Our Newest Member

Meet the newest member of our family.... Mr. Fish.  Yes, that is the name Izzy decided on for our pet fish.  She's been talking non-stop about getting a new pet since Clay died.  However, I'm not quite ready for a new fur ball and so decided a fish was a good substitute.  When we got to the pet store, she saw the hamsters and wanted one of them.  I had to guide her away disappointed but reassured her we would once again have a fuzzy in our house at some point.  She loves that she can look at Mr. Fish over the couch and that he likes to swim in & out of her home she picked out for him.  She even remembers to feed him most nights.

Izzy's Planter

 Every summer we've planted tomatoes on the balconey.  This year, Izzy grew some beans in cups with paper like we all did in elementary school.  These beans didn't quite make it because Clay ate them.  I decided that Izzy needed a bigger planter so she could grow more than just a potted tomato.  It arrived in the mail and we spent this afternoon putting it together.

 Eventually Izzy got bored and had fun making 'snow' since it's been 90 degrees up here for the past 3 days.  This was just the begining.  She had the whole kitchen floor covered and her brother & sister.  But, she stayed after we picked up everything vaccumed a good portion up all by herself.

Here's the final project.  Now all we need is some seeds and plants.

Oops!

I woke up at ~2:30am to a loud thud followed by a faint 'mama'.  I found Izzy had fell out of her bed and whacked her face on the corner of her step stool that she uses to get in and out of bed.  She must have still be pretty asleep because I picked her up, calmed her and put her back in bed.  She rolled over and went back to sleep quickly.  The next morning this is what I found.  I wanted to tell people that her 'bully' sister did this :-)

My Little Inchworm

Micah has the cutest crawl I've seen.  It so reminded me of an inchworm.  I know this will disappear over time and have been working hard on capturing this on video.  I hope this makes you smile.

Fun with Three

 Figuring out how to have fun when there is 3 of them and only 1 of me has been a fun challenge.  We are all slowly figuring out what works and have to improvise on occasion.  This past Memorial Day weekend, the afternoon was lovely and so we headed to a new nearby park.  Everyone had fun... Izzy dug dirt and made 'mud soup' with a neighbor friend who happened to also be there.  And the twins had fun crawling in the grass and mouthing almost anything... grass, rocks, sticks....  The problem was when we got home all of them were so dirty.  So into the bathtub they all went and the evening was nice & clean.

 The twins are old enough to sit and enjoy dinner time with Izzy & I.  I think they like being a party of the action, especially Victoria who makes it known when she's left out.

 We decided to go swinging which is another challenge.  However, the twins fit in together nicely and big sister has a blast pushing them.  She gets a kick out of it when they giggle as they get nearer.

Getting ready for bed.

Izzy's 4th Birthday

 As predicted, Izzy wanted her 4th birthday to be all about princesses.  And why not... she has lived princesses for the past year which was heightened by our family trip to Disney in January.  Izzy picked out a castle cake and asked if her Cinderella and Prince Charming figurines could be added.  The flavor she choose was also in true Izzy style... lemon.

 This is Izzy's cliche.  These 4 girls are inseparable at school.  All I see is 'mean girls' when these 4 get to be adolescents.

 We had her party at the gym in a local YMCA.  They had an area of soft activities.  And the biggest hit was the moonwalk.  All the kids probably would have lived in it if it had been blown up for the entire party.

 She was so excited to blow those candles out.  And no crying... a first in 4 years!

 Oma was able to share in the celebration as were her brother & sister.

 We had Wayne come and sign as well.  I will refer you to the video I posted earlier about him and his songs.

We had Wayne come and sing for the kids as well.  I will refer you to my previous post about his signing talents.

For Izzy's b-day celebration at school, I asked her ahead of time on many occasions what she would like to bring. She always said princesses for the girls and Spiderman for the boys. So I got princess and Spiderman rings and put them on top of cupcakes. These were a hit I was told by her teachers.

This was Izzy's actual birthday.  We had a low key celebration at home.  I think she was cupcaked out by then.  But her brother & sister didn't mind getting a nibble.  It was fun to see them as all I imagined was foreshadowing for their 1st birthdays.

Juba!

Wayne is a singer who has come to Izzy's daycare since she was a baby.  Her daycare has almost every CD he's created and 'Juba' is one song that the kids absolutely love.  After you hear it, it can get stuck in your head.  This year for Izzy's 4th birthday, we had Wayne come and sing for the kids.  I'm always amazed at how he can make anything simple like jumping be so much fun.  He played for an hour so you can image how tired most of the kids were when the party was over.  Enjoy the catchy song!