Halloween and Isabella's birthday

ANOTHER long post.... coming up:

Isabella has been on this "Pirate Fairy" kick.  She wants to watch it over and over and over again.  So - when contemplating Halloween costumes - we thought:  of course... we'll get her a little Pirate outfit and put wings on it.  She's rough-and-tumble.  A pirate costume seemed perfect.  Unfortunately, that was a fail.  She wanted nothing to do with it, crying and kicking and screaming when we put it on her.  We tried several times, then took it back.  Plan B... try a fairy (Tinkerbell) costume.  As soon as she saw it, she absolutely beamed.  It was the "right" costume for her.  whew - she's rough-and-tumble, but also has a girly-girl side to her (and STRONG opinions!)

Mercer wanted to be Scooby Doo.  (We found a vampire Scooby costume for him.)  After our neighborhood party, Todd took the kids door-to-door while I rushed back to hand out candy.  He said at first, Isabella was seriously shy and would not say trick-or-treat.... but after watching Mercer saying it a few times and get candy, she was all over it.  She almost screamed trick-or-treat at people she was so excited! Afterwards, we went to a neighbor's bonfire and the kids played for a few hours -- running, chasing, laying on a giant fluffy white dog, and eating candy until midnight.

We had some fun with Halloween-inspired breakfast and lunch (spider shaped muffins, the famous "finger cookies" and monster face pizza) too.  Isabella seriously enjoyed eating the black-cat cookie that grandma from Florida sent her.  Check out these gooey black saliva pics.  (I'll spare you images of the blue-green poop that she had the following 3 days!)

Mercer earned ANOTHER "Mercer Fun Day" for having good behavior at school.  We are seriously proud of him.  He chose to go to a place called Catch Air.  We popped in for a couple of hours the day after Halloween.  It felt like there were a MILLION Halloween-candied-up-kids there.  It was a zoo... quite overwhelming for me.  Isabella and Mercer loved it, however.  It was the perfect thing to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon!  As seen in the photos, lots of fun was had by the two of them!!

You may notice Mercer's new haircut that he got right before we went to Catch Air.  I almost cried when I saw all of the curls laying on the floor, but he really likes it.  I hope one day that he allows those beautiful curls to come back~

Isabella turned 3 on the 13th. Rose Marie came to town for a visit to help celebrate.  We went out to dinner at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant.  Isabella loved the attention of the Happy Birthday song being sung to her, the plate of sopaipillas they gave her, and getting to wear the sombrero!  

I have to add... Mercer purchased a book and plush owl from his school book club with his own money for her birthday.  What a sweet sweet brother!!

While Rose Marie was in town, she was able to partake in our neighborhood art event.  Here, the kids are completing a watercolor painting over pastel in one booth.  The inspiring "Nerdy Baby" creator was in another tent with hands-on kids stuff too.   Artwork, multiple bands, and food vendors were there as well.  We spent the majority of our time in the kids areas, though.








The next day, we hosted a little birthday party for Isabella at the house.  This year's inspiration:  those frozen ice cream cakes shaped like a Hello Kitty head.  We've never purchased an ice cream cake, so why not?  When Mercer turned 3, we had a play-doh party. That one writes itself.  You bring out pots of play-doh and a table full of tools / cutters / presses / etc... and the kids are entertained for the duration of the party.  


For Hello Kitty, we had to come up with a few things for the kids to do such as make-your-own pizza, creating a birthday cake craft with cut-outs and pin-the-bow on the Kitty.  Mostly, the kids just wanted to play in Isabella's room and play with toys.  All-in-all, that was enough for them to do! 

There's a photo in here with Rose Marie and I heartily laughing.  Mercer asked to take our picture and then surprised us by something he did as he was snapping the photo.  Only we will know what that was....  :) 

On Monday before Rose Marie flew out, we stopped by Isabella's school to take some birthday snacks (the ONLY thing she asked for was cheetos -- which I think they give her at school on a regular basis).  We then visited Mercer for lunch at his school.  It was a whirlwind visit, as usual... no rest - Rose Marie was exhausted when she left, but happy to have spent a lot of time with the kids~

She is a great joy to have in our lives.  She completes our little family unit. But - whew - what a fire-cracker she is!!!  She has an ENDLESS array of faces that she makes.  "Scary face"  "happy face"  "flirty face"  "big and strong"  "shy"  and this thing that she does by pulling her lower eyelids down or where she contorts her mouth.   She giggles endlessly anytime she accidentally burps or toots.

Here are some of the cute things she says: 
"I'll bebe right back" (instead of I'll be right back).
"alligator" instead of elevator
"macamole" instead of guacamole

"are you frustrated?"  - nothing cute about that.. she just knows that bif word for some reason~  hmmm...
"you're my best friend" when she's happy with you.  
"you're not coming to my birthday party" when she's not happy with you.
and - when you get invited back - you're OK in her book!

She LOVES LOVES LOVES to sing.  My most recent favorite:  "I love you in the morning and in the afternoon.  I love you in the evening and underneath the moon."  Also her rendition of "God Bless America" where she mostly knows the words, but actually hits those really high notes in her shrill little voice!!  

All of this sweetness is balanced out by this demanding, bossy little girl. She is VERY strong willed.  Several people have mentioned that this will serve her well when she's older / running her own business one day.  And - in the same breath - wish us good luck as we're dealing with the toddler version of this trait.  Even the pediatrician has mentioned how active and bossy she is at her last couple of well visits.  She has said that "your children are exhausting" before. On this most recent visit, she also wished me luck and threw in a "hang in there" as I was leaving.  

Isabella's 3 year stats from last week's well visit with the doctor:
Height:  ___  - 38%
Weight:  ___ -  37%

(Here's a photo of her with the doll that Mercer gave her the first day he met her.  Go back to the blog for November of 2012 if you want to see the difference between then and now!)  

She is healthy and happy.  She brings us so much joy.  We are thrilled to have this spunky little girl in our lives!