Eye teeth!

Bella has been quite the bear these past couple of days. We took her to the park the other day and she absolutely loved the swing. She did not, however, love when it was time to go home. This sweet little girl carried on with a crying spell all the way home and continued after we arrived. Nothing would console her, so we just put her down for a nap. Little things would trigger her bad moods and it wasn't fun for any of us. We were pretty sure that teething was the culprit and finally her top two eye teeth popped through. She's still working on the bottoms, but at least she's our happy girl again. Here she is at the park before the whole tantrum fiasco began. My mom brought up some of our old toys for Bella to play with. Instead of looking through the books on the table, Bella likes to throw the books off so she can climb up and look out the window. Tennis anyone? Yesterday, we played tennis with Aaron and Jodi. Well, Andy and Aaron played tennis and Jodi and I played with Bella. Andy just might get his wish of Isabella becoming a tennis player. She loved playing with the racket and balls. She already seems a little more coordinated that her mama!

Home in Wisconsin & Father's Day!

This past week has been a busy one. We finished packing up our apartment and moved our stuff into the parsonage of the church. Oh wait. . . I just realized that we haven't shared our big news on the blog. . . Andy accepted a call to serve as pastor at a church in New Jersey. We've known about this for a while but have had to remain hush hush until the news was official and announced at the church. We were really hoping and praying to head back to Wisconsin so that we could be near family, but thankfully we've been able to get pretty excited about how things have worked out. Everyone that we met from the church has been really friendly and it seems like it will be a great fit for us.


Bella's kept busy playing the piano while we packed things up.She saw me sweeping and wanted to join in on the fun!What a great helper I have!This past Sunday, we had several friends over to pack up the moving truck and then we delivered our stuff to the house on Monday. That night, we camped out in an empty apartment and then took off for Wisconsin on Tuesday. On the way home, we stopped to visit our friends, the Grafs. They have two little boys - Bella had so much fun with both of them. While we were there, they treated us to a visit at the zoo. Here we are with Heidi. I wish that we took more pics from our visit with them. We arrived at my parent's house on Thursday and have been enjoying lots of family time. One extra treat was our chance to visit with some great friends - Tim & Abby McBride and to meet their cute kids, Sam and Hannah. We both happened to be in Wisconsin at the same time. With us living out east and them in Florida, it's pretty tough to get together. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from this visit. As we pulled away from them, I realized that we didn't take any pics. I must be slipping in this area.

Today we celebrated Father's Day. Bella is so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy. She sure loves him!

Family Visit!!!

My mom and sister came out to visit us for a few days and we had a lot of fun! Things were a little crazy as we're in the middle of packing everything up, but we always enjoy any family time we can get! Bella got a couple of new outfits. I love this dress and the bandana on her head! She looked adorable in it! You can also see that she is holding my red toothbrush. She has two toothbrushes of her own but insists on using mine. This is one battle that I'm not going to fight. If she really wants my toothbrush - she can have it. I guess I have my choice of two little pink ones now. :P
Me and my serious girl.That's more like it! Bella had many silly moments during the week and she gave us lots of laughs!Snuggling with Auntie Jodi - so sweet!Grandma brought her a new chair. She loves to drag this thing around the apartment. Some kids have a blanket that they're attached to, Bella seems to have a chair. Another glimpse of her cute outfit!She already looks up to her Auntie!Jodi and Bella!Playing outside the library - Bella's favorite place!Resting with Grandma - Bella took an hour and a half nap on my mom one afternoon.GRADUATION DAY LINCOLN MEMORIALWE CAME AS TWO. . .
The next two days are moving days for us and then it's off to Wisconsin for a few weeks! We are looking forward to being home for a little while. Due to our travels, my blogging may not be as regular, though I will try my best.

Washington D.C. trip

Our little family vacation was a success. It was so nice to take a trip - just the three of us - and to explore new territory! We really liked D.C. and found it pretty easy to navigate. It helped that our hotel was downtown by everything - we just parked the car, grabbed a map, and walked until we found something that we wanted to see. Our agenda was light and that made for an enjoyable couple of days. Get ready for lots of pics. . .

Bella playing at a rest stop on the way. Our hotel bed - this kid has a great time playing on beds, so this king-size was quite a treat for her!Our first stop was the Lincoln Memorial. This was probably one of my favorite sites to visit. So much history has taken place on these steps.Looking out - while standing on the Lincoln Memorial steps - is a great view of the Washington Monument.I think this was one of Bella's favorite sites as well. She looooooooves playing on steps!Next stop: Vietnam MemorialThis wall is very reflective - almost like looking in a mirrorWorld War II Memorial: Even though we don't live there right now - we'll always consider Wisconsin to be our home. Our hotel had a pool on the roof Bella didn't enjoy swimming in the cold pool water but did have fun getting splashed by Daddy!We had to check out of the hotel by noon - right before Bella's naptime. I figured that she'd just get her sleep on the car ride home, but shortly after we took off walking through the city, she fell asleep in her stroller. She was pooped - loud buses and motorcycles went past and she slept through it all. Daddy and Bella approaching the White House.

There they are - Bella's still asleep.

Here's the back of it.

Bella woke up by the time we walked around to the back.

From here, we headed to the Smithsonian - Natural History Museum. There were so many museums within the Smithsonian to choose from, but we heard great things about this one. We didn't get any pictures while there but had fun looking at the dinosaur bones, mammal exhibits, and the Hope Diamond. It must have been field trip day while we were there cause the place was crowded! After leaving the museum, we stopped for a rest on the National Mall.

One of the few times that we actually let Bella out of her stroller.

It felt so good for us to sit - we did so much walking!Cute photo of Bella - too bad I cut off part of her head. Bella and Daddy playing silly games.

Now that we're back, we're in pack mode. The apartment is starting to look more and more bare (except for the boxes that are now lining the walls). My mom and sister, Jodi, are coming out for a visit this week. Lots of fun stuff going on!