Not quite fully coordinated, but this is what she wanted to wear (including her silver shoes) I wasn't about to argue or make any other fashion suggestions.
A little slow to warm up to the festivities of the morning, Mr. Roy guided Bella through the routine leading the whole class around the court yard staying in step with the music interrupted only with the occasional "Ye Haw!"
After the "parade" around the courtyard, Bella was back to her usual smiling self and danced with her friend Kate.
Last weekend was our first beach outing for the year. In order to make things interesting, we drove down to Galveston to meet Laura's brother John and Bella's cousin Jack and took the ferry across the inlet to the Bolivar Peninsula. We could have easily driven East on I-10 and then down South to High Island, but taking the ferry would be more fun: timewise, its about the same either way. Since Hurricane Ike two years ago, Crystal Beach is a clean windswept beach without a lot to look at other than a few scattered houses and the beach grass like the barrier beaches back up North.
One of the first orders of business was to clean up our immediate area to make it safe for bare feet and paws. There is plenty of small nails and pieces of glass from the many houses that were swept away in the great storm surge that accompanied Hurricane Ike. Penny and Bella spent a lot of time exploring the area surrounding our small camp; here, Bella is insisting that Penny come along with her.
In a great contrast from her "sand hater" phase nearly a year ago in Australia, Bella has no problem running bare-foot in the sand, and in fact, spent a lot of time laying in it and running her hands through it. She even made a "sand angel" in one of her rolls.
Uncle John cam every well prepared for the outing. He set up a sun shelter with table, chairs, grill, and even a large blanket to serve as a rug for our little camp. He even brought a few small kites for Bella and Jack: the wind was perfect for most of the morning for kite flying.
Bella though this was great fun emulating Uncle John, but soon lost interest and started to look around for what to do next.
To really get her camping skills in tune with her current potty training, we fabricated a small camp potty for her using a piece of driftwood, a small piece of styrofoam, and of course the sand. She caught on rather quickly learning the whole concept of balancing on a small board while hanging over a small hole. 
Just like potty training at home, Bella makes sure that she gets it all in the right place and that we know about it.
Mission accomplished, back to more fun in the sand..
On her birthday morning, we snuggled in bed and opened a big package from her grandparents. She had to put on a pair of her new socks and shoes over her pajamas! ...her hat too! Then it was off to school for a birthday celebration! (Pictures are coming.) It was reported that it was a big day!
Later we celebrated with an effent card...
...and dinner at Lupe Torilla's (thanks to Uncle John for bringing entertainment!). This was also the place of our first public toilet success. It was quite funny because there was another mother with her slightly older kids, one of which opened the door while she was pottying. Bella and I saw it all, which really just encouraged Bella to be like everyone else and tinkle on the potty.
...then cupcakes for everyone!
Bella received a tricycle for her birthday from her other grandparents earlier this winter...
...while they got a really great snow shovel! Ha!
...we celebrated by getting outside in the gorgeous Houston winter weather! Matt loves trains, always has, always will...so we rode the train at Hermann Park. It was quite enjoyable!
...and then we were on to feeding the ducks. Bella enjoyed it, but needs to work on her arm. It may look like she has good form, but in actuality none of the pieces of bread were thrown where she intended.
Here Bella is with the skinny ducks. They weren't as interested in the bread as the fat and loud ducks, but they were just as fun.
Matt and Bella flew to North Carolina to visit Grandpa Joe and Grandma Carol (Tutu). I'll let Matt update this post with details. I know that they had a fabulous time and Bella was a champ flying for her last time as a lap child.
Obviously, daddy is projecting a bit.
It took while for me to figure this out, but when the space heater is on it helps to get things flowing. Drops in the potty were good, but puddles in the potty were great!
Look at this success!!! Wahoo! She's mastered the concept! We're now trying to generalize the skill. We'll see how it goes.
Someone is about to turn a year older! His birthday dinner request is MEAT, anything with lots of meat. Pictures of the meatfest to follow.
