Isabelle's Halloween Costume

Isabelle wants to be Laura Ingalls from "Little House on the Prairie" for Halloween. We had a dress made for her, and on the day it arrived, it was like Christmas--she was so excited. Here she is all dressed up. And, she went to the grocery store with me all dressed up too--I so admire her confidence! What a fantastic little girl!

Ladybug Farm

Isabelle earned this ladybug farm recently. Here she is setting it up:

Isabelle's New Skill--Braiding!

Isabelle has wanted to know how to braid for a few months. I have shown her a few times, but each time it has seemed like she just didn't have her coordination down for it yet. Well, she got it down this week. She has been braiding her hair like crazy and is now using yarn to make all of these tiny braids. She is so proud!

Melina's First Fish

Jeff took Friday off and we went fishing. We were at one of our favorite catchponds, and as luck would have it, the stocking truck pulled up. We caught many fish with the highlight of the day being Melina able to catch her FIRST fish! After an afternoon of fishing, we got our favorite pizza in Lone Pine, ate our dinner at the park, watched the girls play for a bit, and then headed to Tuttle Creek for some fishing before the sun went down. A busy and fun day!!
One of many fish Isabelle reeled in

Farmer Boy

We finally finished reading "Farmer Boy" the other day. Isabelle didn't seem to care for this one as much as the other books in the series. She eagerly asked me to start reading the next book this morning, however, and so we have begun reading "By the Shores of Silver Lake." We've read the first 2 chapters so far, and I had to tear her away to leave the couch.

Isabelle's 1st Sport

Isabelle's very good friend, Riley, (they've been friends since they were babies), wanted her to play basketball with him. She agreed, so they played on the same team for 7 weeks starting in January. She had lots of fun and wants to play again next year. Grandma Clark would be so proud!!

Isabelle's Latest Eye Exam

Isabelle started wearing glasses back in June of last year right before she turned 5. We took her in for an exam because she had been looking at us cross-eyed. Her optometrist said that she was very farsighted, and possibly her vision could correct by the time she is a teenager and she wouldn't even need glasses. He did say, however, that it may take a few weeks or months for us to notice a difference with her crossing her eyes, and that he would probably need to change her prescription at her next exam.

Well, at the beginning of this month, I took Isabelle in for her second exam, and to the optometrist's amazement, he recommended NOT changing her prescription and not doing an exam again for another year! He was very pleased with her progress and very proud of her. She needs no prompting to put on her glasses. She puts them on immediately in the morning and if she has taken them off for something (like roughhousing with her sis or Daddy), she puts them back on right away.

Isabelle has adjusted very well to her glasses! Yay!!

Another Great Parenting Moment

So I overhear Jeff chastising Isabelle yesterday about not peeing into the toilet and peeing onto the floor (he saw what he assumed to be pee on the side of the toilet that pooled on the floor next to it). Later I walked into the bathroom and saw the same thing. I immediately called Isabelle into the bathroom and said, "well, if at age 5-1/2 you can't pee into the toilet, then you can clean it up--I don't understand what the problem is--"and so on and so on. She replied back that she didn't know how it was happening. I said, "next time, pay attention and sit on the toilet properly!!" She reluctantly cleaned the toilet and that was that, or so I thought.

This morning while Jeff and Isabelle were at her basketball game I went into the bathroom and saw the same thing again. I was outraged and had her clean it up yet again when they came home. Then this afternoon I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the liquid on the floor next to the toilet yet again.

"ISABELLE!!!!! "What is going on??? Why can't you pee in the toilet??? Get in there and clean it up!!!

As she's grabbing the wipes from under the cupboard, I'm looking at the toilet a little closer and seeing that this liquid is clear, not yellow like pee. And the side of the toilet is completely dry too, nothing on the side of the toilet to suggest the pee running down it. I then look at the caulking around the toilet where it attaches to the floor, and it looks like there may be a slow leak there somehow. I called in Jeff to see that, and he immediately apologized to Isabelle, as did I. She was a very good sport about it, and simply shrugged her shoulders and said, "sometimes mistakes happen." Wow, where did we get so lucky!! Sorry, Issy!!

Lovin' The Easy Bake Oven

Lovin'????????...

not really, but if I truthfully say that I don't enjoy the Easy Bake Oven, then I probably won't win any mom of the year awards..., right??

Anyway, Isabelle DOES love it, and that's what matters..., right??

Here is what our afternoon entailed during Melina's nap, and she graced us by sleeping an hour and 15 minutes, which enabled us to get it all done.

One packet makes 3 small cookies, baked at 3 separate times. (Note to Mom: Not all 3 at once like I thought--3 separate bake times!)

The finished product:
Mmmm, do the finished cookies look anything like the package??

Another note to Mom: the directions say to bake each cookie for 8 minutes. The burnt cookie seen above is the result of 8 minutes. Try 6 minutes when you do this with Mackenzie, and as a thought for all Easy-Bake-Oven Adventures, use the directed time as an estimate only.

I had always wanted an Easy Bake Oven. My mom was just contemplating this past weekend why she never bought me one when I was a child. They aren't the funnest thing for the parent, so we now know why!! Oh well, I guess I get to live vicariously through my child. Thanks, Mom--gotta love ya!!

Shaving Cream Fun!

Isabelle spent the night with her friend, Riley, at his grandma's house, and then I picked both of them up to spend the morning at our house. They played outside and I gave them each a can of shaving cream. Wow, they had fun!!



Poor Melina, always left out!

Easy Bake Oven

Well, I always wanted an Easy Bake Oven when I was a child, but never got one. Isabelle got one from my parents for Christmas, so here she is trying it out for the first time. She loved it! She made cake and brownies and took both over to my parents as a 35th anniversary gift.

Finally!! Leaves to play in!

Isabelle has been waiting for 3 years to play in the leaves in our front yard, but each year a big wind comes up and blows the leaves off the tree. She always reminisces about pictures of her playing in the leaves when she was 2--she just couldn't wait to do it again! Well, she finally got her chance when it finally got cold enough for the leaves to start falling. Here she is having a great time. Unfortunately, Melina had the stomach flu (we just didn't know it at the time), and we would all be sick with it the next evening.

Pictures from the day I called Poison Control

On such a beautiful fall afternoon, we admired the tree in our front yard, showing some fall colors that are rare in Ridgecrest because of our frequent winds. We had had some extraordinary weather though in that we hadn't had much wind, and therefore, the leaves stayed on the trees.

Here is what I was helping Isabelle with when Melina was innocently behind me eating honeysuckle berries...

No berries on her face or shirt--she hadn't made her way over there quite yet!
After the drama was over, Isabelle painted the snowmen (notice it is already dark outside!).

Little House on the Prairie

I grew up reading all of the Little House series multiple times as well as watching the TV show--still do as a matter of fact. I've always dreamt of having my children grow up doing the same thing. For a couple of years Isabelle has already enjoyed watching Little House, and at about the beginning of this year I started to read aloud the first book of the series, "Little House in the Big Woods." However, she was going through a "scared of wolves" phase, so when we got to the part about "wolves eating little girls," she didn't want to read anymore. Well, about a month or so ago, we picked up the book again and this time she absolutely devoured it, insisting on me and Jeff to read her a few chapters a night. We moved so fast through it that we finished it in no time and just finished "Little House on the Prairie" last night. We just started "On the Banks of Plum Creek" tonight and read the first five chapters already. She loves these stories so much that she begs for just one chapter more. I am so excited that she is loving these books as much as I do.

Isabelle's First Knitting

Isabelle finished her first "swatch" of knitting using the knit stitch. She is very proud of herself!!

Isabelle is knitting!

Remember this post?

Isabelle and I went to a knitting group a couple of weeks ago and we learned how to "cast on."

Isabelle was so excited that night--she came home and called her Grandma Morgan who knits, and practiced some more. It took a lot of effort to get her to sleep that night!

And here we are a couple of days ago. She didn't want to wait until the next knitting group to learn how to do the next step after casting on, the knit stitch, so here I am trying to teach her (this is all new for me--the Internet is such a wonderful resource--full of videos that teach knitting).

Volcano

For Isabelle's preschool year (last year), we received a monthly workbook that usually had some type of craft accompanying it. One month's shipment included a volcano that she paper-mached and painted. Here she is making her volcano explode:

Isabelle's "Official" Kindergarten Picture

Butterflies

For the second time, we have had the wonderful opportunity to watch the exciting metamorphosis of caterpillars to butterflies in our very own house. The company, Insect Lore, sends caterpillars in a jar that you then transfer to the butterfly habitat you see in the pictures after they form their chrysalides, and 10 days or so later you can watch new butterflies emerge. Today was a beautiful fall day and Isabelle decided to let her butterflies go.

Can you see the butterfly on Isabelle's hand?
The last butterfly was eating from a pear core and wouldn't fly away. Isabelle was able to hold the pear core and observe the butterfly up close for quite a long time before she gently placed it on a rose. Thank you, Miss (or Mr.) Butterfly.