Category Archives: Isla

I <3 Summer

Posted in Family, Isla, Kara and Kyle, Life, Summer by

First of all, I’d like to just give a little fist bump for my first official blog post here at my new space!! I had some issues moving my posts from Chatter over, but I’m more or less all there. Most of my trackbacks to other posts are still jumping back to my Chatter blog, but since I don’t plan on deleting it completely, it shouldn’t bother me too much. (I’m just letting the domain expire, and it will then just become chowschatter.wordpress.com.) Maybe one day I’ll get ambitious and change everything.

Anyway – this past week has been a fun-filled and busy one! Kyle has been on holidays and it’s been absolutely amazing spending time together as a family.

First of all – Isla’s birthday was on Sunday! We had originally planned on having her birthday at the splash park but we were unfortunately rained out. Luckily, we were able to get ahold of all her guests ad redirect them to our house. We fired up our barbecue for a little hot dog cookout and Isla had such a fun time with all her family and friends. She was certainly spoiled rotten and I’m so glad that she had so many people in her life who seem to love her as much as we do! Amazingly, she even blew out her birthday candle without spitting all over her cupcake – Go Isla!!

On Monday we made out way out to Little Shuswap Lake to visit one of Kyle’s oldest friends. We try to make it out every summer to see him when he and his wife (and now little girl!) are visiting from Alberta, and almost every year we have been graced with amazing summer weather! We puttered across the lake on his dad’s boat to a beachy area and spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun! Isla had a blast playing in the sand, and while the water was a little chilly it was the perfect refresher when the sun got too hot. Every time we’re at the lake if just makes Kyle and I dream harder about owning a recreational property some day. For now, we just feel so fortunate that we have such great friends who allow us to come out and be at the lake with them for the day!

Then on Tuesday it was Canada Day!! We didn’t have any grand plans for the day since we had spent the previous day at the lake and were a little worn out still. Since Isla had received a few fun outdoor toys for the yard, we decided to hang out at home in the yard. Isla played with her new t-ball set and sprinkler, which she loved.

On Wednesday we had originally planned on going towards Kelowna to visit the kangaroo farm (you can pet kangaroos!!!) but I wasn’t feeling so great so we decided to stick close to home. Instead, we decided to visit the local wildlife park just outside of town and Isla had just as much fun! She loved seeing the grizzly bears and petting the goats.

Thursday consisted of appointments and an afternoon at Kyle’s mom’s pool and today is about the same. We’re winding down our “staycation” and getting ready for Kyle to go back to work on Monday. It’s amazing how fast the week has gone by but it’s been so much fun spending time together. Kyle’s vacation time off of work certainly doesn’t mean that our “fun” time is over though; next weekend friends are coming to stay with us because the Highland Games are taking place, and then the weekend after that I’m off to Vancouver for my friend’s bachelorette party. Whew! Jam-packed indeed :)

How is your summer going? Tell me, tell me! :D (And Happy 4th of July to all my American readers!)

Isla turns 2

Posted in Birthdays, Growing Up Isla, Isla by

To my sweet little girl, Isla:

DSC06079You’re 2-years-old today! How fast does time fly, as it seems like just yesterday Daddy and I were carefully (and nervously) bundling you up into your carseat for the first time every to take you home from the hospital. I remember the day clearly – it was wet and raining, but you didn’t make a single peep on the way home. You loved your first car ride and still love them to this day. 

Of course, you’re a lot more vocal now – pointing out all the things you see out the window (“COW! CAR! BIRD!”), and singing, how you love to sing! You’re a little camera shy, so it’s hard to get it on video, but you love singing along to your favourite songs on the radio. You seem to know most of the words to a few songs right now, so I thought I’d make note of them here so you can look them up when you’re old enough to read this:

1) American Authors: Best Day of My Life
2) Pharrell Williams: Happy
3) Avicii: Hey Brother
4) Lorde: Royals
5) Ed Sheeran: Sing

Those are all pretty popular songs right now, and I’m sure you’ll groan and think those songs are SOOO 2014, but you really do like singing to them!

You’re getting smarter and braver every day too. You refuse help more and more often and Daddy and I just have to let you do things your way. Your newest accomplishment is walking down the stairs by yourself; you go a little slow and Daddy or I have to watch and make sure you don’t take a stumble, but you’re getting better every day. You’ve learned to count to 10, although sometimes you leave the number 6 out, but every now and then you even count to 14! By the way things are going, you’re going to be better at math than me. 

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You have mastered feeding yourself and your favourite foods would definitely be pasta and rice. You love all kinds of fruit too and even eat your vegetables. Your favourite TV show is Sesame Street and when it’s on, the world stands still. Your favourite characters are Elmo and Cookie Monster – you love to pretend to eat cookies like Cookie Monster and sing along to “Elmo’s World.” 

Of course, nothing makes me happier than seeing you hang out and spend time with Daddy. You have an amazing little bond together – watching baseball together and playing “Scare Me” – where Daddy pretends to sleep and you “scare” him awake. You give him the best bedtime hugs and kisses and I just know you’re the #1 gal in his life.

You’re the best kid ever, Missy Love, and I wouldn’t change anything about you. We’re so lucky to have you in our lives and you bring so much happiness everywhere you go. 

Happy Birthday, Isla! Mommy loves you!

Currently: Isla Edition

Posted in Currently, Isla by

March10

Time // 12:27 p.m.

Place // In her high chair. It’s lunch time!

Eating // Right now it’s “gourmet” Kraft Dinner. I’ve chopped up a fresh tomato and tossed it in for extra flavour. Her favourite foods right now are blueberries, goldfish, and lasagne.

Drinking // She absolutely loves smoothies but doesn’t have them very often. It’s milk 95% of the time!

Watching // Sesame Street is her absolute favourite. She will bring me the remotes for the TV and ask, “Elmo?” And when I ask her if she wants to watch, she’ll happily yell, “ELMO!” and run to the couch. It’s adorable.

Reading // Our favourite is “Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?” Isla loves reading along and making the sounds Mr. Brown can do. (“Pop pop pop” is her favourite and is what she says when she wants to read that book.)

Learning // Animal sounds. Her favourite is to meow like a cat, but she’s getting pretty good at recognizing an animal and then making the noise it makes. We’re slowly working on our counting too. I’m still at a loss on how to teach her to properly go down the stairs though; she just wants to walk down them like we do, but needs a handrail to hold onto. (Ours isn’t low enough for her to grab.) We’ll get there.

Wanting // Everything within her reach on the countertops, which means we really have to make sure everything is pushed back from the edge of the counter at least 3″ if we don’t want Isla to touch it. She has already swiped scissors, squished raw meat, and grabbed my cellphone off the counter. Oops. Luckily, I catch her quickly enough so no damage was caused.

Enjoying // The recent sunny weather. Yesterday we took the wagon she got for Christmas out for its maiden voyage around the neighbourhood and she had a blast. She really loved going up and down the curbs and laughed over every bump.

Needing // Extra cuddles the past few days. She’s been running a fever on and off and I think her eye teeth that are coming in are to blame. Tylenol helps, but I just feel bad for her.

Anticipating // Summer! We can’t wait to play out in the sun this year.