Merry Christmas!

A Hill Country Christmas

Tonight we made the 30 minute trip north to New Braunfels, TX to the home of the World Famous Schlitterbahn Water Resort. It had been transformed from a summer mecca to a winter wonderland!

The water slides were transformed into sledding hills and the swimming pools were open for ice-skating. Isabelle wore the smallest ice skates available, and although they were still two sizes too big, she braved the ice and took her first trips around a rink. She mostly liked to hold onto me and let me skate while she just glided along. She sat on both Santa and Mrs. Claus' laps and made sure they knew she lived in San Antonio, TX so that they could find her house on Christmas Eve. She played in giant gingerbread houses and saw thousands of lights. One of the funniest moments was when Isabelle saw a few girls join the carolers for a round of Rudolph and quickly made her way up front to sing along.

It was 70 degrees at 8:00pm so we were plenty warm but with fake snow falling and everyone drinking hot wassail, we almost felt like it was really cold outside.

On the way home, way past Belle's bedtime, she only had one regret..she forgot to tell Santa so many of the things she hopes he brings her this Christmas. Thank goodness Santa is full of magic!

We need a little Christmas, RIGHT this very minute!

This is exactly the spirit that has been in our home the last several days. With a 2 year-old, decorating for the holidays is really exciting and very urgent! Jelly and I spent several afternoons this past week slowly getting out a few decorations every day. She especially loves the advent calendar where each morning she finds a chocolate bell which she quickly eats. She asked me who places the candy in the calendar every night and without even thinking about it, I replied the snowmen! When Ben got home from work that night, Jelly exclaimed Dad, did you know this is my special calendar and snowmen-fairies come in the night and bring me candy! (Somehow it always turns into "fairies.")

After much anticipation, we finally put up the Christmas tree this evening. We of course wanted to wait until Ben would be home to help and it seemed like the perfect activity for Sunday night. We turned on the Christmas music and I believe it was everything Belle hoped for. We had fun telling her the story of each of our ornaments and when I showed her the 2001 Doves ornament that Ben and I received for our wedding, she said Oh, this was for your wedding? And I was still in Heaven with Baby Jesus and Joseph and Mary, right? She placed about half the ornaments on 3 or 4 branches and thought they were simply perfect! After her bath, she wanted to lay under the tree for just a few minutes before she hopped into bed. Christmas is magical when you are 2!



*Notice she is finally wearing the dress Aunt Tara bought her last year for the holidays. It is a size 2 and was so big last year...now it fits!

Come ye thankful people

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year in Houston surrounded by family and friends. Isabelle nearly drove us crazy as we packed for the trip asking "is it time to go" every few minutes. She was so anxious to get to Grammy's that we were on the road by 10:00am Wednesday morning.

We started our Thanksgiving morning early participating in the annual Coles Crossing Turkey Trot. We all ran in step and Belle was thrilled with her winning medal. We spent the day cooking and watching football and once Chris, Colleen and Max arrived from Ohio we enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner. Ben particularly loved the sweet potatoes, Belle thought the mashed potatoes were delicious and I was quite impressed with the salt-less stuffing! After dinner and a much loved Thanksgiving puppet show, we gathered around the newspaper and planned our attack for the highly anticipated Black Friday shopping spree.

At 4:00am my mom, Tara, Alee, Nick and I headed out for our first store and by 7:00am had successfully spent money in 4 different major stores. Once Belle awoke, she and Ben met us for a few more early morning shopping hot spots in their pajamas before we headed home to shower and get ready for the day. (We bought Belle a JEEP which we had no plans to buy, but one became available at 5:00am and I jumped on the opportunity. There was a line waiting for the JEEP's to be unloaded but Alee got a tip on the store's plan, so we walked straight to the back and picked up the last pink JEEP available. I almost got beat up but I successfully got it back to the check-out counter and Nick and Alee ran it home in between stores since we had already bought too much to fit it all in the car. We do not want to spoil Jelly, so we will probably save it until her birthday in March when it is Spring and pretty outside.) Once we were clean and "rested" Tara, Belle and I headed for the mall and were there just in time for a few more sales that lasted only through noon. Finally at nearly 2:00pm we had shopped and spent all that we had planned and made our way back home.

Grandma and Grandpa took Max and Belle to the movie BOLT while the rest of us watched Four Christmases. Isabelle was thrilled to go to the theatre, one of her favorite things, with her grandparents and cousin all by herself! Saturday was spent preparing for the Newlyweds open house. The backyard was beautiful and the food was delicious. We were threatened by rain but the evening turned out to be lovely and we had such a nice time visiting with so many friends. Nick's parents, Paul & Lynette, were able to make the trip from Colorado and we enjoyed getting to know them better and learning more about our newest family member. We were even surprised by a long-lost friend, Ryan, (and relative) who relocated to DFW and made the trip down to celebrate with us. We also loved seeing Ben's brother Sam and his wife Heather and Belle's only girl cousin Anna over the weekend at both the movie and reception.

Sunday and the end of the break came too quick and Belle was in tears saying goodbye to her favorite people. Max turned 4 years old on Sunday so we had a quick party and then packed our bags. Unfortunately, our usual 3 hour trip turned into more than 5 hours on the road as were constantly needing to stop with Belle who surprised us with a stomach bug. The poor baby started getting sick about an hour into the trip and spent the next 12 hours crying in pain and emptying her stomach like clockwork almost every ten minutes. It was an awful ride home and the three of us spent the night awake lying all together on the living room floor.

Despite the less than perfect ending, we had such a wonderful time celebrating with our family and we cherish every chance we get to spend with each of them. We are grateful we are so blessed and we are eager to get out our Christmas decorations.

Turkey for you, turkey for me...

We are so grateful for all that we are blessed with and look forward to a relaxing and yummy Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

(Isabelle loves these shoes that squeak when she walks. I obviously had to remove the squeakers before we left for church.)

When I Grow Up, I want to be...

Sesame Street came to town and we had 4th row seats to see the action. We met our good friends ( and Ben's boss ) the Fera's at the Freeman Coliseum and enjoyed the new Elmo Live show When I Grow Up! The Fera's have three boys: Peter, Jon and Andrew all of who adore Belle with reciprocated love. Andrew and Belle are actually only about 12 weeks apart in age so they are good little buddies and have a great time whenever they get together.

Isabelle was completely in awe during the 90 minute show and was even lucky enough to get her head patted by Cookie Monster when he danced through the aisle during the show and she also gave Elmo's big furry hand five! She kept saying I touched Elmo with my hand! Sesame Street again preformed a wonderful show filled with singing, dancing and learning. If I wasn't a PBS fan before Isabelle joined the family, I most definitely am now.

Unfortunately we arrived just moments before the show began, so I missed any great photo opportunities, but I snapped a quick picture of Belle as we were leaving. The Fera's were all chasing streamers that had fallen from the sky so I was unable to capture a photo of the 4 of them together.

Isabelle really believed she was ON Sesame Street for a few minutes and she has been talking about it ever since. What fun to be 2 years old!

A Wiggley Christmas

While at HEB this week Belle and I purchased a $1.69 VHS tape called Wiggley Wiggley Christmas. There was a big cart full of weird VHS Christmas movies and this was the one Belle was excited about. She used to enjoy The Wiggles when she was a bit younger but probably has not watched them in over a year. However, for this price, I figured even if it only entertained us for one afternoon it would be worth it!

I have created a Wiggley monster! She is obsessed with watching this movie and I am having to limit it to once a day. We only have one VCR in the house so she has to watch it on the little kitchen TV but she doesn't seem to mind. The Wiggles sing and dance for 40 minutes...and so does Belle.

This was the moment we caught last night after she insisted on putting on her tutu! (Thanks to Aunt Heather for this handmade tutu. It gets a lot of use!)

Thanksgiving may still be a few weeks away but there is a giant Wiggley Christmas spirit in the air at the Cosby house!

Fairy Dust and Magic

Isabelle has not had a good week. After a head cold went terribly wrong last Thursday, we ended up making a quick Urgent Care trip late at night, and came home with 5 different prescriptions that we are now feeling the side effects of! I actually fought giving her an oral steroid that I was concerned about but after talking to multiple doctors, friends and family members, I finally was convinced and started her on the drug 3 days later. Unfortunately, she has been grumpy and sickly ever since and we are grateful it is only a 5 day treatment plan and that we are almost halfway through. She of course had an ear infection and will be on breathing treatments at least through the New Year, but I believe if we can get off this steroid we will both be happier!

Since the steroid is an immune suppressant we have been home a lot lately and we are feeling a little cabin fever. So, today we ventured out for a short while and came home with the new Disney movie Tinkerbell. Belle and I needed a little magic and we had so much fun watching this movie together. We learn how Tinkerbell, who we all know and love, came to be who she is and the importance of her fairy wings and dust. We learn that her name is actually just Bell and she is a Tinker by trade, hence the name Tinkerbell. It was a perfect break in our long day today and my Tinkerbell and I really needed one.


Our thoughtful friend and pre-school teacher, Tiffany, brought over Belle's homework she missed at school this week and was kind enough to bring some cupcakes and enchiladas too! Belle and I held our own sort of school today and studied the letters I and J.

I will be glad when this week is over and I know sweet Belle will be too. I tried to not be too jealous of Ben tonight when he called me from NYC as he was walking to dinner to tell me that he just passed by Barney's NY and they were starting to get their holiday window decorations up. He will be home soon and we are counting down the hours until his return. I am hopeful that Belle will sleep well tonight and get back to her usual happy, smiley, silly self soon!

Yes We Can!

I have felt somewhat disconnected from this election season. Since I was old enough to vote, I have always been working on a campaign or running an exit poll, etc., and this year I simply watched the news unfold on TV. I started the year off on the Romney campaign and although I knew even then that he would not win the election, I was intrigued by his attempt and it motivated and inspired me. I was scheduled to work at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis in September, but without a candidate that I truly believed in, I passed at the opportunity.

We started our election day bright and early with a brisk jog to our polling booth and were happy to see a line of maybe 20 people already started by 7:15am. Belle was very excited and shouted "I'm going to vote for Barack Obama" in the school and we had to quickly quiet her enthusiasm. Although I cast my vote for Senator McCain, I let her push the red blinking VOTE button so that she felt that she had indeed cast her own vote. Our DVR started recording the news at 5:00pm and when Ben arrived home at nearly 8:00pm we finally started our news watching marathon. Even though the election was mostly decided before November 4th ever arrived, we still watched intently until the polls closed on the west coast and they officially named President Obama the winner of the 2008 Presidential Election. (Ben immediately got out his calculator and started estimating how much money he would lose next year! It is all fiscal-policy for him!)

It was a long and dreary night for the Republicans both locally and nationally and almost every single candidate that I voted for, lost! Even my local judge who has run uncontested for years and my Water District Representative both were defeated. And even though Senator McCain was able to carry the State Of Texas, he lost in my county! Luckily, Representative Frank J. Corte won by great margins which is always a particularly sweet victory for me!

This morning while I was jogging and passed the school with all of the campaign signs blown over from a busy night, I thought about picking one up for Rep. Corte and running a victory lap for him. (That would have been a sight to see!) He would have loved it, but when I thought about that he would not in fact actually see me doing it, I decided to run home empty handed. At home I found an elated Isabelle who was dancing to the news of the new President-Elect Obama and decided that that was success enough. At age two, she already believes in the democratic process and thinks that her vote DID matter and that she helped elect the first black President.

So, although I do not share the same vision that President Obama sees, I believe in pulling together as a country and working to keep America strong. I am grateful to live in a time when the American Dream is still alive and I am hopeful that the Grand Old Party can unite and be ready in 8 years to flourish once again. Congratulations to Barack Obama and may he be inspired to lead as we so desperately need to be led!

Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. You will have opportunities beyond anything we've ever known. - President Ronald Reagan

Halloween in the Big Easy!

Isabelle, Grammy (Jeanene) and I went on a road trip last week and drove through the swamp to New Orleans, LA. Aunt Tara was busy coordinating Arthur Murray's SUPERAMA and invited us to come work and play with her for the week. We staying in the Sheraton on Canal Street and enjoyed great accommodations right downtown with a corner suite and all of our meals expensed. Isabelle loved all of the dancing, sequins, music and people (especially Miss Suzanne) and thought she was just one of the many competitors. She was so excited when Ben flew in Friday night and she finally had a "real" dance partner! With some help from many experts I think she has mastered the basic cha cha step and has been cha cha-ing ever since.

New Orleans is known for being the Mardi Gras City and Bourbon Street has a reputation all it's own, so traditional Trick-or-Treating for Belle was not really an option. She did wear her cowgirl costume for about 12 hours on Halloween though and got plenty of treats from the hotel staff, store employees and the many dancers! She was able to charm the smooth Nick Kosovich as well as the handsome Luca Baricchi and many of the foreign dancers took pictures of Belle as the perfect little "American" girl. By noon on Halloween mostly everyone was in full costume on the streets and we are talking about the adults! We did venture out to watch a few minutes of the famous Krewe of Boo Parade but after noticing that Belle was the only blonde two year old outside at this time, we quickly made our way back to our hotel, only after she was able to celebrate with some eggs filled with candy, a stuffed dog which we named VooDoo and of course...some beads, all thrown to her by scary adults dressed in bizarre costumes riding some sort of off-road vehicle while intoxicated. It was a truly spooky Halloween!

We also enjoyed running along the Mississippi River in the mornings and having breakfast in the French District at the yummy Cafe du Monde! We watched a lot of great dancing and ate a lot of delicious food! Tonight while putting Belle to bed she turned to me and said...I miss Aunt Tara again! It was a fun trip!

All the leaves are brown...

October has been a busy month. Early on we decided that we would venture out to the Medina Love Creak Orchard and Pumpkin Patch sometime this month and let Jelly live out her dream of being a "cowgirl" for a day. However, we got back from a 7 day trip out west last week and we leave for New Orleans in the morning, so our opportunities to play with the pumpkins were pretty slim. With a little effort, we managed to squeeze in a few hours as a family so that Belle could enjoy a hayride, pet farm animals and paint a pumpkin!

Medina was much farther than we anticipated and we arrived at Love Creak only 60 minutes before closing time. Yet, we were able to rush from one event to another and managed to see most of the farm. Belle is so fascinated with animals and farm animals seem to be her favorite. She was thrilled to ride a pony, pet a goat and hold a baby chick all by herself. She begged us to bring at least one animal home and was smart enough to say "I have a good idea! We could bring home just one tiny baby chicken, they are small enough!" after Ben told her a horse was too big even for our "garden."

We were hot and sticky after our short trip to the country which didn't quite seem like Fall, but all the effort was worth it to catch these great looks on Jelly's face! Besides, she is being what else but a cowgirl for Halloween this year!

I want to stay here forever!

This is what Isabelle said last week as we traveled to Utah for my sister Alex's wedding! Alee was a beautiful bride and Belle is quite smitten with Uncle Nick. We enjoyed a classic black and white reception at the Provo Library, formerly the Brigham Young Academy, on Wednesday night and then the couple was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on a crisp October Thursday morning. The weather was beautiful and the Sealer was funny and warm. It was a perfect wedding day!

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After we enjoyed a lovely meal with all of the Christensen and Vernon family at the Radisson,the newlyweds jetted off for a honeymoon in Lake Tahoe, and the rest of us headed up to the canyon to relax for a few days in Sundance.

The Bees gathered in a 5800sq ft cabin and spent the next few days in the mountains. We enjoyed going on walks, playing games, the hot tub, a camp fire and mostly just talking and hanging out. Belle and I decided that a fully furnished cabin with wood floors and leather furniture is our type of camping!

To finish off the week, we celebrated with almost all of the Thorpe family at a fall reunion. The kids went on a pumpkin hunt and then painted their findings. We ate yummy food and enjoyed good company! We passed out our 2008 Family Scrapbook pages and this time we needed 17 copies!!! We had a wonderful time and cherish the moments we get to spend with our loved ones, especially Grandma Joan, Grandpa Neal, Hal, Janice, Pennie, Pearl, Viv and Dan, as they certainly do not come often enough! We are grateful Belle is able to know so many of her Great Grandparents and Great Aunts and Uncles.

We flew out early Tuesday morning so we stayed with my parents in Salt Lake City at a hotel on Monday night. We had a few hours before bedtime, so we made a quick trip to Temple Square and were able to watch the new movie playing in the Joseph Smith Building, Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. It was a great way to end our vacation and Belle again was heard saying...I want to stay here forever!

Squeaky Clean!

Isabelle loves to shower! It is not uncommon for her to shower two and three times a day and for long amounts of time. The other morning I came home from jogging when I was greeted by Ben telling me "Belle is in the shower waiting for you!" She had already joined Ben in the shower and he was now dressed and ready for work while she was still enjoying a warm shower. I then showered and also got out and into my bathrobe when I finally had to tell her that the water was running out and she would soon have to get out. She likes to start and finish her day squeaky clean...and Ben and I have not been able to shower alone for months!

Miss Independent!

Ben and I were quite surprised when Isabelle pointed out Barack Obama on the cover of a magazine at the bookstore a few weeks ago and declared "That's Barack Obama, but we don't want him to be the President!" We then had a quite lengthy conversation about the 2008 Presidential Election and explained to her which candidates were Republican and Democrat and who was running together, etc. Ever since, it has been the topic on her mind. Probably because the candidates are everywhere we look and we watch a fair amount of political news around our house most days. As you can see, she already has an independent mind as she declares she will be casting her pre-school vote for Senator Obama! She initially favored Senator Joe Biden and wanted him to be the next President, but when we explained to her that Obama had to win in order for Biden to enter the White House, she quickly corrected her vote. Either way, we have learned that we have to be careful about what we say at home because there are two tiny ears listening and what she hears is already influencing her little mind and opinions!

The Financial Times

This morning while I was taking a quick shower this is the conversation I heard going on in the other room:

Belle: Who's that?
Ben: A Stock Trader.
Belle: Oh, is he sad because the market crashed?
Ben: Yeah!

I guess these are the types of questions you ask when your dad reads the Wall Street Journal with you during breakfast.

The conversation carried on for a few minutes when I heard:

Belle: Don't worry, we can build a new market.
Ben: That's a good idea, we will build a new market!
Belle: I want a purple one!!!

In this grown-up world I am glad all innocence has not been lost!

A sweet treat!

This evening while Belle and I went on a walk to greet Ben on his way home from work, we passed an ice cream truck! Belle was quite interested in the weird truck driving by, very slowly, playing a silly song. I explained to her that it was simply an ice cream man who was driving around checking to see if any kids needed any dessert. She thought that was pretty cool and asked her daddy as soon as he arrived home if she could buy an ice cream. Of course Ben said yes, so we walked another block to find that silly truck. She picked a Bugs Bunny treat which Ben tasted and stated that he had no idea what the flavor was suppose to be. Belle is traditionally not a big ice cream/popsicle eater, but she enjoyed about 1/3 of Bugs before her sweet tooth was satisfied. What a fun surprise to hear an ice cream truck playing that familiar tune in our neighborhood tonight!

Tough as nails!

Isabelle never ceases to amaze us! Today was her flu-shot vaccine so I was prepared for it to be a long afternoon. I have learned that more information is better than less, with her so I told her this morning that she would be going to the doctor today for a quick shot. She plays "doctor" with her veterinarian kit all the time so she is very aware of shots and is constantly administering them to all of us. She said "maybe later" this morning when I told her the afternoon plan so I figured she was warned.

When I told her it was time to get in the car and head to the doctor she was like "okay." She never acted concerned on the way there and even peed in the doctor's potty before we headed back for the shot. Luckily since it was just a vaccine we were spared of all of the normal pediatrician hassle and were called in quickly by the nurse. She sat on my lap and we pulled her pant-leg way up while we waited. The nurse showed her the needle and then quickly cleaned her leg and gave her the shot. Isabelle just sat there still as can be and said "thank you" when she was finished.

While waiting in line to get a sticker the Office Manager, whose office is next to the "shot spot," came out and said he just had to come meet the little girl who was so brave! He had been hearing kids scream all day and he was amazed that Belle was so nonchalant about the entire visit. When telling daddy about it she said, "it was just a little ouch!"

Since no tears were shed, we celebrated with a Sonic apple juice, straight-up, her favorite!!! Now we just have to find a way to remove the band aid without her noticing...she is the only child I know who HATES band aids!