Cousin Time

We had the opportunity to fly to San Francisco over Super Bowl weekend. My super, wonderful, amazing class of students gave me a Christmas gift that covered the cost of our airfare! Isabella and I were off to California to visit our cousins, Margaret, Leo, Ethan and Sam. It was a wonderful weekend of FUN!

Isabella loved watching over Sam. Ethan had to teach her that you are NOT allowed to crawl up in the swing to touch Sam. Sam is such a sweet and patient baby. He just watched his loud crazy cousins as we played together.

Sam is so thought-filled!

Margaret asked us to help get baby Sam clean. Would we???!! We had a great time bathing him and then warming him up. Isabella was HANDS ON! Then, it was Isabella's turn to get clean.

Ethan thought he could offer some pointers on how to play with his bathtime toys. Isabella thinks that Ethan is an AMAZING big kid. She watches him so intensely. In not time at all....

Ethan joined in the fun!

He showed Isabella how to make the ape swim around the bathtub!

Some of Margaret and Leo's neighbors invited us over for a Super Bowl watching party. The party was GREAT! There were 5 kids and Ethan was the oldest. So, there was lots of baby friendly space, people and toys. Isabella and Ethan weren't TOO much fun when we first went to the party. Ethan watched a video and Isabella decided it was time to nap (note finger sucking).

After watching Isabella pass out, Ethan thought he would lie down to watch his video... before you knew it, Ethan was out too!

When the kids woke up from their nap it was time to... PLAY!

Batman (Ehtan) was ready to show the babies how to PARTY!

Ethan is such a GREAT cousin. He was so patient with Isabella and the other babies. He got down on their level and crawled along during playtime.

Isabella decided that some playtime with Margaret sounded like fun. The girls had some good laughs together.

It was a wonderful trip full of playtime. We didn't even get dressed on Saturday... it was a PAJAMA day! Sunday was chill and Super Bowl, and Monday morning we had to say goodbye to our favorite California Cousins!

We All Fall Down

Isabella loves her table from Honey and Papa. She especially loves the green door that she can open and close. What Robert and I can't figure out is how she keeps detaching the door from the table. Each time we put it back... the MINUTE we turn our back -- she's figured out how to get it off again! Here's a HILARIOUS video that Robert took. It's a great show of Isabella's new found motion... BUT it's also a great example of how, sometimes, WE ALL FALL DOWN! :)

A Day at the Zoo

Isabella and I took a trip to the Houston Zoo. It was a chilly day, but we bundled up and had a great time watching the animals enjoy the cool weather. I taught Isabella what I could remember from my time at Zoo Camp. She loved the aquarium and laughed out loud when we passed the ducks at the pond. I learned that in the last ten months the Houston Zoo has gone high tech! There is an APP for your I Phone for the Houston Zoo. It gives you the goods on keeper chats, animal exhibits and tells you the name of each animal. AMAZING! I'm a huge fan and urge you to visit our city zoo anytime you get the chance.

Jonathan taking a long winter's nap.

Isabella has teeth now... just like the piranha! :)

Hanging out in her polar bear fleece at the Houston Zoo.

The elephants are my favorite!

This giraffe (whose name escapes me) was born about the same time as Isabella.

Snapshots from 2009

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009

October 2009

November 2009

December 2009

Happy New Year! WELCOME 2010!

Christmas LOVE

Isabella LOVES her some Uncle Ken!
She stares at him, laughs at him, and when she kisses him she goes straight for the NOSE!

Christmas with Momma's Momma and Bob's family

Santa left a BUNCH of presents under the tree at Tammy's house. Our family has a tradition where the youngest child gets to pick three gifts to start the festivities (young and not so young get to pick presents in order by age after that). This year, Natalie wasn't the youngest... Isabella started us off by picking the gifts first!


Rich shared some of his presents with Isabella. He tried to teach her about the Green Bay Packers, but Isabella just kept trying to teach him about the Aggies.

Santa brought Isabella a wooden spoon and fork in her stocking. Isabella wouldn't put it down ALL DAY! Here's one of my favorite pictures of the day... two happy babes!

Diane, Isabella and Jim took a drink break before opening gifts. Isabella wasn't so sure about Jim's baseball cap...

Christmas with the Boggus Bunch

Isabella knew what to do at Pop's house... she was a gift unwrapping pro by then... she loved her great gifts and her dad LOVED helping her unwrap.


We were trying to teach her how to keep up with gift cards... it kind of looks like she's getting it.


There was LOTS of family at Pops...
Pops, Beckie, GG Ma, Pa, Tom, Char, Sarah (and Kaya coming soon), Ken, Rachel, Will, Hope, Alexis, Amanda, Chris, Becky and TREVOR! Trevor is one of Isabella's step-cousins. Trevor is six and ready to teach Isabella all sorts of things. This year he got a tool belt, hard hat and safety goggles. He was teaching Robert how all his new stuff works! He is a sweet lil guy and will be a wonderful big kid example for Isabella!