Details

I am having minor surgery tomorrow, and I will not be able to hold either one of my girls for 4-6 weeks.  I thought about this as I rocked and prayed with Isabelle tonight.  What if something happened to me?  What if something happened to Brian? 

No one else knows how Isabelle INSISTS on saying the "in Jesus' name, Amen" part of the prayer...

And how when I say "thank you for the blessings you give us every single day" she stops me and asks (every single time) "What's every single day mommy?"

how she has to have her little blanket (buddy) silky side up on her pillow underneath her head before she lays down... 

how if there is even just a little bump in her buddy she will meticulously smooth it out before laying back down...

and how her buddy has to lay with the longer sides laying horizontally....

how she has to hear "Colors of the Wind" before she closes her eyes...

and she will usually stop me to say her favorite line is "come roll in all the riches all around you"..

how it relaxes her to have the back of her ears rubbed...

I could go on and on and on about both of my children. The point it, I don't want to fast forward to a time where I don't remember these details... or wake up one morning and realize my children no longer share these little intricacies with me.  I don't want to be too busy to notice... or too self absorbed to care.  They are the most important thing. Period.

I will clutch these moments tightly... and let my girls know that I love every single little detail that make them mine.

A Princess is Born

Isabelle made her first "Build a Bear" for her third birthday!  She picked out a really sweet monkey that she named Princess (aka Rapunzel, or monkey -- whichever she's in the mood for).  Here she is picking out Princess' outfit :)

Successful Pinterest Project!

It has been SO HOT outside!! Pinterest has a lot of great ideas... but a few of them that I've tried have turned out less than ideal.  This idea, however, was awesome.  Carrie froze a ton of neat little toys into two blocks of ice.  Using warm salt water, water guns, water bottles, tooth brushes, hammers (plastic of course), and a  variety of other fun tools, Izzy and her best buddy Brady spent about 30 minutes excavating their new toys.  They had such a blast!!

My baby will be walking soon

Olivia is almost 9 months old: crazy, but true.  I honestly believe she has to be one of the happiest babies ever!  She is full of joy and life.  The only time she cries is if she wakes in the middle of the night.  I prayed so hard for a chubby, happy baby, and boy did God come through.  She is getting ready to take her first steps.  Whenever she does something new, she looks up at us with anticipation for our approval.  As you can see in the video below, she is getting pretty good on her little walker.

I am so excited to have my two amazing little ladies.  They are so much fun, and I am literally the luckiest mommy in the world.  God is so good!

Is it possible that my baby is THREE???

My sweet little girl turned three this week.  It is so unbelievable to me that time has flown so quickly by.  It seems like just yesterday I was changing her diapers and shushing her to sleep.  Now, she is fully potty-trained, articulate, and EVEN dressing herself (as of today).  She is so sweet and spunky, and I thank God for her every single day.

I say she is "spunky," here is an example of her "spunkiness" from today:
 "No, Mommy - Daddy is in charge!!"
"Yes, Isabelle, Daddy and MOMMY are in charge." 
"No, Mommy, Mimi is in charge!"
 "Yes, Isabelle, when Mommy and Daddy aren't here, you need to listen to your Mimi." 
((smirk on her face as she looks at her stuffed animals across the room))
"Buzz Lightyear is in charge?"

LOL......  I will cherish these little conversations forever.

Our CRAZY Two Week Vacation!

We must have been insane thinking that two weeks of vacation would be in some way relaxing with two children under the age of three.  But, even though "restful" would not describe our vacation, we still had an amazing time. Making memories is what family vacations are all about - and we certainly succeeded in that!  We began in Rockville, IN with our best friends the Melins.  Rockville is a small town, and we were still 30 minutes away from there!  The last mile and a half of our drive to the vacation house was on single lane gravel roads lined with acres of corn fields!  The house had an incredible view of the lake and was in pretty good shape.  We had to do a lot of baby-proofing upon arrival, but we made it our home in no time.  It was so great to catch up with our friends and see how Chase had grown... and meet Hazen! We just love them! After seven days we loaded up in the car and made our way to North Carolina!

In North Carolina, we spent two days as just the four of us in Brevard.  Then, the rest of the "Kline" clan met up with us in the four bedroom, 1945 home on seven acres of forest.  I was disappointed that we didn't have a view of the mountains from the house, but the house did not disappoint in the "excitement" category.  We had more than a few "close encounters" during the week, with lights flickering in the middle of the night, doors opening randomly, and the alarm clock reading 11:95 in the middle of the night.  I had three requests while I was in my childhood vacation spot: to eat at Pisgah Inn, hike John Rock, and play in Davidson River creek with my children.  I accomplished all of this and more.  It was great to see our nephew Aiden, who is getting so big!  Josh and Cherissa joined us on our long hike on John Rock, and it was a fun time to catch up with them as well.  My mom was in heaven with all of her family under one roof.  We are so thankful and blessed to be able to go on a vacation like this!

Life is sweet!

I have not been updating this blog as much as I'd like to!! My smart phone makes it so easy for me to load to facebook...

The baby is OUT OF CONTROL cruising on EVERYTHING.... as seen in the above video.  She always has at least one bruise on her sweet little head!  She also has two little bottom teeth... and she thinks it is HILARIOUS to brush them!

Isabelle is amazing! She is such a little athlete now... climbing, running, jumping... keeping up with kids two years older than her!  It is amazing to really be able to have conversations with her now too... she understands and is able to communicate on a whole new level now.

We are so blessed!

Music to My Ears

Olivia and Izzy simply adore each other.  Isabelle is not jealous of the attention her sister receives (or at least she doesn't take it out on her sister... she may take it out on Mommy a little bit).  Olivia always has smiles and giggles for her big sister.  Here is a sweet video of them laughing at each other.  This is pure joy for us!!

Izzy and Olivia March 28 - a typical morning

A Typical Morning with the Loscalzo Girls

A Day with Daddy at The Aquarium

Our lovely life with two little girls

Life is busy at the Loscalzo house!  Who knew that two little girls could be so much work! Olivia has started getting around.  I'll put her down on her playmat and look over and she'll be 6 feet away from where I put her!! She can roll in both directions now, and she's discovered that means she can get places :)  Here's one of the first times she made it from her back to her stomach.

Isabelle is hilarious now - she can seriously say everything!  She told us the other day that she was "just kidding." She loves to dance to "Stepping Time" from Mary Poppins.  I would like to get her into gymnastics or dance in the next couple months since we're not going to put her in preschool next year.  She is almost potty trained - if we have her at home in panties she almost never has an accident.  It's very nice to not have a bucket full of diapers from both girls :)

Life is sweet!!

Here she is running around with her cousin Katie at Grandma and "Paga's" house!