But first, a ridiculously adorable picture of Ryan. Joshua snapped this while he was working in Ryan's room at church. I L-O-V-E it!
Bella made these beautiful butterfly pictures. She painted the canvases and paper, cut out the butterflies with a punch, and then I glued them on. They're hanging in her room, right near the puff-paint pictures and other "objets d'art" clothespinned to a string above her bed.
We made fruit pops which, you can see by Ryan's face, were a hit!
4th of July parade! Bella made it through most of it this year, although she had her ears covered.
Bella enjoying her Daddy.
I love that the kids are always hugging!...Or choking-it's a fine line.
And this is one of my favorite pictures of Bella as a "big gore".
I made a "Summer Fun" jar with ideas to do when we got "bored." This one started out as painting with her toy cars to make tracks across the paper, and ended up with Bella making a gigantic mess.
I was supposed to make a fort, but I'm a girl and I don't know to do that. As evidenced by the picture below. The kids didn't care-they watched a movie under it and thought it was fun.
One slip said "Make a volcano." Bella wasn't too sure at first, but once she saw the effect, she asked to do it over and over again.
That same day we make cake pops. They were completely misshapen and looked nothing like the ones she always asks for from the Starbucks display case, but they still tasted good.
Another idea was to make a zoo for her animals out of her wooden blocks. She was quite specific about how it had to be done (in true Bella fashion), and here she is among her managerie.
Bella requested a pink cake with pink frosting for her 4th birthday and that's what she got. I even used food coloring to make her pink milk!
Oh, my little Hooligan!
And off we went to Chicago to celebrate Uncle Jeff turning 4-0 the same year Bells turned 0-4. We had a wonderful time.
This ends up being a family portrait-we're all at "The Bean" and Joshua is photographer. You can see him a bit past Ryan's reflection and the stroller.
Home for a bit, then off to Missouri to see Uncle Richard, Amy, Jessica, Maga and Papa. Of course the kids got to fish! Here's Bella with one she caught (she's done this before). I love that she's fishing in a skirt and peep-toe slingbacks.
Papa taught Ryan the fine art of fishing. He wasn't much of a fan until he saw the fish. That got him excited. The fish flopping on the end of his line, not so much.
The kids get spoiled with golf cart ride and boat rides. Papa lets them drive the boat! We mostly went in circles, but they thought it was the coolest.
No trip to MO is complete without a stop (or two or three) to Braum's Ice Cream. Isabella attacked her blue "birthday cake" ice cream with gusto!
She even got to throw pottery! She had help from the woman (the one with the devil stare in this picture-but she was quite nice), and got to pick the paint color (pink, of course).
August means the State Fair in Indiana and we hit it twice! We got smart and brought a wagon and umbrellas for the kids to stay out of the hot sun. This was the view we got most of the time.
But they got out to enjoy some yumminess. We had just had deep-fried Twinkies (so good!). I love that they are holding hands. Notice the mischievous look on Ryan's face while Bella seems all sweet. LOVE my kids.
The Little Farmers exhibit was Bella's favorite last year and was just as popular this year. I think she makes an adorable farmer!
They gave out free hats at the Little Farmer exhibit, and here's Ryan sporting his outside the blacksmith's. He made rings out of nails for both kids, and they were the stars of the shop.
Fun pictures.
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