Finding Nemo

While visiting a friend we watched 'Finding Nemo' for the first time. We thought it was a good movie and we had a good time watching it on her big, flat screen tv. At night, with the lights off, it was beautiful!
A couple of weeks later, we passed an aquarium in the Galleria and Bella was mesmerized by the 'Nemo' or clown fish. We watched (and tried not to tap on the glass) while Bella said over and over "Nemo. Nemo? Nemo!" We didn't talk about Finding Nemo after we watched it initially, but Bella obviously remembered.
After prying her away I decided we needed our own copy of the movie and quickly ordered it online. Then I remembered that we don't have a dvd player. Dah! ...but remembered again a day later that we do have a tiny tv with a built in dvd player hidden away in the garage (if you saw our garage you would understand why things are forgotten). The disk arrived in the mail and I pulled out the mini-combo set.
Magic! Even though we watch the movie on a 5 inch x 5 inch screen, it's still beautiful. After a couple more views, I declared the movie extraordinary! ...and so does Bella.
Instead of cooking dinner or tidying up the house (like I thought I would do), I end up watching Nemo with Bella. We enjoy being "cared" (scared) of the shark and talking about "is him?" (Where is Nemo?). His daddy is "find" (finding/looking for) him.

Easter

Happy Easter! We all dressed up for the occasion. Even though you can't see it very well, Matt's tie was a perfect. It was last worn at his junior prom! Bella wore the fourth and last of her Easter hand-me-down dresses. This one had smocking and pouffy, cap sleeves...and was my favorite. Unfortunately, I didn't get a full length picture. It wasn't over-the-top frilly so I think we'll wear it again sometime this summer.Covered in watermelon juice and resting from a serious hunt for Easter eggs.

Where is it? ...or "is dem?" (Where is them? Where are they?) After finding almost all the eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny, she asked for help finding the last few.

Neighborly Easter

Bella received a special invitation to hunt for Easter eggs at our neighbors Scott and Martha's. Bella almost always calls for "Mack" (the bulldog) on any given day when she comes home; this is actually her way of saying that she wants to see Martha. Martha's house is always fun and exciting whenever there is a holiday approaching; there are always plenty of decorations, new pictures, and of course the special figurines that symbolize the holiday. For Halloween there was a wide assortment of witches throughout the house and yard, Thanksgiving had the pilgrims, Christmas had Santa Claus, and now there was Easter Eggs. (Penny of course is always invited as long as she keeps her nose out of Mack's food.)
Martha's Easter Bunny hid eggs for Bella in the potted plants, under chairs, in the grass, and in the hands of the various figurines throughout the garden. Mack and Penny were on her heels trying to figure out just what she was up to moving so quickly and laughing the whole time.
With each egg she would find, she would make a gasp of surprise and sometimes a squeal happy to find each one.
Mack and Penny, not wanting to feel left out, was trying to investigate what was so special about these silly plastic things.
Penny didn't find them interesting after all, but Mack enjoyed smacking them on the ground and watching them roll.
Bella checked each and every egg to see what surprises they may have in store happy to enjoy each little treat. Thank you Scott and Martha!

Strawberry Fields (forever)

Well, actually, the fields didn't last forever (and weren't as dreamy as the song implies), but there were a lot of rows spread over a long field. The weather was beautiful! Breezy and high 60's!

This was Bella second year to go to Froberg's Farm to pick strawberries. Last year she was just still a bit wobbly on her feet; this year she was solid, even in her princess sandals (which she insisted wearing with her Tinkerbell socks). Her outfit is quite colorful with the mismatched hat and flowery dress!

Bella did a great job finding the shiny ripe, red strawberries hiding under the leaves. She frequently pointed out all the yucky (over ripe) berries baking in the sun...which actually seemed to provide a yummy, sweet smell in the air.

She picked a pound and a half all by herself! Wahoo!

more practicing for Easter

We went to another Easter Egg Hunt! This one was in my brother's neighborhood. We played a bit beforehand, raced to gather 10 eggs and then took a look at some cute farm animals. We got to wear another pretty hand-me-down dress that Bella loved. There were 5 layers of tulle so it was plenty pouffy!

practicing for Easter

The faculty and staff of UH were invited to an Easter celebration on campus. It was a beautiful day so we went. Mostly we went so we could practice gathering eggs. Matt and I watch Funniest Home Videos a lot; there is one clip showing a little girl attempting to gather Easter eggs. She picks up an egg but instead of placing it in her basket, she puts it through the basket handle, dropping the egg on the other side. This goes on and on and we think it's just hilarious! We want to make sure Bella doesn't make this silly mistake.

First there were Easter crafts, balloons, tattoos then egg (on a spoon) and sack races. This was all in preparation for the excitement of the Easter Egg Hunt.

We quickly learned that the strategy was to get ahead of everyone else (otherwise she was just bending down when someone else grabbed what she was eying). This was also beneficial in keeping Sasha, the mascot, out of sight. The Easter Bunny was there too, but Bella was even more afraid of him. We couldn't capture a picture because Bella was in my arms whenever we were even remotely close.



Bella deposited her egg in the basket every time! Initially she was a bit discriminating when it came to colors, but quickly learned the objective, which was to gather as many as possible as fast as possible. We're ready for the real thing!

"keen it!"

My little helper has been real helpful. The chairs are all "keened." After we repaint the large patio table we'll be ready for guests!

strep, strep, ear

Two weeks ago Bella broke out into a rash that resembled eczema. No one seemed too worried about it, even though she had never had any skin problems in the past. It continued and got itchy so I took her to the doctor to figure it out. Well, it turns out she had strep. It didn't manifest itself in her throat (like adults), but throughout her body, hence the rash. According to our doctor, this is rather common. Six days of amoxicillin wasn't really helping so we returned to the doctor. She confirmed that she still had strep so she got a shot and 5 days of azithromycin. On day 5 of the "z-pak" she complained horribly about her ear. Back to the doctor to confirm an ear infection!

Ugh.

Hopefully the next 10 days of medication clears up everything!

cruising

Dork alert!

Matt's been cruising on a boat in the tropics. Bella loves looking at this picture remarking on Matt's orange outfit (which matches his car...and our babysitter's car). She also likes to say how big his head is too. Hee, hee.

Going Gray

Remember when I had just a few gray hairs? Well, there's a whole lot more now.

About two years ago, I started coloring my hair. At first it was once every 2 months and the colorist just used the stuff that eventually washed out (demi-permanent). Eventually I had to increase the time at the salon and graduated to the permanent dye in order to cover the gray. Medium brown dye turned my hair red so we had to use dark brown. Over the winter, I thought this would be ok and I even received a few compliments on my dark, silky-looking hair; however, as spring began approaching, I just couldn't continue making appointments to apply nearly black color to my hair. I'm not a high-maintenance type and I was not going to let my hair make me that way. I'm also not into goth. The black hair also made my skin look frosty and unhealthy.

About 3 of months ago, I returned to the colorist and explained that I just couldn't cover anymore and that I wanted to go gray. She was on board (as always). She applied high-lights so that when the gray began to show, it wouldn't be as noticeable. At first, this was ok, especially since it was getting warmer outside and we were spending more time in the sun. I returned after 2 months for more blending and more highlights. Here's how it looks today (no flash, no alterations...and chatting on the phone):

(flash on, but no alterations)
(not so bad if you look from the bottom up...and if I combed through my hair a bit to separate the highlights)
I'll admit that it doesn't look good, but it's probably as good as it's going to get until my gray hair grows out.

If anyone has advice about how to get hair to grow faster, please share. I'm committed to keeping the gray (and being low-maintenance). My parents are both gray and I'm just not into fighting nature.