Halloween (finally!)

We tried to get Bella to pose with Lucy and the pumpkin in the above picture, but she was done with the pumpkin by then. She did like the carving and goofing around with goo with Daddy though.
The girls were both fairies this year. Bella wants everything to be purple these days, so she was the purple (and pink) fairy and Lucy was the pink (and green) fairy. They had so much fun getting dressed up and trick or treating to a few neighbors. Momo and Papa came over to see them too.

I think this is my favorite picture of the girls together ever! Papa was standing behind me making the girls laugh and I just love how Bella is looking at Lucy wanting to see her reaction! It would be our Christmas card picture if I could photoshop out the pumpkins! :)
They laughed and laughed!
With funny Papa and Momo:
Trick-or-treating at Judy's house (longtime family friend and now next- door neighbor!)
Then we headed out to Brian's Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary's house for dinner, games, and more trick or treating. Lucy fell asleep on the way there.
Bella went on to the games. Here, she is hitting at a Pinata, and making what my parents referred to as the "pinching face." It's the face my brother and I would make in the middle of our pinching fights in the back seat of the car.
Lucy finally woke up!
And was ready for more trick-or-treating!
But first, a picture of all the fairies (cousin Bailey was Tinkerbell)

Okay, here we go!
Tinkerbell helped little pink and green fairy:

Bella with OSU football star, Jake:

Daddy helped the little fairy too!
Lucy taking a peek!
Aunt Mary showed helped her get started with the goodies:
Cousins Abby and Noah (aka Pistol Pete) were SO helpful with Lucy. They wanted to help her with all of the games and crafts.

Fun at the Zoo (and just a little more about Bella's birthday)

On the day of Bella's actual birthday, Brian took off the afternoon and we went to the zoo. It was a little chilly, but very pretty, and we almost had the whole zoo to ourselves! The penguins were the favorite (and most active)animal of the day - one is swimming just to the right of Lucy in the picture below.

After the zoo, we went to Tin Star, Bella's favorite restaurant, and then came home for a few gifts from Mommy, Daddy and Lucy.

The absolute HIT of those gifts was this:
Yes, it's a car. But for boys only? No, because it's not just a car- it's a Cars' Movie lights and sounds DJ car. Bella and Lucy had seen it at a store a few days earlier and cracked us up with it! They immediately turned into little hip hop dancers when the car's music started playing. So Lucy decided it would make a nice gift for Bella's birthday.

Okay, this is the last post about Bella's birthday for this year- I promise!

Wait...haven't I seen this picture before? Bella at 20 months:

The Circus Came to our House!

Bella's birthday party had a circus theme this year. We had face painting (by cousins Taylor and Bailey), a pumpkin ring toss, a bean bag toss, a duck game, party hat decorating, and a peanut hunt! We were SO, SO glad to have beautiful weather so all of this could be done outside. Somehow I fogot to take pictures of the circus decorations, but I did get pictures of Bella and her cousins and friends having lots of fun...

Taylor, Bella & Bailey:

Bella and Andrew getting their faces painted:

Peanut hunting:

Lucy liked the clown noses:

Lucy was always being held, led around, or fed cake and ice cream by a family member. I think each of them got a turn with her. I'm pretty sure she had a great day too! Here she is cuddling with family (here, Grandma B, Uncle David and Aunt Sara):

She took a laid back approach to the bean bag toss with Grandpa:

Bella and lifelong buddy Britton:

A purple princess bike from Grandma and Grandpa!

With cousin Jack:

Happy Birthday to Bella!