:: 18 months ::

Oh, our dearest Isabelle, you have been up to so much in the last 2 months!  You are such a busy body and love to get into everything!

*You are such a goof ball, just like your parents!  

*You like to help us in the morning by putting our 'dirties' in the hamper and unzipping the dog's kennel to let them out.

*You have just started to develop a little {just a little ;)} interest in the TV, but that's only if it's Elmo!  So, I started recording a Sesame Street every now and then so we always have one on the tube in case you need your fix.

*You are so tickelish, your feet, your tummy, neck, everywhere {just like your mom :)} and it's the best to tickle you because you have the best giggle in the world, I just love it!

*You are such a smart girl and understand so much these days!  

*You still love music and to dance.

*You are so chatty and friendly to almost anyone.. we will be in the grocery store and you will just wave and say hi to a random person walking by.

*I have been trying to put pigtails in and/or a clip and for some reason, you have to pull them out. every. time. grr.

*You have kind of started to pick out your clothes, which I am not ready for yet!  You will tell me know when I pick something out and will only put on what you pick out... it's not worth the fight ;)!

*You are a big helper and pick up/put away your toys when we ask you to, that has been fun to watch and who am I kidding, it's awesome to have a helper!

*You say so many words, I don't even think I can list them anymore.. you can form sentences and have a conversation, which is so fun.

*You give the best hugs and 'mmwahs'!  I will bend down with my arms out wide and you run into them with the biggest smile, it's one of my favorite things!  And before dad leaves in the morning, you say bye and give him his kisses, also a favorite of mine.

*You still go to bed about 7, sometimes closer to 7:30 now and get up about 7-7:30.  I love when you wake up because you sit in your crib, play a bit, and then stand up and say, "mommy, daddy, mommy, Lucy, mommy", it's pretty cute + funny.  

*You go down for your nap around 12:30-1 and usually sleep for about 3 hours.

*You are still wearing a size 3 diaper, but we did up your nighttime diaper to a 4!

*You are wearing mostly 18 month clothing, but some smaller 2T shirts and 12-18 month pants because you have such a little waist.
*You still have some milk before bed and before we brush your teeth.

*You are wearing a size 4 shoe, but we are pushing it in some, so you are going to need to be in 5's soon.

*You can put your shoes on, usually on the right foot, but if I tell you it's the other foot, you switch feet and try to put it on.  

*You love to sit in your closet and take off and put on all your shoes.

*You love to go outside and you say, "outside, outside" a lot!  We are outside all the time!
*You know what noises a lot of animals make and your monkey, horse, owl and lion are some of my favorites!

*You absolutely love books and I love that!  We read them before your nap and before bed, every day.  You have developed a love for horses, so we have to look at every book that has a horse in it before you go down... I'm not sure where it came from, but you get so excited when you see them and say, "neigh" every time.

I had to do one picture on the couch like we did when you were
little, little, it didn't last long!

*You have started asking, "why?" and "what is that?", I find myself saying, "because I said so" a lot already!

*You are my 'little, little', turkey, mama, munchkin, 'boo, boo', sweet heart, Izzy girl, little miss... there are so many!

:: just another day ::

Isabelle likes to pick out accessories these days and this morning she wanted to wear her winter hat!  She looked so cute walking around with her hat on, it was a little chilly that day, but no even close to cold enough for a fleece hat!

I was cleaning some in the garage and Iz found herself some "purses/bags" that she carried around for a couple days.. we even had to carry it on our walk to Gigi's, and of course they had to be Victoria's Secret bags- of all bags!

She loves to help clean and sweeping is one of her favorite things for some reason.  She will walk over to it and say, "sup, sup", it's pretty cute how she says it.

My little turkey!  I'm not sure if I've told you my new name for her, but out of no where I started calling her turkey, not sure why or where it came from, but it seems to fit her in so many instances!

Hey hat!  I love this picture!

:: happy cinco de mayo ::

We had a fun little Cinco De Mayo weekend, we had a wedding reception in Lawrence Saturday night so we left early Friday and stopped through Topeka to visit my work friends.  It was so good to see everyone and catch up a little.  Iz and I went to KC after that for her nap and to surprise mom with a new garage door.  She was in desperate need of one and my gram had the great idea to get it done for her- it was a great surprise!  Isabelle loves going to gram's and playing with her random things she has around {yes, that is a kitty litter container {empty and clean of course} that she likes to put toys in and then dump them out.

Jacob and I had a nice dinner at LaBodega out south and then headed to Lawrence.  We got up and went to the grand opening of the Farmer's Market {yay!} and it was wonderful, made me so happy!  We got our favorite oatmeal sandwich cookies and some delicious breakfast burritos.  We walked around Mass. all morning, had lunch at La Parilla {one of our favorite spots!}, ran some errands and went for a jog- it was a perfect day for me!

Unfortunately we didn't take any more pictures at the reception and the two I did get, we are wearing mustaches.. totally normal, I know.

Who's that guy?

We went to brunch at another one of our "spots", Global Cafe and then I headed to KC to get Izzy girl {and go to Trader Joes of course :)}.  Iz was napping and there were some crazy storms moving in, so instead of sticking her in the car for 3 hours after she woke up and putting to bed as soon as we got home, we just stayed with gram Sunday night.  It was nice, we got some delicious thai food for dinner {Iz posing withe the carryout container} and watched a movie.

We got up Monday morning and made our way back to Salina!  It was a great 3 days back in Lawrence and KC!!

:: day at the zoo ::

I had been wanting to take Isabelle to the zoo and we got invited to go with some new friends we just met- it was great!  It was rainy when we got there so we checked out the museum that is full of animals {stuffed of course}.  Izzy girl was checking out some monkeys and other creatures...

The rain stopped so we got to go outside and check out the petting zoo... she loved it!  Check out those goats just standing on that tree, like they are statues or something.

Face to face with a goat and so happy!

oh hello mr. goat.

She loved the monkeys, gorillas, chimps, whatever!

I was able to catch a little of her making monkey noises...

Oh my goodness, Isabelle loved the cougars, she thought they were 'meowies'.  She got so excited when she saw them, she was doing her dance of stomping her feet... unfortunately I missed most of her dance, but caught a little bit :).

We had such a great time at the zoo, it was so fun watching Isabelle see all the animals and feed the ducks {she probably could have fed them for an hour}.  Other than it getting so hot, it was a pretty great time!  Can't wait to go back with dad so I can actually take some good pictures ;)!

:: may day ::

I almost forgot it was May Day until we went to Gigi's and she gave Isabelle a flower to give to me.  Here is Iz with her May Day flowers!!

Smelling the flower...

Awwe, flowers.

We love peonies, they are one of our favorite flowers!  We will have to make a May Day basket next year :)!

:: my project::

We had wanted to wallpaper or do something in our entry/hall way and decided to do this wall stencil.  It has turned out really well and we like it a lot!

I had an idea of what I was doing, but have gotten so much better the more that I have done.  I will tell you, my arms have been sore!  You can't have much paint on the roller because it will seep under the stencil, so you kind of have to put some force into it while you are rolling it on.

I also found a mini sponge roller and sponge dabber at Hobby Lobby and I will show you a picture of those with the finished product... they have been life savers!

An 'after' pic, almost done!

:: filo lasagna roll ups + garlic knot rolls ::

Jacob and I had these really delicious filo lasagna type roll ups in the Bahamas last year and of course I was like, I could make that!  So, finally, I made it!  Or at least our version of it :).  I totally just flew by the seat of my pants with this and they turned out pretty well- they tasted really good and that's all that matters!

1 package of filo dough {there are 2 in a box, we just used one}

1 container {15 oz} ricotta 

1 C shredded mozzarella

1/4 C grated parmesan

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

5 oz baby spinach

1-2 C tomato sauce

*You have to get everything ready before opening the filo because it dries out really quickly {the package has good pointers!}

*oven to 350 degrees

*mix the cheeses, oregano + pepper in a bowl, set close to where you will assemble your rolls

*put spinach in a bowl, you can add this to the cheese mixture if you don't mind them all having spinach, we have two options at our house ;)

*If you are familiar with filo dough or worked with it before, then you can just start layering it with butter/canola spray, then put a line of the cheese, tomato sauce, spinach down the left edge, about an inch in and roll it up!  Simple as that!

*If it's your first time working with filo, I would recommend reading all the directions on the box {I never usually read directions and I was glad I did!}.  

*Have a cookie sheet, plastic wrap and damp towel ready.

*Unroll the stack of filo on a cookie sheet and cover it with the plastic wrap and towel.

*Take out 1 piece of filo, while keeping most of it covered, put it on another cookie sheet and spray with canola spray, then add another layer, spray and one more piece.  Once you have 3 layers, you can start adding your cheese, spinach + sauce.  Roll it up and place at the edge of the cookie sheet. 

*Once you have them all made, bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

I also made these garlic knot rolls that we found via pinterest and they were pretty delicious.  You make them from a pizza dough and I used our recipe that I posted a few weeks ago.

 Look how pretty- this is before they went in the oven.

Izzy girl loved the rolls, she had to sit in the big girl chair to eat it- she has been so funny lately, she wants to sit in it by herself, she came up to me and said, 'mommy, out' and was trying to push me off the chair.  We compromised, I would give her bites if she would sit next to me :).

 Awww, she loves Lucy and says, 'awwwwe' and gives her hugs, it's pretty cute.

It was fun to make 2 new recipes and have them be a success!