Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Emma and Taylor were spoiled by Santa this year. I guess that is what happens when you start shopping in Sept! We waited for Claire to take a Christmas pic. Here are a few of the girls.

Happy New Year!!

Claire all wrapped up!!

Just a few pics I took of Claire for our Christmas card/ Birth announcment. She did so well, I expected it to be a disaster, screaming baby or worse pooing and peeing all over the place!! Brian played Santa with a stocking on his arm and the bottom cut out and a ladies white glove. I am giving away all my secrets..

She was bigger then I thought!!

What must have been going through her mind??
Yes I torture my kids to get the picture..

Welcome to the World Claire Ella Decker

Well Claire finally made it. She wasn't going to come out on her own. She was fat and happy in there and after listening to her crazy, loud sisters for months she thought she was safer inside.

She was born Dec 11th at 7:51 Pm

She weighed 8lbs and 10 oz's and was 21 inches long. Rather large compared to Emma and Taylor 5lbs and only 18 inches!! We came home Saturday and are adjusting well.. Emma and Taylor are doing great with her and are a help. Brian being around this time has made things much easier, nevermind it is just one this time.

Claire 6 days old..

A Smile!!
Must be Gas...

Claire and I the next day..

Her poor head looked like a cone when she came out. Thankfully it rounded out quickly.

Proud Big sisters!

Emma and Taylor seeing Claire for the first time. After seeing her they came over to me in bed and wanted to see my belly button, that is how she came out..... Taylor also informed me that my belly was still "kinda" big.

The honesty of kids..

The Girls..

Emma and Taylor are happy to have Claire here.

They wanted to know if my back would quit hurting now!

Considering she came out sunny side up, it may be a while..

Anyone who has had 10 lb babies, Kudos to you!!

This was enough for me.

Today was a beautiful day here, 70 and Sunny..

We headed to the beach in Carmel and tried to get a few pics before Claire is born. 13 days left or less!! I spared everyone the bare belly pic. The girls had a good time playing on the beach, it is so pretty here. It doesn't exactly feel like Christmas weather but it is nice to get outside still and enjoy the warm sun..

A few pics of me and the girls,

Soon there will be 4 of us!!

Brian is seriously out numbered.

A Walk on the beach, it was a beautiful day. Hard to see but that is Pebble Beach in the background.

A great beach day!!

Emma and Taylor had a good time playing in "puddles"

and the sand. It is so much fun to go the beach and it not be 95 degrees.

The waves were huge today, 15-16 feet. We didn't test the water but I am sure it is as cold as usual.

Emma running on the beach..

Taylor on the beach..

Digging in the sand..

Taylor left, Emma right.

The letters have been mailed!!

Emma and Taylor put their lists in Santa's mailbox.

The list is rather long this year, hopefully they forget about a couple things!!

Last Soccer Game.

Emma and Taylor had a good soccer season.

We are looking forward to Tee Ball in the spring!

Happy Halloween!!

Emma (Belle), Taylor (Sleeping Beauty)

and Claire as a pumpkin..

Another Princess Halloween!!

Our first Halloween with different costumes and no fights the day of!!

Emma is Belle and Taylor Sleeping Beauty. You can't see in the pic but they were excited to have their hair all curled in the back. They had a blast trick or treating this year and lasted quite a long time. Our neighborhood went all out with decorating and there were just as many parents dressed up as there were kids. They are determined that they saw a REAL witch and a REAL skeleton. It was fun..

There it is!! No one can gripe at me for not posting prego pics now!!

My belly was quite a hit. I got lots of comments on it. Many thought the pumpkin was drawn on the shirt but I cut the shirt and that was my real "gut"!!

Emma and Taylor had fun painting, Brian helped!!

Me and the princess's

We went to Earthbound Farms to get pumpkins and they had a corn maze, a real corn maze, and the girls were making spooky noises!! We actually got a little lost and spent more time in there then we intended..

The girls and I at the farm.

I thought they may search me on the way out thinking I was stealing pumpkins under my shirt.

The elementary school here had a fall festival. It was very hot and Emma and Taylor wanted their faces painted. There was 1 girl doing it and we stood in line for about an hour!! Emma chose the spider and Taylor wanted to be a vampire. Not sure where that came from??

While everyone was here our neighbors put together a little race for the kids. They biked and then ran. At the last minute the morning of Emma and Taylor decided to partcipate. This was Taylor crossing the finishline (in front our house)

Taylor crossing the finishline

Gold medal winners!!

We had more visitors recently.

Mickey, Michelle, my nephews Matthew and Mason and my mom came for a week. We stayed here in Monterey for a few days and then went to San Diego for the rest of the week. We went up to Jack's Peak, a small hiking place up the road from our house. From the top you can see Pebble Beach and a nice view of the ocean. This pic was taken from the top.

Emma, Matthew, Mason and Taylor

Emma and Taylor on Jack's Peak

Me and the girls..

lunch in Big Sur.

Kids on a rock on Highway 1. (I explain the rd below)

This was a stop on the side of the rd where we literally got the kids out put them on the rock and then right back in the car. Just on the other side of that rock is a huge cliff to the water.

left to right: Taylor, Matthew, Emma, and Mason

We first spent a few days here in Monterey. We took a glass bottom boat ride and went out to see the Sea Lions.

This was taken from the side of hwy 1. It is the "famous" scenic hwy that goes along the shoreline along the California coast. The mountains are on the other side of the road. This is about 20 miles from our house on the way to Big Sur. we drove it mostly for the scenery and then ate lunch in Big Sur. Big Sur is very pretty with all the forests and redwood trees. There is camping galore there. It also was part of one of the wild fires when we first moved here. It is by far the prettiest drive I have ever been on.

San Diego Zoo

The zoo was alot of walking!! We got to see alot of the big animals up close. The zoo itself wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. We had a good time and were all tired at the end of the day..

Emma and Taylor and a camel

My two little bugs!!

Emma as a butterfly and Taylor a caterpillar

Wow they didn't hardly get anything on their face..

Just some animal pics

Our second day in San Diego was spent at Lego Land.

It is an amusement park that was perfect for the kids. They had a really good time. They have lots of things built out of legos of course. They had New York city, San Fran, The White house and lots of others. It was pretty impressive.

Emma on a horse ride at Legoland.

The ride was too cute, individual horses that ran on a track. One of their favorites..

Taylor on her horse..

A pirate ship ride. I got to rest quite a bit here because I was not aloud to ride anything.. Don't go to an amusement park pregnant!!

Sea World

Our 3rd and final day in San Diego. Everyone had a good time. Emma and Taylor would go everyday and act like it was the first time. They love the shows and the animals. The star of Sea World, Shamu...

God, I look like shamu in this picture but it was the only pic of all of us...