Tea Party with Ed Jones

So Ed Jones is the name of this doll that was Will's sister, Ruth's, when she was a child. Not sure why Ruth named the doll Ed Jones, but I think it is so funny! (When he was little, Will colored on Ed Jones with a pink marker!) When GA is visiting her grandparents, she likes to play with Ed Jones and goes around saying "diaper Ed Jones", "night, night Ed Jones", "milk Ed Jones", etc. and it just cracks me up!

This weekend, GA and Ed Jones had a tea party!

Swore my chid would never wear a two-piece swimsuit . . .

But that was before I found this little number!

Hello, my name is Bridges, and I have a problem. I am an otherwise very practical mommy with a terrible weakness for pink, green, smocked, ruffled, and on sale!

Splash Pad

Today we went hereand had so much fun!

All of that water play can cause a bad hair day!

There was also a fun playground.

We love summer!

Attempts at Photo with Ben, Rebecca, and Kate

Every few months, we try to take some pictures with Ben, Rebecca, and Kate. I know that when the kids are all grown, Laudan and I are going to love looking back and seeing what they looked like at different ages. However, it is getting more and more challenging to get a good picture, and these just make me laugh!

Grace Ann was so excited to "hold baby". That was great until Kate started crying, and GA consoled her by patting (at little too hard :-)
Looking Back:

November 08 - (GA - newborn , Rebecca 7 months, Ben 2 1/2 yrs, Kate not born!)

and a couple of months later

December 09 - (GA - 13 months, Rebecca 19 months, Ben 3 1/2 yrs, Kate - newborn!) I just noticed that GA has on the same outfit as Bec in the previous picture!

I love all these munchkins and wish they wouldn't grow up so fast!

Made it to the POOL (twice)!!!

(yes, I am a little obsessive about my child wearing a hat!)

Her New Favorite Thing!

On Day 6 of sickness (see post below), I was racking my brain to come up with something to keep us busy without getting too hot.

So we went to the carousel at the mall and Grace Ann loved it! She had a huge smile on her face the entire ride and kept naming all the animals. I tried to do some shopping when we got off, but she just keep begging "more, more animals" (complete with the hand sign for more) for the next hour until I finally let her ride again. After the second ride, I had to tell her that the animals had to go "night, night" so that she would agree to go home. Thank goodness I met the nicest lady at the guest services desk when I was trying to buy the family carousel pass. She just gave me the pass which is good for 3 rides! Here are some pictures that I took on my phone.

Sick (YES AGAIN) for Memorial Day!

When I picked up Grace Ann from school on Friday, I noticed she felt warm. She had a fever and it got really high during the night. I took her to the doctor Saturday morning, and she apparently has another fever virus and a yucky-looking ear.

So, we spent most of our holiday weekend like this:

(Yes, Cassie is a pillow! Grace Ann also has referred to her as a "slide", a "horse", and many other useful things, but that is another whole post!)

We had planned to spend our Memorial day at the pool with friends, but we had to cancel due to sickness. We did keep our lunch reservation and took the sick baby out for some ribs. She unfortunately didn't eat anything at all!

I was so sad when I saw the other kids having so much fun at the pool! So when we got home, I let her put on a t-shirt and do some cooking on the patio with water! She is absolutely obsessed with playing with water and pouring it from one container to another!

She is still recovering. I took her back to the doctor yesterday since it was Day 5 of off-and-on fever, very little eating, and lots of yucky coughing. She was a little better today (no fever and less coughing), so hopefully we will be at the pool by the weekend!