Waterworks is open!

I love when Waterworks opens each year. The girls have an absolute blast and they're exhausted come bedtime. Plus each year, they're a different age so it's really fun to

see who loves the water each year. Emily is, and always has been, about a 45-60 minute girl. After that time frame she is ready to towel up and sit on the sidelines and just watch. She also isn't a daredevil. She is still too short for the adult slides and is quite content with that. We only have to fight her on wanting to spend the whole time in the lazy lagoon, which Ally and Rylee don't care for due to them having to wear a life jacket.

Allyson loves the waterslides. She also loves to go fast. Mike pushes her down the slides pretty hard and she flies. She gets a kick out of it, even though I worry that we're going to get in trouble.

Rylee loves every part of waterworks. She can't get enough of the water. She also loves all the slides in the kiddy area. My favorite for her is the froggy slide because I don't have to walk up any hills to get her to the slide and then run down as she's sliding and meet her at the bottom.

Can't wait for school to get out and meet all of those moms out there who got season passes too!

2009 Championship Trip

San Francisco Giants game the first night of vacation.

Mike and I at the Stadium.

Our first night there, and our first Farmer's banquet of the week.

Sheryl Crow giving a concert for Farmers.

Tuesday night, during the Sheryl Crow concert.

Our last night in Palm Desert, the formal awards night.

Padres Stadium for SD vs. SF game. You can see our hotel was super close,

it's the Marriott to the left of the stadium.

Friday afternoon Mike and I returned from our very relaxing trip to Championship. This years destination was Palm Desert. Joel and Leslie's family own a house in neighboring Palm Springs so they came along for 3/4 of our trip. We had a lot of fun and were able to relax by the very hot pool, trying to get a little tan for the summer. There definitly wasn't as much to do as the previous years but we still enjoyed ourselves. We started in S.F. for a Giants game, then made our way south to Palm Desert. Then after the convention we went down to San Diego and watched the Giants lose, again, in the 9th inning. But it was still fun to go to a new, different stadium.

Finally, Something To Blog About

I have Jack and Bella this morning and generally the kids play and I don't hear from them. So I didn't think anything of it while they were upstairs playing and I was downstairs watching tv while I folded the laundry. As I'm coming up the stairs, I look into the girls room with their laundry. I immediately notice the broken lightbulb and the lamp on the floor. I thought I had seen all four kids happily playing in the loft. Until I look up that is. There, standing on the girls dresser as happy as can be, is a bleeding Rylee. Both her hands are red. The walls have red, a picture on the dresser has red, the dresser has a lot of red. She doesnt' even care that she is cut. She is just happy to have climbed onto the dresser and be playing. The only time she cried even a little was when I dare put a bandaid on her. She pulled both of the attempts of bandaids off. So she is now in the tub until her finger clots.

During all of this I have little kids to keep out of the room while I'm trying to get the bandaid on Rylee. As soon as I say, "don't go in the girls room" they all have to rush in there of course. So I get the first set of bandaids on Rylee and start to clean up the big peices before she pulls it off. Then I redress the bandaid, vacum the little pieces, fix the lamp and stick her in the bath before more blood gets everywhere.

I'm just glad it wasn't Jack or Bella! I would have posted pictures but both of my cameras batteries were dead.

Mike came home and saved the day with the reminder that we had liquid bandage.

Lame Reasons Why I Haven't Blogged

1. I have major pregnant brain. It gets way worse with each pregnancy. I'll think of a good topic to blog about and forget what it was 10 minutes later.

2. We've been so busy I haven't touched my camera in a long time.

3. When I do remember my camera, I can't use it because it's full and the battery is drained. There a two little girls in my house (not naming names, Emily and Ally), that like to pose their animals and dolls and snap away. I'm talking 50+ pictures. I honestly don't know when they're doing it. I think it's the middle of the night. I'm always with them. I caught ally red handed the other day. She was bold enough to grab it while I was sitting next to it, turned it on and started to take a picture. She literally looked at me like, "what?" when I reprimanded her.

4. We lead very busy, but not very exciting lives. You really don't want to hear what I have to say. That's what facebook is for. Short little notes of the boring things that I do.

Mike...you need to set up the blogging olympics again. We are all slacking and in major need of of a boost!

Updates For Those Who Don't Read Facebook

We had two doctors appointments I mentioned yesterday so I thought I would update everyone on their outcomes.

The first appt. was Allyson's today. We went to see if she could get off the breathing treatment. Turns out she gets to increase her time on it, from once to twice a day. She has now been somewhat officially diagnosed with asthma. She's actually been diagnosed with a pulmonary disease which is asthma. It just doesn't allow the title "asthma" to be put in her records for the rest of her life. The doctor says we'll do it every year during allergy season so we now get to have one permanantly.

The other appointment was the sonogram today. I ended up really liking my doctor which was nice. And we are having ONE baby! He/she was very active and wiggled around a lot. It was fun to watch. It was also fun because the girls got to enjoy watching their new brother or sister. Although Rylee freaked out when the doctor turned out the lights. But other than that it was a fun appointment.

Random Little Things That Together Make One Blog

I have my first sonogram appointment tomorrow and I'm most excited about it because I can prove to all of you sick people who keep telling me it's twins, that we're just having ONE little bundle of joy! I'm also excited/nervous to meet my new doctor since, sadly, my doctor moved away right after Rylee was born. It was so sad =(. But this doctor was on call and delivered Em so there's a little history.

Rylee's starting to really talk now. Her favorite toy and a word she says really well is "baby". She's very possessive about that baby though. If Ally dares pick it up she yells in a shrill voice "BBBAAAABBBYYYY!!" and that means give it back or else. Her other big thing to say is "ummmm?" I'll ask her in the morning, "What do you think you should wear today?" And she runs over to her closet and says, "Ummmmm?" and points to some random item in her closet. I don't remember um being around until they were older. But I guess if you have older siblings things come around quicker.

I was a bad parent this week and saved Emily's entire homework packet for Wednesday night, and it's due Thursday. I wish I could say it's the first time it's happened. I generally try to spread it out but it doesn't always happen.

I think Emily has the end of the school year blues. She's informed me every morning since spring break that she is sick. She also had to flip her first yellow card at school today. They start on green, then go to yellow if needed, then orange, then red. She's never even come close to flipping her card to yellow. The aid told me that she yelled out the name of the book when her teacher picked it up. A minor offense but I guess color changing worthy. She lost 5 minutes of her lunch recess also. I guess if you flip your card you lose some recess. I'm sure she won't do it again!

Mike hasn't been able to talk much since Sunday after church. He led worship and then boom, no voice. I'm guessing at this point he may have Laryngitis. Obviously I'm not a doctor but it's been 4 days. Hopefully whatever he does have will pass soon.

And as for Ally, nothing really new. Tomorrow could end the breathing treatments. We'll find out at the doctor. She still is coughing a lot and is way more tired than before so who knows what he'll say. We could definitly use some prayers for health in this family!

Changing Beds

For some time now Emily has been trying to talk Ally into switching beds. Emily is on the top and Ally is on the bottom. I was a little surprised that Em would want to switch to the bottom but didn't think much about it. Well Ally is a major creature of habit and refused to leaver her beloved bottom bunk. But one night as I was putting her to bed she asked to sleep on sissy's bed. I said sure and tucked her in up there. A little later Emily saw where her sister was at and was so excited. She crawled into bed and then promptly positioned herself in a cubby type shelf near the wall. I told her she couldn't sleep in the shelf and to get into the bed.

Later that night as Mike and I came upstairs to go to bed, I checked on them. Sure enough, she wasn't in the cubby hole. But she wasn't in bed either. I couldn't find her right away. As I go into her room a little more, this is where I found her, sound asleep...


She obeyed, but still found a fun place to sleep, on her desk that's built into the bed. The funny part, the next night after our softball game, we checked on our sleeping kids to find that Emily had taken her top bunk back. I guess if you can't sleep on the shelves then what's the fun of the bottom bunk?

The Verse

For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Emily was in her first year of AWANA this year and she finished her first book a month or so ago. And I thought she had to go back and review the whole thing since she couldnt' get her next book until 1st grade. The first verse she would have had to say again was John 3:16. She knew it just by the reference. It got me to thinking about that verse. You can ask almost any Christian to recite John 3:16 and almost everyone can. It's a verse etched into our hearts and minds. I've known it for as long as I can remember.

I think that is a verse that God allows us to really hang onto. I've memorized lots of verses in my years at church and I'll sadly admit there are few I remember. But that verse is one that is always there. I think it's an important one. It says it all. God loved us, the world, that he sent his son to die so that we can have eternal life. If you can't remember anything esle when witnessing to someone, you can always remember that verse and share God's great gift. I just think that is a verse that we remember because God gives it as a gift. Yeah, we hear it a lot in church but we hear a lot of things in church. Why does that one really really implant in our hearts and minds over other verses? Maybe I'm way off course but I really just think that is a verse that, in essence, says it a lot.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples.

GOT THAT COVERED!

Sickness

I was really hoping 2009 was going to be the year of health. 2008 seemed to hold so many colds for us. I had big plans for this year to be just the opposite. Unfortunately my life doesn't always go according to plans.

The past two weeks have been filled with sick kids. Emily has been the strong force throughout all of this, and she goes to school with 17 other kids...go figure!

Rylee came down with the stomach flu late Tuesday night early Wednesday morning and is still sick. She just lies pale on the couch or floor on her blanket. She doesn't say a word or show any emotion. Just lies there looking utterly miserable. I had to leave her with Mike this morning for what I thought was going to be a quick checkup with the doctor to see if Allyson's breathing treatments are working. I hated leaving Rylee. It was just on the cusp of me worrying about her getting dehydrated. It had been about 30 hours since she held any liquids down.

Ally has been our other sick kid. She started at the hospital with a little pneumonia in her right lung that was really giving her a run for her money. Got released Wednesday, got the ok from the doctor Friday that she was on the mend only to start a downward spiral Saturday. She was wheezing and wheezing and by Tuesday struggling again. We got a new anti-biotic (which took 7 different pharmacy trips before I found one that had it), cortizon twice daily (sp?)with albuteral breathing treatments. She started sounding so much better. But I've found breathing treatments can be deceiving. She is doing better however the doctor was still hearing a lot of fluid in her lungs. So up we went for a chest xray. It showed quite a bit of fluid in her right lung, you couldn't even see her heart. And the doctor thinks it's moved into her left lung, which it wasn't there in the beginning. He also said it isn't just bacterial anymore, which the antibiotics take care of, but also viral. So he said we have to wait until it runs his course and we get to continue breathing treatments for 3-4 more weeks with more checkups. Did I mention that they take about 25 mins. each? Every 2 mins. she asks, "is it done?"

I must say that even though this is all a little exhausting, especially while trying to plan out a special easter kids church, that I honestly can really feel God's presence. And it's so strong right now. He's granted me so much patience, so much needed energy at the critical moments, and just a ton of peace. Yes, it's a lot of work. Yes, it's stressful. Yes, I want it all to go away. But with all the juggeling I've had to do with hospital stays, doctors appts., many many pharmacy runs, household chores, kids church planning and more, I still am amazed at how much God is holding me up. I honestly don't know how people function without Him! And I also thank God for an awesome husband who is helping out a ton when the kids don't want to be put down so I can deal with the needs of the house!

Here's to staying positive and joyful,(thanks Mike and Leslie!).

Not fun, But Funny

It's that time of year again. Time for the annual allergy picture post. This is how Allyson woke up this morning, and no she isn't blinking. Her eye had swollen/adhered together. I felt bad for her but it was kind of funny because it didn't seem to bother her. She just wanted to eat breakfast! I told Mike to grab a wash cloth and he told just to put her in the bath, it would get better. So we put her in there and Mike ran off to tend to the other kiddos and I was getting ready. 10-15 mins later he came in horrified I hadn't helped Allyson with her eye, forgetting he told me to leave it alone that the bath would help. I also was trying to see if the bath would help because she hates her eyes washed. But Mike eventually had to get in there and get her very red eye open. But the whole time she was in the bath, she still didn't mention that her eye was shut. I think maybe she feared the eye drops from the night before!

She's definitly breathing heavier again today, wheezy a little. And she says she's sick. So hopefully we aren't having a relapse. I think she may have a touch of asthma though. I guess time will tell, which stinks when you are watching your child breathing so hard.

Back to Normal

We're back from Ally's hospital stay this week. There is no getting any good sleep in a hospital room. I was so glad to be home. The last day and night our air conditioning wasn't working and our room was annoyingly hot. I like to sleep with the room freezing and lots of blankets, but that night was totally opposite due to the temperature of the room. Poor Ally was even sweating a lot.

For those who didn't hear what happened, Monday Ally didn't seem to be feeling well. I chalked it up to a little asthma due to really bad allergies. As the day wore on I got more and more concerned as she was so incredibly tired and out of it and seemed to be really struggling. So around 4 I threw some clothes on her and went to the walk in. By the time we got there she was asleep and not waking up well, but still we waited 45 minutes. I was so glad Mike came and got the girls. Rylee was a wild woman, rearranging furniture in the waiting room, escaping outside, throwing all the magazines on the floor, ect. By the time we got called back her oxygen was really low so they made her a priority, then called the ambulance. I was feeling really low for making her suffer breathing all day.

We made it to the hospital after a long ride. Ally didn't much care for the ambulance, I couldn't sit in the back with her. And she did great in the ER except for when we first got there and were swarmed by doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and x-ray techs. But after a while it all calmed down and we settled in. We were in the ER for 5.5 hours, diagnosed with pneumonia, then transferred to Peds. for 2 nights. She was on oxygen, a heavy steroid, antibiotics, IV, and breathing treatments every 3-4 hours. And let me tell you, the second half of the second day, those breathing treatments absolutely wired her. When she would actually stop moving for a second, her whole body would shake. It was a lot of work keeping her from running and pulling her IV out.

She was discharged Wednesday morning at 9, it was sooooo good to be home. Ally was wired from the last breathing treatment they gave her before we left so she bounced around to her hearts content and then crashed hard for a 3 hour nap. She is totally back to her old self other than I notice she's a little more tired as she took another nap today. And for those who know Ally, that is totally unheard of. Hopefully this will conclude our hospital stays for a while! I am still trying to shake the exhaustion from being there.

A Busy Busy, Fun Saturday

Today was super busy for Mike, the girls and I. We woke up, got ready grabbed yummy choc. chip bagels to go and headed down to Anderson's Home and Garden show to drop of our satelite receiver for Matt. Mike's goal was to attract clients with sports...I think it worked! Then we ran a few errands before returning home to change Emily and pack up for her first soccer game. Pre-Game viewers in their little chairs...it didn't last!
Emily throwing the ball in, she loved doing that.

Her first game was so fun. We had a blast. Emily did so well! They are called Storm and they played Galaxy. Picture 8 children who have never played a soccer game in their lives all chasing a ball around on a field. It was hilarious. But towards the middle of the game something clicked and they all seemed to catch on really well. The way this younger group works is there are 8 players on a team and they do four on four for four quarters. We thought that Em was going to get to play 2/4 quarters, however the two times she sat out she literally had time to drink some water quickly and was called back in. And for those who don't live here, it was WARM! She was hot after the game and told us she wanted to take swim lessons! I thought that was funny! . They tied the game 3 to 3. We were laughing because the game was actually really intense to see who would score the last goal, but time ran out.

After her game, we headed back down to Anderson where the girls and I hung out while Mike worked the Home and Garden show for a few hours. Then it was home to change and walk the River trail. The river trail is 5.7 miles. Mike pushed RY and Al in the double jogger while Em rode her bike. She did so good riding all that way. We were very proud of all her sportlike efforts today. I think she'll be exhausted, especially since she's on heavy allergy meds and cough meds.

Then we grabbed chilly dogs and topped it off with the best dessert ever! For those cold stone lovers out there, they have these new ice cream cupcakes. They're 6 for $9.99. They replaced the paper cup with dark chocolate cups, then a layer of yummy cake, then ice cream topped off with a light creamy frosting. They were AMAZING! You should try them if you haven't. I guess they killed all that work we did jogging, but oh well!

And Ahh, baths and bed for the girls. It's 8:00 now. I'm loving the warm but not hot weather. If only it would last!

A Little Bit of Everything

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's funny because we are super busy but nothing blogworthy. So I thought I would combine a bunch of little happenings to create one blog.

Emily officially started soccer last week. She looks so cute and very grown up with her soccer cleats, shin guards and socks. She is having a fun time and Mike says she is actually pretty good at it, for having never played. She practices every Wednesday night, which we love because it's our only free night. And her games are every saturday at our awesome new soccer park. Her first game is this saturday. I can't wait to get some cute pictures of her in her uniform. Mike took the camera to the first practice but as you can see, she was kind of far away.

Mike takes Em to her practices and he takes Ally so he can kick a soccer ball around with her. I'm not sure who is more excited for Wed. night, Ally or Emily! I think Ally is really going to be our athlete.


Rylee is a book lover. She brings me books all day long and doesn't take no for an answer. But sometimes I can't sit 24/7 and read to her so she just started accepting Emily and Ally to read to her. I took some funny pictures of Rylee sitting on Ally's lap, (it's the only way she'll do it), and Ally can't even reach her little arms around Rylee and hold up the book at the same time. It's fun to watch.

This is Rylee's favorite, Mommy Loves Me Lots and Lots and Lots

While Mike was out of town Sunday, my mom, Jennifer, Emily, Ally, and Rylee all piled in my car to go shopping. After I picked up Jenn, I was traveling down the road and a lady turned right in front of me. I braked so hard it turned my car off. She ended up still swiping me with her car but there is little damage. I think if I hadn't have stopped in time, her passenger would have been really hurt. I would have t-boned her passenger side going about 45. Thankfully I saw her and it wasn't the day before when it was raining. But now I have to give up my car soon to have it fixed. When you have kids and all their seats and gear in the car, I hate moving it all around. Oh well!

See, nothing overly exciting going on if those are the only things I can think of. Our days are full with Softball monday, womens group tuesday, soccer wednesday, Awana thursday, soccer game saturday and now we can include Mikes baseball games on alternating week nights and every sunday! That's not including helping at ems school and all the other things I have planned week to week! I need three of me! But hey, at least we're having fun!

New Shades...No Scissors...Must Wear Immediately!

whirlwind Trip

We got more pictures with Characters in 1.5 days than we did in Disneyworld this summer in 6 days. We got Donald, Goofy, Micky, and Pluto twice!

Riding It's A Small World

Emily wearing her new Ariel costume

Totally exhausted after day 2!

While my parents were planning their vacation, my mom expressed her wish to be able to have their own vacation yet still get to have the girls at Disneyland for a day. It, of course, wasn't possible to get them down there to them without Mike and/or I taking them so off they went alone. On Tuesday, Mike and I were driving back from running a few errands and I (half joking), said, "lets just get in the car and go down to Disneyland." Mike said, "ok, lets do it." After realizing he was serious, I ran home and packed in 30 min. so we could get gas, cash and Emily and hit the road.

The girls did AMAZING in the car. Ally and Rylee are normally not big on traveling. But Rylee made not one peep the whole way. She was content to sit and read books, look out the window for cows or sleep. So much so that I didn't get her out from 1:30-8:00. Big mistake...she leaked all over her car seat and in my hurry during packing didn't pack any extra pants for her. So mom got the call to run down the street to Target for some pants!

The next day we went to disneyland and had a blast, although it rained all day. It isn't supposed to rain in L.A. right? This was my parents second day so they even allowed Mike, Em, and I to ride the fun rides while they went on the girls absolute favorite, It's a Small World. All the girls loved that ride, even Rylee.

We left the park at 6 to get dinner and not spend a fortune and were going to go back for the Fantasmic show but low and behold, it started pouring again. So we scraped that and went back to the hotel. Mike and I got our family season passes because we plan on going back a few times so we went for a half day the next day and of course it was beautiful. We rode a ton of rides both days as it was not busy at all.

Emily had a funny story. We told the girls ahead of time, this is not a trip where we're shopping. It's just to ride rides and have fun. But in the castle they have a princess store with dresses and accessories. Well, they had an ariel skirt and top that she was dying for. Mike told her later that day if she was brave and rode the Tower of Terror at California land that she could have it. She wouldn't do it the first day but the next morning said she wanted to. So we waited in a line before they opened and were the first on. She and I went together while Mike stayed with the girls. She was ok until we right as we're getting on but I made her get on at that point. I had been on the day before so I held onto her and told her drop for drop rise for rise what was happing. When we got done the guy told us to all buckle up again and get a free ride again. Emily started sobbing. I told the guy we needed off and he looked at me like, "no!" I then sternly said, "we want off!" and he let us off. I don't think she could handle another ride. Darn it though, it would have been fun! But she did pretty good and true to his word, Mike bought her the outfit which is the last picture on the blog.

Overall, it was a super fast trip but a ton of fun. All of our girls really had a great time!

Thoughts On TV Favorites

Since most of our friends watch the same shows as us, I thought it would be fun to write down what my thoughts are for some of the favorites. Might be fun to compare notes... Oh, and a warning...don't read if you are behind in any shows!!!

Amazing Race: If we didn't have work and kids, Mike and I would apply in a heartbeat. This show is great, especially with people like, models, hillbillies, brother/sister teams that seem more like boyfriend/girlfriend teams and of course the every season struggeling marriage/relationship that this game is going to determine whether they stay together or not! So great!

Chuck: This is one of my favorite shows. I love the chemistry between Chuch and Sarah. I just wish the would stop bringing on old and new flames. First it was Chuck's turn and now Sarah's. It's like Pam and Jim all over again.

24: Love love love this season of 24. We caught up yesterday and I'm glad we didn't watch it until then because I'm dying to know what happens and now I don't have to wait long.

Heros: This season is waaaayyyy better than last season. I'm actually really getting into it this year. Normally I have to make myself watch it and we watched 3 episodes while my mom had the girls and I wanted to watch the next one that's on tonight.

Biggest Loser: Mike really likes the new, nicer format this year. There is definilty not as much conflict as in past seasons. I actually find it a little slow. Still like it but as much as I hated icky Vicky, it did bring an element of drama. Maybe a much scaled down version of that wouldn't hurt. Also, I have to admit to being a big black team fan. I have since that one season where Jillian was working out with the "hidden" first day eliminated underdog black team. Go black!

American Idol: It's been ok so far. I'm so glad we're at the final 13, this is where it gets really good. And HALLELUAH that the annoying Tatiana didn't make it!

Lost: This season is a lot better than last season. I feel like we're getting more answers quicker. Last year it felt like they were just throwing in more senarios that confused you but didn't answer any of them at the end of the season...throw us a bone people! This year is a slight improvement.

The Office: The Office speaks for itself, it's awesome. Got to love the lunch Jim and Pam had for Valentines day. I also love what they've done with Angela's character this year. With the other set of dueling boyfriends! That's great!

ER: A little sad it's the last season, especially with all the favorites from the past coming back. But it does need to come to and end and ultimately I won't miss it that much.

Hell's Kitchen: Not too sure who out there watches that but if you do, were you as happy as I was that he sent back the 2 people voted to be eliminated and went with his personal choice of Colleen? She was a disaster each and every week. That one girl nailed it when she said..."at least Colleen's consistant...she's bad every single night." So true. I wonder what will
happen to her cooking school now?!

Survivor: As most of you know, Mike's old baseball coach, aka: coach, is a contestant on this show so we are watching it for the first time this season. It's interesting. I felt bad for Sandy being voted off but at the same time, she was the dirtiest person on that show. She was always filthy. I was just glad for her sake that she could take a shower. I felt bad for her! Tyson is by far my favorite. He cracks me up. He is hilarious and I hope he wins.

30 Rock: This is also new to Mike which we watch when nothing is on, (which looking above at all those shows I don't know when that is ever possible). It's hilarious. You should watch it if you get a chance...great cast.

Wow, we watch a lot of shows. But I don't know what I would cut out. They're all great. At least ER is going off so that will elimnate one.

The Day After

Mike, the girls and I just returned from a very fast trip to Disneyland. I'll post about that later but I just had to comment that I love the day after vacation. The girls are so content with their toys. I don't hear a peep from them. I think they are so grateful to be home on familiar territory, with their toys and their beds that they just want to sit quietly and play. They don't ask for much, they don't whine, they just play. It's wonderful! Do your kids do the same thing? I would love to know.

Milestone

Emily has had many milestones since she was born. Crawling, walking, first day of school, first dentist appt., and so on. But tonight she seemed so grown up as she sat in the chair at Claires and got her ears pierced. We weren't planning on it but we've talked to her in the past and she's wanted to but not enough to go through with it. But tonight she went for it full force. She even got to watch another six year old little girl go right before her, and she was really brave so that helped.

We picked out her earrings and in true Emily fashion it took her all of two seconds. She isn't one to deliberate for very long. She picked out her birthstone and that was that. I even pointed out some cute flowers but to no avail. She then got up in the chair with cautious excitement and was fine, until the first ear. Then she started crying, not hysterical but crying. She didn't want to do the next ear but then actually handled it very well. We let her get an Ariel hair piece for being so brave, which she knew about ahead of time, so she bounced out of the chair with little thought to her aching ears.

I of course didn't have my camera because I was downloading the scavenger hunt photos so my dad graciously used his camera phone...thanks dad!

Her earrings look really nice! I can't wait to buy some really cute ones in 6-7 weeks. Although Emily has declared she'll never take these ones off! Oh, and Ally really wants hers done now. Not sure we'll be able to hold her off, she wants to do everything her sister does!

Christmas In February

Last night our women's group went on a scavenger hunt, it was a lot of fun! But as we're driving around I notice Christmas lights not only still up but on. I commented to the girls in my car that I've been seeing a lot of that lately and they agreed they had too. Well this morning blew the christmas lights on the houses out of the water when I looked over at a house that still had their tree lit up in their big front window. It was crazy! I did a double take, I couldn't believe it. It had to be fake because it was still green as could be and all lit up! No one told me we were celebrating Christmas in february here in Redding!