That Darn Monkey

Isabella: Blowing bubbles in her water cup with a straw

Me: Isabella, should you be doing that, is that using your great manners?

Isabella: Well Curious George does it

Me: What does the man with the yellow hat say to him about it?

Isabella: (thoughtfully) The man in the yellow hat doesn't say anything to him about it Mom.

Me: LONG SUFFERING SIGH  LOL

Ants in your pants

Isabella couldn't sit still at dinner tonight...

Me: Isabella, do you have ants in your pants?

Isabella: (thinking and very serious) I don't know Mommy should we check?

YOU'RE the Grandma, Mommy!

Isabella:  you're a nice grandma

Me: I'm a grandma?

Isabella: YOU'RE the Grandma, Mommy, I'm the Mommy, and Daddy's the Daddy.

Me: I'm a grandma to your babies?

Isabella: Yes (in her little sweet voice) and you are such a nice grandma to them.

Where Jesus Lives...

Me:  Do you know where Jesus lives?

Isabella: North and South America

*** LOL! YES there are a lot of people named Jesus on those continents, but not the ONE I was referring to.

2+1=3 Mom

Isabella: Mommy, I would like to have some more marsh mellows please

Me: You may have 2

Isabella:  Can I have 4?

Me: You may have 2

Isabella:  Can I have 3?

Me: You may have a number between 0 and 2

Isabella:  Can I pleeeease have 3?

Me: You may have 1 or 2

Isabella: Hmmmm, how about I have 1 and 2 and then that will be 3!

STINKER STINKER STINKER!!!!!

Time Out Babies

Isabella's conversation with her babies this morning.

"Babies, it's time to get up."  She gets up three of her babies, picks one up and says "you hit piggy and that's not nice, you're going to time out."  She walks over to the corner in her room, sets the baby down and starts pretending to push buttons on the timer like I do "beep, beep, beep, you have to stay here until I come and get you, three minutes."  She waits a few seconds and says, "ok, I love you, do you know why you were in time out?" waits a moment, "that's right, it's not nice to hit.  I love you and please be nice and don't hit the other babies from now on."

LMAO...she's a trip!!

Maria

"Mommy, how do you solve a problem like Maria?"

She was serious when she asked me this.  She's just LOVING The Sound of Music soundtrack...her new favorite.  Sara Paye can take a bow for that one, I've just revived it.  

"Thanks Mommy..."

Last night for dinner I made chicken parm with spaghetti.  Isabella was especially excited because she just LOVES to twirl her noodles on the fork, she's pretty good at it too.  Anyway, as she began to eat she looked up at me and said "Thank you Mommy for making this deeeeelicious meal".  

NO thank you Belle for "making" my meal by giving me that huge compliment.  And thank you Justin for setting the example by recognizing me for preparing meals for our family.  

Give My Toys Away?!?

Isabella is especially fond of her BABIES and it's OVER the TOP and starting to get out of hand with ALL the babies she has.  I mean, how many does she need?  I HAVE to take responsibility for contributing to the purchase of some of the dolls over the past 3 years and so I must be part of the solution to the problem.  It's been very frustrating for me as they are everywhere and with motto "everything has its place and it should be there".  As a solution Justin suggested that Isabella could give some of her dolls, all but 2 or 3, away to kids who don't have very many or any toys at all.  I explained this scenario to her and was met with some resistance.  I didn't push the issue and figured Justin and I could revisit with her.

AS HEARD FROM TRISTA:

Isabella: "These toys aren't for Lilly!  They are for the kids who don't have any toys!"

I'm so happy to hear that she's pondered this over the past weeks and has come to her own conclusion in line with ours.   I hope that Isabella will know that you have to keep it going...keep giving it away!

P.S. I'm not exaggerating about what's going on...check these out.  It is REALLY sweet that she makes her bed every morning and after her nap to make sure everyone is tucked in.

This was how it first started...with Doggie, her most precious
"FRIEND"...Trista and I cracked up!

And evolved into this.  Now I have this plus I have every
single baby carriage and cradle with babies too...

When Mommy's Sick

I came down with something yesterday and it was awful, mainly sore throat, fever, body aches and chills.  YUCK!  I missed Isabella's soccer game and she was very upset.   She said "Mommy can I give you a back rub?" followed by "you can have some of my purple medicine, it will make you feel all better".  So sweet.  She and Justin had a great night at soccer and Jason's Deli.  :-)

This morning she came in to check on me and offered me the same as last night and also one of her "friends", she tucked in bed beside me.  She blew me a kiss on the way out of my room as she closed the door behind her.  "Feel better Mommy".

Stand UP!

Isabella had a rough night with her allergies or a cold...who knows anymore.  I let her come and sleep in our room at about 4 am, which I never do.  She was restless and followed Justin to the bathroom.  He had the door shut and she opened it just a crack and here's how it went:

Isabella:  Daddy are you peeing or pooping?

Justin:  Peeing

Isabella: NO Daddy, you have to stand up to pee (big annoyed sigh as she closed the door)

I was cracking up as I laid in bed listening to this exchange.  

You can have yours back.

Isabella started playing soccer on Thursdays very late in the day.  We thought it would be a nice tradition to go to Jason's Deli since it's one of our favorite places to eat and on that side of town.  The best part of Jason's Deli is the ice cream cone at the end of dinner and Isabella is getting used to this tradition in a hurry!

After dinner Justin went over with her and fixed her a chocolate cone, it was perfect as Justin did some time at McDonald's making the perfect soft serve cone.  Justin had half and half and I had chocolate.  About 3 licks into her cone Isabella decided she wanted Justin's cone and so he traded with her.   He somehow convinced me to go back up and get him a vanilla cone and when I retuned back with it she looked at him and said, "you can have yours back now" and took the vanilla cone and left him with a stump of a cone.  CHECK OUT THE SWITCH!  LOL

Somehow this looks a little lopsided...

At least she listens...

I know Isabella takes in what I say because she puts it right back out there to me!

"Just HOLD your horses Mommy!"

"My Grandma is your Mommy and she can put you in time out"

$Money$

Isabella holding 4 quarters and 1 dime she just took off Justin's desk:

"Mommy, you want Daddy's money?"

Justin laughed so hard as he said "She already has it...for a long time."

Week of September 12

With regard to her new DOCTOR kit

"Mommy, you be the kid and I will be the doctor."

"I'm Dr. Grizzly (Berenstain Bears) and you are the sister (bear)."

"I need my doctor kit cause I'm going to be a doctor."

With regard to my wine tasting

Isabella:  "Where are you going Mommy?"

Me: " A party"

Isabella:  (UPSET) "you are going to a birthday party without me?"

Me:  "No, it's a wine party, I'm going to taste wine."

Isabella:  "But you don't like whining."

*She's correct...BUT I do LOVE WINE!!!

When I was tucking her in for her nap


"Mommy, keep your hands to yourself"

With regard to my clothes

"Mommy, you have to share your clothes with me, it's the rule!  If you don't share your clothes with me you have to go to time out."

The Latest From Isabella

*This is a duplicate post from Keeping Up With the Kirschners blog*

Me:  Who's a princess?

Isabella:  Not meeeee, I'm just a girl

************************************
Me:  Someone was a good girl today (in a singing voice)

Isabella:  Yeah...it was you (in a singing voice)

************************************
Isabella:  You can't tell me no, it's bad manners

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Anytime she says something that is hysterically funny and we start laughing:

Isabella: STOP LAUGHING AT ME

*She doesn't realize how funny she is just yet but she really has the Howley wit in her genes for sure and I'm so thankful for that!

At the Doctor

Today at the doctor we ended up waiting in the little room for about 45 minutes which was so ridiculous since there was only one other family in there.  I was relieved Isabella was in such great spirits, she played made up games with her hands, sang songs and did really well at entertaining herself.  She did say two funny things during our wait

"Mommy, I have something in my pants, you have an extra pair of panties in the car for me, right?" She had the most freaked out look on her face when she said this...I think she thought she just had some gas but it was something more.   LOL

"Mom, I can't wait for the doctor FOREVER"....I wonder where she heard that.  

Guess what Mom?

Sitting in her playroom yesterday with Justin hanging out, not doing anything in particular Isabella looked up at me and said "Guess what Mom?" of course I couldn't wait to hear what it was she had to say "I love you Mom." This isn't the first time she's done that but I really want to take note of all the times she does...someday that love will be replaced with something else and then later replaced with a different kind of love!

Guess what Isabella?  I love you too...