Christmas 2011

Izzy is so kind to us sometimes.  She TOTALLY slept in on Christmas morning...I'm sure it won't last forever, but WOOOHOOOO!!!

Here's a short video of Izzy seeing her presents for the first time.

And the presents......

And the funny faces...

And the dogs (I feel bad that I didn't get them anything this year, but they can't really have any treats, and they've already got a gazillion half-destroyed toys...so I opted out this year.  I still think they had fun being in the middle of everything)

And the doll that she asked Santa for

Even Lemmy hung around

This is a Smurf book she got that's in Swedish

And she loves helping others

A book from farfar...

SHOES!!!!!

And my big surprise gift for Joacim...3 laps around the track in an Indy Car!!!!  I think he was surprised :)

Here's Snow White (she dressed herself, mind you) eating her fair maiden breakfast on Christmas morning.

After breakfast, we headed up to Lafayette for Christmas with my family.  I was so excited to give my Grandma her gift...a Kindle!!!!  She was surprised and happy.  All in all, I think I did pretty damn good this year ;)

And Izzy made out like a bandit in the gift department.  I really didn't think I did that bad shopping for her...I thought I kept everything in check, but when I looked at the pile, I realized that I was completely delusional and shopped too much.  And then it got worse with my parents :)  ALL of the presents you see in this picture are for her (except the toaster oven behind her :)  It was obscene, but Izzy had a fantastic time and loved it all!!!

And, for your viewing pleasure...a few videos of our dear little one dancing.  The The second video is AFTER her wardrobe change :)  Enjoy and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!

Pre-Christmas 2011

(Since it's New Year's Eve, I figure I better catch up while it's still 2011!)


We had a few things left to finish up the week before Christmas.  I was smart this year in getting a bit of a head start, and really focusing on the whole gift-giving.  It made it MUCH easier.  One of the most important things Izzy had to finish was her Pappa's gift!   While he was away in Sweden, she made him a cast of her hand print, and she had to finish painting it.

I don't even remember when I took this photo, but it's probably going to be one of my favorites.  These two were SO tired.  Joacim worked most of the week before Christmas, and when he finally rested, he REALLY rested.  And my little princess fell asleep with her crown and family jewels on :)

A little time was spent combing Barbie's hair.  I got this for her at the Children's Museum the day we went there because she had so much fun playing with Barbie's hair there.  I had one of these when I was a kid, so it only made sense that she should too, right?

And THIS is what we had for Christmas Eve dinner.  I usually make it in the shape of a wreath, but since it was just the 3 of us (and Izzy hardly counts when it comes to eating) I made it this shape instead.  I'd link the recipe, but I CAN NOT find it online, so eventually I'll get around to digitizing it.  Needless to say, it's got chicken, mayo, dijon mustard, and cranberries (and some other mixers) and it's baked in this croissant shell. So.  Good.

And, we mustn't forget all of the Christmas Carols that Izzy learned this year.  There's no real video to go along with these since I took them in the car at night, but just listen.  ADORABLE I tell ya!

Backyard fun to start off the Labor Day weekend!

Izzy and I were sooo happy that it was a holiday weekend (I'm guessing Joacim was pretty happy too :).  Once we got home from daycare, we went straight outside as the weather was gorgeous!!!  It seemed as though all of us had a little bit more energy than normal, which was a great change of pace (at least for me).

I find it really difficult, on weekends such as these, to just relax and enjoy it.  I always seem to have a running list of my own "honey-do" tasks in my head, and tend to feel a bit guilty when I'm not working on them, so I tried REALLY hard this weekend to just take things as they come.  We were originally going to go to Trader's Point Creamery for dinner, but it was pretty windy, which would've made for a not-so-fun dinner, so we decided to go to a Japanese steakhouse instead.  While we were waiting for Joacim to get home from work, we had some fun outside.

Here's Izzy trying to share her snack with me.  Such a polite little thing :)

Rosie's finally starting to play tug with Murphy a bit more.  She may not have nearly as much strength, but she's determined

Ugh!  So much WORK mowing the lawn!

This is a picture of a very happy dog.

Ahhhh!  A new ruff-ruff.  I have no idea where the name for this came from..I think it came from a similar toy that we used to get for my dog, Hershey.  The name doesn't really matter..what matters is that these 2 love it!

Can you see Murphy's tongue sticking out?

Rosie will actually lie on the ground and hold onto the ruff-ruff while Murphy pulls her along in the grass.  HIGH-larious!

And another very happy little doggie