my bella... such a little mama

so i am recording this now so i remember for later... sweet bella in her 2 and 3/4 yrs of life never fails to crack me up... yesterday was more of the same. she & i went to do some errands/shopping and had a great time. we went to tuesday morning where she quickly found multiple "treasures" she wanted to buy. some of those treasures includes bright pink flip flops w/ polka dots for her and a "lovely" bright yellow pair of flip flops at least 2 sizes too small w/ 2 in. heels that she insisted were for mommy... when checking out i snuck the yellow ones to the cashier and he tucked them away so as not to let her know that mommy wasn't a huge fan of her fashion choice... bless her heart : )

then later while en route to pick up sissy's cake for her dedication the next day, i began hearing her making this sweet little noise with her mouth... i kind of looked in the rearview mirror and couldn't figure out what she was doing... well after about a minute of this noise, i finally turned around and asked what she was doing... she quickly proceeded "feeding my baby my booby... she hungry, mama"... sure enough her shirt was up (she had managed to pull it up under her carseat straps) and she had assumed the position w/ her baby doll. after running in to grab the cake and getting back in the car, she proceeded to tell me "she all done... her night-night"... and pulled down her shirt, patted baby doll's back and acted quite sleepy herself. HA! i couldn't contain my laughter and had to call jason to share the sweet story... my sweet girl... such a little mama : )

nani's birthday part 2

then on saturday we all headed up to nani's residence in buckhead- atria... we brought cake, flowers, balloons and celebrated with her and some of her friends from atria. side note on the balloons- bella & i went to pick out the balloons earlier in the day and bella insisted on getting nani the princess balloon... needless to say we selected it for her and then decided on some others for nani : )

bella thoroughly enjoyed the festivities- esp. helping nani blow out her candles and then eating the cake. afterwards bella spotted a georgia bulldog statue in one of the courtyards and made a beeline to give it kisses and hugs : ) go dawgs!

nani's birthday part 1

nani (my grandmother on my mom's side) turned 83 on Nov. 4th... my mom and her two sisters worked hard to make it a wonderful celebration for her! on her actual birthday we went to Emory's Hotel & Conference Center for a ladies luncheon in her honor. we all had a wonderful time and nani seemed to really enjoy herself!

nyc

we had such a fabulous time over labor day weekend. jason & i had decided that we wanted our family to do something "out of the box" so we booked (3) tickets to nyc and did just that... and now, i am hoping it becomes a family tradition!

david (my brother) is in his 2nd year at NYU law school and then jason has family (his aunt lois, uncle joe & cousin chris) who live in long island and then many more family members who live in CT... so we decided we would go and spend time with everyone.

we left on thursday morning and the girls did really well in the airport and on the plane... cousin chris picked us up at the airport and they both took great naps on our way to aunt lois' house. mommy & daddy were so thankful!!

friday we woke up and took the train to nyc to meet up with david... we had a GREAT day... jason and i kept saying it was like "a kid's dream day on steroids"... first we walked around central park, then we went to FAO Schwartz and looked all around and played on the life-size piano that is in the movie "Big"... then we had lunch, headed to the petting zoo in central park where bella had no fear- she petted each of the animals, gave them kisses and fed them non-stop... then teri (david's girlfriend) met up with us and we headed to dylan's candy shop (ralph lauren's daughter's shop) for AMAZING sundaes, candy, etc... the decor in this place was so fun!! i wish we lived there so i could have the girls' birthday parties there. after finishing our heavenly treats we headed to the village to see NYU, walk around some more and then eat some pizza. at that point our family of 4 headed back on the train to long island.

saturday david and teri headed over to us and we all went to some local outlet malls. we really enjoyed our time and found some fun things... in addition we found bella's halloween costume- an adorable minnie mouse costume. can't wait to share those pictures! we took bella to a play ground at the pier near aunt lois' and then went back to their house and ordered greek take-out.

sunday we headed to port jefferson to meet up with our family from CT... we enjoyed a delicious brunch on a patio area and then walked around the downtown area. afterwards everyone came back to aunt lois' house where we enjoyed hanging out more and then ate dinner together. after everyone had left to head back to CT i suggested that we go to friendly's... cousin chris was immediately on board : ) friendly's is one of my most favorite places... i was so excited to go- i always remember my childhood fondly when digging into a friendly's sundae : )

monday we headed back to atlanta... it was such a great time. we are so thankful for such amazing family!!

where to start

i am noticing a theme... i keep thinking/saying that i am going to get back on this blogging train and somehow it keeps leaving the station without me... somewhere between raising (2) little girls, attempting to love my husband well, doing a weekly Bible study, a weekly small group, working multiple hours a week, laundry, cooking dinner, play dates and more, blogging just seems to take a backseat.

anyways, i am looking thru the pictures that are still not up on the blog and thinking i'd like to catch up a bit tonight.


my sweet bella starting at Decatur First United Methodist Mother's Morning Out


ava just along for the ride : )

the house

before ava's arrival i went crazy (as some might say : ) with organizing as well as redecorating, etc. some of the rooms in our home, but i THOROUGHLY enjoyed it & have even done a little more, which i will post about soon... you can see some of the before pictures here:http://theizzyfam.blogspot.com/2009/12/redecorating.html>

and now, here are the after pictures:


our master bedroom- love the new sitting area

master bedroom- jason built our bed!

the girls' bathroom (had the shower curtain made)

the guest room converted to bella's big girl room

another view of bella's room

my birthday celebration

my sweet mom arranged a little birthday celebration for me... one of my all time favorite desserts is strawberry pie so she made one for me, along with a nice dinner.

jason was out of town so it was great to be with my family and have some extra hands- esp. considering ava wasn't even a month old yet.



my mom & i with the girls

4 generations ~ my mom, her mom (the girls' nanni), me & the girls

nanni enjoying her time with sweet ava

getting ready to enjoy dessert!

one word ~ yum!!