Grandpa is Coming to Town

Since my Dad won't be able to join us down in Mexico for Christmas he made a special trip out to Boise this weekend to celebrate an early Christmas with us. He didn't end up getting into Boise until Saturday afternoon due to weather and plane issues so we only got a short 24 hours with him. We thought it might take Isla awhile to warm up to her Grandpa since she hasn't seen him in a over a month, but she actually took to him right away (I think the plate of cheese my Dad had may have helped):

Ryan, Isla and Grandpa at dinner:

Isla got to help Grandpa open his Christmas gifts:

Grandpa spoiled Isla and got her a 4-wheeler, which she loves:
I think Isla stole her Grandpa's heart when she called him "Grandpa" for the first time while he was here. Although it was a short visit we all spent some quality time together and we were so happy that he came. We love you Grandpa!

Santa Claus & Holiday Pub Crawl

We had a weekend full of fun Christmas parties for the kids and parents! First, Isla was invited to Meredith & Delaney's gingerbread house party. The kids decorated their houses in all kinds of candy while the snow fell outside. After the decorating we had a very special guest . . . Santa Claus himself. It was a perfect day to get into the spirit of the Holidays.

All the kids sitting patiently on the sofa waiting for Santa:

Isla wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about when Santa came:

She slowly warmed up to him and waited patiently for her turn to sit on his lap:

When it was finally Isla's turn I put her up on Santa's lap expecting her to burst into tears. To my surprise she actually sat on his lap for a good minute before the tears came. I was so proud of my brave little girl!

All the younger kiddos playing with Eli's toy that he got from Santa:

After the kid party on Saturday, Ryan and I got all dressed up for the parent Christmas pub crawl that night. Grandma Connie came down to Boise to stay with Isla so her parents could party it up! And party it up we did.

Ryan and I pre-party:

So the invitation to the Christmas pub crawl said "dress to impress" and the Kearneys and Glavins took that to a whole new level. Their outfits had me laughing all night:

Here is the entire group at the first bar:

Second bar:

Third bar (you will notice that the group shots are starting to go down hill):

The fourth (and final) bar:
The pub crawl was a definite success!

Beans in a Box

In the past couple of weeks our Isla Bean has discovered that it is much more fun to play with her toys in the toy box. She is quite proud of herself when she crawls in:

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving we headed up to Sun Valley to see Grandma Connie and Papa Randy. We were also lucky to have Ryan’s uncle Johnny join us as well. Isla was so excited to see the boxes of toys that Grandma Connie had for her when we got there:

She had so much fun playing with everyone on Thanksgiving day:

Isla enjoyed rocking in Papa Randy's childhood rocking chair:

On Friday, after a grueling workout with Connie’s trainer, we headed home so Ryan could freeze his booty off at the Boise State Game. The rest of the weekend was filled with the Holiday parade (Isla loved the bag pipers), an Apple Cup party at the Kearney’s (even though the cable company screwed up and didn’t show the game we still had a great time – thanks Kearney’s!), and a little bit of work for me.

Yee-Haw!

Isla tried out her rocking horse tonight and she really liked it:

She liked it a lot (the video is a little dark, but you get the picture):

Family Pictures

We finally had some family pictures taken last week by our good friend Marjorie McBride (check her out at http://www.marjoriemcbride.com/) and they turned out wonderful!  I wanted to post a couple:

1 year old stats

I have been meaning to post this info for the past month and a half.  Better late than never I guess. 

Weight - 24 lbs 8 oz (92%)
Height - 30 1/2 inches (90%)
Head Circumference - 18 3/4 inches (97%)

Still large and in-charge. 

Favorite things:  reading books, puzzles, playing with her toys, music, walks on the beach and pina coladas.

Overall she is one darn funny, healthy, cool chick:

Mobile toddler + no naps + small plane = not so much fun

Ryan, Isla and I got to go to Bellingham this weekend and on our trip we discovered how traveling with a mobile toddler can really take it out of you.  Our child does not like to take naps on the plane anymore, nor does she like to be held.  Thank goodness we were flying Horizon and took advantage of their free beer and wine.  We got some interesting stares as we took turns downing our drinks while the other one was trying hard to entertain Isla, but I could have cared less.  I'm dreading the plane ride down to Mexico on Christmas day.  GrandmaGiGi - I hope you're ready for this!

The good news is that we got to see Grandpa and GrandmaGiGi and Isla had so much fun playing with them.  She showed Grandpa all her new moves and told him all her new words.  She even got to play with her cousins Ilea, Chloe and Maia.  It was really good to see everyone and it made the plane ride worth it to see how happy Isla made her Grandpa and GrandmaGiGi.

Hanging out with Grandpa:

Eating the doughnut that Grandpa got her:

We got to go and check on Grandpa and GrandmaGiGi's new house.  There has been a lot of progress since the last time we saw it and it looks great.  I can't wait for it to be finished in February.  I took pictures of the house, but they didn't turn out well as it was a pretty dark and dreary day when we were there.  There were only a couple that I thought were good enough to post:

Isla got to play with her cousin Ilea as well:

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to post a couple of pictures of our cute (yet not so little) bumble bee.  Isla got to celebrate her Halloween at the Hamilton's with the all the kiddos.  I think fun was had by all:

After we took Isla home for bed Ryan and I went and walked to Harrison Blvd to see all the Halloween madness (Ryan's mom was in town so we didn't leave Isla home alone!)!  For those of you who don't know, Harrison Blvd is where all the kids (big and little) go trick-or-treating and the majority of the houses along the street get into the festivities as well.  The street is packed with people and it is absolutely nuts!  Ryan and I usually avoid the Harrison Halloween craziness, but this year we heard about a house that I just had to see.  For Halloween night the owners of this house built a stage on their front lawn and put a huge projection screen behind the stage.  All night they played the Thriller video on the screen and when the zombie scene would start about 20 dancers in full costume and make-up would come on the stage and re-enact the dance scene on the screen behind them.  It was quite the show.  I enjoyed it so much that I went back later with Connie so she could see it as well. 

Lazy Sunday

What did Miss Isla do on a lazy Sunday afternoon?  She watched her Dad rake up some leaves:

She helped by crawling around and picking up the leaves Dad didn't get:

Most of the leaves ended up here:

She thought she was pretty sneaky:

She also helped Mom and Dad carve pumpkins.  Mom tried to carve her pumpkin to look like Isla as she is no longer our toothless wonder and she is a pretty happy baby . . . most of the time: