She goes into a tv trance whenever the show airs.

You ask her, “What’s another word that begins with the letter ‘i’?” and she says, “Iguanodon!”

At dinner she says, “Mom’s a vegetarian just like Ned the brontosaurus.”

You hear la-la-loooo and graaaak coming from her room during “quiet” time.

She insists that you help her draw the entire Pteranodon family. (Dad drew the short straw for this request.)

The dinosaur in the middle is Buddy. He’s a T-Rex. Am I the only one who thinks Mrs. Pteranodon has some explaining to do?

I can’t believe it’s the middle of July. It seemed like camp season was so far away and now we’re already in our second week. Vacation bible school was a huge hit. On her last day, Bella was really sad it was over. I hope she has just as much fun this week.

What have I been doing during camp? Last week I was close enough to go home and work. The next few weeks I’ll be hitting the coffee shop circuit with my creative journal to get some writing done and new projects planned.

We have a few traditions in our house when we watch Formula One. My favorite is when Bella grabs her cars and places them in parc fermé. This probably isn’t according to regulation, but it is pretty darn cute.

Tonight we grabbed some sandwiches and headed to the park. It was a great night for dining al fresco and flying a kite. I love summertime in Nebraska!

I can’t believe it. My “baby” is almost finished her first year of preschool. How did that happen so fast? Last week they had an ice cream party at the park for all of the kids and their families.

It was nice for me to chat with some of the moms for longer than, “Good morning!” and “Have a nice weekend!” Of course, the kids enjoyed their ice cream and playground sugar rush.

I couldn’t be more happy with our choice of schools. She loves it there. She also loves her teachers. Can you tell?

May Day was a perfect day for the first Farmers’ Market of the season. We bought a small tomato and a small cucumber plant from our favorite vendor. We also got a big bunch of the most amazing asparagus.

Bella listened to the steel drum band and shared her first lemonade with her Dad. We’re looking forward to many more Saturday mornings like this one!

It took some convincing, but Bella finally agreed to let me make an appointment for her first haircut. Thankfully, Miss Shannie has a salon in her home and lives right across the street. She also has a TV for watching PBS Kids and lollipops for afterward.

We only cut a little bit off — just evened up the back with the front. Without the extra weight, her super duper curls spring right up! She loves that her curls don’t get tangled anymore. We love that she no longer screams when we brush her hair.

Is it possible that she’s even cuter now?

We had a wonderful day at the zoo with friends today. The weather was beautiful! The girls were cute! And I forgot my camera! Oh, well. Cell phone pics are better than no pics, right?

It’s official. Dress weather is here in Nebraska. I’m so glad this one fits. My daughter is growing too fast. It’s a size 4 and some of the 4s in her closet will barely make it to June. I found the cutest fall jacket for her this weekend that’s a size 5 and the sleeves are too short. I am not ready to buy size 6 clothes!

Already this year we’ve crossed a few milestones. Bella has been sleeping in a Big Girl Bed for a few months. She no longer looks small in it. Yikes! She’s also swimming like a little fish and has graduated to the Eel level at the Y. She’s doing simple math, and get this, she’s already reading.

I’ve encouraged the swimming lessons, but everything else has been her doing. She insisted on the new bed and refused to sleep in her toddler bed until we bought one. Yep, she slept on the floor until we could get up to the mattress store.

She’s completely in love with letters and numbers. I got her a Leap Frog dvd about the “silent e” because I was having trouble explaining the concept to her. Something just clicked and after a few different dvds, she just started reading. Whole books at a time! Of course, now we have to watch what we leave around so she doesn’t ask, “Mom, what’s a hooker?”

Even though I don’t update here a lot, you can find Bella-influenced posts over at julie-k. There’s a tutorial on how to make the sandals in the above picture and a close up of her Liberty of London dress, too.

I have to include a hair shot in this post, because Bella’s going to get her first haircut soon, hopefully this week. It’s never been cut and needs a little shaping. I think this milestone is the most difficult for me. I’m still leaving it long, but it kills me to cut any of these curls.