Bring on the cake, cookies and all manner of chocolate items. It’s my birthday! I really LOVE my birthday!! So far we’ve had breakfast, Nicholas took a nap and I layed on the bed with the cat until he woke up. Then we cleaned the kitchen and Nick ate some peas. Bella will be home from school shortly then we’re off to the mall for my “secret” of Bella’s (There’s a genetic love of Great American Cookie Company.) I’m hoping to see a movie tonight and then it’ll all be over. Alas, another year has flown by. But hey, on Sunday starts Isabella’s birthday week. I’ll try and post tonight with pics from the day (took a few self portraits) and then on Saturday I’ll try and email out Bella’s birthday week plan for those of you who would like to join us on our adventure!

I’m 32 today!! Yay!!

Yay! Two more days. AND it’s the last week of summer camp for Bells. And unfortunately that also means it’s the last week of having Allison over in the mornings to help with Nicholas. As crazy as this summer was, and as busy as it’s been, I’m still sad to see it go. Now if the heat would just die down a bit and become tolerable outside during the day. I still have to plan my birthday day out!

On the other side of life, Kiki is having another girl! Yay! I am so excited. That means I get to buy baby girl clothes again. And Nicholas is sandwiched right between the youngest two Abcarian girls, so he’s gonna be one lucky fella. He loves Laney and Gracie so a third fun girl should just make his day.

That’s right. It’s Saturday and there are only 4 days until my birthday. Am I excited? Heck, yeah! Do I have any planning done for Bella’s birthday? Let’s just say it’s a work in progress. I still need to figure out what to do with the preschool part of her friends. I took them all to Carvel last year. I feel bad for Carvel!! I was thinking I would take them all to the movies at the dollar theatre for Ice Age 2. I need ideas!

Well, that’s all for now. Except have I mentioned lately how shocked I am at how quickly Isabella has grown. My baby!!

Speaking of growing fast, Nicholas pulled himself all the way up to standing in his crib today. He’s been doing it outside of the crib but this is the first time we’ve walked into his room and he’s standing waiting for us. They both are just getting bigger every day.

Woo Hoo! It’s my favorite time of year again! Birthday time. As everyone in the western hemisphere knows, I absolutely adore my birthday… and everyone else’s too. You’d think I’d do more for it but with Isabella’s birthday week starting a mere 4 days after my day of birth, it’s just not feasible. I have, however, received my first birthday week gift! Yes, I have a new cable for my video IPOD. So, when I finally get all of Farscape downloaded I’ll be sittin’ hunky dory, trying to find time to fit it into the life. I sure do love my SciFi. Only 7 more days until I’m 32! Yay!

Nicholas now has 3 teeth and is working hard on his fourth. After a weekend of non-sleep and really cranky baby, my poor boy got fed up with the darn thing hurting and used his bottom teeth to cut through the top gum until he got that tooth through. Now he grinds his teeth and it drives me bonkers. What an awful sound!! I’m waiting for him to start in on the other side. He is also now pulling himself up on his toys and then scooting himself around them. So he’s in the early stages of cruising. He’s fond of doing baby yoga where he holds himself up for hours (seems like) on end on his tiptoes and hands. He finds it all very amusing. He’s very vocal these days but in a surprisingly boy fashion. I remember when Bella would babble with all her consonants. Nick - not so much. He likes to gesture and yell. Point and grunt. Very caveman. Very boy. Alli said I should post more of the names we call him around the house. So what’s left. Hmmm. There’s Droolio - short for Senor Droolio de la Pee Pee Pants. There’s Wee Little Stinker. Mama’s little Skitter Crab (he moves fast!), Handsome Fella. Hmm. There’s more. I’m sure Alli will remind me when she gets back from the beach!!

Isabella is almost done with Summer Camp. She’s brought home several plants that our kitchen is now graced with and is having a good time. I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do for her school birthday party yet. I really need to get on that PRONTO. Any ideas are gladly appreciated. She’s spelling more and more words and working through reading. She now has a bunch of words she knows on sight because of seeing them so often and the kid can spot a Publix or Home Depot truck a mile away. She’s very into Barbie, My Little Pony, Care Bears and all the other girly fun stuff from my own childhood. I put a wish list for her up on Amazon and add things when she says “Can we put THAT on my birthday list?” So if you’re stumped for a gift for her, there’s some stuff up there. Not a lot mind you. If I had that much time I’d have this site a little more updated.

So. There’s more I’m sure, but I’d really like to get some sleep tonight

Last week, we had a blast swimming at Nala and Papa’s. The girls thought it was great fun to swim with Papa. He does a mean cannonball. Isabella’s swim lessons are coming right up. On her own she is now swimming and getting her head above water to catch a breath then ducking back under to swim again.

On Saturday, we had a wonderful family day at the museum and park with the Sampsons. Isabella only scared me once when she grabbed a hold of a beautiful (and extraordinarily expensive) piece of artwork. We listened to stories and played musical instruments and had a great time at the Eric Carle exhibit. Bella even made her very own “Very Hungry Caterpillar.” Afterwards we headed out to the park to have a picnic. Bella played her heart out while poor Finn was crashed out in the stroller. He was SO tired. Nicholas mooched off everyones plate (the boy REALLY likes food) and showed off his two new bottom teeth. Our little sharptooth has figured out that those new little nubs can grab onto things and is practicing his biting (luckily not on us, but those toys are taking a chewing.)

Sunday we took the kids to the Care Bears show at Bob Carr. We had front row, center seats and I don’t believe Isabella stopped smiling the entire show. It was cute as can be and Bella got her requisite cotton candy. Nicholas was busy flirting with the little girl behind us who thought he was just so cute. He would turn around really fast when the bears started dancing and singing. I wonder what was going through his head at that?

We had a wonderful Independence day at Casa Bella. I don’t believe Isabella was out of the pool the whole day. By the end of the day she was exhausted beyond all recognition. She didn’t even stay awake long enough to see the fireworks. Granny and Grandpa came over to join in the festivities as we all sat around the pool and ate bratwurst and other picnic food and Bella swam. Nala and Papa were down for 3 whole days (of which Isabella had sleep overs at their house every night.) They got more of Isabella’s room finished and it was ready for us to crash in.

Both Isabella and Nicholas fell fast asleep before the fireworks. Nick woke up a little while later but Isabella was in slumber land all the way until the morning. She had such a great time staying with her grandparents. Heck, they have waffles and a pool, what more could a little girl need?

Nicholas was able to show off his new found crawling abilities to all the grandparents. He has gotten so fast, so quick. I had to chase him down today because he was going out on the porch with Bella. I’m not ready for him to handle a step, so that had to be thwarted. When he wants something, he’s just off like a little racecar. It’s adorable. And he’s just plum pleased as pudding with himself. I am going to post some video up. I like putting the YouTube videos on the postings page. That’s kind of fun.

Our little man is growing by leaps and bounds. He should be with the amount of food he likes to consume. He’s so funny. In the mornings, Isabella and I will eat our cereal and he’ll sit there grabbing Gerber Stars or Cheerios shoving them into his mouth happy as a little clam. He’s partial to orange veggies and I believe his nose is starting to turn a bit orange because of it. I’ll try feeding him peas and green beans for a while and see if that calms down a bit. You’ll notice the orange nose in the photos of him in his cute surfer shirt. Since he’s been growing so much I’ve had to move him up to 6-9 month clothes. He’s still thin around the middle but very tall. That’s my boy. I’ve taken to dressing him in button down shirts. The one I got him yesterday has surfboards across it and he is just hot stuff. As many of you know that’s one of my favorite nicknames for him. Hot Stuff, Sweet Prince, Mama’s Boy, Little Jumparoo. He’s got a bunch of them and he’s earned every one.

July photos are up and additions were made to June including a whole bunch of video. I keep debating whether or not I should separate the video out into a separate folder. Tim is of the opinion that most people don’t look through all the photos (because really there are a HUGE number, I know. I took them!) The shocking part should be the fact that I don’t actually post all the photos. Tim got our YouTube file to work on the site so I linked it below. As he said today “That’s old news.” He’s crawling increasingly faster every day. Don’t take your eyes off him, he’s outta here.