Conversations with Isabelle: Part 5

One evening while getting Isabelle dressed for bed in her princess pajamas, she was commenting how she is a princess. The conversation following went something like this:
Isabelle: "I a princess."
Me: "Yes, you're a princess. Is Mommy a princess too?"
Isabelle: "No." Then she looked at my t-shirt which had writing on it and said, "You not princess. You wear alphabet shirt."

***

While Curt was giving the girls a bath, Isabelle asked him a question...
Isabelle: "Do you like me?"
Curt: "I do like you. I love you!"
Isabelle: "Daddy love me."

***

Isabelle: "Frosty (as in the Snowman) no like Diego (as in the cartoon)."
Me: "Frosty doesn't like Diego? Why not?"
Isabelle: After thinking for a couple seconds... "Diego has shoes."
Me: "Does Frosty not have shoes?"
Isabelle: "No, Frosty has feet. Diego has shoes."

Apparently Frosty's the jealous type. :)

***

Isabelle: "Daddy, you strong....like a princess. Like me!!"

***

While talking on a pretend phone...
Isabelle: "Hi Santa. Need money Christmas!"
Me: hahaha "You know Isabelle we should talk about Jesus and how Christmas is actually about Jesus, not Santa."
Isabelle: talking on the phone again... "Jesus! Need money Christmas!"
Curt: "Oh no!"

***

Curt: "Isabelle Allyse Whitworth."
Isabelle: "No, I no Whitworth, I Isabelle!"
Curt: hahaha "Isabelle Allyse Whitworth."
Isabelle: "I no a Whitworth! I Isabelle!!"

***

While sitting at a little play table with her cousin Brigham, Isabelle and Brigham had the following conversation...
Isabelle: "You wanna come to my house? We have crackers and cheese!!!!" (throws her hands up while saying "crackers and cheese")
Brigham: "No."

Apparently crackers and cheese aren't as exciting to Brigham as she thought they were...

***

Quite frequently Isabelle walks around singing: "Bug girl, bug girl, here to save the day..." over and over and over. I have no clue where it came from. 

***

Countdown to Christmas Post 20: Making Gingerbread Houses

Right before Christmas, we got together to do gingerbread houses again. 

 

We didn't get to finish everything on it that we wanted to. Having early bed times for the babies complicates things. Isabelle did so well this year. Last year she had nothing to do with any of it and just wanted to play the whole time with my cousin. I'm also glad that I was a lot less miserable this year than I was last year. I have a hard time looking at last year's pictures of myself without cringing... (Last year's post here.)
We have a lot of fun doing gingerbread houses as an extended family. However, we do it so late in the season that we don't get to enjoy them as decoration, so next year we want to do ours as soon as possible so it can sit out and be displayed all season long. Heaven knows we (Curt) spend enough time on it! :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 19: Making Yummy Treats

A few days before Christmas my family got together at our apartment to make some yummy treats to hand out to some (lucky) people. :) We actually had a lot of fun.

Isabelle was interested long enough to roll two truffles...Levi, well I think he was interested in standing on the stool. :)

Heidi was the star of the show. She was dancing with Levi and Isabelle and trying to teach Isabelle dance steps. Isabelle was so funny about it. She took it seriously and would tell Heidi things like, "I can't do that." and "You're moving too fast." She had an absolute blast!

 Isabelle and Levi had so much fun playing together. It was so loud that I was scared they would wake the babies up, but amazingly they didn't wake up until five minutes after we finally got to go to bed...

Heather and Andrew had the brilliant idea to have Santa send Isabelle a video. It made Isabelle so super happy and excited to see her picture on the screen with Santa and have him talk to her about being good and the magic of the North Pole. I don't even know how many times she watched the video, and she continued to get excited about it every time. 

Man, I love when she's happy!!

Twelve Months

Ella:

• Has started blowing spit bubbles.
• She has started to wave.
• She loves to have her hair brushed...and she tries to do it herself.
• She tries to run, but her legs just don't quite go fast enough.
• She smiles for the camera. It's so funny.
• If there is anything around that she can climb, she tries to climb it. 
• She's mean... She'll hit, pinch, scratch and bite out of anger. She's a fighter...
• She knows when she is in trouble. 
• She knows how to fake cry.
• She get's her feelings hurt when she is told no.
• I'm trying to think of the words she says, and I think that maybe the only word she's added to her vocabulary is "ba ba" for her bottle. 
• She loves to point at things. Yesterday she was pointing to the Christmas tree and getting so excited. We were trying to teach her how to say tree and she got the t sound out...
• When she's done eating, she gets made and starts hitting the spoon or wiping off all the food on her tray. Drives me crazy.
• When she's eating, and there are pieces of food to choose from on her tray, she will ALWAYS go for the biggest piece first. Always!
• Her actions everyday make me think that she's very much unhappy to be trapped in a one year old's body and not the same age as Isabelle. It's almost like you can see her mind working when she's trying to get her body to hold the spoon right or run or keep up with Isabelle. 
• She does well with sippy cups, but doesn't really like milk in her sippy. When milk is in her bottle, she's fine with it.
• She likes to lay on the floor and lean up against things and people and relax.
• She loves stuffed animals. 
• She cut one tooth this month, and now has four on top and four on bottom. 
• If I used any one word to describe her, it would be spunky. She is just so full of life and personality. She really is the alpha baby and the one that seems to take the most control. Oh boy...she is so much fun and work...but we sure do love her!!

Emery:

• She's started walking early this month and has gotten to the point where she no longer crawls.
• She's started to clap.
• She plays peek-a-boo while she's in the high chair. It makes her so happy and it is just about the most adorable thing ever. Sometimes she covers her cheeks instead of her eyes. :)
• She has a mean case of stranger dangers. It's really really bad. 
• She throws tantrums now.
• She loves spoons. If she can get her hands on anything in the play kitchen, she would chose the spoons first...then the knives and forks. 
• She tries to put on shoes and socks. She is no where close to being able to do so, but she totally gets the concept that shoes and socks are supposed to be put on her feet. 
• After waking up from her second nap and until bed time, she struggles not to cry, whine and be unhappy. It is a very hard time of the day.
• Her favorite people, outside of her parents but sill probably above her parents are her grandparents. Especially her Grandpa (Curt's dad) and her Grammie (my mom). They can't walk by her without picking her up and she gets horribly offended and throws a tantrum.
• She likes to rub her dirty hands threw her hair while eating. I HATE it!!
• She LOVES bath time. 
• She can't make it on just one nap, at all. She has to have two.
• If she's happy, and sitting down, most likely you'll find her ankles crossed. It's so precious. 
• Very good about taking bites from one piece of food instead of shoving the whole thing in her mouth. 
• She doesn't do as well with sippy cups as Ella, and doesn't really like milk so much yet, but she loves juices.
• She's learned to scream.
• She's very petite, especially compared to her sister. We just packed up the six month clothes because she could still fit in a lot of them...but they just weren't weather appropriate.
• She cut two teeth this month. Now she has four on top and four on bottom. 
• If I used any one word to describe her, it would be adorable. She is just so adorable from looks to personality. Man, we love her!!

Really, it doesn't seem like these girls could be more opposite! It's totally crazy how different their looks and personalities are. They are such a blessing in our lives and in our family. This past year, we've seen lots of tears, depression and exhaustion. However, we've also seen lots of laughter, smiles and joy and of course we've been overwhelmingly filled with love. A lot of people have told me, "Of course, it's worth it." which actually kind of hurts my feelings a little. More appropriately others have asked me, "Is it worth it?" At first, as in the first month or two, I didn't really know how to answer that question at all. My answer usually was something like, "I love my girls, but I wish they had come one at a time." Now, my answer is still pretty much the same, but their is more depth to it. They have been more work and more stress and more physically painful than I would have ever thought when I heard the words, "How did you know you were having twins?" for the first time from the sonographer. Because of each of those things, yes I still think about how nice it would have been for them to come one at time, or how nice people have it to have only one baby to take care of. I, personally, think that I would be a better mother to all of my children if I didn't have two babies...but how would I know that either? On the flip side though, I love my girls more than I ever thought possible. I loved Isabelle at a year, but it's actually been different this time. Maybe it's because I wasn't a first-time mom trying to bond with my babies, or maybe it's because love comes from service and I serve two babies way more than I served one baby...it just takes more overall since there are more. I don't know...but loving these girls came a lot easier to me than loving Isabelle. (As horrible as that sounds...I don't mean it to...I love Isabelle so much, equally as much now, it just took longer in the beginning.) Either way, though, I am still struggling to say "yes!" to that question. Which is party of why it slightly offends me when people tell me that it's worth it. Honestly, when I ask my self that question, I do answer "yes" but there is always a "but..." at the end. But even after the "buts," I am always left sighing and saying "yes." In the end, they are two of the four loves of my life and I would never want to wish them away. In the end, every mother goes through trials with their children...this is just one that was meant for me and my family. I don't really know why...but when I was pregnant with them I would always tell myself that the Lord has enough confidence in me to be a mother to twins, and what better confidence builder is there than that?! In the past year, I've kind of struggled with that statement out of a lack of self-confidence and maybe (or not-so-maybe) some bitterness, but it is true. Heavenly Father knows I can do this. Now I just need to be 100 percent sure myself. I am getting there...

Countdown to Christmas Post 18, Part 2: The Gaylord Texan

Every year we try and make it out to the Gaylord Texan Hotel. We didn't last year because my pelvic bone was cracked and it was so painful to walk with the two babies in me...but other than that, we have always gone. Curt and I went on a date there at the very very beginning of our relationship and we've tried to go back every year. We were so excited to go and take the girls. We knew Isabelle would love it and that Ella and Emery probably would too with all the lights and stuff to see. They all did, but it was so crazy busy that we really didn't get to enjoy it to it's full potential. It was fun though. We ended up having to just park the stroller in an alcove so that we could even move. The girls preferred it that way too. They don't really like the stroller currently. 

From the very beginning, the girls loved it. Isabelle hung out with Heidi the whole time... All of the reindeer were there in garland form. They were all dressed up as different things too. It was cute and Isabelle and my mom really liked looking at them all. 

Of course, Isabelle loved that there was a huge snow man to look at! Levi's favorite things seemed to be the fish...

Before going, when we told Isabelle where we were going, we would tell her we were going to see "Gingy's House" and she would get so excited. They have a huge gingerbread house that you can actually walk into. Isabelle really liked that!

Isabelle giving a reindeer a hug...and looking at stuff...and agreeing to take a picture, although she didn't cooperate beyond just saying she'd take it...

Happy Isabelle!

Emery loved being able to walk around. She's not quite an expert though, and would loose her balance which meant she would block a lot of traffic... Oh well.

This is what Isabelle does when we doesn't want her picture taken...

A view of the lobby. We wanted to go up in an elevator to get a better look, but we were so worn out and the babies were just done, so we didn't. I guess next year... Our attempts at more family pictures...and pictures of the girls. The best one (below) was on my mom's iPhone. Most of them had Isabelle and Ella fighting over Isabelle's necklace, which we had to take off so Ella didn't attack her.

Aren't their shirts so super cute?? Thanks Mom!!!

Can you tell I'm just about blogged-out? I know I shouldn't be...especially since these Christmas blogs actually are the reason my mom's parent's got on a plane and came here to see us for Christmas!!! How cool is that?! :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 18, Part 1: The Gaylord Texan

I'm so exhausted and so burnt out on blogging; I think I'm going to break this post up into two...

After Heidi came to our house with the rest of my family, we made our way to Grapevine. A few stops were involved to prepare for Christmas and one of them for food. While waiting for forever for our food, Isabelle had a little photo shoot with the iPhones. She was imitating Heidi and the pictures are just so precious. Well, at least I think so. The ones with Heidi are even more fun and they are a family favorite right now to pull out and talk about. Isabelle really does like her aunt Heidi! So much so that Heidi can even get her to eat or do things she normally refuses to do. If only Heidi was around all the time!

Countdown to Christmas Post 17: Heidi's Home!!!

This past Friday night my sister Heidi flew in from Utah where she goes to school. She got in pretty late, so we didn't see her until the next day. Saying Isabelle was happy to see her is an understatement. She buried her head into Heidi's shoulder so long that I thought she had maybe started to cry. I was actually surprised she was so visibly happy to see Heidi. I had been telling her for two or three days that she was coming and she would say that she did want to see her, but other than that...she didn't really show much. Until the day before Heidi came, Isabelle was playing with her princesses and talking for them. They were talking about how Heidi was going to come play with them. It was really adorable. 

Countdown to Christmas Post 16: Going to See Santa

Last week we got a notice at our apartments saying that Santa was going to be here from 4 to 5:30 last Friday. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to take Isabelle for three reasons. First, if there was a line, it wasn't going to be long at all. Second, since I wouldn't have to stand in line, I wouldn't be upset if she refused to see Santa. Third, I wouldn't have to pay for pictures. So, all day long I prepped Isabelle about going to see Santa. Early that morning, she was definitely against going. By the time Curt got home from work, she was excited to go and sit on his lap. Curt left early from work so that we would make it in time, and we walked over to the office. We got there with 15 minutes to spare...only to be told that Santa left early. Are you kidding me?! I actually had a hard time crying because Isabelle kept asking for Santa so excitedly! I was/am so disappointed. She was happy to see the elf though and even sat on her lap. We got a family picture too. It wasn't a complete loss...as I keep telling myself, but I'm 90% sure she would have sat on Santa's lap that day. She did tell the elf what she wanted though and the elf told her she would tell Santa. Of course, Isabelle says what she always says... She wants purple and pink for Christmas. She's finally, consistently added princesses to that list too. 

Countdown to Christmas Post 15: Finishing up the Gingy Boys

Countdown to Christmas Post 14: Making a Wreath

We don't have many Christmas decorations around our house...enough, but not much. So, for one of our Christmas projects with Isabelle, we made a Christmas wreath. She was quite impressed with seeing her hand prints cut out. The concept of tracing her hands was a little hard for her though. She didn't like to spread her fingers or hold still, but she got it by the end.  Of course when it comes to gluing...she's turning into a pro. 

 She loved to put the bow and ornaments on it. She did the ornaments by herself. She loves her "Christmas tree" as she calls it. We have it hanging on our armoire. We had the fan on the other day and it was slightly blowing the wreath. She made me turn the fan off so it didn't blow her Christmas tree away. :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 13: Sing Noel

In October, Curt and I started going to practices for the annual stake production of Sing Noel. For those of you outside the immediate area, it's a Christmas concert that involves about an hour and a half of music performed by a choir and orchestra, plus a couple numbers by soloists and small groups. It's was an incredible thing to be a part of. Curt loves to sing and had a great time. Even though we weren't together during the practices, it was kind of our weekly date. I did get to sing and sit by my two best girl friends and that made it so fun. (Girls...why didn't we take a picture together?!?) They taught me how to sing Alto and now I love it. I hear it a lot better and have even been able to sing it some in church. I am really hoping to develop it more. I want to give a HUGE shout out to my parents, and sister's family who also helped, for watching my girls every Sunday night for two months. My mom was actually the one who told us to do it and I really am grateful. It really was an incredible opportunity to stand there and sing praises to the Lord of Lords. Curt and I, and probably everyone, were so filled with the spirit each of the two performances. Of course Christmas is really about Jesus and his birth, but we have a hard time putting that first above Santa and the worldly traditions. This opportunity has really helped with us remembering to put Christ first. If you didn't go...you definitely should go next year. Also a  big thanks to my in-laws for watching the girls during the performances. My mom took Isabelle to the second performance. At first she was totally watching the orchestra and into finding Curt and I in the choir, but after the first song, she fell asleep and slept through the entire thing until the prayer at the end. I think it was sensory over-load. I have to admit though, while I was disappointed she missed out, I was kind of grateful. Every time I looked at her and her big eyes full of awe, she would take my breath away. And you kind of need your breath to sing. :)

Here's this page...

Countdown to Christmas Post 12: Christmas Tree Lot

Saturday, a week and a half ago we ventured out to Flower Mound to go to the Christmas tree lot. It is at the same place that the pumpkin patch is. I have wanted to go out there the last two Christmases, but we haven't managed to pull it off. I am actually really glad we did. We went on a Saturday afternoon and there was maybe 20 cars in the parking lot.

When we first arrived, Isabelle immediately went to the wooden trains that they also have out for the Pumpkin Patch. This time it was super nice to not have to fight crowds to play on them or to have lots of random people in your pictures. 

1: Isabelle loving the trains. 2: She loves her cousin Levi. Here she is squatting down to talk to him...
3: Aren't my girls little people now?! She loved crawling and playing on the train too. 4: First look at Santa and realization that there is more to this place than wooden trains.

5: Isabelle checking out Santa and Rudolf. She was so excited. 6: Discovering Cat and the Hat and his friends...I can't think of their names right now, but she definitely knows these characters. 7: Showing Ella... 8: Ella loved walking around and being in charge of where she went...and not being in the stroller!

9: Ella and a penguin. 10: Isabelle loves the cut outs. She tries to pick them up though...randomly. 11: Of course Isabelle found the gingy boys. Oh how she loves them! 12: Showing Ella the gingy boys. I think Isabelle likes that her sisters are growing up.

13: Ella seems to love the gingy boys as much as Isabelle... She stayed there a while too. 14: Look I talked Isabelle into a picture! Only because it was with gingy. 15: Isabelle was so happy and excited to see a snowman. She loves Frosty...and that's translated into any snowman. 16: Ella and Levi. Do you see what she's doing?! She's trying to feed him a rock!

17: Levi and Isabelle ran around all the trees for a while chasing each other. They had such a good time. 18: Of course Isabelle runs way faster than Levi. 19: Walking Emery! Have I even blogged about her walking?! 20: She loves being able to walk too. She definitely isn't as strong at it as Ella, who's had two more months of practice and is also trying to start running.

21-22: They have a cute little jail/cabin that the kids loved playing in. It was a game not to make eye contact with the camera when they first went in there. 23: Excited to see Andrew. 24: Apparently she got into the spirit of being in jail and was begging to get out...

25: When we went to the pumpkin patch and put Isabelle in a bounce house, she hated it and wanted out immediately. I don't know if it was because there were no other kids in the bounce house that she didn't know, or what, but she loved it immediately this time. So did Levi. 26: And Ella... 27: And Emery. Well, the babies didn't really like that they couldn't figure out how to walk in there or stay standing very long, but they really did love it. 28: Look! It's a good picture of both Ella and Emery together, smiling and in focus. Seriously...a miracle!

29: Another attempt at a family picture... Can you tell four out of the five of us had colds? 30: This one's a little better. Actually, it isn't too bad...well except for Curt's hair. :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 11: Snowman PJs

While camping with Curt's family for Thanksgiving, Grandma gave Isabelle some new warm snowman pajamas. Isabelle has a thing for snowmen...specifically Frosty. Last year when I was pregnant, she watched Frosty the Snowman over and over and over. These year she's rediscovered Frosty, and while she doesn't watch it much, she gets so excited to find Frosty all over the place.

She loves these PJs and would wear them all the time if she could!

Yep, I have this page done too! :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 10: Making Gingy Boys

This year my mom decided to not put her normal Christmas tree ornaments on her tree because of the four sets of little hands that are around her house. She wanted to make some cinnamon apple sauce gingerbread men ornaments. She enlisted Isabelle's help because she knew Isabelle would love it. I mean c'mon...cooking + gingerbread men is a great project for Isabelle!! We were right, she loved it!!

She loves play doh (wow...I'm behind on that blog post too!) so she did really well at using the cookie cutters. I was doing a vinyl order in the other room while my mom did them with her, however I could hear her laughter and squeals of excitement the whole time. 

Yep...I've scrapped these too. :) Making Gingy Boys.

Countdown to Christmas Post 9: Advent Calendars

Growing up I had an advent calendar almost exactly like this. We totally loved it as kids! This year when my mom asked if I would like one, I was so excited! Isabelle has loved it so much!!! It totally tests her patience to the max with only opening one pocket a day. It totally tests her ability to keep her hands off of all the breakable miniature ornaments too. 

We got started a couple of days late just because my mom had to make it. Didn't she do awesome? She made each one of those buttons!! She's incredible...

I have this page done too... Beginning 2 Countdown.

Countdown to Christmas Post 8: Decorating the House

After going to Dallas to see the trains, we came home and decorated our house. Isabelle loved decorating the tree. Every little ornament seemed to be special!

 Putting the top on... Emery didn't really seem to notice too much that we are doing. She just sat on the floor and happily played. Ella on the other had was trying to grab the tree on and off the whole time. Big surprise...

After decorating the tree, Isabelle asked her daddy to dance to the Christmas music we had been listening to. It was so sweet...

I just finished this layout!

Countdown to Christmas Post 7: Trains

Originally when Heather spent the day with us, she was just planning on coming to pick Isabelle up and take her and Levi to see the trains out at the North Park mall in Dallas. However, it didn't end up working out, so the next day we all went out there. I think I am the only one of the whole group that has ever been out there to see the trains. Having kids now definitely makes it tons better. Isabelle and Levi loved it. Even Emery and Ella looked at some of it and liked it.

From the very beginning Levi and Isabelle were so excited...even just in the lobby... Of course the inside puts the lobby to shame, and they immediately LOVED everything they saw. It's so much fun to see their faces light up. It was so packed though...

 Our favorite part was the Texas exhibit. It had the State Fair and the circus depicted. The State Fair was Curt and my first date, so Heather teased us a little and jokingly told Isabelle how important of a place it is. haha... It is fun to remember though.

 Isabelle actually gave the conductor a high five. Doesn't he kind of look like Santa? And yet, she won't even go close to a Santa... Anyways...I was totally shocked she did it. I of course missed it with my ridiculous camera that freezes all the time. Grrr...

Yet another attempt at a family picture. Oh Isabelle...

Countdown to Christmas Post 6: Elf on a Shelf

My mom bought Heather and I each our own Elf on the Shelf kit this year. We read Isabelle, Levi and the girls the Elf on the Shelf book after dinner. Isabelle took to it immediately. She had been looking at the elf all day and half way through the story had the concept down and was telling Curt all about it. When we tried to get her to name the elf, all she could come up with is "Red." So...he doesn't really have a name this year. Maybe next year. 

Levi hung out in his old exersaucer while Curt read the story. He's a little huge for it now, but he used to love this thing!!

Every day Isabelle wakes up and looks for the elf. Our elf doesn't do anything suspicious, just moves around, but that's perfect for us right now. He has definitely helped Isabelle behave though. I'm hoping to transition from the elf watching us to Jesus watching us when he goes away...

You know it...I've already scrapped these pictures too...here.

Countdown to Christmas Post 5: Painting Christmas Trees

Heather came over on the first Friday of this month because she took the day off since they didn't have a babysitter available. It was so much fun! When the babies were down for one of their naps, we got out the paint for Levi and Isabelle to do a Christmas project. Levi had never painted before, but he caught on pretty quick...and he didn't freak out about being dirty. Yay. I let Isabelle paint for a while before we actually started making the Christmas tree. She LOVES to paint! 

Levi figured out that it was more fun to paint the tray than the paper... I have lots of perfect pictures of Levi...can you tell his mom was taking them? :)

I think I should have done the fingers going down on the tree...but oh well. It's still great. :)

Isabelle decorated the tree and Heather did the star on top. I love having it hang in our house! 

Yep...I've already scrapped this too! I LOVE this page...it is one of my new favorites. Check it out here. :)

Countdown to Christmas Post 4: Making Snowflakes

For lack of planning ahead, the second Christmas project we did was making snowflakes. Of course Isabelle had absolutely no clue what was going on. However, when I opened up the first snowflake, it was like I had done something magical. 

Emery and Ella weren't so impressed. Emery was struggling to be happy and Ella...well we couldn't feed her enough pretzels fast enough. Classic Ella... Isabelle was so excited to finally be allowed to use a pair of scissors. She did really well. I was super nervous since they are sharp, but she did great with them!

Once again...I've already scrapped these pictures too. :)