Merry Christmas....a few days late.

We hope you all had a very happy and merry Christmas this year, getting to spend time with family and friends! Here in Colorado, we had a white Christmas...and cold too. It was very beautiful and made the spirit of Christmas even more magical!

This year, we hosted a casual Christmas Eve meal for the Martini family. Grandpa Martini joined us this year, flying in from Detroit. He really enjoyed spending time with Isabella and Jackson and marvelling at how much they have grown! Christmas morning was very relaxing for us. Isabella was great and slept in until 8:30! I know in years to come we will be wishing for that to happen again. We know that as she gets older, the excitement will grow for the arrival of Christmas morning! We then spent the rest of the day at Grandpa and Grandma Martini's for a wonderful Christmas dinner and family fun! It was great to see Isabella and Jackson playing together with some new toys! All in all, I think Isabella enjoyed herself on Christmas this year. Check out the pictures below to see....



Whoa! The Christmas bear is as big as me!

She loves pushing around her baby stroller.

Jackson and Isabella with their matching train toys.

Isabella showing off her new sunglasses and slinky.

Isabella is a gift herself!

One of her fun toys.....a vacuum.

Opening up her presents.

Learning to jump

I apologize that this video is sideways. I have tried for awhile now to get it turned right side up, but nothing is working. Hopefully you can still enjoy her "jumping".

Winter time fun

Technically as I write this, it isn't officially winter until tomorrow. It just seems like it has been winter for a long time already. There is still snow on the ground from a few weeks ago! Although, this weekend has been a balmy 50 degrees!

It is the Sunday before Christmas and I'm sure it is going to be a busy week for all of us as we prepare to spend time with our families and celebrate the birth of Christ! What fun it will be! Anthony, Isabella and I will be hosting Christmas Eve with the Martini's! We will just have a casual evening, as Christmas day will bring lots more food and fun! I'm hoping that Isabella enjoys Christmas morning this year. I know in the years to come, it will be even more exciting. Yesterday we tried to go visit Santa. It was a mistake to try to go on the Saturday before Christmas, but we thought we'd try. The line was over 90 minutes long, first of all. Secondly, to pass the time, Isabella and I went walking around the mall. She was walking herself. Well, she ended up falling 3 times face first and ended up with a fat lip as well as sobbing each time. So, that ended the waiting in line for Santa. Maybe we will try in the morning during the week this week. In the end, we finished the trauma of it all with a yummy Cinnabon.....that made all of us feel better. :)

Today we had some fun. Isabella made us laugh a lot!! I have a couple of videos to show you all of her latest accomplishments. I also have gotten Isabella to wear pigtails in her hair, now that it is longer. Even though it doesn't last long, she looks darn cute! Enjoy the videos and pictures!!

We would like to say to all of our out of town family that we love you and miss you and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!

(I couldn't upload the second video, so it will be on the next post.)

Is everyone as busy as we are trying to get ready for Christmas and celebrate the birth of Jesus! We are getting very excited this year, because Isabella we get to share the excitement with Isabella. She loves looking the the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Of course, all of the ball ornaments, she calls "ball", well because they are round and do look like balls. She also likes to point out Daddy in one of the ornaments that has our picture on it. We have been lucky so far, she hasn't tried to rip any of them off the tree.....yet.

Today we went to a special holiday music class. It was fun! Now, Isabella has started to dance....which is very funny to watch. So, she did a little of that when she wasn't just staring at everyone else. I have been trying to get video of her dancing, but once she sees the camera she stops to come get the camera.

We haven't made the trip to see Santa yet, but I have a feeling that this year won't be as pleasant as last year. Last year she didn't care who was holding her, she just smiled. This year she has become a little more aware of people and of course who is the mommy, so it should be exciting!

We had our annual holiday party last Saturday night. Would you believe that Isabella slept through it all! We had probably over 50 come throughout the night. We invited family, friends and neighbors. It was a good time by all! It is so nice to have that out of the way. Now we can just enjoy the season.

Enjoy the last days of the busy holiday season! To all of us experiencing this freezing cold and snowy weather....stay warm! Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

I know I am a few days late but we want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! Isabella and I spent most of November in Peoria visiting family and friends. We had a great time staying with Grandma H. and visiting Grandpa ("papa") H. The time went by so fast, as it always does. We were kept very busy seeing everyone. Anthony joined us on Saturday the 21st for a few days.

One day we went to Tanner's Apple Orchard with Aunt Diane, Hannah and Grandma. Isabella loved the goats and llamas and rode the horse. I can't believe that she let the goats lick her hands! She would just giggle. It was very cute.

Isabella also had her first taste of Avanti's. If you are from Peoria, then you will know that this is a big deal because everyone loves Avanti's and it is one of the first places we go to eat when we get into town. I even tried to give Isabella a little piano lesson while we were there. I'm thinking she might be a little piano player. We will wait and see.

We went to Uncle Gary and Aunt Lesa's house a couple of times. They have 2 big dogs, Lucy and Toby, both of which Isabella absolutely loved! Even though Toby knocked her over a couple of times due to excitement, she wanted them around. Now when Isabella asks for a dog, we will just send her to Uncle Gary's house to spend time with their dogs.

We had a great Thanksgiving meal on Sunday at Aunt Diane and Uncle Tim's house. Isabella loved the sweet potatoes! It was a very yummy meal. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! We also got to see some Hohulin cousins later that evening. It was a great time!

Thanksgiving evening, we had to fly back home. We had a nice morning though. We had breakfast at Grandma's house, had a little Christmas with Grandma and then went to visit "Papa" H. It was a good day and thankfully the plane ride home was uneventful. We came home to beautiful 60 degree weather with the sun shining all day. I do miss my family in Peoria, but we are always glad to get away from the dreary Illinois winter weather. (Sorry to rub it in)

I have included some pictures from our visit. Enjoy the next few weeks before Christmas!!

Isabella with Grandma and Grandpa Hohulin....and us too.

Isabella with most of her cousins.Isabella tickling the ivorys.Riding the horsey!!
Letting the goats lick her hand.

Happy Halloween!

Even though the middle of last week brought us a snow storm, dumping about 2 feet of snow, we ended up having a beautiful weekend. The sun came out and started melting some of the snow. We dressed Isabella up in her bumble bee costume and took her to a couple of houses to trick or treat. She is still to young to really care about going around and collecting candy. Still, we had a good time with the Martini side of the family at Jill & Alex's house for some dinner and sweets. It is always fun to get Isabella and Jackson together to play. Enjoy the pictures below of our Halloween!

Getting the kids ready to trick or treat!

Isabella, the cutest bumble bee in town!

Anthony decided to dress up like a clown Friday night for a dinner party...this is the hair.

I decided to be Betty Crocker for the day and made this pumpkin cake. It was pretty yummy too!

15 Months...Already?

Our "growing Martini" is now 15 months old. So, that means doctor check-up time. Again, I am always hopeful that Isabella will have gained a few pounds since the last doctor visit. But, today she weighed in at 15lb 13oz and has grown 1 inch. She has gained only 1 pound in 3 months. It seems frustrating to me, but again, the doctor is not worried because she continues to move up on the percentage chart. In all honesty, I wish I could be soo slim. (Ha Ha) Developmentally, Isabella continues to be on track. She can FINALLY get herself turned around and down the stairs. It makes us a little less nervous now. We are trying to learn to say new words all of the time. She is getting really good at barking. She seems to think all animals make that noise. :)

Isabella now likes to help out in the kitchen, especially since I showed her where to find the Tupperware and she can always find the bags of candy in our pantry. She has also become found of opening and closing doors. That is OK, but we have child locks on the cabinets and she likes to shut it, then can't get it back open. So, I have to stand there to help her get it open. I guess it would be wise to take the lock off of the Tupperware cabinet. We also like to play hide-n-seek around the house. It is pretty much me going to hide and then coming back out to find and scare Isabella. She gets lots of giggles out of it.

Here are some recent pictures. Hope you all are well and are enjoying this crazy Autumn weather.

Here are the measuring cups!

Let me find some bowls for you Mommy.I'm trying to find the perfect pumpkin!I love bath time!!!

After writing and posting the last blog post, I had forgotten some things about Isabella. An important one is that her 2 top front teeth have FINALLY broke through and of course, the drool has increased too! Yesterday while eating dinner, it was funny to hear a crunch sound come from her. We have also started going to Music Together classes on Thursday mornings. Isabella really loves it and most of the time just walks around the room clapping. Some of her best friends are even in our class....Jackson and Kate. It really is so much fun seeing all of the kids enjoying the music and marching or clapping along. We even have the CD from class that we play in the car. If any time Isabella gets a little whiney in the car, I just put on the CD and she is good to go! There are no new words to her vocabulary.....it seems that if you ask her what something is, the answer is always "da da". So, we are always working on new words.

Just doing some light reading....

She has her little ducky in her mouth.....she is definitely teething. She will walk around the house with that in her mouth.

It really is amazing to watch how a child develops in their early years. One day they may not walk or talk and the next they will! I thought I would just let you know of Isabella's latest developments.

She is continuing to get better and better at walking. We had to buy her some shoes that fit now, so that she can walk around outside, etc. There have been a few words spoken....."ball", "more" (as well as signing the word "more") and just the other day, she was mocking the neighbors dog by saying "ruff ruff"! So now, you can ask her "what does the doggy say?" Granted, if you didn't live with her 24/7, you might not know that it is "ruff ruff", but if you listen closely enough, you'll get it. Other than that, she continues to jabber conversations to us that we just play along with.

Below are some pictures we have taken recently. I thought they were too cute not to share.

Spending some time swinging at the park.

Playing with cousin Jackson at the park.

GOOOOO Broncos!!

An Exciting End To The Week!

It is now September, Labor Day weekend, and I guess that means the end of summer. I love summer so much, so in a way, I am kind of sad. But, today was a great day, a great way to end the summer, one that put a big smile on my face. Today was the day Isabella walked around the house by herself!! No more holding Mom's finger to walk her laps around the house. It just so happens that she waited for her Dad to get home from his business trip too! Needless to say, we are very proud parents this evening and we want to share our excitement with everyone!!

We hope everyone has a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!

(p.s. Just a reminder to those of you who get this emailed to you, you won't be able to watch the video unless you go to our website ( www.growingmartini.blogspot.com) .)

Misc. Isabella

I had last blogged that Isabella has figured out how to go up the stairs. She is getting quite good at going up, but she still doesn't understand that she needs to turn around and go down feet first. We have since had to put up one baby gate so far. The pictures below are of Isabella in action going up the stairs!

I made it! HA HA HA

Now her new toy is my exercise ball! At first she was scared of it, but at the same time wanted to see it and would just point at it saying "oohh". Well, now she likes to walk with it. As you can see from the pictures, Isabella is smaller than the ball, almost! She still doesn't want to walk on her own. She is either a chicken or just lazy. I guess I should just be patient because I will be running to chase her around soon enough. I'm sure she won't stop when she gets going!

Is anybody in there?

Yikes! Stairs?!

Yesterday I found Isabella on the stairs. She had crawled up 2 of them. That was surprising for sure! Then today, just when I thought Isabella was playing nicely downstairs in the family room, she had crawled up all 4 of the stairs and was crawling toward me into the kitchen! It stunned me for a second and then all I could do was laugh. Isabella had this huge smile on her face.....like it was no big deal! I'm glad that she has started to master the stairs because we have a lot of them in our house. I just need to teach her how to get down now!

Recent Fun/Laura's Visit

Over last 10 days Anthony and I and Jill and Alex hosted Anthony's cousin Laura from Sicily. She had never been to Colorado and we had never met her. We had such a lovely time with her and it was sad to see her go. When she wasn't out exploring by herself, we tried to take her to see some of the beautiful Colorado sights. Jill and I, along with the babies, took her to Red Rocks, the Aquarium, and Breckenridge. We had great times and made many memories to share of her visit. We even learned some Italian words that we can teach Isabella. The babies really enjoyed her company too! One evening, Laura treated us with a homemade Sicilian meal. It was fabulous! I just wish I would have taken more pictures.

We had a evening of family fun. Laura is the one sitting in between Jill & me. Isabella was already in bed for this photo.

We took Laura up to Red Rocks. It was a beautiful day!

A sleeping baby on the way home from Breckenridge. Love it!

I wanted to share this video of Isabella walking behind her new toy. One afternoon we went in circles around the kitchen/dining room/living room....about 20 times! (No joke!) She was getting lots of practice this day. She was exhausted that evening!

Family Time

Last week Isabella took a ride up to Beaver Creek with Mommy and Grandma. Uncle Gary, Aunt Lesa, Alec & Justine and Uncle Tim, Aunt Diane, Hannah & Caleb were staying there all week staying busy hiking and white water rafting. We wanted to go visit them there and enjoy the beautiful Rocky Mountains. It was a fun day. We walked around the village of Beaver Creek. We ate some lunch together and treated ourselves with Gelato! YUM! It was so much fun being together. We wish we could have shared it with the rest of the family.

The rest of the week Isabella spent her time with Grandma Marie. They read books, played, went to breakfast and shopping. I know Grandma enjoyed watching Isabella "cruise" around the furniture and her toys. It is fun to watch how cautious she is, but each time, she gets faster and faster. Isabella enjoyed having Grandma here and she is looking forward to seeing her and Grandpa Vern again....hopefully in a few months. But, by then she will probably be running around. Oh how they change and grow so fast. For example, the last picture of this post is one of Bryce and Isabella. Bryce is the oldest grandchild (31) and he is holding Isabella (1), who is the youngest of the 12 total Hohulin grandchildren!

Isabella is a 1 year old!

Wow, how time flies! Isabella celebrated her 1st Birthday last Sunday, July 12th. It seems like yesterday we were announcing her birth to you all! We had a fun balloon themed party for her. Grandma Marie, Aunt Diane, Uncle Tim, Hannah and Caleb drove in from Illinois, as well as, Uncle Gary, Aunt Lesa and Alec and Justine. It was great to have them here for the special day. We appreciate that they made the trip here. Now everyone but Grandma is enjoying the mountains this week. We are going to be sad when they have to go. Of course, the Martini family was here, as well as some good friends. At first Isabella wasn't too sure about the cake, but once she got a taste of it, she dug into it! I think she has a sweet tooth, just like her Grandpa Vern....and her parents!

Isabella had her 12 month appointment this week. I was hoping she was going to weigh over 15lbs, but she weighed 14lb 14oz. That was only a 1 pound gain since the 9 month appointment. She did grow 2 inches though and the doctor was very pleased with her growth. We think she is going to be tall and slim. Which is great in my book!! She has really been "cruising" around the furniture and her toys more and more. One of these times, she is just going to take off, even though right now she is still pretty cautious. She has also found interest in the stairs, so it looks like I will be teaching her how to get up and down soon! It is always so amazing to watch the changes daily. She may be tiny, but she knows what to do and definitely has an opinion already! Today she did something new....I mentioned something about her messy hair, and she reached up and put her hand through her hair! Just when you think they don't understand what you're talking about!

Enjoy some pictures from her Birthday below!



YUM Cake!

Yeah! I'm 1 today!

Enjoying some of her presents! She loves books!