Castles and Fairytales

I received the new issue of Boston College Magazine this week. It's a quarterly publication that is written for a reader level far beyond mine. I like to look at the pictures though, ha ha.

I was paging through, reading an article about how much work it takes to plan Commencement ceremonies each year. There is a whole committee that does only that, all year long. They sit down 2 days after Commencement ceremonies to begin planning the following year's event. Now I feel bad that I slept through mine.

Anyway, as I was looking through the magainze, and reading a few interesting passages to Ed, Isabelle came over to see what I was reading. On the page were pictures of the beautiful and magical Boston College Campus with its Collegiate Gothic architecture. The design of Gasson Hall in 1908 actually influenced the Collegiate Gothic style across many other campuses in the 1900s.

Her eyes got really wide and she pointed to the photo of Gasson Hall and said, "ooooh Mommy, it's a CASTLE!". I agreed and told her that I went to school there and asked if she wanted to go to school there one day too, in the CASTLE. She adamantly stated that she did.

She immediately ran into the other room where Ed had gone, and proclaimed very loudly, "Daddy! I want to go to BOSTON COLLEGE!". Atta girl.....now go get a scholarship.

Wherefore art thou, Watermelon Queen?

Sorry folks, it seems that Isabelle ended up on the cutting room floor with the watermelon rinds. The Washington Post didn't use her photo this week as anticipated.

Beach Bums & Hula Girls

I got permission from Clare's Mommy to post pics of her daughter. Clare and Isabelle have become close friends over the past few years, and they get along better each time they see each other. The night of Ed's party, as I mentioned, they played together the entire evening without one incident (at least none that I saw).

Here we have the Beach Bums

And the Hula Girls

Izzi and the Watermelon Queen

Ed took Isabelle to downtown Annapolis this afternoon for some Watermelon Festival thing. I guess Tuesday was National Watermelon Day? Who knew!

So the watermelon farmers from Delaware and Maryland gather each August to promote the local watermelon industry, which I guess is booming right now, and watermelons are at their peak.

I just got a text message from Ed saying that Isabelle was going to appear in the "Living" section of the Washington Post next Thursday in a picture with the Watermelon Queen!!

I'll be sure to pick up a few hard copies of that newspaper so you out-of-towners can see it next time we see you. And hopefully it will also be online. Either way, I'll email the picture and caption once it's published.

Our daughter the star!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

After Auntie Gail's birthday party, we had a party for Daddy! It was a luau and Isabelle wore a grass skirt over her hula girl Dora bathing suit (which I found at Burlington about 3 months ago....SCORE!). Thank God her BFF, Clare, showed up with a grass skirt on too. The two beach bums wore their grass skirts most of the night without complaint. (I fully anticipated that Isabelle would rip hers off 5 minutes into the party).

We had babysitters lined up to take care of Isabelle during the party, Mommy & Daddy were going to be so busy so we needed to make sure someone was dedicated to watching her. Poor babysitters were running around the beach watching TWO little girl toddlers (we had several babysitters that day, so thank you to all of them!!). Isabelle and Clare didn't leave each other's side, they were glued to the hip. And so cute together. I would share a pic, but don't want to post a pic of someone else's child without permission so just email me and I can share a pic with you if you want to see it.

The party was great. It was hot that day but we survived. It didn't RAIN! Food was apparently good because it was mostly gone at the end. Isabelle was getting so used to parties, she wanted to know what was going on next weekend...

Happy 70th Auntie Gail

We hit the road to the Jersey Shore (no, not the TV Show, the ACTUAL Jersey Shore) for a suprise birthday party for my Aunt Gail on Saturday July 10th. Isabelle has a history of car sickness if we put her in the car right after breakfast so we decided to test out a new theory. We woke her up at 6am and put her in the car, thinking she would just go right back to sleep.

Theory? Wrong!

She was wide awake and quite pissed that she didn't get her breakfast, that she was still in her pajamas, and that she was strapped into a carseat. Ooops!

We fed her breakfast on the road (Ed climbed in the backseat to catch the puke we expected to come next.....he lucked out this time, no sickies). We got her dressed at one of the rest stops. And she was wide awake the entire 4-hour drive. Her mood did improve after breakfast at least.

So we got to NJ intending to go to the beach all day Saturday. The party didn't start until 4pm so we had time to kill. Plus we were staying in a hotel and check-in wasn't until 3pm. Unfortunately we hit rain and had no beach time at all. We drove around and popped into some shops in the area. Isabelle was not pleased. She was a perfect pain in the patoocha to be honest.

Uncle Sean and Jenny showed up finally to provide a change of scenery. When we got to the party, we figured Isabelle would play with the two OTHER two-year-olds but she wanted nothing to do with Kayla or Noah. She was enamored by Hannah, a lovely 4-year-old daughter to my Cousin Curran. The two of them got along like gangbusters and they had a fantastic time. They got to play all day on Sunday at the beach together too, they were fast friends like they've known each other all the time. It was fantastic to see, and I can't wait to take Isabelle back to the Jersey Shore for some more family fun.

We tried to get photos, but she was just NOT in the mood for anything of the sort. Maybe next time!

I've Been Remiss

Sorry everyone, I've been so busy with work (15+ hour days are the norm right now), that I haven't had time to update everyone about Isabelle's big accomplishments and mini moments of mirth.

As of today, July 28, 2010, I would say we are 90% potty trained!!! I see my last diapers.com order coming in the very near future. Isabelle started having 100% days of potty training at school just a few weeks ago and she is now doing very well at home too. We're very excited for her, she's OH so very proud of herself. Especially because she gets a half-handful of M&Ms each time she goes on her own, without help.

The bribes will end soon, because she knows what she needs to do. She'll be in a diaper at bedtime for a while, and on longish car rides. But for the most part, we have a BIG GIRL on our hands. So congratulate her with pizazz the next time you see or talk to her. She will tell you ALLLLL about it.