June Events

Another month has come and gone in the Bell household.  Here is what we did...

Our newest Bell cousin was born back in May so in June we got to go meet her and attend her blessing.  McKinley is such a cute little girl and my kids absolutely loved being able to love and snuggle on her...even Rex!!  He loved her so much and definitely got his baby fix in.  Surprisingly this time around Kayley was the one that wanted to hold McKinley more than Cora.  Typically it is Cora who can't take her hands or eyes off of a new baby.  Kayley really just loved holding McKinley and got upset when her turn was over. 

  Cousin fun....anytime we have a family get together on either side...I just love that my kids love and get so excited to play with their cousins!  I love that they are all such good friends with one another.  My girls always refer to any of their cousins as their "friends", not their cousins.

 Part of the cousin fun involved swimming at Kyle's parent's neighborhood pool.  The cousins loved being able to swim with each other and show each other their tricks.  And of course we had to take advantage of the cousins having matching suits so Ashlyn, Cora, Alexa, and Kayley all wore their matching suits and of course they had to take a picture and include cute little Addison!

 Who can't love on this beautiful new little cousin of ours!?!?  Isn't she just so cute!?  She seems to be a very well-natured baby and of course was just a doll in her blessing outfit!  Isn't this a good looking family?!?

 And we also bought Worlds of Fun/Oceans of Fun season passes this year.  Our family has a tradition of buying season passes every other year to Silver Dollar City.  Every off year, us and the Walkers always debate buying WOF/OOF passes because it is so close.  This year we finally broke down and bought them.  And luckily we did this year because next year Kayley will be tall enough to be considered full price!  Yikes!!  So here are some pictures of our first time at Worlds of Fun.  The train was of course the highlight for Rex and Garrett...these boys both absolutely love everything there is about trains!  It was cute watching their faces.

 Rex and Garrett were also old enough to ride a lot of the rides with the bigger kids.  It was really cute watching them stand in line with their older siblings and to see their excitement as they rode the rides.  The older kids were such big helpers too.

 More fun on rides!

  Rex and Garrett were so cute on these boats.  It was almost time for the park to close so they were the only ones who were riding at the time and they kept taking turns trying to ring the bell.

 We joined the Walkers for one of Liberty's Nursery's fun day activity.  Each of the kids got to plant a plant and we all got yummy slushies.  Preston and Cora with their plants.  Sadly the plants didn't survive long, especially because of all the heat we've been having.

 Ashlyn and Kayley with their plants.  Notice that all four of them have their matching name shirts that they made a long time ago together.  After this event we went to dinner and to the drive inn movie so we had our kids ready in their PJ's for the late night and they had to all match!

 And the drive-inn....it's not summer unless you go to the drive-inn!  Michelle and Kendall put their giant bean bag in the back of their van and the kids had a blast watching the movie and snacking on popcorn and pop together.  Garrett had a little too much fun with the glow sticks...one popped open in his mouth so we had to get a picture before we cleaned him off!

 This year for Father's Day we surprised Nick with breakfast in bed which consisted of a bacon bouquet of flowers!  He thought it was the cutest idea.  When we were picking out the fake flowers at the store, both Kayley and Cora said, why are you getting those for Daddy, he didn't get any for you?  I then told them what I was going to do with the bacon in making them be the flowers and Kayley said, "Mom that is a really good idea, you are good!"  The kids did a video about questions about Dad and had fun making it and showing it to him.  Then that night we went to Michelle and Kendall's house to do father's day with Randy.  We did a game on how well do you know your Dad/child.  The kids and adults had a blast testing their knowledge of each other.

 Then the next day after Father's day we found out some really saddening news.  Our nephew Judson had an accident.  He was experimenting with what is called "the choking game".  He was by himself and got caught up, literally, became unconscious and was put into ICU for a week.  Long story short, he passed away on the 24th of June because his brain was showing no brain activity.  So the rest of the month of June was spent with family surrounding us whether here at home or in Sikeston.  We will miss Judson but we know he is in a better place and we know that families are forever and that we will be with Judson again someday when we all pass away.  What a special blessing it is to know this.  It doesn't take the hurt away but it helps to understand it.  Judson was loved dearly by all.  He was my buddy when he was younger.  He proposed to me when he was about 2 and Nick had to ask his permission to marry me.  My girls absolutely adored Judson when they lived close to us in Blue Springs.  He definitely had a gift of making everyone around him feel special and we witnessed this often when he played with my girls.  The girls now have many printed pictures of him in their family photo books and Kayley even has a locket with his picture in it that she wears almost everyday now.  He will be deeply missed.  Words cannot express our loss.  We love you Judson and can't wait to see you again!

 Our Rex turned 2 this month.  Since we were going to be out of town for his actual birthday, we had a birthday party for him before we left a week before his actual birthday.  He got lots of Thomas the Train items...told you he likes trains!  He loved his Thomas cake, only because it had a Thomas on it that he eagerly pulled off the second we let him.

 The party was lots of fun and he of course had lots of helpers to help him open his presents and blow out his candles!