Happy Birthday Isabelle

Once again I am behind on my posts! :) Isabelle turned 7 on February 24th, I can't believe she will get baptized next year. She is growing up too fast, I want her to slow down and be my little girl!! This year Isabelle wasn't suppose to get a friends party, but this great couple from church do a magic show, and they wanted to give Isabelle a magic show birthday party. Isabelle is one of their biggest fans. The best part about this birthday party was that it wasn't held at our house, we did it at the church. It was a really fun party. I don't think we are going to be able to do better, so maybe we should stop having b-day parties now! ;)



Uncle Nate and Aunt Katie gave her skittles and $5.00. After Isabelle opened she sang the "five dollar foot long" and decided she could go buy a subway. I think she watches too much tv!!


Next presents from mom and dad. This is a furreal pet. She really wants a real dog, but that isn't happening, so this will have to do!


This is here prebirthday party cake, so we decided to do brownies, b/c they are fast, easy, and yummy!

The Birthday party!!! We had a ton of kids turn out! It was fun and crazy all at the same time. The kids kicked balloons around until everyone got there, so we could start the magic show. Notice, Isabelle is a head or two shorter than all of her friends! :)

Cousins!!! What would a birthday party be without your cousins. These two are the best of friends, it is so cute to see them play together.



The older kids goofing off! I am afraid of what trouble they caused while I was taking care of the birthday party.


Here are all the kids sitting waiting for the magic show to begin!

Here is the magician and his first helper Jayden.

Towards the end of the show he called on Isabelle to be a helper!


They even had a special magic hat for the birthday girl! I am bummed b/c the color is bad in some of these pictures!!

Thanks to our great magician and his lovely assistant Pookie!!! :D

Here is the birthday party cake. We decided a rabbit fit the theme well. This year I decided to try a cupcake cake. I figured it would be easier to serve, and it was. I have to say I was pretty impressed at our finished product. Thanks to my awesome husband for helping!!

Isabelle blowing out the candles! And then we opened the presents and finished up!!

Snow Storm Feb. 2010

It all started on February 2 and 3rd 2010! We only got 3-5" but in Maryland that was enough to cancel school. It was a nice warm day after the snow fell and so we all bundled up to go and play out in the snow. This was Isaac's first time that he could actually walk in his snow boots, so it really was his first official time "playing in the snow." He actually loved being out with the kids, and cried when I took him inside. Unlike the snow storm in December, this one was a wetter one, which made it easier to make snowmen.


Here's Isaac trying to decide if he can walk on this crazy white stuff!

Isabelle and Victoria made this cute little snowman :)

Brianna and Brenden made this snow thing, I have no idea what it was, but they were proud of it!

Isabelle and Isaac playing in the snow.

I made them all stop playing and let me take a picture.



On Friday Feb. 5th and Saturday Feb. 6th, the BIG snow storm came! They were calling for 20 to 30" of snow. We were pretty excited. Some people in Maryland were freaking out, they don't know how to deal with the snow! :) The flakes started to fall around 6:00p.m. on Friday night. It took awhile for them to start sticking, but they finally started sticking around 8:00. We were constantly looking out the window to make sure it was still snowing. It snowed all night Friday night, and continued most of the day on Saturday. I think it finally stopped snowing Saturday around 5:00. I think we ended up with about 24 to 28 inches. It is really heavy snow, great for building and playing in. Not so fun to shovel. Gene was out shoveling for 3 1/2 hours on Sunday. I watched him from the front window! We only have one shovel, so I couldn't help. But all the neighbors got together and helped each other out!!

Here is Isabelle on our front porch, at this time it was still snowing! I took this picture through the front window, b/c I was to much of a wimp to go out at this point. The wind did blow through most of the snow storm, in fact we not only had a winter storm warning, but we also had a blizzard warning b/c of the high winds.

Brenden, Brianna, and Isabelle playing out in the snow, before the storm was over!

Here is Isabelle in the middle of the snow, notice the snow is almost up to her bum! :)

These next pictures are taken two days after the snow storm. Sunday everyone spent the day shoveling out, so on Monday I took Isaac out to check out the snow. Plus I wanted to see how high the snow was. So I took a whole bunch of pictures for those of you who aren't in Maryland so that you picture how much snow we got!

These pictures are the exact amount of snow!! They aren't what has been piled up b/c of shoveling.

From the street you can barely see the top of his head above the snow! :)

Brianna, Brenden, and Isaac on a mound of snow, and if you close enough behind them is a car that is buried in snow. This is pretty much what most of our street looks like!

Victoria, Brianna, Isabelle, Amy, and Isaac in front of another car buried in snow! I don't think they are going anywhere for a while! :-) I'm glad we weren't parked on the street!!

YES! Christmas did come to our house! :-)

This posting is for you Aimee, now you can quit bugging me about updating my blog! ;) Christmas really did happen at our house, it has just taken me a month and a half to get it on our blog! We had a good Christmas, we just stayed in Maryland and had Gene's parents come to our house. We were lucky enough to have a white Christmas, that doesn't happen much here on the east coast! Next year we hope to spend Christmas in Utah!!!!


Here are the kids sporting their new Christmas PJs

I don't have many other pics of Tori on Christmas morning so I thought I would throw this one in of her opening her pajamas on Christmas Eve. The girls showing off there jammiesThe boys! Brenden is always happy to have a brother around!

Isaac showing off like he always does!

Brenden got his real NFL football just like he wanted!! Now I just have to stop him from throwing it in the house!!

Gene got me a snuggie, and I love it!!

Isabelle in another pair of pajamas, and these ones came with matching pjs for her baby

Isaac is kissing the baby on the book! It is his baby book that I made for him!

This is the rocking horse that santa brought Isaac, he isn't quite sure what to think of it.It didn't take Isaac long to learn how to rip the paper. Next year we might be in a little bit of trouble with presents under the tree before Christmas.

I finally made Isabelle a baby book!! She has been begging me to do it for quite sometime, and I finally got one together for her this year. I still have a lot more to do for her. Luckily I found this great deal through photoworks that the first 25,000 people to make a book got it free! I got two, one for Isaac, and one for Isabelle! Actually I did 3 b/c I made one for my mother in law! :) I love a good deal!!!

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!!!!!!!

Friday they were calling for a snow storm to come into Maryland that should bring 8 to 12" of snow. By Friday late afternoon they were calling for 10" to 20". I was glued to the weather channel to make sure it was really going to happen. The problem with Maryland is they call for these big snow storms and then they never come, so I have to watch the weather channel to make sure that they do come! :) Friday night at about 10:00p.m. we started getting some snow. At 5:00 a.m. I got up to look out the window and make sure that it was still snowing, and it was. It was a continual snow all night and then all day on Saturday. It was small flakes so it didn't look too crazy! By midday we had a good amount of snow. At about 4:00 I went and tried to measure, but I only made it a few steps and measured close to the house, and at that time it was measuring about 16". It snowed until about midnight Saturday night. They say that we ended up with about 23" of snow, and we are loving it. Here are some pictures during the day, and the next day!

This is the top of Gene's car after he had cleared a little bit of it off!

Gene preparing himself to dig us out! I was nice enough to let him do all the work!

Isaac checking out snow for his first time ever!

Pretty much he looks like the kid from the Christmas story. The things we do to our children just to get a picture!

Gene slowly introducing Isaac to the snow.

Brenden and Isabelle all bundled up and ready to go and play in the snow!

Isaac in his snow hat!

Poor kid!!! But he is darn cute!

It's never too late!!

I have decided better late than never. I want to blame my lack of posts on the holidays, but really that is just a good excuse. Really what I want to do is yell at my dear, lovely husband and tell him that he started this dang blog so he should contribute in posting!!! Here are some pics from Halloween. We were lucky enough to have nice weather, which meant we got to go trick or treating for a long time. Trick or treating for a long time means LOTS of candy. We have this awesome deal in our house that you get to pick your top 10 or 15 favorite treats to keep to yourself, and then the rest of the candy goes into a big bowl to "share"! :) I think it is a great idea, and I came up with that one all by myself!


Brenden and Brianna as ninjas

Isabelle as my little Dorothy, I even splurged and got her ruby red slippers!

Isaac dressed up as two different things, on Halloween night he was the lion, and Isabelle was Dorothy!

Victoria was a "dead model" ?? Don't ask, I have no idea, we just smile and nod!!!!

Here is our little stinker!! I bought this costume when I found out I was pregnant. It was a GREAT deal at children's place. But when Isabelle decided to be Dorothy, she also wanted Isaac to be the lion. Luckily we had two Halloween parties to go to, so he got to wear both costumes.

Seriously the cutest skunk I have ever seen! :)

Brenden and Brianna Getting the guts out of the pumpkins

Just a little shot of everyone gutting out the pumpkins. Isaac can't decide if he likes it or not!

The finished pumpkins. Isabelle did a cat, with some help!

Brianna and Brenden did the bat all by themselves! And no one lost a finger!

And Victoria did the happy pumpkin