Silly Bella

Bella keeps us laughing. She comes up with the funniest things. Here's 2 funny stories about her this past week.

Bella has been missing her friend Kaylee (Kay-Kay as Bella calls her). We often joke around about sending our kids in the mail to see Grandma and Grandpa. Bella asked if we could call Kay-Kay's mom to see if she'd send Kay- Kay in the mail. Bella said she would let Kay-Kay borrow a dress for church and a nightgown to sleep in. She continued to expound on what they would do and toys they could share. Then she decided maybe she could be sent to Kay-Kay's house instead since she could visit Pop-Pop and Mima too. She told us she'd take her blanket and close her eyes so she wouldn't be scared in the dark box. Its was pretty cute. She actually went as far as to climb in a box, but when we started to close it she decided that wasn't the best idea. Actually, she went hysterical and knocked the box over in her haste to get out.

(Bella and Kay-Kay on the 4th of July)


Katy was feeling sick one evening; she was nauseous and had the chills. She went up to change into her PJs and a bathrobe. We cleared her spot at the table and put in a piece of toast for her. Bella looked at her dinner (which was a strange meal left over from a dinner exchange in our ward). Toast looked more appealing to her. She put her hand on her head and sighed. "Mom my head is spinning, its spinning so bad". Jared and I held back our chuckles. Jared told her she could have toast and even put on her PJs, but then she'd have to go straight to bed like Katy. She claimed she would because "my head is just spinning soo bad". So, another plate was cleared while a piece of bread was toasted. Everything went well until dinner was finished and Bella learned we were serious. I took her and Katy up to bed while Jared dished out dessert to Xandy and Jacob. Katy was too sick to care but Bella mysteriously felt better. The thought of missing out on ice cream was suddenly enough to cure her. "My head stopped spinning, I don't need to go to bed anymore" she inisted as I tucked her in. I'm probably a mean mom cause I really made her go to bed, but I bet she won't fake being sick again for a long time.

Bella the Ballerina

Bella started a dance class in January. She was anxiously awaiting her first day. When we arrived she went into the dance studio and sat down. She proceeded to watch for the entire class time. She didn't partcipate once. I was pretty frustrated by the end of that class. The teacher said it was normal not to worry. She was right, by the second week Bella was dancing right along with the other girls. More importantly, she is having the time of her life!

Jammin' Jacob

Katy's Baptism

Even though its been almost a week, I still can hardly believe my little girl is baptized. Last Saturday Katy had her baptism. Both sets of grandparents, Great Grandma B, Laura and Connel, and Jon and Elise and their family were all able to come. Katy planned the program by herself. My mom and Jared's mom each gave talks. Xandy and I said the prayers. Katy had a hard time picking songs since she loves so many. We ended up with an intermediate hymn and a musical number in addition to the opening and closing songs. My girls and their second cousins sang "When I am Baptized" (aka "I like to look for Rainbows") I loved the sweet spirit present throughout the meeting. We really appreciated all our friends and family both near and far that were able to come for Katy's special day. I'm proud of the decision she made and her determination to make good choices.

Our little sweetheart


Katy with Grandpa and Grandma Reed

The girls with Pop-Pop and Mima

Four generations

What a cutie!

Dress-up fun

While my parents were visiting my mom and I went shopping one day and Bella and Jacob stayed home with my grandma. We returned home to this sight.

When the temperature dropped I got out the rubbermaid full of hats, scarves, and gloves. Bella and Jacob thought these made great dress-up clothes. Ah, the little things that can be so entertaining. Guess I could have saved a lot of money and not bought toys for Christmas.

A Disney Christmas

We went to Disneyland Monday and Tuesday before Christmas. It rained Monday morning and although we were pretty cold and wet, the lines were practically non-existant. Grandma came to the rescue with a bag full of rain ponchos. We went to the Town Hall and got "First time" buttons for all the kids. Katy got a B-day button also. All the employees would stop and wish her Happy Birthday. First stop was Fanstasy Land. Yep, with three girls we entered the park and headed straight for the castle. Did you really expect differently? Then it was on to toontown. Jacob and Laila LOVED Goofy's house. Lots of fun things to play with and a chance to get out of the strollers and explore. The Bug-sized world was neat. I especially like the popsicle stick benches. We pretty much hit all of Disneyland the first day. Just a few rides left to come back to the next day. We saw the electric parade and the Holiday Fireworks over the castle. Half way through the day, I turned around to notice Bella asleep in the stroller. No big deal, except she had a sticker placed over her mouth. She put the sticker on her own mouth and then fell asleep that way. I had bought glow wands and swords at a dollarstore. I was pretty proud of myself. The kids loved them and I got them all for less money than one would have cost there.
We woke up on Day 2 to find Bella asleep across her sisters legs. They were too tired to notice or care. Day 2 we headed over to California Adventure. Soarin' over California was one of our favorite rides . Tower of Terror didn't go over too well with Xandy and Katy. Personally I loved it. Xandy claimed she was scared but she laughed the whole time. Katy looked petrified. Katy did go on almost all of the rides. She's like her mom and could ride Space Mountain over and over again. Monday Jared, Katy, and Xandy went on Splash mountain too. They figured they were already soaked from the rain, why not? We watched the High School Musical 3 performance and Katy even got to dance with one of the wildcats. (I don't remember seeing that pic, I'll have to look and find it). The Buzz Light Year and Toy Story rides were a big hit. You had little guns in your car and targets to aim at. A computer on your seat kept track of your points. Alexandra was surprisingly accurate. (Maybe we should be worried) While waiting in line we passed a Mr. Potato head statue. We stopped when he started to talk. "Little girl in the green coat..." he began. Katy looked down at her arm, then warily looked back up at him. She took a step back and glanced at me as if to say "He's not real, how does he know I'm wearing a green coat" Ahh, the marvles of modern cameras. That look was priceless and one I won't forget for awhile. Later on the Monsters Inc ride, Ros talked to Katy again. We got off and she wanted to know why everything kept talking to her. We watched the pixar parade that evening. We were going to head back over to Disneyland. One look at our half asleep kiddies told us this was not the best idea. We headed to downtown Disney in search of souvenirs before heading home. Katy laid down in the aisle while waiting for Amanda and I to finish up and actually fell asleep. We had a ton of pics between Amanda, Grandma and me. I don't have the ones Grandma took yet, and I only posted some of the ones from Amanda and I. Maybe I'll put more up later.

Growing up fast

Bella started her first day of Sunbeams yesterday. All morning she was adamant that she was going to nursery, not primary! She did finally relent, but its going to be a lesson in patience for Mom. She's the oldest any of the kids have been when entering Sunbeams, but she was definately NOT the most reverent yesterday. Hopefully her teacher can get her in line cause my attempts were just making it worse yesterday. She did look very cute and grown-up and I'm really am glad to have her in primary with me.

Ready to go
my little guy


silly face

all my girls

Last night I was working on a project and came across some old pictures. Its hard to believe this little girl is being baptized on Saturday. These were taken at Tonya's wedding reception. One was taken during the Daddy daughter dance, and the other is her and her friend Brooke dancing.

Precious moments

1) As we were sitting on the runway in Vegas, in the plane, Bella turned to me and asked "Does this airplane fly?"
"I sure hope so, or we aren't going to get home" I replied.
"Its okay, Mom. If this airplane isn't one that flies we can just go back to Grandma's house"


2)Jacob was running a low fever Friday night. I was trying to make dinner so I popped Winnie the Pooh into the VCR and set him on the couch. I looked up later to find this sight. Notice that Jacob has fallen asleep on Katy. I love moments like this!

3) The kids got bubble bath from the nieghbors. After eating spaghetti for lunch Jacob was in desperate need of a bath. I filled the bath with bubbles and set him in. He was afraid of the bubbles at first. He kept pulling them off and crying. I couldn't even get him to sit down. But by the time I got Katy to come watch him and came back from grabbing the camera he was all smiles. (Is it mean that I wanted a picture of him scared of the bubbles?)

New Year's Eve

We rang in the New Year at our neighbors' house. We talked, played the Wii, and watched the ball drop. I found out I'm horrible at driving games (no smart comments!) but I did beat my husband at boxing two times. He thought it was a fluke the first time and challenged a rematch. But when I beat him even faster the second time, he decided to save whatever dignity he still had, and refused to play with me again. I told him not to worry it was all the practice I get from TaeBo. All four kids actually made it to midnight. I tried to put Jacob to sleep but he wasn't about to miss all the fun. The older girls slept at the neighbors making it their first sleepover somewhere other than Mimas. Here's a picture of all the kids minus Tucker (the nieghbors' little boy) who was too tired to leave his mom's side. Bella of course is not cooperating, but really did you expect anything different?

Silly cousin fun

After waiting 3 years to visit Grandpa and Grndam's house, the kids were more than a little excited to be there. Combine that with 1 cousin they hadn't see since he was a baby, and 2 cousins they'd never met, and life was a little crazy. They had lots of fun but were wild and out of control. Sorry to Grandma for giving her high blood pressure, and sorry to grandpa for interrupting his sleep. (Grandpa works nights and had to sleep during the day). Check out the crazy fun they had.

More Christmas fun

After we finished decorating plates we continued to prepare for Christmas morning. Jacob was soo excited over his present. He said "Ooooooo" at everytime he opened a gift throughout the season. But, we were surprised to hear him saying his form of Diego (D'go)after he opened his gift from Santa. Jared says I have to be careful. He claims that when I try to say it like Jacob I sound like I'm say a derogatory name for ethnic group. I guess I'm not up on all that politically correct stuff. If I offend anyone that was not my intention, but seriously get over it cause I'm just imitating my baby. And, what mother doesn't do that?