The Groundhog Lied

Or at the very least was on the fence about this whole Spring thing.  How do I know?  Because this morning I woke up to snow and ice covering the ground, my car and the roads!  What a way to start the mornig! 

Friday it was 74 degrees and today it is 24 degrees, what is that about?! 

Anyway, Saturday Bella had  her first dance competition.  She was a little nervous, afraid that she would forget her steps or something, but the girls all did great.  The competition was in Baltimore, so we didn't have far to go.  It was an incredibly windy day and driving down there was a bit of a challenge as we could feel the car being blown around the road a bit.  Luckily there was a parking garage right across from the convention center where the competition was held so we didn't have far to walk.  Bella thought she might get blown away, and she could have the winds were that strong!  The girls were among the youngest there, so they didn't have to stay all day.  They danced in the afternoon and then awards were at 5:00 and we were able to leave after that.  Their number was so cute, it was a lyrical routine danced to the song 'Believe' by Josh Groban and some of the girls were snowflakes and the others were skaters.  Bella was a snowflake. 

Our little snowflake

Bella and Miss Casey, she just LOVES this girl. 

Miss Casey is a high school girl who is also in the dance company and has been for some time.  She is also an assistant teacher in Bella's class this year.  The older girls are all so great with the younger ones.  We are a so lucky to be at this studio because everyone there is just wonderful!  The respect show to one another and the level of caring and compassion is just amazing.  Before the competition, each girl was asked to take an index card for every girl in the company and write something nice, positive or encouraging to each girl.  Then Miss Casey gathered all the cards and seperated them and put each girls' into a index card box.  So every girl got a file box with a card from every girl in the company with something nice written on it about them.  Just such a positive experience for them.  

Oh, and how did they do?  They won a Platinum Award based on overall points and a Second Place award!  Not too shabby for their first time out.  Bella was thrilled because she got a ribbon.

But the day really took it out of her.  During the awards ceremony she was falling asleep in Casey's lap!

On Sunday I went to church alone.  The girls were not up to it, Bella had just gotten up.  I was the liturgist, so I had to go, but more than that I wanted to go.  It really helps me to get a good start on my week and it helps to carry me through my week too.  After church, I went home and rested a bit because I knew we had a long afternoon ahead of us.  Tim was coming home to celebrate his birthday.  My little boy is 25!  Well, he will be tomorrow.  We had a great evening just being together.  Tim is always entertaining, but he was joined by his buddy Dan who he has beed friends with for MANY years now, and when the two of them are together they are a riot.  We had a gret time.  Shawn joined us too and we all went out to dinner, then afterwards we came home for cake and candles. 

The birthday boy and his favorite niece!

Blowing out the candles.

It was a great weekend!

Bella's Night to Shine

Tuesday night was Bella's night to shine in her Holiday Concert at school.  The children have been working so hard with their music teachers to prepare several songs for a 40 minute concert to be presented to family and friends.  The first grade classes sang several songs all together and then each individual class sang one or two songs by themselves.  Bella was choosen from her class to give the introduction to one of the songs and she went right up to the microphone and said her lines without any hesitation.  Wonder where she gets that from?  Ha!  As my Mom likes to tell me, that gene must skip a generation as it seems to have been passed right down to Isabella from her Grandmother. 
Anyway, her class sang "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".  How appropriate for Bella!

Our Girl!

Two Front Teeth!

It was a very cute program and we had one sleepy little girl when it was over!  She had been so excited about it and her part in it, the poor thing was just done when it was over.

In other news, progress continues on the bedroom move in our house.  Jim has been working hard at clearing out his 'den' to move everything to the finished basement and give up that space to allow for Bella to have a larger room.  She has really just grown out of her small room thanks in large part to all the stuff that we and others like to spoil her with.  Ha!

Anyway, the room is about empty now save for his desk, TV and the futon.  So whenever I have some spare time (read: after Christmas) I can begin the process of painting.   But in the meantime, all of my craft room stuff and all of Jim's den stuff are in the basement together.  It is crammed! 

Update tomorrow on our weekend plans.

Wordless Wednesday

My Girl

Photos

Not quite sure what is going on with my computer, but I can only upload two pictures to my blog per entry.  So here are two from my photo shoot with Bella on Sunday.  I love the pink and brown!  She lost another tooth yesterday at school.  That makes eight for anyone who is counting!  Eating is becoming a challenge for her - one she doesn't need.  Though a few are beginning to make their way to the surface so hopefully she will have some teeth soon.  In the meantime, we enjoy her toothy grin!

Love this girl!

She is excited for Halloween and Trick or Treating.  I am excited for the weekend and some sleep time!  Yay!  Might even get something done, but we'll have to see.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Little Fan!

Just Dropping In,

With a quick post.  Just had to show you this picture of Isabella's doll house:

Do you anything funny?  One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong...

That's right-my telephone!  It is turned around with the buttons facing inward, but it is the phone in her dollhouse.  Guess she was afraid of missing a call while she was playing.  I can see trouble brewing.

Be back later!

Back to School

Yesterday was our little Bella's first day of First Grade!  How can that be?  She is growing up so fast, I can hardly stand it.  She was so excited about the school year beginning though.  She had been waiting for it all summer long, and it was finally here. 
Sunday we wanted to  make special, her last day of summer vacation.  Probably more for us than for  her, but whatever.  Jim had to work all day, so it was just us girls.  I was down for the count on Saturday with a migraine and slept in a little on Sunday morning, and wasn't too anxious to get going right away either.  So Bella and Michelle started in on getting a gift together for Bella's teacher.  They dipped fortune cookies in chocolate and then sprinkled red & blue jimmies on them (school colors), packaged them up nice, and voila:

(Tag reads: I'm so FORTUNATE to have YOU for a teacher; courtesey of 2 Sisters)

They tasted good too! 

Then of course Bella felt bad about not having anything for her teacher from last year and wanted to bring something in for her too.  So I had to come up with something on the fly- here's what I did:

Nothing fancy, but it did the trick!  Bella was happy and the teacher has extra pencils for her desk.

We had thought of going to the pool, but it was rainy and just not pool weather so instead we decided upon a movie.  Bella choose Despicable Me. Though she had seen it before with Jim, she wanted Michelle and I to see it too and we were not dissappointed!  It was very funny.  We didn't see it in 3-D, but it was fun non the less.  I LOVED the minions.

So cute!

Anyway, we did have a fun day. 

And yesterday, Bella was ready to face a new year of school as a first grader.  She had her school supplies ready, her backpack packed, her lunch was made and neatly packed in her lunchbox, her clothes were laid out, she was set.  She was all smiles going and all smiles when she got home-a good sign I'd think. 

Here she is-our big first grader!

Today, she couldn't wait to get up and go again!  It's great when they are still young.

Wordless Wednesday

One happy girl!

Loving it!

Pretty toes!

From the Mouthes of Babes

Last night I got home from work exhausted.  Bone tired.  After dinner I said that I was going to go  upstairs and get into my pajamas.  Michelle said I looked too tired to go up the stairs myself and offered to go and get my pjs for me and bring them down.  I thanked her for the offer but declined and said I'd go up myself.  So Jim chimed in and asked if I needed help, to which I said sure.  Now it was Bella's turn to chime in.  She turned to Jim and said "You shouldn't talk like that in front of a kid! Mom!"  When Jim started for the steps (heading for his office by the way) she looked at Michelle and said "He never listens to me!"  I have to wonder what she is thinking.  Later when I joined her in the family room she said "That's outstanding GaGa!"  I asked her what was outstanding because I didn't know what she was referring to and she went on to give me the definition of outstanding.  Ha!  She must think she lives with a bunch of dim wits.

Anyway, here are a few more layouts I completed of my favorite subject.

Strawberry Picking, May of This year!

This one is from a random pictures I took last summer.

A Funny Little Story

Another Bella story to get you through your day.  Well they help me anyway!  Wish I had a picture to go along with this little bit, but you will just have to use your imanination.  Bella had been playing all day in a pair of purple shorts with a lavender floral top.  When I got home from work her hair was down and she had decided to add her pink cowgirl hat to the mix.  She was singing and dancing around for a while and then she started talking in her version of a southern drawl.  'This is how they talk in Texas, Ma'am' she said as she looked at me.  She went on to talk in her little drawl until G-Daddy announced that dinner plans were to run down to the Chinese restuarant for dinner.  Bella got all excited and ran upstairs saying she knew just what shoes she was going to wear.  Down she comes sporting her bright red cowgirl boots!  She was rocking the look, let me tell you.  Ha!  It was too cute.  (Something only a six year old can pull off.)  We get in the car and we are about half way there when she says 'Oh!  Do Texas people eat Chinese, Ma'am?'  To which we of course answered yes.  'Oh, good.  Then that's okay.  I can eat there.'  And I am fully convinced that had we said that Texans did not in fact eat Chinese food she would not have eaten it that night either!

The girl knows how to stay in character!

Happy Birthday!

To this Oh So Special, Super, Spectacular, SIX year old!

Today she got up all giddy with excitement that today is actually the day.  She is really six years old! 

I had the pleasure of taking her to school this morning and on our way in the local radio station was reading off local birthdays and anniversaries when she said 'I wish they'd say my name.'.  Well, next thing you know along with the other names they announced 6 year old Isabella.  From the backseat I heard her gasp.  Then after all the names are read they do a drawing for one to win a gift pack from the Catoctin Popcorn Factory and being that it is graduation season they were going to give it to a graduate.  Then they announced the winner: 'Graduating from Kindergarten at Whittier Elementary School its little Isabella who is 6 today'.  She said 'What even does that mean?' and I told her it meant that she won the popcorn and she just couldn't believe it!  We got to school and she jumped out of the car and raced inside to share her excitement with her Mom.  Life is so much fun and exciting when your six!  So tonight we will go to her favorite restaurant for dinner-Outback and then  home for ice cream cake from Dairy Queen-her favorite.  Today her Mom will share lunch with her at school and then its dixie cups for her class to celebrate, since as she put it she's "not really a cupcake kind of girl."!  That girl just cracks me up!  It's been a fun filled week for  her.  Presents have been arriving in the mail all week (one each day), celebrations today, her name on the radio, then tomorrow is the last day of school, Saturday is her recital and then we'll round the week out with breakfast with the Princesses on Sunday!  Whew!  Happy Birthday, Bella!  We Love You!

Guess What I Got?

Quiet Time!  Bliss.  Can you believe it?  I got off work a little early because my hip flexor had been acting up and I had been pushing myself like crazy so I decided to kick off early.  I called to say I was on my way home and Michelle told me that she was picking Isabella up from school and dropping her off with Jim who was then taking her to the circus.  Michelle then had to head back to work and didn't know how long she would have to be there.  So I got home to an empty house.  It was strange, I have to say.  I have become so used to someone being around all the time that I am not used to being home alone.  I didn't quite know what to do at first.  So I went upstairs to change and well, it went downhill from there.  Not really.
I changed the sheets on my  bed and cleaned up my room.  Then I ironed the basket of clothes that had been staring me in the face for the last several days and magically growing as I did nothing about it.  I got through the whole basket.  I indulged myself and watched Oprah while I was ironing and it was pretty funny too.  Male makeovers!  Next I went downstairs and unloaded the dishwasher and straightened up the kitchen, fed the dogs and let them outside.  I figured I'd let the dogs back in then sit down and read my book, but Roxie had caught a bird in the yard and wanted to bring it inside with her and I wanted her to leave the poor dead thing outside.  Michelle came home then and was able to get Roxie to drop the bird outside.  Dumb dog!
Then Michelle and I sat down and watched the episode of Biggest Loosers that we had TiVoed (sp) from the night before.  It was the make over episode and it is amazing to me!  Anyway, as we were nearing the end Jim calls and said to meet him and Bella at Poblano Grill for Cinco de Mayo dinner and to bring a camera.  So we did and this is what we saw:

Bella had gotten her face painted by a clown at the circus!  Doesn't she make a cute cheetah?  What you can't see is the glitter.  The best part, is was super easy to remove-that gets bonus Mom points! 

Asked what she liked best about the circus Bellas reply?  "Everything!"  She was mezmerized. 

 

Shopping Trip

So I took Bella shopping for a Mother's Day gift for Michelle.  She was so excited, can't tell Mommy!  Where do you want to go?  Let's go to the mall!  What should we get Mommy?  Questions, questions, questions!
So, she had an idea and we headed out in search of this particular item.  Something that she had seen on the tele.  She just knew  her Mom wanted it and needed it.  We went to the store, Kohls and found the item in question and they had it in two color options.  Bella preferred one color and I couldn't find it in Michelle's size.  Silly me, I thought I could just talk Bella into the other color.  No.  Can't you find a guy? she asks.  A guy?  I reply.  Yeah, GaGa, a guy that works here that can find the color I want in Mommy's size.  Oh, that guy.  So, we shlep around the store looking for the guy-finally find him and no they don't have that color.  Only then can I talk her into the other color.  Next stop, the mall.  She wants to go to Sears.  Lands End dept.  So we are walking through the mall and what does she see?  The item that we just bought at Kohls in the color that she had wanted that they didn't have.  Hey!  Can we get it?  She asks.  But I just bought it at Kohls I tell her.  That's okay, you can take it back she tells me.  The kid is way too shopping savvy!  I convince her that its fine and if her Mom wants to make the change she can after Mother's Day. 
So, we get to the Lands End section of Sears and I ask her what it is she wants there.  A new bathing suit she says, Mom likes these bathing suits and she only has one.  I check the price tag and decide that I'm not spending $84 on a bathing suit for her because the reality is, she looks fine in a bathing suit that costs only $40.  Now me, I need a bathing suit that expensive to go out in public in but she is still young, thin and has elasticity in her skin and doesn't need an expensive suit.  Me on the other hand, I have to have an expensive suit just to stay on this side of the law!  (Once I went to the beach in a cheap black bathing suit and before I knew it PETA activists were throwing buckets of water on me and trying to get me back in the ocean!) 
Anyway, I was finally able to convince her to settle for a bathing suit accessory.  Something a little more versatile a lot cheaper.  I paid for it with a gift card that I had and was delighted to find out that I had some left on it when we were done.  Silly me, I thought we were done, but Bella had other ideas in mind.  You see, to get out of the store we had to go right by the children's section.  Bella wanted to try on a bathing suit, so she tried on 5 or 6.  And while my resolve was strong not to give in to a bathing suite for Michelle, it didn't work so well when Bella was modeling them for me.  So I told her she could pick one.  One bathing suit.  "Oh, but they are so cute GaGa.  I can't decide."  While she is trying to decide we see that they are on sale 30% off and she sees this as an opportunity.  "GaGa they're on sale.  That's good, we like sales."   That was it, I caved and she got both bathing suits.  Best part though when we went to the register, they rang up at 50% off! 
Then we get home and she sees her Mom and whispers to me "GaGa, I don't think I want to give that to Mommy for Mother's Day".  Read: I want to give it to her now!  I held off though and made her wait until Sunday.  She's too much!

So then she went swimming in her little pool.

This is one of the bathing suits that she had to have!

Pure Gold!

During the winter months Isabella's school had a program called Read for the Gold.  This program was probably not exclusive to Whittier Elementary School but I don't know.  Anyway, the kids had an opportunity to earn either a Bronze, Silver or Gold Medal by reading at home.  Totals were calculated on a minute basis and the amounts were calculated by a grade level formula.  Anyway, last night was the award ceremony for the students who earned the gold medals.  Students and their families were invited to the school for the ceremonies followed by milk and cookies, and a story time by a 'celebrity' story teller.  They brought each grade level on stage one at a time and each child was to introduce themselves to the audience by saying "My name is _______, I read for the Gold and I am in Ms/Mr._________class.", beginning with Kindergarten.  Well, the first two students they put the microphone in front of froze-totally.  The one little girl looked like she had been turned into a pillar of stone, poor thing.  So they asked for a volunteer to show how it was to be done.  Up went Isabella's hand.  Since she was next in line anyway, they gave her the mike and she introduced herself loud and clear and then received her medal.  She didn't even need the mike!  Too funny.  Here she is:

"Microphone?  Did someone say microphone?"

Receiving her medal

I failed to get one as she strutted across the stage, but here she is pleased as can be!

With Mr. Festerman, her school Principal

Another Manic Monday

Update: They took her back at around 7:30 and Michelle said she was pretty loopy by then.  She cried and wanted her Mommy, naturally Michelle cried too.  They finished up around 9:30 and Bella was in the recovery room.  Everything went well.  The dentist said that while she was in her mouth the two teeth on either side of the missing bottom two were so loose, she pulled them out!  So, she now has six missing teeth!  The good news is that she said the permanent teeth can be seen peeking through the surface.  They let her sleep in the recovery room for another hour and then she woke up and just wanted to go home.  Michelle got her dressed and then she was wheeled out to Grandaddy who was waiting in the car for her.  She is to take it easy today and stay inside and eat soft foods, but she can go back to school tomorrow.  Praise God!
Sorry for my absence, but you know how it is.  I had a great long weekend, which I'lll tell you about tomorrow.  For today, I am asking for a prayer for my Bella.  She is going in for surgery this morning.  Nothing serious, oral surgery to be exact.  Isabella was a preemie and from what I understand that can affect her teeth and in her case it has.  The dentist has been watching her molars because they came in without enamal on them.  He did coat them with enamal, but on her last appointment he took x-rays and said that they were damaged.  The damage is through no fault of her own, not due to a lack of care and as a matter of fact he said that she is a very good brusher.  Never the less, she needed to have crowns placed on four of her molars to protect them.  This poor little girl has not had the best luck with her teeth!  You may remember last summer when she fell face first into the concrete sidewalk and wound up having to have her top two teeth removed and her bottom two fell out.  The one bottom one has just started to grow back and the dentist says that the other three should be in by summer. 
Anyway, to have the crowns put on they have to put her under general anesthesia and to do that she has to be hospitalized.  The surgery is scheduled for 6:30 this morning and Jim is going to accompany Michelle and Bella there.  They left the house at 5:00 and expected the trip to take them an hour, they were told to be there by 6:00.  We were not told how long the proceedure would take, but I'd guess an hour or two? 
Grandma is going to work, hopefully it will help to keep my mind off of things.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Less Words Wednesday

This sweet little girl is going to try out for her school play today.  Break a leg Bella!

Feeling a bit better

I was sent home from work shortly after my arrival yesterday.  Aparently I looked 'awful'!  Who knew?  At least my look matched the way I was feeling!  Ha!  So I went home, got a drs. appointment, got an antibiotic for strep throat and a sinus infection.  She also gave me Tylenol w/Codiene to help me sleep.  Feeling a bit better today and expect to improve from here on out.  I mostly rested on the couch catching a few naps here and there and went to bed early. 

I did manage to wrap the gifts that we have for our Bella. All I can say is WOW!  Between us and Michelle, that child is getting a lot.  She is so much fun though.  I put the presents under the tree and when she came home from school she noticed them right away.  She came in, gave me a hug and whispered in my ear 'Did you see all the presents?'  When she opens her gifts she always squeals with delight and says 'It's just what I wanted!'  Once she even said 'It's just what I wanted that I didn't know I wanted!'  How cute is that?

After dinner last night, Jim took Michelle and Bella downtown to the Creative Arts Center to see the display of Gingerbread Houses. Bella loved it!  Jim said that she would just stare at them and point out the different features.  It was a good display, too bad I had to miss it.  Bella's favorites were one that was made to look like the Candy Land Game and one that was a castle. 
Tonight I plan on spending some time creating.  I have a mini album to make for a girl at work and I haven't even started on our Christmas cards yet!  I may forgo them this year for  (gasp!) storebought!  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gott do! 
Hmmm!  What is Roxie doing on the furniture! 

That's all for now. 

Wordless Wednesday

Enough of the pity party...

On to some fun!  Just wanted to recap our weekend for you.  It went by way too fast, but we had a great one.  Saturday after Bella's dance class we ran a few errands.  I was on the search for 2 very specific Christmas Gifts.   I knew what I wanted to get, it was just a matter of finding them, easy ritht?  Wrong!  Couldn't find either.  Oh well, move on to something else.  Michelle and I did find our Black Friday shirts, so that was good and they were on sale-even better.  Next, we headed up to the Catoctin Zoo.  (One of Miss Bella's favorite places.)  They were going to get all the alligators out of the bog and move them inside for the winter.  When we got there most of the water had already been removed from the bog and the zookeeper was standing in amongst the alligators.  He told the crowd what they were doing and how they would do it and then went about grabbing the alligators by the tail, covering their eyes and then taping their mouths shut with duck tape.  It was really neat to see!  The alligators would his and move, but they would submit rather quickly.  Except for one guy.  He was not going to give it up without a fight and actually grabbed the guys pant leg and then did a death roll.  Here are the pictures: 

Bella also got to hold a 2 year old alligator.  (With a little help)  She thought that was pretty cool!

Next we went on the Safari Ride and got to feed the Bison, Camels, Deer, donkeys, Zebras, etc.  There were only six of us on the ride, so we had plenty of food for them.

This is Sultan.

Meet Malachi.

See the red mark right in

the middle of Bella's forehead?  That is where Malachi bumped her in the head! 

He is not a patient one!

Then we finished off the day Trick or Treating.  Bella and Michelle went TOT and I passed out the candy.  (Jim watched TV)  Here are my Batgirls:

Bella lasted for about an hour and after she got home had to count her treats before heading off to bed.  The grand total?  105!  Not a bad  haul for one hour. 

Sunday after church I worked on some little notebooks for my show.  I think that they came out rather cute!

Great for list making!  If you can't read it, the stamp says Holiday Planner.  Got the stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  The set is designed specifically for these little notebooks, so cute.

That's about all for now.  Working like crazy and living life to the fullest!!

Less Words Wednesday

Not quite a 'Wordless Wednesday'.  This is a picture of my darling Bella in her Halloween costume for this year.  In breaking with tradition of dressing as an animal, (Zebra, chick, puppy, monkey) she has decided to be Bat Girl.  This is her "I'm gonna save the World!" pose.  Who knows where she gets this stuff, she's never even seen a Batman/girl show!