Videos

Darci loves sucking her fingers and watching me cook dinner... And here is Darci eating solids for the first few times...


Paige singing her songs. Most of the songs she makes up are about princesses of the Holy Spirit. This first one is about a princess... And the second video is her serious look.... Whenever you tell Paige something she doesn't want to hear, she gives you the stink eye. She used to do it really well and then walk away, but now that she knows we think its funny, she stares us down and then raises her eyebrows and smiles.


When Kevin makes up a song (1st video) he usually just repeats the same few words over and over and over. But he does a better job singing songs he already knows. In the second video he's singing No more monkeys/dinosaurs jumping on the bed. Kevin is one of the loudest singers in Sacrament meetings at church.


Derek is a really good singer in Primary and he does a really good job at making up songs, he's got a great imagination.

Rail runner south and an almost baseball game

We've already taken the rail runner train north from Albuquerque to Santa Fe (the locals here pronounce it with the emphasis on the Santa Fe, not Santa Fe), so on Memorial day we took the train south to Belen. There was absolutely nothing to see in Belen, but it was a nice trip down and back traveling along the river and through the towns.


Our plan for the evening was to go to the Isotopes baseball game. The Isotopes is as big league as it gets here in Albuquerque, they're the Dodgers AAA team. They have a little play area for kids, so we were going to bring our blankets, have a little picnic in the lawn area and let the kids play while we watched the game. When we got there, we found out that even the kids had to pay for lawn tickets, and they're not even discounted. So, $6 a ticket, $30 for us to see a minor league game. But we were there, so we thought, ok, we'll do it this time. Then we went to the gate and they looked through our bags and said no outside food or drink. What the heck! So, I was so upset, I rushed our tickets back to the ticket booth for a refund. That is ridiculous! We could go see the Diamondbacks for way less money. So, instead we went to a little fun park and played video games. I guess we'll wait for the college baseball to start up next fall where they are cheap seats and allow food and drink! So here is a video of Derek hitting baseballs instead.

The things she says

When the boys were camping last week, she said "Where is Derek at? I need them... they're my boys."

Like her cousin, Maya, she points to the picture on the penny and says it is Heavenly Father.

We were in a store the other day and there was a statue. She said, "Look, it's Joseph Smith."

She grabbed my face the other day and turned it towards her and said very seriously, "Jesus helps me to be better."

In the middle of her nap yesterday, she ran out here and said, "I need pom poms mom."

Today, in the middle of her nap she ran out and said, "We need to buy gloves."

These are a few of the things I remember to write down!

I'm a dinosaur boy

Paige was running around the apt today wearing a big hat and singing, "I'm a cowboy, I'm a cowboy". I said, "no, you're a cowgirl... Kevin is a cowboy." Then Kevin came up to me and said, "No, I'm a dinosaur boy."

Epiphany

I had a sort of epiphany last night at my book club. First, let me tell you about my book club. A few girls get together about once a month. Last night we reviewed Eat, Pray, Love and actually it was kind of a boring book. Anyway, we talk about the book for about an hour or so and then spend the rest of the night - sometimes they're there way after midnight - just talking about stuff. This was my second time there. I have to duck out at about 11:15 to get home to "dream feed" Darci.

I've been thinking a lot lately about if I were to die, how much would the kids remember me as they grew up based on the ages they are now. At the book club we were talking about a lot of stuff and a girl was talking about how 2 months ago she was walking across a grocery store parking lot with her purse on her shoulder and some teenagers drove by her and grabbed her purse and pretty much drug her across the parking lot before her purse strap broke and she skid across the lot.

And then it hit me.... its not just the kids who would miss out on me if I died, but I would miss out on them! All the time I have with them everyday now would be gone. I wouldn't be able to hear them whine or complain or laugh or anything anymore. I would be the one missing out. So I had better enjoy EVERY minute with them now while I can. I need to have more one-on-one time with them, especially with Derek because he's in school most of the day. I need to create more memories for them, do more fun time and just enjoy them even more than I already do. Because when it comes down to it, nothing else really matters when we die except for family. I don't want to get to the other side, and watch them grow up regretting what I didn't do with the, what I was too busy or too lazy to do. So this is my new goal in life. I have 4 beautiful children and I'm going to enjoy them even more even when they're kicking and screaming. The TV will be turned off even more, even though we don't really watch it that much to begin with. The computer will be turned off a little more.

And as for Derek, we've decided that he will do Kindergarten again. Academically, there's no problem with him going to first grade, he would do great. But I'm in no hurry for him to grow up sooner than he already is, and he started kindergarten early anyway, so this will put him back in the grade he's supposed to be in. It'll be better for him in high school when he's one of the oldest kids instead of one of the youngest.

Camping and Park Time

Tad took the boys to the Fathers & Sons campout last Friday night. Paige, Me and Darci had some girl time here at home.





These next few are at a park across the street from the zoo. They like to humor me with posing for all my pictures!












This is a park we like to go play in and hit baseballs. Everything is so green and pretty now.


Darci is another finger sucker... She's a 3-finger sucker (sometimes a double-handed finger sucker), unlike Derek, who was a 2-finger sucker. She loves her fingers during the day, but when its time for naps and bedtime she loves her binky.

My Doctor Shot Me....

I told Paige that we were taking Darci to the doctor today and she said with a serious look on her face, "My doctor shot me." I said, "What?" and she said, "My doctor by the gym shot me."

Here is another conversation we had about her baby doll... She said, "My baby doll can't talk." I said, "Yeah, I know", to which she said, "She die". I told her, "Yeah, your baby doll isn't real." She very seriously looked at me and said, "I am... and mommy."

And she was watching TV the other day and there were some babies on it and she said, "That baby has a mommy too!" I just had to laugh. And at the park the other day, she was getting worried because she couldn't see Derek anywhere and she said, "I want my bruder, I want my Derek."

Sometimes she just seems so smart for her little tiny body.

But, back to Darci, today was her 4 month check up. She weighed 13#9oz (50%) and was 25inches tall (75%). She is actually 28 inches tall if you count her hair! I took her to get pictures at Walmart (yes, I'm cheap) yesterday and had her hair cute with pigtails. When we got there, I noticed one of them was a little off compared to the other. So I took the rubberband off to fix it and snap, it broke! Of course, I wasn't prepared and didn't have another one, and I couldn't take the other one out too, because her hair was just standing straight up, so I improvised and made just one ponytail on the top of her head. The pictures turned out really cute, but she is just soooo cute with pigtails, I think I'm going to take her back tomorrow and get another package. For $5.99, I really can't resist.

I got a great deal off of craigslist the other day... I found this cute old fancy dresser for $85 bucks and got them to deliver it to us for no extra charge.

It almost matches this one below I got for Paige a few years ago for $75! I can't wait to decorate some girl rooms sometime soon!

Lost Season Finale

Now what am I going to do for the next 9 months?????? That was the best season finale I've seen in a while....

Do you know what these mean?

I do! Or, at least, I'm learning what they mean. I'm taking an EKG class at work. I never wanted to learn these before because they always seemed so foreign and almost scary to interpret. But, I'm finding that they're actually not that difficult, and they're actually kind of fun!

Frustrating

Well, we may or may not get this house. We were pre-approved but now there is a problem with my income. I'm a float pool nurse, which means that I'm really not guaranteed my hours, even though the chances of being canceled here are really really low, but the underwriters are not wanting to count my income at all because of it! Didn't I tell everyone what a frustrating process I knew we were in for!

On a brighter side, Darci decided to roll over for the first time today. Now, there's no stopping her and the big pile of spit up that it causes!

Darci is 4 Months Old

Hard to believe, time is flying by. Darci's already 4 months old. She's doing great. She rolls almost all the way over from her back to her tummy, she just needs to figure out how to get her arms the rest of the way over. She's giggling and smiling and melting our hearts everyday.





And here are all 4 of the crazy kids!

We got a house!

Well, we finally got someone to accept our offer on a house! We're hoping to close by the end of May. It's going to be in the same ward/area as we are now. It's a 2-story 2130 sf house with 4 bedrooms upstairs and 2 living areas and a dining room downstairs. The backyard is landscaped and terraced and pretty neat. There's also a small basketball court area in the back. The bedrooms are small, we'll have to do bunk beds for the kids to share, but we'll easily be able to stay in the house for years. Now I have to start pricing out washer, dryers and fridges! Yikes!

We like our ward, so we're happy that we found something within the boundaries that is still relatively close to our jobs. Everyone's been great in our ward so far, so now we can get more involved without having to worry about moving out of the ward in a few months.

We went to Thatcher this last weekend. It was a long trip - 7 hours in the car. And I just have to brag about my baby for a minute. She is soooooo GOOD! The way there, we only had to stop 1 time to feed her, she took 2 naps and then just stared around and talked to herself. She was great. The way back we fed her twice because we left later after feeding her in the morning. She slept about half the time and the rest of the time just looked around. She is such a good baby. It may have something to do with her being just one baby at a time, but really she is so good. I could have several more if they were all like her.

Grandpa and Nana had fun with her, although Grandpa missed out on holding her too much because he was afraid of a little (OK, a lot) of spit of. I don't know what my problem was, but I only took 1 picture the entire time we were there! Here's Darci with Grandpa Martin.

Kevin was sick most of the time we were there. He threw up in the van when we were just 5 minutes away! He didn't throw up while we were there, but he had isues coming out the other side and complained about his tummy and was fussy most of the time. But not one accident in his pants! He's done so good in underwear. Derek face-planted off the monkey bars and has a small owie from that. Paige threw up in the van on the way home and is recovering today. Hopefully it will bypass Darci and Derek, but Tad is starting to feel it today at work!