Snowy days

This is Whitney in her new exersaucer\walker. Once she gets bigger it can be changed into something she can hold onto and push. I usually don't buy super pink stuff, but it's all they had. She likes it and has actually been able to turn around in it the past few days. her feet barely touch. her favorite thing is the mirror, she loves looking at herself.

Abby is in a little basketball instructional league for 1st and 2nd graders. She likes it, although we missed the first practice and the last one got cancelled because of the blizzard. she will do it for 3 more saturdays

This is Isabel's friend party

After shovelling as much as we could, Scott decided we needed a snowblower. I couldn't really argue, there is nowhere else to shovel the snow and it takes forever. He was able to get a great deal on this one, and hopefullly we will be able to use it for years to come. We were hit with a huge set of storms that dumped on Monticello, the whole town shut down for a few days. I am definitely thankful for our nice, warm house, and for all the food we have stored so we do not need to worry when these things happen. Last month our Stake ( all the members of our church in town) fasted and prayed together for moisture, and I guess it worked! I am thinking about adding flood insurance before all of this melts.

Whitney is now doing very well sitting up on her own. She still tips over sideways sometimes, but mostly stays upright. She can grab at things and is putting them into her mouth. She still doesn't roll, she can do it from back to front, then she gets stuck, but really has no desire to do anything else. We are still ok with that, I like her in the same place. We are working on getting her sleep schedule more consistent so that she will sleep through the night. That means keeping her up more during the day, which makes her a little grumpy, but it will be worth it. I have been much more flexible with her because of everything else going on, I just let her nap whenever she wanted, but I would like to stay asleep all night myself, she is almost 8 months old.

The girls and I got to play out in the snow a few days ago, this is actually before the main storm hit! I buried them and dug a snow fort, and that is all under at least another foot of snow by now. The wind blows and drifts around our house, it's pretty crazy.

Scott got to make another day trip up north to exchange his silver badge and nametags for gold badge and nametags...a wonderful use of government funds we do not understand, but at least that's when he was able to get the snowblower and bring it home. He had to unload and use it before he could get his truck in the garage, it snowed the whole day he was gone. Otherwise no news, we have been snowed in, school cancelled for two days (which never happens here) and just not doing a whole lot.

Isabel Joy

About 14 months

One day old

Yogurt from Abby in her hair...and a nice shiner

3rd Birthday at Olive Garden in Rexburg, ID

1st birthday

Just a few extra pics of Isabel

Isabel Turns Five!

Happy birthday to Isabel, who celebrated for two days. Her birthday was on Sunday, so we just had our own little family time, and then a friend party on Monday. She is getting to know a lot of the kids here, from preschool and church. She is always asking to play with someone.

What can I say about Isabel? Well, I was thinking back over her birth this morning. Some of you may not know this story: Isabel had two due dates, one calendar date and one ultrasound. The dates were january 4th and 16th. This is quite a big amount of time when you are super pregnant. After we ended up passing the 16th, we decided to induce labor. That way we could take Abby to Grandma's and not worry about middle of the night drives in 45 min to the hospital. As we got the Pitocin started, I asked the doctor if he had any predictions on what time she might be born. It was January 17th, so he guess 1:17 pm. Well, we walked for a while, got the epidural, and when it was time to push, it was just after one. The doctor came racing back from the clinic, just in time for Isabel to arrive, and amazingly, he was able to mostly deliver her at 1:16, and held her foot in until the clock turned to 1:17 pm. It was funny and memorable, and that was how little Isabel arrived. She has always been a happy little thing, full of energy, and constantly talking. She is tough, but also can get her feelings hurt. Her attitude has always been, and I quote " but I want to do what I want to do!" She is funny and ticklish, gets along well with most people. She loves everyone she meets, including delivery men, painters (who she drew a picture for) and home teachers. A few months after we moved our home teacher came. Isabel was climbing all over him. By the end of the visit she kissed him on the cheek. After he left, she told me she wished I had married him, instead of Daddy, because she loved him. But don't be fooled, she loves her dad and follows him everywhere when he is home, working in the garage or wherever he is. She is smart and creative, loves to smile and laugh. She has always been our little climbing monkey, and fittingly had a monkey party this year. Everyone was so kind and she got some cute little presents. We got her a CD player and now she loves to rock out to her music, and I am hoping she will be respoinsible enough to take care of the player and the CDs. Isabel is also a great dancer, not shy at all and loves to wear dresses constantly. In Joy School last year she won the Fashion Diva award for her many beautiful outfits. She will find a way to wear a dress somehow, even if there are pants under it and a warm shirt over it.

She has been the most intersted in little Whitney, wishing she could hold and carry her all the time. She loves to talk to her and laugh with her. She even tells Whitney "You can pull my hair if you want to"

A few days ago I let the girls watch a bit of the news about Haiti and explained what had happened. We decided to give some money to the Red Cross, but Isabel also went and got some of her favorite stuffed animals, which she loves, and brought them to me to send to the children in Haiti who had no moms or dads.

So I just wish all our family and friends were closer to get to spend more time with our sweet little pixie with attitude, we love her and are so glad to have her in our family!