Gingerbread House

Izzy and I made a Gingerbread house. She is so proud of the wonderful job she did. I did the icing and she decorated it with candy. It was a fun mother/daughter project. :)

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning I took Izzy to "Breakfast with Santa" at her school. She had so much fun. There were crafts to make ornaments, coloring pages, doughnuts and muffins, and Santa arrived on a fire truck. She was so excited when she got to go talk to Santa and tell him what she wanted. She wants the Headbanz Who am I game, the Jungle Speed game and a Wuggle Pet. She also played around with some of her friends, and I tell you this girl was born to run. They were running back and forth across the gym and the other girls were running like...well...girls. Izzy, on the other hand, was trucking it as fast as she could, practically flying as she sprinted back and forth. I think we might have to put her on the track team when she gets older. :)

The Right Thing To Do

The other night I forgot to give Izzy her breathing treatment before bed (she has to do it for a month because she had bronchitis). Clay and I were getting ready for bed and we heard a knock on our door. Izzy came in and reminded us that we forgot to do her treatment, so we gave it to her and sent her back to bed. The next morning I told her I was glad that she was such a big girl to remember that and to come tell us. She then said, "Yeah, I was laying in bed and I remembered we forgot to do it. And I really didn't want to but I knew it was the right thing to do." (This is the part where my mommy pride swelled beyond belief) I told her how proud I was of her for doing the right thing. This just goes to show that I must be doing a good job as a mommy.

Breaking Dawn pt. 1

A bunch of us went to go see the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn pt. 1. We had such a blast. It was a super fun evening. And since it was so late, we were a bit tired, and got a little goofy on the way home. I haven't laughed so much in a while. It was awesome.

Baltimore Zoo

We had a family outing to the Baltimore Zoo today. We caught the prairie dogs at feeding time, so we got to see them chowing down.

Izzy thought it was neat that the cheetah was right by the glass

We love the giraffes. There was a male and female and their names were Caesar and Angel. This is Angel.

I LOVE this picture of Izzy in the tortoise shell. It even spun around.

They had a petting zoo area where kids could pet and brush goats. Izzy loved it.

Izzy thought the huge African bullfrog was super cool.

After we were done at the zoo, we went to Arundel Mills mall. And my big girl decided she wanted to get her ears pierced. She got ruby studs since they are her birthstone. We had such a fun time today as a family, it was great.

Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, IN

When we were in Indiana we took Izzy to the zoo. She was super excited when we found out they had a special giraffe feeding time. She thought their tongues were the coolest thing ever. We had so much fun wandering around looking at all the animals. Zoo's are simply the best!

You know you've been in a car too long when....

You start making up silly songs. Behold the Kissel family version of Jingle Bells:

Jingle bells, Izzy smells
Daddy laid an egg
The Mommy mobile lost a wheel
And Grandma got away, hey!

Abbyism

Abby: "Auntie Wiz, the teeny tiny monster is bound to eat my socks!"

Delicious Cannonball

Abby: "Uncle Kay, you're delicious, you're a delicious cannonball."

Super Cute!

Izzy made a birthday card for Abby (who turned 3 today) and it says: Happy Brfda to my ceyot littl cuzin Abby. For those of you who can't read 6 year old, here is a translation: Happy birthday to my cute little cousin Abby.

(And yes, I copied this message from my Facebook page. I'm lazy like that.) :)

Maryland Renaissance Festival

Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival with my mom and dad. We had so much fun. Medieval Babes were there (a music group my dad and I love). Izzy dressed up like a princess and got a pretty flower headpiece and had her face painted. My little princess looked beautiful. We enjoyed walking around the little village visiting the different shops and food vendors. My parents took Izzy to the kiddie area while Clay and I went to go see a theater troupe called Shakespeare's Skum do a silly rendition of Hamlet. Basically, they do a super quick, totally hilarious, completely messed-up version of Shakespeare's different plays. There are only four actors, two men and two women, who play all the different parts. I highly recommend watching them if you get the chance. Izzy got tired so my mom and dad took her back to their hotel, because they stayed there for the weekend, and Clay and I stayed to watch the joust. We had a blast and can't wait to do it again sometime!

First Day of 1st Grade

My girl is a 1st grader now, I can't believe it! She was all bedecked in princess attire. She was so excited for her first day. We met her teacher yesterday, Mrs. Behrens, she is really nice and we both like her a lot. She had a great first day. She said her favorite part was recess (go figure). Her class also got freeze pops at the end of the day, and she really liked that too. And when she got home she, amazingly, wasn't worn out. She's had energy all evening. But now I have to go put my little ball of energy to bed.

Wrestling Match

Clay and Izzy love to pretend wrestle with each other. Yesterday, they were doing so and Izzy looked at Clay and said, "You're going down Kissel!" Too funny, right?

Just because

I'm posting just because my mom has been getting on me about not posting for 3 months now. So here we go with a catch up. We went to Indiana to visit with my aunt and uncle. We had soooooooooooooo much fun. Want to see pictures? Visit my mom and sister's blog, because I'm too lazy to upload all the pictures taken while there. And since I'd forgotten my camera, I'd just be re-posting pictures they already have. So visit http://degami.blogspot.com and http://ainaohana.blogspot.com Since we got back Izzy lost her first tooth and she is now six. My girl is growing up soooooo fast. Well, this is short, but I'm lazy at the moment, so there you go. :) I promise I will try to be better at posting from now on.

Outdoor Fun

Yay, Springtime! Time for more of my lovely flower pictures. These are from two Azalea bushes in our yard.
Izzy tries her hand at tree-climbing.





This one cracked me up. It looks more like she is tree-hugging than tree-climbing. My uncle said it looks like the tree is winning.

A Fun Day Out!

I'm so behind with this, but on Monday my mom, Sarah and Abby, Izzy and I had a fun day out (just us girls). We went to Target, Chipotle, and Kohl's. Above is the yummy food we had at Chipotle.

Here are the girls happily eating outside. It was such a gorgeous day.

Abby likes to relax wherever she goes. So, here she is chillin' with her juice box.

And... here is Izzy, very tired and not too happy that she has to sit and wait until everyone else is finished eating as well.

I could kill my sister for taking this picture of my backside (just kidding, Sarah, I love you). Both the girls wanted to hold hands with me on our way into Kohl's. I love being a mommy and an auntie. I love my girls.

Our fun day didn't end when we got home. Izzy and I were playing outside and we saw this black snake slithering alongside our porch.

It went under the flower box and Clay got home not too long afterward. So...

... Clay played snake-wrangler.

It was about 3 ft.

He was so cute, and he was completely relaxed as Clay held him and Izzy and I touched him. He seemed to know we meant him no harm.

Izzy thought he felt so cool, she liked how smooth he was.

She loved his cute little tail and how it would wrap around her finger.

She also liked the pretty pattern on his belly.

He was just all around neat. When Clay let him go, he took his time, he wasn't in any hurry to get away from us. Maybe we'll see him again sometime. I love living in the woods.

Dark Purple

Clay: Hey, Izzy. What's your favorite song?
Izzy: Smoke on the Water.
Clay: Who sings it?
Izzy: Dark Purple.

Well, she knew it started with a 'D' and it was a shade of purple. What five year old loves Deep Purple? One who's parents and grandparents love it as well. :) How many of you now have that tune stuck in your head?

That Sneaky Leprechaun!

Okay so Izzy came home Wednesday from school with a drawing of a Leprechaun trap. She wanted to set it up to catch a Leprechaun. The drawing, she explained, was a box with a pot of gold in front. The Leprechaun would see the gold and then smell the lollipops and cheese inside the box. So he would go in and she would pull a rope to close the box and turn on a fan so he would be bouncing around inside until the next day and she would take him out to talk with him and play with him. Well... I'm not all that fancy in my trap-making, so I got a cardboard box, busted up one end of it a bit, hooked on a bit of frayed green fabric in that corner, had Clay eat a lollipop and leave the stick and wrapper underneath, along with a small black pouch with a gold dollar coin inside, and... Viola! It looks like I done caught me a Leprechaun. :)

So here Izzy discovered the box with the bit of green fabric sticking out.

She was so excited. She said, "I thought that was him. I think he ripped his pants when he tried to get out."

Underneath she found the eaten lollipop and the coin-filled pouch. The first thing she said was. "He left me his trash? How rude!"

She was so excited about the coin and her token "piece of the Leprechaun's pants" that she forgot all about his trash. She stuffed the fabric and the coin in the little pouch and took it to school to share with her class. She was so proud.

Tagged!

Tag, I'm It!

I was tagged by my mom. This is a 4x4 blog meme that reveals some little facts about me! It will be great fun getting to know my blogging buddies better. So check at the bottom and if you're tagged, copy and paste this into your blog and insert your four favs in each of the four subject.


1st - Four places I go:

-Church
-Target
-My parent's house
-Book club

2nd - Four favorite smells:

-Clay (yes, just him, he smells yummy)
-Laundry fresh out of the dryer
-Ralph by Ralph Lauren (my perfume)
-My Izzy-boo, after she's had a bath


3rd - Four favorite TV shows and/or movies

-Being Human
-Ghost Hunters (the International one as well)
-Labyrinth
-Practical Magic

4th - Four recommendations

-Remember who you are
-Smiling is contagious, so pass it along
-Trust in the Lord
-Every day on the right side of the dirt is a good day

Tag: Tiffany S., Christina W., Lindsay E., Rebekah G.

What would I do without my Izzy?

This morning I was making Izzy's lunch. She was sitting on the counter next to me while I made her pb&j sandwich (she always wants them for lunch). I asked her. "Do you know why these taste so good?" She shook her head. "Why?" I smiled and raised the open pieces of her sandwich to my mouth and pretended to kiss them. "Because I put love in them." She laughed. "Why do you do that, mommy?" I kissed her on the cheek. "Because I love you." She just looked at me for a moment then nodded. "I think I can live with that." I'm sure glad she thinks that because I think I can live with that too. :)

Two Fun Stories

Izzy wanted me to write a short story about her so I did:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Isabelle. She loved to play dress-up and dance around her castle. One day she found an adorable little frog in her garden. The frog told her that if she kissed him he would turn into a handsome prince. Isabelle didn't want to kiss a frog, and she had no need for a prince, since she was just a little girl. So she put him in a cage to keep as a pet. He really was a cute little frog. She then put him on her bedside table and began to dance around in her pretty princess dresses.

Izzy thought it was a fabulous story and she decided she wanted to make up one herself. So here is Izzy's story which she dictated to me:

Once upon a time I went to the zoo. I saw the meerkats. One was going "Arf, Arf" then another meerkat pushed it down the hole.

I don't know about you but I think hers is way more awesome than mine.

Family Date

Clay took Izzy and me out to dinner tonight for Valentine's day. We went to the Olive Garden, and well... this is what happens when you take Izzy to a nice restaurant. She ends up with spaghetti sauce all over her face. It was so funny. She loves to slurp noodles and they were just flapping all around as she did so. I had to get a picture. Love it!

Clay got me TWO boxes of chocolate turtles :) He got Izzy a stuffed pink cat with chocolate hearts, and Izzy and I got Clay a stuffed turtle (Clay loves turtles) with some sweetheart candies. We had a fun evening as a family, and now Clay and I are going to watch American Pickers as part of our romantic evening together. :)

Daddy-Daughter Date

I had one of those best-day-ever days on Saturday. My dad and I went shopping, just me and my daddy. :) I had such a great time spending time with my dad. It was so fun, and it's not something I get to do much of anymore. It made me feel special, like I was his little girl again (though I know I'll always be). I love my dad (and mom) and all the wonderful things they do for me and my family. I am so grateful that I was blessed with such wonderful parents. They raised my sister and I with such loving care; we always knew they were there for us when we needed them and because of that, now that my sister and I are adults, our relationship with them has blossomed into such a wonderful friendship. I love you so much mom and dad. You did a great job with us and we appreciate you greatly.

Go Izzy!

So, when Izzy got off the bus the other day she told me something quite interesting.

Izzy: "Mommy, Andrew (a boy on her bus) told me he was in love with me." She was then quiet for a moment. "Isn't that WEIRD?"

All I can say is GO IZZY! As long as she keeps that state of mind for several more years then it will all be gravy baby. :)

The Hilariousness Never Ends!

When Izzy got home from school today she gave me her homework folder and I found the leftovers of a cut-up piece of paper inside. I asked: "Izzy what's this?" She looked and her eyes grew wide with excitement. "I found this on the floor today and I thought 'Wow, that would make a great wig'!" I busted out laughing, I mean, what can you say to that?