slumber party trio (video)...

I had forgotten about this, but I just ran across this little video clip that Bella, Libby, and Ashley made when they were here for Bella's birthday. I thought their families would enjoy seeing it. :+)

Click on the picture to watch the clip...If you are not running a MAC, you will need to download the free QuickTime viewer here. QuickTime



Incidentally, my last post was post number 100! :o) Thanks for visiting today...

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time flies...

Has it been a week already since my last post??? WHERE does the time go? I guess I've gotten old enough that the saying, "The older you get, the faster time flies" has become a reality.

We've just been up to the usual. Ringo's middle school soccer team has had two games, and so far they have been victorious. I have been home a lot, taking care of people who are just sick enough not to be able to go anywhere. Since sometime in August, I have hardly been at church. Braden has had a very good week in school this week...only one conduct point. Of course, this day is not over yet. :o) I know this is supposed to happen when kids start school, but I can hardly believe that Bella is reading words! She is totally into school, and I'm so glad she is doing well. Evan is having fun being at home with me. He plays so well by himself...I am so thankful! I do take time to play with him each day, but it's nice that he can be busy on his own when I am busy around the house. He walked into the room this morning wearing this getup, and I HAD to take a picture! He's such a clown...



Next week the kids are out of school on Thursday and Friday, so we hope to get to do something fun. This is a beautiful time of year to have a couple of days off. Hopefully we'll get to make a trip to Dollywood. I hope you all have a fun weekend and a great time in church on Sunday! Until next time...

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celebrating bella's birthday (slideshow)...

First of all, let me say I am sorry you had to look at that ugly bug all week! That must be why people keep asking me about the pictures of Bella's birthday...they are tired of seeing that critter. :O)

The tradition at our house is for the kids to open their gifts on the morning of their birthday, after they are ready for the day. I always leave the presents sitting next to the fireplace so that they are sitting there waiting for the kids to come down. And we always get a picture of them holding up their fingers to represent their age. Then after dinner, we have cake and ice cream with just our family. Not being all that domestic, I usually buy a cake, but this year we made everything. My kids are so used to having an ice-cream cake or something like that, that when Bella saw the finished cake she said, "Is that what it it's supposed to look like?" I guess she hasn't seen too many cakes decorated the "old-fashioned" way. I really can't make too many cakes anyway because I LOVE cake batter...NOT a good thing. Anyway, we had a nice time and the cake (and the batter) was delicious!

On Friday, the day after Bella's birthday, we had a party in the form of a sleepover. We invited her three closest friends, and decided it would be a decorating party. They decorated the cakes, they decorated themselves, and they decorated t-shirts. They all had so much fun, and it was sweet to see them all working and playing together. I must say I personally was worn out at the end of the day, but it was worth it (I say this now a week later). A big thank you to Autumn, Ashley, and Libby for coming, for the adorable gifts, and for being Bella's sweet little friends!

The day of Bella's birthday, celebrating with the family...


The before picture...


The after picture...


Some of the cakes the girls decorated...


The t-shirt Bella decorated...she is the abstract artist of the group...


What happens when you let them play with makeup without supervision...


On Saturday morning, the girls asked if they could play makeup again. This seemed like a harmless idea until I heard them coming down the stairs saying, "You show her first," "No, you go first." Bella's entire face, as you can see, was covered in red lipstick. The other girls were more conservative, only having drawn cat faces on theirs. Bella started out with a cat too, but apparently she got carried away.

Well, enough of that. Hope you enjoy the slideshow!

Click here to view the show

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ugh...

Thank you to all of you for the birthday wishes, cards, calls, and gifts...Bella had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday. I have lots of pictures to post, but I'm going to give you all a break from that for a few days. ;o)

I am sure you are wondering what in the world this creature is...one word for you: Braden. He always has some sort of creature in his bug catcher. A few weeks ago, he caught a big black widow...yes, he really did. Then he released that one so he could capture another spider that was absolutely HUGE, probably two inches long and one and a half inches wide. It was also carrying an egg sack. Oh, and a few weeks ago he had a praying mantis that was about five inches long. The things I have to endure...ugh!







This creature comes with a story, but we actually do not know what it is. We've never seen such a thing before. Braden didn't catch this one, Ringo did. He was out early one morning and he saw a bird trying to pick something up off the road, but it dropped it (probaby after getting a good look at it)...so Ringo, being a good daddy and all, stopped to see what it was. And we have a new pet. Well, we HAD a new pet...it didn't survive in captivity (so sad). Anyway, you can see that it is the ugliest creature ever, about five inches long and about as big around as a broom handle. Have you ever seen such an ugly thing? If anyone knows what it is, please let us know!

I told you I was giving you a break from Bella's birthday! Hope you all have a great week!

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happy birthday, bella...

The big day has finally arrived...Bella is six years old! She opened some presents this morning, and we have more fun plans for later. We have always gone to school and had lunch with Braden on his birthday, so now it's Bella's turn. Of course, we get to take a treat for all the kindergartners. I suppose there will be more pictures to post after all the celebrating is over. :+)

We are thankful to the Lord for giving us the gift of Bella. She is a delight...whatever she is doing, she always has a good time; she has a sparkle in her eyes; she loves to sing even when she doesn't know the words and has to make up her own; she loves to dress up and be girly, but she also enjoys playing with bugs and snakes; she occasionally puts on her PINK soccer cleats and thinks she has a chance against her big brother; she's little miss independent; she's overly dramatic if anything goes wrong...okay, I'll stop now. She is a blessing to our family!



Ringo created this birthday card...I love it! He is actually working on designing a series of birth announcements...more to come on that another time. Anyway, this is the slideshow we've been putting together. Just some of our favorite pictures of the little birthday girl...hope you enjoy the show!!!

Click here to view the show

P.S. Please pray for Bella...she's not feeling very well. She almost never gets sick, and no one wants to feel bad on their birthday! She really wants to go to school, but I have a feeling she will be coming back home soon. :(

more bella...

We have the birthday slideshow ready to go, but we'll wait and post that on Thursday. We're just celebrating on the blog all week long! Some of you (ahem!) have seen a sneak-peek of Thursday's post, but I can't wait to put it on here. Here are some more pictures from Bella's birthday "session." :-)

Such a big girl...


One of my favorites...just melts my heart!


This one is my personal favorite...click on it for a larger view.


I have really enjoyed going through all these old pictures...so many memories. I just remembered this evening that when we were expecting Bella, we first had the names Cailyn and Alana (a-lah'-na) picked out. For a boy, we had picked out Evan Matthew (sound familiar?...it was really easy the third time around). Then we came up with the name Bella and we loved it, but we had to think about it for a long time because it was not a common name AT ALL at the time. But from the moment she was born, she fit perfectly with the name!

See you on Thursday... :o)

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