pumpkin spice and everything nice

WE LOVE FALL! Check out how we kicked off this wonderful season of Pumpkin Spice lattes, cool crisp air, gorgeous leaves and of course pumpkin carving:

a few summer highlights

These are from our first trip to Lazy 5 Ranch. Lazy 5 is a drive through zoo that I have been dying to get to. Bella is just now at the age where she can appreciate such a trip. Bella was not too happy when I fed the first animal- a deer that got a little too close for her comfort. After we took our time driving through and looking at emus, zebras, pigs, rhinos (and to them she blew a kiss), giraffes, and such, we went to the playground and petting area where we saw goats, sheep and a baby giraffe. It was a lot of fun!

better late than never...

a few shots from B's first birthday:

tiny dancer

and her first pig tails!



here she was making a little ballerina move in her tutu bathing suit :)

its been a while...

since I have been able to blog about our precious Bella! I am so behind on her life and I really hope to catch up sooner than later with lots of pictures too, but for the meantime, she is walking and jibber jabbering up a storm.. Everything is a phone right now and everyone is a Da Da so she goes around "talking" on our cell phones, wii remotes, flip, and tv remote yelling, "Da Da" and now "Ba Ba" as to say Bye Bye.

If we are in public, she will make a scene to get attention- whether it be her cute little fake laugh, yelling Da Da or full out screaming and as soon as someone talks to her, she lights up and waits for the next victim.

She is absolutely loving the pool- we have a baby pool in our backyard she loves to crawl in and out of and a neighborhood pool plus a membership at the Y where she has a little beach area she can walk in and slides to slide on. They also have spray grounds (fountain/sprinkler area) she is in love with.

She is blowing all of her kisses away- to anyone and everyone including the rhinoceros at the zoo.

What a fun time in our lives. She gives us so much joy. I am so thankful for God's amazing gift to us to be able to be her earthly parents and share in her making.

will work for food

Bella chipped in and helped clean before we left for our trip to Buffalo. She picked up a sponge and started all on her own!

birthday in Buffalo

We got to celebrate a little early for Bella's first birthday in Buffalo this week. We took her to the zoo and she got her first cake! Elmo :) She loved it.

He is Risen!

Bella celebrated her first Easter today. She was born two days after Easter last year. We went to church with my sister and her fiance. Will, my soon-to-be brother-in-law, got baptized! It was a really great service. Bella did a pretty good job of not interrupting although we did take her to the lobby a few times. We ate lunch at Will's place after.

a very GOOD friday

Friday we got together with my Dad's side of the family. We always have lunch or dinner for Easter whenever we can all get together. Bella had a lot of fun watching the big girls! (My cousin Katie has two girls and one more on the way!)

what we've been up to

this week, prior to the bug, we had a lot of fun playing & eating outside in the 70/80 degree weather.

we had brunch with my dad twice this week and on this occassion, bella had her very own funny face pancake- bananas, strawberries, yogurt and of course one huge pancake!


we filled up the pool for the first time this year! and she was in heaven.



and we love to have little dinner picnics when daddy gets home!



here is a shot of her standing all alone for a record-breaking amount of time (even though it looks like she is holding onto the chair)


and when we aren't outside, she is trying to get out there!



among other news, this cat has been taking his morning nap in our backyard everyday. he's either staying out all night or possibly sick, maybe he's a she and pregnant?

bug

a big thanks to my hubbs for being mr. mom yesterday. i had a violent stomach bug (it was up there with the flu and labor pain), and he did a great job with bella and with waiting on me. thankfully, it only lasted 24 hours. i missed them mucho!

more of my favorite things

1. finding Bella's golf balls in the tupperware drawer 2. finding half-eaten cookies in the toys 3. finding plastic Easter eggs in the trash and 4. finding little toy trains and things in our shoes

they make me smile every time :)

one night last week while I was at work, Randy called and texted me, panicking because he couldn't find her lovey (Bella was screaming her head off in the crib). when i got home and asked him where he eventually found it, he said it was in our shower :)

look what bella's cousins gave us!

we are so excited to have this to play on this summer. we have had all of this great spring weather and of course when we get this, the weather goes cold on us but as soon as it warms up, we will back out there!

here is randy putting it together:



and bella checking it out!

baby noah

i went to a baby shower sunday for my best friend from high school. she and her husband are expecting their first baby boy in early may. it was so great to see the girls from high school and so many are moms. bella stayed home for her nap but i wish she could have met everyone.



these are the little onsies i made for him to wear one day:

the new coca-cola commercial

i wish!

Thanks to...

MaGa & Pop Pop, Bella has a new carseat & stroller! Bella is about to outgrow her infant carseat and this is the next step (and the next!) It will last us until she weighs 100 lbs! She is getting so big & doing more & more each day. Where does the time go? I would live this past year over & over again. It has been pure joy.


(We were in midst of changing from pajamas to clothes when the UPS man arrived)

The stroller was a little bonus! It came for free with the purchase of this carseat. It works nicely as the stroller we have is heavy & takes up a lot of space. We can use the new one for traveling & quick trips to the pool.

Thank you MaGa & PopPop!! As you can see, she is excited!

Spring is coming!

Thank goodness. We are so excited about this time of year with Bella. We have been spending some good time outside before it gets too hot. Summer around here is brutal but these next few months are just perfect. Bella got a new pair of Bermuda shorts from her aunt & I painted her toe nails. She has started to point to the back door and tries to slide it open. It is so cute. She has so much fun in our little back yard playing on the quilt and exploring a bit. We don't have to tell her, she knows this is great weather for being outside!







doesn't she just look like an explorer here?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Saturday we took a ride on the train down town to see the parade. We didn't stay long but it was good to get out in the pretty sunshine!

spaghetti head

Bella has a new love: spaghetti (and pizza).

we have a cleaning machine

on our hands.. she sure makes a mess but as i type, she is going around cleaning everything in sight with a wipe. she has loved getting her hands on wipes lately and today she started on her travel high chair. it was sitting in the kitchen from yesterday and i heard her talk-yelling at something. i turned around and she was wiping the tray and then started on the back of it. after the high chair, she started on the dining room chairs and table (the parts she could reach anyway). guess she watches her mommmy do this ;)

Bella's first...

Picnic! We went to our favorite park again and had a nice picnic. Bella really liked it. We had another one at home for lunch on Monday and one for dinner with Daddy that night too. We are crazy for picnics! This weather is just gorgeous!