Bailey's Birthday

Bailey is now officially one year older! She got to open presents from Leah first thing in the morning (after breakfast that is)! Then after dinner she got to open the rest of her presents from Mom and Dad! We were going to go Mini-Golfing but a big Tunderstorm came through (large hail and everything) so we ended up just staying home - but she still had a fun day!

Giddy Up!

Before we left for vacation we squeezed in some horse back riding. As I'm sure you can imagine the girls had a blast! We went with some friends and everyone got there own horse. Bailey really enjoyed doing everything herself and loved everything about the horses. Here she is getting ready for the ride.

Leah's horse was lead by one of the wranglers but she didn't mind! I was the last one in the group and all I heard most of the trip was Leah's giggles floating back to me. Her favorite part was when we trotted! She was laughing away when we started to trot and then all of a sudden she yells "Yeh Haw! I'm a REAL Cowgirl Now!!!" and then there was even more of her uncontrollable laughter! It made everyone laugh!

We had such a good time - the girls are already asking when we can go again!

Here is a picture of the group: Bailey is the one on the far left and Leah is right in the middle in the dark blue.

Summer Fun

The girls have started their summer classes this week. They have really enjoyed them! The week started with Bailey taking her first sewing class. She learned all the basics about sewing and using a sewing machine (her first time ever). She made a pillow case in this class!

Hmmmm...I wonder how many people will be getting pillow cases for Christmas this year? She really enjoyed sewing so we will be signing up for the next class in July where she will learn to make pajama pants! She already has plans to make me 5 or 6 new pairs of jammie pants since mine are getting "old and are too wintery". I can't wait!!

Today was Leah's turn - a Wilton Cupcake Decorating class! Leah was in heaven - cupcakes are her all time FAVORITE food! This class taught her how to turn a cupcake into a Bee, a Butterfly, a Ladybug and a just plain fun one. She loved learning how to use decorating bags, piping frosting, rolling and shaping fondant and now wants to decorate cupcakes for everyone!

Her are her lovey creations! Look at that smile! Below is a close up of her hard work! What an ARTIST! Can we say future Pastry Chef????

Bailey lucked out - because class enrollment was small, they allowed her to participate too. She had just as much fun as Leah learning how to make fun cupcakes.

A close up of her hard work!

The summer is sure starting out fun. I wonder if I can keep up!

AWWWWWW.....

I was looking for Leah this afternoon and this is what i found...adorable isn't it?

First Tooth

Leah is so excited! She finally lost her first tooth! We just wanted to share!

What a week!

No one can ever say that life around the Bell household isn't interesting! We started the week excited for the last week of school. The girls were looking forward to all the fun activities planned, I was looking forward to sharing a few more days with my class (then some free time when they were finished) and Eric was looking forward to his weekend camping trip with the guys. Well, that was Monday morning...... by Monday evening the week had already changed.

We ended up in the ER with Leah Monday night. She was doing well when I picked her up from her friends house after school, a little hoarse but they had played outside for over 2 1/2 hours and I figured, 2 girls outside yelling and having fun - she will be fine tomorrow. The girls and I headed out to finish getting a few last minute additions to our teacher gifts and all was going well. It was muggy evening and the girls just wanted to go home and have dinner - but I had 1 more stop to make so off we headed to one more store. Leah started complaining about being cold and put her sweater on as we got out of the car. I felt her (just in case cause it was NOT cold out) but she felt fine so we finished our shopping. Now both girls are complaining about just wanting to be finished and going home. On the way home Leah still said she was cold and started to look not quite right. Well we get in the house and Leah heads to the bathroom right away (before I could even get out of the car). I grab the bags and walk inside. As I walk past the bathroom I hear a whimpering noise. I open the door and poor little Leah is on the floor bright red (mind you she was normal color when she got out of the car) and laying on the floor whimpering. I run in and she is burning up. I grab the thermometer and it reads 106.5! After a quick check that the thermometer wasn't broken off to the ER we head. Well after lots of tests and a few tense hours, we come away with a shot of antibiotics, a kidney infection and to follow up with the pediatrician the next morning first thing. So off to the pediatrician we head the next morning and spend the day there doing some more tests. To top off her kidney infection it turns out that Leah has pneumonia too. She has had no symptoms has not even been coughing (which is in itself unusual for her) or any lack of energy. Needless to say - she missed her entire last week of school and so did I. She is pretty bummed that she didn't get to say goodbye to her friends or do any of the fun last week of school activities.


Bailey also had a "fun" week this past week. Thankfully she was not sick, but we did have to do another sleep study for her. So Wednesday night, off we head to Grand Rapids for Baileys test. It is never easy to sleep in a hospital - but it had to be done. Here is a picture of her with everything connected:

Then first Thursday morning back to home we head so Bailey doesn't miss her last day of school. She got to show off her picture and all the wax and goo in her hair (since there wasn't time to stop home and shower first).

The good news about Wed. night is that the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup! Whoo Hoo!

Now school is out, but we had to cancel all our play dates for the week - to give Leah time to recover and heal. Hopefully next week we can get together with everyone we canceled on this week.

Eric headed out Friday afternoon for his annual camping trip with the guys. He was looking forward to trip and some "guy" time. This year they headed over by Lansing. Well, like I said at the beginning of the post - what a week! Since things just weren't going our way this week - now it was Eric's turn. The forecast for the weekend? Rain and Thunderstorms! Oh well, they will still have a great time - they have plenty of beer to protect them from the wetness. As the storms start rolling across the state, they are pretty severe. One band is even producing tornado warnings and guess where it is headed? Just north of Lansing - right where the guys are camping. So I call Eric and give them the heads up - time to make sure the tents are staked down good and things are under cover. We both figured they would just get some good thunderstorms and lots of wind. About 9pm the phone rings and it is Eric's cell phone - hmm why would he call me on his guys weekend? The storm did hit - and there was lots of rain and wind. In fact there was a tornado that touched down about five miles from where they were camping! The guys are all okay but there was damage to the campground and the surrounding area. Eric is sharing a tent with his brother and another friend - their tent was blown over and is now soaking wet inside. Good thing his brother brought his tent just in case, so they do have a dry place to sleep.

I am hoping for a quiet end to the week! Leah has her last soccer game of the season today, she won't be playing but we are going to go and cheer for her team. Then I think we will lay low the rest of the day.

Here is to a boring, uneventful week next week!

Summer is on its way

Summer is fast approaching. I can't believe there is only a week and a half of school left. It has gone so fast! I really like this picture of Leah - it was taken a couple weeks ago in our back yard after her soccer game. The weather is getting so much nicer - we are spending more and more time in the back yard again. This year Eric is re-doing our yard - so it is finally all tilled up. Now we just have to get the seed down and start the process of growing nice grass.