We headed to Dallas for Christmas with Ashley's family. That just seemed like the best place for all of us to meet up. We had a wonderful weekend of catching up with each other and staying busy watching three little ones! Isabella and her cousin Bryson were receiving lots of hugs, tickles, and laughs from their uncle DJ (aka uncle Boogie). Jackson would pose more for the camera than Isabella. All three had a blast playing together. 
On a rare occasion, Bella Grace decided to pose for the camera in her Christmas dress. Of course, it was after I took her hair out of the bow, but it still turned out great! Last night, we made a birthday cake for Jesus, lit a candle (had to use the 1 year candle), and sang happy birthday to the One we celebrate at this time of the year. Thank you Jesus for coming for us!!
Jesus calls us to help others, and that is exactly what we do and try to teach Isabella. Since Brian and I have been married, we have always rung the bell for the Salvation Army every Christmas season. For the past two years, we have done the same thing with Isabella. She loves ringing the bell and hopefully grasping the concept of sharing Jesus's love by helping others. Some of our friends from our Sunday School class also helped and that is Jeffrey in the picture with Bella. Isabella loves wearing her Jesus shirt and telling everyone Happy Birthday Jesus!
We went to eat breakfast with Santa at Chick-Fil-A one Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Isabella was cautious and would not approach Santa without daddy. Thankfully, Brian was able to get a quick picture while we was working. The Saturday after breakfast at Chick-Fil-A we went to eat pancakes with Santa at Applebee's. This time, Isabella ran right up to Santa and gave him a great big hug! She also posed for the picture. She also had fun dancing with the Christmas bear.
whole mile:). I stayed at home to rest, not wanting to overdo it and cause the arrival of Lilly to come
Isabella loved watching daddy carve the pumpkin! She wanted the pumpkin to have a surprised face! Brian did a good job if I do say so myself:)!
Isabella was so excited to finally be able to wear her Tinker Bell costume. Brian was also just as excited to dress up like a pirate. She was all smiles all night long!Isabella tried to pull some seeds out this year, it took her awhile to warm up to the idea though. She did not want to stick her hand in the pumpkin at first. She did say yucky when she saw the inside of the pumpkin.
After cookies with the characters, we headed to a fall festival at a church in town. We met up with Isabella's friend, Camden. Both kids had a lot of fun! Isabella even won a cupcake at the cake walk! Yum Yum!!
In between autographs and visits with characters, we were able to take a couple pictures with Isabella. Brian loved the characters and Christmas music just as much as Isabella did!
This past Saturday, we went to eat Cookies with Characters. Isabella was quiet and taking it all in. Once the characters started coming out, she got excited and got real excited when Dora came out. She was more excited about seeing Dora than about seeing anyone else.
Isabella loved picking vegetables inside the museum at one of the castle areas. Each area of museum is split up into the different parts/jobs of the castle workers. Here, she is gathering the vegetables from the garden. We had a lot of fun!
Ever since we spent part of the summer in MN with Auntie Sara, Uncle Jon, Jackson and Bryson, Isabella has loved trains. So when we visit the children's musem, she loves going and watching the trains. She also loved pushing the buttons to make the train honk its horn.
Brian had a Saturday off so we took advantage of that and headed to the Children's Museum here in town. There is an exhibit called the Traveling Castle and it is here until December. She loves to play in it! On this particular day, there was face painting and ponies plus turkey legs for sale. We also got Isabella corn on a stick and she loved it and the turkey. The turkey leg was enough for all of us! She loved playing in the mini castle for little ones.
Brian had to work last Saturday, so Isabella and mama headed out to the state fair. She loved looking at all of the bunnies, more than the cows, goats, and sheep. I tried to get her to sit on a donkey, but she never would. After looking at the animals, we rode the carousel three times. She loves riding those!
Isabella played hard with Everett on Saturday, so she was ready for a nap with Grann (mama jo). Brian's sister is expecting a girl in December, his cousin is expecting a girl in January, and I am expecting a girl in Feburary. So we took this picture to capture the memory of all being pregnant at the same time. I do have a pregnant belly, it is just hard to see. My little girl (Lilly) is riding low so it is hard to see the baby bump.
I took several pictures of Isabella in her pumpkin dress that Aunt Suzie gave her. These are two of the neatest ones I think. She has recently started picking up sticks, pointing them, and saying "pow, pow." She must have picked that up from school (daycare).
Uncle Frank (or uncle Pank as Isabella calls him) grew a pumpkin patch in the back field, so of course Isabella got to pick one out. It did finish turning orange once we got home and we will make a jack-o-latern next weekend.