'tis the season

We kicked off the Christmas season last Friday night at the Southpark tree lighting. This is the first year Bella is really starting to get it. They had free crafts, carriage rides, train rides and bouncy houses. She had a lot of fun. We gathered around the tree and counted down. She was really surprised when it lit up!

Bella was bundled and ready with her dollar!

A picture she took of us.

And one last sweet smile to share.

"cafts, cafts and more cafts"

My grandmother handed her passion for crafts down to my mother who passed it to me and even more recently my sister. Apparently, Bella has the bug as well! Each year as Christmas approaches, we work on various projects and sometimes we sell our things at craft shows. Bella has developed a love for painting first, and now using her scissors on a daily basis. She calls them her "whoopers." This year Bella is finally able to participate in the Christmas crafts so once or twice a week we will craft together at the dining room table. Anyway, today she didn't ever go to sleep during her nap time- something that happens a couple of times a week these days- but it did get really quiet for a while. Randy and I assumed she fell asleep on the floor because it was so quiet and we couldn't see her in her bed on the video monitor. Almost an hour after the silence, she called for her daddy and so he went up to get her. He called me to come up there just a minute later. I didn't know what to expect. She was surrounded by my scrap-booking paper, glue, glitter and stickers and she said with much excitement, " I do a caft daddy!" She had gotten the supplies from her closet in a container I keep such things in and created many "cafts." We will have a new lock on that closet door tonight! In the meantime, we are enjoying a laugh and her sweet little artsy spirit.

mustache movember

that's right! randy is participating in mustache movember for the second year in a row and even got bella on board! needless to say we will be late getting our christmas cards out because i am not taking a picture until december 1st! read more about it here.

hoe down!

Last night we went to a hoe down for Bella's school. We had a pic-nic, the kids sang, and then we went from room to room playing games and the such. Bella had a blast. She won the cupcake walk and got her face painted.

"not funny"

When I tell Bella she is funny, she says, "No I not! Daddy funny" or "No, not funny," but the truth is she is really funny. Today we got home from playschool and she wanted to go to the bathroom alone, with no assistance, so I let her. I ran out to the car to clean up a recent mess and seconds later... she popped out on the front porch bare naked and yells, "Casey! I did it!" This is one of the many times lately she has insisted on calling me Casey.

Last night she was eating crackers and decided she didn't want the bag to go back in the box so she took the box to the kitchen and said, "Daddy recycle it." Needless to say, Randy was very proud she is picking up on the recycling habit! She also wanted me and daddy to play a game of "boss" where she tells us where to sit and what to do. Randy had already started recording her so maybe I can upload to the video but during all of her bossy commands to her daddy who wasn't being fast enough for her, she blurted out with her hand raised in the air, "Don't you wisten (listen) ?!"

This morning when I got out of the shower, she came and told me to come to her potty. It took a few minutes to figure out she meant party :) When I got downstairs, she had a blanket laid out, balloons, candles and the singing birthday monster we use all spread around. It was very sweet.



There are plenty of other stories like these to share but that is all this pregnant brain can come up with for today!

babies of Halloween pasts

just a little reflection of Bella in 2009 as a ladybug, 2010 as a bumblebee and now 2011 as a princess. i am sure i will be doing more of this comparing with the new baby girl coming soon as i look back on the last few years. is it just me or did she grow up like three years between being a bumblebee and Rapunzel? (tear. sniffle.)

daddy and his princess.

Bella and Randy were Rapunzel and Flynn Rdyer from Tangled for Halloween.