New Things!!

I am now updating from our new apartment! We had a successful move (thank you so much to everyone who helped out, we couldn't have done it without you all) and are now almost all settled in.

I have started watching Joy (a friend of ours) part-time during the week and it is going so well. It's a little bit more challenging with two babies, but I feel like it's preparing me for when we have another little one. Also, I'm learning that I'm not ready to have another little one of our own quite yet! I'm enjoying too much getting to be with Isabella all the time!! I am also realizing that when we do have another child, Bella is going to have a hard time not being the baby anymore. All things I'm not ready to get into yet!

Adam has started his new job teaching at the local christian school in West Salem and he absolutely loves it. This job is satisfying and fun all at the same time. He just found at that next week he gets to take Monday-Thursday and be a chaperone for the high school retreat at Living Waters Bible Camp (near Westby). What a perfect job, we couldn't have asked for anything better!
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And now on to the light of our lives...Bella!! This beautiful little girl is going to be 1 year old in less than 2 weeks. I can't quite believe where all the time has gone, and yet it feels like I've known her forever. All of the things that she has learned and is continually learning never ceases to amaze me. She has gone from sleeping and pooping to saying, "Da Da", "Ma Ma" and almost walking. It is almost unbelievable!! She is such a bundle of energy and joy and we love it so much.


We are going to be heading to Mukwonago this coming weekend for a family picnic and also a birthday celebration! We are really looking forward to getting to see everyone again. So, if you're around that area we would love to see you! Or, if you are around the La Crosse area: we are going to have cake and ice cream after church on Sunday the 27th. So...if you are around this area please come and hangout with us to celebrate the birthday and play (the more kids the better for Bella!!). Just give me a call/email/comment and let me know if you're planning on coming and then we'll have enough cake and ice cream! We really hope we can see you all sometime soon!

Okay, on to the lovely pictures. There's quite a few, so be prepared!

This was Bella's last bath in our first house together as a family. I had to get a picture of that hair!

This picture is for a couple of reasons: playing in our new house, and a new clip in her hair. Her hair is finally long enough to put a clip in and I think it's the cutest thing ever! But...what makes this picture great is the face that I caught her making, she is becoming quite the little ham!!

Crawling around on the stairs at the new place (she loves going up and down them).

Bella's first lunch at our new apartment. Also, she got to eat out of a bowl. I've been trying to teach her how to eat out of a bowl, but usually I end up cleaning up more of a mess than it's worth!

This is Joy (the little one I watch) and Bella playing. Bella loves to be all over Joy, she thinks it's great having friends over to play all the time!

Last Sunday we went with some friends of ours for a drive to a little town on the river called Nelson. They have an amazing creamery/ice cream shop there. It was really fun (the car ride was long and loud), but so much fun! The lady scooping up the ice cream gave Bella her own mini chocolate cone...although it was cold (picture #1) she loved it!

These were the beautiful flowers around the creamery and I wanted to get some pictures of Bella, but she did not cooperate as you can see. These were the best I got! Here she is with Kalista, our friends daughter.

In this picture Kali was trying to help her pose, but it didn't work. Oh, well...I'm learning that some battles are better left unfought.

Chillin' on the couch one afternoon!! (cute pose and outfit)

Walking around the living room with one of her awesome walker toys!!

And now pictures of the houses! This is a tribute to our first apartment together. Adam and I lived here for over 2 years. We had the top level and our landlord lived on the bottom. We loved it, but it was time to move on now that we have a little one!

And now here's pictures of our new place! We love it so much and Bella seems much happier because we can put things away (we didn't have closets in our first apartment) and we don't have to tell her "no" as often! This may be a lot of pictures, but I wanted to show everyone what it looks like.

This picture is looking into the kitchen from the back door.

This is the kitchen from the other side.

Here I'm standing by the stairs in the living room (also by the front door).

Standing by the kitchen looking into the living room.

Adam took this lovely picture of the stairs!

A couple of pictures of Bella's room. She has found out how to open the draws and pull everything out, she thinks it's great fun. (she doesn't have to clean up the mess!)

Our bathroom. So much bigger than at our old apartment!

And our bedroom. I haven't gotten around to putting pictures on the walls upstairs yet, so it's kind of boring. Hopefully it won't take me too much longer!

And this is our basement. We use it for an office/guest room. and then I'm going to make a little curtain that seperates the room from the storage/laundry area in the back. I'm really excited to finish up this space!

So...that's it. We love it, and couldn't have asked for better! Hope you are all well and hopefully we'll get to see you all sometime soon!