2009

I realize New Years Resolutions are supposed to take effect January 1st, but I couldn't decide on NYE what I wanted to work on this year... until today. Yes, there are 10 things, because chances are I will only follow through with 1 or 2. I'm OK with that though. It means that I've changed a little from 2008. Here they are in order of importance, #10, clearly being the least important:

10.Play fetch with the dog.

9.Take the dog to the dog park.

8.Take the dog for a walk.

7.Stop buying Isabella a toy EVERY TIME we go to the store.

6.Donate 80% of the toys filling ALL the closets and storage cabinets in garage.

5.Save money.

4.Stop being selfish with the laundry. Devin needs clean underwear too.

3.Make dinner for everyone, once a week.

2.Play with Isabella instead of finding chores to do while she plays.

1.Stop laying w/Isabella till she falls asleep. And STOP moving myself and my blankets, pillows, and snoogle into her room @ all hours of the night when she wakes up. She is four. She can sleep alone.

Stalling techniques at bedtime.

Isabella is the queen of stalling when it comes to bed-time. She is either thirsty, too cold, too hot, wants socks, doesn't want socks, needs new sippy, needs black teddy, brown teddy, curious George, or the pink hippo, needs the lite-brite on, close the closet door. My favorite of all time: take the scary Raggedy Ann, life size doll, out of the closet w/her "baby", Madeline.

But the winner of the most frequently used stalling technique: I need to go potty!!! This is by far the worst one and the most time consuming, especially in the winter when she is in feety pajamas.




Lately,she has been stalling with really sweet questions. I thought I'd share a few of the ones that melted my heart:

Isabella "Mommy, what color are butterflies eyes?"
Me "Um, black." Right?


Isabella "I wish I was a baby again."
Me "I'm sorry but Mommy can't do that for you."
Isabella, "Can you ask the police officer then? Or God?"
Me "I'll see what I can do."




Isabella has finally learned how to say her prayers at night. I used to say them for her and she would say Amen at the end. Now she can do the whole thing. However, at the end when we say "God Bless Mommy and Daddy, etc." she'll always add a few extra special people. Soemtimes it's Mickey Mouse, or her teacher, or the neighbor kid, but this time she added her Great Papa. We usually do just immediate family and then end with, "and everybody that I love" kind of summing it all up, but this time she said Great Papa and this is what followed:

Isabella "I miss my Great Papa" (he passed away in June '07).
Me "I know but Papa takes you to see him right?" (meaning his grave in SF)
Isabella "No silly, Great Papa moved to Heaven."

I could eat her sometimes.

Where do I start???

I haven't blogged in a record breaking 3 weeks! I usually blog every Monday but with the holiday's and being sick, it didn't get done. I am gonna make this short with lots of pictures to sum up the last 3 weeks. So much to report:

First we picked our tree, and made cookies:




Devin and I went to his super fancy Christmas party for work:


We then had a birthday party for Devin's dad:


Christmas Eve was spent at Devin's parents house, delicious!



Santa came and the kids had WAY too many presents. Maybe I'll put some away and take them out slowly? Isabella would never know. I still have presents hidden away from her b-day.



New Years Eve was low-key and exactly how we wanted it to be. I was with Isabella at midnight. I think she may have stayed up later than I did.



New Years day was spent at the duck club. It was my first time going and I didn't really know what to expect. We tried to go fishing, but the guys were shooting clay pigeons and Isabella hated the noise. So we watched a little TV and ate some Craisin's and then went home.




Isabella had a lot of fun with her friends over the break. We went to Story Grow in Concord (really fun for ages 0-6). We played outside in the freezing cold with the neighbors, brrrr! And we went to Marine World, also very cold but fun!





Happy and healthy 2009 to all of our friends and family!!

It's Snowing?

When we came downstairs this morning, Isabella looked outside and said, "It snowed last night!" There was frost covering the tanbark and the grass. I'll give her that, but what she was actually talking about was not snow.

She asked to go outside while I made breakfast. She came running in a few minutes later with two "pieces of snow" in her hands. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was holding the stuffing from Brody's dog bed (that's a whole other blog).

She asked to put her "snow" in a Ziploc and bring it to school. So we did. And it will probably sit in her cubby for the entire day b/c every time she brings something to share, she forgets to take it out of cubby. There are several Ziploc bags filled with Isabella treasures at the bottom of the cubby. I should probably clean that out. Someday.

Too Busy

This was a fun-filled/jam-packed/exhausting weekend for all of us. It was a little too busy for my liking. I normally enjoy ONE activity per weekend. Here is the breakdown of the madness:

Friday:
Play-date at the wet slides, swings, climbing structures, park. 9:30 AM is probably not the best time for the park, especially in December. But Isabella and her buddy Will had fun despite their wet behinds!

We then had to run some errands, bake a cake, frost and decorate it, and get Isabella ready for her Winter Wonderland Play at preschool that evening. The whole gang was there to watch her concert or what she called it, her "contest". The Pre-K class were singing "You better watch out" and "Jingle Bells". Isabella did inform/warn me that they were to sing Jingle Bells, not once, or twice, but five times! It was cute because my child was up there singing, but I felt bad for the poor parents of the kindergartners that had to wait for all four age groups to go first.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpCbUYuC4qs

We then went back to my parents house for my brother's 24th birthday celebration, of pizza and cake, decorated by Isabella :-O! Let's just say, if you can't tell from the pictures, that she likes sprinkles. It was a little crunchy.





Saturday:
We had a bowling birthday party for the neighbor girl. The kids were over that pretty quickly, as were we. There was a buzzing noise in the background, the entire time we were there, that seemed to only be apparent to Devin and I. After the party the kids came home and rested, I cleaned, and got ready for our big Fondue party at T.J. and Shane's. I have pictures but snapfish won't let you "right click" and "save as" anymore? So that will have to be a separate posting. Are you excited?

Sunday:

We celebrated Kristi (ahhh I type Krisit eachtime. Never Fails.) upcoming wedding!! We went into the city and had brunch at Baracuda. There were bottomless mimosas and something besides sushi for Ash and I. We were home by four. I spent the rest of the day on the couch, which I'm ok with admitting to and doing, after the weekend I had!

Friday Night after Thanksgiving = Bust

Apparently the Wednesday before is the night I should have had my mom baby-sit. There really are no words to describe the night that ended at 11:00PM, other than these pictures:

Ok, no words besides the words I need to narrate the pictures:

This was the crowd @ Arties. Northgate class of 1980.

Our activities included taking pictures of ourselves. (Please notice the empty tables in the background.)

And last but not least, the waitress at the Greenery walked us to our table, took our drink orders (3 budlights in cans) and brought us what Sophia thought was going to be a plate of nachos, but turned out to be Nacho Cheese flavored Doritos. Good times.


I am hopeful for next year.

Dear Santa,

I am a four year old girl (boy) from California. I have been extra good (not so much) this year and would really like these four things:

1. Transformers-"Optimus Prime" and "Bumblebee". ( I think she may only have one of those names right. But I wouldn't know b/c I played with CABBAGE PATCH KIDS for crying out loud!)

2. Spiderman Backpack.

3. Spiderman Clothes. (I kinda thought we were past this phase...)

4. Buzz Lightyear tool box (For reals? Isn't he an astronaut? Does he also build things in his spare time?)

Thank you Santa and I can't wait for you to eat my cookies and see my room (I told her he stays downstairs but she insists he see her room.)

Love,

Isabella

Ps. You frighten me and maybe will forever, but please deliver these gifts.


(The list is in an envelope addressed to Santa, with a 42 cent stamp. We are taking it to Macy's and then they donate $1 to Make a Wish Foundation. EVERYBODY DO IT NOW!!!)