Thankful

I've been horrible about updating our blog, I really need to try to do better.

Life is moving forward, Bella is growing she had her Kindergarten check up and she is in the 16th percentile for height!  She grew 2 1/2 inches and gained six pounds, still in the 6th percentile for weight but that is the biggest growth spurt she has had :)  Bella was very chatty with our doctor, we found out at this appointment that Bella had bronchitis and she was very interested in what kind of medication Dr. Beck was putting her on.

We had a "bad parent" feeling type of moment because Bella had been coughing for about a week, I knew her check up was coming up and she had no fever so I didn't take her in, then to find out she has bronchitis, oops.  She is her normal, fun, crazy self just with a kind of wicked cough here and there.

My nieces Evey and Lyla both turn one this month!  We've already had Evey's birthday party and are looking forward to Lyla's this weekend.  The annual Schmitz Pepper Tournament was this month as well, I didn't win the coveted pepper shaker trophy, dang it!  Casey (Mindy's husband) won I believe his fourth title.

So lots of family time this month, changes to the house.  Not necessarily big changes you can see but I now have a huge storage area above the garage thanks to my amazing father-in-law.  He decided to cut a hole in the ceiling of the garage to see if anything was up there, well whoever built the garage had a bunch of extra insulation, window frames, quite a bit of stuff up there and they just built around it with no entry.  So we now have an entry door and he even put a light in there for us :)  He also built some storage shelves that are on the ceiling of the garage, I'm truly getting spoiled, seriously spoiled.

Now for some fun, pictures!  I had taken Bella's six year photos a few weeks ago and Sunday it turned out to be about 72 degrees and sunny so I took her and Tybalt out to my parents' house for a photo shoot in the pasture.  I got a few amazing shots, LOVE them and can't wait to make a few canvas prints.  Tybalt was such a good boy, his age is really showing, he is nearly completely gray through his muzzle.  

Bella loves the owl hat I made for her :)

Sweet cousin kisses!

Evey and Lyla playing at Evey's party.

The birthday girl enjoying her cake :)

 The rest are of my Bella and Tybalt, such a bond between a girl and her dog, I love them both more than I could ever truly express.

Bella is 6!

I can't believe our little princess turned 6 this year!  Time has flown by and it seems like every day she just grows up so much faster.

Six is bringing us many exciting things such as, a new obsession with Justin Bieber, reading to herself, writing letters on her own, homework, loves watching singing shows (The Voice and The X Factor) with mommy.

She is just SO grown up sometimes.  Last night was quite hilarious and I can really see just how observant Bella is.  I had a work event all day and we drank afterwards, I was a good girl and had David pick up and take me home.  So I get home at about 9:30 and Bella is up, I kind of stumble downstairs and she wants me to get her something.  I go upstairs for her and she is following me, all the sudden she says "mommy, that was four times you stumbled, your not too steady on your feet!"

I about DIED laughing, and so did my father-in-law :)  The morning brought about a new question, "mommy why do we have to go pick up your car?".  Kyle about died laughing at that and explained to her that since I wasn't steady on my feet that was why DJ brought me home the night before and why we had to pick up my car.

So funny.  Today was beautiful and I took her to Palisades Park for some photo taking.  I was mad at myself we didn't make it for the beautiful sunset because I didn't think about the cliffs, and yes we have some cliffs in Iowa, but they hid the sun early. 

I still got some amazing shots, hard not to with such a beautiful young lady to photograph :)  The tutu skirt was a project I tried out thanks to Pinterest, I LOVE it and planning making more :)

We love you so much Bells and can't wait to see what this year brings you <3 font="font">

So Many Leaves, So Much Fun...

It is finally my FAVORITE season of the year, autumn.  Bring on the colorful leaves, cooler weather, pumpkin everything, fall scented candles, I just can't say enough about how awesome autumn is.

Tonight we enjoyed what will probably be the last warm day, it got up to 80 degrees today and will only be in the 50's tomorrow!  Papa had a wonderfully HUGE pile of leaves ready for Bella after school and the following photos show just how much fun our little peanut had :)

Also I just received in the mail a awesome buy, Photoshop Elements, purchased from Ebay.  I went the cheap route to make sure I would like it, um wow, totally love it so far.  The black and white photo of Bella just melts me.  

She totally rocks, I'm one lucky mommy!!!

Ties, Hats and Booties!

My little Etsy shop, Bella Knits, is growing.  I'm adding more items and learning to crochet some cute new stuff!  I really need to take some time to make some longies too, the other items are just so much quicker for me to make.

Here are some new items:

Love, love, love making this stuff :)  Oh and there will is another new item on the horizon, think fluffy, foo foo, fun and colorful!