Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas!!! Santa and his elves went overboard this Christmas as you can see. He brought lots of goodies...a kitchen set, a new dollhouse, an outside playhouse, lots of puzzles, some dress up stuff, some animal hand puppets and the rest of the Sesame Street family. Isobel was a bit overwhelmed this morning and took a while to get started but she eventually got into the spirit. She's been playing all morning going back and forth from her dollhouse to her kitchen to a puzzle and back again. It's been a wonderful Christmas morning.

Isobel's New Playroom

Well it took several hours of painting, retouching and cleaning, but we managed to finish Isobel's playroom this weekend. We did the ceiling, walls, hung the TV, put down the carpet and assembled furniture. Quite the productive weekend. We never could have done it without Nana, Paw Paw, Grandma and Grandpa. So glad it's done. And now we know that we will most certainly not be painting the rest of the house ourselves. Much too much work. We'll save to pay someone else to do it. :)

2009 Holidays

The holidays are upon us. Here we are at the Christmas tree lighting in Vinoy Park. It was cold that night but all Isobel wanted to do was look at lights. Thankfully Paw Paw was there to accommodate our little princess. And when she got cold Grandma, Nana and Mommy were there to warm her back up. And here she is looking at the moon, stars and planes with Daddy.

So it's our first Christmas in the new house and in the Family Room we have slightly vaulted ceilings. Tim took this as his cue to get a big tree. Well our eyes were bigger than our ceiling. You can see the tree didn't fit and Tim and Bob had to measure it to see how much we had to cut off. Thankfully we got a GREAT deal on the tree so we weren't upset we had to cut off over a foot. Here's Tim hanging our Christmas lights and Isobel helping. By helping she's kicking the ball in the yard. :)

The holidays also means our elf comes to visit. Isobel decided to name him Snewman. We think she meant snowman but it sounded like Snewman (Newman with an S at the front).

So right now Isobels big thing is being a princess and doing a princess dance. You can see her doing it here. She shares a dance with me every night before her bath. I'll have to get it on video to show you all.

Hope everyone is well.

Isobel's 2nd Birthday Party & other videos!

Sunday was Isobel's 2nd birthday party and it went great! Everyone had a wonderful time. And the best part is I didn't have to clean up before, during or after! :) We had a good turnout with Logan, Landon, Cameron, Alex, Zoe, Nia and Kelley. Here are some pictures from the party. And I also found some old videos that were never loaded.

Singing

Sliding

Halloween Honey Bee

Ball with Grandpa

Being Silly

Remember - to view the videos you have to join Motion Box (free of charge) and then I need to add you as a contact. Questions or problems, just let me know.

Isobel is 2 years old!!!

Well, it's official. Isobel is now 2 years old. It's hard to believe its been that long. It seems like just yesterday we were in the hospital. But alas, 2 years have passed and we have the most beautiful, smart and funny 2 year old girl. Isobel spent her day with Mommy and Daddy. She got her presents, which included a new tricycle, and then we went bouncing at Planet Jump. She refused to take a nap in true diva fashion so we emptied her piggy bank and went to the bank to deposit into her account. It was so cute because she kept thinking we were going to see Count from Sesame Street. Tomorrow is her birthday party at Gymboree. We are really excited because we know she will have a great time.

Halloween and other events

Sorry it has taken me so long to get pictures from Halloween up for everyone. Things have been very busy in the Burns household. We've had birthday parties to go to, construction on the house, Tim went to Mexico and I had to go to Chicago. So now that things are settling down a little bit I wanted to get pictures up.

Since last I posted Tim and I went to Elena's 30th Birthday Jam. And you will

all be shocked to know that I sang karoake (although I'm not sure it actually qualified as singing). We had a really great time and here are some pictures.

Then we had Landon's first birthday party the next day. Isobel got to go in the bouncy house and had such a good time. The follo

wing weekend was Halloween. The three of us were supposed to be the Flintstones but I didn't finish our costumes in time. So last minute Isobel was a bumble bee. We went trick or treating with Katie, John, Connor, Cameron, Logan and Landon. Connor was the train conductor and pulled all his friends in the train/wagon. Very cute. Isobel made out like a bandit and was the queen bee of the neighborhood.

Sunday after Halloween was Zoe's 2nd birthday party. We were late because Isobel took a 3 hour nap but again, another bouncy house and even better, a balloon.

So through all of this we've been having some work done on the house. We had some guys come in and get the rest of the wallpaper glue off the walls and they re-textured the walls and the ceilings. It's like a brand new house. And now we are having work done to turn the sun room into Isobel's playroom. The floor is fixed and we bought some carpet and they will be back this week to finish the walls and ceilings. Very exciting. She will have a playroom before we know it.

And in less than 2 short weeks we will have an official 2 year old. We are planning a party at

Gymboree, one of her favorite places. It should be lots of fun.

Hope everyone is well. Take care.

Elmo and Pumpkins

What a fun-filled weekend. On Saturday Isobel got to see all of her Sesame Street friends and she loved it. She watched so attentively to the whole show. When characters would leave she would ask where they went. It was so cute. But she had the best time. And then on Sunday we all went to the Hunsader Farm Pumpkin Festival. We met Aunt Tracy, Uncle Wayne, Logan and Landon there. We hung out in the pumpkin patch, did the corn maze, saw butterflies and got to pet some goats and donkeys. She had so much fun. And the weather was absolutely perfect. She was asleep in the car before we got to the main road. :) It was such a great weekend.

On another note, Isobel is talking in complete sentences and will have a complete conversation with you. She and I talked about stickers, ghosts and pumpkins. And today we saw some ducks across the pond and I said "how many ducks are there Isobel". I started counting and when I got to 6 I slowed down and she jumped in with 7, 8, 9, 10. Note, there were only 8 ducks but she knew the numbers in the right order. And then before dinner we took a walk around the block and she was able to count some of the pumpkins and ghosts (mainly just 1, 2 and 3 in qty). She asks about everything. She is so hungry for knowledge. I just can't believe how much she has learned. People are amazed she's only 23 months old (well tomorrow she will be).

Panama City Beach

We just got back from Panama City Beach for some friends' wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a great time, but Isobel did not like the sand. She hated having her feet dirty and wanted you to even clean between her toes. We tried to take her to the wedding ceremony but she kept saying "Aunt Tracy" and "Uncle Wayne" over and over again (Tracy was taking photos and Wayne was actually doing the ceremony). I know I keep saying it, but her speech is amazing. You can have small conversations with her. And her memory is startling. She is getting better with numbers (really starting to understand what they mean) and she's even starting to grasp the concept of tomorrow or a few days in the future. Her imaginative play is also developing. She makes dolls dance and play with each other and she loves to play dress up. And she loves to read to Maddy the kitty. She will sit next to her with a book and read her the story. She truly is an amazing and wonderful little girl.