July Activities!

It is so hard to believe that July has already flown by, and it is now August! Quite depressing how the summer flies by, but yet winter trudges by oh so slowly... :) Anyways, we had a very busy but fun month, starting off of course with the Fourth of July! It was Bella's first Fourth with nice weather, which was great as well.

We made our annual trip to Sully in the morning to watch the parade and spend time with my family. This year was definitely the most successful year of getting a picture of all the Huyser cousins- complete with a cheesy smile from Miss Bella of course. Might be a little difficult again next year, since there will be two new little ladies present! Poor poor Jager... :)
Getting ready for the parade to start in her Dora chair! Bella was very excited to watch a parade as she still remembers watching the Tulip Time parade. The Sully parade might not be QUITE as big as that, but she still had a good time!
Naturally, a favorite activity was picking up the candy that was thrown! Bella quickly caught on to that, even though she's not a huge candy fan.
But she did find a blue lollipop, which was perfect as she has had a lollipop obsession lately!

Bella's favorite parts of the parade (other than the candy) were the fire trucks and horses. She also liked the cannon that went off at the beginning, and still talks about how "I wasn't scared!"
Grandpa Doug with the two youngest ladies.
Wondering the streets looking for more candy... :)
After the parade, we went back to my parents house for lunch and playtime! Bella got to take a spin on the gator again with Dylann.
She even tested out driving on her own, but didn't quite grasp the concept of keeping her foot on the pedal the entire time. Plus little shorty couldn't reach the pedals very well. :)
Bella also took a spin with Tatum!
We also hit up the pool to enjoy the beautiful weather. Bella loves playing in the pool with all her cousins and gets pretty crazy with them!
This is an awful picture because she wasn't standing still, but it is too funny. :) Bella thought she needed to wear some goggles too!
At night, we went to Derek's parents to eat supper and watch the fireworks in Pella. Bella had her first encounter with sparklers, but she wasn't too sure what she thought about them! Actually, her major intent of the evening was to go inside and play with Aunt Anna's old dollhouse. :) However, she did love watching the fireworks this year, even though it was way past her bedtime! We heard lots of "that one was pretty!" Typical girl. :)
Unfortunately, with this ridiculously hot weather, we didn't play outside a ton this past month. Unless we were in the water, you could only really be out for half hour at a time. Not very fun, especially for a little girl that loves to play outside. But we did take advantage of the better days! Bella has a new love with swinging, so I tried to take pictures of her swining. But she didn't like that idea, as she likes me to swing beside her. :) Then we sing songs!
We also sing songs up on her playset, also known as the "pirate ship." That's courtesy of the episode Dora's Pirate Adventure! She likes to be a pirate and look for the treasure in her telescope!
Singing a song from the pirate adventure I'm sure. :)
Our dark eyed little beauty!
In July, Derek's brother and his family came to Iowa for a long weekend visit, so Bella also got to enjoy some family time with them! One afternoon, the kids played on the slip n slide. Bella wasn't too sure about going on it by herself, but she was good going on Aunt Anna's lap. Lucky Anna got to travel down that slide many times!
Even with both kids!
Bella found a little pool to play in at the bottom. :)
Bella got to meet her newest cousin Nolan for the first time! With the business of the weekend though, she was not in her normal baby loving mood. She also did NOT like her mommy holding Nolan. In fact, whenever I held him, she burst into devastated tears. It was pretty strange, especially considering I have held babies recently and she's been fine. It did make us a little nervous, considering Mommy would be holding our own baby in just a few weeks. But we visited a friend's baby like a week after this, and she was perfectly fine with me holding her. So I think her sadness over Mommy with Nolan was just a fluke. :) Plus, Bella does have an obsession with little girls. She very much identifies with being a girl and doesn't always like playing with boys, even her boy cousins. So I think it will help that baby is a girl- God knew that Bella would be more excited about a baby sister. :)
We hit up the pool another afternoon with everybody, and naturally Bella had a blast! The "slide pool," as she refers to it as, is one of Bella's favorite places to go. Since Daddy was with us, I actually could take some pictures of the crazy girl in the water!
She has absolutely NO FEAR in the water, which is both good and bad! Good because she's definitely super comfortable swimming, but bad because she thinks she can swim and she most definitely cannot yet. :)
It took her several trips to the pool to get warmed up to the fountains- Bella's not always a big fan of water splashing in her face! But she is now a pro and runs in and out without problem.
Hard to get a picture of these two active kiddos together! This is the only one I think I got!
Enjoying another hot day outside... note the rosiness of her cheeks! Bella inherited Mommy's gene of getting extremely red and sweaty faced while outside. Her little curls go crazy and her face turns so red when she gets hot!
Helping Mommy water the flowers. She also likes pouring the water on the driveway and pretending that it is a pool! Yes, the imagination of a 2 year old. She even lays in it and pretends to swim.
Bella's hair is getting closer and closer to where I can put it in pigtails or ponytails. We tested out the pigtails one day, and they actually stayed in quite well! She looks so grown-up with longer hair!
Awww. :)
We had a mini photo shoot after church one day.
Such a sweet innocent face... :) Usually anyway!
This photo session ended with Bella sitting in her pool in her dress, even though I told her not to sit on her bottom. :) Oh well, she was hot!
Bella had a couple of new firsts this month as well. About a week ago, we also moved Bella from eating in her high chair to eating in her booster seat at the table! We had tried doing this several months ago, but Bella didn't really reach over the table since she is pretty short. However, she fits pretty well now and loves eating with Mommy and Daddy at the big table! It definitely creates more of a mess to clean up, but thankfully she's a pretty neat eater.
Another first for Bella was licking brownie batter! Not that I haven't tried to give it to her before, but Bella has never had much of a sweet tooth. However, she has in recent months developed a love for chocolate- and this sweet tooth Mommy is very happy! I finally have somebody to help me eat all the chocolate things I make, since Derek won't touch anything with a bit of chocolate. :)
She was all about this batter- "yummy yummy yum!"

Bella also had her first ride on a horse! One of the Thursdays in Pella event had pony rides, so I knew that was a necessity for Bella to attend. She loved it of course, since she has an obsession with "neighs." She knew exactly what to do on the horse too!
Our final new first for Bella is that Mommy is now staying home all the time! I resigned from dialysis back in mid-June and had my last day of work on July 29. I wanted to take a few weeks off before baby #2 arrives so that Bella and I could have some quality time and to get everything baby ready again. It was a bittersweet decision for me as I really did love my job and what I do- but I knew that leaving two little girls, even for just 16 hours a week would be too hard. It was tough enough with just Bella! I am still staying PRN at the hospital, so I will still be working on an occasional basis. But thus far, I am loving my new role as stay-at-home mommy! And there is only 4 more weeks until the newest member makes her entrance!