Sweetest girl in the whole wide world...

This post is for Isabelle. If there were a perfect age/stage in her life, this is it. She is a really happy girl. She has her moments of course, but generally, she is just an absolute JOY. I really, honestly think she is the sweetest little girl EVER! Don't worry, I am not partial or anything! ;) I wish I could freeze her just as she is now for awhile....because soon there will be no trace of baby in her at all, she IS a toddler technically anyway...but she is still my baby. And heaven knows I LOVE babies! But when the baby part is over and gone...for me personally, not so much fun. Especially the terrible two's! Anyone who is around Riley enough knows she is a fun girl...but watch out for the tantrums and other challenges that come with the age.

Isabelle is SO smart. She will repeat things she hears us say and will try to pronounce anything we ask her. She is part monkey considering her love of climbing and part Tigger as she LOVES to bounce! She loves music and likes to dance...though I think most tiny tots like dancing/wiggling. She loves her sister and wants to play with her but also is very good at playing by herself sometimes. She loves reading books and RUNNING as fast as her legs can carry her. One of Trav's favorite things about Izzy is how she will stand or walk around with her arms behind her back.
She is so close to being able to sing her whole alphabet....and anytime she sees letters on anything she will go point to them and say "A, B, C"; we need to work on recognizing which letter is which though...
One of my favorite things about her is how cuddly she is. She gives the best hugs and is such a snuggler! It devastates me to think this may not last....but maybe it will. A mom can hope, right?
She can be a little bit independent, but still mostly needs help. "Help we" is how she asks for help. She can be needy for attention sometimes, and while her timing isn't always convenient, it reminds me that she is still a baby and she needs her mom or dad. Because she isn't as independent as her big sister who likes do so a lot (not everything, but a lot) for herself.
This hat is really stinking cute...we bought it for Riley, but Ri won't keep it on like Isabelle does. Isabelle is cautious around people she doesn't know or hasn't seen for awhile but if she is around them for a little while, she warms up. Some of her favorite people that she asks for are Aunt Kim, Hailee, Uncle Johnny, Aunt Dana, and Camryn.
We can ask Isabelle to go get something, and she will go right to it, know exactly what we want, and bring it to us, no additional instructions needed. Riley is totally opposite. She knows what we want usually but is sort of aloof and clueless and will look right past what we ask her for... no matter how we try to explain or tell her where the item is.Izzy LOVES her blanket and asks for it a lot. She also loves her nap time and bedtime, and sometimes even asks for it before we offer. But if we ask if she wants to take a nap or go night-night, she often replies, "Yes." I love that she says Yes and not yeah. or ya. She will tell me "no" sometimes but usually when you would expect to hear it... like when I ask her if she needs a time out, she will say "NO!"
She also loves milk. And she is a good eater with the exception of mac n cheese and grilled cheese...which is weird, because she loves cheese. The girl loves lettuce, again unlike Riley who seems to only eat it if we are at Olive Garden...it must be the salad dressing. Who could blame her? It IS tasty.
Isabelle's favorite food is probably strawberries (or "strawbabies" as she calls them).
Isabelle has full blown conversations when no one is listening and while they aren't necessarily intelligible...it is so fun to listen.
At night, I check on her before I go to bed...and I usually ache to just scoop her up and hold her or bring her to bed and snuggle her all night. I resist this urge, as we aren't really the type to keep our kids in bed with us, except on extremely rare occasions when one is sick/sad/whatever. And even then, it's very rare if that is a whole-night type of deal. But she is just so precious and changing fast. And I am SO SO SO sad!!!!!!!!!!
I know there is so much I am forgetting to document about Izzy at almost 17 months old...but at least this is SOMETHING! At this moment she is sitting in a little princess chair with her blanket reading herself a book. Out loud. So cute!

Stayed tuned for a future post about Riley and her current likes, dislikes, attitudes, and quirks... It may take me some time....considering my recent blogging history has been minimal...but oh well.

Well this will have to do...

I mostly fixed it....except for the border going around the header and then the whole thing...
I can live with this for now.

Oh man....

I have long been thinking that it is time for a change of background on this thing....

Problem is, it has been SO long since I last did it....I completely forgot how to. My last two backgrounds were digital scrapbook papers that I got from ShabbyPrincess.com.

It's a bit more complex than just using, say.... theCutestblogontheblock.com.

And considering I hardly have the time to mess around lately, I thought it was time to go with thecutestblogontheblock. Welllll....the instructions are there for you, and they are simple. So I applied the changes to my page...and voila! CRAP.

I got part of TCBOTB's background going down the sides...but still have my old background down the center. I am a freaking idiot! Now I have to try to figure out how to fix it....and hope it doesn't screw up anything. So...yeah. Hoping for good results!

Some pics of the house....FINALLY

Ok...I first have to say, there are no pics of a couple rooms still because...well, just because. And even the pics that I have posted...those rooms aren't exactly as "finished" as we would like them to be. But people have been asking for pics, so here you go. These first two are of Isabelle's room. Not much to see. Her closet is a mini walk-in but not organized totally yet so I didn't take a picture inside. The girls rooms need painted and pictures and what not need hung up still...but this is a start.
This next group is Riley's room. It is WAY too white. All her furniture is white so against the walls...its just too bright! So we will definitely be painting or something in here, hopefully soon. As you can see she has a double-door closet.






Probably one of my favorite things about the house is the kitchen! I just love the cupboard space, the new, black appliances, and granite counter tops (although a darker color would have been more favorable in my opinion, we chose from series one colors because it came standard and going up to the next series would have been $1500 more--at least. Although, the light color doesn't look bad at all).





Beside the fridge is a pantry and right around to the left of the pantry is a door that goes into the garage.

I LOVE that we have an island, too! More counter space= always a plus!

Dining area. But really, the living, kitchen and dining rooms are all one big area. Please excuse the ab lounge....not sure where to put it permanently yet....and I realize I should have taken these photos in the evening...because the light is weird. We haven't put window coverings up in the dining area...so the window lets in a TON of light.

Living room...again, the light coming in is too much through those panels...so you can't really see them very well.

At least the living room has stuff on the walls :) It's a start



This picture is taken from the hallway upstairs looking down to the front door.

And this is what you see when you walk in the front door...you can go up the steps or back the hallway to the living/kitchen/dining area.

Half bathroom. Not much to see at this point

Standing in the living room looking at the front door. To the left is the half bath which you cannot see and a closet that is large as it is the space under the steps.

This is part of upstairs, the hallway that leads to our room. On the left is the laundry room and on the right a closet. Our room is straight ahead then sort of right, I guess.

Laundry. I would like to put a shelf above the washer and dryer.

So as you can see I didn't show the girls bathroom, master bed/bath/closet, or the guest room/my massage room. I will eventually; hopefully soon :) One reason I have been putting this off is because the pictures just don't do it justice. The rooms are spacious and the layout and different angles in some rooms and closets are fun and make it different. AND my mom is flying in tomorrow...and I want her to see it in person because it's SO much better, in my opinion. The best thing is that we have double the space we had in our last apartment and much more space than we have ever had....ever :) The yard isn't in yet (not that there is much of one). So below is a picture of one of the other homes in this development. It is a twin home and we are on the right if you are outside looking at the house. Another great feature is the two car garage and it is deep :) I love the storage space. Between the garage, 3 hall closets, and a crawl space that you can access above the laundry room there is TONS of storage! We also have a patio our back and mill maybe fence in what small yard we do have once it is in :) A lot of people assume it's not very big when they first see it from the outside, but are surprised after coming. It's a bit deceiving.

Easter Weekend Update

Over the weekend we went up to visit Trav's family for Easter and because Skyler just returned home from his mission to the Philippines Baugio (excuse the spelling?) Mission!!! We left Thursday around 6:30 pm. John and Hailee rode up with us since Dana and Camryn stayed home. The trip up was not so bad except since we drove through the night we were all quite tired. Thanks for helping with the driving, John!! The nice thing was that the girls slept a good portion of the time. We pulled into the Anderson's driveway just after 3:30 am (4:30 am Utah time) so our total time was right around 10 hours. Not bad considering we made some bathroom stops!!
On Friday morning we all finally got to see Skyler for the first time!! It was so surreal to think his two years are already over. We are all so glad he is home and it was GREAT seeing him again. Grandma Barb out-did herself big time this visit. It's always fun for the girls to see Grandma and there are always fun things to do but this trip she had lots of extra fun games, puzzles, and crafts for the girls! It was SO much fun! She bought the girls all matching dresses as seen in the below pictures. Grandpa John was so good with the girls too. He played and entertained them for hours. THANKS GUYS!!! Sunday we of course went to church. Skyler gave a great talk. He bore his testimony in Tagolog (again, not so sure with spelling) and it was amazing to listen to him speak like he had known the language his whole life. Totally incredible! We had a delicious Easter dinner afterwards :) Barb also put together an Easter egg hunt for the girls in their yard :) SO FUN! We got to see Granny and Papa, some other Anderson family members, and quite a few of the Simon side of Trav's family too including Jessy and Lizzie's new babies. Both had girls in the last couple months and they are both so beautiful! I think John and Barb were thrilled to have all 5 of their kids together for a long time. AND to have 3 of their 4 granddaughters there as well :) We really miss trips to Coeur d'Alene as they used to be more frequent before we moved so far away. Darn it, Utah, for being so far!!!
It was August the last time Barb had seen our girls in person and since the end of June for John. Yes, too long!! Our main reason is the fact that I am in school right now but we wish they were able to visit us more often too. Maybe someday...
Isabelle modeling her visor that I decorated for her at Grandma's.
Riley wearing hers. Also note the necklace she is wearing made by Riley with the help of Aunt Darcy and Aunt Randee, too I think. Thanks for being so patient with her!!! Love you girls :)
Cheesy smile.
Grandma Barb decorated Riley's visor. SUCH A CUTE CRAFT!!! And probably more fun for us adults than the kids. hee hee
Here are the girls in their dresses. It was nearly impossible to get all 3 to stay still and together long. You know how that goes!!
Barb got our girls green shirts for under their jumpers and John and Dana's girls pink shirts for under theirs.
Travis and I, ready for church!
Girls heading out on their Easter egg hunt.
Travis helped Isabelle. She was so slow...but still had a good time!
Riley, with Aunt Randee's help


Hailee...too bad it turned out blurry!! I couldn't really get great pics as the girls were too busy to stop and smile....gotta get the eggs, ya know???!!!

Hailee with a pretty full basket!
Isabelle in action...sort of.

These photos show the girls had no interest in looking at me for pictures. They needed to check out what yummy treats their eggs were filled with :)




Sunday afternoon...So sleepy!!

Uncle Skyler and Riley All 5 Anderson kids from youngest to oldest: Randee, Skyler, Darcy, Travis, and John

On our way home...because most of our car ride was during the day hours, the girls got quite fussy and whiny at times...but thankfully later in the day both decided to nap at the same time. Whew. Finally some peace and quiet! :)

Here are two videos of Isabelle who has found that bouncing on beds is fun. And it's just too cute to make her stop. Nothing too exciting for most, but oh well.... I was going to post more videos, of the Easter egg hunt...but this uploading crap takes too long and I am out of patience!! You should all be proud of me for posting all this so soon anyway ;) Ya know, considering my blog-slacking ways lately...

Also: Many people have been wanting to see pics of the house. Well...they are coming soon. Like, by Saturday at the very latest. It's just that things have been so hectic!! And it is still a work in progress...so even when I do post the pics this week, the house isn't really "done" or fully unpacked or decorated yet. Especially not decorated yet. But stay tuned :)