Talent Show

The kids school had a talent show in which my children wanted to participate. Both played one piano piece they are preparing for festival. Ryan played Inspector Snoops and Makayla played Hurry Halloween. They were in two different talent shows. The one Ryan was is ended up being almost two hours long and he was second to last....lucky us!!! He did a fantastic job. He didn't show any nerves at all. i really don't know how he does it, but he does.

There were some pretty impressive numbers for elementary school. During Ryan's talent show Makayla suddenly became nervous about playing. She decided she didn't want to play in front of all the people. We said whatever she chose was her choice. By the end of the talent show she changed her mind. She wanted to do the talent show. She ended up being the only kindergartoner in her show. She got quite the applause. I was so proud of both of my children. i am grateful they are willing to share their talents with the world.

Exercise can be dangerous to your health!!

For those that don't believe that exercise can be dangerous to your health, just talk to Ryan. The other day Brad was doing the chest and back exercise from P90x. It requires a pull up bar which we put in the door between our kitchen and laundry room. It is an easily removable bar, but Brad had forgotten to remove it. I also forgot as we were hurrying to get in the car for school. In our hurry I swung open the door to the garage. That door in turn hit the pull up bar which proceeded to fall....on Ryan's head. We were lucky to avoid the emergency room. In fact, Ryan must be pretty hard headed as there wasn't even a bruise. He didn't even require a tylenol that day for a headache. Bless his heart, he is a brave kid!!!

Rite of Passage

I love my children. They help me remember the simple things in life bring us the most pleasure. Yesterday was a great day for members of our family. Brad finally got his big screen tv (he's wanted this for I don't know how long). It became a necessity as our tv we had downstairs was from our wedding. It was a huge thing that fell on Ashlyn the other day. Although it didn't break, between that and Brad getting shocked by the tv one day there is now only 1/2 the picture displayed on the tv. The bigger factor for me was that in order for the kids to turn off the tv they had to stick their finger into the whole where the on/off button used to be. This is actually how Brad was shocked. So, I am guessing we all know why I wasn't too thrilled about my children turning off the tv in that manner.
Getting the tv was very exciting for everyone. However, the highlight of the day is when Ryan and Makayla and Ashlyn all came running upstairs to show us that Makayla had experienced her first right of passage....she lost her first tooth!!! Yes, this tooth was loose...but not THAT loose. Can you guess how it came out? Yes, you are right, Ryan somehow convinced his sister that the tooth was ready to come out and he pulled it out for her. How sweet. Makayla informed us that "she survived" the ordeal. Now we see her sticking her tongue through that cute little hole. I still remember that feeling. Congrats to you, Makayla. We are so excited to see you growing up!!!

Quick, start the car!!!

I would like to reminisce upon the new IKEA commercial where the lady looks at her receipt, sees what killer deals she got, is afraid it is a mistake and they will catch it, so she quickly runs to her car and is yelling at her husband to "start the car" in an effort to make a quick get away!!!
Well, today I had a moment that reminded me of that. Brad and I went to this store in West Valley City called Lucky Aces. They sell merchandise that has been returned to high end stores for killer deals. We have been looking for a nice dining room style full leather chair for my music room for quite some time. I have seen a few I really liked at Tai Pan trading for $100 which was actually a pretty good deal. Ross was the same price and everywhere else was twice as much...at least. Well, at this store we found the perfect chair. I loved it AND it was 80% off $269.99. Okay, I can handle $54!!! I was thrilled. We also found an umbrella and stand for our backyard for a pretty good deal.
We paid for our chair and umbrella stuff and took the elevator downstairs to the exit and parking area. The store has a security guard that checks your receipt on the way out. He was on the phone with the upstairs people when we arrived. He then informed us that the chair was actually part of a set and we needed to wait while the cashier brought us our other chair. Brad and I looked at each other. Did he really mean we got two very nice leather chairs for $54 TOTAL?!!!! Sure enough, that was the case. As we got the second chair and headed out to our car I seriously felt like we needed to run and "start the car" before they realized their mistake!!! It was awesome.
(disclaimer: I really wouldn't take an extra chair if it was a mistake....I have more integrity than that)
Here is a picture of my chairs and beautiful table in my music room. I love it!!!

Hair Frenzy

As a mother of three girls I guess we have hair issues and hair moments quite a bit. The latest is that all three girls got their hair cut by a friend in the ward. Becca's was a spur of the moment decision. One of my little girls had cut Becca some bangs (how nice of them), but they looked hideous. Plus, she had this weird mass of hair in the back that looked more like a tail than anything else. Well, now she has cute little bangs and a little bob that looks scarilly alot like Johnny Depp as Willey Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate factory. The sad thing is myself and my three kids all came to this conclusion seperately. It is darling on her....scarry on him.

Makayla wanted her hair short. She and I both love the cut. This is as short as Brad would allow. Why is it that boys love long hair on girls? They aren't the ones that have to do it or deal with it....that is why.

Ashlyn's hair would always get the worst tangles you have ever seen. We are hopeful this new cut will aleveate much of the problem. She looks darling. I asked if she liked her hair, she said no because she wanted it as short as Kayla's. Baby steps, for moms sake. I have always loved Ashlyn's long hair with her curls.

Funny things from Bell kids in 2008

Here are just a few cute or funny things my kids did last year.


I think we all remember all the trouble Ashlyn was in this past year. She is my most curious child by far. However, despite the many tears and frustrations there have been many more moments of pure bliss with her. She is the most loving and affectionate child. She always wants to give hugs and kisses.
The kids all got a turn to ride a 4 wheeler this summer. Ryan loved it and wanted to share the fun with Becca, I just don't think she appreciated it!!!
Makayla loves to sing, play the piano, and play the flute....all at once. Actually, the funny thing about this picture is you will notice the headband and the pencil...this is her microphone like the pop singers. She would do this all of the time. Santa finally brought her a real headset microphone. She loves it.
Over Christmas we visited Papa's nursery (Brad's dad). All was well until the end when unstable Becca fell (again...she did it a lot in December) in a thing of mud. She wasn't too excited about it but eventually was just curious about what was all over her.\
One week Makayla was extremely sick. I was looking all around for my hand santizer but could not find it anywhere. I went outside to tell someone they didn't need to take Kayla to school when I found the missing hand sanitizer. Well, looky here...Ryan had put it outside our door with this wonderful note:
"Please have some hand sanitizer before entering....thank you!!" I am glad he was so thoughtful for these people. I personally would have had it inside the door for them to have as they were leaving....but I am not near as creative as my child.

Kid's say the darndest things

Usually when you have a "Kid's say the darndest things" segment it is referring to a 3 or 4 year old. Well, tonight's belongs to my seven year old boy. We were talking, while eating our family home evening cookie, about how we were done having children. We asked our children if they were okay with us being done. Ryan and Kayla both said no. They both really want a little brother. Brad said "Well, you guys, we can't keep having babies just because we want a little boy. What if we were sent another little girl?" Ryan quickly responded "Well, that would be a waste!!!" Well,there you have it. What do you say to that?