Busy? Yes, exactly!

Bella making a snow angel.

Merry Christmas!

We went to see Sue the T-Rex!

Jason and Bella headed off to a disco party!

Wonderful to see Rich and Jaedyn !

Here I am again shamed that its been months since my last blog post. Life in the Bartell household has been busy. Jason and I both traveled for work in November and December and the normal festivities around the holiday season didn't give us much breathing room. I managed to get everything x-mas ready in the nick of time. Our holidays were wonderful, full of family and fun. Christmas was quickly packed away at our house, decorations and gifts all found their proper place. As we were packing everything up Bella asked me "Christmas is over?" when I confirmed that Christmas was in fact over she replied "ooh, poor Christmas" she was much relieved when I explained that Christmas would be back next year.

I haven't even really taken notice that we are now in the year 2010. No new resolutions, no list of annual goals, nor to-do lists started...notta! Bella has been keeping us very busy and very entertained during the cold, snowy days of winter. (as you can see from the video) I look at pictures of Bella from the past year and can hardly believe how fast she has grown...clearly no longer an infant or toddler but now a little girl. I sent in her application for preschool this past week...before I know it we'll be deciding on high school activities and which college to attend.

Work continues to be busy for me with some travel planned in the next few months and an announcement this past week that my boss is planning to retire at the end of March. Although it's too soon to say what that might mean for me I'm hopeful that it will be positive. Jason is busy as always and although he will be working one less job soon (as the NFL season wraps up) I have no illusion of him becoming any less busy although we may see him more often on Sunday.

October 2009

Again I find myself trying to catch up on blog posts...seems like we have a trend here. Some highlights from October include a mini-vacation for Jason and I to wine country. We had a fantastic time, tasted some great wine and spent a small fortune on the two cases we had shipped back to MN.

We also took a family trip to Des Moines, IA in October. Jason had a 15-year Iowa State Patrol Academy reunion. Jason enjoyed seeing old friends and reminiscing, Bella and I enjoyed the pool at the hotel and the quality family time together.

Bella was a kitty cat for Halloween this year. We had so much fun with her this year, trick-or-treating was chilly but we enjoyed every moment. Bella is at such a precious age, her imagination is bounding, her vocabulary exploding and her energy is unending. She exhausts me and I wouldn't want it any other way, this parenting gig is truly amazing and so rewarding. I have so much to be thankful for. Enjoy the video from Halloween.

September 2009

Happy Birthday Jason!

I love this picture!

I have been traveling this month for seasonal kick-off presentations at one of our operations centers and our national call center. I spent a couple days in Chattanooga, TN, and a few days in Muncie, IN. Glad to be home for a while. Jason spent last weekend working with the Vikings in Detroit, maybe you saw him on TV with the coach!?

It has been a month to celebrate! Jason celebrated his birthday this month...again Bella was so excited. We bought Jason a DQ ice cream cake which of course she loved since her favorite part of any cake is the accompanying ice cream. When I explained to her this cake was made of ice cream she said "silly cake, it's all ice cream" - she makes me laugh everyday. Just for the record Jason is 36!

Next on the list of celebrating...Jason has completed his masters degree...he is DONE! No more weekly online chat, not more nightly homework, no more papers to write, no more responses to post online, no more assignments to read! And last but certainly not least no more tuition to pay. I'm so proud of how hard he worked and of his great accomplishment. He won't tell you this but he's graduationing Summa cum-laude...which means he received all A's...not a single freaking B in the whole mix. Love you honey!!

So you might be thinking we have enough to celebrate...but NO! Jason and I also just celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary. Seriously, where has the time gone!? I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and I am looking forward to all the adventures the next 10-years will bring!

In other news Jason is interviewing for a new job in the state patrol. He'll interview in a couple of weeks. It'd be a promotion if he gets the job...but we'd have to move...so I'll keep you posted.

August 2009

Making 35 look good

August was a blur...after coming back to work from vacation I was super busy...all those new products and programs for fall??? Yes, well I spent the greater part of August re-communicating details via webinars, sending out follow-up communications, ironing out details, leading the design and creation of new marketing materials for fall...that we just didn't have the time to do prior to August. Let's just say I'm glad I survived the month.

In other news, I celebrated my 35th birthday. WTF? How can I be this old already? It seems impossible. Bella LOVES celebrating birthdays though, so having her around made me forget all about my age as I truly enjoy everything so much through her eyes. Plus, I got some great gifts!

Jason spent a couple of weeks during the month up at Camp Ripley either being trained or training other people in preparation for his annual fall in-service firearms training program for all troopers throughout the state.

July 2009

Riding the train at Como Zoo!

Relaxation on Lake Kabatogama

No family vacation album is complete without a picture on a huge walleye

July was a busy month! We celebrated the fourth of July at the cabin and enjoyed some R&R with the family. We weren't able to keep Bella awake to see the fireworks...maybe next year. We had a great time taking Bella to the Como Zoo. During our visit we had a close encounter with a gorilla, it walked right up on the other side of glass from Bella and pounded the glass with his fist right in front of her...she jumped about 2-feet...I on the other hand only jumped about 1.5 feet.


Jason started a new job this month. He is still working for the state patrol but since when is one full-time job enough??? Jason is now adjunct faculty at Rasmussen College and is leading the development and implementation of their firearms I and II courses that are part of their new criminal justice skills program. So he has been busy putting together lesson plans, developing assignments, establishing grading standards etc. He'll be teaching one night a week down in Jordan. For now it is a 26-week commitment and then he can re-evaluate whether he wants to continue.

My work had its annual summer sales meeting in mid-July and I was busy for a full week introducing lots of new programs and products for fall, attending award banquets and meeting many, many new faces....now if I could only remember all their names. Immediately after the summer meeting we took our 2nd annual trip to Lake Kabetogama, which is up by Voyager's Ntl Park. It was an unusually cool week but we managed to relax, do some boating, fishing and relaxing by the pool. Bella had so much fun playing with all the kids that it actually felt like a vacation for us too!

Father's Day: A Musical Tribute

Ponies and more!

I'm proud to say Bella has enough hair to put little pigtails in...barely, but we can do it. We've been enjoying the nice dry weather this month...I know the rain is needed but you won't find us complaining about the nice mosquito-free month we've had. Bella is officially potty trained, it's official since our daycare costs have gone down :-). She does everything all by herself...the only thing she hasn't quite mastered is staying dry through the nights and naps...so we still put on the precautionary pull-up for those occasions.

Bella's new thing lately is "yeah" instead of "yes" and "what's that?" to basically everything...even when she already knows what "that" is. We have a gray fox family living in our front yard and it's been fun seeing the momma fox and other wildlife (deer, hawks, woodpeckers, etc) around the yard this spring. On the technical front Bella is mastering my iPhone and has many apps of her very own. As you can see we like to keep her busy with art projects among other things, she especially loves finger painting.

I've been keeping busy at work planning for next fiscal year, preparing for our annual summer meeting and the fall preschool photography season. Jason's work schedule is calm for now...but when you add in school work, and his "other" jobs his plate is full. I have a feeling this summer will have come and gone before we know it.

In case of Swine Flu...

We are well outfitted with the necessary precautionary masks...seriously only in our household!

No time to post...so here's a video!

Just a quick clip for your viewing pleasure...

Funny Bunnies

We had a great Easter! We discovered our Bella is an expert egg hunter. She scans the horizon, locks it and takes off running to bag her find. We are excited that spring has finally sprung and have been spending large amounts of time outside on the swingset. Not much else new with us...busy as usual, about one more month of crazy schedules before life returns to a more normal routine.

Easter Morning...Bella insisted on wearing her 4th of July attire!

Everyone wore bunny ears!!

On the hunt!

A to Z

What's new you ask? Well nothing really...life is moving along at a fast clip, I can't believe March is almost over. Jason has been very busy with work and has been spending the last couple weeks up at Camp Ripley and I have been just as busy with work and all the duties that come with having Bella all to myself. We've been managing fine - with a little help from family and friends. :-)

Bella has moved to a toddler bed and the transition has gone well, only one night did she come and find me at 4:00 AM. Potty training is also going great, she tells us when she has to "go" and only wears pull-ups during nap and at night. We had her 2-year portraits taken yesterday and also visited the Easter Bunny while we were at the mall...Bella hugged that bunny multiple times before her time was up....so sweet. Speaking of things soft and cuddly we've had a stray kitten on our porch for the last few days. I let Bella go outside today and play with the kitten and before I could stop her she was carrying that cat around the yard...butt up by her face and head down by her knees. I'm not saying this kitty has found a new home...but the kitty has made it pretty clear he would like us to adopt him.

Last but not least Bella can sing her ABC's accurately from start to finish.

2 going on 6?

Isabella turned 2-years old on Saturday. It is hard to believe how much Bella has grown from a little baby into a little girl. We had a full house on Saturday to celebrate the occasion, Isabella had a great time. Bella loved her balloons and opening her presents but the highlight by far was when the birthday cake came out and everyone sang Happy Birthday! The expression on her face was one of absolute bliss...you could tell she felt special and important...the center of every one's attention as she sang along and blew out her candles. I wish I had it on video! She received so many great gifts and has been busy playing with them every chance she gets.

Interestingly when you ask Bella how old she is she says "six". When we say "No, you're two! Say Two!" She'll oblige, but when we ask her again how old she is..."six"

Isabella had her 2-year doctor check-up this week, below are her stats:

Height: 35.5-inches (90th percentile) - she's tall! I'm hoping she's inherited her daddy's long legs! funny daddy long legs! HA!

Weight: 28-pounds (70th percentile)

I guess the staff at the clinic were entertained when Bella kept telling everyone she saw "I want to see Doctor Rogan"

Random funny story: While we were eating dinner one night this week we had the radio turned on and out of the blue and just clear as a bell Isabella starting singing along with the lyrics. I don't know the name/artist of the song...but is goes something like this "I know better not to be friends with boys with girlfriends, oh I know better, I know better..." Bella sang along to the "I know better" part every time. CRAZY! Jason and I just looked at each other in amazement!

Every moment

The State's Special Response Team (SRT), of which Jason is a member, was called to the standoff incident north of Detroit Lakes where local deputy was shot. Events like this really make me stop and count my blessings.

In a world where life is busy and mountains can be made out of mole hills it is important to remember that every moment we have is so precious. We can't sweat the small stuff.

Isabella will be 2 years old at the end of the month. All I can say is "wow, where did the time go?"

Little Star

Well once again the week flew by! I've been suffering with a terrible cold this week...I've now entered the uncontrollable coughing stage. Work is busy, but fun busy, busy I can handle, busy with interesting projects...so no complaints.

With each passing week Isabella is getting better with potty training. She can sing her ABC's up to G and sings along with us to Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle and You are my Sunshine. Her little singing voice is so precious. It is such a wondrous and amazing experience to observe Bella's personality, she is such a sweet little girl, silly, happy, smart, and an entertainer for sure...I know, I know... but she brings me so much happiness sometimes it just overflows into gushing.

Quick update

Life has been busy in the Bartell household this month. We have been working hard at potty training and Bella is doing great, she's stayed dry all day on many occasions and she is starting to let us know when she has to go...but I imagine it will still be some time before we aren't setting a timer in 60-minute intervals for "potty time".

Isabella is talking up a storm, singing songs and literally growing up before our eyes. She insists on eating meals in the big chair and her highchair has been stowed away, she climbed out of her crib for the first time over the weekend and soon I'm sure she'll be doing it on a regular basis. I haven't had a chance to download the most recent videos but here is a favorite of mine from back in December...I hope it adds a smile to your day.

Hello 2009!

Happy New Year! Jason rang in 2009 with friends on an annual ice fishing trip up north. New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful for me...after tucking in Bella I relaxed and painted my toenails...a little self-pampering goes a long way.

This past weekend we focused on potty training with big girl underpants and a timer set every hour to help remind us when it was time to potty. Isabella did really good, only a couple little accidents, she earned lots of candy! Bella also entertained us this weekend with spontaneous singing, she makes up little songs and sings her little heart out...I'll try to get one on video for a upcoming post.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2009!