My Baby Is One Tomorrow...And lots of other things...Beware, Lots Of Pictures

This is right after we brought Rylee home from the hospital...

A Year later...

Visiting with our cousins...Karissa, Abby, Zachary, and Cadenne.

A day at the park...

We have had the busiest summer this year. We went on trips, waterworks, losts of days with friends, activities, vbs, swimming, camping, movies and the list goes on and on and on.

Just this week, we visited my neices and nephew from L.A., which was a ton of fun. The five year olds, Emily and Abby, never left each others sides. We also got to meet our new littlest cousin, Cadenne, whom we hadn't met yet so that was fun. Then Sunday we went to a swim birthday party for Tricia and completely wore out my girls. Ally fell asleep on the way to get Rylee, slept through that, the car wash, and into bed, where we let her sleep with her clothes on. Then Monday, we met Tricia, Weston, and Wyatt at the park and then went to Target to shop. Yes, we took five children to Target, but it was a lot of fun. Then yesterday, we met Vicki and her grandaughter, Emily, at Waterworks right when they opened at 10. Rylee, Ally and I left at 12 for lunch and naps. But the Emily's wanted to stay so Vicki kept them there until 3:30. Emily also took a big step, she went down the raging river, a fast tube ride, for the first time. She went with me the first time in the 2 person tube Vicki bought and let us borrow. Then she traded that in for a 3 person tube so they could all go. They spent a good portion of the day doing that. Then, by the end of the day, she went down in her own tube all by herself! When they left, vicki treated them to lunch and playtime at her house. We picked her up after dinner, and she was exhausted. Then today we ran errands and met Leslie at Walmart to buy some stuff for the church nursery. So overall, it's been a very fun, busy, tiring week! Only 11 days until school! YIPEE!

And lastly, bitersweetly, my littlest turns one tomorrow. Sad and exciting at the same time. I guess if you can't stop them from growing, you might as well enjoy each stage. So I hope you enjoy some cute pictures of our big one year old!

Ticket To Heaven

Emily spent a couple weeks at VBS recently and I have to say, it seems as though both churches really got the message of salvation across. On this past Thursday we were driving home from meeting Nana half way and Emily was telling me the story of Jesus' death on the cross and what it meant. While we're getting dressed, or driving in the car, cooking or whatever quiet time Em and I have to talk, I'll sometimes ask her questions like, why did Jesus die? What's sin? Do you sin? And so forth, just to get her thinking. So I figured she was just telling me what we had talked about over time. But she went on to say she wanted to ask Jesus in her heart so she could live with him in heaven forever. She started to pray but then said she couldn't remember the words so she asked me to pray and then she wanted to repeat. So we did that in the car and I looked in the review mirror when we were done and she had this awesome smile on her face and she pronounced, "Now I have my ticket to Heaven!" I got a little worried that she thought she was going to get some sort of ticket in the mail so when I told her there wasn't, she said, "I know mommy, I just mean I get to be with Jesus in Heaven now!"
The next day she went up and did the alter call at VBS, which is fine with me. We just talked to her and told her now that Jesus is in her heart, it's forever.
I was a little concerned that she is too young to fully understand, but she seems to get it and, as my friend and I discussed, we have to work to grow her faith from here.
I just thought you all might like to hear her story!

Family Camp

Our church had family camp this weekend up at Lake Siskyou. We planned on coming up for the day but decided last minute to camp. So on the day we were to leave, after a children's ministry meeting and Mike's haircut, Mike and I raided Target and Walmart and got all the supplies we needed. We made it up there at about 3 and got to our campsite. It was nice, however DIRTY. Now I know what you are thinking...that's not saying a lot coming from a neat-freak like me but it's true. That was probably the dustiest campsite I've ever been to. And Emily took great advantage of her ability to get dirty. She even got dirtier than the 2 year olds and her friends Tessa and Becca. And, no joke, in about 2 minutes. She had a cold so she kept rubbing her nose with her dirty hands and it was all I could do to keep her face recognizable! So she was voted dirtiest kid for the weekend!

We took Allyson up with us, (my parents ended up coming with Rylee last minute), and we found she is not our camper. She did NOT like the dirt in the least bit. She also didn't like the cold nights. She woke up the next morning saying it was cold and she wanted to go home to Nana's house. So since my dad had to work the next day, Nana took the two youngest home and just left us with Tessa and Emily.

So Mike and I decided that camping was fun, we hadn't done it in years. And now that we have the stuff we're thinking down the road we would try Patricks Point. Can you believe Mike has never heard of it or been there?

Vacation Bible School

Emily and Tessa are in Sonworld, (that's the theme, no clue what it's about), VBS this week. It's the same church where they went to the Western themed one last year. They absolutely LOVED it, so granted they thought, or maybe wished, it was the same one again. Well it's not and I think they are a little disappointed. It's still good, just not what they dreamed of. So here's the conversation I caught coming down the stairs between Em and Mike.

Mike: So, Em, how was VBS today? (Now, Mike asked the question but then stopped listening, MEN!)

Emily: How would you like it if you had to sit in a chair all day daddy? That wouldn't be very fun, would it?

Me: Emily, I know you didn't sit all day, you played games, sang songs, did crafts and heard a story about Jesus healing the blind man.

Emily: Yeah, but we sat some and do you think it would be fun to sit in a chair all day? That part was boring.

It's just so funny how grown up she's sounding. Yeah, she had the wrong attitude but it was just so funny!

On a side note: For those of you asking for Disney pictures, please go to Mike's blog http://todayinmike.blogspot.com/ and ask him to not only download them but to then bring them home! That way I can share pictures of our trip! I'm not sure why we bring his work computer with us because we download pictures and then have to transfer them. I think he's scared Matt will steal his laptop!

Little Frosters

Mike made cupcakes on his lunch hour and left me to frost them with the girls. They had a lot of fun doing it. Ally frosted hers with one swipe and then proceeded to eat the rest of the frosting I gave her. Emily did really well. She then wanted to put sprinkles on the confetti cake/frosting topped off with a gummy worm. So anyone enjoying one of these will be on a sugar high. Emily then wanted to share our cupcakes so we invited Tessa, bella, jack and jenn over for cupcakes. She also wanted to give one to nana and papa, so I told her papa doesn't like this kind. Then Joel and Leslie but I told her they didn't like cake, so I guess we are stuck with 18 cupcakes! Hopefully the Wilburn's like to eat 2 each! Oh and poor Rylee and Jack are going to get plain cupcakes...just not into cleaning up 6 kids with frosting! I'll save that for their birthdays!

Added Note: The Wilburn's just left after less than an hour here. I guess cupcakes at 3:30 just don't sit well...Bella, Ally, Tessa and Emily all lost their minds after the cupcakes and proceeded to have wild meltdowns!

Rylee's first Eggbeater

Chocolate frosting for brownies mommy made...MMMMMmmmm! Shhhhh! Don't tell Ally, mommy gave them to Emily and I while she was asleep!

Don't Mess With The Princesses

I know I know, I've been home for days and haven't blogged pictures yet. But we took Mike's computer with us and downloaded most of them on there. So as soon as he gets them on a disk for me I'll download them and share about our amazing trip.

In the meantime...I'll share something I learned while there. When walking down Main street, or for that matter ANY store in Disneyland...princess attire, dolls, accessories, books, wands, and on and on and on have replaced Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and so on. I think Disney has figured out the power of the "little princesses" i.e. little girls, power over their daddy's. I know my girls were spoiled by Mike so I'm sure every other little girl was too. You still occasionally see micky or minnie hats on kids heads, but to be honest, I saw WAY more little girls dressed up as princesses. I would say it's sad but they still love Micky and you still see the 10 ft. wall filled with the same Mickey Mouse stuffed animal. You just have to walk through the princess section before you reach it.

Anyway, not really anything important...just found it interesting!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Bad- Giving your 5 year old an entire peice opposed to a half of bubblicious gum in the car and forgetting you gave it to her because it's 5:00 and your going to walmart on a diaper run by yourself with 3 kids.

Bad- Not making sure the gum made it into the trash as your five year old never chews gum for very long, especially that big of a piece.

Bad- Getting into the car at 3:30 the next day to go to your hair appointment and having your daughter "tell you the truth" as to why her hands are blue.

Bad- Finding out that she found said gum in the car cubby hole, grabbed it to re-eat it, found it melted, panicked when it got messy on her hands and proceeds to rub it all over the side of the car to get it off. (our brand new Honda pilote!)

Ugly- The amount of gum that can cover the inside of the car.

Good- A dad who takes pitty on her weary daughter at the end of a long day for himself and cleans up my car since Mike is at a baseball game and I just had my nails done! Thanks dad!

Rylee's 10 month pictures

Finally!! We made it in to get Rylee's pictures taken. It's been since she was four months!! Whoooops! My explanation when she asks me down the road why I didn't get them done more often will be truthful..."Rylee, it's because you decided not to grow between the ages of 4 months and 10 months! So there wasn't anything new to capture!" It was obvious we hadn't had them done a lot though, she is normally a very smiley baby for those of you who know her. But she didn't want to smile to save her life. I

don't think she understood why some black round thing was in her face and why some lady was talking to her in a really high voice all the time. But we got some pictures that were the start of a cry but gave the appearance of a smile.

I got most of the ones I showed, except for the custom pictures that have multiple pictures on there. Those cost too much per sheet in my opinion. And Beverly, I told her to get a headshot for you and she was going to do that at the end but Rylee would have none of it. So we'll get you the closest one we can!

Not for Points

This is for all who are involved in the contest...

DON"T YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO DO???!!!! I can't believe how many of you are involved! You guys keep me laughing that's for sure. My contest is going to be...who can shovel the most dirt in my backyard in a 6 hour period, 8a.m.-2p.m.. 2 points for a full shovel one point for a half shovel. I need my backyard level so Mike can plant grass. You all are so into this I think I may have 15 people show up tomorrow morning.

By the way...This isn't for points. My girls are barely letting me post this!

End Of School Beggining Of Summer

Emily is out of school now and she had a busy last week. She had normal school days monday and tuesday and on wednesday we met out at the jumphouse party place for 2 hours. It was a lot of fun, even Mike and I played. Rylee also got in on the action in a 9 month sort of way! Then on Thursday we met at Kids Kingdom, a park that you should never take three kids to because there are too many hiding places. So sufficit to say I got no pictures that day!

Then, starting right away her first monday off, we started swim lessons. Em is doing really well. It's actually her first year we put her in when I don't have to be in the water with her. She HATES her face wet so I think she figured out when they have to do their five head bobs because she always has to go to the bathroom right before her teacher announces they are going to do them!

And we also have Waterworks passes again. Ally especially is loving loving loving that. She is so good. She stands in line behind the kids and waits her turn without me even having to help her...what 2 year old does that without having to be told? Not very many 2 year olds I've met. I guess after Em's "outgoing" personality, God is blessing me! Rylee really likes the water too, but she always bends in half and puts her face in the water. She really likes to do it so I don't stop her. It's funny to see her come up with her face and top half of her hair wet, looking a little confused! I was able to partially capture it.

When Mike and I went to Maui we brought the girls back matching Hawaiian dresses. They wore them to church today and Leslie asked me if I had gotten pictures. And I have to say a thank you to her, because in our busy Sunday morning it hadn't even occured to me. So we went outside and took a few shots. I'm so glad I did because later that day Emily tore hers in a spot that can't be fixed....so so sad =(.

Ally's glasses we found at Kohls for a few dollars and couldn't pass them up, so I had to post a picture of her in them. I laugh everytime I see them on her so it was worth the $6!

And as a side note, I'm learning it's impossible to get anyone to look at the camera at one time or smiling at one time.

In the afternoons when the "hour of insanity" approaches, I often turn on worship songs and we all sing and dance upstairs. Ally knows a lot of songs so I finally caught a small glimpse into her singing. This is just a small taste of what she does. The first few seconds are the best then she realizes what I'm actually doing! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Oh, and as a side note, Ally and I clap a lot to the music and Rylee clapped with us for the first time! It was super sweet!

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!