You know you're not a newlywed anymore when. . .

. . . your wedding gifts start breaking.

Something is up with our toaster. The coils get so hot that a bright orange light shines from inside and anything that's in there for more than a couple of seconds starts on fire. Time to replace it.

A couple of weeks ago, the floor lamp in our living room just stopped working. It's not the lightbulb - definitely something electric and too complicated for us to figure out. Thankfully, we had an extra floor lamp upstairs.

A few weeks before that, our VCR broke. Andy and I rarely used it, but we had some tapes that Bella liked to watch. Oh well. We have plenty of DVDs.

My Moms Club had a Halloween party this week. Here's Bella in her costume. My sister bought this for her and it's really cute. She'll get two more wearings out of it as our playgroup has a party on Tuesday and then we'll go trick-or-treating on Friday night. Bella was definitely eyeing up the treats beforehand. One of the moms brought these fun Halloween straws. . . or as Bella discovered, whistles. I don't think they were meant to be whistles; but once Bella discovered the fun sound she could make with them, it was all we heard for the rest of the day.We made a baby purchase!!! Here's what the crib bedding for the baby's room looks like. Back when we had Bella, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment and Bella slept in a pack-n-play in the corner of our bedroom. There was no bedroom to put together. This time around, the baby definitely has its own space. We've been waiting to purchase this because I had a coupon for Babies R' Us that was only good through certain October dates. Now that we've gotten the bedding, we can finally settle on a color for the walls. After the painting is done, I think the room will come together pretty quickly. SIXTH ANNIVERSARYPUMPKIN FARM

We bought a minivan!!!

The new minivan is definitely our big news from the week. We've been saving up for this for what seems like forever and Andy has spent countless hours scouring the internet for information/reviews on various types of minivans. For a while, we were between the Chrysler Town & Country and the Honda Odyssey. 100% of the people we talked to recommended the Honda to us (even some Chrysler owners). We looked at this particular minivan last weekend (a 2001 with 35,000 miles) but had to walk away from it because we just couldn't get it down to the price we wanted - they wouldn't budge on the last $500. We looked around some more, but all of the cars that were in our price range had an average of 80-95,000 miles on them. After some discussion, we realized that saving over 50,000 miles was worth spending an extra $500. By Wednesday, this van was officially ours. It had one owner before us - an older gentlemen who clearly didn't drive around too much since it took him almost 8 years to put 35,000 miles on it. We feel like the car is brand new! Andy and I love driving it and being in it seems to put Bella to sleep - a trait that will be very welcomed when we travel back to Wisconsin. We are very happy with this purchase! Getting Bella into our two-door car was becoming a challenge for me with my ever-increasing belly, so it was definitely time! Earlier in the week, Bella and I had an extended playtime outside. While we were out in the yard, Andy popped in the house to grab something and ended up locking the door behind him and taking off to run some errands. I didn't take my keys out with me, so we ended up getting locked out. It wasn't a major deal since the weather was gorgeous. What child doesn't enjoy playing in a little dirt.
She became pretty mesmerized by a flock of birds that had landed on the grass.
After running out of things to do, I decided to have her practice her flower girl duties (for my sister's wedding next month). We filled up her watering can with leaves and off she went. She did pretty well! I'm hoping it goes as great at the actual wedding. I think I'm sensing some possible bribery, just in case. On a side note, whenever I ask Bella what she's going to do in Auntie Jodi's wedding, she will say, "Throw flowers and be a princess." I think she's excited! In case you hadn't noticed, I added a poll to the right sidebar. Do you think this baby is a boy or a girl? Vote! We're not finding out until the birth, but here are some clues:

• When people look at the way I'm carrying - straight out in front - they say I look like I'm carrying a boy. Of course, I seem to be carrying the same way that I did with Bella.
• At our last dr. appt. this baby's heartrate was 160 bpm. The highest that Bella ever got was the 150s, and that was at the very beginning of my pregnancy. She tended to camp out in the 130-140s.
• Bella seems pretty convinced that this baby is a girl.
• This pregnancy feels pretty similar to Bella's, though this baby sometimes feels a bit more active.

That's all I have for clues. . . if I can think of any more, I'll let you know. Now go vote!

Where a kid can be a kid. . .

I took Bella to Chuck E. Cheese earlier in the week with a group from my Mom's Club. She loves this place and always has so much fun. She was giddy with excitement as we pulled up to the restaurant and practically dragged me in because she couldn't wait to play games and go on rides. This was her favorite ride - she went on it three times in a row!At the end of it all, she had won 40 tickets - which got her a plastic lizard.

I found a cute fall painting project to do with Bella and thought it wouldn't be too hard. I should have known better than to put structure and paint in the same scenario. Ultimately, she's going to do what she wants. At least she enjoyed herself. Here is her masterpiece! I call it "Fall Leaves!" It's now hanging in the play area with some of her other artwork. On Friday, we met up with a friend and her little boy to go to the Aquarium. Bella and I rode the Riverline there- which was a blast for her. I enjoyed it too. There are still some areas around here that I am unfamiliar with, so traveling by train (as opposed potentially getting lost in the car) is always a welcome scenario.

Bella and her new friend chasing each other in circles. We think they may have had more fun running around outside than actually looking at the fish!

Anniversary recap and outdoor fun!

We had a great anniversary celebration last Sunday. Bella had fun playing with some friends while we went out to dinner. We didn't exchange gifts this year, but we had a fun time looking at old photos, cards, and letters while reminiscing about our years together. It was a nice way to spend our evening.

Have I mentioned how much I love fall weather! I really do. Bella and I spent over two hours at the park one afternoon and I didn't get worn out at all. We met some friends there so it made the time even more fun. On Andy's day off, we decided to go apple picking. The only bummer was that this particular farm had some extra charges surrounding it that we didn't know about. . . so we decided to just look at pumpkins. We told Bella that she could pick out any pumpkin that she wanted. Out of all the options, it looked like this little guy was the keeper. But she ended up putting it back and didn't want to get anything. So, with no apple picking and no pumpking picking, it ended up being a pretty inexpensive family outing!
And, she made it her personal mission to smell each flower. The pregnancy continues to go well. I'm officially in the third trimester now!!! We went to Babies R' Us on Saturday to make a few baby purchases. Slowly but surely, things are starting to get ready. The next big step is painting the baby's room. . . we just have to settle on a color.