Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Sneaky Chef Ketchledge

For my birthday I got The Sneaky Chef book that featured sneaky ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables, whole grains and things like that. I saw the author on The Today Show and I was very interested to try some of her receipes. Well of course I had Tanner shortly after my birthday and things have been crazy around here for a while so I have just gotten around to trying it out. Last night I made Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins! You can see the receipe here but they feature sweet potatoes and carrots as the secret ingredients and are rich in vitamins A, B complex, C, E, and K, manganese, iron, potassium, folate, riboflavin, selenium, fiber, and protein! Talk about a power packed lunch! Izabel tried them out today for her lunch and they were a big hit! She ate two whole muffins!!! I was so excited that she liked them and they were easy to make. Today we are going to try something new and I'll give you an update on that receipe tomorrow!


3 and 21!

Today makes Tanner 3 months old and Izabel 21 months old! I can't believe it has been 3 months already with Tanner in our lives but in other ways it seems like he has been here forever!


Tanner is doing a lot of interacting now. He smiles and coos and loves to be told how handsome he is. He has found his hands and feet and really enjoys sucking on his fist no matter how hard we try not to let him. He is finally doing really well at sleeping pretty much through the night. He wakes up sometimes but I don't feed him and we go back to sleep until it is time to eat. He loves to look at the baby in the mirror even though he doesn't know it's him. He is a very laid back guy and doesn't really cry often unless he is hungry. He loves his swing and I'm glad someone is finally getting some use out of it! It's in the kitchen now and it's really helpful to be able to put him in there so I can cook or do some chores. He has moved into size 2 diapers and is wearing 3 month clothes. He is a big boy but it works for him! I think we might have a football player on our hands and I'm sure his Daddy would be very happy if it ended up that way! Maybe they could share the same number!!! Now that he is bigger and things are a little more manageable we really are enjoying being parents of two!


Izabel is turning more and more into a little girl every day! The baby days are gone and the terrible twos have already arrived! She is still a very loving and happy girl but she's started to hit other kids when we are out playing. We can't figure out why and we're trying very hard to stop it but we also realize it is something that comes with this age. She's in two play groups for kids born in 2007 and she loves going on our playdates! We go 3-4 times a week to different places in the area and she's gotten really good at playing on the playgrounds or in the bouncy houses! She gets so excited when I say we are going out. She also loves to play outside and in the pool. I don't get her in the pool often because I'm usually home alone with both of them but when she does get to go she is so happy! She's still wearing size 3 diapers and she is between 12 months and 18 months clothes depending on the brand. She's still only saying a few words but she knows how to get what she wants so it doesn't seem to be a problem for her! She loves watching her Baby Einstein movies and gets so mad when I don't let her (which is pretty often!) She's a joy to have around and I love watching her discover new things and abilities. You can actually see her processing and it's so exciting to see her figure something out! Only 3 more months and she'll be two and I just can't believe it!

Harley Girl!

A few months back we had pictures taken of Izabel on a Harley power wheel. They were a father's day/birthday present for Papa so I wanted to keep them a secret even though it killed me not to post these pictures! We put the pictures in a Harley frame and sent them up to him and he loved it just like we knew he would! Now that he has seen them I can post for everyone else to enjoy!




Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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!

Monday, July 6, 2009

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!