A day at the park with the Caussey family!

We went to one of Jordan's volleyball tournaments in Graham and Barbara met up with us there. After Jordan's game was over, we all went to the park together. This was probably only the second time that Izabella had gone to a public park and she had a blast! Of course any time she is spending with her cousins she is have a great time! What a great day at the park!!

Izabella is 14 Months Old!

Izabella is now 14 months old and is growing like a weed! She changes so much every day and does something new all the time! She is "singing" and "dancing" all the time. We get so tickled just watching her and wait to see what she will do next!

She has never liked shoes before and I could NEVER get her to leave them on. We went to go spend a few days at my parent's house while Chris was taking a class for a few days. I brought shoes with us, as I always do, just in case. Usually it is in vain. But this trip, she found a pair of the shoes, brought them to me and had me put them on her. I don't think she has taken them off since! She loves them! I try to change up the shoes on her, but she really has her favorite pair....which are the ones she brought me the first time! We are just glad she is FINALLY wearing shoes!

People have told me that you think that whatever stage you are at with your child is the best and that it could never get any better. I now understand what they meant! Every age is the best! That is until the next month comes!!!!

Fun in the water!

Izabella LOVES it outside and enjoys helping her daddy water our tree and plants. What fun she had with the water hose and sprayer!!

Izabella is 13 Months Old!

What a fun summer we are having! It has been hot so Izabella has sent most of her days in her diaper. I never thought I would be a mom to let their child do that, however, if we could all run around in just our undies I think we would! So why not let her?! She looks cute in it anyway.

Izabella is so much fun and is learning something new every single day. She is starting to point to her body parts now. She really knows where her toes are because of the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes!" She won't point to the rest, just the toes! She also does her own version of patty cake! So cute!

I know that we assume what it is going to be like when we are mothers, but you really have no idea until you are actually there! She is such a sweet baby, most of the time anyway. She is still a great sleeper, which we feel so blessed to have! We truly are so lucky to have such a beautiful, happy baby! Life is GOOD!

Izabella is Walking!!

Chris has been asking when Izabella was going to start walking since she was 6 months old. Of course I laughed at him and would say when she is ready! We did think that she would start walking early since she started crawling, pulling up and cruising so early. Boy were we wrong! So we kept wondering when this day would finally happen, and now it has! How exciting!! We have been waiting and waiting for her to walk and she finally is!!

A few days after she turned 13 months, Chris and I were sitting on opposite sides of the living room and she would take a step or two. We would cheer her on and she would get up and do it again. Next thing we know, she was walking all the way back and forth between us! But the funny thing was when she would walk half-way between us, then look between her legs and look back at us. Then she would try and look between her legs WHILE she was also trying to walk! It was so funny and cute!!

Everyone keeps telling us, "when she starts walking, you will be wishing she wasn't." However, we are really excited that she is actaully walking now! But since she had started crawling so early, she was REALLY good at it and boy was she fast! So she was already getting into everything anyway, without walking! Soo exciting to reach another milestone!! I am sure she will be running soon too!

Family Vacation July 2009

The first weekend of July, we headed out to our timeshare in East Texas. We met up with my sister Rebecca and her family in Canton for some "shopping" before we went to our cabin. Boy was it HOT!!!! It has been a long time since I have been to Canton and forgot how big it is! Could have spent so much money on things I wanted.....but since I didn't NEED it, I passed most of it by!! Want to go back when it is cooler so it isn't so miserable! Maybe that is where we will do our Christmas shopping! :)

We made it to the cabin late that evening. The boys headed to play putt putt while K'Leigh and Izabella enjoyed a movie and Rebecca and I enjoyed catching up. The cabin has stairs which Izabella quickly learned how to use. She was constantly trying to get up the stairs to see what was up there! We finally had to put chairs in front of the bottom of them so she couldn't get through!!

We had a nice and relaxing time while we were there. We spent some time at the waterpark that is on the timeshare grounds, we swam, and swam, played putt putt and cooked out. One of the swimming pools had a beach entry with three fountains. Izabella had so much fun crawling as far as she could until the water was up to her nose. She had fun playing with the fountains too. Her and her daddy went to the deep end where she hung on to her daddy tight, but did have a blast jumping off the side into his arms. There were lots of kids there and they all found their way over to Izabella. Several of the little girls just HAD to get their hands on her. Some wanted to hold her and others just wanted to play with her. She found lots of friends and enjoyed playing with every single one of them! She even had lots of hugs to pass out to them! I don't know if she has ever met a stranger. I guess she is going to be very social like her daddy!

The timeshare put on a beautiful fireworks show on the night of July 4th. In the beginning, Izabella wasn't sure what to think about them, but once she got use to the noise, she started to enjoy the lights in the sky. She kept pointing to them as they exploded. We were all impressed with the show. And once we got back to the cabin, Izabella crashed because she had had a LONG day!

We had such a nice time and it was so good to get away for a little while. But as I am sure all of you know, it is so wonderful to get back to your own home in your own bed! Izabella didn't sleep that great while we were gone, so we were ready to get her back in HER bed so we could all get a good nights sleep again!!

Splish Splash!!

During our round trip on Father's Day weekend, we stopped by some friends house on our way home. They have a beautiful pool and Chris decided that Izabella needed to try it out. This was her first experience in a "big" swimming pool. She had so much fun and LOVED it!! It was hard getting her out once he put her in! We might just have a fish on our hands!

Father's Day Weekend 2009

Happy Father's Day!! We had a nice weekend and were able to spend sometime with both dad's. We made a huge round trip from Wichita Falls, to Denton, back home then to Stephenville. It was a long weekend but worth getting to spend time with our fathers!

McConal Reunion

We had our McConal reunion June 12-14. It was so nice to see everyone since we were not able to go last year. Izabella was just a few days old, so we opted out! Hard to believe it has already been a year! Izabella was able to meet alot of family and she was a HIT with all her little cousins. They passed her around like she was a doll.....and she LOVED every minute of it! It was a great time for all of us!

Izabella is one year old!!

Izabella is a year old! Did this past year really fly by that fast?! I am just amazed at how fast children grow and change. She is learning so much now and is so much fun! She still isn't walking "officially", but she is standing up GREAT and will take a step every now and again. Since she started to pull up and crawl so early, we just knew she would walk early too. We were WRONG! I think she is such a good crawler that she thinks what is the point in this walking thing, I can't get there near as fast! She can stand so she can still get into everything that she wants to! I know everyone says, once she is walking, you will wish she wasn't! But she gets into everything anyway, so walking won't change things much! :)


I took her for her one year check up, and shots (YUK). The NP told us that she was worried about her weight. She is a petite little thing! She only weighs 18 lbs and 7 oz. and is 29 1/2 inches long. Had only gained a few oz since her last visit. BUT she eats so well and is healthy, so we aren't to worried about it right now. I did let the NP know that her daddy only weighed about 110 soaking wet when he graduated from HS! We know that she will get a growth spurt when her little body is ready! Besides, I hope she DOES have her daddy's metabolism and not mine!!

She is such a joy to Chris and I. We are always smiling at the little things she does. She is such a cutie! We are so blessed!!

Izabella's 1st Birthday Party! Cakes and Presents

Izabella's 1st Birthday Party!

Izabella's 1st Birthday Party!

What a fun day we had for Izabella's very first birthday party! No, I cannot believe that her first year has already come and gone! Is there any way to slow this down?! I just want to bottle her up like she is right now!

We decided to have a luau for her party which was so much fun. We had grass skirts, flowers, pink flamingos, and palm trees set up everywhere. We had a great turn out too. And for all who attended, they were greeted by my nephew, Slade-our "lei man", and adorned with their own lei to wear! We had some great food for all to eat. And yes, we had to much! Chris smoked brisket, pork loins, chichen breasts, 2 beer-can chickens, and some ribs. It was all SO YUMMY!! We also had all the fixin's to go with the meat. Granddaddy McConal, brought some yummy homemade potato salad, and Grandpa Terry brought some tasty homemade ice cream. Everything was so good and I don't think anyone walked away hungry!

As for Izabella, we had her dressed up in a grass-skirt, lei, and floral bracelets to match! If I must say so myself, she looked pretty cute! :) She is not walking yet, but standing up great. There were several people already here, and we stood her up after we put on her grass skirt and leis. She stood there for SEVERAL minutes and put on a show for everyone. She clapped, did her "woohoo", smiled and cooed the entire time. It was so cute and I was so thrilled that everyone got to see all of her little "tricks"! What a precious little girl we have!

She was overwhelmed with gifts and loved every one of them! She looks so cute in all of her outfits and has loved to play with all of her new toys. Not only are we truly blessed to have such a sweet and wonderful little girl, but also to have such wonderful, caring, and loving family and friends!! Thanks to all who made her day so special!!

Izabella is 11 Months old!!

Wow! I truly can't believe that Izabella's first birthday is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!! This year has gone by way to fast! And every bit of it has been wonderful. Each stage just seems to get better and better. She is still so sweet and happy. She loves on everyone with her big hugs and VERY wet kisses. She is standing by herself more and more, but is still not interested in walking. She has taken a few steps, but then drops to her knees and crawls. I figure it is because she can get there faster! When she started crawling and pulling up at 6 months, we really thought she would be walking early......we were wrong! I guess that may actually be the reason why she ISN'T walking yet. She is just so good at crawling, why change it?! She is now waving, giving high-five's and throwing her hands up to say "WOOHOO"! She is learning so much every day. Sometime she amazes me! We love her more and more each and every day! We are getting ready for her first birthday which is going to be a luau. I can't wait! It is going to be so much fun! I just can't believe it is already here!!

Pictures for Mother's Day

These are pictures I took of all the McConal Grandkids to use for my mom's Mother's Day present. They turned out much better than I could have hoped for! We have some pretty good lookin' kids in our family!! There is alot of love among them too! Cousins are the best!! This year was my very first Mother's Day and I couldn't ask to be more blessed than I already am! What a sweet child we were blessed with! Happy Mother's day to all!!

Izabella is 10 Months old!

Ten months come and gone! These months are flying by so fast! I wish I could bottle up her at this age and keep her like this forever! She is so sweet and loving. We are so blessed!! She is starting to stand on her own now, but still not taking a step.....she just isn't interested! She is also giving nice, big, WET kisses and "big hugs"! And we take all that we can get! She is growing like a weed and it is amazing at how much she changes and learns each and every day. We just couldn't imagine our life without her!!

Texas Bluebonnets!

These are Izabella's first pictures in a field of Texas Bluebonnets. I remember my dad takin' our pictures so I guess I have to carry on the tradition! This is the first of many years to come! Gotta love those Texas Bluebonnets!! Out of the entire field we used, there was only one set of Indian Paintbrush wildflowers so we used what we could!! Izabella was given her first pair of cowboy boots by her Aunt Tash the week before and even though we knew they were too big, we wanted to get some pictures with them. They didn't stay on long, but got at least one good shot! Izabella is flower among the flowers!!