More Parties, Friends, Dresses and Bow Heads

Over the past couple of weeks, we've received lots of visits from friends.

Jan Vernon from Dallas, Texas crossed the "pond" for business, and she also paid us a visit. She stops by every time she's in London, which we very much enjoy. Here's a picture of Jan with the girls.

We also had visits from our friends, Pam and Erin. As part of Pam's visit, we had a birthday party for Maddie's puppy, Angela. Pam didn't want to be in the pictures, but here's one of Angela blowing out her candles (FYI, we were celebrating Angela's second birthday).

Erin let Maddie do her hair, and then Erin returned the favour. Here are the "after" pictures:

Just as previously reported, Isabelle continues to be a "belle" of a baby, for which we are very grateful. Here's some pictures of Isabelle in her Sunday dress and also of her chillin' in her Boppy.

Finally, Maddie's attempt to take a picture of herself. We, of course, think it's very artistic.

We love you all. Come visit soon!

Princess Tea Parties, Cowgirls and Isabelle's Sunday Dress

As of Thursday, it's just the four of us again. It was a huge help having Bammy with us for three weeks, but now she's back in Japan taking care of Papa Ricky (someone has to feed him, and the dinners Bammy cooked and froze before leaving Japan were beginning to run out).



Maddie's back in school and having play dates with her friends (she had two this week). One was at our house - a tea party. Maddie had very specific costume, food, drink and centerpiece requirements. As you can see, all requests were granted (it's not a great idea to tell Maddie no when she's planning a party, which is a genetic trait she got from her mom, who probably got it from her Nana).



Isabelle is still a "belle"of a baby. She did have one rough day this week - Ally took her for her 4-week appointment with the doctor, where she received a shot and a cauterized belly button. I can't remember the official name of the condition that necessitated the belly button cauterization, but it's kind of like a little belly button hernia. Anyway, her skin was all black, then red and raw post cauterization, and I'm actually surprised she wasn't more out of sorts - even on her worst day (at least so far) Isabelle is a "sweet" baby.


Here's a couple more pictures - Isabelle in her Sunday dress and Maddie the cowgirl.

New Year's Eve, Grandparents, Christmas Dresses, Dress Up and Isabelle Asleep

We had a little New Year's Party at home - just family. The most exciting part of the evening was Twister...we were all asleep before midnight, though Isabelle did wake up for the fireworks.

On New Year's day, we went to the parade, but I don't have any pictures (Bammy has some, so maybe she can post them on her blog). Maddie really enjoyed it, and Isabelle slept through it all. In fact, Isabelle does a lot of sleeping...

Papa Ricky was in town until 3 January 2008. Here's a picture of Isabelle with Papa Ricky.

Bammy will be in town until 17 January 2008. Maddie is having lots of fun with Bammy, as you can tell from the following picture.

Maddie was finally able to wear her Christmas dress to church; Isabelle didn't go to church this week, so she'll have to begin wearing her Christmas dresses next week.

And finally, more dress-up pictures (thank you Grandma Betty)...

Isabelle's Blessing

Isabelle's first day at church was a success. She looked very pretty and didn't cry at all.

The blessing went well - she was blessed by her dad, and Papa Ricky was also able to stand in the circle.

Here are some more blessing day pictures:

Also, here are a couple tub pictures:

Happy Christmas!

It has been a wonderful X-mas at our house...

Maddie attended a X-mas party in one of her new dresses... . We made X-mas cookies for Santa and fondue for dinner. There was a nice X-mas FHE and daddy read How the Grinch Stole Chirstmas. We opened a Christmas Eve present, and...

...we took picture of the girls in their X-mas PJs... .

Santa brought lots of great presents... ...and what Santa didn't

bring we seemed to get from family and friends... .

Thank you all for your thoughtful gifts. Here a some additional pictures to enjoy:

Just Waiting for Christmas

I haven't got any long stories to tell in this edition - just thought I'd post some pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Bow head:

Mommy's little candy cane:

Nap time:

Just chillin' in my bouncer:

Just before my bath: