Angel Baby Turns One!

Isabella Turns One! On Thanksgiving day our little one turned the big o1 and the country celebrated. Well not really , the country was celebrating Thanksgiving and we celebrated Isabella. We were blessed to have family fly in on Thanksgiving morning to help us party. Karen's sister Kathy and brother in law Neal came all the way from Minnesota just to spend the weekend. The whole family was together and even our friend Blair joined us for the feast.

After the meal it was party time. Isabella woke up from her nap to see tons of balloons and a banner for her special day. Aunt Kathy helped put Isabella in her princess party dress and it was on. Presents to open and pictures to take. Isabella loved all her toys especially her baby doll from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Neal. When she opened her Tickle Me Elmo, the party kicked into high gear. Elmo laughed, rolled over and kicked to our enjoyment. He is a fun toy.

When it was time for cake, Isabella was a bit shy. She did not know what to do with this thing. Mommy put some on her finger and brought it to Isabelas mouth and that was all she needed. Cake in hair, face, floor and even some in her mouth. Sugar has now been introduced into her life.

It was a great day and Isabella will never remember it but we always have picture & video.

Radical 80's Party!

It was so awesome! The women's ministry in our church had a totally cool 80's party. Hannah and I got out the pink lipstick and bangles and figured out some costumes that were totally tubular. Here we are:


Hannah with crimped hair above and side pony. Notice the blue eyeshadow. She doesn't have her rad earrings on in this shot. Total bummer!

Once a Madonna-be always a Madonna-be. I'm "Into the Groove" here and ready for my "Holiday."

Oh, and I was part of the dance team, performing to Cindi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." Dude!

PS the week before, Mark DJed an 80's party, so I thought it right to add him in here:
Can you say "Flock of Seagulls?"

Four 0h!

So, I covered Mark's 40th (see July), so it's only fair that I fess up that I celebrated my over-the-hill day on November 12. It came and went fairly gently, leaving virtually no emotional wreckage in it's wake. Mark treated me like a queen (aside from the 40 jabs) and I was very aware of the blessings of my life. I truly have more peace and joy in my life than I ever have and my husband and children are all I've ever really wanted in this life. I had run the 5k (see below) and in doing so, proved to myself that I'm in the best physical condition that I've ever been. Along with going to the gym, lifting weights, biking and swimming, and overall trying to live more healthy, the 5k helped me to feel young. Having an infant makes me feel young, too, actually, but I digress.

A special gift from my sister. We both love pottery and so she sends me stuff from her trips around the world. This one is from Poland.


When Jacob and Hannah came for the weekend I got another party. Mark made me a cake. Yes, MADE ME A CAKE. I was blown away.

Joel's Creations

Cub Scout's Soap Box Derby races. R2D2 is riding in the white car (he made 2).



REFLECTIONS art gallery. This is a PTA sponsored art contest. The theme was "Wow." Joel' s interpretation was a spider on a web. You can't see it, but he lined the web with white glue (that dries mostly clear) so that it looks like there is dew on the web. His spider has sparkles, too. Wowed me.

5k Run!

You marathon runners may not be impressed, but this November brought a great personal victory for me when I was able to run the 5K (less than a year after birthing Isabella) AND shave 10 minutes off my time from the last one I ran 4 years ago! One of my desires was to hit my 40th birthday in better physical condition than I've ever been and this is how I marked that goal. The bonus was the influence that this has had on Joel. He has seen me working toward this and wanted to run, too. So, we put him in the "Kid K" (1/2 K). He did great, but informed me that it was too easy and wants to do mommy's "big run" next time. So we're in training together. I'll be in his dust soon.
Here we are showing off our medals.

Halloween!

It's not often that we get Jacob and Hannah for Halloween and when we do, we just love it!!! Hannah was the Queen of Hearts and she really loved her dress. It was actually a dress for a vampiress, but we modified it to be a more suitable costume. Jacobwas the gorilla and Joel was taking a walk on the dark side as Darth Vader. Mark, being the theatre buff that he is, loves the dress up and character acting that comes with Halloween. He did have a DJ gig and wasn't able to join us for trick-or treating, but was able to see the kids dressed up and Isabella on her first Halloween ever.

It amazed me how difficult it was to find a princess outfit for an infant. Bumblebees, fairies, ballerinas, even devils (like I want to dress my baby as satan) abound, but no princesses. A friend offered to lend us a Belle costume, which we thought was fitting, because she's our princess Bella. But when we put it on, it didn't quite have the poof factor I had hoped for. One of her party dresses worked better.

Me getting kisses from my little princess.

The kids made bank on the candy. We had a late night and we all ate way to much sugar. That's what you're supposed to do, right?

New Hairdo!

My fall colors.