I love these shots of Izzy; I think her favorite part of the night was playing in the wrapping paper.

Isabel playing with her new toys : )

Isabel did very well opening gifts but she worked a lot slower than Thomas. I am sure she will get a lot of practice this Christmas!

The girls playing with the cool toy that Jessica bought Izzy.

Who said Christmas only comes once a year??

This weekend we celebrated our Nelson family Christmas with my mom and dad and Jess and Andy and the kids. It was a lot of fun this year with so many little ones crawling around the tree and playing in the wrapping paper. Jessica and I bought the same dresses for Isabel and Gabby without even knowing it! They were both adorable and Thomas was all dressed up in his Christmas best too. Isabel got some many cute gifts and one of her favorites is her cabbage patch doll that Grandma Jodi bought her.

Snow

We had one warm day this week and some fresh snow so I took Isabel out in her sled to play. She had a great time and Louis and Oliver loved having her outside too. We didn't get to stay out too long because the wind was a little cold on her nose and she whined when I took her out of her sled. Hopefully there will be plenty of snowy days to come this winter.

Izzy's Baby

Isabel got a baby for a shower gift when she was born and I opened it last Sunday so she could play with it. She couldn't wait for me to get it out of the package and she has loved it ever since. She carries it with her when she crawls and she kisses it and squeals with delight when she sees it. She is so cute with her little baby!

Isabel loved watching the other kids go up to Santa and she clapped and cheered loudly.

Santa

We went to Jessica's house to see Santa this year. There were a lot of kids there and many of them cried when Santa called them to his lap but Isabel did just stared and looked around the room for me. She is such a brave little girl, her lip started to quiver a little but she didn't cry!

It's been awhile

We have been busy lately as I am sure everyone else has during the holiday season. Grandma Diane came down the first week in December to watch Izzy for us as Barb was on vacation and it seems like it has been something everyday this entire month. We had our 6th annual Christmas party with all of our college friends, I think there were 15 in all last night so Isabel went to our friends Judy and Paul's for the night. It was her first sleep over and she had a great time, she even slept until 8am for Judy! We had a great time visiting with our friends and bowling too.

Here are a few pictures that Diane took when she was down here. Isabel loves the Christmas decorations and she is doing surprisingly well with everything.

Even the dogs ate too much as they needed a nap immediately after dinner. Here is Grandma Marica having a discussion with Lou about eating too much.

The whole family in the kitchen, where you can usually find us!

Tony carving the turkey while Louis looks on making sure he does it right!

My little turkey with her hands and cheeks full of food.

Thanksgiving Day

This year Tony and I hosted Thanksgiving again but this time my family didn't come and I wasn't pregnant! Isabel loved everything from having lots of grandma and grandpas around to eating turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and even pumpkin pie! The only set back was that she got two more teeth and it made sleeping a little tough (for both of us). Here are some pictures of the holiday weekend!

Taking a break from the game (they must have been not doing so well as her daddy does this too when things get a little tense).

Watching the game with Mark's sister Deb and her partner Adrienne at Grandpa Don's house.

Go Vikings Go!

Both Tony's family and mine have been long time Vikings fans and I think Izzy will be too. She has watched almost every game (well part of it at least) with many different family members. She cheers loudly and claps wildly, a Vikings cheerleader in the making.

Isabel and Avery

About a week and a half ago our friends Amy and Avery came over to visit and play. Avery is 7 months old so the girls are very close in age and it is nice because they live in Hugo as well. Isabel was napping when they came and when she woke up she was so excitied to see that her friends were here. Izzy and Avery loved playing with Izzy's ball popper.

Grandpa Russ

We have had some sad days recently in our family; Tony's grandpa Russ passed away last Monday morning. We spent Thursday through Sunday in Cook spending time with family and celebrating Russ's life as well as saying our goodbyes. He was such a kind and generous person it is hard to sum up what he means to us. We will miss him dearly and I am happy he got to spend some time with Isabel but also sad to know that she will only know him through our memories.

Isabel loved to roll around in the wrapping paper and play with the empty boxes!

Birthday Girl

Last week was Gabby's 1st birthday already and Tony, Isabel and I went over to Jessica's to celebrate with their family. It is hard to believe that a year has passed since she was born; it seems like yesterday that I went to visit her in the hospital thinking "this is going to be me in 4 months". Oh my how things have changed in a year! Here is the birthday girl opening a few of her presents.

The Pascuzzi family : )

(Louis and Oliver are mad that they aren't in the picture)

Louis and Oliver love Halloween because they think that all of the people coming to the door are coming to see them! The only thing that scared Ollie was a little boy dressed as Elmo. He put his face against the glass and I think Ollie thought he was an animal. He barked really loud and then he felt silly about it.

Isabel was a bee for Halloween and she was very sweet like honey. I put Cheerios in her pot so she could munch as we visited people.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween at the Pascuzzi house. Isabel went to a party at daycare in the morning and she went around our cul-de-sac trick-or-treating in the evening. The neighbors bought special treats for her like animal crackers and cheerios. Tony and Izzy also carved pumpkins outside on the patio because it was such a nice day outside. Grandma Diane came down to visit and watch Izzy so Tony and I could go to a party at our friends Lori and Ryan's. Here are a couple pictures of the fun weekend!

Moving

Isabel is not crawling yet by definition but she is definitely able to get around by pushing herself backwards on her belly. She also will log roll to pick up something that she wants. Today she managed to get to the lamp cord and the DVD player and pull all the DVDs down: I am afraid that soon nothing will be safe from her little fingers! She is getting really fast on her belly so I can only imagin how fast she will be on her hands and knees.

Friends

My friend Josie and her son Lucas came for a visit about a week ago and Izzy loved to pull on him and touch his face. He is 4 1/2 months old so he wasn't as into grabbing as her but he is a really mellow little guy so it was all good. Josie and I have been walking together since before our babies were born and it was one of the only days that we didn't walk because it was literally snowing outside! Only in Minnesota can the weather change so fast! We are looking foreword to future play dates!

Thanks for checking in on me and my family!

Love, Izzy

Teeth

It is hard to get a good picture of Izzy's teeth but here you go! She wanted to grab the camera. Look at all that beautiful hair too!