Bella Roo and Springtime Too!

We are SO excited for spring. I've been pretty sick the last couple of days but I had to take Bella out today to enjoy the warm(er) weather the other day. It was good for both of us. Justin's dad has been really sick too lately. He's been in the hospital the last couple of weeks and then they just moved him to a nursing home for rehabilitation. He should be able to go home after a few more weeks.

I don't post as much anymore because my laptop is reaching the end of it's long and fruitful life. It will just randomly shut off... and it's really annoying. Hopefully I'll be able to get a new one when we get our tax return back. We wouldn't have bought one sooner but I wanted to wait until we could get the one that I wanted.

Bella is growing up so fast. She's really interdependent lately and plays by herself for hours. The Dr said that she is on a 14-15 month level, which didn't really surprise me. She's always been a little bit ahead of the game. Here are Bella's 12 month tidbits...

• She's really good at screaming.. this is when I wish I would have stuck to the baby sign language thing better. It's her little way of telling me she wants something.
• She likes songs with motions.. Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake..etc. I need more songs! She does the Itsy Bitsy spider part with me.
• She tries to jump. She saw me do it and she tries but doesn't get any air. I'll have to record it. It's sooo funny.
• She likes Nick Jr. and discovered Blue's Clues this morning.
  
• She still LOVES to dance.

I'm sure there is more but I'm not good about writing things down (or taking pictures!) like I used to be.. I'll make a goal to be better at those two things.

Peanut Butter Bars

{Click the picture to enjoy these delicious morsels in all their glory}

My boss Dawnell makes the best peanut butter bars EVER! I decided to make them even though I was worried they wouldn't turn out as good as hers and I'd be disappointed. Let me tell you, they were so easy and turned out so good. Here is the recipe I used:

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
chocolate frosting (I just used chocolate fudge frosting for cakes and it worked out perfect!)

Cream butter and sugars, add egg, peanut butter and vanilla, add dry ingredients then add oatmeal. Press in bottom of 13x9 pan
Bake 350 for 15-20 min until very lightly brown around the edges. Be careful not to over bake!
Remove from oven, spread peanut butter while warm let cool then frost with chocolate frosting.

When I took mine out of the oven, they were golden brown around the edges but really gooey in the middle. Once they cooled down they were perfect!

Isabella's 1st Birthday Party!

Yesterday we had Bella's 1st birthday party. We just had a little get together at my mom's with the family. We ate spaghetti, opened presents and had cake. Isabella got soooo many presents. We got her a kitchen, bathtub toys, and clothes. Grandma, grandpa and Ty got her a toy puppy, clothes, Sweetie Belle My Little Pony, a My Little Pony Baby, and a kitty keyboard. Skye and AJ got her pans for her kitchen, play food and a tea set. She got a few other little things as well. Here are the pictures from her party.

Party Time!

I had a really hard time deciding on a cake theme. Bella really likes to watch Sponge Bob with Justin but the Care Bear cake was sooo cute. I showed them to her and let her pick.. and guess who won?