Happy Halloween!

My day started with a wonderful surprise from John... donuts from Donut Joe's. They are SO good, and John is quickly making this a tradition for Saturday mornings. Donuts and coffee, mmmmm! And how cute is this donut?!

John met his family for lunch while Isabella napped and then, we went for family portraits (which I will share later.) And we headed to my uncle Lonny's house for a chili dinner and a hayride. Isabella really enjoyed herself! Halloween was wonderful. She loves all her candy. She doesn't eat any yet, but she enjoys taking the candies out of her pumpkin bag and putting them back in again. She loves the Skittles and M &M's the best because when she shakes them, they make noise!

Here's the little bumble bee ready to go for the night! Isabella looks like she's tired of trick-or-treating, doesn't she?!

And here are some pictures of the kids in her class having their Halloween party at school (daycare.) They are too cute!

Family, Surprises, and fun!

John and I started a tradition the first year we were married to carve a pumpkin together the week before Halloween. He does all the cutting, because I tend to cut myself instead of the pumpkin more often than not and I do all the cleaning out and scooping. And yes, he has the hard part. So, here's our work of art for this year.

My sister and her husband were in town this weekend. We had a mission to decorate her nursery and I think we were successful. So, we spent most of the day shopping. John went to the Alabama v. Tennessee game, and Mimi and Isabella spent the afternoon together.

We grilled out at my dad's house for dinner and enjoyed an evening of family time and reminiscing, looking at old pictures. Isabella loves to have people read to her!
Last Sunday was my grandmother's 80th birthday and she was out of town, so this Sunday we suprised her with a party after church. She was definitely shocked! I know I have one of the best grandmothers in the world. She's pretty special.
We ended the day by carving our pumpkin and going to the church Trunk-or-Treat. Isabella had so much fun playing in the air bounce. She had probably 10 or more people (mostly relatives) lined up to watch her play because she was loving it so much. She's a little bumblebee this year and is so cute running around in this little costume.

At the Trunk-or-Treat

giving Rocky hugs

carving our pumpkin

Creative outlet

Isabella has been interested in using pens to draw on paper before and has made me beautiful drawings (well, really just a bunch of lines intersecting) and has brought some very colorful pictures home from daycare for months. I knew she had found my pen but did not realize she'd figured out how to make it write, and while I was folding laundry and she was sitting so quietly and innocently right beside me, this is what I saw when I looked over. (They turned out a little blurry, but you get the idea.)

I love how she's holding out the pen with such pride.

So, I decided I needed to get washable crayons (do they actually wash off?) and some paper just for her to have a better canvas for her creative outlet. She loved it! And it entertained her for at least an hour. I let her use the bottom side of the laundry basket to color on, and she decorated it a little too. If you look closely, you can see where she colored blue at the edge of her lip!

After a while, one or two crayons at a time was not enough.

Race for the Cure

I waited to see what the weather would be like to make the big decision, and despite the rain, John and I ran on Saturday in the Race for the Cure. This was my 3rd time to run and again I had a rough time. It means a lot to me to run for my mom, but it's emotionally tough run for me. I am proud to say I ran the whole time (only stopping for the 2 water stops.) For someone who hasn't run in a while, it felt good to run 3 miles. I'm thankful for all the people who supported me and for my aunt Claire for watching Isabella and keeping her dry while we ran! These pictures are a little blurry and dark, but there all I have from the race.

Fun weekend plans

My sister and her husband have a new house in Spring Hill, TN, so Isabella and I went up to see her new place. We had a great weekend, and the highlight (outside of hanging out with my sis) was the Spring Hill Ham festival. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed getting outside! Notice Lauren's baby bump... too cute!! She's 21 weeks pregnant!Isabella couldn't see the pig races, so she sat on my shoulders. She really enjoyed it up there! She'd get excited and put her hands over my eyes. It was pretty cute.The petting farm was a big hit for Isabella!

Ben's birthday party

Isabella was invited to Ben's 2 year-old birthday party on Saturday at Pump It Up. Ben is my friend Daphne's little boy, and he's so sweet. Ben and Isabella haven't spent much time together so far, but I'm hoping that they will get to be good friends one day. Isabella had a blast at the party. She jumped in the air gyms, went down the giant slide, and ate pizza and vanilla ice cream. John and I could go in with her, and we even got a little tired and sweaty in the process.

Daphne and Ben on the slide

Isabella sliding to daddy

Christy and Isabella on the slide

Isabella making friends with Ella

Playing basketball with daddy

Eating pizza

She went a little past naptime and it didn't take much for her to fall asleep playing with her Bob the Builder hammer from the party.

15 months

It's been a while since I've given an update on what Isabella's doing now. She's into everything, every drawer or counter she can reach. Nothing is safe. And it's only getting worse. The other day she'd pulled out Baker's white chocolate from a cabinet and was eating it, foil and all. Anything at the edge of the counter is now reachable so she'll pull out the vegetable peelers and knives if we're not watching. So, yes, we desperately need to do more baby proofing. She's just so curious.

She's learned to climb. She has the most accomplished look on her face after climbing a flight of stairs. I've found her standing on chairs at the kitchen table or in her big stroller. Don't ask me how she got up into her stroller, because there was a lot of climbing involved to get into that stroller. Of course, I think I'm sounding like a terrible mom about now. I really do catch a lot of things before or while they're happening! I promise. And no injuries occured during any of the above described events. Notice, she's eating with a spoon!

She's very interested in books now, which I'm loving. She's not so interested in me or John reading a story to her, but just talking about things in the pictures. She's started saying things that are sounding like words now. It's hard to tell, but the most consistent thing she says is this: she points to an object and says, "whaisthis?" all run together, but clearly "What is this?" We're also hearing "du" for duck or dog, and "ba" for ball. She can point to a baby if you ask, or her nose, and she LOVES the belly button. She will pull up her doll's dress and find her belly button or come to me or John and pull our shirts up. It's a little embarrassing if she does this in public or to your friends 8 week old baby! Hence, the explanations that she loves finding belly buttons.

She has also learned a few key people that she runs to when they come around. She especially loves Mimi and Grandpa. She runs to them with arms wide open. What a great feeling. Of course, yesterday she ran right past me in favor of Rocky. And she adores Rocky. He mainly just tolerates her. But occasionally, I'll see him get up from his bed to greet her in the morning or go into her room to check on her when she's asleep. I just love that she's growing up with her own dog. She's learning to be gentle and love/respect animals.

Rocky looks like he's thinking, "How long do I have to sit here and stand this?"John and I have been blessed with a very sweet, loving, and strong-willed child. We look forward to all the new things she's going to learn and all the ways our lives continue to change.