What Is A Quiggle?

Oh my goodness, time has flown by. I remember leaning Belle up against this fence. She was asleep and we woke her up and leaned her against the fence, then we picked her up and she went back to sleep. She has always been ready for a good photo op. We have been celebrating her birthday since Friday the 27th. That was the official day. Grandma and Grandpa Quiggle came along with Aunt Stacie and cousins Gavin and Damon. They were here until this morning. We love, love, love it when they come! Then Saturday we had a huge party. There are 4 cousins with birthday's in the span of a week.


Cooper (6), Belle (6), Grace (6), Joshua (3). (Yep, three of them born within the same week)
Let the good times roll! When I asked Belle what she wanted for her birthday she said "A real horse." I wish we could have one too, but a horse didn't fit in the budget or the yard. So I asked what she wanted besides a horse. She said "To be a real cowgirl." I told her she was already a real cowgirl. What else do you want? She said "A real barn with a real horse in it." I hope she stays in this cowgirl phase for a long time! I will pray she never asks for a Bratz girl (she knows not to, and if she does she is getting a horse.)



We love our Belle! She is so much fun. Lately I have loved watching her do things for Reeve. On library day at school she gets to pick out two books. She has been picking one out for herself, and one for Reeve. Last week she brought him a monster truck book home for him. That makes me smile!
We love you Belle,you are our real cowgirl!

On Saturday I met up with some friends from my mission. I had a grand time! It was so much fun. Life happens and we aren't able to get together near enough. It's amazing the things you can remember once you get talking. We had some good laughs, and time went by too fast.


Here is the now picture. I had a blast going through the "then" pictures.


This is me as "Sister Bell." I am with "Sister Woodward." AKA Stacie. I landed in New Jersey really late on December 23rd. So this picture was taken on my first real day in the mission field, Christmas Eve. Stacie and I had a blast together!! I got the best trainer a greenie could have. We had some serious laughs. I could tell you a few stories that would still put me into tears of laughter, but I don't want to embarrass Stacie. :) (Ford Escort-mud hole, Starry night)


Here we are at transfers where we both received greenies. I guess I shouldn't have cropped the picture.
Not only did we have the best time together, we saw many blessing, lot's of success, and we were able to share the gospel with unforgettable people. It was a sad day when she was transferred out of Washington New Jersey. I was a really lucky gal to have my trainer be the missionary I wanted to become.


This is "Sister Barlow." AKA Andrea. We were in Union City together. Wow, we got to meet some crazies during our adventures. It was a really fun place to be. Nearly everyone in the area spoke spanish. That made for some fun times. And the town our apartment was in everyone was Korean. That's what I call a little bit of a language barrier. Andrea, remember when the massive water bug fell out of the cupboard?


Here we are in front of the church. It was a long bus ride away from our appartment. We have some great public transportation stories. When I think of my time as her comp there is only positives. That's all there was with her. Unfortunately Andrea and I weren't comps for a very long time, but we got to be roomies later on! She is on of the most positive, dedicated, hard working people I know. Not only that, she is loads of fun. I love hearing her tell funny stories.
I love these gals! They are those friends that you know aren't in your life for just a phase or short period of time, but they are permanent! I see us telling the same stories, and laughing just as hard thirty years from now. There is just something about being with someone day in and day out and baring your soul to them, and anyone who will listen. Thanks for the walk down memory lane ladies! Can't wait for the next get together.

Barnes has become a little talker. He likes to try and copy everything we say. Belle was laughing at him while he was talking away. I said to her "he's going to be a jabber box, just like who?" She said "Dr. Laura."

My sister-in-law Tam found some awesome Huggies coupons. Here's what I got.
Nearly 2,000 wipes, 5 bottles of lotion and body/hair wash.
Total $85
My Price $8
Sweet!
Print coupons here.

Last week when Belle was off school for a few days we decided to make some cupcakes together. If you like your cake rich, you will love these. They were so rich I only took a couple of bites, but Aaron and the kids went to town.


They had a yummy cream cheese filling. The glaze had sweetened condensed milk in it. I don't have any idea why they tasted so rich. :)

So I should just go ahead and give a little Sunday report each week. After someone mentioned to me today that they were watching us during Sacrament Meeting and were entertained I figured I will just fill the rest of you in if you haven't heard already. Some of Belle's Primary comments have also been reported to me already too.
It was mainly just the usual stuff..the screaming at high decibels, throwing things and hitting the people in front and back of us yada yada yada. Then there was the lotion incident. I had just put a new little travel size bottle of lotion in the diaper bag. After we had gone through every single bribe to keep Reeve quiet I decided to let him hold the lotion. I turned the cap really tight so he couldn't open it. Aaron was holding him and I looked over and Reeve had this "what do I do now" look on his face. That would be because he got the lid off and nearly the whole bottle burst all over him. There was a huge squirt of it all down the side of his face. Then I looked down and it went all over the front of his shirt. What do you do? You don't want to get up and take him out, that would attract unwanted attention (I am laughing as I write that, it's all we attract). So you use a wipe and do the best you can. There goes that shirt.
I always try to just listen to the talks enough that I can figure out the topic. The returned missionary spoke on faith and the High Councilman spoke on prayer. (This is at least what I heard) So this week I am going to pray really hard and have faith that next Sunday will go better. How's that for applying it to my daily life?
(I would also like to report that Belle was an angel during Sacrament, and we wouldn't trade our two crazy boys for anything.)

Don't know what to do with your empty food storage cans? I was just throwing them in the recycle bin and knew I could find some other use for them. This is what I came up with.
My craft stuff needed some serious organization.

I got this plastic storage bin to put everything in.


Then I organized everything into the cans. It worked out great. Everything used to be scattered in various locations around the house. I have used the cans to organize some other things around the house too.

This is what I saw the other night when Reeve said "I'm Mary."
Yes, he means the mother of Jesus.

The other night we took the kids to the elementary school for literacy night activities. We walked down the the hall and there is a big poster with a small picture of each of the kids school picture on it. Belle pointed her picture out and then said "only famous people are on here."
Sometimes I really think I should put Belle in some acting classes or something. She definitely cracks me up.

Belle lost her first tooth on Wednesday the 25th. She had a tooth that was coming in behind it so we would wiggle it every day. I liked to tease her when I wiggled it. I would pretend it came out. She would look in my fingers and laugh. Well I gave it a good wiggle and this time it came out. Me and Belle both looked at the tooth, then at each other. Her eyes were huge! She didn't know what to do. We were both so surprised. It looked like she might cry so I said "cool Belle, give me five." Then she started to laugh. This all happened about 5 minutes before she needed to leave for school. She wasn't going to be late. She was all excited about showing up to school with her mouth bleeding and no tooth. She is so proud and shows everyone. It's fun to see her so excited, and sad to see another sign that my babies are growing up. All these firsts really are fun.