Bella's 2nd Birthday

For Bella's birthday we got her this cute play kitchen. Poor Chuck didn't get home from City Council until late Thursday and then he stayed up until 1:00 a.m. putting the thing together so we could have it ready for Bella when she got up Friday morning.

Both of the kids really like the new kitchen, but it has become yet another thing for them to fight about. Here is Samuel throwing a fit on the floor.

For Bella's birthday dinner we got nuggets and fries from Wendy's and took it to the park. The weather has been beautiful all this week so we are taking advantage of it.

Bella playing at the park.

Chuck and Big Buddy going down the slide.

Chuck finally got Samuel to climb the rock wall all by himself. The kids loved spending the evening playing at the park with their daddy!

Another Bday Celebration for Bella

This was the invitation I put together for Bella's 2nd birthday. Sunday afternoon we had another celebration - this makes number 3. Maybe next year we'll try and consolidate a little better. Aunt Trina, Wes and Kambree along with friends Janice, Mike and family came for a bar-b-que, presents and cake.

Since the theme was a Nursery Rhyme party I made a Little Bo Peep cake. I was up late Saturday night finishing it. These things always look better when I visualize them then when they're actually made!



Opening presents again.

Blowing out the candles. Good thing the sheep didn't catch on fire!

It's a little hard to tell from the picture, but the doll portion of the cake was actually one of my mixing bowls that I frosted and hot glued the doll body to. The idea was totally an accident as I was talking to Trina about what I was planning on doing and she said, you're going to make the body out of a bowl? That's not what I had been telling her, but I thought hey that's a great idea!

So the kids liked licking all the frosting off from the bowl better than eating the cake. In fact, Bella and Samuel didn't even try a piece of cake.

Cutest Pumpkin

Trina and I found this pumpkin, carved it and then stuck Isaac and Kambree inside for some cute pumpkin pictures. Isaac was not very happy about it, but he sure does look cute inside!

Family Night Pumpkin Patch Visit

Monday night we took the kids to a farm and pumpkin patch. Let's just say we picked a horrible night to go! It was cold and the wind was blowing. Look at poor Isaac with Chuck trying to keep him covered up.

The kids picking out their pumpkins. It took us all of a few minutes to have the kids each grab a pumpkin and hop on the wagon to ride back because it was so cold.

The kids with their pumpkins. Samuel was so proud of the little shriveled pumpkin he picked. He loves for us to read him the story of the littlest pumpkin. In the story the littlest pumpkin wants someone to take him home and make him into a jack-o-latern, but no one chooses him because he is so small. Later in the story, mice come to the pumpkin stand and make him into a jack-o-latern. So Samuel told us he choose this pumpkin because it was the littlest pumpkin and no one would choose it if he didn't take it. It really is a sorry looking pumpkin, but he loves it!

Aunt Trina and baby Kambree came with us.

Because the pumpkin patch is on a farm, they also have animals you can pet.

Looking at the chickens. Samuel stuck his finger in the cage and look what happened!

A chicken bit his finger! He was not happy to say the least!

They also have little activities the kids can do. Samuel went down this very steep slide and a huge kid came down right after him and plowed him into the ground. So poor Samuel was crying again and we were picking straw and chicken seed out of his little mouth.

Bella's Hurt Arm

I've always thought if we had a child break a bone it would be Bella. Sunday morning she was in the garage with Chuck and fell. He didn't actually see the fall, but from surveying the situation decided she was climbing on top of the stroller trying to get into the car and the stroller rolled out from under her causing her to fall on the cement. She is very tough and doesn't cry very hard about anything, but she was really holding her arm and crying. We went to church and she was just letting her arm hang limp so we decided to have Chuck take her to the Insta Care to have it checked out. Turns out she didn't break it, but her arm was sprained. They put a soft cast on and wrapped it up. When she got home with the sling on her arm, Samuel replied, "Look she's got a purse."

You may think she was crying because her arm was hurt, but you'd be mistaken. She was crying because we took her sling off and she wanted it back on.

The hurt arm didn't slow her down. Here she is packing her bike just after getting home from the Insta Care.

And swinging in the closet, halfway naked (see post below) with the hurt arm.

And playing the drums with one arm.

Bella Girl

So Bella has been running me ragged lately. She's such a little fireball! She is constantly taking off her clothes and running around naked. More often than not these days she is going around without a diaper on. Of course she doesn't always make it to the potty - in her crib and on the concrete are two favorite spots. I just need to take the time to potty train her because she is trying to do it herself.

A couple of weeks ago she decided she no longer needed to nap. I put her in in crib and she just climbs in and out. I even placed the mattress on the ground and she still managed to climb out.

Climbing or tumbling back in.

Another favorite activity is swinging in the closet.

Bella is such a climber. This week while I was taking care of the baby she climbed up in the sink and got into the toothpaste. She had taken off her shorts and diaper and then proceeded to rub toothpaste all over.

Chuck's High School Friends Visit

Chuck's high school buddies came to see Big River at Tuacahn. They had learned the music while in high school choir and thought this would be a fun reunion. Friends - Jared, Mark, Gary and Chuck. Another friend Tony was supposed to come, but canceled the night before.

Since we had already been to see Big River, Chuck volunteered us to watch everyones kids while they saw the show. We had 11 kids at our home that evening, which was a smaller number than we had anticipated because Tony didn't come with his 4 kids. I was a little worried about the logistics of having that many kids here, but it actually worked out alright. They were all tired and ready to go by the time their parents got home from the show though!

We did have a few structured activities to keep the kids occupied for so many hours!

The kids feeding the ducks. Unfortunately it was another cold weekend. The previous week was beautiful weather, but it turned cold again on Friday.

Despite the cold we braved a trip to the Dixie rock for a little while.

Kids were scampering everywhere!



Because it was cold we took the kids to Jumping Jacks for a little indoor fun.

Non-stop partying for a few days eventually took it's tool on the little ones. Samuel and little Allie fell asleep Saturday afternoon watching a movie. They were so tired it didn't bother them that they were laying on top of each other.

One of the favorite indoor activites that weekend was playing Rock Band. Here is the guys band.

The girls taking a turn.