Tea Party

Daddy and Bella having a tea party. When I walked away after taking pictures of their tea party Bella started crying. When I went back she gave me one of her cheesy grins so I started taking more pictures and every time I would say, "smile," this is the grin I would get.

Wedding

My Brother Matthew was married in Utah the first weekend in August and we were able to fly out and attend. All of the festivities took place at this lodge. It was nice to have everyting in one place and to be so close to our room. We had a bedroom and a living area with a fully furnished kitchen. It was great! Bella and her Auntie Beth (my brother Ben's wife).

Bella and Uncle Ben (my other brother)

No we're not walking yet, we're just faking it!

Grandpa's little helper.Matt & Katy's first dance.

Ben's Best Man's toast.

My sister Rebekah and her boyfriend Tim.

Bella in her pretty party dress!Oooh I just love Grandpa kisses!
"Okay, Uncle Ben, I guess I'll let you feed me."

Toys, Toys, Toys

Surrounded by toys while we wait to go to the pool and what do we want to play with? The empty water bottle! Go figure! :)

1st Birthday

Saturday was Lady Isabella's first birthday and it was a fabulous day!

Every year when I was growing up my mother would buy a figurine candle for each of us on our birthday to add to our menagerie. So for weeks before your birthday your candle collection set out to celebrate you, ready for your day when they would be lit and you would blow them out with that magical wish. I wanted to continue that tradition with Bella, but candles like that are hard to find and of course with this year's theme I wanted to find a ladybug. I finally found a candle that I could live with online and ordered it only to find out it would take up to three weeks for it to come in...It was in the mailbox Monday. Better late than never! :) So this is candle #1 for Bella's menagerie. This is a picture of her room with her new drapes and painting hung.Enjoying her anklet of bells. "Everyone take a string and pull and let's see which one makes all the candy come out!"So maybe the candy needs a little help!

Bella had plenty of help opening her gifts! :) (this was only 1/2 the crew)

YUMMMMM that cake was good! Mommy and Daddy had to help a little with blowing out the candle. Didn't Mommy do a good job on the cake! She's very proud of it!Some pre-party entertainment!Sitting pretty waiting for the guests to arrive.

Glen Lake Girls

Some girlfriends from college and I all worked at Glen Lake Camp and Retreat Center for some summers and we still get together once a month to have dinner, sleepovers or play dates. In the group there are 8 children and 6 of them are girls.

At the beginning of this month we had a play date and got all the kids together (except for 1 who was with his grandparents) and got this cute picture. Don't we have adorable children?! The three babies were born within a few weeks of each other and Bella is the oldest, but used to be the smallest. Isn't it amazing how time changes things?

Another Tooth

It looks like we are getting another tooth! You can definitely tell that Grant and I are new parents because when she started eating less and sleeping more and being inconsolable we immediately thought something was wrong and took her to the doctor. Dr. Tom was very gracious and assured us, with out making us feel too silly, that everything is fine and that it was probably just the tooth. So much for being the star, laid back, new parents. :).

We did get new measurements while we were there. She is 18lb 15oz and I just did the math on what I thought her length was and there is no way she is 44" long. That would put her at 3' (right?). She's getting long, but not that long.

Bella still has no interest in crawling. She won't even stay up on her knees if I put her up on them. She immediately flattens herself out. She's getting pretty steady on her feet so the Dr. suggested maybe she won't crawl so we're going to start working on the walking and see if we have any better luck with that. Dr. Tom wasn't concerned that she wasn't crawling. He said her coordination seemed to be developing fine she may just be content to stay stationary. Maybe that is one downside of having such a content baby. Or is it a downside that I'm not having to chase her all over yet? Hmmm?

4th of July

For the 4th we went with our friends the Thomases to a ranch rodeo in Granbury and watched the fireworks afterward. Bella was Mesorized! Did you know that Granbury's fireworks show is rated the 9th best in the southwest? Here are some pics.