Tea Party

This past weekend we dressed the girls up to enjoy a party at my friend Janet's house. For some reason, Isabella kept calling it a tea party. So cute. Isabella loves to have tea parties at home with Sophia.

Sunday, Isabella was thrilled to spend time with her grandparents. She said "Poppy gonna take a nap with Isabella on the couch". Ha!

It was super hot and humid (113 degrees with the heat index) so the best thing to do was to cool off in the pool.

Isabella is blowing bubbles in the water

Sophia is just chillin'

Our garden is doing good. Isabella loves being able to pick fresh tomatoes every day. Sometimes she just pops in her mouth cherry tomatoes that are not even ripe.

a fresh snack loaded with vitamins A & C

Yum!

Little Miss Sophia & Big Girl Bella

It has taken us 8 months but we finally have a bottle Sophia will take! Here she is checking out how many ounces she is putting back Mama said knock you out
Sophia is showing off those pearly whites....tooth #6 just came in
Sophia loves the swing especially when big sister is pushing

Isabella has been doing great using the potty. After 15 days of potty training she finally "dropped the kids off at the pool". That was a HUGE deal.
We made a big fuss and rewarded Isabella with a new tu-tu which she loved.
We also thought it would be a treat to surprise Bell with a big girl bed. Isabella has just started climbing out of her crib so it seemed like a good time to convert the crib.

Isabella was so excited with her big girl bed. She squealed with delight! However that excitement wore off when it was time to tuck Isabella in. She was upset and scared in her new bed. She said "Daddy broke the bed. Daddy fix it". So back to the crib for now. And yes she is still climbing out of the crib but I believe she likes the security of her crib for now.

Here is a little video taken at the food court while Sophia dined on Chicken nuggets. My girl loves chicken!

Toddler Time

This week has been loaded with lots of toddler time. One evening Isabella and I went to the library. She had so much fun! She played with puzzles, trains, and loads of books. But her favorite was the stuffed Bearnstein Bears. When it was time to leave the library, Bell tucked them in and said goodnight.Today Isabella went bowling for the 1st time and had a blast. It was interesting trying to get the kids to take turns. Isabella picked up the game pretty quick from her friends James and Molly.
Go Ball Go
With bumper guards up and this ramp, Isabella played a decent game. Go Isabella.
This week we had Bennett & Lyndon over to play. Isabella and Bennett decorated recycled binoculars with lots of stickers. The kiddos seemed to have more fun talking into them and sharing one.

Blocks were fun too...for about 10 minutes. Ahhh....the attention span of a toddler always keeps up the pace in life.

Sophia and her happy friend Lyndon

Fun times for the Schaefer girls!

Playing with color

Isabella needed a big chunky crayon she could not break so I decided to make a batch of cupcake crayons. For those who are interested here are the steps:

1. Peel the crayons - it helps to soak them in ice cold water for about a minute

Step 2: Break crayons up and put in metal cupcake wrappers.

Step 3: Heat oven to 350. Once temp is reached turn OFF the oven and put the crayon cupcakes inside for 6 minutes.

I swirled mine with a toothpick when they came out of the oven.
Once cool, remove the wrapper and Enjoy!

Look where I found Isabella waiting to color. She hopped in the swing and even strapped herself in!Fun!
Sweet Sophie

making a crayon caterpillar

My girls

Sophia and Isabella have so much fun together. No one can make Sophia laugh like her big sister can. This past week was pretty low key. Sophia was recovering from an ear infection and Isabella is still working on using the potty.Isabella wanted to sit with Sophia at the pediatricians office. She even shared her drawing board with her sick sister.
Waiting to feel better
The girls both love the water. We all enjoyed a trip to our friends pool. Here are a few pics of Isabella and Madelyn having fun. Isabella did not want to get out of the water at all but I was very impressed that she came up to me and told me she had to use the potty. It was the 1st time she has actually used the regular toilet in public! Yeah Isabella!!

Sophia passed out after splashing around

Potty Time

As you know, Isabella started potty training last week. Every day was an improvement and at the end of the 1st week was a day with no accidents! Typically Isabella has 2 accidents a day but she is getting up to go to the bathroom on her own most of the time.

Below are photos of our potty training journey. The 4th of July was a great weekend to start potty training since it was a 3 day weekend. I needed to give lots attention to Isabella and her signals to use the potty. We pumped her full of liquids all day and kept the potty near us. After 5 days of staying home we ventured into public with Isabella in big girl panties. I was armed with a potty seat/ chair , change of clothes, spare underwear and rewards. We headed to Barnes & Noble story time to meet our playgroup. Isabella used her potty in the bathroom and things seemed good to go. Well wouldn't you know it she had an accident less than 5 minutes later right on the stage in the middle of story time. Luckily, she had on rubber pants so there was little mess to deal with. My little lion is ready to go!
Day 2 of Potty training

Notice my red face? I had returned from a 3 mile run in 101 degree heat and needed the pool to cool me off!
Sophia is maxin' & relaxin'

Day 4 of potty training at home with Kate

Day 6

Keeping the rug dry

Sick Sophie. Poor sweetheart has had a high fever for 4 days and is still a trouper. She has an ear infection and a cold on top of it. Today at the pediatricians office Isabella had to go to the potty. I came equipped with my handy dandy potette!

Big girl Bella

Another cute story, Isabella does not want to wear diapers for nap or bedtime but she does not always stay dry so Will got Pull-ups for her. She thought they were diapers and did not want them. But I am a marketing genius and named the "Princess night-night underpants". She loves it!

Bell & the Tomatoes

Isabella loves to pick and eat fresh tomatoes from our garden. The tomato plants are doing well. Unfortunately the neighborhood critters seems to be enjoying the majority of our crop. Will is enclosing the gardens so hopefully that will do the trick!


Our 1st cucumber
The sunflower Isabella planted just bloomed and she said "Its so pretty!".

We truly enjoy our garden.