Texting

Last night Isabelle told Brenton that she was texting her sister Kayla. WHAT! We are in serious trouble with that girl. No worries, there is no sister, unless she is prophetic.

The voice of an angel

Whenever we are in the car, the kids love listening to other kids singing. We have been listening to this specific tape since June and it's a Christmas show. Jake is singing right along with her in the back. (Side note...Isabelle does have a seat belt on, but she always tucks it behind her...what a stinker).

Celebration

Friends are awesome! We gathered in Albertville to celebrate Izzy's 3rd birthday with our friends from the north! It was so much fun to all be together again. Izzy had so much fun being the center of attention and soaked it all in. She requested during dinner that she was wanting eveyone to sing Happy Birthday. Thank you friends for loving us and our kids so much. Isabelle loves all of her presents (and Jake does too). You are all so important to us, and we look forward to getting together again!

She's 3 going on 13

Wow- Isabelle is 3! She is growing up to be a little princess. A year ago she was chasing the boys, wrestling and tackling, and standing her ground with fits of rage. Today, she a big girl who is confident that she can do it herself and if she can't she will die trying. She loves her brothers and all of her family so much. I love the way she wraps her arms around my neck when she gives me a big hug and her soft little kisses on the cheek for no reason. She loves to color with markers, eat ice cream, play computer games, and have gum. She has taught herself how to use the potty, the alphabet, and has already started reading some words. Look out world!

Izzy we know you will do great things in your life because you are determined to. We are so proud of you already and love all those precious moments you have given us. You are courageous, smart, beautiful, and caring. It's adorable when you say things like, "Oh look-that's soooo cute" or "we are the girls, right mom?!" or when you pray "please bring my daddy home safely." Your tenacious attitude about getting what you want even when what you want isn't a choice is sometimes cute. For example, I offer you milk or water and without hesitation you say, "juice". We do this a number of times before I say then you get nothing, then finally you chose. It drives me nuts sometimes, but I think it's adorable too. We pray for you daily and ask that Jesus uses your spunkiness for His glory. I can't wait to see how he does that!. Happy Birthday Bear- We love you so much!

Other Izzy stats:
Weight- approx. 29lbs
Height-?
Favorite food- sausage
Favorite character- Hello Kitty or Cinderella
Favorite color- purple
Favorite activity- coloring
Can spell your name? YES- I...z...z...y"
Can spell Jacob's name? YES- "J...A...C...O...B"
What do you want to be when you grow up? "My daddy"
What's one thing you want to do this year? "Go to Nana's"

How Long Should the Kids Cry?

How long should you let your kid cry after you have put them to bed?

When Isabelle was young she once cried for 3 hours before Stephanie broke down and took her out. Tonight Andrew went almost forty minutes. I feel so bad listening to him wail but I don't want him to think screaming is a ticket to late night play time.

How do you all do it? What has been your experience?

Bonding

Isabelle and I have had a stressful relationship from day one. She was coliclly, a fighter when it came to nursing, and always seemed to want her daddy. Some might say its more the battle of the wills. You see what Izzy doesn't realize is that I am just as, if not more stubborn than her. So when push comes to shove, I won't give into her tantrums, fits or stubborn attitude. Maybe I am the one who needs to grow up -eh? Brenton often times thinks I am too hard on her, but in my opinion, she is not in charge of this house, although she would like to be. But it seems that lately we have been bonding more by going on outings together, reading together, cuddling, and wrestling and laughing together. We have been having fun! And I've been loving every minute of it. Maybe it's her age, or my age, or everyone's age, or maybe it's because I have been less distracted by scheduling when I work on things so she is getting more quality mom time...whatever it is it's great! I love you bear!

Girls rule, Boys drool

"Girl's Rule, Boy's Drool" or "Second place is the first loser...NO FEAR!" were what the shirts that wore as a girl said, but the goodyblog discovered these, and I believe from Isabelle's personality she will be wearing these; "Doctor, Not Diva" and "President, Not Princess." Can't complain, they have a great self confidence and self esteem message. Check out the website, they have a lot of cute things for babies, toddlers, and kids.

Eating habits

Most news stories and articles that are out these days talk about childhood obesity being at an all time high. In our home, with Isabelle, it's more like childhood starvation! My daughter Isabelle won't eat! Over the past 3 days she has not sat down to eat a meal at the table. She has to be hungry, I rarely let her have a snack. It's not as if we are offering foods that she would not like. She has turned down pizza, grapes, grilled cheese, spaghetti Os and more. She will drink things so I am satisfied for now knowing that she is getting milk, water and juice throughout the day. She doesn't claim to feel sick, she just doesn't want to eat. Today, I know she hates taking a nap so I told her it was eat or sleep and she chose to sleep. Does anyone think I should be worried? She is little,always has been, only weighing about 25lbs and she is almost 3, but she is also very active. In my logical thinking-I think if she is running around, she must be hungry burning the calories. I don't want to force the issue and come down on her for it, but I make it very clear that the meal is only offered once and there are no snacks or treats if she doesn't eat a good meal. How have you handled these situations or what would you try?

AAARRRRR

We made the weekly stop at Sam's Club after church today. We love walking around and getting all the free samples, and picking up some cheap lunch. Today there was a worker behind the food counter who had a black patch over his left eye that was taking the many orders of hot dogs and pop. When Isabelle and Brenton got to the front of the line, Isabelle, with much happiness and delight in her voice, pointed and said, "Daddy, a Pirate!"

Brenton gently explained to her that the man was not a pirate, he had an ouie on his eye and that patch was protecting it. The man behind the counter didn't find it as funny as I did. As we sat down she continued to point and say it was a pirate. I had to laugh as she would say pirate with a aaarrr sound in her voice. It's the beauty of kids, you never know what they are going to say.

Isabelle Has No Fear of the Slide

Isabelle is the daredevil in our family. Today we went to a park at the Elm Creek Park Reserve (of course right when we got there two school buses full of wild summer school kids arrived). At the park there is a long metal tube slide that partially goes underground. I figured it was much too intimidating for our kids to go down alone.

Then, all of a sudden, while we were pushing Jacob on the swings, my mom looks over and says, "Isabelle is going down the slide." I took off sprinting, trying to jump the steps, bridges and kids around me and get down to the bottom of the slide, hoping to catch Izzy before she hit the ground. I didn't make it and by the time I made it to where she would land Isabelle was already up, holding her sandals in her hand and wiping the wood chips off her bottom.

That crazy child has no fear. Once she makes up her mind about something there is no stopping her. I can only pray that the Lord use that fearlessness and determination for his glory.

Isabelle's "Bloody"

Isabelle has a gross way of describing her injuries. When she cuts herself (usually because she is running around on the pavement without shoes on and she stubs her toe) she refers to the scrap as "my bloody." So, she cries and walks around showing off, but not letting anyone touch, her "bloody." And she freaks out over just the thought of band-aids. So the rest of us are left to look at the nasty thing. Disgusting.

Break time

When I found out I was going to have a little girl, I was really excited! I thought about the fun we would have shopping, dressing up, drawing pictures, gymnastics, dance class, and all the other fun little things little girls love to do. The past couple weeks have been anything but fun with our little Izzy.
My mom took Isabelle over night last night to give her some one on one love and attention that I think she feels she is missing out on at home. Lately she has been extremely defiant and mean to her brothers. She doesn't seem to care about what her consequences are for her choices. If you take something away, she says fine. If I spank her, she has an amazing ability to shake it off like it didn't hurt. She doesn't like soap in her mouth, but I want to make sure I use that to discipline her mouth. Her sassiness has reached a record high for her, and she has mastered using the word NO.
I understand that she is 2.5 and she might be entering the terrible 3s. I feel like a failure when she acts like this. She has those sweet moments when she loves to hug and kiss me and the boys, and in a minutes change, she is hitting Andrew on the head, and running and hiding from me when I call for her. She has an independent spirit and is very intelligent! I don't want to crush her spirit, I just want to channel it into something good, and show her how to interact with her brothers in a loving way.
Our life has been very busy lately, filled with stress, me working more, going, going, going, and I think she probably feels some of that stress. I love my little Bear so much- and I wish I could have a one on one session with the Supernanny or Dr. James Dobson. We will find out later today if the break was good for her, I know it was for me.

Mug shot

Brenton was taking some pictures of Isabelle's hair before it almost got cut. Long story short, she changed her mind-A classic Isabelle move. I think it looks like a mug shot. Hopefully, we never have anything to compare it to.

Can you hear me now...part 2

About a year ago, I put up a post about my lovely daughter putting my cell phone in the bath. Well, it happened again yesterday. Except this time it was the toilet and she it flushed down. Thankfully Brenton and I fished it out last night, not before having to take the whole toilet off the floor, carry it outside and stick a metal hanger in there to push it through. It's unknown if the SIM card will still work, everything is drying out. The phone has died, but I can put the SIM card in another phone, like last time. So, if we have ever talked on the phone before can you please email me your phone number. THANKS!

2.5 stars for the Third

I am in no way a movie critic, but we went to Shrek yesterday and I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. It was way over the kids heads, but they still thought it was cute. I thought it was a little scary, and definitely not as funny as the first. Maybe it's one of those movies you need to see more than once, but I found myself getting bored while watching. I was distracted by Isabelle's restlessness, but all in all I just don't think it lived up to all the hype. The best part about the movie was that I got to hang out with just Jake and Izzy! They got a free poster and free Shrek mask which was very fun and the theater was beautiful. Jacob has been watching some cartoons this morning and there is a commercial for Shrek during every break- they are pushing this one hard. If you go check it out, let me know what you think of it.

Lil Diva

Isabelle came down stairs today in her robe (from when she was a baby) and her dress up heels insisting that I take her picture. She was so cute! Then she stomped off, did a little dance and collapsed on the floor in dramatic Isabelle style.
Girls are so different from boys. It's really starting to come through in her. Usually she will just chase Jake around and wrestle with Him, Andrew and daddy. But lately she has been wanting to play more with her dolls, dress up, and put mommy's makeup on. It's fun having a girl and a boy near the same age because I really get to see the different ways each acts without me having to prompt them to do so.

She's a big kid now!

She's a little girl now, no longer a baby. Isabelle is potty training, and pretty much has it mastered. I never thought the day would come when we have only 1 in diapers. She's been interested in the potty for a long time, but we never really made the effort to potty train her. It's been about a week now, and she has mastered it. One thing I don't understand is her lack of putting her underwear and pants back on after the bathroom, she likes to run around naked. She is still a little too generous with the amount of toilet paper she uses, but I can live with that. Toilet paper is much cheaper than diapers. Way to go Bear, we love you! We knew you would be fast learner!

Who is it?...Can I say hi?...I want to say hi!

I spend more time on our family home phone than anyone else does. This is because it's my primary business line for Tupperware. Lately, whenever the phone rings both my kids are in my face asking if it's their daddy. If I shake my head no or tell them it's not him before I answer it, they will usually walk away. However, Isabelle, lately has been continuing to ask who it is, unless I stop and tell her. Then she insists that she wants to say hello. If I say no, she will instantly throw a fit. It was cute at first (not the fit), but my last couple calls have been customers and I have to excuse her rude behavior as I am trying to have a business conversation. I've even ran and hid in the bathroom just so I can have a conversation. For the most part people are very forgiving and understanding, but I get so angry because I think it's very unprofessional. I have been trying to talk to Isabelle about not continuing this behavior, but it does continue.

Balvin Kids Elfamorphosis

Check out my Elf kids.

Jacob the Elf

Izzy the Elf

Brenton found this on the blog of a guy named Steve. It is fun and free!

Happy Birthday Bear!

Today is the princess' birthday. Our baby girl turns 2 ! WOW- 2 years old. Isabelle's tenacious attitude about doing it herself, being independent, and being in charge have come as endearing traits. She is a girl that knows what she wants and will do whatever it takes to get it! She fears very few things(except monsters). She loves puppies, puzzles, books, her daddy, and to ask "why". She is very adventurous. She loves to climb on anything, then she jumps off with a big smile. Her smile and laughter fill up a room. She loves her brothers so much and has become a constant shadow of Jacob and makes a constant shadow on Andrew as she is always in his face offering her hugs and kisses. Her eyes are so big and beautiful, one look at you and she can melt your heart.
Isabelle, we are so happy that you are our baby girl. You are growing up way to fast. You are so smart, beautiful, and courageous. We pray that you will learn to know and love Jesus as your Savior and that your courageous and tenacious attitude will allow you to teach and lead others to Him as well. Happy Birthday Bear!