Isabelle's Broken Arm

I haven't blogged for a while so here is a recap of what we have been up to in the past month or so...
Isabelle, my wild girl, broke her little arm. She was walking around in a pair of Barbie high heels and fell down the stairs! I felt so bad because I heard a crash and then her cry but I thought it was just another accident; then I found her at the bottom of the stairs. She cried and cried. When I asked her where it hurt she said, 'My arm!' She held her arm on my bed for about an hour, which is so unlike her. That is when I got really worried. Her arm started to swell a little so that is when I decided to take her in.

Once we got to radiology she started using her arm and I almost just took her home because I didn't think it was broken. But then she put some weight on it and cried out. Then when they were taking the x-rays she winced whenever they moved her arm.
While we were at the doctor's office waiting for the results she started playing like normal and using her arm. I thought, great I just spent an entire afternoon on a sprained arm! Then the nurse came out and told me she had a buckle fracture. I was really surprised. What can I say, she is my wild child. She had a splint for 3 days and then she got her pink glitter cast.
A cast wouldn't be complete without the glitter. Thankfully it is a water cast so she can bathe and swim. She was been doing so well with her cast I am really proud of her. Now let's just hope for a speedy recovery!

Lillian's Birthday

My Lillian just turned 4. Where has the time gone? Look how much she has grown in just 4 short years. I can't believe I have a 4 year old! Lillian is such a sweet little girl. She is so sensitive and kind. She is a wonderful older sister to Isabelle. She has so much patience with her and she teaches her with such care. She loves to learn and is constantly asking questions. I am amazed at the things she asks about and the things she remembers. She is such a little girl and I love that. She loves to sing and dance. She comes up with the funniest songs. She is so much fun! I thoroughly enjoy being around my daughters. I am so lucky to have them.

Lillian has been planning her birthday since like November. This day and her party were very important to her. One day in the car she said, 'Mom, let's talk about my birthday." She planned everything including the plates and cups.

Lillian's favorite books are the Fancy Nancy books so we decided to go with a Fancy Nancy theme. On the invitation it instructed the guests to wear their fanciest clothes. The guests did not disappoint their were adorable and very fancy.

They each got a name tag that said, "Bonjour, My Name Is..." because Fancy Nancy loves French. Then they came in and colored Fancy Nancy.

Fancy Nancy prides herself on making things fancier than they really are. So we took plain canvas purses and made them fancier. The two boys were very good sports and they decorated buckets instead of purses.

It was so fun to see how the kids tapped into their creative side. Their bags looked fabulous! That is the one thing about kids this age, they aren't worried about conforming and they just do what makes them happy.
I was so lucky to have Kevin, Melissa, and my good friend Betsy, help me out with the party. It would have been impossible without their help!

After purses we got some wiggles out with a great game of freeze dance.
Lillian loves the ABBA song, Mama Mia, so that's what they danced to. Look at those moves!
According to Kevin, and I have to agree, a birthday party isn't complete without a pinata. Since one of Fancy Nancy's books is, 'Bonjour Butterfly', we had a butterfly pinata.
The kids were really good about trying to be orderly and stay in the line, but it is really hard when there is the possibility of candy falling at any moment.

Kids this age have a hard time hitting a pinata with the force it takes to break it open. Kevin, seeing this, took a few good hits himself to try and break it open a little. You should have seen the look on those kids faces. They were horrified! They were like, 'what is he doing?!" Thankfully he hit it pretty well or we would have been there all day waiting for the candy to fall.

After the pinata it was time for the presents.
After presents it was time for cupcakes. Lillian was very insistent on chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with a real strawberry on top. It was very fancy and very delicious.
After the Fancy Nancy party we had a party with my family. It was a full day of birthday celebrations for Lillian.
For dinner Lillian wanted Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and Blueberry Cheesecake for her birthday cake. Doesn't she have great taste? Thanks to Courtney's awesome Alfredo recipe the dinner was a success.

Isabelle's Birthday

My baby turned 2! I really can't believe I had Isabelle 2 years ago, it just isn't possible. She really has grown up so fast! Isabelle is our wild girl, our baby cougar, and our sweetheart. She is such a ball of fire. She is spunky and outgoing, adventurous and daring. I love her personality. There is a lot of what she is that I wish I was. She has so much self confidence and independence in that little body. I love that when you say 'oh no!' or 'ow!' she says, 'you okay? you okay?' She can be so naughty but sometimes I can't help but laugh, it is so funny. I will tell her not to do something and she'll say 'okay' and then just go right along doing it. She is also so sweet and she loves to cuddle. She can just melt your heart when she isn't running you ragged. We love you so much sweetie, Happy 2nd Birthday!

Her birthday was really a two day celebration, because well, why not? First we celebrated up in Island Park and then on her actual birthday. We had a picnic for her at Mack Park along with Melissa, Lynn, Parker, and Madi. For dinner we had her favorite, Macaroni and Cheese. For her birthday she got a cozy coupe car and Lillian got her an outfit, that she picked out herself.

Island Park - Memorial Day 2009 & Isabelle's Birthday

Over Memorial Day we journeyed north to visit Kevin's parents in Island Park. Since both Lillian and Isabelle's birthday happen to fall right around Memorial (Lillian was actually born on Memorial Day) we also threw in a few birthday celebrations while we were there. Grandma and Grandpa Mullen gave Lillian her first real fishing pole and tackle box. They gave it to her on the perfect day because then we went fishing on Henry's Lake. Lillian, with the help of her new pole, caught her very first fish!

Seriously, have you seen a cuter fisher woman? I sure haven't. It was great day fishing! Look at all the fish we all caught.

I love this picture because it looks like the two of them caught all of those fish. I chuckle every time I see it.

The next day we went into Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful.
My three favorite people.

We went on a little walk just beyond Old Faithful Lodge and found these buffalo just beyond the path. That is probably my favorite part about Yellowstone, seeing the wildlife so close-up. Lillian took this picture of the buffalo herself. She also took the one of me and Isabelle. I think she is rather good.

The next day we had a little birthday party for Isabelle. I wanted to make her a really special cake, but I am not really a cake decorator. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted the cake to look like, and usually my visions don't work out, but this one did. I was so happy it worked out. We wore Isabelle out this weekend and we had to wake her up for her own party. She was a little groggy but she eventually woke up a little when she saw the cake.

Lillian took this picture of Kevin and his Dad right before they went fishing. I'm telling you - she's a budding photographer.