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So my good friend Jewels has tagged me to post the 4th photo in my 4th folder of my blog’s existence… I take that to mean the 4th month of my blog (ever? really? eek!).

Well, I dug DEEP and found that the 4th photo in my 4th month of blog life was this one:

Wow, my first ever senior session in March of ‘07! Surprisingly, it wasn’t a photo of miss K! (GASP!)

So… the conditions of this tag were for me to 1.) post this photo; and 2.) tag 4 other friends to do the same! So… hmmm… I tag:

Ariana,Bobbi,Jenn,and Mandy! I can’t wait to see what was in the 4th/4th of your blogs girls!

Kaitlyn has recently become attached to this bear. But he is no ordinary bear. He just so happens to have been MY constant companion when I was younger as well. So he is a very special bear. As you can see, he may be worn and tattered due to a long life of being loved and abused (LOL), but he has seen a lot and silly as it sounds, he was my best friend when I was little. He even still has the shape he took of being smashed slightly sideways by spending night after night held tightly in my arms as I slept.

She seems to like him an awful lot too.

I am happy to report that miss K is feeling much better! She felt well enough to go to school today, after resting all morning and alternating between snuggling with momma and watching Cinderella in her bedroom.

She really loves that movie!

We didn’t do anything exciting today… it was COLD outside and it even spit snow for a little while (not accumulating to anything though.) So today is what I’d call a normal day in the Bell house… fighting boys, laundry piles, doing chores, eating a late dinner, threats to take baths… yep, all in a day’s work.

Here are a couple of random snapshots of the boys this evening too… to look at this blog lately, it seems like I only have one child. I swear I have two others!

Austin, while we were watching the Jeff Dunham Christmas special (I know… I know… I really SHOULDN’T let them watch that crap, but dangit, it’s FUNNY!)

Devin playing on the computer (this is actually a rare sight, it is usually Austin who hogs all the computer time, LOL)

Being sick sucks.

We thought of you with love today,
But that is nothing new.
We thought about you yesterday,
And days before that too.
We think of you in silence.
We often speak your name.
Now all we have is memories
And your picture in a frame.
Your memory is our keepsake,
With which we’ll never part.
God has you in His keeping,
We have you in our heart.

Devin & Papa, summer ‘07

Kaitlyn & Papa, summer ‘06

Today is a sad day.
It’s the one-year anniversary of my father in law Dave’s sudden passing.
I can’t even wrap my mind around it that it’s been this long, it still feels so fresh and raw.
Not a day goes by we don’t think of him and miss him terribly… there is a huge void in our lives that will never be filled until we meet again in heaven.

It’s rainy and dull again today, so not much opportunity for outdoor photos yet again. I went out for just a few minutes though and noticed immediately how beautiful and saturated the colors seemed- especially the red leaves and my red roses (who are still hanging on for dear life and even producing new buds despite the cold).

It’s amazing to me how even in the cold, gray rain there is still beauty to be found if you look hard enough.

It’s such a blah day today. COLD, and RAINY, and ICK. Which is fitting, giving today’s significance in my family. Today marks the one year anniversary of my cousin’s sudden departure from this earth. He is still missed, so much. The lack of his jolly presence at the family reunion this year was glaring. My thoughts and prayers are with his parents, and his wife and children today.

Today is also, of course, Veteran’s Day. A day to take a moment to remember our troops, past and present, who have fought and given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Without them, where would we be? Really?

I didn’t do much by way of photos today, this yucky weather just takes it all out of me.

I did snap a few macros of my cinnamon broom that my sis Audrey gave me- this thing smells AMAZING! If you don’t know what a cinnamon broom is, click here to find out!

I really wish there were some way to make a blog post “scratch n’ sniff”. MMMM.

And hey mom, look! Devin actually DOES have eyeballs!

Today, it was my turn to get a super cute hat from Anita!

Also, today reinforced my theory that I totally suck at taking self portraits with the remote! I can never get myself in focus, no matter what I do!

Oh well.

I had fun anyway. (as I’m SURE you can tell!)

Sorry. We didn’t do anything new today.

They took turns burying each other in the leaf pile… of course miss priss refused to be buried.

Said the leaves were too “itchy”.

Does anyone else with little girls have this problem with their pants staying up? I swear I have tried different brands, different sizes (any bigger and they REALLY fall down, any smaller and they aren’t long enough), different waist styles (elastic, adjustable, etc)… and I can NOT find a pair of jeans that will stay up on Kaitlyn! She has NO hips and a straight up and down waist!

Next option is suspenders… they could make a comeback, right?

Wow, I haven’t been that nervous about something so trivial as a blog in a LONG time! I honestly thought it was gone forever. But it’s fixed, nothing got lost (thank GOODNESS!), and I’m back! Talk about withdrawals!

At least I didn’t do a whole lot while I was “gone” that needs catching up on. *snort*

So I’ll just start back with today.

This seems to be almost a daily activity here, and it’s a great way for miss K to burn off all that energy she seems to have!

As a matter of fact, she and the boys are all outside doing this as I type. The funny part is, the leaves aren’t even “mine”- all of my trees are evergreens except for my small-ish magnolia tree. The neighbor has a GIGANTIC oak tree, the majority of whose leaves seem to have fallen or been blown into my yard. Oh well!

Making leaf angels!

And I just loved this one for some reason- she was running toward me to get the rake.