Kelly Bell

I fell of the blogging bandwagon. I was super busy for a while and then, I confess, not super motivated to blog. Having a one year old will make you want to go to bed at 7:30 pm!

Caroline turned one on March 4 and then Clayton turned 30 the next day. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family! It was a 4-day extravaganza. More on Clayton’s birthday later. Here are some fun pictures from Caroline’s 1st birthday.

She started the day with a visit from Aiden and Eli. They were really interested in what Aiden was doing!

Then we went out dinner that night with family and Clayton thought she should try a lemon…ewww!

She LOVES the swing at the park! The Birthday Girl had to wear a cute flower in her hair.

She devoured her cupcake. I think she got a little shock from the sugar!

We then went home where she opened more presents! I love her expression here, “hmmm, which one should I open next?”

Here is a family shot after her party. We had such a wonderful time and made great memories!

So, I went to one of my favorite stores today…Target! I mean, who doesn’t love that store. I was immediately sucked in to their $1 section up front. I think I could have bought one of everything! But I reasoned with myself that I did not need another cute notepad or little tin containers…but I REALLY, REALLY wanted them!

I am definitely that shopper that talks herself out of buying something. I mean there were some great Sesame Street books that Caroline would have loved and they were only a $1. I think I need to go back and get them.

I was looking for some decoration and party stuff for Caroline’s first birthday. It is so easy to go over the top and she won’t even remember it! I think it’s more for me and Clayton that anything. She is not going to care if she has the plain pink plates or the more expensive but super cute patterned plates. Either way, I am having a lot of fun planning it! Sometimes I think planning for an event (or vacation) is more fun than the actual event. Call me crazy!

I was struck yesterday with how quick time goes by and how big Caroline is getting. The day started off with me making arrangements for her 1st birthday party…oh my gosh! I am so blown away that my baby is going to be one soon.

I remember when she was first born I thought time was going by so slow. The first 3 months to me felt like a year! I guess will all the lack of sleep and learning new things everyday about raising child was just a little overwhelming! Now, a month seems like 2 weeks and I feel before I can blink she will be two.

Anyways, back to yesterday. So Caroline can pull herself up, she does it all the time but never in her crib. We hadn’t lowered the mattress at all because it’s never been a problem. During her afternoon nap she decided it was time. It was so cute. Clayton went in there and she was crying her eyes out standing in the crib. (I think the crying was because of the nastiness in her diaper!) So now that she can stand, we lowered the mattress right away and it’s her new favorite trick.

Then in the afternoon we were playing on the floor together. If you have never seen her “crawl” it’s pretty funny. She does this army, combat crawl where she tucks her arms under and pushes with her feet. She has never crawled on her hands and knees until yesterday! She climbed right off my lap and just started crawling. I don’t know what was in the air but I guess she felt it should be a day of firsts!

Caroline has been so much fun lately and I grow to love her more everyday!

Apparently, I am a “Extrovert Self-Knowing Money Manager”.

According to this quiz anyway.

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I’m an

Extroverted Self-Knowing Money Manager

The meal turned out delicious! I somehow got Clayton to eat a dish without meat in it AND he enjoyed it! He usually will not consider it a meal if there is not meat included. I served it with salad and rolls, so it was very filling.

Here is the link to the recipe.

It’s from Taste of Home magazine, which I highly recommend. I love the recipes in it. I halved (is that a word) the recipe because I was only making it for me and Clayton. The full recipe fills up a 13×9 casserole dish. I think I will do the full version next time because we liked it so much and it would make great leftovers. The only thing I did differently, was to season my vegetables with salt, pepper and garlic powder before I roasted them.

I hope you are inspired to try something new for dinner tonight!

**Edit–OK, I just realized you might not be able to open the link because you have to subscribe to the magazine to search for the recipes. It is roasted vegetables and pasta with fontina and parmesan cheese. I can email it to you if you would like it. Sorry about that!