My Cute Little Boy....

.....Is growing up way too fast. I've been trying so hard to take in every moment lately, but time is still passing way too fast. He will turn two next month! Lately he is just SOOO CUTE and I want to remember these little things!


This is how he sleeps most of the time. I love his little feet sticking out underneath. And you can see the bottle in the background....yes, he is almost two and still has a bottle at bedtime. We got rid of his binky, but still haven't quite dealt with the bottle yet. He is my baby, and the only time he'll let me hold him anymore is when he drinks his bottle!

Isaac loves to go places--mostly because driving means passing a lot of really cool vehicles.....particularly "GUCKS"......which means "Trucks" in Isaac language. That is all we hear when we are in the car--he doesn't just say it, he SCREAMS "guck!!!....."guck!!!" every 5 seconds. Except of course, when he sees a really extra super cool truck--maybe one with a huge trailer attached or something.....then he whispers "wow, guck....wow, guck" with such respect. So cute. I know what I'm getting him for Christmas for sure.

Speaking of Isaac language, here are a few of his favorite words:

"Goook" = cookie

"Da Gog" = all gone

"Wa da?!" = what's that?!

"woof woof woof" = dog

"roar" = any other kind of animal

......well, of course "No!" is right at the top of the vocabulary, and then mama and daddy....and that is about it! I know he's a little slower with the whole talking thing, because he has two sisters who say everything for him! But every day he jabbers more and more with so much expression. I love the sound of jabbering!

Isaac still loves to "cook," still unloads all of my pots and pans and lids out of the cupboard and fills them with a whole bag of cereal or dirt or garbage or whatever he can find to "stir". Every morning when I get him out of his crib, he runs to the kitchen and goes straight to the waffle iron or the pancake griddle. So basically I make a lot of waffles and pancakes because I'm a sucker. And at 6:30 in the morning, it's usually just Isaac and I....so he does all the stirring and we have our little bonding time.

Madison and Emma taught Isaac how to catch a bug by trapping it underneath a little tupperware bowl....the other day while the girls were at school, I came down the hall and found a few little tupperware bowls upside down on the carpet. When I picked them up, each one had a little dead box elder bug underneath. I thought it was so cute!

And yes, the toilet is still his friend. Every once in awhile he decides he needs some water to "stir" into his pots so he goes to the toilet to get it. Today he walked out with a bottle full of water and a straw inside. He was drinking the water through the straw and so proud that he got his own bottle! Yep, the toilet had signs all around it of Isaac's recent visit. I know that is SOOO gross! I try not to let that happen, but every once in awhile.....maybe a little toilet water here and there will build his immune system.

So anyway, there are a few of my favorite Isaac things lately. Just tonight before bed Emma said to Madison, "I'm so glad we got our little Isaac boy," and Madison said, "Yeah, he sure is a funny little guy." We're all so glad to have him!

Some things are just worth repeating....

TOP OF UTAH 2009!

It actually happened!! (Despite the incident with my toe, if you read that post.) True, I worried so much about my toe and the cold that I caught that I went TOTALLY psycho and didn't sleep for a week. I ran the marathon in my mind about 1000 times, day and night--I just kinda went nuts for a while (my family can vouch for that one, sorry family). So it ended up that my toe was not even an issue, thanks to a good tape job and some really good numbing cream. I think the lack of sleep/lingering cold had more of an affect......I didn't do my best running that day (not even close), but I finished! I came pretty close to my goal, and now I can look forward to NEXT TIME!
This is the very CUTE poster that Becky and Suzanne brought to me the day before the race. I'm so grateful for good friends......Julie was my counselor for four months while we trained...... Becky supplied me with GU at 10:30 one night when I realized I didn't have any and had a 21 mile run the next morning.....Suzanne drove us up clear up Blacksmith Fork canyon one morning VERY early......Leigh brought me some "toe tubes" that saved my life.......Jessica and Becky and my sister-in-law Pam all came and ran with us at the marathon.....there are many more little things, and I just couldn't have done it without such good friends!

And here is my cute family, cheering along the way (but really wondering what the heck they were doing sitting out in the hot sun all morning watching a bunch of crazy people). They were so cute and it lifted my spirits every time I saw them along the route.

I wish I had a picture of Kelly (he was the one taking the pictures). He should have received an award at the finish line as well! He put up with a lot over the last couple of months.....He was so patient and supportive, I just love him!

What a good feeling that was! That's the scary part, all these endorphins are a bit addicting. That has a lot to do with my current attitude--I'm going through withdrawls!

So to sum it all up.....some things are just worth repeating! Even though I've wanted to accomplish this goal for a long time, I always somewhat dreaded the idea. I thought I would do it once and check it off the list for good! I thought I would be totally burned out of running by the end of the training...not so! Just the opposite, I felt so good and loved it more and more! And even though the race itself didn't go as well as I pictured, it was still such an awesome day. So much support from my family and friends (thanks so much!), even complete strangers cheering each other along. It was inspiring! So if you're considering a little adventure such as this, just know you can do it, and once might not be enough!

Annual First-Day-of-School Pictures (late, as usual)

I was looking through my pictures and realized I never documented the ever-so-exciting First Day of School! It is the annual tradition at our house to take these important pictures in front of our huge, out of control flower bed......which means that I have to start planning for these pictures in May (when I plant the zinnias--and it can only be zinnias forever more because they create such a big flowery backdrop) and then I have to cross my fingers that the flowers will grow! Luckily, this year the flowers grew tall and wild like they usually do, so here's another year bigger in front of the flowers!

Starting with poor little Isaac, who could feel the excitement in the air--he knew something fun was going on, and soon realized that the fun didn't include him :( Istead, he had to hang out with boring old mom all afternoon and then take a nap. He sure misses his sisters, but I have to say, he and I have spent a lot of time out in the sandbox playing and watching the big Parsons trucks drive by our house. We've had some good bonding time!

Emma grew up a lot in one day! She went to school and came home feeling so smart and grown up, and she's acted that way ever since. I didn't cry when I sent Madison to her first day of Kindergarten--I was too excited along with her. But this year I realized how I just sent Madison yesterday, now I'm sending Emma today, and tomorrow it will be Isaac. I cried a little this time around. But Emma looked so beautiful and happy and brave going off to school, and she will be make an awesome Kindergartener!

Madison began her 2nd grade year with a new look and much better vision! We got her glasses right at the beginning of the school year and she loves them. She takes such good care of them and wears them with pride. She takes such good care of Emma, making sure she gets a good seat on the bus and does her best handwriting during homework time, etc. Madison wasn't so excited to start school (mostly because she doesn't like to work, and she knows school means homework, structure at home a.k.a. CHORES, piano practice, etc) but she jumped into the routine and is doing awesome. As usual, she still has way too much fun with all her friends, so life is good.

Here is Emma, Austin, and Sarah. They all live right next door to each other, right in a row. Not a day goes by that they aren't outside yelling into each other's front windows or riding bikes around the driveways. It has been so fun watching these three goof off at the bus stop every day (plus about 10 others in our neighborhood that just began Kindergarten).

This one is hard to see, but this is Madison and Emma yelling out the bus window on the first day coming home. It just made me smile, seeing the two of them sitting together, instead of sitting with their friends. They were holding hands coming off the bus--so cute! They really are friends! (sometimes their behavior says the opposite and I wonder....)

I still miss them both while they're off at school, but now that the routine is setting in a little, I've found an hour of the day that is SILENT! Isaac goes down for his nap while they are gone and I have about an hour to myself--that part hasn't been so bad! If only I could freeze time right now--I can handle them starting school this year, but no more! Stay little! (I wish)