little ballerina

we weren't planning on doing anything for halloween, but at the last minute we ended up throwing together a ballerina costume and going trick or treating with friends.

our little ballerinaall ready to go!

isabella and kaya

dads and daughters

first trick or treating treat. she was VERY proud.

(yeah, thats right. we're shameless, and we sent her up to the doors with all the other big kids to score US some candy.)

checking out kaya's candy

we let her have a sucker...

...and it was the highlight of her night. or possibly her life.

pumpkin patch

we've been wanting to go to the pumpkin patch but the weather hasn't been cooperating. so when it stopped raining saturday afternoon, we made a run for it. the wind blew all of the rain clouds away and we had the best time. the place we went was a little farm with tons of animals to feed and pet. first up were the goats-isabella's absolute favorites!just look how excited she is!

she was hugging this little one and trying to pick it up

the piglets were 4 days old

off to feed the chickens with daddy

can you tell how hard she's reaching?

kaya and isabella it's just not possible to get them BOTH to smile at the same time

going through the maze

i'm so bummed this one is a little blurry, but it was too cute so i put it on here anyway

a few pics

i just love her cheesey smile she's patting the cup. (everything turns into a baby).

for as excited as she got at the grocery store, i can't wait to watch her at the pumpkin patch!

clapping for daddy

deciding she wants to sit on his lap

"helping" him play

let's go ahead and title this: all of august and september

in august, my mom came over to take us out to lunch and go shopping. of course we had to stop at dairy queen on our way home and she had to buy isabella an ice cream cone. here she is enjoying her first treat from DQ!

really going for it at the end!just sitting on the elmo couch watching elmo.her new 'school' shoes

all ready for brady's 4th birthday partythis girl loves to put on any sort of goggle/eye mask

celebrating mike and megan's birthdays.

we sneak into her room every night before we go to bed to peek at her and i just couldn't resist snapping a photo of this. baby vienna!!!!!

john, molly, and their new baby girl came for a visit. she is SO beautiful and i love her SO much!

isabella loved her too. but her love sometimes looked like poking vienna in the eye. well good morning, morning hair
this darling face is the face she makes when i tell her to smile. so pretty, isabella!we went to leavenworth for a weekend when nate, lindsay, and sienna were in town. we tried to sit the girls together to get a picture, but we were having trouble getting both of them to smile at the same time.

there we go!sienna has already learned to close her mouth when she kisses...isabella has not.checking out her new hat
we went for a weekend on jon and laura's boat with jon, laura, jen, and brett. i only took 2 pictures the whole time! but, i love love love this picture. mike and i are so thankful that there are so many men in isabella's life who love her. between our friends and family, we know that there will never be a lack of healthy attention and affection from men. (okay, that just sounded weird...does it make sense?) for awhile she got on a kick of wanting to wear this bikini top.its been a great (and busy) couple months. here is a little update on isabella (mostly for my records since i'm not so good at keeping up on a baby book):

she seems to understand everything now and is talking more and more. she still loves reading books. she's been really into the 'lift the flap' books. when she gets frustrated (either with a toy or when we tell her something she doesn't like) she runs towards a wall. its pretty comical. she likes playing with the buckles on her baby car seat. she likes "trying on" clothes and shoes. she has almost completely mastered the fork. she has 5 teeth. she switched from a bottle to her "big girl" cup with a straw. my very favorite thing she's been doing: when we all cuddle together and sing before bed, she's been pushing our faces together to make us kiss. she (thankfully) hasn't learned to say "no" yet, so she says "yeah" all day long. when she falls or bonks herself she says "whoa." she's still taking 2 naps a day. she's into putting on necklaces and bracelets.

she is A LOT of fun and i love being her mom. but sometimes i get so weary of saying the same things ALL DAY LONG. "use your words," "use a sweet voice," "mommy is listening...what would you like?" "when you're all done with your food, say 'all done,' its not polite to throw your food on the floor," "mommy's hands are busy right now, why don't you go play with..." "this is mommy's food, you can eat the food on your tray."

i'm excited for her to get more words. i think (hope) that this part of parenting will get a little easier as she can communicate more. in fact, i know it will because if i've learned anything about parenting, i've learned that all behavior issues happen in stages. this is just a stage, and it will soon pass and we'll be on to the next thing.

well...she is currently awake from her morning nap and eating lunch. and by "eating" i mean "inhaling." geesh, sometimes she doesn't even chew!