Too long!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted. If you only knew what I've been up to lately you'd understand why I haven't posted lately. I wasn't able to go on vacation this past year so I've kind of made up for it these past 3 weekends. Three weeks ago Peter and I took Isabella to Gatlinburg. We had so much fun visiting the Aquarium, Dollywood, and shopping in Pigeon Forge. It was a little chilly, but Isabella did great! Peter and I have never taking her on any type vacation together as a family so this trip was extra special to us. We bought an ornament at the Christmas store with all 3 of our names on it. That's one of my favorite places in Pigeon Forge. Dollywood was absolutely so much fun! It was cold by the time we finally made it out there, but that didn't stop us. I put Isabella on the little kiddie rides and she loved them! It was so cute to see her ride rides.


She loved the duck pond, the bumble bee ride, and the little piggy ride. We also had a lot of fun at the aquarium (way overpriced though!).


Here's just a few pictures of us around Gatlinburg.




After this trip I had a ladies retreat the next weekend. I was so pumped because I hardly know anyone except the ladies that work in the nursery and I really wanted to meet new people and connect with them. Shannon, the nursery director that had the birthday bash a few months ago, roomed with me that weekend. She's so sweet and I just really loved getting to know her. Isabella has had such a hard time in the nursery (with little bullies) and Shannon never hesitates to make it better for Isabella. Here's a picture of us at the retreat. I wish I had taken more, but I forgot my camera when we went hiking. This was at Barren River Lake Resort and it was gorgeous outside with all the trees. Later one night we had a 70's-80's room where some of the ladies dressed up as their favorite rock star of the decade. I got my picture with Kathy Wills, a friend that I also teach with at MCE. We had a blast and she looked halarious with her pink hair. As you can tell in this last picture I was FORCED to sing rock star song?! Not my thing to get up in front of a bunch of girls I don't know and karaoke. But whatever, they will never remember it anyway. At least I hope not :)


So, on Friday of the retreat (our retreat is from Thurs.-Sat.)Peter calls me and tells me Isabella is throwing up!! She's never, ever thrown up and now when I'm out of town she does! OMG, what was a mom to do? Thank goodness my mom came over to Peter's rescue and helped get her cleaned up since they both had throw up all over them and she was screaming so Peter couldn't put her down. Not fun for daddy, huh? I decided to stay since she only did it once. I got home Saturday afternoon and she was ok. Not acting herself, but not terribly sick. Sunday was a different story. She woke up and whined all morning. This is not like her at all. She wimpered and just layed around and had a fever, so I thought I am not waiting another day. Mom picks us up and we all go to Urgent Care in Rivergate and wait an hour until a nurse comes to tell us we probably should go to an ER! Not fun to hear that, so off we go to Vanderbilt ER. We wait for about another hour and finally see a doctor in pediatrics. They started sending all patients to the 8th floor for pediatrics if the ER is completely full and it was. The doctor checks her out and all her symptoms and says she has an upper respiratory virus and there's NOTHING they could do for her!! UGGHH! None of us were happy when we left, except that she didn't have to have blood drawn or stay overnight . Thank goodness! Needless to say she's still coughing up a bunch of phlegm and has a massive runny nose, but all in all, she's ok.

The next weekend (which was this past weekend) Isabella and I went to Chicago! Mom took us girls and our girls. There were a total of 9 of us that went. Mom, Me, Isabella, Amanda, Tessa, Jennifer, Alyssa, Elizabeth, and Heather. Our main purpose of this trip was to go to American Girl and have dinner and shop! Thanks Arles for suggesting this trip for all us girls! We had SOOOO much fun! Here's pictures of Isabella's first airplane ride. She did an amazing job! Tessa and her did great there and back. We couldn't beleive it.



After we left the airport we rode in a limo to the Hilton. That was an adventure in itself. But we got there and everything was fine.



That night we went to the American girl store. I've never been in one until this weekend. Gigi (mom) bought Isabella a Bitty Baby and and outfit for the doll for Christmas. I bought the table chair and a teaset for her. The dinner was so much fun. Isabella kept giving her baby a drink out of the tea cup. So adorable! Tessa, Heather, and Alyssa also got dolls. So sweet!


Ok, I've been posting for about an hour now so I'll come back and finish it later. See you soon!

Ghouls at Grassmere

I really don't like the word "Ghouls", but it was definitely fitting for the decorations at the zoo. I really wished they could make it more little kid friendlier. Some of those Halloween decorations were just not meant for little bitty ones that are big enough to be scared by it. Like Tessa, poor thing. She did really good while we were there, but I'm sure some of those costumes and decorations probably scared her a little. If I were 2 it would scare me! Anyway, Isabella was a little too oblivious to really understand the scarey stuff. She had fun just looking at all the flashing lights and playing the games. We went into the tent where they had mini bowling and she kept interrupting other kids bowls. It was halarious. She loves balls! So as soon as she saw it she took off. In fact she yelled "balls!" and went straight for them. Christmas gift idea from Santa? Oh yes. Anyway, I took a before and after picture of my niece Alyssa (in the middle), Tessa (on the right) and Isabella ( on the left). They were all smiles when Mom and I loaded them up. Needless to say by the time we got there (about 35 minutes later) this was the outcome. Quite funny huh? Definetly too long in the car. That was quite an adventure for mom and me. We will not forget that one!

MCE's Pioneerfest

Madison Creek had their 1st Pioneerfest today. It is a fundraiser we did this year to get new computers purchased for our classrooms. Amanda took Tessa and I had Isabella. Amanda wanted to get Tessa (and herself) out of the house to have some fun. I'm so glad she did! We went to McDonald's to eat first before heading over there. Once we got there the girls were so giggly and excited they couldn't stand it. Isabella did her silly deep belly laughing and Tessa just laughed at her. They got to jump in the big blow up bouncys, pet chickens and ponies, and play games. You can imagine what their favorite was, the bouncys! They loved it. Tessa was unsure of it at first but then she warmed up to it. Amanda got some cute pictures of me taking Tessa and Isabella down a huge jumpy slide! I didn't post them on mine, but she probably will on her blog site. After the outdoor festivities we headed into my classroom and let the girls play in the chairs and in the loft before heading home. It was really chilly out there today, finally feeling like real Fall weather.

Much better day

Well, today was a much better day for both Isabella and myself. She got to spend the day with daddy and a break from mommy. I think the two of them need this time together to bond. She tends to cling to me if we're both around so I like it when the two of them are together while I am at work. Her legs don't seem to bother her too much. I could not believe her measurements: She only weighs 19 lbs-7th percentile and her height is 68th percentile. She eats but never gains any weight! She's so tiny but the doctor says she's not worried about it. Thank goodness. Well, I made dinner for Amanda and Greg and we all went over to their house for a while before going to the pumpkin corner to buy pumpkins. Harrison is getting so big! He's adorable. It's so amazing how fast babies grow. He's a good little boy. Just sleeps, poops, and hangs out. (Sounds like all male species huh ?! j/k) Tessa was a good girl too. Her and Isabella played and played. Isabella did not feel like taking pictures. All she wanted to do was play with the kitchen. So, she's not in this picture.

After leaving their house we went to the pumpkin corner at the end of Center Point. I was so excited to see what Isabella would do with all those pumpkins and decorations. She definitely takes after her daddy. I thought she would be scared of some of the scarey things, but she wasn't. She just stared and talked to them. Some of those decorations were really creepy. But we all had such a great time and it was a really nice night to pick out pumpkins.

Pitiful Day

So I've been on my Fall break from school and needless to say I'm exhausted! Not much of a break I guess. Isabella, poor thing, has not felt well the past 4 days and today she had her 15 month shots. I wasn't sure if she would get them since she had a fever over the weekend. The doctor ordered a finger prick to make sure her blood count was ok and it was. So after getting her ears cleaned out (to check her ears-apparently she has the most wax build up ever!) and then the finger prick, she was NOT a happy camper. She screamed and sobbed what seemed like forever. So the doctor comes back in and says her blood count looks great so she can have her vaccinations. Here it goes, the scream from you know where, 3 shots! Oh it was the most pitiful thing I've ever heard. I've not cried at one of her appointments yet, but today I almost lost it. We both had had enough and I barely remember anything the doctor told me. It seems I always have a ton of questions to ask the doctor but after the screaming I just can't think straight and I never seem to ask them. Oh well, I guess I'll be making a phone call tomorrow. So, it's 7:44 right now and I just put her down for bed. She was lying on the kitchen floor with her blanket and her "pooh" (our word for pacifier) face down on the floor. That was my cue to get her to bed. Maybe Peter will have a better day with her tomorrow than my past 5. :)

15 months old

I'm so ready for FALL! I love this time of year. The smells, cool breeze, chili, warm blankets, fireplaces, pumpkin scented candles, leaves changing colors, and everything about it! It feels refreshing I guess after a hot summer. I can hardly believe it's the middle of October now. Time sure does fly by so fast! Today Isabella turned 15 months old. Poor thing has had a fever since yesterday morning. I feel so sorry for her. She rarely gets sick so when she does it's not fun. She's a trooper though. Her fever got up to 104.4 in the early morning hours this morning which really made me nervous. Thankfully it broke pretty quick after some Motrin. I think she's been fever free since this afternoon but we won't be making it to church in the morning. A couple of weeks ago I was working in the nursery and took a few more pictures of Isabella and her friends. I posted a couple below. I just can't believe she's already 15 months old! She repeats a lot of what I say. The only animal sound she says is "Quack Quack" so I decided that's what she'll be for Halloween this year. I got the costume in this week and it's adorable. I just hope she'll keep the hat part on. She's saying "daddy", "car", "quack quack" and "puppy dog" really good now. Probably no one would really understand her on the last two except me and Peter. It's funny how you learn their language. Her Gram Gram got her this chair she's kept at her house last week. She loves it. Since it's supposed to be Fall, yet still almost 90 degrees we had popcicles the other day outside. It was gorgeous and she loves popcicles. As you can tell.

I visited my friend Adrienne the other day. I miss her. I feel like we don't see each other as much as we used to. She and Jeremiah are going to a different church than we are now and we're used to seeing each other at least 2-3 times a week. So, I had a Saturday to visit her and Isabella and Jackson played together for a while. Adrienne tells Jackson "You be sweet to Isabella, she's your future wife." She's so funny. Ever since I was pregnant knowing it was a girl, she claimed her for Jackson. It looks like in these pictures that he's putting his arm around her. (which she doesn't look too thrilled about it) It's so funny. The two of them are so opposite. Isabella is as gentle as a little girl should be and Jackson is picking up cars and turning them over like it is nothing, ramming the car into Isabella, and just a rough little boy. Needless to say, between toddler watching and talking, we usually don't have an uninterrupted conversation. But that's ok, I just love the chances I have to get together. You're the best friend a girl could have Adrienne! I love you to pieces.



The last thing I wanted to post for now is about Peter and his job. He works all the time, but one of the cool things about working there is he gets up close and personal with some favorite animals. Here's an event he managed the other night. He got to visit with a clouded leopard, a flamingo, albino kangaroo (no picture of that one), and a bunch more that were there. Those animals are from the Columbus, OH zoo. They volunteered to bring them to the event. Pretty cool I'd say.

FireProof The Movie

Well, last minute yesterday Krista asked me if Peter and I would want to go see this movie with them last night. So, I quickly called "Gram Gram" (Peter's mom) to see if she would mind watching Isabella so we could go. She came over and watched her (Thanks Gram Gram!) and we took off to see the movie. (And thanks Mom for the free tickets!) I had heard this movie was really great, but I guess I didn't realize how much it would affect me and Peter. In the movie, it was so amazing to watch a marriage slowly fading and headed for disaster start to turn around because of Kirk Cameron's character realizing his need for God's love so he could learn how to love his wife. We absolutely cannot love in our own strength and base love on our feelings. I know so many people who are quick to get mad or quick to burst out with something negative to say about their spouses. I have learned over the years to keep my mouth shut, but that is not always easy (and sometimes I still catch myself starting to say things that I shouldn't ). Peter and I loved this movie so much that I actually bought the Love Dare book online this morning. It was really cheap and I'm excited to see what it says. I urge everybody to go see this movie. Just make sure to bring lots of tissues. I've never teared up so much in a movie before. (However, it is not your typical Hollywood love story movie) It just makes you stop and think about what marriage is all about and what's most important in a relationship. Make time to see it! Pray for your marriage or the marriages of people you know. Love, love to you all.