now hats!!

Iz just cracks me up, she finds something new in her drawers or closet every day and has to wear it.

Shoes!!

She is so silly!  It was super hot + sunny out and she had to wear her rain boots to go outside... she just makes me smile all the time.

And then some high wedges!  I have a bunch of shoes that I need to donate in the garage and Isabelle decided to put on one of the craziest pairs in the bag... she was somehow walking around in them too.

I wish these weren't blurry, but the girl was on the move!

She was all over the place in those wedges, I can't believe how long she lasted in them.

So this is hard to see {there is a little smudge mark by the corner of the window above the tub and the other one is kind of over the bottom part of the back window} but I took a picture of the mirror with Isabelle's cute little hand prints on it.. I just didn't want to clean it because I liked seeing them.  I tried to take a picture of them so I could clean it, but it didn't really work :(.

:: bird watching saturdays ::

It's so fun to look out the window and see our bird feeder/house so full of birds!  Iz got so excited and loved watching all the birds bounce around on the ground and the feeder.

Isabelle still loves to play with her little doll that my gram {GG} gave her for Christmas, I need to print this and send it to her.

Our pups looked so cute sleeping, Reg must have been in mid-play with his bone when he passed out ;).

She looked so funny as she was falling asleep for her nap...

Iz loves to wear dad's hat!

Isabelle has been talking about church so much lately, and that "we sing, and clap, church" {that's how she says it, it's pretty cute}, so I took her on Sunday... I had been wanting to go, so thank you Isabelle for making me do it!  She's the best!

:: "I love my tutu!" ::

Isabelle picks out this skirt almost every morning so I let her wear 2 days in a row, then hid it in the laundry basket so it could get a wash.  I just had to share this picture, to show that we aren't always happy in the morning... she didn't want her picture taken and of course I took it anyway ;).

Now we are happy, "cheese".

Day 2: new shirt, same skirt... oh and she picked out her shoes, had to wear them.

I feel like she looks like such a 'big' little girl in these pictures :(.

4 purses today!

"Really mom?"

Oh man, this girl is going to be trouble!!

The thing is, my child is SO me when it comes to clothes, shoes, jewels.. guess I can't blame her!

I made this smoothie for Iz and I, and just thought it looked so pretty.. it's just strawberries, 1/2 orange, about 1/2 C mixed berries, banana, handful of spinach and ground whole grain flaxmeal... then water of course.  Pretty delish!

:: 16 wk doc appt ::

I drove to Lawrence early Tuesday morning for my doc appt, it wasn't very exciting, but I did get to hear the heart beat!  It was around 170, so it's a little slower than the last month.  Everything was good!  We scheduled our next appt. and sonogram {yay!} for 20 weeks!

 I always feel so silly taking these pictures and I look a bit cheesy too in my yoga get-up, so disregard that! ;) 

At 16 weeks, the babe is about the size of an avocado {4 1/2 inches long from head to bum and 3 1/2 oz}... babycenter says, 'get ready for a growth spurt. in the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length'... getting bigger- something to look forward to ;)!  I feel like this pregnancy is going much faster, but probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not counting every day like I was with Iz {because I'm so distracted with her ;)}.. sometimes I will get asked how far along I am and have to stop and think.  Sorry babe!

I found this great list in one of my 'Parents' mags and just had to share... some of them are so true!

9 things we love about pregnancy:

1. people look at your belly and just smile.

2. you haven't scooped the cat litter in months, or done anything else you've deemed "not good for the baby".

3. Thanks to surging hormones, every day is a good-hair day.

4. you have all the sex you want without the worry of.. pregnancy ;)!

5. work is much more bearable when there's a private dance party going on inside you.

6. total strangers tell you "congratulations" and "you look great!" Why, thank you.

7. you have a place to rest your ice-cream bowl {and excuse to use it + eat it}.

8. oh, these breasts? yep, they're real.

9. for nine months, you don't have to suck it in. {love this one!}

"I want to mow, mom" + mexican lasagna.

Oh man, this girl has a thing for lawn mowers for some reason and wants to help dad mow every time he's mowing.  I had so much fun watching her try to follow dad, it was just the cutest thing. ever. 

 Oh and don't mind her outfit, she has to put her 'nap' shorts on before her nap and she didn't want to take them off today... stripes on stripes :).

*Mexican Lasagna*

I found this nice + easy recipe via Pinterest and it was pretty delicious.  I included her recipe below and wrote the changes I made in pink.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 1½ cups cooked black beans)

1½ cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup red onion, chopped 

1/2 cup chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish {I didn't have any, so didn't use it and it was still delish}

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 (28 oz.) can crushed tomatoes (Fire roasted recommended) {I used 1 can Rotel + regular salsa}

**9-12 no-boil lasagna noodles

8 oz. shredded cheese (Mexican blend or a mix of monterey jack, cheddar, and pepper jack)

Hot sauce, sour cream, green onions, and/or cilantro for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set aside a 9 inch x9 inch baking pan {I used a 9x13 baking dish}.

In a mixing bowl, stir together the black beans, corn, onion, and cilantro. Add the oregano, garlic powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne pepper, and stir to coat.  

Spread a thin layer of crushed tomatoes over the bottom of the baking sheet (~1/5 of total tomatoes). Next lay out 2-3 noodles, breaking as needed to fit in pan without overlapping too much. Spread 1/3 of bean mixture on top of the noodles, followed by 1/4 of the remaining tomatoes, and finally 1/4 of the cheese. Repeat this layering process (noodles, beans, tomatoes, cheese) 2 more times. Add one more layer of noodles and top with the remaining tomatoes and cheese.  **I added ground chicken on top of the bean mixture to half of the dish for my dear. 

Cover the baking pan tightly with foil. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the noodles are tender, then remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

:: leg lifts : paris : love you ::

I was doing some leg lifts on the floor, which resulted in this from Isabelle.. unfortunately I missed some of the good stuff when I was trying to get my phone.

 The girl and her purses... oh and she loves applesauce!

 Aunt Betsy came over to visit with Paris and Isabelle was so excited to play with her.. Bets somehow managed to make Paris sit in the back while Iz pulled her around- so cute.

 She loves to peak through the fence to our neighbors back yard and look for their dog + kids... check out those calf muscles- what?!

 Isabelle says a lot of words, but for some reason will not say 'love you', so we have been working on it for awhile and she said it for the first time at dinner {listen close at the very beginning}!  She is such a goofy girl, now you know why I call her 'turkey'!

my little goof ball...

Our sweet little pup, Reggie... he looked so cute.

One of Isabelle's new favorite things is pushing her babies in this little stroller, it's technically an umbrella stroller for her, but she loves that she can reach the handles.

She got tired...

Just playing with the 'popbooth', Iz didn't quite understand how it worked.

Sue Sue has Iz smell everything at her house, so she was walking up to all my tomato plants and smelling them- I just thought it was so cute because they aren't flowers and don't really smell that great, but then she went by and gave them all a kiss :).

I love how she's on her tippy toes here.

A little peek...

Such a good driver!

One of her new things is 'bye mom', so this is her telling me 'bye'... I always ask where she's going and she usually doesn't have an answer.

It was so nice to have some cool weather when we got home, made playing outside much more enjoyable.

:: KU Alumni Party ::

We got back in town Friday and had kind of a crazy weekend with the KU Alumni party out at the farm, with guest, Head Coach Bill Self!  Kind of crazy that he came to Salina and was at the farm!

We had to get a family photo in front of the massive Jayhawk.

+ Sue Sue :)

Iz looked so cute running around, checking out all the stuff for the party, I just loved her in these pics.

 We took Isabelle early so she could see the huge horses that were pulling guests, she was a little shy at first, but then she got really excited about them.

 They took us for a ride and Iz watched the horses the whole time.

 So fun to watch her...

The Wilson family with Coach Bill Self- kind of a big deal!