Fun Times at the Zoo!

Today was a busy day. I had been planning on taking Isabella to the zoo for a while now. Peter's sister Stephanie and her girls Mattie and Mary came in town from Illinois this weekend so we all went together. Shawn and Kim, Alec and Matthew joined us. (Shawn is Peter's twin brother, as if you couldn't tell :) I love that Peter works there, but I really wished he could have walked around with us too. We really missed him. Isabella loved being outside! She mostly looked at the water, bamboo trees, and the other kids all around us. Not too interested in the animals yet. This first picture was when we first got there. She and her daddy posed for the camera first thing this morning. So precious....

Here's the whole clan of cousins: Matthew, Alec, Mattie, Mary, and little Isabella.

I had to get a sunglasses pose. She probably kept them on for a lengthy 2 seconds after this picture was taken. I just couldn't help myself though. I thought she looked too cute.

Uncle Shawn loves Isabella! I'm pretty positive she loves him too. I always wonder if she thinks he's her daddy. He and Peter are identical twins so I bet that's confusing for her sometimes. I remember when Alec was a baby. He'd think Peter was his daddy. It was pretty funny.

I think the giraffe was my favorite animal out there today. It was so pretty and it came so close to the fence. That was really neat to look at. Isabella slept through this part. She had had enough by the time we got to them. She snoozed for about an hour as we strolled along.

The ride home:

For the past month, Isabella has been squealing to the top of her lungs in the car. Not fussing or crying, just playing with her voice. Sometimes she kind of sings, yells, and squeals so loud that Peter and I can barely hear each other talking. We usually stop our conversation until she's done with the ear piercing squeals, then pick back up where we were. She's a mess. I'm so glad she quit screaming/crying like she did when she was about 2 months old. That was miserable. We couldn't go anywhere without her crying. I would usually have to pull the car over several times just to get to church! These days are much different thank goodness! Check it out for yourself......

Other pictures from the fun-filled day......................

Girls, Girls, Girls

My family has a history of mostly girls! Just look at these 4 cousins playing together at my mom's. There's Isabella, Tessa, Abbie and Lillie. Since Amanda is 13 weeks pregnant we don't know what she's having yet, but I bet it's going to be a girl. If it's a boy I will be very surprised! Curtis, my other boy cousin will be excited if it is I'm sure. Abbie and Lillie are the second set of twins (Amanda and myself were the 1st set) in our family. As you can see they loved their dance outfits. I wish you could see their sweet faces in this picture. They were all having so much fun with stickers, paper, and markers. I can't believe they all will be so close in age to
grow up together. Fun, fun, fun!

Isabella loved Lillie! She kept laughing and talking to her. It's so fun to see her interact with other kids. She loves them! Sweet, sweet faces!

Here's Papaw with little Greyson and Tessa. He's one of the few male cousins we have. He and Tessa share the same birthday.

Rub a Dub Dub, Isabella's in the Tub

Ok, so I finally got her out of the baby bathtub and put in her in the BIG bathtub for the first time. When she started trying to climb out of the other one and turn sideways and stand up in it I decided that stage was now over. On to bigger baths! I have to say it made me kind of nervous because my bathtub is really deep and I was afraid she'd fall over in the water quicker than I could grab her, but she did really good. As you can see, she loved it! She did circles on her bottom in it and smiled the whole time. What a big girl she is now!

Sink Time

The days are over of taking my time to get ready. I usually have a jewelry drawer with chewable jewelry for her to chew on while I get ready, but lately she has not been interested in anything but the mirror. So, I plop her up on the sink so I can get ready for the day. She started talking to herself in the mirror. It's so cute. Then the realized she could sit in the sink if she tried hard enough. In the meantime, my hair and makeup is usually half done and kind of not put together by the time it's all finished. But hey, it's just not that important anymore anyway.

Future Gymnast in the Making

I took gymnastics for many years from Charles Harding gymnastics. I loved everything about it. I loved the hardwork, the flips, the challenges, and just learning new routines. I saved all my awards and medals I won and I still have my leotards and jackets with my name on it. I can't wait to share it with Isabella when she gets a little older. Here she is in her limber pose sitting up. This is how she gets up from being on her belly. She does a perfect split, ususally with toes pointed and everything! I think she'll be ready to do flips soon. :)

Peter and Isabella had fun playing with her Easter presents from "Daddy". She got all kinds of zoo stuff. He went a little zoo crazy, but that's ok, I think she loved it all.

"I love my hat and zoo plate! See how precious I look! Take me to the zoo mommy,
I'm ready to go!" ~Isabella

Easter 2008

Easter Sunday, just the two of us. We were sad, because Daddy had to go to work today so we stopped by Aunt Amanda's house to see Gigi and Tessa. Then we went to church, then to Granny Beach's to eat, then to Gigi's house. Busy, busy day. Just the two of us....I love her smile with her Uncle Joe! She was having a big ole' time at her Great Granny's house.

Here she is at Tessa's house. Tessa was not feeling well, so she stayed home with Gigi.