Merry Christmas From the Smith Family!!

And here is a few of Isabelle from our Christmas Card pictures:

 

Highlights of this year's Christmas include watching the Grinch several times a day, Harry the Bunny, musical instruments, and a kitchen playset with new food.  We had a pretty quiet Christmas this year.  We went to my parents with the Klowak's on the 23rd and then spent Christmas Eve with DJ's family.  We also made Christmas tree waffles on Christmas day and read lots of our favorite Christmas books.

And here is our family Christmas ornament this year:

Winter

Isabelle is having lots of fun in the snow this winter.  She loves sledding and having hot chocolate afterwards!!  We've been trying to find things to do with the cold weather - making gingerbread houses at the library, going to the Germantown Christmas festival, baking Christmas cookies and lots of coloring and watching Disney movies.  Her current favorites are Monsters, Inc., Brave, and Frozen.

Isabelle - 21 months

Isabelle at 21 months!!  See the rest of our Monkey Pictures here.

Baby Smith #2

Isabelle has an announcement to make...

She's going to be a big sister this February!!!

And it's a boy :)

August 2016

October 2016

Halloween 2016

Happy Halloween from the Smith Family :)

We did Beauty and the Beast this year!

Isabelle had lots of fun wearing her Princess Belle dress.  My mom meet us Halloween night and we went trick-or-treating in Waukesha.  She made it walking all the way around the block and then we switched to the stroller!

Our Favorite Halloween Board Books of 2016

Here Comes Halloween by Caroline Jayne Church

The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin by Sonali Fry

Boo, Boo, I Love You! by Sandra Magsamen

The Cheerios Halloween Play Book by Lee Wade

Where's Book? by Salina Yoon

Checkout the rest of the Halloween books that Isabelle and I have read here.

And our list from last year.

Pumpkin Farming

We spent a lot the last few weekend visiting pumpkin farms and apple orchards with Isabelle.  She loves riding on the hay rides and picking out pumpkins.  Getting her to smile in pictures is another story though - I was really happy to finally get a family picture where she wasn't looking the other way!  Here are a few of our favorite pictures:

Isabelle's Big Girl Bed

We moved back to Waukesha a few months ago and are finally getting all of our things settled in.  DJ and I set up Isabelle's big girl bed today!!  We're not having her sleep in it yet, but she will be moving into the room once the new baby arrives in February so we wanted to have it ready.  She loves her new butterfly bedspread :)

September

As summer comes to an end, we having been spending lots of time outside.  Isabelle went to the zoo a couple more times over the past few weeks.  She loves looking at all of the animals and giving kisses to the "Nemo fishes."  Her favorite animals are usually the elephants, giraffes, and bears (all come with their own sounds!)  Here is a picture of Isabelle with her friend Ava by the gorillas.

We also started going to Pajama Storytime at the Waukesha library in the evenings.  Isabelle has changed a lot since we went in the summer - a lot more mobile and curious.  She likes the songs and stories, but usually has a hard time sitting still for more than a few minutes.  We have to take a lot of breaks to walk around, color, or play with blocks to make it through the half-hour!  She goes to storytime in my library in Germantown during the week with Grandma Michelle as well.  Isabelle has been working hard on her "1000 Books Before Kindergarten" program again this year - check out our favorite books at the bottom!  We also have been going to toddler music class on Monday evenings.

Disc Golfing

Guess who is learning how to disc golf with daddy??

Hot Tub Time

Isabelle got in some end-of-the-summer swimming in the hot tub while I was at work today at Grandma and Gido's house!!  She loves that water and playing outside.

Some things Isabelle has been up to while I'm at work...

...fishing, paddling in Daddy's boat, riding in our car, going to the park...

...and feeding the ducks!

Eighteen Months

Isabelle turned 18-months today!!  All of our monkey pictures are posted here.

Summer Updates

Isabelle has been having a very busy summer.  Some of our recent trips include going to the park, the zoo, swimming, and listening to Concert in the Park in Germantown.  Isabelle has lots of energy lately and loves being outdoors!!

We've also been able to spend a lot of time with our families - seen last time, we've had two family reunions where Isabelle got to visit with all of her cousins.  Isabelle also went on her second boat ride at Baba and Dido's house and went to Bay Beach with her cousin Henry.  

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!!

Isabelle had a lot of fun watching the parade.  This was one of the few pictures where she was actually sitting still.  Good there was a playground next to where we were sitting.

Afterwards we spend some time with Jessica and baby Ava.  Isabelle loves giving her hugs!  We didn't make it to the fireworks again this year - someone was exhausted and feel asleep a few hours before they started.

Summertime and Pigtales

Summer has allowed us lots of time for going to the park, swimming, storytime, and going to the zoo.  Isabelle loves looking at the animals - the elephants and giraffes are her current favorites - and it's a great place for us to walk around.  Isabelle continues to be an active and independent toddler and enjoys walking - I mean running - everywhere.

Checkout our new hairdo :)

Sixteen Months

Isabelle is 16 months old today!!  She is now walking and loves exploring everything around her.  We are enjoying the nice weather and have gone on lots of daily walks and trips to the park and the library.  Isabelle finished swimming lessons at the Aquatic Center in Hartford a few weeks ago.  She loved the water and did great learning lots of new things to do in the pool - we are looking forward to lots of swimming this summer!!  Here we are getting ready for swim lessons:

She says:

• Dada
• Mama
• Hi 
• Hat
• Hot
• Here
• Up
• Light
• Eye
• No

She also loves:

• Taking her dolly everywhere
• Watching Daniel Tiger
• Chasing the dogs
• Playing her fish game
• Pointing to her body parts (especially nose and belly!)
• Waving and saying "hi" to everyone
• Hide & seek
• Dancing
• Wearing her sunglasses
• Making fish faces

Here are so of our favorite books that we read this month:

Fifteen Months

Here is Isabelle's monthly and now semi-month monkey picture from a few weeks ago:

(finally was able to get her to stay still for a second of two after taking about 50 of these things!!!)

Here are her previous pictures :)

Mother's Day 2016

We had some nice weather for Mother's Day and Isabelle had lots of fun playing outside at the Klowak's.  Slides, bubbles, and I even managed to get a picture of her standing!!!

Little Explorer

It's been a little while since our last blog post.  Isabelle is almost 15-months old we are all looking forward to some warmer weather.  She is not quite walking yet, but is talking a few steps and is exploring everything.  Her favorite thing to do lately is walk back and forth between when ever is in the living room, bedroom, kitchen, etc. Our vocabulary consists mostly of "dada," "hi," and "hat" - but I've heard "mama" a few times in there as well :)

We finished storytime a few weeks ago in Germantown, but try to make it to the one in Lomira every couple of weeks.  Isabelle also started Polliwog swim lessons in Hartford last month and loves it!!  More pictures to follow.

Easter 2016

Happy Easter from the Smith Family!!

Isabelle had a wonderful Easter!!  We spend the morning with DJ's parents and then went to the Klowak's for dinner.  Isabelle had lots of fun opening her Easter baskets.  We also had an Easter egg hunt in the living room and decorated Easter eggs.  We weren't too sure about marshmallow peeps at first, but they were eventually a winner!!

Our Favorite Easter Board Books of 2016

Isabelle and I - now almost 14 months old - have busy reading all sorts of Easter books together. Here is a list of some of our favorite Easter board books that we have read this year:

#7 Ollie's Easter Egg by Olivier Dunrea
Ollie's friends are all dying Easter eggs and he comes up with a plan on how to get them.  After going through a range of pre-school type feelings, Ollie comes up with a plan to have the best Easter egg hunt they've ever had.

#6 Easter Parade: Funny Faces by Roger Priddy
We loved reading this super simple and cute Easter book!  Isabelle spend almost an hour with her Grandma Carla entertained by the "googly-eyes" and eye holes.  Each page features a different Easter animals with big and bright illustrations.  Plus the sheep's name was "Belle" - to that's always a plus for us!

#5 Happy Easter Mouse! by Laura Joffe Numeroff
From the creator of the popular If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" series comes this wonderful board book in which Mouse tries to find out who is leaving the Easter eggs all over his house. Each page features different colored eggs and readers can help Mouse find and count the eggs.

#4 Llama Llama Easter Egg by Anna Dewdney
Just like the popular Llama Llama picture books, the board books by the same author introduce babies and toddlers to simple concepts with simple phrases and cute illustrations.  In this book, Llama Llama and his friend find all sorts of Easter treats to put in their baskets.

#3 Duck & Goose Here Comes the Easter Bunny by Tad Hills
In this fun and colorful board book, Duck & Goose are in a search for the Easter bunny.  Filled with will lots of laughter and, of course, Easter eggs!

#2 Here Comes Easter! by Caroline Jayne Church
One of our favorite books to read this Easter!!  This is a super cute and simple story about a little girl going on an Easter egg hunt.  The pictures are bright and colorful and there is a "touch and feel" part on every page.  Little can have fun looking for the Easter eggs and counting them as well!

#1 Owen's Marshmallow Chick by Kevin Henkes
This book features Owen (from the Mouse books) as he opens his Easter basket and discovers all sorts of candy and a toy chick.  The story is cute and simple and the famous "fuzzy yellow blanket" also makes an appearance.  We are looking for forward to read the other four books in the series as well!


Let us know some of your favorites - we are always looking for suggestions!  Happy Easter!!!