Photo Session Preview

A preview of the great pictures taken at Isabelle's most recent photo session.....just too cute!! (Taken earlier this month.)

A Murphy's Law sort of day

By Murphy's Law, I am not referring to the TV show (never watched it, so truly do not know if it relates or not), but more to the old saying. Well, today was one of those days. It started yesterday with Isabelle getting a little cold. So, instead of working, I spent the day with her. We cuddled on the couch, watched movies and just plain had as much fun while being quiet as possible. This morning, my computer has decided to meet its maker. Normally, annoying as it would be, I would not be too stressed. Alas, tomorrow is a big event I am planning and was hoping to spend today getting the last minute items completed. Instead, I spent the day trouble-shooting my PC with Dell and then configuring Al's laptop so I could get some work done. It is 9:30pm, and I am so tired!!!

So, no pictures yet and I need to get to sleep. I may watch a Sherlock Holmes movie before falling asleep...I need something to relax and unwind my frazzled mind ;-)

An afternoon with horses

It is a beautiful fall day and Isabelle and I headed to the barn this afternoon. I am happy to report that my love of horses seems to be passed on genetically!! Isabelle did not want to leave and we spent over two-hours watching, petting and hanging out with the horses at the barn. She has not been to Denise's since she was about one, so it was totally new and exciting. Not to mention she has not been so intimate with and seen so many (over 20 horses were visited today!!) horses in one spot. She was in heaven. She cried that she did not want to leave...her exact words "No Mommy, no go home, stay here with hee hees (horses)". We were not even half-way home and she fell asleep. And with good reason - we spent most of the time outside doing all sorts of horsey activities. Now, this is my kind of play date ;-)

BTW, Denise has been my trainer for over 10 years. She has a fabulous stable - Southwind Farm, and you can check it out at her website (www.southwind-farm.com). She is planning on updating it soon with more great pictures and additional info!!

Joy the Baker Blog

I discovered this blog while reading another. I love to cook and bake especially. This blog is really very good.....stay a while and enjoy it!

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/

Photo Session

This morning Isabelle had her three-year photo session at Pixel Perfect (www.pxpkid.com). (BTW, she is on the website - go to Portrait Gallery and click on Cute Kids. She is the one with a close up and wearing a green apple outfit. This was taken last year!) Each time we go, the pictures are better and better. I do not mean by the photographer as she is *awesome*, but Isabelle gets more animated and has a lot of fun. One of the outfits Isabelle wore today was a Hanna Andersson Swedish winter dress (for a peak at the dress, click http://www.hannaandersson.com/style.asp?from=SC%7C4%7C2%7C24%7C25%7C1%7C%7C. Isabelle's dress is Ivory with black details.) Her hair was in braids and with her round face, she looked like she belonged on the cover of the catalogue. Once I have the pictures, I will be posting some here. This may be a few weeks, but so well worth it!

It is unusually warm today and yesterday was a perfect day - in the 60's and sunny. Hard to really think that in about a month the cold will be upon us! Needless to say, we are spending tons of time outside. Also, I will be posting some truly fun pictures of Isabelle with her newly loved fuzzy lamb slippers.

Enjoy the new order of the world! Here's hoping it will be as good as so many people believe and history does not repeat itself.

Dinner at Unum's

Last night Al and I had a delightful "adult" dinner at a great restaurant in Nashua - Unums (www.unums.com). As the last time I was there, the food was excellent. I had a grilled swordfish with garlic mashed potatoes, shrimp and a delightful sauce. Al has a sirloin steak satay with a shrimp and crab meat sauce over great steak fries. We started dinner with baked brie....I so love baked brie. it came with a brown sugar glazed baked banana (Al ate it), strawberries, blueberries and a pear with a raspberry sauce. Dessert was even better as I had a warm pumpkin bread pudding with fresh whipped cream. Al did the boring route with cheesecake with mixed berries. Over all, dinner was great. The only downside was we were so tired from the long night on Halloween (Isabelle did not go to bed until 11pm!) and the craziness of Saturday that by the evening we were beat. How pathetic is that?!

The coming week is going to action packed from Monday through Friday. Friday being the big day for Isabelle as her "big girl" bed will be arriving. Now, if I can only keep her in bed for the night, life will be wonderful. Have a feeling the next couple of weeks may be tough.

A great new blog

I located a fun blog - A Little Bit Funky - My Life as a Beautiful Mess (http://littlebitfunky.blogspot.com/). Very cute and fun. Plus there is a give-away for Lassie Girl on the blog...how wonderful is that?! (Lassie Girl has a shop on Etsy.com and sells great children's clothes. Isabelle has quite a few pinnies from Ashley!)

Happy Post Halloween

(One of the many carved pumpkins at Lull farm)

This Halloween has been the best one in a very long time. Now, it's not that past Halloween's have not been fun - just sort of boring. This year, Isabelle is almost three and she loved Halloween. We had a Halloween Boo-Bash on Thursday with her little friends. After the party, Isabelle crashed in a big way. A true sign of a great party ;-)

(My little Flower Fairy)

(Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)

(Driving Miss Isabelle....Rachel drove while Isabelle called Daddy on the "phone"....hmmmm, maybe I call Al too much from the car?!)

Halloween day itself was full of surprises. We started the day by running some boring errands, and were surprised at the vet's office. We arrived at the vet's just in time for the local preschool to arrive for some goodies (no candy goodies). Isabelle watched all the "older children" parade by her. The office was decorated for the festive holiday and Isabelle even received her very first Goody Bag. She was thrilled and played with everything all day. Apparently it was such a good deal that she needed to bring the goodies to all of the stores we visited.

Went to AC Moore (local craft store) and purchased a ton of fun craft stuff for Isabelle. Then the afternoon was spent on our dining room table gluing everything to colorful construction paper. She totally loves glue! Hey, who doesn't? It has so many functions and I expect I will be discovering them all over the coming winter ;-)

To end the day, we went to Lull Farm (the local farm stand down the road from us) and checked out all of the pumpkins. Lull hand carves all of the pumpkins they do not sell for Halloween night and light them. It is awesome and many people come to see them. As we live on a street that does not receive trick-or-treaters, this is our tradition with Isabelle. She was thrilled to stay up late and see all of the pumpkins. She did not want to leave....no one likes to have the good times end.


(Ready to go see pumpkins with my little pumpkin)





(At Lull Farm)

This morning we are heading off to ballet class. Isabelle *loves* her ballet class. This evening, Al & I will be going out to dinner. Our first dinner in NH w/o Isabelle. Amy will be babysitting Isabelle. Isabelle loves Amy too. I've been telling her all week that Amy will be coming, and her eyes light up and she starts telling me that Amy and Reilly live next door.....Reilly is Amy's family dog.

Happy November! Enjoy the extra hour of sleep tonight....I know I will.....