.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Uncle Matt Comes to Town!

Uncle Matt came to town for the weekend for Bella's birthday party. It was pretty much the equivelant of us hiring a major celebrity because Bella was BEYOND excited! He was definitely the VIP guest.....it's so cute to see how much she LOVES her Uncle Matt! Literally, the second he walked in the door, she had so much excitement she was basically running in circles cheering because she didn't know what to do with her energy and excitement! Come back SOON Uncle Matt!!




She then played her favorite game. She likes the other person playing to sit on the floor and then she runs over and knocks that person over. She then climbs on top of that person and bounces on top of them in victory!




Rowdy had to get in on the fun of beating up Uncle Matt

She then proceeded to show him every one of her favorite toys and things to do. So, of course, she had a tea party with him. Adorable!


She wanted Dad to come to the tea party so she gave up her seat for him and she decided to entertain her guests by rocking on her rocking horse.



The next item on her list of "must show Uncle Matt my cool stuff" was her play house. She INSISTED that Matt play INSIDE the house. And, of course, Minnie Mouse came to the party also!





She then went and "baked" some "cake" for Matt.....notice who's face is peeking through the window



Her expression here pretty much sums it up. This is her (oh so adorable) huge smile that she gets when she is really excited about something and wow....was she excited Uncle Matt was playing in her house!



Here they are...."eating" her play cake



And here they area at her birthday party, she was just loving sitting by her favorite person at her party. She had the hugest smile any time he said or did anything. It's so fun to see how much she LOVES her Uncle Matt and, like I said above, come back soon Uncle Matt!!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Happy Birthday Bella! 2!

Somehow another year has passed, I have not aged at all, and yet Bella has turned 2! Amazing! She is such a sweet and wonderful little girl! She is a blessing to our lives, and brings us so much joy! She does not really throw many tantrums, which we are hoping we can just bypass altogether :-) She definitely asserts her will and shares her opinion in her own way and has her days, but she really is such a sweet and happy girl. She absolutely loves to play outside, I'm pretty sure she would eat sleep and play outside if we let her. She is very imaginative, she was given a play kitchen as a gift and loves to "cook" us food out there (usually rocks and leaves) and puts her sippys in the fridge or in the grill. She has a love/hate relationship with Oreo. Whenever she gets a snack and wants to walk around with it she usually asks me to put the "doggy outside?" She is scared (rightfullly so) that Oreo will try to steal her snacks. But, she absolutely loves to chase around and play with Oreo. We had her 2 year appointment, she did so great! She weighed in at 22lbs (3%) and 34in (67th%). Our tall skinny girl. Everything looked so great, we will have to have her umbilical hernia checked out but hopefully it will just go away :-) The doctor said she was doing and looking so great so it's always nice to hear that. She is talking a TON! It's so crazy to me the sentences that she can put together. I have lost track of how many words she has now, if I had to guess I would say somewhere in the 125-150 range. I think she seriously adds about 5-10 words a day right now. She can count to 3 and sometimes 6. She frequently leaves out 4 and her favorite number seems to be 5, sometimes she just jumps straight to 5! :-) She is a very picky eater, and we are constantly trying to figure out ways to incorporate healthy foods into her diet. It's not necessarily that she doesn't like a lot of the foods, she is just not always willing to try them, and one day she likes something, the nex day she doesn't.....we cook a lot of food around here right now. She has such a sweet and tender heart. She loves to take care of her babies or her stuffed animals and Mickey and Minnie dolls. She frequently shares her sippies with them and loves to rock her babies to sleep and sing them "Row Row" (Row Your Boat). She has learned how to be "sneaky".....seriously, how do tiny humans know how to do this instinctively??!! I will frequently find her walking quietly through the house holding something behind her back and when I ask her what she has she just diverts her eyes and says "no no mama, no no." and then keeps her back turned so I can't see what she has and tries to sneak away! She did this on her birthday when she found a wrapped birthday present and then proceeded to open it. She is just so silly and such a goofball, she definitely keeps us laughing. She had such a great 2nd birthday. We spent the morning of her birthday playing with friends at a jump place here tht is wall to wall trampolines, which she LOVES. She had a Mickey Mouse shaped pancake and lots of treats, lunch with friends and dinner out with us and her grandparents. Her birthday party is coming up this weekend so I will have more pictures to come from that.


Enjoying a birthday cookie, she LOVES Oreos


Waiting to catch a ball at the jump place


She was playing catch with Jenny and loving it!


Opening birthday presents without a shirt....just how she rolls in our house :-)


She loved her new puzzles




She got a sandbox from Grandma and Grandpa Julia and she LOVES it and wants to be playing in it all the time. We now frequently find about a bucket full of sand in her shoes every day.


Digging with the giant shovel


Just using the lid for the sandbox like a jungle gym


Checking out the menu at dinner


Insisted on sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's lap instead of in her chair


This might be my new favorite picture of her, I literally just can't get enough of her cuteness!


Living it up at dinner!


Eating her birthday sundae, she, of course, loved it! And then she proceeded to eat half of my cheesecake too. She literally ate more dessert than all of the adults at the table.


She wouldn't let anyone hold her after dinner except Grandma Valley (she got really mad at us when I wanted to hold her to take a quick picture, she went immediately back to Grandma)


Love my sweet family!
Happy 2nd Birthday Bella!!