Life in La Crosse

Well, it's been a couple of weeks and I feel like so much has happened. All of the things that we were uncertain about have now worked out and we are all set for the fall! I know I mentioned in the last update that we had gotten a townhouse, but now we have signed the papers and it is final. We will be moving in September 1st (hopefully a little earlier if we can). Our new place is closer to downtown, a little bigger, and also safer for Isabella as she will soon be walking around! We are both really thankful and excited to move!

I think I've said this before too, but Adam will be teaching PE at a school in the area starting this year. It will be a perfect fit for him. Sometime this week we are going to go into the school and start to get his office ready. I get to help him decorate and make it look nice, so that will be fun! I suggested painting the walls pink, but I don't think that will happen!! :)

And the last thing that has happened is Ihave finally decided that I will for sure be watching some other children in the fall. This will be nice for me (I won't have to work at Grizzly's anymore) and also for Bella because she LOVES having friends over to play with. She is entertained for hours by other kids. She loves giving other kids hugs, we're still working on learning to be gentle, but that will come!

So...right now for us it's the calm before the storm of everything happening at the end of August. All of these changes will be in one week, so we'll be preparing as best we can, but it will for sure be a busy week!

Adam's brother Ethan is coming to stay with us this weekend and we're both really excited about that, so the next post will have some great pictures of Bella and her Uncle Ethan!

Okay...enough of all this...on to the pictures!

Like I said, Bella loves hugging other kids. We watched Eli for a little while one day and Bella loved giving him hugs! (sometimes she'll even give Eli kisses or just eat his nose)

We had a rummage sale two weeks ago and it was such a great day. It was overcast and not too hot, so Bella got to be outside with us all morning! She had a blast playing with all the stuff we were selling and seeing all the people. These baskets were from when I was a little girl. My brother Jon used to always put me in them and leave me there. I hated it, but Bella seemed to enjoy playing in them!

I was eating brocolli one afternoon and Bella wanted a piece so I gave her a small one to try and she did pretty well. She would crawl around with it sticking out of her mouth, she kind of looked like a little dog with a bone in it's mouth! I just thought this picture was funny!

She is completely into pulling her books off her shelf and opening and closing them. She also loves turning the pages, we don't really get to read her stories anymore because all she wants to do is turn the pages!

This picture is mostly for Grandma Peggy!! I just thought this was a cute picture of her feet!

Bella also has become very daring. She crawls and climbs anywhere she can. This picture is her playing in the living room. And the next one is her 'perched' on the foot stool in her room! When she was crawling on the stool, she even got herself down no problem. She's getting to be such a big girl!

I don't know how it happened, but sooner than I think this little one will be a year old! We'll keep you all posted on plans for a little party/get together! Hope all is well with everyone and we love you all!

So Big

It's been almost a month since I last made a post...so I've got lots of pictures and a new video that I just took today.

We are all doing well. Adam got a job teaching PE at Coulee Region Christian School in West Salem. He is very excited for it, and I am so happy for him to. So, that means we will be staying in La Crosse! We are going to be moving into a different apartment though. We want to find one on a lower level and also one that's a little safer for Bella once she starts walking. (which we think might be sooner than later!) Actually, as I'm typing we just found out that we were approved for a townhouse closer to downtown! Exciting!!!

Since I already get to stay home with Bella, I am going to start watching a couple of other kids during the day too. Bella would LOVE it, and it would be nice for me too! If I do this I wouldn't even have to work at Grizzly's anymore. I do like it there, but it would be nice to get to stay home too!

So, here are all the pictures!

These pictures are from two weekends ago. We went to Madison to visit our nephew for his 1st birthday and also got to see the rest of the family! We had such a great time. This is Bella and Oliver trying to get the camera.

Grandma Kathy has the grandkids totally into the book she's reading! Nice work grandma!

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that when entertaining babies nothing holds their attention for very long!

This is Grandma helping Bella clap her hands. Since this photo she has gotten so good at clapping and even loves to clap our hands for us!

Bella got to spend some quality time with all four of the Zastrow men!! Here's Uncle Ethan.

Some time with Grandpa!!

Of course Daddy! (she was making such silly faces for the camera that day!)

And Uncle Ben too!

Here's one of those silly faces I was talking about.

At home in the morning while I get ready, I either put Bella in her exersaucer or I get out her bathtub and she loves to play around in it! This morning she was all about sitting in her bathtub.

Here is a sample of what our house looks like at any given time during the day. Bella has taken to making huge messes on the floor of every room that she enters into. I think I pick up after her at least 5 times a day!

Too bad we didn't find this bandana until after the 4th of July!! I put it on her head anyway and we just had to take a picture! I'm not sure what this says more..."Happy 4th of July" or "Where's my Harley?"!!

Bella has also PERFECTED her sad pouty face.

Exhibit A:

There has been lots of playing around in a diaper for Bella this week because it's been pretty hot. Here's the little lady helping me out with the dishes. It's about time she started doing some chores around the house!!! :)

She still loves playing with all the mirrors in the house. Now she not only likes to look at herself in them, she also likes to open and close the doors that the mirrors are attached to. Really any door in the house she likes to do that with (no fun, but we've already had some pinched fingers).

I took this picture this morning after I followed her around with the camera for awhile. Her face looks like she is thinking "not another picture mom"!!

And she was, so she crawled right for the camera and tried to grab it. This is what most of my pictures are like lately. Good thing it's digital so I can just delete and try again!

And last but not least. A movie that I also recorded today. This is Bella's music table and she loves playing with it. She has begun to figure out the cause and effect of the different parts, so it's fun to watch her play. I couldn't have asked for her to be in a better mood while I was recording this video. She stopped to wave at the camera and talk a few times, it's so perfect!! Hope you all enjoy!

June Dairy Days

Last Saturday Bella and I went home to Tomah for my little sister's graduation party and also June Dairy Days. For June Dairy Days every county in Wisconsin has a dairy breakfast which is hosted by a local farmer. This year, the one in our county was hosted at a farm right down the road from my Mom's house. So...we went and had a great time! It was Bella's first time getting to see all the farm animals and she loved it! Jon (my brother) was volunteering with the rest of his fire department to help cook the food for the breakfast, so not only did we get to see all the animals we got to spend time with Grandma, Jon and his girlfriend Lynn.

Here are the pictures that Grandma took for us that morning.

Before Jon went to the breakfast he came out to the house to run some errands for Mom and also to say hi and see Bella.

When we got to the breakfast there were tons of people there and the line for food was pretty long so we started out by walking around the farm. We stopped to get some ice cream cones and then went into the barn. Here's Bella, Lynn, and I with the cows.

We got to get really close and Bella even got to touch one of the cows ears!

Then we went on a hay ride around the field. Here's a couple of pictures of us in the wagon!

Then we got to stand in front of the wagon and look at the horses! They were really big and pretty.

Next to the hay rides they had a little petting zoo, so we went to do that. Here's Bella and I looking at the miniture horse named Cricket.

And she got to pet the llamas fur, it was very soft.

They also had little baby birds. There were geese, ducks, mallards, and baby chicks. This is one of the baby mallards. They were so cute and soft!

Bella almost grabbed the little bird. I don't think it would have been good if she had actually gotten a hold of it though!

Here's Mom with the baby pigs. They were taking a nap together and she can't ever pass up a picture with some cute little pigs!

Here we are petting the goats.

Then on the walk back to the breakfast there was a tractor sign that we just had to have a picture by!

Uncle Jon held Bella while the girls ate breakfast. The had a great time playing together.

And right before we left we went to see the big tractors. I really wanted a picture of Bella on one! She did okay, but I'm not sure she really liked being up so high without being able to see me.

So, needless to say, we had a great time. It was fun for Bella (and all of us) to get to see all the animals and the breakfast tasted SO good.