Fearless

Introducing.... Izzy the fearless.

She jumps

She parallel turns

She swings her arms when she wants to go faster

She is 3 years old.
She is generally a happy skier as long as she gets a few snack breaks.

First Day of Summer

The first day of summer was actually warm!  We went to the beach with friends.  Most of the kids were brave enough to be pulled behind the boat and had fun even thought the water was cold.  The water is so high in the lake that half of the beach was gone and most docks are covered in water.  We are hoping that this warm weather is a good sign for a nice summer. 

Photo Shoot

  

I've been dying to get some photos of my girls at The Farm.  Often, when we are there in the evening, the light is beautiful, the grass is green and the old wood has lots of character.  A perfect opportunity for some fun photos of the girls.  I snapped these last night.  I was a little late to catch the perfect light and the girls didn't have enough patience to stand still for too long.  But I thought there were some fun ones.  Oh yeah - please disregard the dirty shirts.  Things seem to become instantly dirty the minute we pull onto the property.

Overheard Today...

Maren to friend Ashlee -
"Let's play karate princess"

Izzy as she chose a drink for lunch -
"Eeny, meeny, spider (pronounced 'pider), mo,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he's grumpy put him in time out,
My mother told me to pick a best friend,
And you are not it!"

Happy Birthday Izzy

Izzy turned 3 this week.  Hard to believe our baby is not a baby.  Her independence is becoming more and more apparent.  She recently informed us that she won't be using the toddler plates or silverware anymore.  And a bib is out of the question.  She dresses herself at least 10 different times each day and refuses to wear anything that I might choose.  Consequently, she ends up with some interesting outfits. Her latest fashion statement is wearing different shoes on each foot.  Her favorite color is pink. 

She's been waiting for her birthday for months and wasn't disappointed. She insisted on helping make her birthday muffins (cupcakes). At our house the birthday girl gets to choose who says all of the prayers for the day. Izzy chose herself each time.

Noise

Izzy discovered Paige's old tap shoes in the dress up box a few weeks ago.

They have not left her feet since.

Before, her constant chattering filled our house with noise.

Now, the chatter is joined by tapping.

As you can imagine, nap time is a much appreciated oasis of quiet in my day.

Izzy Learns About Money

In our house, 2 years old is definitely too young for allowance. But our crafty Izzy thought otherwise. While I was busy helping the other girls separate allowance into tithing, savings and spending, Izzy was busy helping herself to the Davidson Allowance Bank (a.k.a. a bowl containing change and bills that I use to hold allowance money). Before I realized it, she filled her little purse with about $5 in quarters.

She has been carrying it around every since, just waiting for the right moment to spend it. All of the other girls have had a special trip with Mom to do their Christmas shopping and she was just waiting for her chance. As we were out running errands the other day she seized the opportunity and brought her purse - asking to use it at the Library, Post Office and just about every other place we went. Finally, we ended up at Super Drug and I gave in. When I told her she could spend her money, she started shopping in earnest for Christmas gifts for her sisters. I helped her settle on .50 packages of Christmas candy - one for each sister.

She proudly carried her goods up to the counter, handed them to the cashier and pulled out her wallet. She is too short to actually see the cashier over the counter, so I lifted her up to sit on the counter. As a line of three or four people started to gather behind us, Izzy proceeded to pull her money out one coin at a time. Knowing this would take more time than the patience of people in line, I asked if I could help her count it. 'Do it BY MYSELF' was her response. I knew a 2 year old tantrum was in the makings. Luckily, the cashier was kind and a quick thinker. She said that if Izzy let me help count the money she would give Izzy a special piece of paper with her purchase (a receipt). Izzy was so excited she said Thank You and was pleased as can be.

I think I'm going to have to hide that little purse of hers for a while. She is sweet and cute, but definitely has a will of her own!

First Snow

It has been snowing hard for a week now. We have been sledding, skating, building snowmen and riding behind the quad. Yesterday we spent our first day on the slopes. Although the base wasn't too deep, Schweitzer opened with some amazingly soft and fluffy snow the day after Thanksgiving. We decided to take the whole family. It was Izzy's first time and she had lots of fun. Hannah, Paige and Maren picked up where they left off last year and we had a great day!

Look Dad, I can parallel ski on my first day out!

Here I am with Maren. Uh oh! Who is this crazy boy skiing into me? Oh well, I'm too good for him. I'll just keep going and beat him to the bottom of the magic carpet! That will show him that girls are better skiers! Slow and careful - that's the way to do it.

Crib for Sale

Do you know of anyone that needs a crib? We have moved beyond it now that Izzy is in a big bed. Here are the details:

Natural Maple hardwood

Good condition

Mattress can be raised or lowered to desired height

Mattress included, but well used

I also have several sets of white and cream crib sheets

$60

Kitchen Art

I've been trying to think of ways to keep Izzy occupied while I work in the kitchen. There are many times when she is standing on a chair beside me scrubbing carrots or mixing pancakes. But sometimes I need her busy doing her own thing.

I think I found something when I ran across this free printable...

You can find it at babalisme. Download it. Print it onto Avery Magnet Sheets. Cut it out and VOILA...

Instant entertainment.

Snack Time

Isabelle (who turned 2 in April) is growing up quickly. We are discovering what an independent child she can be. For example, we had this interesting experience yesterday...

I came home to find her walking around the house eating a bag of microwave popcorn. Annoyed that her dad was not supervising the snacking, I started a conversation that went something like this...

me: 'Kirk, why is Izzy eating popcorn in the living room?'

Kirk: 'What popcorn?'

me: 'The popcorn she is dropping all over the house.'

Kirk: 'I didn't give her popcorn.'

me: 'Maren, did you make popcorn for Izzy?'

Maren: 'No, but can I have some too?'

me: 'Izzy, where did you get popcorn?'

Izzy: 'Make it MYSELF' (said really proudly while sticking out her chest)

She then went on to tell me how she found scissors in the drawer to open the packaging with and put the bag in the microwave and turned it on. After the explanation, she popped a piece in her mouth and smiled proudly.

The bag was only half popped, which I thought was quite amazing. She could have easily put it in to for too much time and burned the popcorn. How she figured all of this out after only watching us make popcorn a few times amazes me.

Let's hope she doesn't try to make cookies next!