State Fair Fun!

This month we had a family day at the Iowa State Fair! This was not Bella's first fair outing as she went with Mommy, Grandpa Doug, and Grandma Sheri last year. However, this was Daddy's first trip to the fair in many years. He has managed to avoid it during all our years of dating and marriage, even though I typically go every year! But I wasn't going to let him out of it again since I knew Bella would love it. And even if he won't admit it, we had a very fun day. :) Plus, the weather was absolutely perfect- upper 70's and low 80's. That doesn't often happen in Iowa in the middle of August!

One of our first stops was the animal learning center to see all the baby animals. Naturally, this was probably Bella's favorite place of the day since she is such a little animal lover. She is watching all the baby ducks in this picture.
We got to pet a baby pig- however, one of the pigs let out a loud squeal before it was our turn to touch them, so Bella wasn't the biggest fan of them after that.
Petting a baby lamb- awww. :)
Again watching the baby ducks- they were definitely her favorite!
Taking a ride on a little cow- pretty sure Miss Bella sat on quite a few of these throughout the day!
We also visited the Little Hands on the Farm exhibit, where Bella got to test out her gardening skills...
Apple picking....
Tractor riding (and waving at Daddy without looking!)...
Cow milking...
And grocery shopping! Bella had lots of fun doing all the little farm activities.
We also visited the Butterfly House. Bella loved seeing the butterflies when we were at the St. Louis Zoo, so I wanted to take her to this exhibit. This was even cooler as you could actually hold all the butterflies! However, Bella, as shown by the interesting look on her face, wasn't too sure about having them so close to her! She liked them flying around and watching them, but she was a little nervous about touching them.
Unfortunately for Miss Bella, Mommy wasn't going to let her leave until she held one on her finger, even though it took awhile to catch one and get it transposed on Bella's hand without her freaking out! Here is the process in photo- she's not liking this very much yet...
Oh, I'm actually holding it!
Not sure what to think yet....
And it's not so bad after all!
Taking a ride on one of Bella's favorite things- the carousel!
Bella and Daddy also got to go on a few giant slides! Mommy decided to stay away from those this particular year. :)
Naturally, Bella loved it! Apparently though, we were later told by the workers she was not tall enough to go on this one- oops!
Visiting the Clifford the Big Red Dog- Bella has barely even heard of that show, but apparently she wanted to give him some love with a big hug. :)
We couldn't get her to look at the camera though- she was too busy hugging him!
We also looked at all of the animal barns- and surprise, surprise- the horse barn was definitely a favorite. Bella did NOT like the chicken barn however as it was quite loud. Even now, she continues to say, "I don't like chickens. They're noisy!"
Daddy and Bella heading up the REALLY giant slide!
She definitely loved this one and probably would've gone on it many many times!
And at the end of the day, Bella was quite wiped out. :) She had so much fun, as did Mommy and even Daddy, and it was likely our last big outing as a family of 3!

August Updates!

We had beautiful weather this past month, and Bella and I definitely took advantage of it. It was nice to finally be outside without dying of heat! We spent lots of time playing in her sandbox as Bella discovered the joy of making things with wet sand.
She also particularly enjoyed smashing her creations afterwords. :)
She also spends lots of time running around on our driveway like a little crazy lady, dancing, singing, and chasing bubbles! I also bought Bella a favorite pair of footwear this month- her pretty pink rainboots. It was actually rainy this particular day, but she likes wearing them everyday. :) I like to rub that in to Derek, who said they would never be worn!
This perfectly captures our silly girl's personality. :)
It started sprinkling on this afternoon, so Bella played in the rain for a little bit with her umbrella and rainboots.
We visited lots of different parks this month as well, pretty much on a daily basis! Mommy and Bella have definitely had some good bonding time in before baby sister makes her entrance.

We also started going back to the barn that is near our house to visit the animals. Bella has not wanted to go there in several months because the owners of the barn got a new dog that was a little too friendly for Miss Bella's liking. She is a German Shepard named Zoey, so she is obviously quite big as well! Zoey jumping all over Mommy and Daddy freaked Bella out a little bit, so she didn't ever want to go back down there. Well, last week we decided to try it out again. Thankfully, Zoey was inside, so we were able to visit the horses in peace. :) And we discovered that baby kittens had been born in our absence! So now Bella has wanted to go back down to visit the kittens every single day, despite her slight fear of Zoey. Zoey has calmed down slightly since we last saw her, but she is still quite big, which definitely makes Bella a little nervous. Before we make the walk down there, she tries to reassure herself, "Zoey not outside. Zoey inside the house with her owner." :)

Painting some beautiful works of art on the driveway! She always manages to get more chalk on her clothes than on the actual cement... :)
A picture showing another current obsession of Bella's- lollipops! For some reason, anytime she is outside now, she wants to have a dum dum lollipop. And she barely eats any of it; Mommy usually ends up holding it the entire time. But for some reason it is a new tradition!
Inside, Bella has been into watching movies! I started renting some Disney Princess movies from the library, and that turned Bella into a movie loving girl for some reason. The past few weeks, we have hardly even watched Dora! Our viewings have included The Wizard of Oz, Charlotte's Web, and the princess movies (although she tends to call every princess Cinderella). Then her ABSOLUTE favorites are Alice in Wonderland (particularly for the Cheshire Cat) and the Aristocats (which is referred to as the kitty movie). Those two have been watched A LOT. Obviously Bella has a slight obsession with cats- no clue where that came from! :)
We also started some new little traditions of evening games with Bella, Mommy, and Daddy. Hide and seek, playing instruments in a marching band, Daddy chasing Bella around downstairs, Daddy or Mommy pretending to be a snake/lion/giant/other scary creature, and "baseball" (which is actually soccer) are all among our nightly rituals that Bella wants to play. After her bath each night, she has soooo much energy! Mommy and Daddy definitely do not, but we make it happen for her! Bella also plays her own little game of hide and seek on a frequent basis, which is when she puts her hands over her eyes and asks "Where'd Bella go?" This happens about 20 times a day. :)
We started some fingerpainting and paint with water activities this month as well, which Bella absolutely loved. We have about 10 painted Dora pictures scattered around our house currently!
Riding on her "neigh-" whose name is interchanged between Henry the Horse and Pinto the Pony. Mommy came up with Henry, and Pinto naturally came from Dora.
Bella still has an immense love for Tommy- and he continues to tolerate and maybe even like her! Bella has named several of her kittens after Tommy in fact, so we have quite a few Tommy's in our household.

As far as baby news, we continue to wait for our next little girl's arrival. Less than a week to go until the official due date, but I'm thinking she plans to hang out until then and beyond. :) Apparently our daughters like their little home inside of Mommy's belly! I have had some days of feeling pretty uncomfortable due to my extremely large belly size and contractions, but generally I am feeling pretty good for being 9 months pregnant. We are ready whenever she is, even big sister! Bella talks about baby sister a LOT, so I think she knows it's coming. We will definitely have a good little helper in her, maybe more than we need! :)

Two Year Pictures!

Back in June, we had Bella's two year pictures taken- and they turned out sooooo good! Bella is not always the most cooperative when taking pictures as she has her own 2 year old agenda to accomplish. However, she was in performance mode when her pictures were done, acting and smiling like a little princess. So we got lots of good shots!

One of our favorite pictures- we don't often see a relaxed smile from Bella as she likes to cheese it up for the camera. :)
Being a little princess and showing off her pretty painted fingernails!
Our favorite- so sweet. :)
Instead of doing family pictures, we decided to just have some pictures with Mommy and Bella for a maternity type session as well. Derek got out of it since our family will be expanding in just a short time!
It was pretty nice the day we took pictures, but slightly muggy, so Bella's curls were in full force! That actually worked out very well though.
My sweet little girl. :)
Also love this one- shows off those big eyes!
Here she is dancing and twirling on top of a hill- as I have said, she is ALL girl.
Both Bella and I like to wear "princess shoes," as Bella refers to them.
Somebody loves getting tickled!
Playing ring around the rosy, one of her favorite games! It made for a very cute picture I must say. :)
Both Bella's and my hair were really feeling the effects of the humidity by this point! I don't always love my natural curls, but I definitely love them on her!
Hugging a leaf. :)
Another fav- definitely her natural little smile!
Mommy with her two little girls- we hope that this second one is just as much fun as her big sister!