Where Has Summer Gone?

I can't believe summer is over. I like the four seasons that we have in Illinois, but honestly winter is only pleasant for maybe...a month...NOT six. We had such a fun summer this past summer, I'm in denial that it's over. Towards the end of the summer Isabel and I found all the splash parks in Bloomington/Normal. We can thoroughly evaluate each of the parks...but by next summer, I'm afraid our opinions will change based on Miss Isabel's mobility.

Once we found the best one, we took Daddy to the splash park one weekend. He had no clue how much fun we had been having...and I was thrilled to be able to take my camera without fear of it getting "splashed"!

Isabel's preferred mode of transportation (before she started walking)...such a girly girl.

Look at that figure...so stinking cute.

"...giddy up...do it again Daddy!"

My little monkey

And this is why we call her a monkey

Smash

Isabel's birthday party was a smashing success. She absolutely loved the company, the cake and the presents... Here are a couple pictures from the incredible Ms. Katie Zeller that she captured while I was busy fending icing from my attire for the day. Once I have a chance to catch my breath from the festivities (probably won't be until she is 20)...I'll download the pictures from my camera and give you more details :)

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday DEAR Isabel, Happy Birthday to YOU.

My dainty one year old, checking out her birthday cake!

A quick pose before....

...the madness begins!

"Seriously, this stuff is good!"

Just can't get enough!

My little mouseketeer!

We had an outfit change and then playtime with Mr. Finn Pants!

Eleven

Isabel is going to be 1 this week...OH MY! So much to say about that...but I going to attempt to get caught up with the eleventh month first!

Eleven months was fun, busy and a month of some big changes. Isabel started standing up on her own. Typically it was out of distraction... For example...she would see the remote control on the ottoman, grab it and then let go of the ottoman to inspect the remote with both hands. Or...while holding onto her horsey, she would see the cat saunter past and let go to reach out for her. It was pretty exciting.

This month was also big in that Isabel started going to an in-home day care! Since my sister-in-law, Amanda, recently got married and moved away...and my other sister-in-law, Jenny, was only home for a brief time...our "nanny" days expired. We were so so blessed to keep Isabel at home until she was eleven months...and even better that she was with family!

Overall, the timing was right. Isabel really gets excited when she sees other children, so I could tell she was ready for some more entertainment. Plus, August marked the start of my busy season with work...so it was nice to have peace and quiet for me to focus on my intense workload. It was so hard to take her the first couple of weeks, but we both slowly made the transition. I'm still struggling with the fact that Isabel spends more awake time with someone other than myself, but I know she is in good hands and enjoying herself.

Here is the link to all of the pictures from Isabel's 11th month!

This might be one of my all-time favorites...

My little mover...jabbering into her brush...pushing the car. Ahh, the demands of an 11 month old.

Check out my sweet hat.

Giddy up...

My happy girl...someone must have spiked her bottle.

Isabel's newest trend is salivating at whatever it is that we are eating. On this occasion, she devoured a corn on the cob.

Course #2: watermelon...yum yum. The funny thing is that she already ate her own dinner prior to this, but clearly wanted dessert.

And if you don't feed her, she will just find her own food...and make a mess. On this particular occasion, she bit a hole in the zip lock bag and then dumped the cheerios out. Smart cookie...

Just call me Aladdin...on my magic carpet at Meema's house.

One of the month-end out takes...at what age exactly to children start looking at the camera and smiling?!

Miss Investigator

Isabel is such a little investigator these days. She picks up everything, looks at it, turns it over, turns it again and investigates everything. This next series of pictures will probably get me in trouble when she becomes a teenager, but I can't resist sharing.

Here she is investigating everything on the bathroom sink before bath time. What I wouldn't give to have a cute little butt like that again :)

Laine from Champaign

In college I met one of my good friends...Laine. She was from Champaign...and it was always so funny when she would say "I'm Laine from Champaign!" Yeah, typing that out now...I'm guessing that we were probably drinking at the time...

Anyways, my good friend Laine was home from Houston, Texas a couple weeks ago. So we headed to Champaign to visit with her family. The girls started off shy...but by the end of the day they were buds. It was an especially exciting visit since Laine blurted out that Baby Cipolla #2 is on the way...due the beginning of March! We can't wait to meet the newest Cipolla addition. Congrats Chris & Laine!

Attempting to get a picture where they look at the camera...so close...

This picture cracks me up...I almost deleted it and then I realized, Chloe is picking at Isabel's toe nails! Clearly bff's as I don't even pick at Isabel's toe nails ;)

Now we are excited! Isabel could hardly contain the excitement of a wagon ride. Clearly we need to get the wagon out more frequently at our house.

Chloe...giving instructions on how to ride in the wagon.

Such good little wagon riders. Isabel didn't let go one time. I think fear might have had something to do with it...

The girls...almost all posing for the camera!

This little girl was spent after her afternoon of fun with Chloe!

Vaca

We had one incredible vacation in July! My parents "rented" (read: took over) a distant cousin's home in Kimberling City, Missouri, which is on Tablerock Lake. We went a couple years ago with all of my cousins and had an incredible vacation floating and drinking. This trip was just slightly different... We simply slept, ate, slept, drank, ate, floated, drank, drank, slept, ate, drank, drank and then slept some more. I think everyone adopted to Isabel's two nap a day schedule quite well!

The housing arrangements were perfect for our family dynamic. Me, Ben and Isabel had a separate guest house, which was perfect for naps and the peanut's early bedtime. My parents stayed next door with my cousin Steve, in the home he recently built. My parents friend's, the Semelka's and Kellenberger's, stayed in one of the condos down the street. It was a fun little compound!

The weather was beautiful, the house was incredible and the company couldn't be better. It was next to perfect...I'm crossing my fingers that my Dad will someday consider a vacation home like this.

I was really nervous for our first day out on the boat. Isabel never really got to the point where the life jacket was completely zipped, fastened and ready to go...so I was apprehensive about the first ride. Needless to say, she did pretty well (the first day). She was definitely uncomfortable, but she survived.

Frozen in my arms...confused about the "straight jacket".

"Too winny"

"ohhh", Isabel's face of excitement

All the excitement tired out the baby...she was asleep by the time we got to the first cove for swimming.

On the way home we had to stop for gas...which was pushing Isabel's limits with the life jacket. So what else do you do to appease a child in this type of situation....BRIBE them. The orange push-up that Grandpa bought for her worked wonders!

Home again and ready for another nap.

Day 2...Isabel is slowly figuring things out.

"Who is the idiot that tied this thing in knots? Seriously...how are we going to use this for the anchor?"

and the picture quota has been reached...

Our non-sunshine time...doing some work

"This boat driving business is tricky..."

Floating with Grandma and checking out rocks in the lake. At this point we were at the "island" so it was really shallow water...which was a little safer with da baby!

Checkout my diaper butt...wet diapers must weigh 10 lbs...

Family photo op

Grandpa and Cousin Steve with Miss Isabel. Isabel loved on Mr. Moose so much during the week, that Steve sent the moose home with her.

Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa AND Cousin Steve!!! Can't wait for next year!!