Let the show begin....

Meet the gang... Izabella came home this week with the tiger puppet you see here above. She loved it so much that she asked if we could make some friends for her tiger. She told me what to draw, how to draw it and how her teacher Ms. Robertson taught her how to make these adorable FREE puppets. She instructed me as to every little thing. So, from left to right we have Giraffe (including spots per Izabella), Tiger, Mouse (including ball cap and tuxedo), Mean Ella the Dinosaur, Fox, Hippo, Lion wearing hair bow (Izabella picked all the main colors and told me to draw rectangles of red, brown and yellow, so I did as I was told), Lola the bunny, and the Elephant playing in the water. She drew all the faces and colored all of them. Then she told me that we had to write 5 stories before Daddy woke up so we could put on a puppet show. My goodness we were full of ideas this morning. Typical Izabella, go go go, wants to be playing something 24/7. So, we got to 3 stories that were too cute not to share. Hope you gives you as much joy from them as we did. My, what creativity......these were completely written by Izabella in her own words...

What's wrong Hippo?
By: Izabella Mingolla Illustrated by: Momy Mingolla
(lion) helo mouse
(mouse) helo lion, hipo has a problem.
(elephant) why don't we go see her and tell her mom what's wrong.
(lion) first we have to find out what's wrong.
(mouse) what's wrong hipo?
(hipo) i have a lose tooth and another one and it hurts
(elephant) we can help you pull it.
(hipo) no!
says hipo
(hipo) the more you pull it the more it hurts.
THE END

What's for lunch?
by: Susan Mingolla (really Izabella, she just wrote this) illustrated by: Izabella Mingolla
(Stela/giraffe) What's for lunch guys?
(Lola/bunny) I want a sandwich!
(Mean Ella/dino) NO! I want the last sandwich.
(Lola/bunny) and carrot's.
(Stela/giraffe) I want soup & fruit.
(Mean Ella/Dino) NO! I want fruit juice!
(Lola/buny) You don't have to be mean ella!
(Mean Ella/dino) I did not know that. You know what for now i ella will be nise.
THE END

and LAST ONE......

Joke's joke's jokes
By no man By a girl
(Fox) wy did the skelatin go to the Bank! why becase he had many, get it mAny, not mOney..
he ha hahehe!haha!
(wolve) why did't the skelatin cros the rode. why becase he had no BODY to cross with
haha!hehe!haha

Hope you all have a good week, love and miss you all!
-Susan

Check out my Slide Show!

1st place... Miss Stuffy, Mr. Lamb & Le' Frog........& Furniture

And 1st place goes to.........(drumroll please.......) Ms. Izabella Mingolla! This was her winning Valentine's Box project. We all worked on it and I think it just turned out great and I guess the whole office staff did too since she won. She was VERY proud of herself and so were we!

Her favorite sticker on the top was the one that says

"Kiss me, you fool!"

The Best of Friends!

Saturday morning when Izabella and I got up, she gathered all of her favorite friends to join her for a morning of watching Qubo. So here they all are....Ms. Stuffy, which was a Valentine's present from Christina. Mr. Lamb, still her all time favorite from granny & Granpa Tom years ago. He sleeps next to her every night and must be tucked in just as she is with hugs and kisses, of course. And Le'Frog which is her newest addition from Grandma and Papa for Valentines Day. She has allowed this to be Mr. Lamb personal "baby" so that he isn't lonely and all is fair.

Gotta love her!!


So, here it is finally after 4 months!

YES, I know the couches are White! The really make the room look completely different. When James saw them he thought they looked better in our house than they ever did in his....


We got the ladder bookshelf for the DVD's so that Izabella can get to them herself and it gave us a lot more room......

Had to get something new for the mantel and I've always loved the reds and golds and I think it looks really pretty with the chocolate wall. It makes the white marble around the fire place really stand out, don't you think?

We bought the brown suede chair and ottomans once we got the furniture in because we just needed some kind of chair and "coffee table" The ottoman fits both needs perfectly........

And we have tried everything to keep Sox off of this one, but to no avail. We gave up and have made this her bed, but I got her a bed and a nice blanket that match the colors and that way she won't mess up the material. She has to look out this window to see what's happening in the neighborhood and to be the lookout........

Hope you all like it!

Don't mess with Daddy... or Uncle Steve to some!

Izabella had started to take a drama class last year at school and during that time, I came home one night to something that Daddy had taught her. Well, at Christmas he got Cheradyn and Jill involved. I thought you all might enjoy the acting skills of the Mingolla family.

Enjoy!
(no children were hurt during the filming of this video...........promise!)

Trying to catch up!

I have been so bad lately with trying to keep up with everything. I don't have a picture to post right now (I'm at work) but I can at least try to fill you in. Let's see, last post was Dec when Izabella lost her first tooth. Since then, we went home for Christmas and had a great time seeing everyone. Shortly after we got home, Izabella lost her 2nd tooth on the bottom next to the first one that came out. She's working on her two front teeth, but they seem to be holding on pretty well. Tay went home and everyone got back to school and back to the grind. Work is work, nothing much changes there.

Last Friday when I went to pick her up from school, she was in the nurses office when I got there, had a terrible fever and I could just tell from her voice that it was strep! I should have been a nurse. Anyway, the next day, sure enough the Dr. said it was strep, so we got a shot and all is better now. She was brave with the shot, even though it was one of those thick ones that really hurts, she still has a little bruise on her cute little hiney. But, it sure beats fighting with her twice a day for 10 days with the liquid medicine. That's the tough part. So, as much as she hates them, I think we have actually covinced her that the shot is the way to go. Good thing because I think she's in for a series at her 6 year old checkup. Did I just say that? 6 years old? My goodness where does the time go.

For Valentines Day, we had a family project to make a box to hold Izabella's valentines in, it was a contest, so me, Daddy and Izabella worked for about 4 days on her box, which turned out so cute, I wish I had a picture, and she won 1st place. She was so proud of herself. Her and Daddy surprised me at work with Tulips and cards and she stayed the rest of the day with me and when we got home, we handed out Valentines to all of her friends that live on our street. She had so much fun. Then we had a nice special family Valentines dinner and it was off to bed.

We are signed up for Spring Soccer that starts on March 1st. We're excited to see if she's playing with any of her old teammates this time around. Christina opted to do gymnastics over the summer instead of soccer again. Now, of course, Izabella wants to do the same thing. We'll see....can't do it all at once, one thing at a time.

Hopefully, I will be better at keeping this up than I have been over the past few months, that's my goal anyway. Hope you all have enjoyed the update, next one will include pictures.

We love and miss everyone!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh!

Shame on Mommy! This tooth came out last Thursday but I just haven't had a moment to post it. Had 2 parties this weekend and have 2 more this coming weekend. Busy time of year! Anyway, better late than never!

Here is the letter that the Tooth Fairy left for Ms. Izabella. She came and got me and read the whole thing at the top of her lungs and with her eyes popping out of her head. It was a moment! She's working on her other loose teeth in hopes of cashing in before Christmas.

The Sharks!

Here's a picture of the whole soccer team for this season. I hope she liked it enough to do it again next year. We had so much fun and right as the season was ending, they were really starting to improve so much. From left to right top row: Coach Bob, his daughter Alyssa, Princess Izabella, Jackson, Coach Andrew. Left to right bottom row: Hunter, Pricess Christina, James, Carter and Jack. Jack had a crush on Christina the whole season and by the end of the season, Christina was saying she had a crush on Jack. They all ranged in age from 4-5 but Izabella and Christina were the oldest and the only 2 already in school. Enjoy!