Natalie moves away

"Natawie" is one of Bella's favorite little girls on the planet. They have been at Friendswood Christian School together since they were 18 months old. Literally starting a month apart. I have heard Natalie's name lots of time over the last year and a half but only recently was able to meet her. Lucky for us we got to meet her parents too. We just met them officially at the family festival and had so much fun watching our girls play together. Since then we have gotten together several times for each of the girls birthday parties and sadly, a moving away dinner for Natalie and her family. They have moved to Austin. We were so sad to see them go. All of them. Laura and Scott are so much fun and our babies love each other so much. It's a great combination. To bad they up and left us ;). I'm still hoping they will move back some day! Hopefully we will get to see them again before the summer is over, or at least before I go back to work!

End of Year Program at FCS

I can't believe the end of year is here! Bella has had a wonderful year at FCS. She loves school so much and I could not be happier that she has such a wonderful place to go to school. She loves her friends and her teacher a lot too!



She wasn't in much of a performing mood but that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy watching her little self up on that stage.







Eating cake with her sweet friend Natalie.



A couple of crazy daddies! Gotta love it!

The girls had a great time running up and down the hall. I'm pretty sure they were interrupting class but they were having fun!

Bella is looking forward to going back to FCS in the Fall!

Bella's 3rd Birthday Party!

Bella had her 3rd birthday party and I will call it a success. I wanted to do low key this year but still wanted her to have a good party. We invited some of her favorite friends and put some water in the pool and let the kids play.

Natalie, Bella, and Kenzie playing in the water.
P.S. I love this pool!



Bella got some great presents from her friends. She was very excited to open presents. I think she will probably be asking to open more presents for a while. I'm pretty sure that might have been her favorite part of the party!



Precious Garrett! The most laid back easy going little boy I have ever met.





Bella wanted a princess cake so she got one. She actually watches youtube video's on how to make princess cakes. It cracks me up.



Our precious little family.



Natalie, Bella, and Avery



Eating some cake. Possibly the second favorite part of the party for Bella.



Bella with Aunt Angie and Granny.



Sweet Natalie



Terry got out the sidewalk chalk and the girls played with it on the deck for quite some time. They were covered in chalk. Oh well!

Bella and her "Natawie"

It's hard to believe she is 3.

Oh Bella....

In a conversation with her daddy this morning, Bella informed him that she and her sister would be going to college to become princesses and Gabby (the dog) would be going to college to become a tiger. I. LOVE. IT.

Mommy's Day

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mama, Mama, Mom!" - Isabella Grace Richards

I've had a lot of nicknames in my lifetime but" Mommy" is by far my favorite. I often hear mom's say, "I'm going to change my name if I hear Mommy one more time." If anyone ever hears me say this, please beat me with a stick! It is such an honor to carry that name and it is the sweetest sound to my ears. I waited for a long time to be called Mommy and I don't plan on changing my name anytime soon. I love to hear her call me no matter her mood because it simply means she needs me. Sure sometimes it isn't in the most pleasant way or she is in a bad mood, but what does that matter, I'm a mommy, that's my name, please wear it out!



This beautiful girl made me a mommy for the first time and I love her to pieces. She can make me smile so big and she can also push my buttons in the biggest way. She can make me so happy, but also has the ability to make me so mad. Luckily the happy far outweighs the mad. I love being her mommy more than I could ever express in words. She makes my mommy heart so happy and full and sometimes I'm pretty sure it's going to pop out of my chest.



I make sure I tell her I love her at least 652 times a day. Sometimes more, never less. I don't ever want her to feel anything less than as much love as possible.



I must say that waiting all those years for her was totally worth it. Going through it felt like a lifetime but in the end I couldn't be happier with the way God planned my "mommy ride". Now I have baby girl number 2 on her way and I'm pretty sure my mommy heart really will explode.
I love my big girl and her baby sister to be so much and I look forward to being their mommy for a very long time. So, Isabella Grace, you call me Mommy as often as you like. It's my favorite name because you gave it me.

Then there is this pretty lady. She is my mommy. She is also my best friend. I love her a lot too. I'm pretty sure she is my biggest fan and has always been there for me no matter what. That's what mommy's do and she is the epitome of a mommy. I know she is a nana now, a name which she carries quite proudly, but she was my mommy first. I love you, Mama! You are the best!

Family Festival

We had our annual church/school Family Festival and it was a huge hit. We have the festival to raise money for the church and school. There are all kinds of activities for kiddos as well as a silent auction for the adults. There was even some entertainment! Bella had a blast!



She started out the day on the horses and moved on from there. Daddy helped alot with getting the moonwalks and other outside activities rented, paid for, and set up so Bella and I were on our own for a good part of the the morning.

But once Daddy got through with his job he needed to cool off. Seems he talked a couple of cute girls in to joining him.......


(all water pictures stolen from Natalie's mommy :))

Bella and her friend "Natawie" (as Bella calls her) were talked into getting wet with Daddy. The Friendswood Fire Department came out and hosed off and cooled down the kiddos (and the Daddy) at the Festival.



Once they got use to what was going on, the girls loved getting wet!



Bella's prissy run is killing me! HA! She is such a girl!
These two ended up being the last ones out there.



After they shut down the water, the girls changed clothes and kept right on playing.









Gotta love a boy that has moves at age 3.......or not! HAHA! These kids all love each other so much. I love that FCS fosters such sweet and loving relationships between the kiddos.



Our youth put together this really cool maze.

Bella got brave and wanted to try out the zip line!

We had a great time at the festival and can't wait for the fun next year!

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend started out with an unexpected date night for Terry and me. This rarely happens and never unexpectedly. I had to work Good Friday, (yuck!) we had a make-up day from that terrible snow storm that hit back in February. HA! Terry had a meeting downtown and Mom and Dad are off touring the world so we asked my brother if he they could watch Bella for us Friday morning. Bella was beside herself with excitement to go spend the day with Ryan. Well that day with Ryan turned into a night! She was super excited when she got there to find that Courtney was there as well. When her Daddy got there to pick her up...... she didn't leave with him! Bella had her very first sleepover (besides Nana and Papa's). She ended up sleeping with Uncle Tim and Alyssa. I warned him! Needless to say she had a great time and Terry and I got to go on a date! We went to eat at this great restaurant out in San Leon. It was nice to just sit and talk.

We got up Saturday morning and hit the grocery store. We were finished by 10 am. WOW!! It's amazing how quickly you can get things done without a child that wants everything in sight! Yes, I know, we are about to have two and I couldn't be more excited about that! After the store we went to get Bella and came home and played out in the backyard all afternoon. Bella swam and slid and rode her bike (in her pool)........ She also dyed some Easter eggs with her Daddy. Daddy got pretty creative and made some multi color eggs. Bella loved watching the eggs change colors.





They dying of the eggs didn't take long so Bella was back into the pool! She could not wait for the Easter bunny to come and hide them. Even though she will tell anyone who will listen she is scared of the Easter Bunny.

This morning we got up and got ready for church. Terry and I had nursery duty so we pretty much missed the Easter service. Bella was so excited to come in the nursery with us this morning but then she didn't want to go to Children's Church. I had to peel her off of me which hasn't happened in a very long time. After church we headed home to finish up cooking lunch, hunt eggs, and wait for Tim (my brother) and his family to get here.





Bella was so excited to find that the Easter Bunny had brought her Merlia, a Barbie she had been wanting and some other fun stuff for her to play with. She hunted for eggs and then we waited for her cousins to get here so we could eat.

Our parents abandoned us on Easter. True Story. I had to cook. True Story. It happened. Ok, Terry and I cooked. That's probably a truer story. Anyway, my parents abandoned us on Easter. Mom says she is never going to do that again. Dad says I have to cook every Easter now. Abandoned. On Easter.

So Tim, Alyssa, Courtney, Ryan, Fred (dog), and Izzy (dog) got here and we ate lunch then we hunted for eggs again. Bella is really getting into this egg hunting!



We had a great time and I'm so glad that they were able to come join us. Bella loves hanging out with her cousins and she was even more excited that they were at her house.


HaPpY EaStEr from the Richards/Cox clan (and Fred)!

On a side note, tonight Bella announced she wants to go to Heaven. While that is of course what I want for her, no doubt. I'm not ready to even think about that. Bittersweet words out of her baby mouth. Made this Mommy tear up and almost start crying.