabel loves the baby room at the children's museum. There are some pics from my birthday and Isabel posing in my new coat. My sweetheart of a husband got me some beautiful roses along with my other presents. We went out to eat at Charleston's (amazing!) and enjoyed a yummy dinner with the richest dessert that we were treated to by our waiter (I guess birthdays do pay off).

My current obsession

Yes, we are still alive and well. I have been meaning to update our blog, but my new obsession has kept me quite busy. I have fallen in love with digital scrapbooking. It is lots harder than I thought it would be though, and I am trying to learn. I am using photoshop, and if anyone has ever used that program, they know just how difficult it is (or maybe not, maybe I am just a slow learner). But I have been trying new things and I finally have a few pages to show for all my time spent on the computer. They are still very amatuerish, but we all have to start somewhere, right? I am hoping that if I can get good at using the program, I will be able to get lots of pages done (i.e. catch up on Isabel and maybe even scrap some pages about David and I). I am amazed at how much has happened in this past year and realize I gotta get moving if I want to scrap all the pictures we have. Here are my first pages:

The best part of the pages are the pictures, and I have to keep that in mind so I don't spend so much time getting all the little decorations just right. Many thanks to Liz and Nicole for helping me get started (David might not be so thankful though since he says I love the computer more than him, but maybe he will understand if I can get all the pages done for Isabel like we have been talking about). I have wonderful sister-in-laws (all 6 of them!) I have also realized there are so many things that I didn't get pictures of. Now my mind is always thinking, "oh, this would be a cute page, I need to take some pictures".

Well, here's hoping that I can keep up on the scrapbooking this time. I always say I am going to do better, and then I get sidetracked with all the other things I want to do.

In other news, Isabel celebrated her 1st birthday on the 5th. I can't believe she is already 1. Time has just flown by and our baby is growing up. She is not walking yet, but can sure get around pretty well. Her favorite things to do are climb the stairs and slide back down and play in the dishwasher (hopefully only when there is clean dishes in it. Isabel is such a joy. I will have to post her birthday pictures later because she is letting me know she is ready for some attention. Love you all and miss you!

Isabel loves to play in our closets. If she sees that we have left a door open, she takes off towards it to see what sort of things she can get into. While making dinner one night, she saw I had left the pantry open and had some fun with this box of pop. She kept trying to reach in there and get the cans out, but they were too heavy and akward to get out of the opening.

One of her most favorite things in the world is her Winnie the Pooh pacifier string. It is meant to attach to her clothes to keep her binky from getting lost, but she always plays with it. She swings it all around and frequently knocks herself in the head (at which point she scowls to see who hit her), sucks on the string until it is saturated with slobber and then sucks that up as well (pretty gross, I know) and chews the heck out of it.

Getting some good snuggle time in with Daddy. He doesn't get to do this very much since he is so busy all the time, so I let her fall asleep on David instead of in her crib. She loves to snuggle with him and can't help but fall asleep in his arms. He is such a good Daddy, we are so lucky!

Playtime

Isabel having some good 'ol playtime. She sometimes crawls under this end table, and then gets stuck, bonks her head from trying to sit up, gets mad and cries cause she can't move under there, then I take her out, and she tries it all over again:)

Usually she will find a book and jabber and make all sorts of sounds while she flips through the pages, it is pretty cute. She likes to slap the pages and if I try and turn the pages in order for her, she goes back and forth between pages so fast and out of order that I can't keep my hands in there for fear of injury.
Who knows what this face is. This day she did it at least a dozen times. I think she had a tickle in her nose, cause she kept stretching her face down, trying to stop her nose from itching.
She likes to play with her see n seek bag. It has lots of fun things to find in a bunch of beads. She doesn't understand the concept, but she likes to shake the bag!

The stairmaster!

No, we didn't get a new piece of exercise equipment, but our munchkin did

finally figure out the stairs. I was hoping to avoid that one. For the past few weeks, she has just figured out how to climb up the first step, and then she kinda just hangs out there until she calls for me to come rescue her. I was doing the dishes, and I thought she was playing in the living room. I heard some sounds, and then she called out for me. I came in and saw her and got really scared, then started laughing, cause I thought it was so funny. Making sure she was still safe, I took a few pictures. Now we are just trying to teach her how to climb down them. A few days later, she took off to the stairs without me knowing and fell from the first step. She is okay, but the sound of her head hitting the hardwood floor definitely makes your heart skip a beat. She is one tough cookie though!

Our little chipmunk

Isabel has discovered the joy of eating bananas! She no longer lets me feed them to her in small bites. Now when she sees the banana, she starts kicking her legs and flapping her arms. If I try and give her a bite, she shakes her head and tries to take the banana from me. The problem is that they get slippery and it is hard for her to grab and hold on to. So what usually happens is I turn my head for a second and she has shoved half the banana in her mouth and chomps away. So the second picture she looks like a chipmunk, hoarding food for the winter. She is learning how fun it is to feed herself. Now if we can only get her to drink whole milk, she avoids it like the plague, any suggestions?