Such a Big Girl

Bella (or, "Lella" as she calls herself) is in love with shoes, which I may have mentioned before. She particularly loves my heels, which she tries to walk around in quite a bit. Sometimes she has issues, but it's always very cute.

Fun at the Fair

Wanting Bella to be able to experience as much fair food as possible without suffering the sugar high, we split our fair visits up between two nights. The first night we went and had elephant ears, and the second night we went and had gyros, hot dogs, and cotton candy (which, if you'll remember from last year, Bella loves). The second night grandma and grandpa came too, so that made it even more fun! Bella loved seeing all of the animals, and tried to call everything "coo-coo" (kinda like 'scooter'), which was amusing. Here are some fun little pictures, and a video of her being quite excited about the ponies.

Bugs, Bunnies

Bella does not like bugs on her. She kind of freaks out. But she does like bunnies. When she sees them, she says, "Hi munneee," and it's all very cute. Here she is, terrorized by a grasshopper, and terrorizing a few bunnies that we ran into on the path.

Classic.

Miss Mischevious

Here's the little goober that greeted me when I went to get my sweet daughter up from her nap.

All About the Books

These days, we can't sit down on the couch for ten seconds without Bella ending up in our lap with a book. She loves being read to, reading (out loud) to herself, and apparently, she likes to read to her 'babies' too (all stuffed animals are babies).

Sleepy Girl

Bella is finally transitioning to one nap a day, and the transition is not a particularly smooth one. We took a walk in the arboretum today, and the lack of sleep caught up to our little girl, who nearly fell asleep on Papa's shoulders.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Somewhere, there is a picture of me sitting at my mom's quilting frame, trying very hard to make perfect little stitches. Since I was about two, those perfect little stitches turned out to be about two inches long and in a very, uhm, "unconventional" pattern. Mom had left me unattended for a second and I had seized the opportunity to "help" her with her quilt. Apparently, that helpful spirit gets passed down through the genes, and Bella has also inherited this gene. I, like my mother, turned my back for a minute, and returned to find that my sweet little girl had climbed up to the table and was helping me with my latest landscape design. Note the scribbling on the bottom left corner of the plan. Fortunately, it was only pencil on mylar, so the problem was easily remedied.

For Grandpa Steve

This video is just for Grandpa Steve. Here I am, enjoying my first four wheeling adventure. There is no doubt - I am a Becker.

Fun at the Washington Coast

Greetings! I apologize for my absence, but I've been at the coast. I went to the Washington coast with my parents and my mom's family. It was loads of fun. We played on the beach, flew kites, went for hikes, and all sorts of fun stuff like that. Here are a few of the pictures...

My cute little footprints in the sand...


Dad flying the kite, and me playing with Grandma and Uncle Scotty...


'Digging for Clams' with Uncle Scotty...


Me and my dirty little bottom (I fell down a few times)...


Walking on the beach with Mom...


The ginormous hydrangeas growing everyhere in Olympic National Park by Lake Quinalt...


Me in the backpack with Dad and Uncle Scotty...


Here's the river we had to ford during our "hike" on the beach. Fortunately, I was on mom's back in the backpack, so I didn't get my toes wet. (you'll have to click on the photo to get the big, viewable version)


And, last but not least, we got to go driving on the beach and over the dunes. Here's our trusty four-wheeler. She serves us well.