Happy Halloween'07

Here is Bella with her Friends, The jedi Master, Yoda (Francis) and the adorable love bug (Miss Lily) And of course the cute girl on the end is the adorable Witch Miss Bella!! Here she is before her guests arrived, she was nibbling on a light snack, gearing up for Trick Or Treating!!

We were trying to get her to pose, of course easier said than done, I was trying to get a good view of her so cute tights!!

Running towards dad, her Hero!

Having a serious conversation with Miss Lily about something that appears to be quite important to Isabella.

After their chat, they just sat and thought about how heavy the conversation was, and what the next topic would be.

Here I am trying to get Miss Bella to wear her hat...thank goodness it was on sale, she absolutly would not under any circumstances wear that hat, not even for a moment to snap a picture.

Here is the crew gathering for a "group picture."

Vicki was entertaining the kids (can you believe she thinks she would be a bad mom?) she was blowing bubbles for them, I'm getting dizzy just looking at the picture, she blew bubbles for a good 20 minutes till I showed up with the automatic bubble dispenser. As you can tell Francis was having a great time! Lily isn't quite sure what the fuss is all about.

Bella checking out her loot from the few moments we trick or treated. We hit maybe 6 houses on our cul-de-sac...the first house she was quite timid, but by the end she was thanking the people (in sign language) and saying "Bye..." and waving...it was so so cute. She and Francis had a great time! Francis was trying to give the candy back, thinking it was a trade sort of thing, I give you this snickers back for a dum dum...he'll learn. It was their first crack at it, next year I'm sure we'll be the ones being taken around the neighborhood.

Can I eat this? Yes, after mommy inspects it for drugs, needles and razor blades. Some traditions never change...I must admit it was a lot of fun for me too! I loved Halloween so much I trick or treated till I was 19...I'm short, I got away with looking cute and small, and very young.

Thank you April!

Bella wanted to send April a big thank you for the warm and wonderful scarf...as you can see below, I got good use out of it today at the pumpkin patch, it kept me snuggly warm!

The pumpkin patch!

Here we are at Joe's Place, in Vancouver, at their pumpkin patch. They also have other variety other produce through the year, apples, fresh veggies, etc. This was Isabella's first trip the pumpkin patch, last year she was still tiny, but this year, we went BIG!

We took a a hay ride, which took us around the farm, which had Bella saying "oh wow!" And they gave us free apples, which were delicious!

Then we accompanied Bella through the various patches of pumpkins to find just the right one!

We searched through many different sizes, colors and shapes...

This one was right up Bella's ally!

Finally after we made our selections, we let Bella frolic and run around, after all, she is encroaching on 2 years old...she has lots and lots of energy! Good thing for us we keep in good shape so we can keep up with her! We look forward to making this a new family tradition, Bella had a fantastic time, and so did we!

A walk in the park...

Remember that old saying? "That was a walk in the park..." Or the other saying "just another ordinary day..." both no longer have the same meanings in our house. A walk in the park is now spent investigating things we adults take for granite. Falling leaves from the change of Summer to Fall...the different colors the leaves are turning...all of these things we adults know will happen are mysterious and magical through the eyes of a child. Isabella is quite taken with all of this, so we stopped to take "a walk in the park" with our favorite person so she could check it out! Things like this are no longer ordinary...and we love it!

You lookin at me? Are you lookin at me..?

Isabella has been working on her many faces for Jeremy and I...and of course we could eat her up! She is so funny, her personality is really fourishing, and we are witnessing first hand who our little girl is going to someday be...albiet moody some days, but mostly a comidian, like her dad!

Isabella and mommy!

Isabella is becoming quite the little shutter bug, when the camera comes out, so does Bella. I'm just happy she allowed me to share a moment of her thunder. ;-)

Making new friends...SNOOPY!

Here is Isabella and Snoopy...he is almost as tall as she is, yet she insists on packing him all over the house...if you look back through the Christmas pictures, he is in there, by the tree. Each week, we swap out one of her (100's+) stuff animals and let them each get a snuggle, we're just now making the rounds to Snoopy...this way each toy gets a chance to get some love. We're and equal opportunity kind of house when it comes to sharing the love with animals...stuffed ones included. :) Glad Snoopy got his turn, next week I believe it's one of the many stuffed Easter Bunnies she has to choose from!

A what, a whirly-gig?!?

Leave it to great-grandma's to have obscure things at their houses. But, this is one of the reasons why grandparents are so cool, they have things that we don't have at our houses, so we go explore and discover the wonderful findings at their homes.

As you can see here, Isabella found the whirly-gig in the front yard, at first this was really neat, she kept twirling it around and around...

Giving it a good push each time to ensure it would spin, even with one of it's pedals missing...
Make cute faces with each go round, showing her enthusiasm and excitement at this new and wonderful spinning thing...

Till finally, as they say, if a picture was worth a 1000 words, I think this one says "that was fun while it lasted!" What's next???

Could you be, the most beautiful girl in the world...?

Here is Isabella at Great-Grandma's house...Looking oh so beautiful...Jeremy and I can't take our eyes off of her...we are the wacky parents with a camera on hand at all times...poor girl.

She has brought us such joy, we are so thankful to be her parents, she is truely the most beautiful person we've ever met.

Mt. Rainier

We took Isabella to Mt. Rainier today...we've never been ourselves, and as you can tell by Isabella's expression she was really excited.

Although on the bridge she was quite curious, what's the sound below me...? It's running water! She had a great time...sadly, after these pictures, the rain started to poor, so most of the rest of the trip was spent inside the car, we decided that was motivation enough to come back again soon...so we can continue our hikes through the beautiful forests of Mt. Rainier...

Discovering Dress Up!

Back in the days before Bella, or as we say in our house, "BB" we went to many a themed party, and various Halloween shin digs, dressed up...so we have tons and tons of dress up things that we intentionally saved knowing someday "our kiddo will love this stuff!" Mardi Gras beads, wigs, costumes, hats, and various other things...so on a whim, I decided to being a few things out and test them on Bella, to see if we can get away with a wig for this coming Halloween, and boy did we have a laugh or 2...she wasn't as impressed with our idea as we were...especially since we were laughing so hard, not at her, but how ridiculous these wigs are...the first wig makes her look like a cave man, or rather cave baby...the second makes her look like Cher's baby!

It was sure fun for us to dress her up though, at least for us...in later months we will bring this stuff out again see if maybe she is ready...for now, they are safe and sound awaiting her impish imagination to take flight and soar with her to far off places of princesses, fairies and the many other things she will come up with!

~My first cultural event~

I had a great time...bouncing to the music, and people watching, and what interesting people to see...so many different, vibrant, colorful, and nice people! It was so fun...although quite warm, we had to leave early...the heat made me a little cranky.

The line up...70 Drag Queens...they were going for a Guiness book of world records for the largest "drag queen kick/chorus line!"

She was singing her heart out!!
Ooh, these 2 men/queens were quite colorful!!

Yes, Miss Diaper Bottom, we are watching you!

Oh my is she cute!! (the voice of a proud momma)

Not a morning person...well maybe.

Here we are, the dynamic duo, just waking up, and catching a couple moments of snuggle time, before daddy is off to work.

Not quite awake yet, maybe I should look into coffee...nah! Mom said it will stunt my growth, which is why she is so short!

Sleeping angel...

My mom always comes into my room before she goes to bed, to check on me, cover me back up if my blanket has been tossed to the side...she said she couldn'd resist snapping a picture of me sleeping...she said I looked so peaceful and beautiful, even when I'm sleeping. She must love me a lot.

New favorites!

Besides having my own seat in the house now, I have a new favorite toy. It's a water squirter from the bath...I couldn't let it go, even through putting on my pj's and getting stories read to me at bedtime...It's a pelican, and I adore it...!

Stone Henge...in Washington

We took Bella on one of our famous weekend warrior drives...

It was such a beautiful day...we enjoyed eachother's company in the car, but we were excited to stretch our legs!