6.05.2012

Izzy's 4th Birthday and a visit from the family :)

Ok...so here's how I am.  If I get behind on blogging, then I feel compelled to catch up on everything, pictures and all, in the proper order.  Completely neurotic, but that's me.  However, considering that it's been over 2 months, the task is overwhelming and completely unrealistic, so I'm just gonna jump right in again and pick up from this weekend.

Saturday, June 2 was Izzy's 4th birthday.  All day long I kept thinking back to that day 4 years ago....seems like a lifetime, doesn't it?  What was great about this weekend too is that my family came up for a visit (my Dad, stepmom, Grandma and little sister), and Izzy had a BLAST.  It's incredible how quickly she warms right back up to them.  They came a day earlier than planned, but I didn't tell Izzy, so she was a little surprised when she walked downstairs and saw them :)




 I had dinner almost ready when they got here.  They had driven straight through, and it took them about 10 hours or so to get here.


It was a pretty early night for all of us, so we hit the hay early.  
The next morning, It took Izzy a little bit to warm up to my Grandma, but she's been smitten ever since :)



And then we headed to the Mall of America.  We did a little shopping, got my Grandma a new phone, and then headed to the Nickelodeon theme park in the middle.  First ride:  carousel with Pappa.


 And then a roller coaster with Grandpa

I CAN tell you that she was not very happy after the log chute ride.  She kept saying over and over how she didn't like the bull (which was apparently 4 times the size of a normal one) and the way her tummy felt dizzy when she was going down).
June 1 2012 - log ride at MOA from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.



So, in order to wipe that memory out of her brain, we road Diego's Rescue Rider a couple of times. She was MUCH happier after that.

June 1 2012 - Izzy on Diego's Rescue Rider from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.




Have I mentioned that we have THE MOST AMAZING SUNSETS ever here?  I mean, seriously..LOOK at this!

I also "tricked" my Dad and Joacim into trying to figure out a telescope that I bought a couple of months ago.  I knew I wanted one as soon as I moved here...it's so quiet, peaceful and FULL OF STARS out here.  Unfortunately, that thing is so damn complicated, but I THINK these two might have figured it out.  I need to do some adjusting to the mirrors, but I'm going to wait until the moon's not full, because apparently it's better to do it then.  Who knew?

But the moon has been rather lovely.....

The next morning, it was Izzy's birthday, so Bri helped me make cupcakes.  I was going for a Pinkalicious theme (other moms probably know what I'm talking about) with red velvet cake and pink icing.  Delicious!

A cute little dress Izzy got from Daniel and Caroline, who unfortunately couldn't be here for her birthday because they are enjoying a wonderful vacation!


Izzy tends to get really shy when a LOT of attention is put on her, so getting her to blow out the candle took some convincing.


But EATING the cupcake changes everything :)




I think she came out pretty good on this birthday.  4 pairs of real shoes and 3 pairs of dress-up, lots of clothes, coloring books, reading books, stuff for outside....LOTS of goodies!


I wanted to share with you all a few photos of what it looks like where we live.  I've got plenty more that I'll eventually get to, but I took these this weekend.  LOTS of baby birds around here now..first the geese, then the ducks, and now the egrets are nesting in this water preserve.  So fun to watch.


We went out to dinner for Izzy's birthday at Lola's Lakehouse in Waconia...one of my favs.


And thankfully the family could stay one more night so Joacim and I could go to the Roger Water's concert.  It's nearly impossible to find a babysitter here, so it worked out perfectly!



If you ever get a chance to see this show, GO.  It's incredible, even if the music "isn't your thing". All of the imagery and the messages, and the sound was INCREDIBLE.  LOVE LOVE LOVED it!


We were very sad to see everyone go.  They left yesterday morning, and Izzy's not exactly handling the lack of attention very well :)  That's hard here too...finding playmates.  We've been so busy with the house that we haven't had much of a chance to get to know people in the neighborhood.  We still don't have grass so we aren't outside too much, but fingers crossed that that will all change in a couple of weeks!!!

1 comment:

Rob Monroe said...

what a wonderful way to celebrate a birthday - she looks so much older, and it's only been a few months since I've seen her!