A year of catch up!

I'm back after a very long break that wasn't intentional, I can't believe it has almost been a year since I've last blogged! I have a few drafted up but never finished them. Life got crazy after our house fire, we moved in with my parents (11 months to be exact) while we waited for the house to get fixed and sell it! It took 7 LONG months to sell but it finally sold and we were able to move on from that nightmare! We found a house we love, in a great neighborhood with tons of kids Stell's age...we can't wait for this summer to start using the pool! So with that being said we've had quite an exciting end of summer and fall! We moved, found out I was pregnant with baby #2 and bought a new bigger car to fit our growing family! It couldn't have been a better way to end 2014!

So lets back up a little and try to recap all we've missed......

February and march were still freezing temps but lil miss could have cared less and only wanted be outside.

 March started with a 2nd trip to Florida to visit Gg and grandpa, this trip daddy wasn't able to come with so it was just Stelly and me! grandpa spoiled us and up graded us to first class since I was flying alone pretty lucky lil lady to be 22 months flying first class. This trip we spent with lots of time on the beach. January you weren't so sure about having your toes in the sand but thankfully this time you loved it!

 April brought a trip to the zoo and Easter

Stell got her first scooter from the eater bunny and loved it

May was Birthday month. Estella turned the Big 2 and we celebrated with a zoo themed birthday she was obsessed with animals and still is

Woke up on her birthday to find a big trampoline 

I didn't take pictures but for all the kids we had a scavenger hunt for tiny zoo animals we had hid throughout the back yard

Monkey Pit

Photo booth fun daddy and your silly "uncles" being classy

June was lots of outside time, beach days at the lake, splash pad fun and a date night to bruno mars=Best night out, celebrated my 28th b-day and Bry's dirty thirty with friends


July we celebrated the 4th going up north, lots of swimming, had our 6th wedding anniversary, Bry and I went to the All Star Celebrity baseball game, Stella had her first dance class a 4 week trial and a new baby cousin to cuddle Miss Addison Kay joined the family and we love her so much

August was a busy one we sold our house, went to two weddings, more swimming, splash pad play dates, our big move on the 22nd, painting your room and The state fair like always it signifies the end of summer

September Girlfriend started Dance for the year, we did lots of unpacking, met the new neighbors and you ran wild with all the kids on our street...you were in heaven!We also had my 10 year high school class reunion, started swim lessons again and found a new love for you scooter you are a pro on the thing

October we found out we were expecting again:) more scooter time, we went to the apple orchard, took two trips to the pumpkin patch, celebrated Halloween pretty much all month long. We went to the light up parade, you got to where your costume to dance, went to a pumpkin carving party at the neighbors, we entered you in the toddler costume contest that you took 2nd in last year and this year you WON 1st place! You were so excited because you got to be in the big parade and you ate up every second waving and saying hi to everyone. On Halloween night you made it around the whole neighborhood you trick or treated like a champ! Dad went out and I passed out the candy, he said you walked right in the the second house's kitchen haha, but you had a blast and still talk about Halloween-a (that is what you call it) almost everyday


November first snow fall of the season, lunch dates, husband surprised me with a new car, we celebrated Thanksgiving, Stella got her first hair cut, Bry worked crazy hours, tools family pictures, decorated for Christmas early and Lolly the elf came

December was crazy we went to Disney on ice it was so Fun, visited Santa, had your first holiday dance show, went to the lighting of the Christmas tree down town, went to an ugly sweater/ gingerbread making party, made/frosted lots of cookies, shopped till we dropped,and of course celebrating Christmas...Stella made the good list!

And now here we are in the New Year!  2015 is going to be a great year I can just feel it:)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love my lil Sweet Heart!!!

Today we went to adventure park for a Birthday Valentines play date! The kids ran wild and had so much fun ...Happy 2nd Birthday Miss Savannah!!!

Wednesday we had music class and Estella handed out her very first Valentines, the other kids were so excited to get them!

Monday we frosted heart cookies 

Holidays are the best with lil ones, We've been celebrating all week and of course can't help but spoil her with fun goodies! Tonight we are keeping it low key, Bry has a wine tasting to work so when he gets home we are making homemade pizzas and drinking LOTS of good wine;) 

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!!!

XOXO

A little bit of sunshine

We escaped the cold weather for a week and headed down to Florida for some much needed sunshine! Winter has been nothing but brutal this year like coldest winter since before I was born so we were more then ready to see some sunshine and beaches!  Estella loved being outside, playing at the park, taking walks, going to the zoo, swimming in the pool, sitting in a beach chair watching the birds and digging in the sand...just as long as her toes didn't touch it;) We had so much FUN (beside the plane rides, traveling with a toddler is no joke) and wish our times there didn't go so fast, as we are back in below zero weather. We may have contemplated never leaving and moving there for good;) Here's to tons of great new memories made and another Bonita trip in the books....

Fun at the park

Day at the zoo, Stell Bell even rode a camel 

Our favorite part was the monkey boat tour. All the monkeys
are on little islands and you take a boat to see them 

Pointing out the birdies 

Girlfriend loved the pool area

CHEESE:) 

With auntie 

Digging in the sand from the comfort of her chair so her toes didn't touch the sand...silly girl!

She was totally fine if she was standing on a towel 

Beach Babes:) 

Last night there and a beautiful sunset

The Girls 

Gg's girl 

I'm so thankful my parents have a wonderful place we get to vacation at, we LOVE it here and look forward to many more trips!

Goodbye 2013, Hello to 2014

 To say we were ready to say goodbye to 2013 would be an understatement!  We had a great start to the year but it had a horrible ending for our family...

On October 8th our life was turned upside down. My vulnerability and security has been forever changed. We were awoken in the middle of the night by loud noises , I looked out side and saw the fire department at my neighbors house and before I knew it we were being taken out of our house because it was also on fire! Someone intentionally set three houses in a row on fire!!! It was a worst nightmare coming true. Because of the smoke damage we were staying with my parents when 48hrs later I got the call they came back and did it again!!! Thankfully everyone was SAFE and both fires were caught early so besides the smoke damage through out the entire house the fires were contained in the the basement.

This was the first fire on the side of our house by our gas line

I can't even begin to explain how I feel about everything and I think that is why I've waited so long to write about it. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about the what ifs, I know I shouldn't but it's hard not to. I've gone through so many emotions during this process its been the most extremely frustrating, difficult, overwhelming, stressful, scary time in our lives. I can go from sad, to f ing pissed in a second and I'm am even more of a freak when it comes to Stella then ever, I hate leaving her side! It makes me have major anxiety, I'm hoping this gets better with time. At moments it still doesn't feel real! How could this possibly happen to us??? Who would do such a thing and WHY? We live in a great community, a suburb about 25 miles from downtown. It's very family friendly, with awesome schools, lots of parks, nice people and nice homes! We've pretty much grown up here and for the most part have always felt safe and comfortable. So the absolute worst part about everything is no one has been caught and I will always have an uneasy feeling about this! I don't want to leave our life we've started here and I'm not sure we will leave the town but we've both agreed we could never live in that house again. It makes me tear up thinking about it, it was our first house, the house we brought Stell home to and created so many fun memories and now I look at it and it makes me sick to my stomach, I want nothing to do with it:(  The police department keeps assuring us that we aren't being targeted it was where our houses were. We live in the back of a cul de sac with no one directly behind us so it made it easy for this person to not be seen from the street.

This was the second fire started underneath our deck also in the basement. 

We've had new siding on back and side of house, two new exterior, interior walls( new studs and sheetrock), we've had to replace both windows, new carpet in basement and every square inch re painted. Pretty much everything in the basement has been thrown out because the smoke smell would not come out! A cleaning service comes in a cleans every, and I mean every thing thats left in your house. All textiles have been removed and brought to a laundry service (shoes, purses, clothes, jackets, towels, sheets, curtains,  really anythings that has fabric on it) That was one of the most overwhelming parts was seeing all your stuff being taken out and not having time to go through anything. Also when they delivered the finished product it came in 40 boxes and 17 feet of hanging... they said we may have won for the most clothes they have ever seen...can't say I was surprised but man has it been a bitch to go through! Anything to do with stella was also non salvageable, because anything that was plastic is hard to clean smoke off of and not safe if she sucked on it. This was very sad to see all her toys being thrown away and all the stuff we were saving for our next baby. I just have to keep reminding myself these things can all be replaced "it's just stuff"and to look on the bright side we get to go furniture/bed shopping

As of now we living with my parents waiting for the house to be finished so we can put it on the market and crossing our fingers it will sell quick. Everything has taken way longer then expected because our insurance company has been HELL to deal with and has made this way harder on us then it should have been. We love my parents to death but after three months we are driving each other nuts and I miss having our own family time. ( I'm really hoping we can move on before I totally go batshit crazy) Other things having been going wrong left and right like both cars having issues, 3 flat tires in a month on year old tires, washing machine over flowing and heat going out just to name a few. I feel like we've been cursed with bad luck...if anyone can undo the curse that would be much appreciated;) Thanks!

I live by this quote right now 

I know this experience will only make us stronger, better people! Estella really helps put everything into perspective for us, we are all safe and that is what really matters. The house can be fixed and things can be replaced. It has made me think about whats really important in life. This year I want to hold on to my loved one tighter, live in the moment, try not to sweat the small stuff and count my blessings! I love my family more then anything in the world and I thank god everyday for keeping us safe!!!

Stell Bell makes everything Ok, Love her so MUCH!

We are welcoming 2014 with open arms and hoping it has great things in store for us:)