Josephine pulls herself up to standing and is really on the move. When we put her down, she crawls right away. I tried giving her some avocado, but it made her throw up. Bad mommy. Dr. Spears can stick the avocado in his ear. He said that avocado is an excellent first food for baby. Well, J has been eating food for quite some time and still can't handle it. I think it might have been just too sticky of a food. She practices chewing and usually her food falls out of her mouth as she chews. We also went through another rough time getting Josephine to sleep in her crib again. Because of her teething and my weakness for her tears, she was sleeping in our bed again. I know so many people have such strong opinions about that and are not shy about telling you. Unless you live it, you just can't know. Anyway, Todd pretty much spent a whole night up with her in her room. She cried and cried. I stayed in our room since she cries harder when she sees me. Over the next few nights, the protesting and crying lessened and now she is back to sleeping in her crib. I have been working most weekends and so I took the day off before my birthday. Josephine and I went to a mommy and baby exercise class. It is called bounce bebe. You use an exercise ball and your baby is the weight. I am such a ball of mush. It has been forever since I have done an exercise class, but it was fun. Too bad the class is on a Friday morning. It always amazes me that so many moms don't work. Oh and Josephine's top teeth came in so now she has a really toothy smile. She is so cute. I just can't kiss and hug her enough. J had to go to the doctor for another skin thing. She had this red spot on the back of her arm. Todd thought it was ringworm and it was. I didn't know ringworm is a fungus. It is not a worm at all. The doctor said she probably got it from our dogs. We just treat it with athlete's foot cream. J was 17 pounds, 12 ounces. I bought her a floatie and she just loves it. Todd takes J to the beach sometimes during the day while I am working. He takes pictures of her swimming with his phone and sends them to me. She is so cute in her sun hat floating in a tide pool.

     YEAH Wrestling season is over! Todd's team did well at states on Oahu. Everyone behaved and stayed safe. The team placed 12th in the state. I'll get more of the particulars from Todd, but one of the girls qualified for nationals so that is a wonderful accomplishment.

     We had some of our first guests return. They are a retired couple who do a lot of travelling. It was nice to see them again. They got to visit their granddaughter while they were here. We also had a mom and her son stay with us. They had a great time seeing the volcano, snorkeling and hiking. It always renews my appreciation for where we live when I talk to guests that are having a great time and are enthusiastic about their adventures.

     Grace's aunts and cousin stayed with us. They are a cool group of ladies. We got to spend some time together since Grace and Charlie had several cookouts while their families were here. It is hard to believe their wedding day has already came and went. They got married on my birthday. The wedding was really nice. They used some Hawaiian and some Scottish traditions. They exchanged leis but Charlie's mom also presented Grace with the family's tartan sash. It was all very "Braveheart." They had an Irish and a blues band. It was at a beach park so the wedding and reception were all outside. It just drizzled for a few minutes other than that it was overcast. If the sun would have been out, we would have been cooking. One of their friends had hired a fire dancer as a surprise. He did a great job. Everyone was yelling and clapping which scared Josephine. She cried and cried. I felt so bad for her but I was really enjoying the show. The day after we went to help clean up the tents and chairs. By the time we arrived, much of it was already cleaned up thanks to BJ, Dennis and Una. We had Charlie's parents and his brother over for dinner. Todd bought me a $45 ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins. It had some cartoon picture on it. The guy at the store was so grumpy. Todd asked him to write Happy Birthday Kim on the cake. He slapped on a plastic Happy Birthday sign and then put a big blob of pink icing on the cake when he tried to write Kim in some kindergarten scribble. Todd got a few bucks off for the mess up but I think he has sworn off of Baskin Robbins. Anyway, the evening was really enjoyable and the house did not burn down with my 35 candles blazing away. Charlie's family is so great and we always have fun visiting when they are here.

     We bought a professional dehydrator and Todd is dehydrating bananas, papayas and pineapples. He put cinnamon on some of the bananas. When I walked in to the house, it smelled like Cinnabon. I don't think that store is in Hawaii and I haven't had one for years, but it is such a memorable smell.

     We finally had our friends Angela and Lauren and their kids, Seth and Zoe over for dinner. I made lasagna, honey wheat bread and brownies. It was so funny when they arrived, Seth who is 5 asked me where our barn is located. They also live on a farm, but they have cows, pigs, goats and chickens. It is unreasonable to him that we have a farm and no barn or animals. It is hard to make evening plans with kids involved. Their kids had a late nap and then the dinner ran late and that was stepping on J's bath time. Maybe we should plan for lunches if we try to have a social life from now on.

     We celebrated J's first Easter. We painted eggs the day before. Actually, Todd and I painted eggs. I haven't painted eggs in forever. I bought a kit from Walmart that had stickers and the dye. The eggs were rather ugly, but J didn't mind. After church, we put the eggs on the living room floor and let her "find" them. She is so smart, so much smarter than her parents. We were filming her egg hunt and were coaching her to find this "last" egg. However, J wanted to crawl in the opposite direction. Well the next day or day after, the smart adults found the real last egg, the one J was trying to crawl to. I just imagine when she is older, we better make sure we count the eggs or right down where we hide them.

     Congratulations to our friends Charlie and Grace on their marriage.