Monday, March 12, 2012

Our God is Greater

Isaiah loves music and loves to sing.  He loves listening to kids music and knows all the words to his favorite songs.  However, recently we realized he likes and knows all the words to many worship songs too.  I have been attempting to record Our God is Greater several times.  These are my best two attempts from the weekend.  Of course he belts the song when one one is recording and is more reserved when I try to record him.  None-the-less still precious!  The first video was in the car when the song came on the radio.  The second video was at home...and I think he displays a little more of his talent.



Thursday, March 08, 2012

Krispy Kreme

On Monday, February 20th, President's Day I didn't have to work so Isaiah and I got to have an early morning playdate...at Krispy Kreme!  

Waiting for his donut
Michaela was the only one willing to wear the cool hat
Group photo...yep, no one wanted to take pictures...donuts were involved!
Lily decided to cooperate and give us an adorable smile while the other two were still not interested in pictures...and she still got to eat 1 1/2 donuts!


Isaiah was nibbled his donut, but I think he like it!  I know I LOVED mine!

Watching Our Nephews

On Sunday, February 19th we watched Campbell and Greyson while my sister and brother in law went to small group.  We had a wonderful evening with the boys!  We made chocolate chip pancakes for dinner, played toys-catch included, and gave all three boys a bath- pre dance party included!

 


I LOVE toddler dance parties the best!  I think our boys are adorable.

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

February Play Date

It is always hard to know whether Isaiah will be wild and crazy or reserved during our play dates with friends.  On this particular day he was loving being with his friends.  These videos aren't anything amazing, but I love listening to the conversations and giggles of sweet toddlers!



More "Reading"

My friend Emily, who lives in Hong Kong, just had a baby (well a few weeks ago now).  Baby Joy and I have already gotten to Skype two times and she is beautiful!  

Well since, I know Emily isn't getting much sleep these days and has openly admitted to LOVING listening to Isaiah "Read" I wanted to provide Emily and Baby Joy with some reading material to view during the sleepless nights.  

Emily has previously requested I record ALL of the books Isaiah reads, but there are just TOO MANY and he is just too wiggly, but here is the latest and definitely not the greatest, but still adorable!



Monday, February 13, 2012

3 Years Old And Learning To Write!

The Ayres family bought Isaiah (and Campbell) the Leap Frog Scribble and Write toy.  When Isaiah got the toy he was only 2 years old and not completely ready for it, but yet he LOVED it.  We still let him play with the toy and do the features he liked...pressing the buttons and listening to the toy say the letters, letter sounds, and talk about how the letters are made.  Draw a straight line down...then draw a curved line, etc.  However, he never really used the pen or writing pad part of the toy.  
Since I haven't seen Isaiah practice writing with this toy or other toys I would have NEVER know he knew how to write letters until last week.  Using a different toy...I believe his Crayola Glow Station from the Scarberry family (which I LOVE and would HIGHLY recommend) I heard Isaiah say, "I made an 's'"  My initial thoughts were no way, but then again who know this kid is pretty smart!  I walked over and looked over his shoulder at the drawing board and sure enough he had made and 's'!  This got me to thinking maybe he knows other letters too...and sure enough he did.  He used the Scribble and Write words to help him remember how to draw the letters.  I heard his little voice whisper draw a straight line down, etc. And thus began my understanding of his LOVE for letter writing.  Now it seems like that is ALL he wants to do...probably because he is still learning on how to perfect his letter writing.  He can get a pretty good version of all the upper case letters...although there is still lots of room for improvement, but he is ONLY 3!   He is less confident with the lower case letters, but still loves trying to make them or having us help him make them.


When Ruthie came for dinner last week he made sure to show her his writing abilities and get her in on the writing of letters too.  Thanks for being a good sport Ruthie!  He loved that you were into his latest skill.



His writing control is not the greatest yet , but he has an enormous amount of desire in perfecting his letters!
 This is his first writing sample on paper...he has done most of his practice on his writing board toys.

This is the letter G...not a 6 although just today he started talking about writing numbers too!  I am so impressed with his intrinsic motivation to learn.

 These aren't as neat...but there is an A and an E
 With a little extra space this was his H
Isaiah loves writing all the letters from A to Z.  He writes his letters over and over MANY times throughout the day!

Loving His Gift From Brad and Emily

For Christmas Isaiah got a remote control Tow Mater from Brad and Emily.  At first we were keeping Mater as a Mommy and Daddy do it activity and Isaiah enjoyed watching us drive Mater all around the downstairs.  Slowly we transitioned to letting him start to do the driving of Tow Mater.  He ended up being pretty good at working the remote control.  He is really good at going forward with the remote control, but he still doesn't understand the reverse feature yet.  He picks Mater up when he runs into a wall and just places him in a better spot...pretty smart dude!  Isaiah LOVES this toy and it is so much to watch enjoying it- thanks Brad and Emily!




Thursday, February 09, 2012

Baby Shower Blessings for Kayla and Baby Kiara

On Saturday, February 4, 2012 I (and two other girls: Laura and El) hosted a baby shower for Kayla and baby Kiara.  With everyone's help we had a pretty awesome party!









Since the shower was at my house I had the privilege of decorating! I used my seasonal wall to display some small baby items.

Another decoration was the count down to delivery link chain I made for Kayla.  The pink and green colored links are the days left until her due date and the 14 white links are for covering the possible two weeks late delivery.

I also got to make her baby shower cake.  Since for Kayla's Halloween costume and their Christmas card she played off the "Bun in the Oven" idea... so did I.  I think the cake turned out super cute!




The other piece that I helped plan for the shower was a blessings for Kayla and baby Kiara.  I asked the guests to write down their blessings while they ate the brunch food and visited.  Then Kayla read a blessing card out loud before opening the gift from them.  I am now in the process of assembling the blessing cards into a scrapbook for them.


I also had prearranged with Sue for her to do a devotional about blessings.  What was shared at the shower was wonderful!


Laura (on the right) also helped me plan the shower for Kayla.  Laura and Kayla are childhood friends from Madras and Laura is also due with a little girl just one week before Kayla.

Laura was in charge of some of the brunch food preparation.


She also prepared a fun word game for us to play.






El, a friend from college, was also involved in planning this shower.

El added a fun Kiara banner to my decorations.


She brought a few foods items for the brunch too.  These lady bug crackers were so cute and yummy!


She printed off March and April calendars so Kayla's friends and family could sign up to bring them dinners.

El also brought tons of crafty items for a headband making station, which ended up being a very popular activity for the baby shower guests and Kayla was super excited about Kiara getting to wear all the creations!



Kayla and Kiara were blessed with many wonderful gifts at the shower...
















Thank you to El and Laura for the help planning the shower and all guests that made this day special for Kayla!  We are excited for the arrival of Kiara...but not too soon, just on time!