Seth's First Lost Tooth

Seth lost his first tooth last night!

It had been loose for a few weeks and the adult tooth was already coming in right behind it. Yesterday he wiggled it and wiggled it and out it came! We were at home when it came out so we put it in a plastic baggy and Isabelle immediately started helping Seth write a letter to the Tooth Fairy. Seth left the tooth and the letter on his nightstand and we left his bedroom door slightly open so that the Tooth Fairy could get in easily. By morning, she had visited and left a letter and $4!

"Friends" Birthday Party for Isabelle

Whew! Our house was filled with 8 little girls, 3 little boys and a ton of fun, laughter and noise!

The stellar invitation (some details removed)

Isabelle had 7 friends over during the evening of her birthday for a party. The brother (Holden) of one friend (Rowan) came to hang out with Seth. They joined the party for pizza and cake, but mostly played video games together.

Seth and Holden

The theme of the party was Big Time Rush (BTR). Big Time Rush is a band of 4 boys who also have their own show on Nickelodeon. Isabelle owns their books, posters, 2 CD's, and is crazy about them. Since they are a rather new band, there are no party decorations featuring them. I had to create my own, seen on the birthday cake (no photo - oops!), the table and Isabelle's shirt. At the party, each girl received a BTR handmade necklace that was bought off of Etsy.com.



When all the girls arrived, Isabelle had them sit on the floor to make fortune tellers. Here she's instructing everyone:

These are made out of paper and they play a little game where one person chooses a word, number or letter on the fortune teller, which leads to another word, which has a fortune under it. Here's what one looks like:

The outside has 4 choices

The middle has 8 choices

The inside hides the fortunes. These two say, "You will become very smart!" and "You will be famous & rich!"

The girls had fun making those and Isabelle was a true leader as she taught them all how to make them.
Next everyone received a fortune cookie (homemade by me!). Isabelle made up all the fortunes, some of which said "You will marry James" or another one of the BTR boy names! Then we had Isabelle's requested pizza - Papa Johns. As the girls sat around the table, they decided to play Operator. One person thinks of a message and whispers it in the next person's ear. That person then whispers it to the next person until everyone has heard the message. Then the last person says aloud what the message is. It usually ends up being only a fraction of the original message and is pretty funny!

L to R: Isabelle (back), Alayna, Faith, Amy, Erika, Ashley, Emma, Rowan

L to R: Erika, Ashley, Emma, Rowan, Isabelle, Alayna, Faith, Amy

Next was opening presents, then cake time. I made a copy of Dairy Queen's ice cream cake and I must admit - it was delicious! There was a printed photo of BTR on the top of the cake with "Happy Birthday Isabelle" on it.

She's 9!

A cut slice of the yummy cake. The chocolate in the middle is crushed Oreos mixed with chocolate syrup.

The girls all talked and played together for a little while. They played Duck, Duck, Goose and Musical Chairs until the party was over.

It was a great night for all!

9 years ago today this great girl came into my life!

Parker's 16 Month Snapshot

Little has changed with Parker over the last month. I would say that he babbles more now, but still does not have any real words that he says. He definitely understands a lot of what we tell him. He'll go get his shoes if he wants to go outside or he'll try to pull my coat off the hook as if to say, "We're going outside now." Even with the cold weather, this boy loves to be outside.

He is absolutely addicted to the Baby Einstein movies. He'll lead us over to the DVD player, pull a movie out of the drawer and insist we put it in to play.

Here's Parker watching Baby Einstein on Isabelle's laptop while snacking on the couch.

Life is good!

Isabelle's 9th Birthday Party

Our family was over for Isabelle's birthday party this past weekend. We had a good crowd - both sets of grandparents, Cathy, Steve, Jennifer & Jacob, Aunt Nancy, Lori, Sarah & Connor. As everyone came, they signed Isabelle's easel. She received this easel last year as a birthday present and people signed it then, so she wanted to continue the tradition.

Lots of helpers opening gifts!

Caffeine cake made by Grandma Barb (aka Coca-Cola cake). This is one of only two kinds of cakes Isabelle likes and she has requested it for her birthday for several years. The other cake she likes is angel food cake.

Cousins Parker and Connor:

Happy "Pre-Birthday" Isabelle!

Who Knew How Fun This Is?

Looks like everyone thinks shredding papers is a lot of fun!

Teamwork!

Making Smoothies

Isabelle decided to make a smoothie. She got this idea from one of her online games she plays. Educational, don't you think? In this particular game, the waitress has to make different foods and one is a smoothie. Isabelle listed the ingredients: strawberries, apple juice, strawberry yogurt, a banana and a kiwi. She cut up the strawberry, banana and kiwi and put them each in a bowl.

Then she put the strawberries, yogurt, banana and apple juice into the blender and blended away.

After a taste, Isabelle wanted to add the kiwi and blend it again. The kiwi was originally intended to be put on the rim of the glass as decoration.

The final smoothie got a "thumbs up"! I hope she makes more of them - yum!

He's a Big Kid Now

Parker wanted to join the big kids and sit at the bar in our kitchen. He likes to sit here and snack!

Cookies!

Pringles!

Brotherly love