Happy Half Birthday Isabelle!

May 19th Isabelle turned 2 and 1/2! Since it was her special day, we got to do whatever she wanted. We started the morning off with a movie and popcorn, that was followed by an outing to the park and then we went swimming at my mom's. Of course we played dress-ups and she changed her clothes at least 10 times, without me getting annoyed. We finished the night off with Chick-fil-A for dinner, Isabelle's favorite. Although I didn't make her a cake this year, she was content blowing out one of my candles over and over.

Here's a little peak into life with Isabelle:

Isabelle loves routine- she always wants to do things in the same order.

e.g. When I put her to bed at night there are 5 songs I have to sing and they have to be in a certain order.

Isabelle loves wearing dresses and every time she puts one on she tells me "no shorts!"

Isabelle is finally eating veggies! This is a HUGE improvement. So far she will eat carrots and trees, otherwise known as broccoli. They have to be raw and she has to have ranch to dip them in. The other day she ate a bite of a tomato and actually swallowed it! Slowly but surely she is starting to eat her veggies!

Isabelle loves popcorn- and she has to do it herself. She climbs up on the counter, puts the bag in the micro and pushes all the buttons herself. She is always so proud of herself and says, "I did it!"

Isabelle also loves apples, she eats at least 3 a day!

We just finished a four week course of swim lessons at the YMCA with Isabelle. While she loves to play in the pool, she hates not being able to touch the bottom. It was a big struggle, with lots of crying and screaming. Every time she would try and make up some kind of excuse to get out of the pool like "I'm tired Momma" or "I need to go potty." Funny thing is every time when she got out of the pool she would tell me "I had fun!" Really? Well, she still can't swim, but we are going to keep working on it at my mom's pool.

Isabelle is very independent. She loves to do everything "by myself!"

Isabelle has been potty trained both day and night for 9 months now. She now takes herself to the bathroom without telling us she has to go. We are so proud of her. We are still working on her wiping herself, it seems she either uses too little or too much toilet paper.

Isabelle loves movies and dress-ups. She insists on wearing the outfit that goes with whatever she is watching. All the way down to the shoes.

Isabelle loves to sing. She recently learned the ABC song and sings it all the time. Sometimes she even does a punk rock version of the ABC's. I'm not sure where she got that from.

Isabelle never stops talking. I am amazed with her vocabulary and sentence structure, both in English and French and how she can say whatever is on her mind. She tends to speak more English, but when you ask her how to say something in French she can tell you and she understands it perfectly.

Isabelle ADORES her sister! She always comes running to see Anya whenever she gets up from a nap. She loves to smother her with hugs and kisses.

Isabelle is a little copy cat! In the morning when Isabelle wakes up I always say "Good morning Isabelle, did you sleep well?" Isabelle: "Yeah." Me: "Oh, good!" So now whenever Anya gets up, whether in the morning or after a nap, Isabelle says, "Good morning Anya! Did you sleep well? Oh, good!" It is too cute.

Isabelle always wants to know the plans for the day. When I get her dressed in the morning she always asks me "Where we go momma?" Once I tell her the plans there is no canceling, she remembers all day and will remind me if we haven't done something yet. Who needs a planner when you have Isabelle around?

In three weeks we are going to Hawaii! Like the rest of us, Isabelle is so excited. Every day she talks about the big plane and then the big boat we are going to get on. She also talks about the fish she is going to see and the waterfalls. It should be exciting, but I'm not looking forward to the plane ride with two little ones. At least Isabelle will have her own seat this time.

Mother's Day! I feel like the most blessed mom in the world to have my two little girls!

My mom out for a stroll with the girls.

Isabelle loves to cuddle with her sister.

Happy half birthday Isabelle, we love you!

"Wake up!"

Everyone knows that church should be a nice and reverent place. This past Sunday, Isabelle noticed that the entire Bishopric had their eyes closed during the passing of the Sacrament. She stood up on the pew, pointed and waved at the Bishopric and very loudly said, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Oh the things children say!

Chacun dans son lit

After many weeks of hard work we finally finished Isabelle's new room! It was quite the project, but well worth the effort. I was in charge of painting all the walls and picking out bedding and accessories (I still need to get some curtains) and of course all the organizing of clothes and such, Charles put together a new closet system and painted all the furniture (I helped with the book shelf), and my mom was the incredible artist and painter who did the mural on the wall. I think we pulled off quite the masterpiece. At first Isabelle had a little bit of a hard time leaving her room that she has always known, but now she has her big girl room that she loves to play in.

My dear friend Ruth made this for Isabelle for Christmas, it goes perfectly in her room.

With Isabelle in her new room we were able to change the toddler bed back into a crib and set the nursery back up. Anya moved out of our room and into her own room. While it's great to have our room back to just Charles and I, I did shed a few tears. My girls are growing up too fast.

Isabelle very graciously gave her bed over to Anya...as long as she can still climb in with her every now and then.

Even though the girls each have their own room now, they still love to cuddle and play together.

A work in progress

My mom was here nearly every day for hours on end working on the mural. I wish I had artistic talent like her.

Isabelle loved watching my mom paint. Every day she would go in the room when she first got up and say "It's so beautiful," as if it were the first time she had ever seen it.

The final product!

Little laughs

I asked Isabelle to throw away Anya's diaper. The next day I discovered this...

Our Little Miss

Our little Anya has just melted our hearts. She is just over 4 months old now and we absolutely love every minute with her. Her constant smile and laugh make her simply irresistible. Her rolls beyond number make you just want to hug and squeeze her. She is quite an angel.

Already playing dress-ups

All smiles!

We just started putting Anya in the activity jumper. She seems to really like it.

While Isabelle absolutely adores her sister, I think Anya shares those feelings and thinks the world of her big sister. She is all smiles when Isabelle comes around.

Oh, Isabelle

Oh, how we love our little Isabelle!

Mmmm, this is good!

Yesterday I was feeding Anya when Isabelle asked me for some banana bread. I told her I would cut her a piece of bread when Anya was done eating. A few minutes later I heard Isabelle say "Mmmm, this is good." I guess she decided she didn't want to wait for me. She took a bite right out of the loaf.

Chips

Last weekend we were out doing a little grocery shopping. Isabelle had a little fun on the chip aisle. We let her fill our cart with bags of chips and when she wasn't looking we of course put them all back. Later at home Isabelle came inside and said, "I want some chips." She started looking through all the grocery bags saying "Chips, where are you? Chips, where are you?" Charles and I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to give her Pretzels, but she wanted the chips she had picked out. I told Isabelle the chips were "hiding." After looking through every bag she finally accepted that the chips were hiding and didn't want to be found.