Uh Oh!

Izabel doesn't talk much but every once in a while her jabbering will turn into something that we understand and yesterday she woke up saying "uh oh!" It is so cute when she says it and it really makes me smile!

4th of July Flashback

Did Izabel's 4th of July shirt look familiar??? That's because it was her 4th of July dress last year! She obviously hasn't gotten much bigger but gotten taller because the shirt still fit perfectly it was just too short to be a dress. I bought Izabel a new dress for this year but it was way to big so I pulled out last years dress, put it on as a shirt and put some jean shorts and off we went. It was too cute!

4th of July Weekend

Our 4th of July weekend was fabulous and even though we are exhausted today we had a great time! It started on Thursday when my Aunt Gerlinda, Cousin Becky and her kids Jacob and Tobi came into town from Georgia. After getting all our chores done and running some errands we headed over to my mom's house to visit with them. The last time my aunt and cousin were here was for our wedding! We played inside for a while and then we all got in the pool. The pool was freezing because it is pretty shaded. We stayed in as long as could for the kids but when they started shivering we were out of there! Then Izabel and Tobi played for a while inside. They did NOT get along! They were fighting like crazy over the toys. I have never seen Izabel act like that but Tobi was being the same way. We finally broke up the fighting and headed home.

Izabel and Tobi

Becky and Me with Tobi and Izabel

Friday morning everyone met at my house to go play at Kangaroo Jac's. This is the indoor inflatable place we went to last weekend. We thought Jacob and Tobi would enjoy it and it would help us keep them entertained without fighting! They had a blast and Izabel was certainly happy to be back. She knew exactly what to do and even managed to do a couple of them all by herself. We also ran into a new friend from a playgroup which was fun as well! After we played for about an hour and a half we went to McDonalds for lunch and then headed home to take a nap! Later on Noah and I met Amy and Ray as well as Becky up at Keegans for dinner and a few drinks. We had a great time and it was nice to get out for a while and spend some time with Noah!

Climbing up all by herself

and coming down all by herself!

For our actually 4th of July celebration we spent the day at my mom's house for a cookout and pool party. We had lots and lots of food and I made a very yummy and pretty (if I do say so myself) flag cake! We were in and out of the pool and I brought the picnic table and let Tobi and Izabel finger paint but they had the most fun just playing with the hose! Izabel would hold it up and Tobi would put his head under it which they both thought was big fun! Eventually they were both exhausted and with no naps they were pretty cranky. We can usually see the fireworks at Mt. Trashmore from my mom's backyard but we didn't make it that long. We were home and in bed before I started hearing them and Izabel was so tired she didn't move once! 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and we had a great one this year!

My Yummy Flag Cake!

Happy First 4th of July!

Family Pic

Grandaddy and Izzy in the pool...I love this pic of them!

Daddy and Tanner taking a nap together

Finger painting...she had to taste it first but then she got the hang of it!

I think Tobi had more fun painting himselfDrenching Tobi with the hose!Tanner even had patriotic pajamas!
Sunday we got up and went to Sunday school and then Noah called and said he would be home early and he wanted to go do something with Izabel. I think he was a little jealous of me getting to take Izabel to jump so he took her back to Kangaroo Jac's and I think this time he had more fun than she did! It was a rainy day so the place was packed and Izabel was pretty cranky. A lot of the big kids aren't very patient with the little ones. They had a nice time together though. Then we went to dinner and Izabel slept in Noah's arms until the food came. Aunt Theresa came over when we got home and Noah and I went to see Public Enemies. We weren't very impressed. It's a true story and it was interesting but it was slow and I kept waiting for it to be over. My recommendation: wait for it to come out on dvd!

Here they come

She loved having time with Daddy

Kisses in the tunnelSliding down together

I had to have a little fun too!

Like I said we had a great weekend and it was really great to finally get to spend some time as a family! We loved having Daddy around lots this weekend and already miss him terribly today! We hope everyone else had as wonderful a holiday as we did!

Playdates and Playgroups!

We've used meetup.com in the past to find other moms and kids for us to hang out with. In fact that is how I met Rebecca last year! We've recently joined two play groups for kids that were born in 2007. That means that all of the kids are around the same age as Izabel and a lot of them have little brothers and sisters Tanner's age as well! Rebecca belongs to one of the playgroups we joined so Izabel already knows someone when we go to their events.

Monday we met Rebecca, RJ, Rylee and Phyllis at Lynnhaven Mall to play for a little bit. I had to pick up Tanner's 2 month pics and it was too hot to play outside at the park so we headed to the play place! Izabel has been having a hard time being patient with other kids and has been doing a little hitting! We're working on it but she wasn't very good while we were there. She ended up sitting with me several times :( No pics from this playdate because I was holding Tanner and constantly having to go get Izabel and make her have a time out!

Tuesday we met the new playgroup called Little Ones of 2007 at Macarthur Mall. I was a little hesitant to go to this playgroup because after I had emailed the organizer of the group Rebecca told me some not so good things about them but since I had already made arrangements to go I figured I would check it out for myself. I actually had a great time. They were all very friendly and every mom came up and introduced herself and talked to me. Izabel was still doing a little hitting but behaved a little better. I had lunch with some of the moms and found out they have a book club! That is really exciting to me because I am going to have time to read again one day and maybe this will help me try to find the time and give me someone to talk to about what I read! I've been hoping to find a good book club for a while! I decided to join the playgroup and see how it goes but so far so good! No pics again but this time it was because I was too busy talking! My sister and my dad came over to hang out in the evening. This is the hardest part of the day for me because I am tired after a long day and usually a long night and Noah is not home to help do dinner or baths or bedtime at all during the week so Amy and Dad have been trying to stop by every once in a while to lend a hand!

Wednesday we planned to go to a playdate with the other playgroup. This one is called 2007 Kids and this is the one Rebecca is in as well. The playdate today was supposed to be a music class but but there was some kind of mix up with the teacher so we ended up just playing on the playground outside at the church. Izabel loved the huge playground and she climbed all over it all by herself but it was SO hot so we didn't stay too long. We went with Rebecca and RJ to the new McDonalds because they were giving away free cheeseburgers but it wasn't so packed we couldn't even find a parking spot so we ended up at Tropical Smoothie. Izabel and RJ loved their smoothies and they were so cute together like they always are! They both have always been cute but they seem to be getting cuter now that they are older. RJ is doing a lot of talking and can pretty much say anything you want him to (and some things you might not) which is a little frustrating since Izabel still doesn't say hardly anything but we know it will happen suddenly and once she starts she'll never stop! I did actually get some pics from this playdate! After naptime we went to wal-mart to try and find some pool floats for Izzy. We plan to be in the pool a lot the next few days while my cousins are here visiting!

She's not afraid at all!

RJ is too cute!Sliding...can't forget the sippy cup!

Best friends!

Rebecca and Izzy

I hope everyone has an amazing holiday weekend! Enjoy all the cookouts, pool time, and fireworks and don't forget to wear your red, white, and blue! (Old Navy has $2 flag tanks on Friday if you don't have one yet!)