Updates

Would've been a better picture if Belle's hair wasn't in her face, but I'll take what I can get.

In Preschool news, Belle has finished up her second week of school. Its fun to hear her recount what happened that day. They have focused on the letter A and the number 1. The theme this week was apples. They painted with apples and did a lot of activities that revolved around apples. Its fun to hear her talk about what they had for snack or what the bible story was about. Belle's papers are coming home kinda sloppy. For the most part I don't care, but today I made her redo a paper. It was an apple tree and they were supposed to trace the circle apples in the tree. Belle just scribbled over the whole thing. So I made her redo the paper when she got home. I realize it's just preschool, but probably best to have her know now that she has to follow directions.

I pulled up today and the director said "Oh that Belle, she's such an artist". Rhonda is just so chipper and I knew she was trying to put a positive spin on things. I guess Belle and a friend (Lexi) thought it would be fun to draw on themselves with the dry erase markers. I asked Belle if she had to sit in the "re-think" chair and she said she did. Oh my little troublemaker. She's always been a "spirited" one. =)

Ethan has just been growing up so fast. He's started saying words recently. It started one night when he said "ni ni" as we were taking him up to bed. That was probably his first word outside of DaDa. Now anytime you give him a ball you'll hear him say "ba". A few other words he's added is Mama (finally), jesse and sissy. He going to be walking soon. He's actually taken a step on his own, but it's kinda stopped there. It's hard to believe he'll be a year old in just a few short weeks.

Belle's very FIRST First Day of School

Well my baby is growing up, she had her first day of preschool yesterday. Her teacher's name is Miss Trish and she is in the Red class. Belle was super excited to go. She's excited to go anywhere. School wasn't new to her, thats what we called it when she went to Parents Day Out. But this was really school.

She started off the morning with M&M pancakes (my special treat for the teachers, a sugar high). She wore her backpack around til it was time to go get in the car line. I thought for sure we'd be the first in line, but we were like 6 or 7 cars back. Apparently there were other kids bugging their moms to get going. At school I just have to pull up to the door and the teachers come and pull the kids out of the car. At first I wasn't too keen on this idea, but I know I'll be thankful in the dead of winter. We hung out in the car listening to "Belle's songs" which is her Veggie Tales cd. She went to Deidra, the teachers assistant just fine. She even told the lady that "thats my Ephan, he stays here". Me on the other hand was balling my eyes out. I really didn't expect to cry. I mean I've taken her and dropped her off at PDO and never once cried. I sucked it back in long enough to get her out of the van, but cried again as I pulled out of the parking lot.

Ethan and I came home and got ready for his play date with Hadley (a couple months older than Ethan). Hadley's mom Krissy is in my MOPS care group and since we both live in Franklin, I thought it would be nice to get together. Ethan is kind of a rough and tumble kind of kid. Seems like he was always pulling up on Hadley, pulling her hair or kissing her (he could very well been trying to bite her, but I like the idea of kissing better). Guess he needs to work on being gentle.

While the babies were playing I got a phone call. Imagine how my heart jumped when I heard "Hi this is Rhonda from the preschool". Im thinking "Oh great, she's peed her pants already or has been put in the 'rethink' chair". But no she just wanted to tell me that Belle is doing fine and that she's making friend and making macaroni necklaces and planting seeds.

We picked Belle up 2.5 hrs later. Miss Trish brought Belle out and said that she did great and that she was really excited to do everything. She came home in her original clothes so whew no accidents. I asked her what they did and the first thing she told me was that they had a snack of "wishies" and juice. They played with beach balls in the gym and something about a froggy necklace. She came home with some worksheets where they practiced tracing lines and writing their names.

I'm excited to see her school pictures when those come, see her report card and go to Muffins with Moms later in the year.

Cheerio Monster

Ethan loves his cheerios. Its the one thing I can give him and he not make too much of a mess. Well he does in fact make a terrible mess, but nothing that can't be swept up. My vacuum is mostly full of cheerios. I know I can plop Ethan in the middle of the floor with his snack trap and have a good 5-10 minutes of him sitting quietly in one spot. If I have to vacuum the floor afterwards, so be it.

And he speaks!!

Ok we've got our first word out of Ethan. I don't know, seems kinda early. I'll have to go look in Belle's baby book and see when she said her first word.

Anyways, are you wondering what it was? "Night, Night". Sounds more like "nie nie". Sure enough the last couple nights Ethan has waved and said "nie nie" on his way to bed. After this occurring more than once and with multiple witnesses, I'm putting it in the baby book as his first word.

Ah, my baby is growing up.

A boy's favorite spot

Yesterday I looked up from my computer to find this. (And Nic I was working, not just on facebook)


At first I kinda panicked. I mean the boy doesn't lay still ever unless he's sleeping. When I got up I found this. Just chillin while he watched Clifford.



Well I thought that maybe it was an isolated incident. Nope, here he is again this morning while him and Belle were watching Wonder Pets.



Of all places. Couldn't he of picked a different and more clean spot to have as his favorite lounge spot.

Picture Perfect Picnic

You may remember this post from last year. My friend Kelly does such a great job with this party she throws for her girls and friends/family. This year's theme was a picnic and Kelly did not disappoint.

Belle had such a great time. She got to play with Jacey this year and I think they had a lot of fun together. Jacey and Belle are about the same age, while a lot of the other girls were older.

Here are the girls last year before Jacey got sick and had to leave. The girls are on opposite sides of the table.


Look how big they have gotten.



Look at these cute decorations.



The girls ate hamburgers and hot dogs on picnic blankets.


Then they played games and went on a scavenger hunt and found a treasure chest.



We ended the night with the girls in their pjs singing karaoke.


Belle is just like her mom, always has to have the sweets.

A little bit of everything

The kids seem to be growing up so fast. Belle will be starting preschool in just about a month. She'll start dance class in 2 weeks. Or as she would call it "baway school". Just looking at her anymore, she looks like a big kid and any bit of babyness seems to have disappeared.


Ethan is 10 mos now. He's got his top two teeth. And boy is he on the move. He'll pull up on anything, but still seems to prefer army crawling as his mode of transportation. We have discovered that he can crawl though if you put him in the grass. Or if you let him crawl around with out a diaper. He's quite the eater now too, much better than Belle ever was at his age ( or even now).

And when I say pull up, I mean pull up on anything. Here he is getting both feet off the ground literally doing pull ups on the table.


And we have video proof now that Ethan can really crawl even though he chooses not to.


And last but not least a performance by Belle herself. (warning, it's like 3 mins long). She was singing in the rain if you are wondering why her hair looks like it's getting wetter.

On the road again

Belle finally grew out of her tricycle, but we were having a hard time getting her to ride her "big girl" bike. We finally went out and got her a basket and tassles and then she was willing to give it another try. Yep, spent $15 on a $5 bike.

She still doesn't ride it long, but she's getting there.



I apologize for the camera work. I was walking and holding Ethan at the same time.

The classic kid eating spagetti picture

He loves it when he finds Belle's whistle. He'll laugh hysterically too when he gets it to actually work. Maybe he'll grow up to be a referee.

** I'll also add that as a result of this, Ethan has learned how to whistle. I went to get him after a nap and he had his lips puckered and was actually whistling.

Brother and Sister

Here are a couple cute videos of the two playing together.

I think the background music on this on is appropriate. They had just got done watching Kung Fu Panda.



This happens too when they are in the bath together. Ethan loves to splash with Belle.

Happy Anniversary!!

I CANNOT believe I've been married 9 years. Guess times flies when you're having fun.

Don't we look like babies in this picture.


Happy Anniversary Nic!! I love you!!

Sunday School reflections

Belle was really cute today. Yesterday at Sunday school she made a necklace that is a heart and had macaroni on it. On the heart was the verse "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" Proverbs 3:5. She was really proud of her necklace.

Fast forward to today. She found her necklace again and we had this conversation.

Belle: "Mommy?"
Me: "What?" (in my slightly annoyed tone, because I hear this a lot)
Belle: "Jesus lives in my heart"
Me: "Jesus does live in your heart."
Belle: "Belle loves Jesus"
Me: "Jesus loves you too, Belle"
Belle: "Yea" **sheepish grin**

She's so onry, but gosh she can be so cute sometimes.

Busy weekend!

We seem to have crammed a lot into this weekend. We started off planning to go to the Johnson County Fair parade, but went to the zoo with friends instead. We had a good time and it was a perfect day for the zoo. We're having some pretty low temps for July and it almost feels like fall.

Belle got to see the dolphin show this time and I think she really enjoyed it. She even got to ride a pony. Mr. Ethan was perfect as always. He's such a good sport.





Belle was adopted by a new family while we were there. You could not pry her away from her friend "mermaid".



That night it was cool enough to start a fire and make smores. Belle had never had a smore and loooved it. However it presented quite the problem when it came to bedtime. She didn't go to sleep til after 10.



Today we headed to the fair. Belle wasn't quite sure of the animals after a goat "maaaa'ed" right beside her. She got to ride the carousel, drink a lemon shake up, get her face painted, and play a game where she won a ball.





Nic had a willing participant in getting free goodies out of the vendors in the exhibit hall.



Ethan loved looking at the animals, but he got pretty cranky after riding in the stroller for awhile.

Side By Side Comparison

I've noticed that Ethan is looking a little bit more like Belle. I always thought that he had a look all his own. But there was a picture in the last post that really reminded me of Belle, so I tried to find a picture of Belle at about the same age. I think Belle is a little older in this picture, but you can see the similarities. Atleast I can.

More handmade goodness

You may remember this post and the goodies my friend Ariel made me. Well a couple weeks ago I got a quilt she made for Ethan. It's gorgeous, and certainly something he'll have forever.

For now it's hanging on the back of the rocker in Ethan's room, but I seem to find it missing quite often. I think Belle wants it for herself. She'll lay it on the floor and say she's having a picnic or she'll lay under it and try to get her brother to come find her.

I've really enjoyed Ariel's blog and it makes me want to start quilting too. Maybe one of these days. If I only had more time to do my many hobbies already. Shoot, I just wish the kids would allow me to do my hair in the morning.

Check it out, Ariel even put his name in the quilting.


Ethan has started making this face again. He'll scrunch up his face and breath in an out of his nose. Silly boy!

Our Fourth of July weekend without fireworks

I've been so excited for the Fourth of July to come. I was looking forward to going to the Masonic home, setting up a spot and then hitting all the food vendors before sitting down to watch the fireworks. Last year Belle FLIPPED out and we had to leave. I believe it was because we were too close to where they set the fireworks off. I thought she'd be better this year since she's gotten over most of her sensitivity to sound. Well we'll never know.

We ended up heading to Ohio earlier than planned and went to a family reunion on Saturday in Cincinnati. Belle was up all day swimming and never got a nap and by the time we got home, she was losing her mind she was so tired. So no trip to fireworks, not even able to set off some in the yard.

I was really impressed with how Belle handled herself in the water. Last year she was really scared, but this year she had her shark. She loves going swimming with that thing.

Aunt Gail, AJ and Belle getting ready to hit the pool


Belle seemed to attach herself to Nic's cousin Emily for quite awhile in the pool. Notice Nic in the background playing full contact pool basketball. He is quite literally black and blue from all that fun.


Nic took Belle up the slide and she was none too happy about it. In the end though she kept saying it was "so fun", but never did want to go down again.


The kids and I finished up the weekend in Troy where we met my friend Megan from high school. It had been 5 years since I saw her last. Her daughter was about Ethan's age I think.


We met at the park and the kids got to play together. Afterwards we left the kids with their grandmas and went to K's for lunch so we could actually carry on a conversation. =)

Seth(14mos), Elise (5.5yrs), Belle (3 yrs), and JJ (7yrs)


The birth buddies even got to see each other. Seth and Brody were born on the same day.


Does this look familiar? Ethan is just returning the favor.




And look what Ethan has started doing this weekend. It started when I found him clinging to the side of the crib standing up screaming. He had a death grip on the bars and didn't know how to get down.


Whew!! That was a long one.

Oh and look at what happened to Nic when they set off fireworks at his parents. He said it flew at him and hit him the stomach about as hard a paintball gun. I guess he taught my niece and nephew a few new words. =)