Summer Days with Bella

Well life has gone back to normal now that Rick has gone back to school. I have been trying to find creative things for Bella and I to do while it is hot outside and I really have been coming up short! I have tried finger painting, dress up, and beauty parlor with her and for the most part the activities last, at most, about 10 minutes. It is amazing how long a day can be when naps are short and a whiny child sets in. She sure is cute though and is growing up so fast. Her vocabulary never ceases to amaze me. She is our little parrot now and we are really having to watch what we say. She just cracks me up with her smart Alec attitude and her independent spirit! We sure do love Bella!!!

I have received a new calling that I have been extremely nervous about with my lack of creative talent. I have been called as the Enrichment Leader and it has been so far a really fun experience. Last night we had to get our invitations ready for the upcoming activity and I think we spent about 1/2 hour on finishing the invitations and another 4 hours of talking. It was great. It is so nice to have adult conversations with my new calling instead of the last 3 years of talking to children (primary teacher).

I also have a confession to make! I apologize to all of you who I thought were dorks for reading "The Book". Yes I have fallen into the dorkiness of the Twilight Series and I must say I love it! I asked my sister if this would be a good thing considering that Rick does not have a romantic bone in his body, you know wondering if I would be mad at him for not doing the things that Edward does... But so far not bad and it is nice to finally have a book I truly enjoy. So my book choices of this summer would be these two:

I know that I am bias because one of the books is my dad's, but honestly I have really loved his books and they are really well written. He also has a medical mystery book that is really hard to put down. Take a look at his website at http://www.warrenstucki.com/ to see all of his books. The Twilight series are such girl books and that is why I have really enjoyed reading them. I was, however, extremely disappointed looking at the movie trailer. Could they have not found a cuter Edward??!!

Hope you all are doing great!

All Quiet on the Texas Front

Yep, nothing much is happening out here in Texas other than the heat and more heat! Rick has been home with us for the last few weeks while he is on summer break. We have done a lot of cleaning, a lot of errands, and a lot of tag teaming Bella. There is not much to do out here when it is BlAzInG hOt!!! Today we did attempt the zoo. Bella really loves to be around animals and we thought that if we went early in the morning that we could miss the heat and crowds. We were wrong. It was half price Wednesday and school is still out for all of the kids. Not to mention that the heat was beating down on us and the animals were seeking shelter and we could not see them. Luckily, the white tiger did come out and play with Bella and she laughed every time it went by (see attached video). She also really enjoyed the bird area where she got to hold out a seed stick for the birds to come and eat off of it. Good Times!

Bella also had her 15 month check even though she is 16 months tomorrow. The pediatrician put it so politely when he said that "Bella is spirited and her spirit can't be harnessed". Isn't that the truth??!! He did give us some helpful pointers on how to try to get her tantrums under control, which was great. She also is sporting the 90th percentile for height and head! She definitely has her dad's height and for sure her mother's big head!

Nothing much is happening here other than Rick is now in heaven because he found a soccer league that doesn't play on Sunday's and I am still getting up at the crack of dawn to go running. The 1/2 marathon is now 6 weeks away! That should be comical and a good day for the Dallas EMT's :)!

Hope you all are well!