Hello all! Here it is August already. How did that happen? Isabella is now officially 4 years old which blows my mind. I have taken over 500 pics from the last few weeks and they are up in the July and August folders for you to enjoy (I only posted the “good” ones). Can you imagine how behind on my scrapbooking I’ve gotten? With work being as crazy as it’s been, I haven’t cropped a single solitary picture in months. Wow! Come walk with me through a tour of all of our fun from the last 2 weeks. Where did we leave off? Hmm. Let’s go back a bit.
July 18, 2006 - A trait from Daddy
Isabella can sleep anywhere. And I mean that truthfully. One night I was working late and I got up to stretch our my stiff arms and legs and to get a brain break. Tim says” Check out the front door.” Not having a clue why, I walk over to see that my beautiful daughter, who had previously been asleep In her bed, had brought all her bedding and Mama Bunny out to the front door and made herself a comfy (?) place to sleep. Just like Daddy, Isabella can sleep absolutely anywhere.
July 20, 2006 - Cruising boy
Our boy is now in the cruising stage and attempts to take all of his toys for walks around our house. On the tile it’s pretty easy, but that carpet doesn’t work nearly as well as one would hope. His favorite is our laundry basket flipped upside down in the kitchen. As often as not, he ends up trying to climb on top of it by the end of his journey. He’s turning into a little spider monkey.
July 25, 2006 - One day left until my birthday
It’s only one day left until my birthday and I’m plum pleased. My Mom is in town and bought me a brand new dress for the day. We’re going to the mall tomorrow to get manicures and pedicures (my favorite birthday/anyday treat) and it should be fun. Also, Bella has a “surprise” that she’s been working on with Papa. She’s going to get me a cake from the mall which both of us LOVE. I can’t believe I’ll be 32 tomorrow. Wow! I love my birthday!
July 26, 2006 - I’m 32 today!
Yay! My birthday! I am so excited. Today we went and got manicures and pedicures at the mall. Isabella got her first professional manicure. They put flowers and butterflies on them and she loved the whole experience. Bella and Papa picked out a cake from the Great American Cookie Company. We then brought Isabella to the shoe store where we did not find anything but had fun trying things on. After that, off to Claires. Isabella decided she wanted to get her ears pierced again. After the drama of having to take her earrings out shortly before Nicholas was born, I was hesitant to do it again. She had been mentioning it for a few weeks so I asked her if she was sure and she picked out the new earrings she wanted. She was a trooper and jumped when they shot the guns at the same time, but then (with the option of picking out anything in Claire’s) recovered quickly. So now she has brand new sparkly pink earrings and is a happy little girl.
July 30, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 1
Today was the first day of the birthday week. We like to celebrate 7 days of birthday culminating with a big party. For her first day, she had Princess Pop Tarts for breakfast, opened her first gift (a Care Bears playset - She loves “Care Bears and the Big Wish Movie”), and planned our day out at Sea World. Isabella was our guide for the day and loved holding the map and telling us where we had to go next. Sea World was almost unbearably hot that day and we left much earlier than anticipated. We offered up swimming at Casa Bella as an option because honestly, Tim and I were melting. Bella enjoyed the Dolphin show but Nicholas screamed every time the dolphins would jump out of the water. He was not pleased. Both loved the Shark Encounter and Nicholas had a great time watching Bella run around in the water fountain in her bathing suit with the other kids. All in all, still a great day.
July 31, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 2
This day was a more low key day. Isabella was off school for the week and home with me. She watched movies and had a good time. We had dinner together then went out for Blizzards for our special treat of the day.
August 1, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 3
This was a great day. Tim took the day off. We spent the morning at home with the kids while I worked then packed up the car and headed towards Digitec. Bella requested that we visit work for her birthday week. Strange, but true. She loves visiting with the gang from work and I was able to pick up 3 years worth of Farscape from Dave. After that, off we went to Wet ‘n Wild for the afternoon. We lathered on the sunscreen and had a fabulous time. The kids area is fantastic! Tim and I swapped kids every 20 minutes or so. Isabella LOVED the water slides and went on a few of the big ones as well. Her favorite was the Blast and the wave pool. She would have never gotten out of the water if it was up to her. Right when the park was closing, we went back to our cars (conveniently located next to a 7-11) and introduced Bells to her first Slurpee. She loved it. Then back home where both kids crashed for the evening. We had so much fun and it was so nice to spend the day as a family out at the park.
August 3, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 5
Mani’s and Pedi’s anyone? Isabella had a playdate with Genevieve and we all were able to go over and see Genevieve’s new house and swim in the pool. The girls had a great time together. I promised I would get her a pedicure during her birthday week so we had Genevieve join us. It was so cute to watch the girls getting their nails done. Mommy and Nala got a polish change to get ready for the birthday party and manicures to fix the damage we tend to do with our hands. Isabella picked out pink (of course) for her nail color and decided Mommy needed the same color.
August 3, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 5
It’s half way through the work week and I’m busy but surviving and getting in all the birthday fun an almost 4 year old could want. Today we hit the mall in the evening to get Isabella’s 4 year pictures done. We started at Border’s where Bella danced on the stage and found a beautiful unicorn that she just had to have. We went and got pictures taken and then off to the food court for dinner - hello Chick fil A - and a Winnie the Pooh cookie. The kids both enjoyed the playground. Nicholas found that he could climb over things and thought that was just dandy. Every once in a while Bella would run over to play with him then back off to find another kid to play with. After the playground, we checked on the pictures (which didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked) and then got the kids back out of the A-mall (as Isabella refers to it)
August 4, 2006 - Isabella’s birthday week - Day 6
Wow! Is it Friday already? Off to Downtown Disney for some good old fashioned shopping and Ghiradelli. Bring out the grandparents and let’s get a move on! First we stopped at the best sandwich place ever, Earl of Sandwich. I love eating there. After that we hit Once upon a Toy where the princesses got completely upstaged by the My Little Pony selection. Bella spent at least an hour picking out her pony and brushing it’s hair and dressing it up. Once she had chosen what she wanted, Granny and I sorted through all the things she could get and filled her box to the brim with dress up clothes and other necessary My Little Pony accessories. Off to the sports store next where Nala, Bella and Papa played soccer with a pink and silver, shiny soccer ball which Bella convinced Papa that she needed for her birthday. Finally, Isabella and I split a Ghiradelli ice cream soda (our favorite) and then danced on the stage until almost midnight. My kid surely knows how to have a good time.
August 5, 2006 - Party Time!
We finally made it to the birthday party! After baking the cake the night before, the cake still needed to be decorated and the house covered in balloons and decorations. Funny story - I accidentally brought flour instead of sugar to make another batch of frosting. Of course I didn’t realize this until I poured the flour in and smelled that it definitely wasn’t sugar. I busted up laughing and then realized my cake needed to be redesigned completely. Luckily I had bought a few bouquets of flowers that day and proceeded to cut them apart and stick them on the cake. I love how it turned out though. It was perfect.
Once everything was set up, people started arriving. I tried to get everyone’s photo against the princess backdrop as they came in to be able to print out their photos for the take home gifts. I really didn’t want to send kids home with a bunch of stuff that would just clutter up the house. The kids seemed to love making their own crowns. Some kids just covered themselves in stickers, but that works too. The food was great, the cake turned out great and the kids had a great time swimming until it rained. This year, Bella actually opened her presents at the party in a mad, dash, crazy, speedy fashion. I wrote down who gave what as fast as possible, so if I thank you for something you didn’t get her, work with me!! Everyone headed out and we cleaned up and headed home. It’s the first time we ended up going to bed before midnight after a party.
I can’t believe our baby girl is going to be 4 tomorrow.
August 6, 2006 - My baby is 4
She’s 4. How did that happen? Wow. Granny sponsored Isabella and Alyssa’s day at Libby Lu for makeovers. Todd calls it the ‘preteen Christina Aguilera factory’ but little girls love it. Bella chose the ‘princess’ look which came with (what else) a tiara. She also picked out a Hello Kitty bracelet and a necklace. She looked so beautiful with her hair all done up and covered in sparkles. She’s gotten to be such a young lady.
