bubbles!

the title says it all. it's kinda long, so all but the grandparents will likely find it a tad boring. but atleast we think it's cute!

riding her bike...

as promised, here is a little video of isa and her new bike. it's pretty short, but isa wasn't exactly cooperating with the movie making and mommy wasn't really up for chasing her down to get the best shot! so there you have it! she's got the peddling idea down, though she still has trouble with the spinning pedals from time to time. no matter though, it's still alot of fun!

a new trike!

gotta love some yard sales-- nothing like getting a $100 kettler tricycle for $5. and so it was this morning, several friends were having yard sales so we decided to venture out for a little morning activity. and it was a good morning for that apparently! isa is very excited about her new trike and is even figuring out the peddles. she's also learning lots of other new tricks... like standing on the seat, putting her feet up on the handlebars, and of course loading and unloading the little bucket on the back. hours of fun, i tell ya... or atleast we hope so!

so now that we've had our fun for the weekend, it's back to work. ho hum. the drywall will go up on the bathroom ceiling, as will the primer and paint on the walls. after that, hopefully the new tile, toilet, sink, and medicine cabinet. and after that? it will be DONE. granted, all of this won't get done before monday morning, but there will atleast be two solid days of work and hopefully alot of good progress. here's hopin' huh?

flashback!

i remembered, i remembered! here is your flashback friday... the chunky monkey (look at those cheeks!) on her first big camping trip. we went to the canyons of southern utah, the san rafael swell actually, when isa was about 8 months old. it's fun to look back on the photos now!

free friday!

t.g.i.f. that's all i have to say really. t.g.i.f.

oh, and it's free friday too! head over to second sister and leave a comment to win a harvest tee! come on, it's free. and it's friday. and april has a gorgeous blog filled with amazing jewelry and photography... oooh, eye candy!

the stats...

isa had her two year old "well baby" visit this morning and all is well. she is 24lbs and 32inches now... just above the tenth percentile! way to grow little goose.

the appointment went well, or as smoothly as can be expected. the doctor was impressed with how flexible she is and said to "put that baby in gymnastics!" i actually gasped as he was checking her joints... it looked like her knee caps were going to roll all the way around her leg! apparently that's impressive. just looked a little strange to me though! as expected, she did not like getting her ears checked, but that's nothing new. when it was all over she politely told the doctor, "ok. thank you. go home now!"

dinner with isa

we thought it was time to take a little break from all this home improvement business to share an isa video. she has been quite the trooper with all of this chaos! really, we couldn't have asked for more from her over the weekend... she was content and happy and rolled with all the punches (like super late bedtimes, odd nap times, insane noise, etc). so this evening we all enjoyed a nice dinner of pesto with chicken (isa's favorite!) and some toddler conversation. of course when the camera came out, most of that conversation stopped. but she still managed to amuse us none the less! enjoy!

the bones

well, if you've ever wondered what the skeleton of a 90+ year old bathroom looks like... here you go. after much destruction and removal, this is what the bathroom looks like this morning. there is a toilet in the bottom right corner that you can't see. the tub will go back in the top left corner, and the pedestal sink in the bottom left. you'll just have to imagine it for now!

the things you find...

... inside the bathroom walls... they might surprise you! day one of the bathroom renovation is done! and it went off surprisingly well. isa and i spent the morning in riverton with friends, doing a little shopping and getting out of the way. meanwhile phil and curtis gutted (and i mean gutted!) the bathroom, all the way down to the old lathe and plaster walls. this is where they found an interesting assortment of razor blades (bizarre, no?) and very, very old newspapers.

the day really did go off without a hitch. they got alot done and timed it so that they could be out of the house and doing other things during isa's nap. that meant that isa got some sleep and i got work done. minor miracle, i tell ya. in true form, isa was a trooper all day long. let's hope the next few days go as smoothly. knock on wood for us would you. pictures to come soon...

little stinker

we had a little photo shoot this afternoon with the new christmas dress for the shop. fun times, fun times. luckily isa was in a good mood-- although this translated into her bouncing off the walls as i chased her around trying to get a good shot or two. once she picked up on that, she made it her goal to give me the "little stinker" face every chance she got! so, instead of lovely pictures of a smiley girl in her new dress... i got some funny pictures of a troublemaker! whatever works, i guess!

drumroll please...

... we just got back from the ultrasound! and sure enough, we're having a baby! all went well, though honestly the whole 3D hype is a teensy bit overrated. the tech said they only get a good picture of the face about 10% of the time. sure enough, he tried his hardest on this baby and couldn't get much of a cute picture. what picture he did get looked alot like Sloth from The Goonies, so i am not so convinced of this new fangled technology! unless of course our baby does actually look like that (oh dear.) and then i suppose i'll eat my words. but all looked great and as we suspected before, this baby is definately bigger than isa was at the same stage. maybe we should just call it "biggun" from now on, as it's measuring at about the 75th percentile!

and now, for what most of you have been waiting for... the revelation of the sex... you'll have to click on the comments to see it! remember, not everyone wants to know, so you can comment away on this post, but try not to give it away down the road, would ya ;-)

more free stuff...

and who doesn't love free stuff right? right! so head on over to Handmade Showcase and win a $25 Gift Certificate to Mountain Aven Baby! we were very honored to be spotlighted on Handmade Showcase and send our thanks to the fabulous Lynde for making it happen. She's got a great thing going and I highly recommend checking out her site as you start your holiday shopping.

thanks nanny!

let's hope the novelty of the new pack 'n play wears off before december. otherwise someone might not feel like sharing! isa said, "oh! new crib! new crib for isa!"

busy bees

we're a bunch of busy little bees around here. where to even begin? for starters, isa has two molars that are still giving her fits. and it ain't pretty. hence the lack of pictures recently. the photogenic moments are not exactly overflowing around here as of late!

and there are wholesale orders to finish (hopefully the last wholesale order for a long while) and retail orders to get out. the christmas rush seems to have hit early this year, and while i am definately not complaining, it is keeping me on my toes.

and since we are apparently gluttons for punishment, the bathroom destruction (and renovation!) begins this weekend too! phil and our friend curtis will be ripping everything out and basically starting from scratch... new tub, new shower, new sink, medicine cabinet, toilet, tile floors, fixtures, fan, maybe even drywall. the only thing that will remain of that nasty ole bathroom will be the window! and as if that weren't enough? the new cabinets and countertops have been ordered for the kitchen as well, in addition to the saltillo tile that will continue out from the bathroom. phew. makes me tired just reading it.

all that renovation is on a tight schedule, being that the bambino in the belly is getting bigger and bigger. only about 11 weeks to go! speaking of which, we just learned that we got an ultrasound appointment for tomorrow. this is quite the surprise, since last time it took almost a month to get in for one. so who knows, this time tomorrow we just might find out what we're having! rest assured there will be an update here as soon as we know ;-)

rainy day

what do you do when it finally rains here in the cowboy state? line up all your animals so they can watch!

it's officially fall here and we are quite pleased about that. the temperature hasn't gotten above 70F in a while and it won't get much warmer anytime soon, or so we hope. it's also started raining, which is a welcome relief as well. and as you can see, isa loves to stand in the window and watch it come down.

blogus interuptus

yeah, yeah... no new blog post with cute pictures. just a note to say that we are still recovering from the sickies and adjusting to being home, being swamped with work, etc. so blogging may be sparse for the next week or so. but what can ya do?

flashback... a day late.

i might as well make it flashback saturday at this point, being that i usually miss it on friday. oh well. what can i say? how about, "being pregnant and sick, with a sick toddler, and a husband out of town... really bites?" yeah, that sounds about right. so there you have it. it's flashback saturday people, from almost exactly one year ago... a one year old goosey.

el invierno...

we're back home and glad to be settling back into the (somewhat) normal routine. by normal i mean not-so-normal really. phil is gone for the weekend, at his crazy bike race... wish him lots of luck! we love you daddy!

isa and i are laying low at home, fighting colds that we picked up somewhere between here and georgia. it was to be expected, i suppose, as traveling with a toddler almost always ensures that someone will get sick by trip's end. apparently there is just not enough hand washing in the world to ward off all the germies.

we got home (at 2am. ugh.) and noticed that it sure did seem chilly out. and it was. about 36F chilly! it's official... summer is over! the basil froze while we were gone, so i guess that means we'd better get to some pesto making before we lose any more of it. speaking of cold weather, our lovely babysitter informed us this morning that it's supposidely going to be one of the coldest winters on record this year. say what? *sigh* i was really hoping for a mild one, given the arrival of a newborn and all. but according to the meterologists, most of montana and wyoming will be slammed with the usually more northern arctic fronts coming down from the great white north. honestly, last winter was long enough so i am having a hard time imagining what this might entail... other than an extended vacation in warmer climes! those of you in the south might be getting some visitors come january!

dress up time

guess who played dress up with nanny while mommy and daddy had a nice dinner date? that'd be isa. but we got a nice, quiet dinner out and isa was happy as a clam, so who's complaining? not me!

we head home tomorrow, and while we're not exactly looking forward to the travel, it will be great to get back home. and back to cool weather! isa had a blast playing with her cousin mikey. we were all very impressed with how well they got along-- there wasn't a single argument between them over the whole week-- no small feat for two strong willed two year olds. isa also got to see cousin emmie briefly, though they didn't get to play nearly as long as they should have! next time emmie, next time!

so, the trip was as great as could be expected, given the circumstances. we were all glad to see so many family members, if ever so briefly. wish us luck on the long way home tomorrow! see you on the flip side...