Splashing with Cousins

Scott & Robin and the kids came up for a swim day and bbq! They were bringing the kids up for a stay with Nani and Papa and hadn't seen our new house yet, so we killed two birds with one stone!

My niece and nephew, Monkey & Wiggles






Katelyn is a total water bug! She LOVES the water!


Wiggles was so good to McKenna! She's a great big cousin. She floated McKenna around and made sure she was having fun!


Bella got her first dip in the water! She loved it too!

Miscellaneous June Cuteness

It didn't take long after Brian went back to work for the kids to start getting restless from being held victim to a newborn's schedule. So we decided to venture out of the house and went to the park with Nani, Auntie Suz & Katelyn!

McKenna had so much fun just dumping sand with Nani. I don't know why this tickled her so, but I just love her giggles and smiles from that day!












And just a few more of Bella's cute little newborn face that didn't fit with the other posts.

Welcome to the Family, Bella!

Other than monthly updates, this blog is sadly and pitifully missing a ton of Bella cuteness! I'm so excited to finally be on June so I can flood it with all her pics! Seriously, you've been missing out!

Gosh, looking back, I didn't realize I didn't even post pics from her birth! Bad mommy! Sheesh!

Brand new baby!


She was smiley from day one!


After they cleared out her lungs, we got to have our first snuggle!


And then she got to meet the Grandmas




And Grandpas




It wasn't until Papa came in that Brian realized he hadn't even had the chance to hold her yet.




Auntie Suz


Auntie Robin


Uncle Scott


One more of me and my sweetness!


After meeting most of the family, she got her first bath. I didn't get to be there for that, but I hear she enjoyed the hair washing part.


She just didn't like the body washing part.


And she enjoyed the heat lamp part. Look at what a chunk she is!




The next morning, cousins got to come see! I love my niece and nephew so much! They are so sweet and are so good to my kids!






And finally the big brother and sister got to come meet their little sister! We were worried that McKenna would be jealous of Bella. She had been having a hard time adjusting to being two and the move. Turns out we were way off! McKenna was immediately smitten with her. She walked into the hospital room with arms up, saying, "Hold it?! Have it?!" Absolutely melted my heart!






Austin, on the other hand, was instantly distracted by all the buttons and switches and levers of the hospital room and actually had to be cajoled to come meet Bella! And then he went right back to trying to maneuver my bed into odd positions!


And one last pic of my peanut in her "Going Home" outfit. She's my little Bella Butterfly so I had to get something with butterflies and it had to be pink!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

(Caught up! I'm caught up! Although by the time this actually posts, I'll prolly be behind again! =P Still I can be proud that for at least one day I was caught up!)

Since Thursdays have evolved into a Nani Day, we've been trying to think of different fun things to do each week. One week my mom was showing Austin a tomato plant in their backyard and he was so anxious for it to turn from green to red so he could pick it. He wanted to go out every 15 minutes and check it! So my mom got the idea that he might enjoy planting a garden in their backyard and get to experience the whole process of planting, watering and picking his own food!

They have some old planter boxes on the 2nd level of their backyard that had just been sitting weedy for a while, so Nani cleared them out, bought a bunch of plants and seeds and was all ready for us to go the very next week! Austin's attention span wasn't quite there to plant the whole garden, so we did just a little bit of each task. He did a great job helping! McKenna...well, she wasn't nearly as helpful, but she sure enjoyed herself!



Apparently my parents' dirt tastes Oh-so-yummy!


So while I tried in vain to keep McKenna from consuming God-knows-what, I got some cute pictures of Austin helping Nani! (I apologize for the hat covering his cute little face in most of the pics. I was thinking sunburn, not photographic moment! Next time I'll plan better!)

Diggin' holes


Plantin' plants






Checking out the carrot seeds






Pokin' holes for little seeds


Carefully droppin' them in


And of course, waterin' them!



McKenna wanted to help with the watering. Although really I suspect she just wanted to play in the mud!



(And yes, if it looks like she's about to get sprayed in the head, you are right. She didn't mind at all though! That kid sure loves water!)

I'm hoping to post more about our garden as it grows! Some of the seeds say they only take a week to poke through in about a week, so we're hoping to see some progress this week!