First Christmas Program

We went to Isabella's first Christmas program at her school.  The Busy Bees class was singing "Come On Ring Those Bells."  I found out it was this song a few weeks ago when Izzy started singing it as she was playing.  I grew up singing that song at my programs, so I started singing with her.  She looked at me like, "How do you know that song, Mommy?"  Anyway, I think she thought that was pretty stinking cool that we could sing and practice together at home, so that is just what we did.  We were ready for the big night. 

This is the way it went down.  We brought her home, got her all dressed up, ate dinner and lugged her back to school.  She was a bit confused that we were taking her back to school so late at night. We dropped her off with her class and made our way into the sanctuary and joined other obnoxious camera taking parents.  Aunt Roni was there to help with crowd control and taking more pictures:)  The 14 kids came in with bells tied around their wrists (precious) and got all set up on teh stage.  The looked so big and cute.  The music began and they started to sing...then, what we knew would happen did.  Izzy turned on the water works.  I felt horrible for her.  She has a problem with social singing!  This kid cries when a group of people start singing...birthday parties, anything like that.  It is so sad.  poor kid.  All I wanted to do wwas run up there adn sing with her, just as we had practiced (so loudly) at home.  I asked the teachers earlier if she was signing well at practices adn they siad she was the best one!  That's right.  So, why is this a problem....stage fright, everyone staring at her?  Don't know.  So, for the rest of the song, she cried.  After it was all done, they joined their parents.  I told her she did such a fab job and hugged her and she turned and looked at me and she said shrugged her shoulders and said, "I cried."  No regrets, it was a matter of fact statement.  I asked why adn she said, I don't know, I cried."  Later, one of the parnets told her good job and she shrugged it up again adn said, "I cried."  Okay, yes you did.  Next.

All in all, we are still so proud of her.  She is still singing the song and ringing her bell, even slept with it last night.  I love this kid.  We have some video and I think Roni might have gotten a few more better pcitures then we did, so more to come maybe.

These last two pictures are of her waiting in line to see Santa.  Yes, we did it...he made a surprise visit at her program.  (We know who the real Santa is.)  He did no justice...no real beard, etc.  You can see her little bell around her wrist.

New House Video

We have been excited about this video for a while. Now, we've got it up on YouTube for everyone to check out.

Happy Halloween from Minnie Mouse

Our little Minnie Mouse had a blast on Halloween as you can see by the massive photo upload below.  She LOVED getting candy.  She pretty much worked that Minnie Mouse costume too.  It was perfect!  The town we live in had a parade in the morning, which we walked with a few of her friends from school.  She thought that was great to see them outside of school.  They are 4 months older than Izzy, but you'd never be able to tell since she is so tall...people still ask me if she is 3.

Go, Pirates

Izzy's rooting for her favorite team.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, for the Pirates sweatshirt.

TV-Watching Pose

Watching ESPN's College Game Day.

This might be Izzy's favorite position for watching TV. She has trouble sitting down and concentrating on a show -- big surprise (thanks for that trait, daddy).

Izzy Shuffle

Dance party at our house last night. Sweet moves, Izzy. (Please excuse the crummy singing.)

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

The Iz has been learning Bible verses at preschool and already has 5 memorized.

Don't know about you, but I had exactly zero verses memorized when I was 2.

Pumpkins!!

Why do these big orange things amuse us so much? Not sure, but I love pumpkins and so does Izzy. We had fun picking up all the pumpkins yesterday, all 8 of them as she counting them in the car on the way home. Good grief. Huge ones, medium ones, cannonballs and babies...lots of sizes. In a few weeks, we will carve them, while watching Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin. I should say, Chris will carve. I am not sure why, but carving them out is not fun for me. I like to cook the seeds and eat them, but all the carving and "gutting" if you will is way too much work.

Mom, the sun is too bright for this photo op.....seriously, get me down.

A New Season

Today has been a weird day, so I wanted to record my thoughts quickly as my mind moves to new things in a heartbeat and I will forget everything all together. While at work today (yes, at work), I got on facebook to see what everyone was up too as I have not been on in months. I see and look at what everyone is doing and realize how much I have missed, babies being born, people getting new jobs, people moving and traveling and becoming friends with people I haven't seen in ages. It sorta got me for a minutes, because the memories of all of these people slowly fade until you are reminded of them again. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love people and making relationships. There are those that you wished could have worked out or those you are still wondering what happened. I guess I say all of this to saw that I miss a lot of people out there. I miss the memories, which seem to fade all too quickly. I hate that. Why can't I remember everything for always? I think God forgot to add that part to my brain when I was created. I have a few friends that remember EVERYTHING, I mean everything...it is truely amazing. Hm. Maybe I am just homesick for the Northwest.

I logged onto John Eldredge's blog as I try to do every once and a while as he has some great things to say. Check him out here. http://www.ransomedheartblog.com/john/ His most recent post sort of brought it home for me today. He was talking about memories. The end of his recent post is this that meant so much. I need to work on spending more time with the friends that I have and linger in the memory. Life passes us by all too quickly and then we forget, get out of meeting together and so on. Someone told me this once and I wish I could "remember" who, but they said, "You are never to busy for friends...whether it be a phone call, letter or email." Let's face it folks, its true. So, from John:

"Which brings me back to memory. I’m beginning to realize that I do not take advantage of this gift from God, this capacity that enable me to “linger at the table” in the moments of life I long to draw more out of. For they are always with me, and I can return there if I will make room for a moment to do so."

To all my friends, I miss you and love you! Jayci

Student of the Month

Guess who got Student of the month for her Busy Bee class? That's right, Izzy did. On the middle rightside, bottom pumpkin is her name. I don't think she has a clue, but I told her that she has been doing a good job in her class, etc. She has two other kids in her class and they all have fun together learning so much stuff during the day. They spend extra time on Bible verses and stories. Izzy now knows and can say 6 bible verses. You go girl. Her favorite might be, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalms 139:14. She will just approach people and tell people this one. It is pretty cute. They usually just shake their heads yes to her. So, she brings home the cards with the verses and we practice every night and recite them all. One of these days, we will get it on video. I know her Poppie would love to hear her say these.

Esther

Oh, the excitement and goosebumps I get when I type this is overwelming. I just started week one of Beth Moore's Esther Bible Study and I know I am in for a ride like no other. It is tough being a woman...yes, it is. Going up against heavyweights bent on her destruction, Esther trusted God and landed a blow that saved her people. The Old Testament story of Esther is a profile in courage and contains many modern parallels for today's woman. Esther's destiny can be yours as you know more deeply the God who is in your corner.

If you have never done a Beth Moore study....whoa mama! YOU NEED TOO....that is if you want to be changed, moved, tapped on the shoulder by the Holy Spirit (some people don't like that....aka conviction)

It's not too late..if you want to join us, please do. We would LOVE to have you. There are about 30 of us and it is going to be a blast.

GOD IS WORKING IT OUT!

Sun, Sand, Sonic...need I say more?

We definitely all needed a little time away to our favorite place...the beach! This is part 2 to the previous post...more from our week.
Daddy, I got my hippo and we are going to the beach. Best $2.49 I even invested, thanks to Winn Dixie.
Mr. Hermit, the Crab....or did we name him Tim?

Izzy, Abby and Tim

Not only did we find a crab, we found Mr. JellyfishEw...I don't like Jellyfish. "Don't bite me." Actually Abby saved me one day on a walk on the beach, one came right up to the shore (I think it might have been dead) and I nearly stepped on it, until Abby yelled, "JELLYFISH!!" Luckily, my catlike - 31 year old reflexes allowed me to jump right over the huge thing. Whew, thanks again Abby!

Huh? A pirate ship? Where? Yikes!

Chillaxin

We took a break from the beach to feed the alligators at Fuddpuckers. Good times. We are Florida, isn't that a requirement? The other cool thing about this place is we got out some sharpies and got to write on ANYTHING we wanted too in the restaurant - walls, chairs, floor, ceiling, and even the tvs, what? Maybe we can go back next year to see if our names are still up there.

Izzy was not going by this thing with a ten foot pole. We are still learning what a "pretend" something is.

"I am ready to build my castle mommy"

"Huh?"

"I am going to get you!"

Running and running to catch those birds

Our big Crab Dinner at Steamers, yummy!!!

Funny

Ya, you want a piece of me?

Tough girl

Everyone flex for Grandma Merrianne

Thank concludes our trip...bye - bye sand, ocean, R&R, see ya next year! Thanks for the great memories once again. Next year will be year 9!!! Wow, we are almost to double digits. You can see we sorta like this place.

"I am going to the Beach!"

Izzy, where are you going? "I am going to the beach, on a big airplane!" This kid was excited to say the least to go to the beach. So we (I) packed everything imaginable that we would need for a 2 year old and got it into Hank (our pickup) and sent Chris to Florida, while Iz and I jumped on a plane. We made in time for him to pick us up (he left the night before). Why do we do this? A few reasons. 1. If there is a plane going where I need to vacation, I am on it. Don't get me wrong, I like an occasional road trip, but sometime you just want to get there. 2. Chris LOVES road trips. He loves getting in his truck, listening to his XM radio and driving from state to state. That is his vacation. 3. We have a toddler...do you think we want to spend 15 hours in the car with a toddler? NO. 4. We have a car to use when we are there and I can bring all the junk I want too:) 5. Best scenario for keeping our marriage sane:)

So, here is a whole mess of photos from the week...I am warning you. We went to the beach everyday, early. After the 3-4 hour nap times, we got dressed and headed out to dinner. If we weren't on the beach, we were eating at some awesome restaurant or playing or shopping or eating ice cream...vacationing:) We had a great time.

Izzy's first visit down to the beach when we got to the condo. She had sand everywhere, probably because she thought picking it up and throwing it was a good idea.Scout got a little wet...oops, sorry, mom.

Making sand castles

We also went to The Track and had a great time!Skeeball for kids...I wish i could do it this way, I could get LOTS of tickets:)

Jayci and Abby - 1st place

JeDonne and ScoutDaddy and Iz - 1st place, the second time...Izzy loves this even though she isn't smiling in this picture.

This is hilarious

Choo-choo train.

This started out good, then the spinning started, they had to stop the ride and we took Izzy out...Abby and Scout, on the other hand, had a joyous time spinning.

Abby and Izzy - too cute.

Krispy Kreme - yum-o!