Yes, we are alive

We are alive and well. We have not fallen off the planet or anything like that. Last we updated, it was mid-march. So, that means we start with Anabelle's Birthday. She had a great Birthday. All she wanted to do was go and sleep at Grandma's house. So my mom let us have the party at her house. Belle let me do her hair in ponytails and she kept them in most of the day. I couldn't believe it. She looked so cute.

We had dinner and then opened presents (I still needed to finish decorating the cake).

She got some great stuff. Grandma and Grandpa gave her a baby and her bed, stroller, and diaper bag. It was part of a set that got split up between Christmas and Anabelle's Birthday. So now she has all the baby stuff that she could ever need. She loves it and probably plays with at least one of the baby's things each day.

She also got some make-up from my sister, which mom has had to put up high and will only let her play with it if I can supervise. She really likes having her own make-up (she got mad at me once for not putting my make-up on her). She also got a Sleeping Beauty magnetic "paper" doll, great for church. She got some "school" books and a notebook. She loves to pretend to write and do homework. She is going to love school.

I found a screamin' deal on a Barbie doll that came with a brush and a lawn chair and couldn't pass it up. She loves that a lot too. She also got some new Signing Time DVDs, which she was very excited about as well.

Beckett got some gum from my sister, who hates to see anyone left out, and he just happened to sneak it right in front of the camera just as I was about to take a picture.

He is pretty talented.

After presents, we went upstairs and had cake. Belle had been telling me for months that she wanted a "Princess cake". The only thing I could come up with were those cakes with a barbie shoved down in side. I looked up on line how to do it and realized I didn't have a pan that would work well for the dress. Luckily, a woman that I visit teach had one that was perfect. I went to the dollar store and bought a super cheap barbie, broke off her legs, and viola....

Anabelle's Princess Cake

She was very excited about it. And I was pleased at how well it turned out. This was quite possibly my best cake decorating yet. And I am pretty sure I will never do this well again. I am very proud of how it turned out. I can't take credit for the idea of putting the candles in her hands. I saw that one on the Internet. But I did come up with the idea for the star candle behind for the 3rd candle.

I don't know if you noticed, but Belle isn't smiling much in her pictures. All day on her birthday, she just wasn't acting excited. I thought she was just so overwhelmed with everything, that she just didn't know what to do. After cake, she and Beckett went downstairs to watch her new Signing Time movies. Matt and I stayed upstairs and played games with all the big people. In the middle of a round of Telestrations (such a fun game by the way, highly recommend it), I hear Belle call to me. I told her just a minute. About a minute later she calls to me again. I tell her I will be down as soon as the round was over. When it ends, I casually make my way for the basement. I get down there and she had had a severe case of diarrhea. I mean it was bad. Straight liquid that ran down her leg, all over my parent's carpet. It was sooooo bad. That is when I realized why she wasn't very enthusiastic all day. Two days earlier, she had thrown up, but it was only once, so I thought it was just a fluke and that she just had to get something out of her tummy. I guess not. I don't think I have ever seen a blow out that bad, not even a newborns. Matt and I had a wonderful time cleaning her and the carpet all up. I felt so bad for her and for the carpet. On a positive note, she started acting like her normal self and was running around and finally acting excited, now that the day was over and it was almost time to go to bed.

Really, it was great birthday, despite the stomach problems. She is such a sweetheart and I am so glad she came to our family 3 years ago. Even though she has a teenager's attitude sometimes, she is really such a good kid and I rarely have to discipline her. She loves to help clean, almost too much. I think we go through twice as many wipes as we normally would because she loves to clean the house with them. I guess that isn't a fault. I just wish she was more that way with picking up toys or clothes.

She still loves to try on all kinds of crazy outfits and now she is into doing her own hair. She puts the clips in at the bottom of her hair, instead of at the top, similar to the way cute little African-American girls do their hair, minus the dreads that make it okay to put clips at the bottom of your hair. She is such a doll. She still loves shoes. A couple of weeks ago, we were at a friends' house for their daughter's birthday, who is the same age as Belle. The kids wanted to go outside and play. Anabelle comes out of her friend's bedroom wearing her Sunday shoes. I told her, "No. You cannot where her nice shoes outside. Go take them off and put on your flip flops." She stamped her foot and skulked off. A few seconds later, she tried the same thing in the same shoes again. I got a little more stern with her, and she huffed at me and stomped off. She did it a third time before she finally changed her shoes. Then, that little stinker tried again later, when it was time to go home, to leave the house with those shoes on. I could not believe that girl. I am so not looking forward to her teenage years.

Okay, back to what has been happening since Anabelle's birthday. The last day of March was a warm day, at least compared to every other day. When I got home from picking up Beckett from Preschool, Beckett saw his wading pool and asked if he could go swimming. I had a hard time convincing him that it was not warm enough to go swimming that day. Then, throughout the rest of the day, he kept bringing it up. Well, it was getting close to bed time and they really needed a bath. I have a struggle getting them into the tub most nights, so I thought, "Why not?" and went and got the wading pool from the garage and put it in the tub.

It was a hit. I had no problem getting them in the tub. As you can see, they insisted on wearing swimsuits, which made washing a little difficult, but in they end, they got clean. It was a great experiment. A little hard to clean up from, so I don't know if I will do it again, but we had a lot of fun.

April was a pretty quiet month to start out, but ended strong. I signed up to sell Mary Kay and we spent the last weekend of the month in Payson, at my Brother's house. We had so much fun. We swam at the hotel there (yes, they have a hotel, as well as a pretty sweet looking water park), and went to church with them. The kids had a sleepover in their cousin Julia's bunk bed and they loved it. When we sleep at someone else's house, usually Belle will go lay down for a little while with someone in their bed, but once everybody in the bed is asleep, she will come sleep with us. But this time, she totally stayed there all night long. It was great. We had a blast. Thanks Dan and Marcey!

We also went to the park in April. Here is a picture of the kids on the slide.

May was kind of a crazy month. The first week we spent house sitting/keeping my sisters company while my parents were out of town. We had a lot of fun with them and made some yummy food, which included some sauteed asparagus. It was so good.

Once it stopped raining, I made Matt put up the swings that have been sitting in our garage since our first summer in our house.

The kids love them. It is a rare day when they do not ask to go out side and swing.

Aren't those just the cutest pictures?!! I will admit though, I am beginning to wish I didn't make Matt put them up. My arms are getting so tired of putting them in and pushing them for forever. I was mowing the lawn one day (it was the day we were leaving for Omaha), and they insisted on being in the swings. Because I was in a hurry to get the lawn mowed and knew they wouldn't leave me alone unless I put them in, I put them in and every time I passed them while I mowed, I would give them a big push. It was compromise, except that I got the short end of the stick because our mower shuts off whenever you let go of the lever. So I had to restart the mower every time I pushed them. Maybe I should have just dealt with the whining and crying. They couldn't have been much louder than that mower. Oh well.

Belle has become quite the poser, for pictures that is.

Anabelle did our hair in this picture, that is one reason she is so excited.

See what I mean. She strikes a pose all the time now. It is so cute.

Beckett graduated from Preschool. We missed the actual graduation program, because we were in Omaha, but we still got the shaker he made for the program as well as a CD of pictures that were taken throughout the year. The school had class pictures taken (I didn't know Preschools offered such a thing, times have really changed). Here is Beckett's:

Isn't he so handsome?!! He was actually supposed to be in a cap and gown, but he refused. I think he looks much cuter without them on.

Beckett learned a lot in his four months of school. He knows all of his letters by sight and sound. He can read a dozen or so words. He also can count, with a tiny, little bit of help, to 30. He recognizes all of the numbers and can recognize double digits too. I am so proud of how far he has come. Pardon me for bragging a little. His teachers said he is such a bright, sweet boy, and a joy to work with. Maybe a lot of teachers say that to parents, but I know they mean it about Beckett. He is such a tender hearted boy and loves to please others (unless you are asking him to clean up or go home when he is having fun). Even though he would resist going most days, I think he really enjoyed school, at least his teachers. I really loved them. They were such good teachers and were able to keep those kids on task and teach them all kinds of things. They did such cute projects and had such a fun classroom. I would recommend Preschool express to anyone.

Here is Beckett's last day of school:

I just love that boy. So cute!

Well, I am going to end the update here. One, because it is 11:30 at night, and B, because next is our trip to Omaha, which needs a post all to itself.