Spring Cleaning

AJ always the good helper wanted to help get the front yard spring ready. He loves working with tools and using his toy mower around the yard. I keep telling AJ I hope this continues well into his teen years!!

Here are some pictures:

AJ and the red wheelbarrow (no white chickens)

working with the tools

Dixie looking over AJ, Ralph and Daddy

What a Difference a Year Makes

AJ had his 2yr physical recently and our BIG boy has really grown. He weighs 27 lbs and is 3 feet tall! At age 1 he was 21 lbs and 31.5 inches tall.

Here is AJ at age 1

AJ at age 2

More Birthday Pictures!

Nana Bell took some pictures at AJ's birhday party a couple of weeks ago. Click HERE to view the slideshow. Thanks Nana!

Easter 2007

AJ was very excited to see a basket with CARS Sunday morning after breakfast. He actually ignored the candy and went right for the cars.

Once we got him all dressed up he knew we were going out and rushed to get his hat before I could get any pictures. He refused to take it off so we'll consider this his version of an Easter bonnet.

AJ got a basket at Nana & Papa Aviles' house and he was very excited to see a YELLOW shovel and of course his favorite candy: m&m's.

Dad was not impressed with all the drool from the lollipop AJ was enjoying :)

One Fish - Two Fish - check out our little fish!

AJ has been attending swim classes since he was a little over 6 months old. He's become quite the little fish. We have 1 more class in this session so I went online to check out when the next class session starts and there's a picture of AJ and me that they used for the brochure!! I will be picking up brochures and AJ will be holding autograph sessions soon LOL. I also took some of my own pics the week before this was taken and i'll be posting those as soon as I get them developed and scanned! Keep checking back for updates.

Here's the brochure picture:

Big Boy Table

AJ got a big boy Lightning McQueen table and chairs from Nana and Papa Aviles for his birthday. He loves sitting at his table to have his snacks and meals! When it's time for snacks or meals I tell him to sit at his table and he goes right over and waits. He's pretty good at staying through meals and snacks and sometimes he wants mom to sit next to him too. He's had good practice at school since that's the structure he's used to. So far he's eaten at the table every day except the day I made chicken pot pie. For some reason that day he wanted to sit in his high chair. Not quite sure why - maybe he didn't want the dogs too close to him. He tells them to get "out" when it comes to meal or snack time since that's what we tell the dogs when we sit down at the dinner table.

Here is AJ having breakfast at his new table.

Spring is Here

Spring we hope is finally here to stay. Thankfully all (well, almost all) the snow is gone. We took the day to do some yard work, raking up all the dog residue from the winter on and my goodness is was a mine field out there.

AJ as usual wanted to help out as much as he could. He loved raking and shoveling the last little bit of snow left on our property. He liked playing in his new house, the buggy and shopping cart (all left behind by Brian's former tenants and cleaned up by mommy this morning).

Hopefully the warm weather will continue so we can spend more time outdoors.

Sunrise on my way to work earlier this week

Here is AJ with one of the many rakes he was "helping" with

Click HERE to view more pictures

The day AJ turned Two

As you all may be aware by now, Sunday was AJ's 2nd birthday. AJ had an early start to the day and the 1st thing he asked about when I went into his room was his cake, then dada, then the doggies. He was very excited to come downstairs and see all the CARS decorations. All the excitement built up and he wanted nothing to do with a nap.
Guests arrived by noon and AJ was very happy to see everyone - especially the little ones that are his same age. All the little kids enjoyed chasing Dixie around the house. Tails the Clown was a hit and the pinata and cake were also favorites of the day.
Gift opening was also an adventure as every kid wanted to be involved in some way and we had tons of little helpers helping out handing presents to me or AJ (thanks Jordan and Danny), Marina and Luna were also helping out by opening some presents for AJ.

The evening entertainment involved a very detailed neverending game of Phase 10 and AJ playing with his upgraded car (thanks Mike Gallo) as well as his piano from nonnie and many of the other toys.

Even though there was a very visible exhaustion, AJ wanted nothing to do with night night because there were still guests at the house and he never wants to miss a thing. He finally gave in after 2 minutes of crying and was fast asleep!

I hope everyone had a good time, I know AJ, Brian and I did.

Here are some pictures....
Here is dad putting the finishing touches on AJ's cake on Saturday


AJ opening up one of his favorite presents


click HERE for more pictures from Sunday!!!

Oh Poop!

I'm sure this is high on the excitement list for everybody....but AJ actually pooped in his potty tonight. I suspect it was more a case of lucky timing on my part as AJ was getting ready for his bath...but I'll take it. We secretly think he's waiting for Papa Bell to show him the ropes!

Sorry for not having a picture - maybe next time! ;o)

Chocoholics Anonymous?

Houston, we have another Chocoholic! Many of you already know that the M&M car on the NASCAR circuit is AJ's favorite. He's also now addicted to chocolate milk. AJ's latest trick is to go into the fridge and retrieve the bottle of syrup for us to make him more chocolate milk....actually this time he wanted juice and had the chocolate out for me as well. I had to fake it so he would drink his juice.

Reflecting on two years ago.....

Well, we all know time flies. People always said it was different and that time went by faster once you had kids and I never believed it. This past Saturday I realized just how true that statement made by those parents was! We went to Picture People to have his 2-yr portraits taken and I just stood there and watched in amazement as the tiny little baby two years ago was now saying he wanted a "chair" or "the car" and something that was "yellow" (I still don't know what he wanted that was yellow. He was giggling and laughing and running away from the photographer. I just had to smile but at the same time, it made me sad that he's growing so fast right in front of my eyes. It brought back memories of when he was born.

AJ will be TWO years old this coming Sunday the 25th of March. I can still vividly remember March 25th 2 years ago. Actually the 24th was more memorable :) We had to go to labor and delivery because our little man had not moved at all the entire day and I was so worried since he was already 4 days late. Well, of course AJ did not want out that night and about 5 minutes after I got hooked up to the fetal monitor he started doing the "AJ dance" and since I wasn't dilated enough we got sent home. Brian and I went to Pepe's that night for pizza. My contractions started as soon as we got to Pepe's but I was not going back to the hospital. I wanted my Pepe's and ohhh it's making me want pizza right now!!

I barely slept that night and ended up going to the couch because I kept waking up and moving around due to contractions. At 11am the morning of the 25th my doctor's office called to check up on me. I was irritated, tired, in pain and still having very irregular contractions. I was told to go in and of course I didn't want to because I was just exhausted and I just "KNEW" they were going to send me back home. I went in to the doctor's office at 1pm.

I was back home by 2:15, 4cm's dilated and on my way to the hospital. Brian and I were on the road by 2:30 and at the hospital by 3pm. AJ was born under 3 hrs later at 5:56pm on Good Friday March 25th 2005.

AJ 3/25/2005

Of all the wonderful things that have happened in my life the birth of our 1st child is one that still makes me so happy I cry. I vividly remember the look on Brian's face. The immesurable amount of love I saw on his face when he saw AJ. At that moment, that instant, I knew I just knew everything was right, everything was perfect. Our little man had arrived.

AJ on Easter Sunday ready to go home

One of my favorite pictures of Brian & AJ

Almost 2 years later, here is our AJ playing it up for the camera:

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY AJ!!!

The Bells Take Manhattan

Over the weekend we had a little getaway in NYC while AJ stayed with the Aviles'. We had some of our vacation club points to use, so we used them to stay in town at the Loews Regency. Here's what we did this weekend...

Friday, March 9th
After taking the train in from New Haven, we walked to our hotel and dropped off our bags. We went on a little adventure and took the subway over to Times Square for dinner. Not being terribly familiar with the subway system, we managed to find our way. Once we reached Times Square, we had dinner at Virgils BBQ - and ate way too much as usual. After dinner, we walked around town a little bit - stopping by the M&Ms world store and the Hershey's store. More on those on Saturday! Since we were still full from dinner, we decided to walk back to the hotel. The weather was beautiful in the city, and a great night to be out.

Saturday, March 10th
We slept in and finally ventured out for lunch. We were planning on seeing a show at 2pm, so we figured we'd get some lunch somewhere nearby. We ended up at the Starlite Deli, which was just up the street from the St. James theatre. I had a nice chicken cutlet sandwich and Millie had some turkey pastrami. By the time we were finished, the line was starting to reach us. It was almost showtime!

We had tickets to see The Producers - what a great show! Tony Danza was playing one of the main roles - and his last performance was to be on Sunday. The show was really funny and we really enjoyed it. It was pretty long, but well worth it....there was even a little surprise at the end. You'll have to see the show to find out what it is!

Since it was a little early for dinner, we decided to wander around a little bit. We went into the M&M's World store to browse as well as get AJ a picture of his M&M car. It's his favorite on the NASCAR circuit. Think 3 floors of M&M stuff...very cool. In comparison, we also went to the Hershey store across the street - we had been there before but now it seemed like a huge letdown. Only 1 floor in a relatively cramped space.

From there, we headed back in the direction of our hotel to visit 30 Rockerfeller Center and the Top of the Rock. 72 stories up and a little breezy, but you can't beat the view. We want to go back during the day next time. Sounds like a field trip to me.

We went back downtown and had dinner at Bella Napoli off Times Square. The food was good, and one of the waiters kept wanting to sing "Copa Cobana" - not sure why :o)

Sunday, March 11th
Today the clocks changed. Not that it affected our plans at all. We slept in and checked out around noon. From there we walked to Grand Central. We passed the Audi, Porsche/Maserati and Mercedes dealers along the way - drooling at the windows. After lunch in Grand Central, we boarded the 1:07 train for home. AJ was very happy to see us when he got up from his nap.

And yes, the weather was beautiful all weekend. And we did go to the Disney Store and the ESPNZone. Not that going to the Disney Store should come as a surprise to anyone.

Sno' More Additions to the Bell Family

This time our family additions wont be around too long, especially if it warms up like it's supposed to. Here are our two new Bells. We make them stay outdoors, they'd probably make too much of a mess if we brought them in the house.

And here is AJ helping daddy out with the construction:

March Mommies Make the News!!!

While AJ and I were in VA for the March Mommy meet-up we all got interviewed by The Richmond Times. Here is the article that was printed on Sunday February11th. The photos are not available online but I got a copy of the paper as a memento. We're not in the pictures - well MY hair is but that's about it LOL. Click here for the article.

Here is Nikaila (she's the one from Australia)

A group shot (I'm against the wall- behind Nikaila)

Ellie and her mommy Angela

Road Trip!!!!

AJ and mom spent a long weekend in VA meeting up with other mommies and babies from The Mommy Board. We had a ton of fun. We started the long weekend on Thursday when Candy came up from Maine with her kids. We all went out for burgers to Red Robin and even Chris met up with us. Friday was an early start driving to NY to pick up Tania and her baby Marcus then it was off to VA. The babies were absolutely wonderful on the long ride and had lots of fun when we went through the tunnels or went on bridges. All we kept hearing was "yay" and lots of clapping. VA was wonderful, we met all the other mommies and babies. We visited the Richmond Children's Museum then had the March Baby birthday party at Cici's Pizza in Richmond. What a blast!!! enjoy the pictures!

Click here to view the other pictures

Dashing through the snow....

In AJ's purple sled. AJ had a lot of fun in the snow and did not want to come inside. He helped mom and dad shovel snow with his Mickey shovel and loved the sled rides up and down the driveway. His sneakers were a little slippery on the snow and he was getting upset about that but mom and dad got him new snowboots so he'll be all set for the next time we're out playing in the snow. We were gonna attempt the making of the 1st Bell Snowman BUT the snow here was too powdery and loose so we'll have to wait until next time. Mommy is secretly hoping that "next time" is NEXT YEAR!! But for now we're enjoying the snow.

Here is AJ helping with his Mickey shovel

Daddy pulling the sled down the driveway

and up the`driveway

And Ralphie enjoying the snow

Aspen, Colorado

Here are more pictures of Aspen, Colorado, click on the link to go to the photo album.

Check this out:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp%3Fc%3Dkhccaza.67gp1e7a%26x%3D1%26y%3D-nivo3n

Snowy Colorado

Some pictures to share with you all...

skiers on the mountain


snowy rocky mountain


X Games practice

X Marks the Spot!

Millie and Brian are out in Aspen, CO for Winter X Games Eleven which is on January 25-28. Make sure you tune in! Since Millie is working the late shift, she'll have a chance to take some pictures of beautiful Aspen. Look here for pictures soon! While we're away, AJ is visiting with Nana and Papa Aviles. I'm sure he's having a great time! Thanks Nana and Papa!!

It's a Girl!

Well, a girl puppy anyway. She doesn't have a name yet - Brian has retained naming rights and is looking for the highest bidder. Millie is leaning toward "Dixie" and AJ calls her "Baby Doggie". She's a mini-Schnauzer and is a couple of months old. So far she's getting along great with her older brothers.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes...

AJ Sings! This is our first video upload, taken on New Year's Eve day. AJ loves to sing, and he's accompanied by "Bruin Bear" from Uncle Chris.

A spoonful of sugar...

Well okay, it was a beater from the mixer. Daddy made some cupcakes and then some frosting. Here we are sampling the sugary goodness on our bikes. Such a great idea right before bedtime!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with our friends at the Villa Capri restaurant in Wallingford, CT. This picture actually appears on their website as well. A fun time was had by all - appetizers, drinks, dinner, drinks, dancing, drinks, snacks - and a countdown to the new year with noisemakers, confetti and champagne. All of us, from L-R: Mike & Kristen, Lisa, Brian & Millie, Valencia, Mike and Chris. Happy New Year everyone!!