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!!

bathing beauty

one of the weeks i had poppa's camera daddy & i took pictures of sweet ava during bath time...

back with a vengeance

well... where have i been you ask?!?! and i ask too : ) between our family growing to 4 with this sweet babe ~



and the business continuing to stay busy, hiring a project manager, having lots of family in town throughout the summer, going to the beach, our camera needing a new part (was at the "camera doctor" for 2 mths and is still not fixed- a big shout out to poppa for letting us borrow his camera so much!!), etc. LIFE HAS BEEN FULL! Not to mention that i have had a complete blonde moment w/ the blog the last few times i have considered updating- i couldn't seem to get pictures to upload... but i have figured it out ~ yay!! i am determined to be more consistent with updating. life just passes by too quickly and i want to remember these sweet moments & capture our memories as much as possible!

so with this whole preface- here comes a lot of catching up!

powerful quotes

so the other day we went to the outlet malls. my brother is in town for just a few more days (on a break b/t finishing his first year of law school and starting his summer internship) so he and i went along with my mom and ava. upon meeting up my mom gave me an email that i sent her back on 2-16-07... and any of my JFBC friends know this is right after our annual women's retreat... anyways my email included 4 quotes that i were shared at the retreat that really spoke to me... and now more than 3 years later they still do and i want to document them and share them...

~ "Pain & suffering legitimize our testimony. Authentic compassion is often formed in the kiln of ache."

~ "Suffering gives you something to share."

~ "On my worst, whiniest days, God doesn't leave... He is not a fair-weather Father."

~ "May we not go through the Refiner's fire coming out burned and smelling of ashes, but rather smelling of the sweet aroma of Christ." ~ LOVE this one!

thanks, mom, for sharing these with me again...