That's My Girl

I asked Bella what she wanted for dinner tonight, and she replied, "DIRT!"

She may be a mirror image of Steve on the outside, but there is no doubt that she is my child on the inside!

Preschool, Here We Come!

Tonight was Bella's Open House for preschool. Or, I should say, it was Open House for Steve and I; Bella had a babysitter. It was definitely a "back and forth" of emotions for me! I was excited for her to start learning new things, the Martha Stewart-side of me got excited about planning Christmas parties and snacktime, but I got sad about things like they discourage the use of "lovies." These are some of Steve and I's "aaaawwwww" moments from the evening...

Bella's teachers, Miss Melissa and Miss Betty, sent her a postcard this week! I thought that was a nice thing to do, especially for the parents!

The sign welcoming parents to the classroom (I drew the pink line!) Whitney's son, David, is in her class, and a few others that she knows from church nursery are in there, too!

Her outfit for the first day of school! Knowing me, I may change this three more times between now and Tuesday, but I saw it in Target tonight and loved the little sea-foam green shorts.

Preschool handbook and our number for carpool. I have to save these so that I can look back and remember how nervous I was about driving the wrong way in carpool!

Bella's little cubby. We thought it was so cute that they learn to bring their bag in each morning and hang it in their own cubby. I can imagine her saying, "Oh cooooool!"

My Happy Moments...

Daddy took us on an ice cream date Tuesday night

This is Steve's, "I'm a dark and brooding man of mystery" face

Bugging Bella for a cute picture

She lined up her figurine on the coffee table; it reminds me of the verse about the lions and the lambs.

Nothing is as cute as a little girl sleeping in her Daddy's shirt.

Weekend Wrap-Up

I loved our weekend! Lots of friends and good times! Thursday night, we went out to a movie with our friends, Ben and Carolyn. Carolyn is due with her first baby (Sharpe) in September and has been gone for her medical school rotations for the last month, so this was the first time I've seen her in so long! It was so good to hug her, touch her belly (Yes, I'm one of those people), and laugh a lot! We spent Friday at home, watching Netflix in bed...one of my favorite weekend activities!

On Saturday, Whitney had a bridal shower to go to in Athens, so we came over and helped Trey with the kids. Bella LOVES their playroom - it has really soft carpet and the best couch ever! We lose track of her for long periods of time in that room. Whitney got home around 8:00, so we made s'mores and got to talk about what we wanted to accomplish in the new ministry with small groups and all of that.

Sunday was our opportunity to attend mass with Will and Erin. Steve and I have really been looking forward to this time to experience their service and get to talk about it afterwards. The mass was very similar to what I expected, with much more kneeling than what I thought! Erin told us that when everyone takes communion, we would have the chance to go to the front, as well, but just to be blessed by the priest instead of receiving the sacraments. We decided not to do this; since we don't believe the priest holds any sort of spiritual power, it seemed like that would have been blasphemous (not to be overdramatic). After mass, we went to get McD's for breakfast and talk about any of our questions. Erin is definitely more sure of her religion...she does not seem to be "seeking." She teaches at a Catholic school and was raised Catholic, so she is much more reinforced in her faith. I wouldn't say that Will was seeking outright, but he doesn't seem as invested as Erin is.

We didn't go to mass to change their minds about what they believe; just to keep an open dialogue with them about our faith and the differences. Steve and I really felt a sense of sadness during the service. Their closing song was 'Amazing Grace' and all I could think of was, "But none of you believe this!!!" I completely believe that someone can be a Catholic and also a Christian, but the way Erin describes it is: All Catholics are Christians, but not all Christians are Catholics. I definitely disagree with that, so we will keep praying and hope the Lord opens up more doors in the future.

My one funny moment was when we first walked into their parish. There was a small fountain of water that Bella ran toward and I was about to lift her up to let her play in it, when I saw a woman reach over and dip in two fingers and then do the "sign of the cross". It was the holy water! I almost let my child play in holy water! I know that we don't think it's holy, but still! Oh my goodness! I gave Steve this look of horror and he just shook his head at me. (He does that a lot.)

Enjoying her hotcakes at McDonald's.

Don't they look like a little, old couple, splitting their breakfast? So cute!

Don't Let Her Fool You

I know she looks cute and cuddly, but this picture represents the one, tiny moment of the morning when she was actually behaving. The rest of the morning, she was splashing the dog's water all over the kitchen, trying to climb up on the table that holds the TV, shaking her bag of cereal all over the floor, wedging herself between the back of the couch and the wall, and tipping her box fan down the stairs.

Before you start to think I'm the world's most absentee parent, I should tell you that she is a master of sneakiness. A MASTER! She waits until the 30-second window of time when I'm heating up the baby's bottle or running upstairs to switch the laundry. When I come back down, she is smack dab in the middle of mayhem, reacting in total confusion when I look at her and say, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT?!?!?!?!?"

When I put her in time out, she sits there, crying and hitting herself. Which, I hate to say, is kind of hilarious. She's not hitting herself hard; it's just her way of showing me that she's not happy with the situation. For the most part, I ignore her when she does this and it doesn't last too long. She's always sweet-as-can-be when she's finally allowed out of time-out, but I think it's just a ruse as she plots her next move. Here's hoping 5 o'clock comes quickly and Daddy comes home as back-up!

School Supplies!

I'm so excited! We bought school supplies today! Granted, we were buying supplies for a 2-year old in preschool so there weren't many things to get, but it was enough for me. Eastside (our church, and where Bella is attending preschool) sent out a letter two weeks ago with an introduction from her teacher along with a list of supplies for each age group. Mel was home today, so we took all three kids with us to Wal-Mart and got our goodies.

Crayola makes my heart happy!

Learning to say "cheeeeeeese" for the camera!

Showing Mel our list!

She is saying "glue" here.

Our loot! Like I said, it's a small pile, but it got me as excited as I used to be when I shopped for an entire classroom! I'm looking forward to everything she will learn this year!

Bumps and Bruises

I haven't posted in a little while because I keep forgetting to bring my camera on our outings. It's been a hazardous few days for the little humans here...I'll post pictures below. My favorite "camera-less" moment in the last week was last Saturday. We had plans with Trey and Whitney to meet them and the kids at Acworth Beach for a fun day in the sun. Steve and I got there a little early with Bella, and we had a really great time in the water with just us three. Bella loved playing with us and she even kicked a little when we had her "swim."

Trey and Whit finally arrived with all of the kids and were there only about 10 minutes when it started to pour rain! I mean, torrential downpour; it was crazy! I've never seen us all move so fast, trying to grab 5 kids and all of our beach toys, food, and towels, and run to our cars. We ended up with Steve, Whitney, and all 5 kids in the little car, and me, Trey, and all of our junk in the minivan: I wish I had brought my camera! We headed back to their house and had a wonderful time just hanging out and playing games.

We were leaving Trey and Whitney's on Saturday and Bella tripped in the driveway. She has a little scrape on her elbow and a nice, round scrape on her forehead.

Rex has to be the most accident-prone kid I've ever seen. The poor little guy was being completely calm yesterday and was climbing down from the couch. Unfortunately, he then tripped over the lip of the carpet and went face first into the coffee table. The bridge of his nose and the inside bone of his eye is bruised, but he actually looks a lot better than I expected him to!

I had to share a picture of my new Goodwill ballet flats - only $4.50! I love them!

About a week and a half ago was Trey's surprise birthday party. I loved that his cake was Transformers! He received three Captain America shirts as gifts - can you tell he likes his superheroes?

Bella playing dress-up in one of my dresses, which she calls a "shot." (shirt) She sounds a little British when she pronounces a few of her words.