Family Reunion

We had most of my family here this week so it has been very exciting and eventful! My sister and her 3 kids from Seattle Washington drove all night and got here just in time for a Valentines Day breakfast. We had eggs, bacon and I made heart shaped pancakes for the kids. They liked them- I think. It was so nice to see them and I finally go to meet Amy Marie who is now almost six months old! She is such a cute and happy baby. Here's a summary of our week:

Amy Marie

Sunday: Colby's blessing- Aaron's family from Fairfield and L.A. were able to come so we had a full house. We had a nice lunch, passed Colby around and just enjoyed having a lot of family around for a while. I learned that David is very good at getting Colby to smile and even laugh a bit, it was so cute to watch the two of them.

Colby With Great Grandma Patrick



Colby Bell

Smile

Monday: Aaron was scheduled to go on an introductory flight but the weather was horrible so it was postponed till the 28th. Maybe then we can see if Aaron is a true pilot at heart. The Cheney’s arrived later that day. We had Lizzy go wake up Hali from her nap it was great to see them together again. Now we had all of the grandchildren together.

Tuesday: we, the Grigg's and the Cheney's went to the Jelly Belly factory and enjoyed the free samples and bought 6 pounds of belly flops! Hali and Lizzy held hands and looked out the windows at the Jelly Belly's, it was precious. It was well worth the drive getting there and back all the kids loved it! We started a 1000 piece puzzle that night that Aaron Grigg got at the Jelly Belly factory.

Wednesday: Stockton Children's museum with Grandma. I stayed with Hali, Lizzy and Mom most of the time. Hali loved getting into everything like the bus, helicopter, police car, fire truck, and tractor. She even let David paint her face! Lizzy did not like that too much- she thought it was too messy. For dinner I made some homemade pizza. It was one of Mikes favorite things to make and everyone loves it when he does, so I decided to give it a try. The pizzas were not exactly the same but I guess they were good enough because there were 3 pizzas and no leftovers. Hali and Lizzy loved hanging out with each other watching "ariel" or "cilarella" They danced and chased each other all over the house. Hali started to call lizzy "lizzy Ann" which is what I call her sometimes or "Elizabeth" and when chasing her or looking for her she would say "lizzil bizzil" which is what Aaron calls Lizzy. It was pretty funny to hear it coming from her.

Hali, Lizzy and Grandma at the Museum


Hali in the Fire Engine

Hali's face painted by David

Thursday: the boys all went shopping while the girls watched the kids and chatted. It was a nice day so the kids played outside. David and Timothy played very nicely with Hali and Lizzy for about an hour, that was so nice. David took some pictures of all the grand children. We also worked more on the puzzle. It kept us all very entertained for a few days it was fun to work on it all together, a great buy for 5 bucks. We finally got it together later that night but we are missing one piece, which really sucks.

Jelly Belly puzzle


David holding Colby, Timothy holding Amy, Grandma, Hali and Lizzy


Hali and Colby

Friday: everyone left early this morning, a sad departure, now the home is quiet and a bit more dull but we will survive. I enjoyed everyone here while it lasted and I must say we have a great family because I miss them all already.

Hali enjoys watching Cinderella and Peter Pan all the time. She loves the part when the mice tease the cat, she laughs and says "Oh that's silly." lately she has been going around saying "okay honey," or "what are you doing honey" anything with honey, it's pretty cute. She loves her new baby brother she likes to hold him and help change his diapers. She holds out the diaper and asks Colby "stinky diaper? Wanna change diaper? okay!" than begins opening the diaper for me and unbuttons his p.j. "wipe? okay" than pulls out the wipes. well it keeps her entertained. Hali can be a real punk at times she says "no" a lot and "leave me alone" or "go away." Luckily she only says it one or twice and forgets about it. She likes to tell us to “wait a minute.. okay,” when we ask her to do something. The latest thing she says is "Mom!Come here right now!" She also calls herself Hali Mae in third person like today she went up to big Dave and said "Hali Mae wants to go shopping." She is growing too fast I tell ya.




Colby is smiling a lot now and cooing-close to laughing. He is also reaching for toys and lifts his head. He is growing well and looks a little like Hali when she was this age and a lot like his dad.


Colby and Aaron