Penguin Park and Bell Family Reunion

Last weekend we had the 1st Annual Bell Family Reunion!  We called it a reunion because we had people come from Utah, Colorado, and Ohio to celebrate Nathan May's high school graduation, so we made a party of it! 

It started out with that Friday meeting Michelle and her kids and Jared and Ann and their kids at Penguin Park for play and lunch.  It had been a while since we had been at Penguin Park...maybe even since before Rex was born!  So the girls had a blast and the old school type toys were the biggest hits...the merry-go round and the monkey arch bars, or whatever you call those! 

Rex is very much into posing for me when he sees my camera. So he is posing underneath the huge giraffe and in the school bus and fire truck!

Then the next day was the big get-together day!  We all met at Famous Dave's Bbq place...hadn't had this in a while, so I was super excited!  I love their corn muffins!!  I tried to get a picture of everyone in the room.  Not sure on the exact count, but it was crazy!  We had two very awesome waitresses who actually got everyone's orders correct!!  I didn't want to attempt to make everyone look at the camera since I knew everyone would be taking pictures later.

This little boy was just making me melt...he was just playing with his cars, but of course posed for me when he saw the camera...silly kid!  I just love him to pieces!

 Then we all headed to a nearby park for the rest of the celebration.  Once again the old school toys were the favorite.  These see-saws were a hit!  Grandpa was a hit with fun under-dogs!  He was super worn out as all the grandkids wanted a turn!

 Then came picture time...I didn't get pictures of everyone but still got quite a few.  All the cousins' kids...we are multiplying like crazy!  However compared to my side of the family...this is nothing!  There are now 16 Bell extended cousins....compared to the 26 Felker cousins (not including my cousins' kids even!)  However, it was still crazy trying to get them all to hold still and look at the camera...crying was expected!  Michelle brought reinforcement with gummy bears...but of course all the big kid cousins thought they needed some too!

 The Bell cousins and their spouses.  What a crazy group!

 The high school graduate Nathan!  He graduated as a valedictorian!  What an accomplishment!

 And this sweet boy once again stole my heart!  I just loved watching him play with his bubbles from Aunt Wilma!  SO CUTE!!

Kindergarten Graduation

This is my attempt at keeping my blog up to date!  This little boy's hero is Daddy!  Anytime he sees a picture of him on the computer or my phone he gets so excited..."Dada!!"  He requests to call him on the phone at work and Rex is so quiet when he talks he usually just sits and listens to Daddy on the other line.  When he comes home he waits very excitedly at the top of the stairs for him.  And the last couple of days he has requested Daddy to put him to bed instead of Mommy...didn't use to be that way!  So the other day when Daddy got home from work Rex joined him on the couch and shared a snack with him and it was the cutest thing.  Nick always has a pop and usually something salty right after work so Rex brought his water bottle and just munched away on the cashews with Nick.  Made us both melt!  I had to get a picture of this sweet moment and of course they both gave me their super cheesy grins! 

 Earlier today Kayley graduated from kindergarten!!  I can't believe we have a 1st grader now!  This year has really flown by!  I still remember the first day and she was so scared that she wanted me to stay a little longer in the classroom with her before I left and she was holding back tears.  I of course shed mine when I left her room that day!  I'm shocked I didn't shed any today during their ceremony but maybe that's because I was juggling the camera and the other two kids between Nick and I!  Her teacher cried a little bit though and it was really sweet.  She really has been a great teacher to all of these kids and Kayley's class really has a great group of kids!  They all got along so well!

 Our little graduate!!  I still can't get over it!

 Some of her friends that were still at school.  A lot of them had already left with their parents.  Kayley wanted to stay as long as she could to school!  I just love this little girl!

 Pictures with Mrs. Kirn!  We went over and originally wanted a picture of Kayley and Mrs. Kirn by themselves but all the kids kept coming that we had to do their picture last.  It was really cute.  It really shows how much Mrs. Kirn cares about these kids and vice versa.  In fact, a sweet moment from today...one little boy decided to stay the rest of the day but then once his mom left he got really sad and missed his mom.  He requested Mrs. Kirn to help console him...so cute and sweet!  I sure hope my next two kids get Mrs. Kirn for kindergarten!!

Mother's Day 2012

This year for Mother's Day was as always very good.  I woke up to "toast" (Nick put in my card, "let's make a toast to you, Mom") in bed and gifts.  Nick got me cotton candy perfume....the store was out of my perfume that I usually use so we have to get it later!  Cora made me some pictures.  And my favorite gift was Kayley's DVD her teacher helped her make.  She put together a slideshow of pictures of her throughout the year put to music and the music was of Kayley singing "You are my sunshine."  Made me tear up a little bit!  Then we went to church (got chocolate from the ward...yum!!), came home and Nick made lunch, got to sort of take a nap (too many kids got up off and on plus my cough!), and then we went on a walk because it was so nice outside!  I got to use my new camera (part of my mother's day gift as well).  Then my Mother's day meal was actually the day after Mother's day...parmesan crusted tilapia, salad, and texas toast!  Yumm!!  Here are some pictures of my very cute subjects during our walk! 

A weekend to remember!!

The beginning of this month started out with a huge bang!  To begin we went to Kayley's art show at her school.  She was so excited to show us not only her art but also for all of us to see everyone else's art.  

 Rex's hair has grown out to be long enough for his second haircut!  We decided to try to do it on our own this time and see how it went.  I had to coach Nick a little but between the both of us we got it cut and he sat SO well!  I was very impressed!

 Garrett turned 2!!  I can't believe he and Rex (soon to be 2) are getting to be this old already!  Time really flies!  I had to first take the Young Women in our ward downtown to their devotional with Kenneth Cope the night before their big cultural celebration program they had all been working on like crazy for the last couple of months!  But then we all went to the Walker's to celebrate Garrett's birthday.  Mike and Nomi were there because their kids were also involved in the celebration.

 Michelle did such a great job on the cake...we were all very impressed as always!!

 What's a party without presents!?!  The big cousins had a blast helping Garrett open his presents!

 The big present was the trampoline..the kids all had a blast jumping!

 Then Michelle's neighborhood garage sale was the next day so we decided to let Ashlyn come and spend the night with us for the night since we would be going back to the Walker's house the next morning.  We pulled out the trundle under the girls bed and they all three slept across two beds.  Kayley kept trying to go to sleep while Cora and Ashlyn stayed awake talking for a long time.  Nick and I went to bed around 11:30 and they were still awake!  Silly girls making some fun memories!!

 Then Saturday night was a night to remember!  First of all to preface this...a week ago I woke up Sunday morning with this strong impression that I needed to get tickets to this event (they were reserved for youth families only and then those that weren't going to go could turn in their tickets for extra people to take them.)  I woke up desiring for my children to have the experience of being in the same room as the Prophet.  So between mine and Nick's ward and Arlaine's ward we were able to get tickets for all of my family, all of Michelle's family, Arlaine, and Andrew's family.  Then a tender mercy that happened...Andrew was supposed to meet us in front of the building to get his tickets.  He had forgotten his phone so we didn't have a way to contact him.  He told the people at the door that his tickets were inside with us so they first let him in...then he had to figure out how to find us in this massive building!  He said he stopped and said a little prayer that he would find us and he ran into Kendall and Preston just barely coming out of the bathroom.  And then we all got to experience this together...our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson come into the room.  What an overwhelming spiritual feeling came over me.  Everyone stood up and sang "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" and I couldn't make it past for the first couple of words and then kept having to hold back the tears.  I talked with my girls after the event and they talked about the feeling they felt when he walked in.  I couldn't have been prouder as a parent when I heard those words from them.

 Then we also got to see our youth and all the other youth perform their dances they had worked tirelessly on for the last couple of months!  Our youth did amazing!  They I think had the most difficult dance and the most elaborate costumes compared to the other groups!  I think they did awesome and it really showed in their faces how proud they were of all the work they had done to get to this point.  And Emily McCulloch made it to the jumbo-tron...that was cool!  And Kenneth Cope even sang for the event...so cool!

The next morning was the temple dedication.  We swapped babysitting with Andrew and Sarah.  They did the 9am session and we did the 12 session.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came with President Monson so we got to listen to him speak as well.  There was a lot said about those who were in attendance for the dedication that maybe we couldn't see.  Of course I immediately thought of my Dad, which I always do in situations like that, but then I turned my thoughts to the early saints that lived in Missouri and went through so much to try and build a temple here that was never finished and then be driven from the state and for all the ridicule they faced before being driven out.  What a special feeling was felt and I know this temple is meant to be at this time.  And of course Kayley still didn't want the temple to be dedicated only because she knew that meant she couldn't walk through the temple open house anymore.  She can't wait until she turns 12 and can go on temple trips with the youth group to do baptisms for the dead.  I on the other hand can wait a while until she turns 12!  Although I know that will be a very special time for her.  And then to end all the temple celebration we got to do a session on the very first day the temple was open on that Tuesday.  Our Stake is in charge of cleaning the temple for the month of May so our ward's day was on the first Tuesday.  We did a session and what a special experience it was to do a session with all the great people from our ward and then to be privileged to clean the temple afterwards.  We are truly a blessed people in this area and it is still surreal to me that the Lord has blessed us with a temple so close!

April Events

April was a wonderful month for us!  We were super busy with our new temple open house going on and other things.  Here is what went on in the Bell household this month!  

Rex was just as cute as ever of course.  I found him in Einstein's kennel one day just playing and enjoying himself, not once making a face for the awful stink that accompanies Einstein's kennel.  This month we also got to visit with my side of the family.  Mary came for a whole week to spend her spring break with us.  When she was here the girls painted with her and soaked up any teaching from her they could get (she's an art major!) Rex joined along (top left) and was just as happy as can be painting with his water.  Then Grandma Jani came up to go to Kayley's grandparents day at school.  Jani got to eat breakfast with Kayley and get a tour of her school and classroom.  It was really special for Kayley.  The bottom right picture is of Rex and Ruby going for a walk with Jani, Mary, and the Felkers. 

 As mentioned earlier my side of the family came up for the Open House for the new Kansas City Temple.  They came up over Easter weekend.  Both the Sanders and the Farmington Felker kids were not aware that May May was here so she decided to surprise them when they got to our house.  This was the first time the Sanders had seen our house so I took them on a tour of the house and had Mary jump out of my closet.  The Felker kids were a bit trickier as they've been to our house a number of times.  So we had Mary hide on top of the refrigerator.  It took them a while to actually go into the kitchen, so Edward suggested the kids go into the kitchen to get something to drink since they had been traveling for a while.  They finally saw her but she had covered her face and they couldn't figure out who she was.  They finally figured it out and of course they were all excited to see her and Mary of course was the life of the party for the kids both old and young.  They were all very sad to see her go.

 Here are some pictures of our gathering fun...(top left) Ruby was constantly trying on everyone's shoes...and there were many shoes there for her to try on because there were so many people there, 27 to be exact!  (top right) there was so much fun going on that kids really didn't get much sleep.  Lauren fell asleep literally in the middle of the living room.  Take note of her legs in other pictures...the kids were being very rambunctious around her and she slept through it all!  (bottom left and right) Edward was the target of fun for Cora, Mallory, and Rex for a while and of course was a good sport about it.

 (top left and bottom right) Rex got in on the action of tackling sweet Mallory!  I guess maybe Lucy saw this and decided to try and get reactions from Rex.  This whole weekend Rex avoided Lucy at all costs!  Lucy would go up to Rex and just grab him and scream really loud which would scare the crud out of Rex and he would cry historically and come to us to be comforted...only to turn around to Lucy who would come up to him and rinse and repeat.  It got to where Rex would be running into the room and see Lucy and would immediately run the other way!  Then even at church later that weekend she would just look towards him from the aisle in front of us and he would start hiding his face in our legs.  I couldn't bring myself to videotape it but I really wish I would have as it was really cute/sad all in one.  (top right and bottom left) Mallory entertained us with her elasticity!  That girl can bend in any shape or form!

Here are pictures of my sweet children!  They absolutely LOVED the Temple Open House!  At the beginning of the tour they give out pamphlets of the temple.  As we were walking room to room Kayley would open her pamphlet to the room we were standing in as she listened to the tour guide and follow along in her pamphlet.  Rex wore his booties throughout the whole tour, which surprised me as I thought he'd kick them off immediately.  They were so big on him because of course they were one size fits all and they were absolutely adorable but of course I didn't get a picture.  As soon as we were finished with the tour the kids wanted to go back through.  I explained to them about how it would be dedicated soon by the Prophet and then they would have to be 12 to go through again to do baptisms as a youth.  Kayley immediately said, "can we go as many times as possible to the temple before it's dedicated!"  And then when the dedication came closer she would say she didn't want it to be dedicated because that meant that they couldn't walk through it again.  We did get to go two more times.  Once in hopes of going with Cora's teacher but she wasn't able to make it after all.  Then a third time with one of my friends and her husband and little girl.  That was a lot of fun to of course go through the temple again with the kids and then to be able to catch up with my friend Erica and her sweet family.  

I just love Rex's cheesy grin...it's in every picture of course!

More pics of these sweet kiddos!  They had so much fun!

Family pics in front of our amazing Kansas City Temple!!

Ok...so these pictures need a preface of there are 26 grandkids on my side of the family.  We took 16 of those 26 on the tour!  We were our own tour group in case you were wondering!!   So we had to try to get a picture of all of them in front of the temple....quite the task to get them all looking and smiling!  We got close!  But of course we had to do a silly picture.  Some of the pictures have a mix of silly faces and smiling faces!!  Crazy cousins!

Then Easter morning was shared with us and the Farmington Felker family, which was fun and different! When the Easter Bunny comes to our house he hides the kids Easter basket, which was new to the Felker kids.  So it was fun to watch all the kids find their baskets...the Easter Bunny had to work really hard to hide all 8 baskets and not to double the hiding spots!  The kids had a blast eating candy for breakfast!  But what are Easter morning and Christmas mornings for!?! 

 Then that afternoon we had even more people at our house...a total of 34 people!!  But I have to admit that I wouldn't have had it any other way!  The older cousins were the ones in charge of hiding the Easter eggs for the little kids and memories of when I was a kid and having Easter egg hunts at Grandma and Grandpa Sargent came flooding back to me!  Sometimes I have to sit back and realize that I'm a parent to such wonderful children and I'm hopefully assisting in making such memories for them with their cousins.    My cousins were some of my best friends as a kid and I absolutely love that we live so close to so many of my siblings and Nick's siblings so that all of our kids can grow up and have these memories!

Here are some more pictures from this month's festivities.  (top left) Cora tried on some make-up with our neighbor.  (bottom left) Rex is ready for summer and wanted to try on his goggles for swimming.  (middle) Rex playing "Dead man, dead man" on the trampoline with the girls.  A game where you close your eyes and run around the trampoline trying to tag someone to be the next one it.  Rex was so stinking cute playing this!  (top right) Sarah so graciously came over to my house after everyone left to help me clean it...isn't she amazing?  It was actually a pretty hot day so we got the sprinkler out and put it under the trampoline for Kayley, Audrey, Cora, and Lauren to play.  They had a blast!  (bottom right) Sterling caught a frog when all the cousins were here and it was quite the hit! 

This month our neighborhood had their neighborhood garage sales.  The girls were so excited to join me. In fact Cora would say to everyone that week before that she was going to go to some garage sales on Saturday.  So we left the boys at home and we did some girl shopping together that morning.  Then the left picture is of Cora's celebration of learning for school.  My camera was not acting very well so I didn't get very many pictures that turned out.  She is in the middle next to her friend Katie.  She sang so loud and did so good.  She has loved every minute of school this year and has grown leaps and bounds!

 And who doesn't like Chick-fil-a milkshakes!?!?  Rex was loving his this day and making some funny faces!  Isn't he cute!?!

Rex loves babies

So I know I'm way behind on my posts....catch-up posts to follow.  I wanted to write this down as it was so cute I didn't want to forget it.  Yesterday at church the kids were fighting as they do often, but what group of siblings don't fight over their toys during church?  Nick was trying to calm Rex down and started distracting him with a new baby in our ward that was sitting only a couple of pews in front of us.  He told him, "that baby is watching you" and he would stop fussing about whatever he was fussing about.  Then later in sacrament he would fuss again and again Nick would just have to say, "that baby is watching you" and even in mid-cry he would stop and pay attention to the baby.  Needless to say he loves babies and always had naturally just as Cora did as a baby and even now.  Then towards the end of sacrament meeting Nick had him sit on his lap so he could get a good view of the baby and Rex kept patting each of us to get our attention to make sure we knew there was a baby up front so he would point to the baby.  So after sacrament meeting was over I took him up to go see the sweet baby.  He was so excited!  So, thanks baby Brielle for helping us keep Rex calm during sacrament.  We are going to have to sit by them every Sunday now!

March Events

March was a fun month for us.  It's always fun to see all the new things the kids get to experience or do.  Here are some pictures from our month.  Below the girls were supposed to just rest quietly in their beds during nap time and apparently they were more tired than they thought and they fell asleep.  And then on the bottom left I just can resist this cute boy in the corner.  I believe in this one he wasn't listening and refused to fold his arms and join us for family prayer.  The bottom right is of Rex on the Sunday before his first big boy haircut.  I had to get a picture of his cute curls and usually they look best on Sunday's because he's recently had a bath! 

 These pictures are in no particular order, just the month of March.  The top left and bottom right are from one day when Rex was thoroughly enjoying his macaroni and cheese.  He was licking the plate and then he noticed I was taking his picture and he had to do his cute cheesy face.  The top right was of Rex pretending to be sick with his sister, Kayley.  Kayley had a horrible fever during this month and it lasted for at least a week.  It got so high on a Sunday night (Kayley is actually on the other end of the couch but didn't want her picture taken.) but it was so high that night that Nick had to give her a blessing and she actually requested him to give her one, which doesn't happen very often because I think she gets embarrassed receiving priesthood blessings.  But what a blessing it was for Nick to be able to give her a blessing.  She eventually did get better, but it was a long road.  Then the bottom left, Cora actually taught herself how to tie her shoes all by herself!!  Kayley said she coached her a little bit but the funny thing is that Cora taught herself how to do it a completely different way than Kayley knows.  I was very impressed as Kayley only figured out how to tie her shoes about 3 months or so before this.

 The two pictures on the left are of Rex on my birthday this month.  Nick and the kids picked up an iPad for me for my birthday while I was at the movies with Michelle.  They used a ton of packing peanuts so they could trick me by wrapping it in a huge box.  Kayley even had me to do a scavenger hunt to find my package.  She did the hunt all by herself it was really cute.  The middle picture is of Rex to send to the Felker's...they are huge fans of Florida Gators.  The two right pictures are of Rex when he decided to finish off his sister's breakfast after we dropped her off at school.  Every morning he and Kayley eat breakfast together while watching Mickey Mouse.  He gets so excited to eat with her it's cute.

 Rex's new love has become Choo-choo's...really any kind.  The top left and bottom right is of him at the library..we had found a Thomas the train book and he immediately sat down and began looking through the book.  The top right and bottom left are just of Rex outside riding bikes with the girls.  This is one of the girls favorite things to do after school to ride their bikes in the driveway.

 Then in the middle of this month I finally got the gumption to get Rex his first haircut.  I took a picture of him beforehand (bottom left) and then afterwards on the bottom right was of him after his haircut.  And then we got home he started posing left and right for the camera.  Doesn't he look handsome?!?!  I admit I teared up a little bit when the curls started to get buzzed off but then when all was said and done, he just looked so darn cute to me!

 Preston's birthday was also this month.  He had a party at the park (top right of Rex at the park party) and then a party on St. Patrick's Day.  Rex really enjoyed his cake (top left).  The middle is of Garrett, Cora, Kayley and Rex enjoying cheese balls on their deck.  And the bottom picture is of Cora who was wiped out after coming home from the Walker's house.  I woke her up when we got home and took her out of her carseat.  She headed upstairs to go to bed, but fell asleep before she even got into her bed.  It was a fun night!

 Then Kayley got to go on her first field trip for kindergarten.  She had a field trip last year for preschool, but ended up getting sick the day of the field trip so she couldn't go.  She was so excited but also so nervous because it was her first one.  I got to be a parent helper so she was excited I got to go with her.  The kids had a blast and I was super impressed with how well her class behaved and listened to their teacher.  Kayley really has a great teacher this year and it shows with how well the kids listen and enjoy her.

 Here are some pictures of her doing some crafts.  She absolutely loves kaleidoscope because she loves crafts so much!  The top picture she is writing a card that says something about she loves her Mom and that I got to come with her (made me melt!) and then the bottom right is of her and one of her really good friends, Kennedy in her class.  They really get along really well.

 Then with Easter around the corner we headed to Bass Pro for their annual Easter Egg Hunt.  Rex got into it more this year than he did last year.  It was really cute to see him get so excited to pick up an egg.  The eggs were hidden in the hunting department which was great for Nick who got to browse around while the kids hunted.

 Then of course we had to do the Easter Bunny pictures.  As you can tell, Rex didn't like the Easter Bunny too much, but we eventually got him to sit and smile.  Kayley sat with him this year which was a plus because last year she refused to sit with the Easter Bunny for some reason and it really bugged me.  And the middle picture is a horrible picture because it was from my phone but they also had a mechanical bull at Bass Pro this year.  All three kids rode it, even Rex.  I didn't get pictures of the girls riding it because I was video taping them but they all three did great and were so brave.

 This is of the three of them sitting on a horse prior to waiting in line for the mechanical bull.  It was a really fun day for all of us!  This is why Cora loves Bass Pro and of course we all know that Nick loves it!