#4 Birthday for Bella!!

Bella has turned 4! First thing in the morning shot:

In keeping with tradition here are a few things about Bella:

1. Something we LOVE: Bella is a girly girl. It is evident in her clothes, accessories, favorite colors, and even in her comments to others. Her favorite colors are pink and purple. She loves to wear dresses and skirts - especially ones that twirl. Today she was wearing a pink shirt and white skirt and when we went to the store she wore a pink hat and HAD to have her purse, necklaces, bracelets and sunglasses. (Too bad I didn't grab a picture of that!) The other Sunday after I was done getting ready she said to me, "Mom, you look adorable!" What a sweetie!

2. Something UNIQUE: She has to go to the bathroom in the middle of EVERY meal. Less you think this is an exageration, I assure you it isn't. She will start her meal, take about 1 or 2 bites and then get up and run to the bathroom. Sometimes I tell her we are going to eat in x minutes and she needs to go to the bathroom. She assures me everytime that she doesn't need to, but within minutes of starting she has to go!

3. Something we could live WITHOUT: She has got a set of lungs, that one! And she tends to use them daily expressing displeasure about one thing or another and it is LOUD! Maybe she can use them for cheerleading...or maybe something else :)

4. Something for the FUTURE: Bella says she is going to grow up to be a "Mom" but NOT a "Grandma" (Obviously she doesn't realize that the grandma portion is the fun job!)

We had a little princess party for her today and had two little girls from her Primary Class come over. (Don't you love the ceiling...just don't ask how late I was up last night doing it for today!)

We painted their toes,
ate lunch and played. (Bella is already eating in this picture, that is why she looks so funny :)

She was so excited to have them come over but did mention several friends that couldn't come because they lived so far away...she missed them!

Ryan brought her home some flowers for her birthday. Whenever the kids hear the garage door opening they run to the garage door to greet Ryan. Today, he pulled the flowers out of the car to give to her and she said, "Oh, they are SOOOO BEAUTIFUL! Thank you SOOOO much!" After he gave them to her she walked away and said, "You are so tall and handsome." Did she just turn 4 or was it 14?

She loved opening her presents which included a new pink bike! She doesn't really like to push her feet forward and prefers to push back and stop but we will keep working on it. At least she thinks it is really cute, so that should help her get back on it!

We had pink lemonade cake (and someday one of my cakes will really turn out great but that day wasn't today. It was only alright.) and pink strawberry ice cream and all in all it was a great day and she was happy.

Her parents are very tired! One of these days I will get some little videos posted, don't hold your breath waiting for them! And here is the happy girl going to bed...we love her so much!!

Back to the Blogging World

It has been a while and really there are a lot things to put down on electronic paper. If I don't get something started here I might not ever get it done, so even if it isn't pretty at least it is here!

THE GOOD:
1. Our home closed :)
2. Ryan got the bathrooms, kitchen and carpets cleaned before I got here. There were still lots to clean but at least it was a good starting point.
3. The kids and I made the 13ish hour trip here by ourselves and are still all alive.
4. Our stuff got moved from point A to point B and I don't think too many things are lost or broken, so that is great. Clark took a lot of pictures of our moving truck (there are 23 on his camera to choose from) so this good item gets a picture!

5. We are all together again :)

6. School started for Clark (FIFTH GRADE!!) and he is doing great at his third elementary school. We live close to the school so he even gets to ride his bike to school every day...currently he is still excited about it but we will see if that enthusiasm continues for another couple of years!

7. Going back in time to catch up...We had a great visit with my Grandma before we moved. I am so glad we got to go up and see her!

8. Some great friends came to visit...good thing it took so long to move so we could see them. I don't have pictures of everything but here are a couple!

THE BAD:

1. Lucy had a TERRIBLE allergic reaction to eggs (we think). I made French Toast for breakfast on Saturday and didn't think about breaking up some small pieces for her to eat...bad idea. I put her down for a nap and when she woke up really early from it I went in to find her face all red and swollen and rashes all over her sweet little body. She was scratching all over and crying. After a good dose of Benadryl and about 6 hours she was doing much better but it still makes me concerned for what might lie ahead.2. I have spent $498 and FIVE hours at the DMV in the last two days...wow. At least I am done with that place!

3. Ryan's commute is about an hour and 10 minutes in the morning and almost 2 hours in the evenings...but on a good note at least we see him every night, unlike the months while he was 'here' and I was 'there'.

4. This home has lots of little bugs in and around it...ants, spiders, etc. Hope we can get those to go away soon!

5. We have friends in now another place that we miss...and to all who helped my maintain my sanity and take care of my kids and helped us get out of there in one piece - THANK YOU! (The thank you part really should be up there in the GOOD category.)

6. Bella got into my make-up again today. I have to say, she really didn't do as well this time as last time applying her mascara. Notice it in her hair too. And the little touch of lip gloss above the lips is always a classic. That girl does have beautiful long lashes though!!

THE UGLY

1. The backyard has weeds that are almost as tall as I am, and there are a lot of them. (This is just a small sample! We have our work cut out for us on the landscaping. We started on the front yard and took some 'before' pictures and I will post on our progress later for anyone who still manages to check out our life.

2. There are some horrific light fixtures in this house. Those are pretty easy to change but still ugly, and then I have to find ones I really want...it is on the really long list of things to do.

Well, I think I am going to stop there...those are most of the highlights. Now I can move forward and try not to have a million items all in one post! Thanks to anyone who actually read it...now you can comment so I know you came :) j/k

Lookin' Good

We got word yesterday that the bank has approved the sale of the home we had offered on (it was short sale with a few loans to work through) so it looks like this one will be it!! I told Ryan I am still a little nervous to get excited because it isn't done yet, but hopefully we will be closing at the end of July! It needs a lot of work - cleaning, yard work, painting, etc., but we are ready to all be in the same state again! Here is a picture of the kitchen (the outside shot is the one in the post a couple days ago). FYI-the wall paper border will be one of the first things to go :)

First Hair Style

Lucy is slowly getting some hair and we did her first little style today...
Maybe we will wait until she has some more before we try anything else, or even this style again!!

Updates

Well in the last post we were trying to get some things accomplished...a month later lets see how we are doing:

Ryan & Rachelle: Lets see...we have now made 8 offers on homes. #1 decided not to sell, #2-7 we were outbid, and the jury is still out on #8 but it is looking promising. I got tired of being here without Ryan so the kids and I went out to see him and my sister Cami. We had a good time being together but I don't have too many pictures to show for it, including house #8. I stole this picture of it off the internet! I will blame my lack of packing on being gone but truth be told by the end of the day I am just tired and don't want to pack. I am really going to try and get on top of that!

Clark: Finished up 4th grade and with flying colors is moving on to 5th. He also had a great time in June with his cousins and is working hard on his Webelos Boy Scout Requirements and becoming a Yahtzee Champion (his car entertainment!).

Bella: Has got the puzzle thing down and loves to do them. She had a great time this last month with her cousins and managed to do a couple puzzles with them too. She also became an expert at putting on mascara. When we were out at Cami's I saw something black beside her eye and realized she had mascara on her eyelashes...she actually did really well and if it hadn't been for the black smudge I don't know if I would have noticed!


Lucy: She did a great job! She is crawling and also managed to get two little teeth!! Way to go to our little bundle of joy! She is trying to keep up with her two older siblings now!



Last but not least, I made it to my 100th post! Hurray for blogging so I have something to show for my last couple of years!

Almost There

I am almost to 100 posts. That is pretty amazing seeing that I don't even know if I have 100 journal entries for almost my whole life. It is sad really, but I am trying to make improvements and in some cases we are ALMOST there, but not quite...

Lucy: ALMOST crawling. She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks around. Sometimes she even pushes herself up on her feet and looks like she is doing yoga.

Bella: ALMOST does puzzles on her own. Actually she can do a 24 piece one on her own a lot and loves to do it, show you, and then break it all up and throw the pieces around. The one in the picture is a little harder - around 50 pieces. She loves to do it, but with some encouragement and help. Maybe someday soon when she is quiet I won't worry about what trouble she is up to!

Clark: ALMOST done with 4th grade! Wow. He has had a field trip, a class program (in the picture below - he is dressed up like Jim Bridger - he normally doesn't dress like a cowboy to go to school :) and it doesn't seem like there is much school work being done anymore, so school is almost finished.

Rachelle: ALMOST have 20 of the million boxes I need to pack before we can move. I really want to get going but since I don't know WHEN we are moving it is difficult to get up a lot of motivation to get it done.

Ryan: ALMOST found us a house. We made an offer and it looked promising but it didn't work out :(. He found a new one today so we will see what happens.

And where we are going...I am kinda funny about posting locations because of stalkers that may be reading this but I will say that we are moving to CALIFORNIA!!! Ryan moved a couple weeks ago and started working and the rest of us will join him as soon as we can! I figure it is a big enough state that it would be hard for any crazy person to find us. If you want more detail you can e-mail me. Does that make me ALMOST crazy too?

New Pictures

We needed a few new pictures of the whole family before we head off to new adventures. What a cute family I have! We don't always look this put together, in fact we normally are not, but at least when I am old I can look back and remember that life was sometimes not crazy, just most of the time!!

Spring Soccer

Spring soccer is crazy - we have had games in the snow and rain, but also 70 degree perfect games. Clark is a good little soccer player and scored his first goal of the season on Thursday. Unfortunately I missed it since it was snowing and I stayed home with the girls :( but Ryan saw him get it in! Go Clark!! (Obviously these pictures are from a game without the snow!)

And here are the girls during a nice weather game...Lucy loves Ryan's hat and Bella tries to run off to the playground and give cheesy grins!

Our Graduate

Classes completed, finals aced, graduation finished, new job found. HURRAY!!

6 Months Old

The latest on our little Lucy:

1. She had her half-year birthday and is now 6 months old! Where do all those sleep deprived days go?

2. She is sleeping a little better - I normally get one 6 hour block - unfortunately I don't go to bed when she does, so I don't get a nice block of sleep.

3. She can roll over.

4. Can sit but is really tippy and then cries when she goes down.

5. Loves to grab at anything in site and then eat anything she can get in those little hands.

6. She give great smiles.

Here is a cute little picture of our darling girl:

Time to Eat

Lucy has entered the world of solid food - well sort of. Is she diggin' this oatmeal cereal?

The 'Girls' Easter

We had a 'White Easter' (6" snow fell on Saturday night) so it was a good thing we went to an Easter egg hunt at our neighbors house on Saturday. Just like last year, Clark ran off, so I have no pictures of him... Bella had a great time!

Bella still loves to sing and dance, so in her basket was a microphone - it is never far from her side these days!
Clark found his basket before I even got out of bed on Easter - so the candy was already consumed, money counted and the tie and shirts put away. And he wonders why I don't have as many pictures of him on the blog?


Lucy loved her eggs with nothing inside - she really just likes holding and sucking on them. But most of all she loved her little flower and is really cute when she plays with it!

Happy Belated Easter!!

My Sisters

My dad's wedding was the last weekend in February, so our whole family was together, AMAZING! I think the last time we were all together was at the last wedding (that was in 2005!!!). Anyway, it was a busy weekend, as all weddings are. After the wedding stuff was all over, all of us girls left our kids at the hotel with our great hubbies (except for Sharma - she will get one soon enough :) and hung out at Chili's for a couple of hours eating chips, salsa, more dessert, etc. We had such a great time and I realized again how much I miss living close to each of my terrific sisters. I got married and moved away when Sharma was only 6 and I have really missed being more apart of each of their lives. So, in honor of my sisters, here is a list of just three of the many things I love about each of them and many of them could apply to more than one because they are great!

Sharma: Excited about life, a romantic, adaptable

Elise: Positive, amazing artist, dependable

Janeen: Awesome crocheter, kind friend, caring

Cami: Funny, super decorator, generous

I wish I was a better big sister - I keep trying (as with most things in my life) and hopefully I will keep getting better at it! I love each of you!! I think it is time for girl only trips!

Teeth Tragedy

It has taken me some time before I could even post about Bella's little teeth. She had just finished her shower a few Sunday's ago and decided that she was going to get herself out of the tub before I helped her and down she went, hitting her chin on the edge of the tub. Her bottom teeth crashed into her top teeth and she pushed one front tooth forward, one backward and chipped the one that went front and the one on the other side of the pushed back tooth. Of course she was crying, but after I saw what had happened I was crying too and I think I might have cried longer. Of course, being Sunday, there wasn't anywhere I could take her, so first thing Monday morning I made an appointment with a Pediatric dentist and took her in. Good news - they didn't have to pull her teeth. Bad news - hopefully they won't have to in the future. I know they are just baby teeth but I don't want them to fall out for a few years!!

Clark's Big Ten-O Birthday

I ask myself the same question every year at Clark's birthday...am I really old enough to have a TEN year old? (Well, next year it will be eleven...) Anyway, Clark did turn 10 last month, but I am a little behind on posting things. We had a fun day - Basketball game in the morning, a few presents and a little pizza and movie party at night with his friends. Ryan took the pictures for the day since I was holding Lucy both times and I realize that I am not much of a photographer, but I can't rave about the pictures we have to document the day!

Clark has really grown up this year - taller and more mature. He is a great big brother (that someday soon is going to be able to babysit for us :), he loves to make people smiles and has aspirations to be a scientist. We are so glad to have him in our family!

Lucy is Laughing

Lucy has graduated from gasping to laughing. She suddenly started bursting out last night, and Clark protested until we got the video camera. Since we spent all that money on the camera to capture priceless moments like this one, it is a good thing we have a ten year old to twist our arm and make it worth it. (Pause the music at the bottom of the page so you can hear her.)

Growing Up

Babies just grow up...Clark is now TEN (more on that in another post), Bella is not a baby anymore and my Lucy has lost that newborn look and is now a baby. I have been TERRIBLE about posting anything in our lives as of late, but here are some pictures of our Lucy and I will try and get the latest on Bella and Clark soon!

Newborn

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months - She fell asleep while we were eating dinner :)

4 Months - Look at that chubby tummy!

She is growing up and hopfully soon she will decide that sleeping for more than 4 hours a time at night is a beautiful thing!

Bella's Funny Comments

I am terrible at journaling and this blog is about the closest thing I have to a journal, so I wanted to just get written down a few funny things Bella has said in the last couple months so I don't forget them.

Bella comes into the Living Room with her shirt up and her baby doll next to her chest.
Bella: "I am feeding my baby."
Me: "Oh, are you giving her some milk?"
Bella: "No. I am giving her juice."

Ryan is reading her a book and it has a dog in it.
Ryan: "What does the dog say?"
Bella: "Barf, Barf."

I was changing Lucy's diaper right after she was born and still had her umbillical cord stub.
Bella: "Lucy has poop on her tummy."

Bella points to my chest and asks, "What is that?" I tell her it is where I feed Lucy. She asks, "Can you feed Mary too (her doll.)?

She hit me the other day with part of a soft toy that Lucy has. I told her, "Bella, we don't hit. That hurts mom." Do I get an "I'm sorry" or "OK"? No, she responds, "Call the Doctor."

Beautiful

I was feeding Lucy today and then changed her diaper but I didn't see Bella. I put Lucy down and went to find her. The bathroom door was closed - never a good sign. I tried the handle and it was locked - a really bad sign. As I am getting a coin to open the door I smell something...a very specific smell...nail polish. Oh dear. The few seconds opening the door gave me enough time to pull myself together so I didn't loose my temper when I opened the door. There is my little girl wiping up the tile, because you see she had decided to paint her toes but unfortunately more ended up on the tile than on the toes. She looks up at me when I ask her what she is doing and tells me, "I painted my toes and now I am wiping it up." I look at her toes and ask, "How do your toes look?" "They are beautiful." she responds. See for yourself.

Look Alike?

We often wonder how much our kids look alike. I took a picture last week of Lucy wearing an outfit that Bella also wore - Bella was a month older, but since she was so small when she was born Lucy is wearing it a bit earlier. So, here is the comparison...do they look the same? Can you tell who is who?