Isabelle is walking!

Our little princess has started walking! She took her first steps at 11.5 months (just like Luke) and yesterday she really started taking off (at 12.5 months just like Madelyn).

For the past month, she has mostly been getting around by knee walking and crawling still, which she is very speedy at:

I've known that she was capable of walking, she just had to get brave. It's the best when she claps her hands! SO CUTE!

End of school year 2014-15 (finally)

LUKE:

Our preschool pro finished his second year a couple of weeks ago.

First and last day of preschool. He looks so much older!

 I finally manned up and helped chaperone a class field trip to the nursery.

 They got to plant a flower to take home and dig around in the dirt, so of course they loved it.

 They learned about dinosaurs and made dinosaur footprints in clay

 They had class pictures by Studio West

And then there was graduation!

For their program, they sang a song for each letter of the alphabet. I believe this is the "Letter O" song. Luke is always very exuberant with the actions that go to songs, plus he likes to pretend that his hands are puppets that are singing the words. So he basically just flailed around the whole time, it was so funny.

 

 

 He is such a goofball. Dear Mrs. Woolsey is a saint, she is one of the most patient, level headed ladies I know. She has three different preschool groups going year round.

 Here is the joke he wanted me to write in her card. We need to work on his handwriting a lot this summer, so that he will be ready for kindergarten.

 

 When the program was over, we had some cookies.

 

 Luke had not been feeling great that day...by the time we got home, he was coughing so much he threw up and needed a breathing treatment. He is sick so often, I am glad we are getting a break from school! Poor kid.

 He had to skip the next day of school but was able to finish his last week of classes.

MADELYN:

 First and last day of 4th grade! She likes to wear the same outfit so we can see how she's grown.

 

 This was a tough year for her (and me). Go Math! nearly killed us. It is incomprehensible the way they try to teach certain things. Let's make things more confusing and less efficient, shall we? EWW. I wanted to burn this book. If you have had dealings with this common core curriculum, you'll know what I mean. Plus, our school is a STEAM school and it focuses heavily on math (and science, engineering, art and technology), so it just seemed like so much to deal with.

Part of her final project, which took four weeks and nearly gave me an ulcer.

Her teacher, Mr. Carter, was a good teacher and a nice guy, we just had issues because he assigned so much homework. Whatever math wasn't finished at school had to be completed at home, but this was always a problem because Madelyn has ADD and was supposed to have special accommodations through her 504 disability plan. (Which Mr. Carter forgot about...)

In November, we finally reminded him about the 504 plan and he cut her math work load in half, which helped immensely. By the end of the year, he was recommending that her language work be cut in half, too. She is a smart girl, she just gets overwhelmed by the volume and really can't cope with the stress.

Mr. Carter was a huge fan of PROJECTS. Every freaking three weeks there was a major project due. (Book reports! Dioramas! Video reports with commercials! Game boards! Animal reports! Valentine Box! Science Fair!) Elaborate, "parents as partners" projects every time and I wanted to die by year's end.

I am so glad to be done.

We came out for Arts Night a few weeks ago...last year during Arts Night I went into early labor!

 Madelyn is a great little artist and really enjoys drawing and sketching.

 

She and her friend Natalie Moses decided to make "puff balls" out of yarn for their school's Mini Mall activity. All the kids are encouraged to have shops that they create business plans for and advertise and the kids pay with tickets they earn for good behavior. We worked hard to make all those puff balls and they sold every one (and some gum and Blow Pops).

Earlier this year, one of the projects I helped Madelyn with was writing an ancestor essay about her grandpa Frank Yoder for the Sons of Utah Pioneers.

On the last day of school, there was an awards assembly and we were super excited and proud that Madelyn won first place and twenty $1 gold coins as a prize!! She also earned awards for Reading, Math, Citizenship and Perfect Attendance for the 4th quarter!

 I'm so happy that she had a successful year, even though it was hard. 

I'm even more glad that I don't have to harp on her about homework for a few months. PHEW.

Isabelle is 12 months old!

Isabelle is 12 months old!! That year went by so fast. It seems like this just happened:

May 14, 2014 (Birth story here!)

 

She still naps in her swing, but now she's so heavy it has a hard time swinging anymore.

These comparisons are killing me.  

I don't think I ever uploaded these videos, so here is one day old Isabelle getting dressed to go home from the hospital, and Luke feeding her when she was 6 days old. ♥♥♥♥

I miss my tiny, sweet newborn but I love this age as well!

12 months of Isabelle.

 12 month stats!

Weight: 19 lbs. 4 oz. (42nd percentile)

Height: 29 1/4 inches (54th percentile)

Likes: Her family, Tiger, her binky, Sesame Street (especially Elmo), Baby Einstein videos (especially the puppet shows), cheese, mandarin oranges, bananas, anything savory flavored, dancing, shimmying, eating mom's chapstick, wiping diaper rash cream on her head, baths, being held while she sleeps

Dislikes: Doesn't like her hands to be covered by blankets/towels, hates holding still for diaper changes, getting dressed and getting her nails clipped

New skills: Imitates (holds phone to ear, puts on sunglasses, brushes hair, wipes face with cloth, etc.), rolls from back to front, waves, comes to find me when she has a dirty diaper, standing, taking a few steps, walking on her knees

She wears size 12-18 month clothes in most things, size 3 diapers and doesn't like to wear shoes, hats or swimsuits (too restricting). She has 8 teeth. She has had several colds, a couple of ear infections and gets diaper rash very easily. But when she's healthy, she's happy! Always smiling and making us smile.

 Eating her toes is another favorite.

 Wiping her face clean


 Erasing

 

 She is growing lots of wavy hair in the back, which we are all thrilled about.

When she wakes up from her nap, Madelyn always says "Mom!! Look at her mussy hair!!"

 She still has a ways to go getting hair on top. :)

She and Tiger have come to an agreement that he'll stop running from her if she'll pet nicely (instead of grabbing his fur) and refrain from screeching at him. She is doing better at that.

She usually takes a morning and afternoon nap, but sometimes an evening nap as well (or she refuses to fall asleep till evening and then she's up super late). She is a night owl anyway and won't go down for good until around 11:00 pm.*

Yawn.... Every time she "goes to bed" at 9:00 pm I get excited but she always wakes up again and is raring to go for a few more hours. She also almost always wakes up around 12:30 am and fusses until I put her binky back in and/or hold her. When she's sick or teething, she usually ends up in our bed at some point in the night.Which is why she still sleeps in a playpen in our room!

*I don't have the discipline or the inclination to do anything about this. I'm just saying this is what she does. (I am a laissez-faire mom.)

 With my mom, Carolyn

I love this look on her face, haha

She is really enthusiastic about making messes around here. She drops food and stuff off her high chair on purpose (leans way over to watch it fall), gets into the cat food/litter, the silverware in the dishwasher, the laundry, the trashes, the toilet paper, dumps toys, empties bookshelves and plays in the fridge every chance she gets.

Her favorite fox

 

Shopping for a baby doll before her birthday.

We absolutely love this girl to pieces and are so glad she's in our family. Here's a bunch of short (15 seconds for most of them) video clips of all the cute things she's been doing lately. We love you, Isabelle!! ♥♥♥♥

Saying "Hi!", her first word other than mama and dada. She also tries to meow by saying "Ow".

Rocking in her car seat. You have to entertain yourself somehow.

"Bubububububububub"

The princess wave.

Morning scrunchy face. She smiles like this if she likes you.

Rolling over and trying to walk.

The story is: She learned how to roll over from back to front last Christmas when she was around 6 months old. But after she did it a couple times, she never bothered again. She gave it another go a month ago, and that same day took four steps on her own (which we didn't catch on camera). Since then, she hasn't really tried to walk again, unless you count that she walks on her knees. I am okay with that! She gets into enough stuff as it is!! Oh and now trying to change her diaper is a complete JOKE because she just rolls over and crawls away. Rascal!