The princess and the burrito

The princess

I love wearing earrings like mommy

Our little burrito who got us a free Chipotle burritoWe finished cookie monster

my little angel - slightly scary

Those are wings on the back of Ana. Cydney reminded me I had this little angel outfit for Isabel and so I pulled it out for Halloween for Ana. What a sweetie:)

Okay, this is scary to me...Ana is already starting to get her knees under her...she's 3 and half months old. I don't think Isabel did this until like 7/8 months. She was in the middle of the blanket before I started video taping and got herself to the edge of the blanket. My little baby can't be moving around like that yet:)

The results are in...

The results are in and we placed..........second.:) First prize was really great. It was this very intricate tree and looked awesome. All the pumpkins were so good this year. I think we are going to have to up our game next year. So what did our pumpkin look like that got second?

Elmo with a gourd for a nose, a nice 3-D effect. The things we do for our children. Isabel likes Sesame Street so we did Sesame Street themed pumpkins...Elmo, Zoe, and Cookie Monster (which we didn't have time to finish at the party so probably will finish Cookie Monster tonight). It was a good thing I got this picture cause Elmo broke on the car ride home. Lee might try to fix him tonight...we'll see if we can.

Lee intensely working on ZoeZoe was inspired by a picture in one of Isabel's coloring booksTurned out pretty well I'd sayWe had a fun night as a family and a fun night of fellowship with our small group.

We're getting serious...

We're getting serious...what am I talking about? Our annual small group pumpkin carving contest. You see, last year Lee was the winner so there are high expectations for him to do well again this year (aka WIN). We started tonight gutting ours out to get a head start on everyone...okay not really. We thought it would be easier to have the guts out when we go tomorrow because we are also going to have to keep an eye on two kiddos during the whole process.

So we bought one of those pumpkin carving kits you can get at the stores, but well one of them got all bent up within the first five seconds of cutting the top out and I broke another one, so my genius husband decided to make his own tools (see above). He says they are THE BEST and Melissa this just might be a million dollar idea...so no one try to steal it:)

We'll see how well we do in the end...see ya small groupies tomorrow night!:)

Cowlick

Read the cutest book to the girls today called Cowlick. The librarian recommended it after seeing Ana.

Wonder why?Poor Ana Girl!:)

Update on Lee

I thought I should give an update on Lee because it's been awhile and several people have asked me how he is doing.

It's been 10 weeks since Lee's fall. We continue to praise the Lord for so many things! He's made significant progress in his range of motion. According to the Dr., he's passed what they would consider successful for that kind of surgery. He still can't straighten it fully and may never be able to...but he'll continue to try and work on it.:)

He just saw the Dr. again today and the Dr. has lifted all restrictions. Now this doesn't mean that he will be able to do everything because he may still lack strength or range of motion, but he can try as much as he wants.

We just got word that insurance will cover 8 more weeks of physical therapy, so that is another answer to prayer.

His arm is still really stiff (and sometimes painful) everyday and he has to exercise it. Once he does that though it seems to feel better. We're hoping the more he uses it the better it will continue to get. He was excited he was actually able to mow the lawn for the first time in 3 months yesterday.

Thank you all so much for your continued encouragement and love you have shown us. We can never thank you as much as we would like.

Success:)

Tonight Lee planned on just "a date night" but with the help of my good friend, Cydney, we pulled off a surprise birthday gift for our husbands who share the same birthday (December 31)! It took several months of planning and tonight was the "big reveal."

So what is this surprise? A trip to Cozumel in January celebrating their 30th birthdays. To stay with the whole Mexican theme we (without them knowing of course) met up at Chipotle for dinner in which we just happen to run into each other. It took them a couple minutes but they figured out we planned it after awhile.

Thanks to my boss, Carl, we got a super good deal at his time share. Thanks Carl! We are all so excited!:) "Can't say I never gave you anything." Right?

We are excited the whole surprise turned out! Oh, the things hanging from their ears are bag tags we got made and put in their birthday cards saying Cozumel.

Now just to get this post-pregnant body in shape for the beach.

P.S. The girls get to stay with grandma!:) And thanks Laura for watching the girls tonight! Isabel LOVES it when you are over!

New Things

A couple new things happened this last week. I tried Ana in the exesaucer. I think she's a bit small for it yet. She either gets stuck leaning backwards or falls forward. She was kind of like. "what is this thing and how am I standing up?"

I got out for Isabel a "princess" dress her cousin sent her a few weeks ago. So we played dress up. Can you tell by the smile on Isabel's face that she LOVES it? Thanks Aud!This isn't new, but had to capture it. Story time with daddy. So sweet.

Working on negativity

Awhile back Cydney posted about the "NO monster." Well, I think we have a similar situation on our hands. Isabel has been very...well...negative lately. All day I either hear:

"My can't __________"

or

"My don't like_______" Sometimes this is followed by a smile and then she says, "My's likes it."

or

"Don't hug me, don't kiss me, don't love me, etc."

I understand she can't do some things on her own yet, but today she was so pathetic...she said, "My can't get my milk," which was only about a hands reach away.

We're still working on her grammar too...My, Mine, I, etc. And when she gets frustrated with us correcting her, she just starts speaking in the third person, "Isabel doesn't like it."

Ah...my sweet two-year-old!:)

Fun on the Farm

We had so much fun at the pumpkin farm Saturday we went back Sunday for some more. It was a fun time as a family and Isabel especially enjoyed having Grandma in town to share in the fun.Ibel's first face painting. Can you believe the guy said Isabel sat the most still out of all the kids that day. Who are you Isabel and where did my wiggly daughter go?

Isabel getting shown the tractor by her best friend, Jacob. Don't you know it's the coolest thing on the farm?

And Ana slept through almost all of it...

Some cool sisters

Story time with Isabel

Since Isabel (and now the rest of our family, except me) has been sick, we have spent a lot of time at home, well all of our time. Sick children can definitely make for long days. Isabel took it upon herself to read to Ana today. It was so cute. As you can see Ana is thoroughly intrigued.

And despite this little one not wanting to sleep or eat...she has to feel rotten...it's only the strength from the Lord and cute moments like these that keep me going.

Devastation

What a sick tw0-year-old (aka Isabel) experiences when she can't touch, hug, cuddle, or kiss her little sister.:(