Back to the real world...Sort of!

Bella, Olivia and Colin. Olivia did a great job getting a 20 month old and a 6 month old to stay for a picture.

Bella had to hop back into her Cozy Coupe at 10:30pm after a Christmas party. She is addicted.

Bella and Ellie in their fancy New Year's Party dresses!

Jackson and his main man... his Dad!

Ellie is very proud of her creation! They kept getting their cups confused so I drew their names on them. Apparently this was a GREAT idea because Ellie and Jackson spent the rest of the evening decorating their styrofoam cups. We should have thought of this sooner.

Perfect spot to snuggle...with Papa!

Our family ringing in the New Year our way!

pettiskirts and highchairs don't pair well.

Bella's new love... her alphabet puzzle mat.

People think this is fun? You have got to be kidding me.

Snow day #1. PJ's, chocolate milk and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse at 8:30am. Perfect!

Bella always chooses safe and clean places to play.

Ryan's handy work. Now time for mud, sanding and paint. Who wants to help???

SNOW DAY!!!

We followed Christmas up with a wonderful week. I don't have many pictures because I am missing the charger to my camera battery. I need it to take and download pictures. Ryan and I were both off all week and Bella loved it (although we both enjoyed it even more I think!) We took advantage of our week off and did some relaxing, a little housework and a lot of playing. Bella grew accustomed to sleeping in, turning the lights on on the Christmas tree (via remote, don't worry - she is not playing with plugs and outlets), hanging out in her pajamas, eating lots of snacks, pulling all of her new toys out repeatedly, and playing with Mama and Daddy!

Christmas was followed up with a few more Christmases and each one brought us a new baby. Could anything be more appropriate when you are celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus. Christmas night we went to Ryan's Aunt Therese and Uncle Dennis' house. We had a great dinner and lots of fun playing games and hanging out. We also got to meet Julia for the first time. Julia is Ryan's cousins Mike and Allyson's baby girl and she is a doll! They live in Iowa so we don't get to see them very often.

The next evening we went to Ryan's parents house for Christmas with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ed's families. It was a great time and we got to meet little Oliver for the first time. Oliver is Ryan's cousin Jenny's baby boy and he was so petit and precious! Bella had a blast running all over the house with Olivia, Henry and Louie! The kiddos got spoiled again with gifts and all of the adults played a fun but confusing game of "Rob your Neighbor". We decided next year we will just google the rules because everyone had different ideas. Either way, it was fun and I got an adorable necklace and earing set and Ryan got a Walgreens gift card which is always handy. I think he used it last night to buy our sloppy joe mix (one of my secret favorite foods.)

We wrapped up the weekend by heading to the nursing home to see Grandma Sedlak and celebrate with lots of Sedlaks! Here is where we got to meet little Isaac! What a sweetie! I never heard him fuss once and everyone wanted to hold him. Isaac is Ryan's cousins Colleen and Kevin's baby boy. Isaac is adopted but right now, Kevin and Colleen are fighting very hard for Isaac because the birth father is arguing the adoption. Isaac even looks like Kevin and Colleen and they are a perfect threesome. Please say many prayers for them because they are greatly in need.

After all of our celebrating we were all exhausted. Monday was a day of rest and laundry. Bella and I were in our PJ's till the afternoon as we did odd jobs around the house and cleaned up the messes Bella made as we did odd jobs around the house. Gotta love having a little helper following you around. Ryan spent the morning in the basement. He was scraping the walls of the stairwell to the basement so he can try and match them up better with the new walls he put in. He is such a hard worker. I love having a handy husband. Monday night was our date night and the funny part was, we were back home by 8:00! Kristian and Kaitlin came over to babysit and I think Bella had a good time with her aunts. They had some pizza (one of Bella's favorites) and played tea party with her kitchen and table. Thanks so much Kristian and Kaitlin! Ryan and I went to the movies for the first time in about 2 years to see The Blind Side (awesome movie by the way) and then out to dinner at an Italian restaurant off of Grand. It was really good and we finally used a gift certificate program that Lissy gave me last year for Christmas. We got to end our date by playing with Bella and then having some couch time after she went to bed. What a great date!

On Wednesday, we headed to Kirksville to see my family! It was great to be back and see some family. We got to see Papa, Grandma, Allison, Andrew, Jackson, Ellie, Lincoln, Lissy, Caroline, Jared, Molly and we even got to meet Molly's new boyfriend Nathan. He was very friendly and kind. To top it off, we didn't scare him away. I love my parents house at Christmas and so did Bella. She had lots of Christmas lights to turn on in the morning since she was normally one of the first ones up. Wednesday we did some gift exchanging. We gave my parents their gifts and they gave us some more gifts. As if Disney isn't enough. Bella got lots of adorable stuff such as a blue-green pettiskirt and shirt and a little riding toy called a fropper which is just the right size and it folds up. Perfect for our little house. She also got a book set called "The Tickle Monster" and it comes with blue fuzzy mitts that we can use to tickle her as we read. Allison got her the cutest little tea set with the Fancy Nancy Tea Party book. She also had more but lets just say she was spoiled!

Thursday we stayed inside because it was freezing and we wanted to save our energy for the night. That evening we braved the cold and went to Pear Tree (my favorite restaurant)! YUMMY!!!! It was wonderful and Bella is now a fan of onion ring batter and ketchup, croutons and hen rice which she ate with her fingers! She really enjoyed her food and kept shoving her onion ring plate and the ketchup bottle towards me saying "more, more!" with a very convincing expression and nod. It was pretty cute. I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. The key to Pear Tree dining is to pound the appetizers (their onion rings and crab rangoon are the best), chow down on salad (not a healthy salad with homemade croutons soaked in garlic butter and the most awesome dressing), and time for the entree. I always get the filet mignon and chicken picatta but many people also love the batter-dipped lobster. What ever you get, you only eat about 1/2 and take the rest home for lunch the next day. Don't stop before dessert though. They have awesome homemade ice cream and use it in most of their desserts. I normally get the Raspberry Royale but I over did it on the appetizers this time. Oh darn. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH MOM AND DAD!!!! You always know how to make a pregnant gal happy! Once your belly is fat and happy now it is time to drive the 45 minutes home and try to not fall asleep. Once we got home, we slipped into our pjs and tried to hang out till midnight. Ryan and Bella rang in New Years with New York (on hour early our time) and headed off to bed. It was impressive work but I made it up to midnight. Ali, Andrew and the kids came in a little before midnight for their slumber party and kicked some life back into our pajama party we were all having. Jackson brought Twister and fo course Papa did a large firework at midnight. It was a little close to the house due to the snow covered yard and provided more entertainment than beauty. It was funny watching people run for cover. I even played a game of Twister (granted it only lasted about 2 minutes). After that, I headed off to bed to give my family Happy New Years kisses.

The next day everyone slept in and we woke to breakfast casserole (another favorite) and hot chocolate. Ellie and Bella wore their pettiskirts for the first day of 2010 (might as well start the year off on a fancy note) and they were pretty precious! The boys (adults included) spent the day playing Wii. The kids had a blast playing around all day and we enjoyed doing nothing productive! Mom made some really good BBQ chicken sandwiches so I didn't even eat my Pear Tree leftovers. Maybe later. Ryan and I did have some minor cosmetic surgery done that afternoon. We went to Dad's office and had some moles and skin tags removed. I went first and that was probably a mistake. Ryan was a little disgusted by the process but all I can say is I am thrilled to be rid of all of it! He left his moles and just went for the skin tags. THANK YOU DAD!!!! I know we were babies about it. That night we headed to Ali and Andrews for dinner. They made some delicious pork sandwiches (yes I know- ha ha ha, listen to the pregnant girl go on and on about food but seriously, this is what our trips consist of!) and I lounged around on the floor with Ali's pregnancy pillows. I think the food expanded my belly too quick and I pulled some muscles or something but I was rediculiously sore. Don't worry - I still ate and left room for brownies. Ryan went downstairs to take a video of Bella and Ellie playing and apparently Bella loves to say "NO" and Ellie thinks she said it enough. I will post the video as soon as I learn how to do that!

The next day we headed home so we would have a day to adjust ourselves to going back to work and get the house back in order. The house did not get put back together and the decorations all stayed up. I finally took most of the decorations down on Tuesday night and Wednesday night I switched my Christmas china out for my regular china. We are doing a little rearranging due to the increase in Bella's toys so it took a little longer than usual. We are now trying to fit a play kitchen, table and chairs, two riding toys (one being a cozy coupe). a new letter mat and two strollers into our family room! Time for some of the old toys to retire to the basement but you have to do it while she is not around because she has a hard time with seperatation. She is LOVING all of the new toys though. Her Mommy Skills are improving as she plays with the babydoll from Priyal and Bhavik. She cares for her, walks her, feeds her, changes her clothes and changes her diapers. She even has to use diaper cream and wipes. She is very thurough as she wipes the entire baby off. She is even learning her ABC's with the Leapfrog ABC toy she got from Tim, Kelly and Liv. It is supposed to stick the fridge but she prefers the side of the oven. I know, were so concerned about safety. She also likes to pull out her huge letter mat puzzel but we hide it from her. A lot of time is spent hopping between her cozy coupe and fropper!

Bella did very well our first day back to work. She got to stay and play with Lissy but she didn't want us to leave without having something to remember her by so she woke up early with a blowout. Ryan was sweet to hang around and clean up the mess as I changed her. Lissy arrived right as we got everything cleaned up. I guess she didn't want us to sneak out like we normally do on Mondays. Lissy and Bella had a fun day except for one slight trip down the steps. You will have to read Lissy's blog to get the whole picture but I know Lissy has some severe bruising and soreness. Bella is resillent and fine! Tuesday and Wednesday she got to go hang with the girls again. She was excited to see Lea, Kyla, Claire and of course Mama (Julie - we are all Mama.) I think it was a nice change of pace and they do have the best toys! Today she should be with Mama and Papa but mom got her first SNOW DAY!!!! So we are still in our PJ's and playing the clean up/destroy game that Bella loves to play! I clean up and she destroys! I know Mama and Papa were probably a little sad so they will be excited to see her tomorrow. I am hoping to get Bella out to play but we will probably wait till after nap so that I can find her something to wear outside and maybe Dad can join in the fun depending on when he gets home! It is still very cold so this probably won't last very long but you have to try right. We also have a smore kit and of course some hot cocoa to drink when we come back in. I also am on a mission to find some missing items. I am always missing items and now it is the camera battery charger and the remote for our bedroom tv. Wish me luck! By the way, if you are missing Christmas, our tree will be up till this weekend. I don't know how people end Christmas with kids. Bella loves turning on the tree lights and gets sad that the outside lights don't come on anymore (maybe tonight for a picture with the snow) and all of the other decorations are gone. It was just too cold to take it to the curb last night so we will shoot for this weekend.

PS. It has been almost a week since I typed this post but I didn't want to put it up with out pictures. I took Bella out to the snow on Friday (my second snowday) and she is not a big fan yet. Also, I wanted to say that we finally did take our tree down and our spot behind the couch is now Bella's play area.