Finger Painting

Today Bella had some fun finger painting with food-coloring dyed cool whip. we haven't done this in a while, because she wasn't really "into" it last time. It's amazing what a difference a couple of months makes! She LOVED it this time...and focused a lot more on painting...and less on eating the cool whip :) She was actually kinda upset when we were finished painting. I'm not so sure if that was because she liked painting, or because I took away a really sweet snack...



And just for the record...yesterday was Neil's birthday. Neil, I tried to do a fun video with Bella to wish you a happy birthday, but she just would NOT co-operate. I suppose this icing-ish fun will have to do. But we do love you, and miss you, and can't wait to see you again! Hope you had a good day! (we'll celebrate mucho when you get home!!)

Rock Shrimp Festival 10k

So I heard about the Rock Shrimp Festival on Thursday night, and decided that I should run in the 10k this morning. I've been training like crazy, and thought it would be good to kind of evaluate where I'm at WITHOUT the stroller, and in a race situation. Plus, why NOT run it?

So, I woke up at 5:15 this morning, woke Bella up at 5:45, Skylar met us here, at the house at 6, and we showed up to the race at about 6:30 - just enough time to register, warm up, and stretch before the race started at 7am.

My only complaint: It wasn't the correct distance, so the mile markers were off, which made it difficult to pace myself with. I knew it seemed kinda funny that my first mile I did in 9:00 and my second one was 11:00?? (I'm not one to start out fast, so this was just odd...and 11:00 is slower than I run pushing Bella in the stroller. Just didn't make sense, so I had to check it out when I got home.) It's supposed to be 6.2 miles. It was 6.37, according to runningmap.com (which is the most accurate way I've found to measure).

No matter what, it was good just to do it. I can't really complain too much though, because I finished really well.

How I came out:

1st place in my age division (Women's 20-29) and 3rd place All-around for Women.

Time: 6.37 miles in 57:52
Average pace: 9:05

Here's some pictures from the race, etc.:

Dress-up and "Pig-tails"

My baby girl's girliness is emerging more and more everyday. It's such a beautiful thing to watch unfold before my eyes. Bella has such a fondness for purses these days that I got a purse out of my closet that I don't really ever use, and put it in Bella's toy chest for playtime. I usually put stuff like a bracelet, her sunglasses, her toy cell phone, her baby Einstein radio, and (oh, I better not forget) her Bella-sized new testament - stuff like that - in there for her to go through and pull stuff out, just as she LOVES to do with mine...

This was the outcome of playtime the other day:

Then, yesterday, because Bella's hair has been growing like crazy, I decided to try to put it up in pig-tails for the first time. SO CUTE! Check it out:

Again, with the Bible... only this time, it's Mommy's. How awesome is it that my kid loves the Bible so much! My hope (and everyday prayer) is that this love of the Bible grows into a true hunger and thirst for God's Word :)

Bella and Baby

This is a pretty long video of Bella playing with her baby doll. Her name is Baby. I know.. so original. We tend to call things what they are at our house. Bear. owl. duck. baby. eventually, maybe we'll branch out and actually give personality to these things.
anyway... I love to watch Bella's interaction with her baby. I'm amazed at how well she generally treats her baby, and how much she mimmicks what others do. I used to be amazed by things that she did with her baby that I never showed her how to do. now, however, after spending a couple of weeks with a brand-new baby, she's loving her baby more than ever - and practicing a lot of things she saw mommy do with baby Kaylee in Texas. Here is just a snapshot of her playtime with her baby:

Girls' Getaway 08

Ok, so I know that this is really over-due, but I didn't have time to post this before I left to go to Texas for a while... so here it is!

Girls' Getaway 2008 consisted of some of my close girlfriends from Louisiana Tech (and the Wesley Foundation). Emmy got here first, followed by Amanda, then Heather, then Liz.
For me, it was so great to see these girls again since we are so spread out now. I hadn't seen Amanda since before Neil and I got married, Emmy since our wedding, and Liz since I was about 3 months pregnant. I see Heather off and on when I go to Arlington, but our time is usually rushed and very sporadic. So with all of these girls, it was amazing to catch up on what's new - reminise on the "good ol' times" - worship together - challenge one another - share recipes and cook together - and be girls that "just wanna have fun".

So, here are some pictures of our time together:

Bella's "Big Girl" Bed

Tears... Tears... My baby girl is turning into a big girl more and more each day.

Bella usually ASKS for me to put her to bed when she's tired, and the past couple of weeks she had been fighting it BIG-TIME. When we came home from Texas and it was the same thing going on, I started doing the process of elimination. Was she dropping a nap and I was still forcing 2 on her? or was she ready for a
toddler bed?

So...we tested the waters with the Toddler Bed, just for kicks.

Bella was in the room with me when I was changing out the front of her crib, and I almost couldn't get the girl away from the bed long enough for me to convert it.

Then, as soon as the job was done, she didn't want to get off of her bed!

We went and bought her a new "big" blanket for her new "big girl" bed, as if we needed the bed to be more exciting. But since we made the switch 2 nights ago, I haven't had any trouble putting Bella down for either a nap or for bed!

So, now that this "big-girl" bed thing is a done deal, I decided to make it fun with a new girly look for her room :)

Here's Bella's new favorite place to be:

Playing in her bed...like, forever.

Liking the new look... and heck, just playing on her bed again.

Don't worry... the body pillow is for the floor while she's sleeping...just in case she falls off.

A gift for Bella from my cousin Jennifer. (mommy of the pretty baby in all the pictures on my last post) Thanks Jenn!

Kaylee Brooke

My cousin, Jennifer, just had a beautiful baby girl. Kaylee Brooke Albright was born on August 20. She weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19 inches long. Bella and I went to Texas for about 3 weeks to help out Jenn with the new baby, and I was able to take LOTS of pictures while I was there. Here are some pictures that I really enjoy... I hope you do too! Isn't she beautiful??