Hot MamaJama

Let's start with last week when Ella ate her first baby cereal . And this week she had her first baby food, which was a smashed up avocado . So today I'm marking Ella as officially mobile. Here is where she was laid to play on her blanket with her toys. Here is where she was less than 5 minutes later. So now I have to be constantly picking up & vacuuming. The older kids are having to learn a whole new set of rules, such as: No playing UNO on the ground unless you like a baby showing up to drool on your cards. No doing beads on the coffee table or floor, due to the likelihood they will get dropped & Ella will try to eat them. And finally, my baby that will be 5 months old on Friday has her first tooth! One of her bottom teeth is fully cut & visible & feelable & the other is right on the verge of both. So by tomorrow I"m sure she'll have 2 bottom teeth poking up. Crazy! I say this, because my oldest 2 kids got their first tooth at 8 1/2 months old ...

Here is Dawson & I riding the Ferris wheel. Here is Savannah & I at the beach. Here is Hunter in front of a sign he thought was so very funny. At the Bailey's house there was a white couch that I just happened to set Ella on while she was wearing a white onesie. Too cute! One picture would not suffice for this much cuteness. Me & Ella on the beach...she loves to be outside.

We stayed at my cousins house & had a wonderfully fun & relaxing day. We rode the carousel on Balboa Island as well as the Ferris wheel. It was such a beautiful day & the view was just fantastic! We walked to the end of the pier & had milkshakes at Ruby's. Me & Teri. The water was very interesting. We went back to the beach in the afternoon dressed for water. And the boys made lots of things in the sand. Tim & Savannah got pretty far out there. Dawson stayed with "miss Teri" up on shore most of the time. Teri also was so kind as to keep Ella for awhile. We then headed back to the Bailey's house & enjoyed their wonderful pool. Steve even heated it for us. Here is Hunter starting in the inside the house part of the pool & swimming through the underwater tunnel to the outside part of the pool. We all thought that was absolutely the coolest thing!

Our 2nd day at Sea World. The touch pools are always fun. Hunter is holding a sea star. We pet the bat rays again! The Atlantis ride was a big hit, and though you get a little wet each time I think that the kids rode it like 4 times each day. We did take time to feed the dolphins this day. And yes we did see the Shamu show each day. The first day the kids talked Tim into sitting in row 3 of the soak zone, but were a little smarter the 2nd day. All of us in front of the Shamu Bug. Oh & don't forget the adorable baby that we toted around all day!

Our First Day at Sea World. We got someone to take our picture in the Polar Bear ice caves. This is how Ella saw most of our vacation! While the kids played in the toy area, Tim & I got to be together for a few moments. :-) I always make him take these kind of pictures with me. There were some teacup-like rides there, so Tim got to make them all dizzy. And the weird part is that they LIKED it! I stuck to the less spinny rides. We, of course, saw the Sea Lion show (both days) And we were foolish enough to ride the water ride. We got soaked & were freezing! The kids pet the bat rays. Here Dawson had just touched it & pulled his hand back up. We had plenty to eat, as is always good on vacation. But I just thought this was too funny. Dawson has a piece of pizza in one hand & a piece of watermelon in the other. And he was actually going back & forth between the 2 of them.

It was a busy but fun last week. We left Sunday morning to begin our vacation adventure. We stopped by my sisters' church in Phoenix & enjoyed a good sermon, food & fellowship. Then we headed out on the long drive to San Diego. The kids did very well & it is so nice to have an older child to sit by the baby & give her a bottle, or pacifier or entertain her. That was nice! What a great big sister Savannah is to Ella. Hotels are always a fun adventure I think. Savannah particularly enjoyed that our beds were made everyday that we came back. Legoland My review is 4 stars, but only for ages up to about 10 years old. After that, the stars start dropping off. :-) There are places for the little kids to play with legos while a parent waits in line. They also allow children over 48 inches (Savannah is in this group) to take smaller kids (Dawson & sometimes Hunter) on rides. There are lots of rides geared toward the younger kids & they really enjoy the freedom of ri...

Yeah - Awana is over! I'm so glad that my kids have a great place that they enjoy & encourages them to learn God's Word. Hunter and his 3 amigos! I kind of feel bad for him though, because all 3 of these boys are promoting to T&T and he has one more year of Sparks. Anyway, Savannah is about to move into T & T (sniff, sniff!) She got her Sparky plaque and a certificate for extra credit verses (192 verses, including the entire book of Philippians). She will certainly keep those T & T leaders searching for extra work for her, like she did the Sparks leaders. Hunter got a 2nd book ribbon as well as a certificate (and some pins) stating his extra credit verses (111 verses). Dawson got his 1st year cubbie bear award. A Full-size (person in a costume) Cubbie Bear & Sparky were at our awards ceremony for the kids to see & Dawson was scared to death of them. It was really kind of funny. He's such a tough boy normally & then he saw Cubbie & immediatel...