Lot's of Maui Pictures

We're home and it felt sooooo good to hold Rylee and hug the girls. Mike and I had a blast. It was really refreshing and they gave us a lot more free time this year. Mike and I also went a day early and left a day later so that was really nice. We went snuba diving, (no, I didn't spell that wrong). It's in between snorkeling and scuba diving. You use oxygen but it's attached to a 20 ft. tube that is attached to the oxygen that is floating on top of the water on a raft. Make sense? LOL! It was AWESOME! The ocean freaks me out but I wasn't scared when I was down there. I saw huge turtles and a pregnant white tip shark that was WAYYYY bigger than the lady made it sound, look above and I think you'll agree! There are a ton more snuba pictures so if we can bore you with some more, let us know!

It was nice not being pregnant this year. I'm posting a picture of each night we were at an event and as you'll see, most of them we are holding Mai Tai's or champagne. They had them waiting on trays to hand out when we walked in and sense we always tried to get a picture right away so we wouldn't forget, we look like heavy drinkers!

Mike and I also learned something on this trip. The ocean and kayaking don't mix with us. We signed up to do the kayaking and snorkeling with the turtles excursion. Mike and I were both so seasick we paddled back with a guide after the first stop. Not even being in the water helped. I think they lost at least a third of the group though, so we weren't alone. In fact some friends we met from last year were supposed to go and when we left they weren't on the bus. We wondered why until we found out that they had been tipped off about the seasickness so they opted to skip. It was a smart move! We did see a nice big turtle though, so it wasn't a total loss!

Mike is forwarding more pictures we downloaded onto his work computer so I'll post more later.
The Goo Goo Dolls also gave everyone a private concert and that was cool because most farmers agent's are, shall we say, getting up there in age, so it wasn't that large of a crowd by the stage. We were really close to the band

A Mother's Day Card

Emily made me her first mother's day card at school. It was really very cute, it's definitly going to go into the preschool file. I thought what she wrote, (or rather what the teacher wrote and she said), was really funny.
Thought you might enjoy it...

(From Emily): I drew you a heart and a rainbow. Happy Mother's Day. I want to go to Waterworks Park in the summer time. My mom loves me. To my mom Jamie. Emily

I guess since she figured she went to all that trouble to make a nice card she would just put in a request too!

9 Months

Rylee will be 9 months old on Thursday. As usual, it doesn't seem possible. Time truly is flying by. She is doing great. She is super happy and super easy. I couldn't ask for a better baby. Still sleeps great, eats great and loves her sisters, baths and her other baby friends. She gets so excited around other kids, it's so cute. She screams and flaps her arms and legs. She still isn't crawling but she is scooting herself wherever she wants to go. I need to get it on camera, she actually looks very dorky with what she does. Not even sure I could call it scooting. She looks really funny doing it next to Jackson who crawls like a pro!
She had a nine month checkup today. She looks really good other than the normal still not gaining weight fast. She's a whopping 13lbs 9oz.! Go Rylee! She is also 27 inches long. So since 9 months she's gained 1 lb. 9oz. but she has grown 1 and 3/4 inches, so at least we have that to hold on to! She's a total pig so the eating doesn't really match with the growth! She loves her food! I'm pretty sure she's going to turn into a cheerio any minute!

Call it what you want...

I recently I've been struggeling with where to read in the bible. Do I find another devotional, pick a book in the Bible to read, The Daily Bread devotion? I wasn't sure. But I've always wanted to read through the Bible and have started many time but never got too far. So, I think there are some of you out there that hopefully will want to join me. I'll be following the chapters that are laid out in this website http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/readingplans/comprehensive.php
So whether you want to do it to strengthen your relationship with God, as a personal challenge, or just as a starting point as you don't know where to begin...call it what you want but I would love to have you join me. It will be a great way to keep each other accountable. I know God speaks to us through his word so I'm excited to find out what he wants me to hear! I'll be posting often on what I'm learning and reading and struggeling with and hopefully we can figure things out together. The blog I created is on my friends and family list but you can also follow this...http://walkthruthebible.blogspot.com/.
I'll probably start this Monday to give you time to think and pray about whether this is right for you!

Follow Ups and Stuff

Emily and Ally's hair turned out really cute from those rags you saw. They had majorly kinky curly hair but once I did something to it, it turned out adorable. Lots of people loved it. Ally got a nice cut above her eye at church to go with her beautiful hair!

I asked Em's teacher if she knew what Em means when she says she "greets" her food. And she means just that...they actually do greet their food when they don't like it. They get a small portion of it and then have to try it, or as they say, greet it. I thought it was a little weird, but hey, whatever works right?

Some of the pictures that are just for fun are of the girls in the shopping cart at Home Depot for yet another paint run. And this particular time it

was in Red Bluff because our Home Depot was out of the Fresh Aire brand. If anyone hasn't heard of it, it's great. It's all biodegradable, from the paint to the can. It has no odor whan you paint and is totally safe for the kiddos. I highly recommend it but it's a little more pricy. But it does coat really well.

The other ones are Jack, who had crawled into the bottom of Rylee's toy and laid down. It was so cute. And I love the one of Nana and Rylee, so cute! And last but not least, the "boots" on Allyson's feet are the princess purses my mom got the girls in Disneyworld, that truly shows what she thinks of princess things. She's not going to be my girly girl.

Rag Curlers

I've always wanted to try doing the girls hair in rag curlers but have never actually taken the time to read about it and try. So tonight I got online and read about how to do it, cut the rags from a pillow case, (as suggested), and did Allyson's hair. It looked fun, they're softer to sleep in than foam curlers, and if they turn out they could eliminate a little time for hair on our crazy Sunday morning schedule. Ally went in to show Emily who was in her room and Emily came running out wanting the same thing. I wasn't going to do her hair because it's so short but couldn't resist the excitment I saw in her eyes. So we rag rolled her hair too. I hope it turns out cute, it was hard to get the very end of her hair to roll into the rag so a little touch up might be

needed. They looked so cute when we were done! Emily, who normally balks at getting her hair done actually asked if I would do it on a school night!

What???

I'm hoping someone can find the true meaning of this...

When we are eating dinner, when Emily sees somthing she doesn't like, (which I swear is almost every night), she says this...

"Mommy, when you see somthing on your plate and you don't like it, then you have to greet it."

What????!!!!! I to this day have not figured it out. We are assuming it's something from preschool because they eat lunch there as a group everyday. So, I plan on asking her teacher what she's talking about. She obviously is misunderstanding. All I keep picturing is her saying hello to the peas on her plate..."Hello, peas, my name is Emily. It's nice to meet you but I don't like you so I'm not going to eat you unless forced to."

Anyway, if any of you out there have any idea what this means please let me know. It's killing me. I actually made a notation on my calendar to remind me to ask her teacher Monday morning.

Acrobatic Painting

Mike and I finally decided to bite the bullet and paint almost our entire house. The living room, dining room, stairs, upstairs hall and loft. It's been a lot of work and I for one am tired! Mom's, you might not want to look at the pics or read this part...we had to be very creative when it came to the stairs and tall ceilings. We had a 17' ladder that worked on some spots, but others, like mid stairs, we had to put bricks on one stair to bring it level to the next one and then get on the ladder so I could tape and eventually paint. We didn't want the ceiling the same color so we taped the ceiling off but even though we bought the really good tape, it wasn't perfect so I had to hand touch up the whole staircase. I got smart this time and stood on the ledge and either leaned over or put one foot onto the window ledge. Mike had to take all the blinds off and put them back up, one was 17' upbove the landing, it was a little scary. I did everything else mostly so he could hold the ladder. I was SO glad when it was over. It literally took all Sunday afternoon trying to figure it out and then actually getting the nerve up to do it.

It was well worth it, I love the new colors. It adds so much to our house. The girls were amazing while we painted. I felt really bad as they had to entertain themselves all day for 4-5 days with the only outing being Home Depot for paint or supplies.

At The Park With Friends!

This and That...

Today is our anniversary, 7 years to my great husband. I am still so glad that I married him! It has definitly never been boring and I have learned a lot. I have especially learned that in this world there are a lot of business ventures you can explore. Mike, I'm just glad you and Leslie never opened your burrito bus. I don't think the burrito bus could get us to Maui!

Some of the above pictures are of the kiddos in nursery on Sunday. We now have quite an armload...Serenity, (almost 3), Weston (2), Ally (2), Bella (2), Trenton (1.5), Rylee (8mo), Jack (almost 8mo), Wyatt, (4mo), and Zachary (2mo). That is 9 Bridge kids. God is truly growing our church.

The one with Rylee asleep is so cute. And yes, she is in a bathtub. We were at my grandma's painting her spare room and I couldn't find my playpen. So we made a bed for her in the bathtub. Funny thing is...she slept so long both days she got to used it for her nap! HMMM, maybe that should be her permanent sleeping spot?

And last but not least, Rylee supporting the Giants on opening day. Too bad they couldn't help her out and win. Ally has a really cute jersey that she borrowed from Rylee's shower but I forgot to snap a picture of her, so I'll get that to you soon. By the way, Ally is making daddy SOOO proud because she is our baseball fanatic. She loves when Mike plays, she'll sit and watch the whole time. She also gets excited when we play softball or the game is on tv. It's so cute. See, even girls can enjoy your love of sports all you guys out there!

New Camera...

Emily took this picture of Michael and I, I thought she did pretty well considering I never let her touch the camera normally. Maybe I should let her more often!

Last weekend we bought a new camera because ours was kind of big and I never carried it anywhere we went. So we got a new one that fits nicely into my diaper bag and eventually my purse. So here are just some cute pictures I took at the park last night.

In other news...Rylee is going to turn 8 months on Tuesday. That just doesn't seem like it could be right. 8 months sounds so old! She's still so sweet and cuddly. I love that. She's kind of a mix between Emily and Ally. She needs a little more stimulation than Ally did but not as much as Emily did. I think she's starting to finally gain some weight. According to my scale she is in the mid 13's. It's really helping our car situation that she's staying small, I'm not sure we could turn a bigger car seat rear facing without me hugging the dashboard in the front seat!

I Think We Need A Bigger Tub!

A conversation with Emily...

Emily: mommy can you sing at church where Daddy sings? (up front leading).
Me: No, mommy doesn't sing well enough for that.
Emily: You can sing loudly if you try.
Me: I can sing loud but not good.
Emily: Oh, and then people will laugh and point at you and that won't be good?
Me: Right.
Emily: I would like to sing up there. Daddy told me I could sing up there with him and I went up there but then Joel told me no and to go sit down. That wasn't very nice. He was rude.

Gees Joel, can't you let the girl sing! She just wants to sing!

Poor Allyson!

Poor Allyson is having allergies hit her hard...again. She's on the full dose of Zyrtec, baths every night and eye drops a few times a day. Luckily she lets me do the eye drops fairly well, she'll even ask for them. Anyway, as you can tell, this was after her bath and she woke up worse this a.m. I think this wind isn't helping. I feel bad for her but I think she's going to learn to live with it, it doesn't seem like it's going away anytime soon.

A Busy Easter Weekend

We had a very busy fun weekend. We started Saturday by going to our churches Easter egg hunt. It was unique in that we dropped 10000 eggs from a helicopter for the kids to gather. The girls had a blast. They sat with the Easter bunny, did an egg toss, got their face painted and then were pelted with eggs! Ally didn't like the helicopter egg drop so much. She sat in my moms lap on the sidelines. One egg landed right in between her neck and shoulder and stuck there. I guess she didn't bat and eyelash. There was an estimated 400+ people there. It was definilty packed.

After that, we dropped Rylee off at Nana and Papa's house and took the girls to the mall carnival. They had so much fun. Ally liked the simple rides but Emily has changed a lot in the past few years. Her favorite ride was the one where you go in and stand against the wall and the room spins really fast and it suctions you to the wall. She thought that was great. She actually wanted to ride some of the bigger rides but she wasn't tall enough. That was a huge step for her. They were very tired by bedtime!

Sunday we woke up nice and early. Mike and I both had to be to church a little extra early than we normally do. So we gave the girls a "look" at their easter baskets before we ran out the door for church. After church we had nana, papa and grammy over for a little bbq. We decided to make it low key

this year and it was really nice. They got to open their Easter baskets and grammy and nana even brought stuff over. They had a really nice day. I think it's a good thing that Emily has the week off, I think she'll need it.

On a side note, Rylee decided it was time to start sitting. She has to be put in that position but she does really well once she's there. I even let her take a bath with the other girls, I had to hang on to her most of the time but she really looked super proud to be one of the big girls. Also, I would have more pictures of the girls in their cute Easter dresses but to be honest, I've given up with expecting any super cute pictures as my girls ALL have the allergies and don't look all the well! Oh well, we'll just have to look all the cuter come Christmas!

No More Bouncer =(

Every since Rylee was first born, the bouncer has been the spot I put her when I'm getting ready in the morning. She's off the ground so Ally won't trip over her and most importantly, she stayed in there happily for the longest time. But, as the pictures show, she is getting too mobile for the bouncer. She flips herself over and often times has her knees on the ground and is leaning into it. If I buckle her up, the bouncer loses it's appeal to her. So, does anyone want a bouncer? If not, into the yard sale pile it goes!

She did find a new toy she likes though, a green necklace. She could play with that forever. Unfortunately it's also Allyson's favorite so while it keeps her happy for a long time, it's only as long as Ally will let her have it.

Ally and Bella's REAL Babies!

I thought I would post some more cute pictures. But on a side note, before I got Rylee her little table booster I didn't have a place to really feed her. So the other night we had the wilburn clan (2 adults 3 kids), the smiths, (2 adults 1 infant), and us, (2 adults 3 kids), over for pizza. There was almost no room anywhere. As I was looking for a place to plop down and feed Rylee, Jenn suggested Bella's baby stroller as a joke. I looked at it and then at Rylee and decided to give it a try. It actually was perfect! Anyway, afterward Bella and Ally were fighting over pushing their "live" baby. So we plopped Jackson in the other one and let them push them around where we were sitting. They looked SOOO proud of themselves. I told Jenn that we probably just started a new trend. Who wants to use baby dolls when you can use your sister or brother?

Earlier that night, Rylee and Jack were, Of course, getting cranky when dinner was being eaten. So we gave them each one of those baby biquits. Now, I should say that I have always had my gut tell me not to give them those, with all three of my girls. Between them I've probably only given each girl one. Anyway, I was desperate and hungry and it was noisy so I put her in her play station and gave her one. Within 10-15 seconds she had bit off a huge piece and it logged in her throat. I was trying to do the finger sweep but couldn't get it. Dr. Jed, our friend was hovering above me waiting to take over. I finally got it but it took a minutes. I just kept yelling that I couldn't get it over and over. It was probably one of the scariest things I've ever experienced. Lesson learned? Listen to instincts and don't EVER give those to your kids. I should have known better!