Nature is all around us

One of the benefits of living in the "country", is that nature is all around us!!! Bella loves to watch the birds, catch bugs (much to my dismay), and see all the animals around us. We put out birdseed and corn for the birds, but the rabbits really like the corn. We have two rabbits that come around on a regular basis! I think it is a momma rabbit and a baby rabbit, just because of the size difference. Bella gets so excited when she spots one of the rabbits!

Here are a few pics of the rabbits!

Not to be forgotten....

I know that most of the posts have been about Bella - but we do have another little girl!!! Here are a few updated pictures of Brooklyn. We think she is getting ready to crawl - she'll get her knees under her and she can hold herself up with her hands, she just hasn't coordinated the two together! When she does, I think we are in trouble! She isn't sitting up - but I suspect that will come with the crawling (at least it did with Bella)!

New Outside Toy

Bella got a new outside toy - a slide with a fort!!! She loves to slide. I think she slid down the slide about a hundred times the first night we had it. She mastered the little steps in no time - she is quite a little monkey!

Sights of the Land

As many of you know, we live in a very rural area. Farming is a way of life for many people around here, so I thought I'd post a few pics of the local crops!

This is wheat and it is ready to be cut.

This is corn...

These two pictures are of hay. If you look closely in the first picture - there is a tractor in the field baling the hay.

Cows are also a big commodity down here. Bella loves to look at the cows and she will say "cow" and "mooooo"!

Our American Idol

Just the other day we were playing in the living room and Bella stood up on the lid of one of her toys for a stage, found a flashlight to use as a microphone and started singing her little heart out!!!! She did this with no prompting from anyone!

Now she will walk around with the flashlight, I mean microphone, and sing! You can say "sing for us" and she will belt one out for you!!

Another trip to the library

We went to the library again and I took a few more pictures of Bella.As I said in the previous library post, they have a nice little area for kids. It has a round table with different colored little chairs and a little rocking chair in the corner. Bella loves going to the library. When we walk in the door, she immediately runs to the kids section and starts pulling books off the shelves!

Here she is "checking out" her three books from this visit!!!

Bella's Hair at Day's End

I try to pull Bella's hair up most every day (some days I am more successful than others) in order to keep it out of her eyes. When I took her hair down at the end of the day - this is what her hair looked like!! Am I a mean mom for posting these?

Bella's Hideaway

There is a cabinet at Bella's Nana's (Brannon's mom) house that Bella loves to climb in - it used to store things but those have since been removed for Bella's enjoyment!

You can see the progression of events: she gets into the cabinet, closes the door, waits for someone to say "Where's Bella" and then climbs out of the cabinet and yells "BOO"!!!

More fun in the pool

Just a few more shots of Bella having fun in the sun! Now she will lay on her stomach and actually "swim" and there has even been some bubble blowing!!!

Mowing the lawn

Here is Bella mowing the lawn! Poor girl has to do all the work!!

In Daddy's Arms..

This picture was taken at one of our stops on our way to New Jersey in March. Brooklyn was so tired and Daddy's arms put her right to sleep!

Bella rides a horse

This picture is from March, but this is Bella riding a horse with her Uncle Mike!

A visit to the library

Bella loves to read, so we go to the local library at least once a month, sometimes more. I finally remembered to take my camera with me into the library today. They have a cute little round table that she can sit at and "read" all the books she pulls off the shelf!

She has her own library card and today she checked out two books - Froggie Went A'Courtin' and Bearsie Bear and the Suprise Sleepover Party.

Fun at the beach

Bella, Brooklyn and I went to the beach with their Nana (Brannon's mom, Dianne), their Great Grandmother (Brannon's mom's mom, Alma) and their Great Aunt (Brannon's mom's sister, Carolyn) and a little girl named, Kaylie. This was the first time that Bella and Brooklyn had been to the beach!

Bella liked running around in the sand and she'd let the water run over her feet and then run away squealing! Brooklyn didn't like water at all! We would

bend down to just let her feet touch the ground and as soon as the tips of her toes got close to the sand or water, she'd scream!! Kaylie really took to the water - even getting out in the Gulf in her float!

Bella and Kaylie having a snack at the condo. As you can see from this picture (and a few more in this post), Bella is into making smiley faces when

we take pictures. If you say "say cheese", the picture to the left is the result!

We went out onto the beach one night when the crowds were gone and just let the girls run around as they wanted and we took some pictures of them.

Bella's Perch

Bella loves to sit on this bench and watch TV in the morning.

She is watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in these pictures!

Can you see the resemblence?

I think Bella and Brooklyn look alot alike! I didn't see it when Brooklyn was first born, I'm actually just now seeing it. This is just a cute snapshot on our bed one morning!

Fun in the Water!

Bella loves to play in her little wading pool! I think she would stay in it forever if we didn't make her get out! She turns into a wrinkley little girl when she plays in it!!

Brooklyn enjoys playing in it too, but that requires me to get into the pool too since she isn't sitting up on her own just yet! Once she can sit up on her own in it, I'll get some pictures of her playing!

WEE!!!!

Our Church has a wooden play set that has a baby swing, big kid swings, and a fort with a slide. Brooklyn loved the baby swing! Guess we'll need to be getting one of those for this summer!

Checking on Brooklyn

Just checking in on my little sister while she naps...oops, she isn't napping anymore.

Do you see what I have to put up with....

It seems the torture never ends! Now they are "styling" (and I use the term loosely) my hair while I get my bath. All for a little laugh, but at whose expense???

Easter 2007

Here are a few shots of the girls with their Easter baskets! The Easter Bunny was very good to both of them! They each got a little Beanie Baby Easter Bear (Eggs 2007) and a chocolate bunny (which Momma and Daddy enjoyed very much). Bella got a basket full of goodies, including Happy Feet (the movie), a new coloring book with crayons, some stickers, an Aqua-doodle mini-pad, and some other stuff. Brooklyn got a few little instruments that make noise when you push the buttons on them, a litttle bear dressed up as a bunny, and a set of keys!

Bella at the Park

These pictures are not the most recent (taken in April), but...

There is a park near where we hope to have Brannon's office in Bay Minette and we stopped one day to let Bella play. She loves to slide and quickly discovered that is much more fun to climb up the slide itself instead of using the stairs provided!