First swim of 2012

We spent the Memorial weekend at Nana and Papa's and Bella went in the pool for the first time this year. The water was still a little cold so we didn't stay in very long. Bella had fun though and hopefully in 2 weeks when she is back there it will be a little warmer. 

Updates

Bella has been growing and changing daily. She is saying more and more words and loves singing and dancing. She surprises us everyday with the new things she comes up with. She also loves telling us what to do! She is fearless as well, which sometimes I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 

Recently we have had a litter of new ducklings in the neighborhood. They waddle through our yard daily and Bella loves getting as close to them as they will allow. 

This was taken about a month ago when they came right up to the garage and Bella and Papa fed them some bread.

 this was a few weeks ago when she was trying to chase them

She loves her magnet doodle and her favorite thing to draw is a "happy face". Although she can't draw one well she likes trying and loves asking others to draw them for her. 

 She also loves corn on the cob and can eat a whole ear with no problems. Who would have ever thought that she would eat that, I never did. She normally doesn't like getting her hands dirty. She will whine and say her hands are dirty and need to be cleaned. 

She also loves her "bench" that Papa made her. She calls it her bench and she carries it with her everywhere. She wants to see everything we are doing these days.  She will run and get her bench and tell me to wait until she gets her bench. Here she is helping Joe install the hardware on the cabinets in the kitchen.

Cabinet project

So we have been very busy this past week and one of our new projects we have been working on is adding hardware to all the cabinets in the house. None of the cabinets had knobs/handles so we thought, lets dress this place up a little bit. 

Disney 4.25.2012

This past Wednesday we got the opportunity to take Bella to Disney again. Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Al's neighbor, who worked at Disney and is moving out of state sold us the tickets at a discounted price. How awesome is that!? Bella loved it and it was even more fun than the first time we took her for her first birthday. This time she knew the characters and was so excited the days leading up to it. Even now she still talks about her trip and how she saw the castle and fireworks.  

Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Al have season passes so they came with us. I think its been a long time since they saw the theme parks through a little kid's eyes. We started off at Epcot where we met the main Disney Characters; Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.

 She was not shy at all and ran right up to all of them and gave them big hugs.

 Minnie is her favorite

 Next we went to Animal Kingdom. I had never been there before so it was cool to see. Joe and I conquered Mount Everest 

 Tree of Life

 we took the safari ride and saw all kinds of animals to include a giraffe up close and baby elephants

 The last stop of the day was the Magic Kingdom. Bells took Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Al on the Buzz Light Year ride for their first time

 teacups

 we were all ready for Mickey's Philharmagic but then it wasn't working and we had to exit

 Bells and daddy as not so scary pirates

 waiting for the firworks

 the beautiful castle all lit up

 watching the fireworks

Zeltner's

Our friends from Switzerland; Helen, Chris, Patricia and Dominick came to visit and we spent the day together this past Friday. They came by our house for the first time and then we took them out to Lake Jessup. There were lots of alligators to see that day in the Lake.

The Zeltner's

Dominick trying Gator for the first time

Next we took them by Joe's fire station for a tour. Here is Patricia, Bella and Joe in the back of the rescue truck

Chris, Bella, Patricia, and Dominick

Dominick driving

They got to go for a ride in the truck too before the day was over. Here is Helen and Patricia in the back of the truck

We had a great time with them and we can't wait to go back to Switzerland!!

Kick Ball

Last weekend was the 4th annual Maitland Kick Ball Game. It came down to the FD against the PD and the FD remains undefeated. Bella had so much fun sitting in the stands, cheering and running all around.

Daddy was working that day so he didn't get to play. 

Bella with the C Shift boys

running bases in between games

playing kick ball with daddy

 watching all the action

Chuck E Cheese

This past weekend we went to dinner with our friend's, The Maybin's, and after dinner Anne suggested that we take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. Bella had never been before and boy was she sooo excited. I think it was all the lights and sounds that she liked best because she didn't really want  to play any of the games, believe it or not. 

climbing through the tunnels 

helping Anne play basketball

 Bella, Aubrey, and Ella

Riding with Chuck E