The things Isabella says!

-      -  Isabella is a nice daughter. Isabella is a nice girl.

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    -During Thanksgiving, for everybody who was sitting in the living room: fold your arms for prayer. Close your eyes.

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    -Kangaroo is a nice camel. Turkey is a nice chicken. Moose is a nice cow.

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    -Hi. How are you doing today? Good. Thanks for asking. (every 30 seconds or so)

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        -  Hi. Good to see you.

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     -Do you want to come see me mommy my love? (when she wants me to pick her up)

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     -Are you swimming my little mermaid? (when she’s taking a bath. She actually says Fermaid)

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    - Red says GO! No, it doesn’t.

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     -2 plus 2 is 5. WHAT??????

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         -  Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin. You can’t fool us with that old sheepskin! (from the 3 little pigs)

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     -Isabella Hopkins. Grandma Hopkins. Grandpa Hopkins. Anita Hopkins. Ashley Hopkins. Ben Hopkins. Ana Hopkins. Toby Hopkins. Chloe Hopkins.

-      - Sparky is in heaven.

-       -Bye Bye. See you next time! (at the end of a skype conversation with my parents)

-     -  Ladies and gentlemen, Ariel (Cinderella, Tianna, Belle, etc…) TA-DA!

-      - Puppy’s name is Pedro.

-       Do you want mac and cheese (or movie, juice, water, etc) too, lamb (or kitty, puppy, etc)?

-     -  Rainbow is my favorite pants. (about her colorful, striped pair of pants)

-      - Isabella STOP! (apparently she actually listens to some things I say! LOL)

-       -That’s naughty.  (whenever she does anything naughty!)

-      - Nursery! (Then Ben says: “Nursery is on…” and she says: SUNDAY!)

-      - Nursery leader: “ Isabella, your daddy is here. It’s time to go.”

Isabella: “ Shhh. Be quiet.”  (she didn’t want to leave)

- Goodnight Tasha (Tyrone, Pablo, Uniqua, Austin). I love you. (kiss). Go to sleep quick. 

For my Ben

Our Fall Family Session at Greenbluff

I know, I know. My fall family session is posted after my Christmas decorating post. Don't be like me. I'm still trying to play catch up after a crazy wedding season (17 weddings!) and I have so much to blog about! I guess I'll be all caught up after our trip to Brazil. I went to Greenbluff so often this summer/fall I wanted to do our family session up there. I love this driveway so much when the leaves turn! We had Ashley and Anita drive up there with us and snap a couple of images of the 3 of us. I love how these turned out! Bella was so cute with that hat! These images really capture her personality and I love it!

Christmas Decorating with Isabella

More videos!

I've been recording Isabella more often because she's been doing so many fun things that we don't want to forget! Here are some random videos!

Rainbow Brite and videos!

We went to Jim and Robyn's today for dinner with Anita and Ashley since they are on a cruise. When I dressed Bella up she reminded me of Rainbow Brite!

She looked so cute!

And here is a totally random video. I've been recording Isabella more often so there will be random videos here and there on the blog from now on. = )

We love you, Bella!

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Seattle this year. We left on Wednesday morning after finding out that, in spite of the weather forecast (that called for 26 in of snow in Snoqualmie over a 36hour period), the pass was absolutely clear! YAY! Anita drove with us to Seattle and we stayed with Kevin and Erica.

On Wednesday evening, we had pizza and baked 4 pumpkin pies and a chocolate Harvest cake. YUM!

On Thursday, we drove to Olympia to Cathy and Paul's house and had a wonderful day with the family! Great food, fun games, wonderful company. Isabella was so great!

On Friday, Ben and Kevin headed back to Olympia for a guys afternoon shooting guns in the woods while the girls went shopping! Laurel, Sandy and Cathy watched Isabella and she did great! Apparently she had a lot of fun with Laurel! She even came back with her hair braided. Cute!

Erica, Anita, Tierney and I went to Ikea, Target and Westfield Mall. We got some great deals and had a lot of fun! We had dinner with everybody at the Cheesecake Factory and then headed to the movie theater to watch Breaking Dawn. Again. = )

We drove back on Saturday. Exhausted but happy we got to visit with family we love and celebrate all the many things we are thankful for!

Siri, play VOVO! and the things Bella says

- Ben taught Bella how to ask Siri (the IPhone voice command feature) to play her favorite song "Everywhere". She holds the phone and says in a very serious (and bossy!) voice : "Play Everywhere". It's cute but today she said the cutest thing ever! I told her we needed to get the phone to call Vovo (grandma in Portuguese) so we could Skype. Then, out of the blue, she grabs my phone and in that familiar, bossy tone says: " Play Vovo!" I cracked up and I knew I had to write it down or I would forget it!

- Isabella likes changing the lyrics to every song she sings. She simply replaces key words by other words she knows. So today we were singing the little fish song (a little fish (2x) swimming in the water, etc...) and she grabbed one of her play food bananas and sang : " a little banana, swimming in the (she paused for a while as if she was thinking it didn't make sense for a banana to swim in the water) GROUND! She is hilarious!

- Ben was gone the whole day working today. When I went upstairs to pick her up from her nap she said : " Daddy is taking a shower." I said he wasn't and that he was at work. Then she said: " Dad is coming. Where are you daddy?" So sweet!

Isabella is such a smart girl and we love her so much!

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Christmas Card 2011

A sneak peek of our Christmas card. I absolutely love how this image turned out. Believe it or not, it was taken in our dining room. = ) Isn't she just beautiful?

First time at the movies!

Today I woke up and thought it would be a good idea to take Bella to the movies for the first time. Then she woke up and out of the blue asked for popcorn. It was a sign. I checked the movies that are playing now and chose Happy Feet 2. Then, I convinced Ben that it was good idea. = )

We went to Northtown for the 16:50 showing. I have to say it went better than I thought. We got popcorn and a cherry Icy (for me!) and we also had lollipops. Isabella really concentrated for about 40 minutes. She loved the popcorn. She got all sticky from her lollipop (and mine!) Then, she kind of lost interest in the movie, but she still sat there till the last five minutes of the movie. Ben had to take her outside for the last 5 minutes. Considering that she's only 2, I think she did great! The movie was just OK, but the experience was awesome. I love being there for all of these "firsts". I love being a mama!