The Israel Family

Friday, January 2, 2015

December Activities and Christmas 2014

Whew!! We had one busy, fun month around here at the Israel house. I am always equal parts sad to see the holiday season end and glad to see it end. Between the girls school parties, choir shows, office and friend holiday parties, neighborhood functions, and other activities, we had 26 invitations of things to attend and do...26 - that's a ton. We couldn't do everything, especially with a little baby, but we tried to do as much as we could - and now that it's all over we are ready to sleep for a month!!

I don't have pictures for everything and some are on my phone, but I will do a quick recap of some of the highlights of our month!

I took the girls to the Mountain Brook Christmas parade with some of our friends. It was a lot of fun and the girls loved seeing the "real live" Santa ride in the fire truck at the end of the parade. Right after that we headed to the zoo for Zoolight Safari with some of our college friends. It was BSC alumni night and we had a great time running into people that we haven't seen in years.

Caroline had a choir show and a school performance. She was fantastic in both!! She had a speaking part in the school show - and I was so proud. She remembered her line and was the cutest one up there. Not that I am biased or anything. Also, the same day as her choir show she had her visitor week at dance. She was GREAT!! She knew all the steps and was happy to show them off for a room full of visitors! Her teacher, Ms. Laci, is simply wonderful and let AP join in the class at the end. That sweet girl cannot wait to take dance. Now that she is potty trained we will let her take class!!

This is from the choir show. She insisted on wearing her "big sister" medal for the show. She was so cute! The girl can really project...

These are from her school show. Her class was the donkeys from the manger.

Ann Parker was one happy little girl! One of her best buddies, Anna Glenn, sat right behind us. Her big sister is the same age as Caroline. AP and AG are in the same class at school and spend most of the day holding hands. Precious girls. I also love that they are playing with hair brushes. So silly!

Adam;s office had a Cookies with Santa event at the office. It was so cute! Caroline sat on Santa's lap but AP did not. She was scared and after the screaming Santa picture we got last year, I didn't force her. I also decided not to take them to the mall. After all, they did just see Santa and I didn't want to traumatize Ann Parker too much just for my own benefit. I love a good screaming Santa picture...maybe next year!

Several other events are on my phone, so those pictures will come at another time. On to Christmas...

Christmas was wonderful this year! We loved celebrating Harrison's first Christmas holiday and every year with the girls gets more and more fun. Caroline was so into it this year - even more so than last year. They LOVED finding our elf, Leo, each morning. It was the first thing they did each day. I thought they were going to explode of excitement when Christmas Eve finally arrived. We did some last minute errands and then went to Christmas Eve communion. We made beef tenderloin, roasted potatoes, and broccoli casserole for dinner. The girls made cookies for Santa and then they got to open two presents each. Each year we get them Christmas jammies and a new Christmas book. They got pj's that had Leo on them!! Caroline's book was Llama Llama Holiday Drama since she loves the Llama Llama books right now. Ann Parker got Room for a Little One since she loves animals and she is our little one. Harrison got Little Blue Truck's Christmas since he is a boy and every boy needs some trucks. That is a series of books that we haven't gotten into yet but now that we have a boy I am learning all about it! He got some sweet kissy kissy Christmas pj's too.

This year they asked for puppy surprise, tinkerbell toys, and a firetruck. Caroline also asked for candy canes and surprises. They got tons of fun stuff - new sheets, leap pad2's, flutterby fairies, magic dancing pumpkin dog, a new hanging tent from land of nod, sleeping bags, clothes, umbrellas, princess dolls, kinetic sand, shoes, art supplies, movies, easy bake oven, food items for the play kitchen, puzzles, games, and about a million other things it seems! This was the sight on Christmas morning!

After the excitement of seeing the Santa gifts, they were about to jump out of their skin when we let them start unwrapping gifts from under the tree. Their reactions were amazing! It was truly a magical Christmas and one for the books!! We spent the rest of the day playing with our new things and being cozy in our house. It was the best day!

Monday, December 1, 2014

3 Month Sibling Comparison

These are the three cutest three month old's that I have ever seen!!!

2.5 and 4.5 years old

Ann Parker turned 2.5 on October 20 and Caroline turned 4.5 on November 23. These girls have been growing up and turning into amazing little girls and I want to remember so many things about this stage.

Ann Parker:

Biggest thing to happen lately...she is POTTY TRAINED!!!!! Since they didn't have school the week of Thanksgiving I decided to do potty training boot camp, since it worked so well with Caroline. After hours and hours of accidents I felt like a big failure and assumed she would be in diapers until 5th grade...but all of the sudden she got it! We started last Monday and once she finally made it in the potty, she has only had three accidents in the entire week since. I am one proud mommy!!!

She adores Caroline! When Caroline is getting in trouble (usually for not listening), AP will with stand in between me and Caroline and point her finger at me and say "That's MY sister!!! Leave her alone!" It's annoying and adorable all at the same time. She copies most of what C does and always wants to match her in clothes and pj's.

She is still a mama's girl but has been having a lot of daddy days too. Her favorite thing to do is watch football with Adam. He went to the Iron Bowl last weekend and she cried when she couldn't go - so she watched the whole game with me but kept saying that she wanted daddy.

Her favorite foods are cheese, butter noodles, macaroni, broccoli, rice, fruit snacks, strawberries, apples, hot dogs, pizza, chicken, and pretzels. She prefers salty snacks to sweet snacks. She usually wants to crunch on ice or eat popcorn at night - which is identical to Adam. Sweet Caroline likes sweet things like me.

She is doing great in school and has made lots of new friends. The kids she talks about most are Ben, Boone, Owen, and Anna Glenn. She loves her teachers too.

She says all sorts of funny things that make us laugh. Some are:
Take it away Caroline - when singing
Well...what do you know?
Hold me harder!
She sometimes calls me "moppity" instead of mommy.

Caroline:

Caroline has turned into such a smart, sweet, kind little girl. God sure blessed me when he gave me Caroline. She still has a ton of energy so we have to keep her busy. At home we have to work on listening and we have implemented a behavior chart, although at school she is apparently a great listener...go figure.

She is pretty much a daddy's girl through and through. When she wakes up in the morning, she wants to lay with me but otherwise she wants daddy. They have very similar personalities so it makes sense. She likes to be the center of attention and she likes to know everything. We were recently talking to her about strangers after she kept going up to people and asking to get in their cars so she could go play with them (super awkward). Adam explained what a stranger was and that she should not ever go with someone who is a stranger. Her reply was, "Well I will just introduce myself and then they won't be a stranger." Touche little girl.

She is excelling in school and I am so proud. She can write her name, knows all the letters and their sounds, knows all the days of the week and months of the year, and so much more but it would take all night to write. She is very smart and she gets frustrated when she doesn't know something.

Her favorite foods are blackberries, pizza, hot dogs, chicken, cheese, butter noodles, cookies, ice cream, brownies, really anything that is dessert like, popcorn, plain bread, fried shrimp, and pancakes. She is sometimes a really good eater...and sometimes horrible. She is growing though, so I am not worried.

She has a vivid imagination. She is playing pretend all day long. She also loves dancing, singing, and preforming. She just finished soccer and has a few more classes of gymnastics to go in this session. She is also still in ballet and choir. We are busy, but she loves it.

I love these two little girls!! Here are some pictures from our recent mini session with the fantastically talented Brandon Gresham of Simple Color Photography.

Three Months Old!!!

Three Months Old - November 26, 2014

My precious Harrison turned three months old last Wednesday. I haven't had a chance to blog since we left town for Thanksgiving that day and have had a busy rest of the week/weekend. But alas...my baby is growing up and as hard as I have tried, I have been unsuccessful in slowing down time.

He is such a great baby and we are FINALLY past the colic. We are so glad because it was starting to wear on us. He isn't on a totally predictable schedule yet, but he does like to take a morning nap, an afternoon nap, and quick evening nap, and then he goes down for the night around 9:30 and will sleep until 6:00 the next morning - occasionally waking around 3 or 4 for a few oz. but that is not every night thankfully. He loves to be swaddled and will not sleep any other way. Once he starts screaming around 9/9:15, we quickly swaddle him, give him a paci, and turn the vibrations on on his rock and play and he falls asleep within minutes. He is a great sleeper and can sleep in the car, through the noise of his sisters, when I vacumn, or in complete silence. It was wonderful. I guess that is what happens when you are a third child :)

He is a good eater and eats about 4 oz. at each feeding. I am still exclusively pumping and it's somehow working out well so I am going to stick with it for now. We will see what I say next month... He can roll over from tummy to back when he wants to. He has pretty good head control and will try to put weight on his legs if you hold him up.

He loves bath time, his sisters, mommy and daddy, his swing, looking in mirrors, Christmas lights, and tummy time. He loves to be held, which we love to do. He smiles easily, which we love to see. Can you see a trend here...we just LOVE this little guy! Caroline and Ann Parker dote on him. I cannot wait to see his relationship with them develop over the years.

He is still sleeping in the rock and play sleeper in our room. He still uses the vibrations so I don't want to rock the boat just yet by moving him into his crib. He has never slept in the bassinet except for the first (and only) night we were home before heading back to the hospital. He is wearing mostly 3 month clothing (or 3-6 month) with a few 6 month things in there. He is still in a size one diaper.

These past three months have been so wonderful. I just love this little baby and he fits into our family perfectly. It's only been a short time, but I cannot imagine our lives without him now!

Happy three months sweet boy! I love you more than any mommy could ever love their baby. You and your sisters are my favorite things. I am so thankful that God chose me to be your mom. What an amazing gift.

He was so not into taking pictures...

Thanksgiving 2014

The Israel Family had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! It is certainly one that we will remember. The past two years we have spent Thanksgiving with my family, since we usually do Christmas Eve/Christmas morning with Adam's family. This year was our year to do Thanksgiving with the Israel family - and it was extra special because it was Mama Lou's 90th birthday! All four of her children, all 8 of her grandchildren, and 15 out of 16 great grandchildren were there (plus some spouses). Adam and I have spent 11 Thanksgiving's together and this was the first time that all 8 of his cousins were in the same place at the same time. One of them missed our wedding, one missed Christmas one year, etc. but this time EVERYONE got to be there. It was so special!

Asher and Ann Parker getting ready to eat!