An era has ended

The other day we were watching TV with all the girls. Keith was not liking whatever show it was and said "This show is G-A-Y". He spelled it out so that the girls wouldn't know what he said. Almost immediately Amya says "Gay? Why is the show gay dad?" We were laughing and saying that we couldn't spell things out anymore. About half an hour later, we were watching another show and Keith says "This show is Y-A-G". And sure enough, after about 2 seconds, Amya says "Dad, that's gay spelled backwards." We couldn't believe it. It's gonna be so hard now to talk about stuff we don't want them to know about now that Amya can figure out what we're saying. We also won't be able to talk in Spanish for much longer, cause she's figuring that out too. That smart little booger is ruining everything! :) Oh yeah, I forgot, then she started spelling stuff out herself, like "d-a-d i-s g-a-y" and stuff like that. Crazy.

In other news, Maricela's other top tooth is coming in now as well.

funny of the day

Elena: Why do you love me so much?
Me: Cause you're my beautiful girl.
Elena: No I not, I your funny girl ... but I still beautiful.
Me: Oh, you're my funny girl today?
Elena: Yes, and not a mean funny girl, a beautiful funny girl.

dance

For credits click here

I made this page today. As I was posting it, I realized that the last three pages I've done have all been about Elena. Well, one had Téa in it too, and obviously this one has Benjamin...but I better do some for the other girls before they get jealous!! The journaling says: "We already knew that you were a dancer, but we were surprised to see that Benjamin loves to dance as much as you do. It was only a matter of time before the two of you started dancing together. Spins, twirls, booty-shakin', what next?"

Houston, we have a picture!

(I'm not quite sure why I'm stuck on that saying.)

Last night we were playing outside and the baby was in her little swing that hangs down from the awning of our porch. I was taking some pictures of her swinging and then realized that I could get a shot of her tooth. So I got her to laugh and got the shot. Her fever is gone now, so that's good, but she still has boogers. I'm thinking maybe the other top tooth is coming in, you can kind of feel it underneath her gum. Anyway, we're excited for her.

Also, I forgot to mention what Amya did on Sunday. She was assigned the scripture for Primary, so she had to read a scripture (John 3:16) during opening exercises. I don't know if all of you know, but we go to a Spanish ward, so she had to read it in Spanish. She did it PERFECTLY!! We were SO proud of her and how quickly she has picked up reading - in English AND Spanish. Here is what she read: "Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado a su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna." Isn't that so cool? And she's reading everything. Everywhere we go, she reads signs. "Mom, did you know they're hiring at Wal-Mart? It says so right there - Now Hiring." "Who knows what tomorrow will bring (on the wall at Sam's)" I can't remember any more right now, but believe me, she's reading everything. It's so neat to see how much of the world is opened up to her now that she can read.

Here's a picture of Téa that I took yesterday. I put her hair in pigtails, dressed her up, and then thought she looked so cute that I took some pics of her outside. The only way I could get her to sit still was to bribe her with dandelions, and she was waving them all around while we were taking the pics. Keith is not going to be happy about that when he sees all the new dandelions start to pop up.

I have some pictures and stuff to share - I just downloaded over 1000 pics from this month onto my computer, and I had already forgotten stuff that we've done. So after I get some breakfast, I'll come back and put up some more pictures. TTFN!

Houston, we have a tooth!!!

Maricela finally has a tooth! It's her top right one. We first noticed something there last Saturday (April 21) but then I thought maybe it was a kankersore because it was just a little spot and I couldn't really see a tooth. But, the last three days she's had a runny nose and a fever, and yesterday we were finally able to feel a tooth. The other girls all started getting teeth around 6 months and had at least four by Maricela's age. And none of them ever got a fever while teething. Also, they all got their bottom left tooth first - the top right was the last of their first four. And it's Maricela's first to come in. So this has been a little bit different teething experience for us. I've been trying to get a picture of it, but she doesn't want it touched, she doesn't want anyone to come close to her mouth, and every time she has her mouth open and I think I can get a picture, her hand gets in the way, or something else. So I'll keep trying.But we're pretty excited that she finally has a tooth. Hopefully it won't take the rest of them very long to come in, cause she really likes to eat food, but it's hard when she can't chew anything up.

Funnies

Here are some random things the girls have said lately that have made us laugh.

• I had poured some milk into my cereal and then realized that the milk wasn't very cold. I checked the fridge and saw that the temperature thingy was turned to "OFF". So I turned it back on and then when Keith came home a few minutes later, I told him about it. All the kids were in the kitchen with us, listening. Keith said "It was probably one of these monsters that did it." To which Elena replied "Probably it was me...cause I did it." We just started laughing.
• Also, Elena likes to call us "mother" and "father". I don't know where she got it from, but she's been calling us that for a few weeks now. "Mother, can I do this? Father, can I have that?" It sounds so weird to me to hear mother and father instead of mom/my and dad/dy. So we started calling her "daughter", and the funny thing is, she's not too fond of that. Oh well.
• Elena also gets "very" confused with "really". As in "I very want some candy" or "My toe very hurts". She's so silly.
• The other day Elena was dancing around like she had to go to the bathroom. Keith told her to run to the bathroom before she went in her pants. She said "I don't have to use the bathroom. I just have a song in my head."
• This is a little bit of potty humor (pun intended), so don't say I didn't warn you. Amya used the bathroom and then called me in to wipe her. There was a lot of "stuff" in the bottom of the toilet and I said "Amya, you sure did a lot today!" And she replied, "No, I just borrowed some from Elena. She forgot to flush."
• Téa likes to tell people "I love you this much" and she holds up her hand with her thumb and index finger right together, like she's crushing a bug or something.

Okay, for some reason I'm having a hard time remembering silly things that Amya and Téa have said. I'm going to have to think about it some more.

Taylor and Maricela

Jenny and Taylor came over to visit yesterday. When they got here, we realized that the girls were wearing the same outfit (they got them as presents from Memmie!) We thought that was cute and took some pictures of them playing together. They really liked watching this monkey go around; they kept trying to catch it!

poser

Here's a page I did of Elena, making a lot of silly faces. I swear that girl is just like her daddy.

better sister

I forgot - I made this scrapbook page today and wanted to put it up. We had been taking a walk together and Téa was really into holding hands. Amya and Elena had taken off without her, and she stood next to me yelling, "Hand, Nena, hand!" I was able to get pictures of Elena running back to take Téa's hand, and then leading her away to catch up with Amya. I love my sweet girls.

2nd grade teacher

Has it really been a month since I last posted? It doesn't seem like that long. I have been so busy though. We started our spring field experience last week. I don't have a partner this time around, so I had to plan everything and put it all together myself. So it's been really hectic. But I'm having a great time. I'm teaching in the first grade Spanish class at Amya's school. She'll get to be in my class this week, but because of spring break, I'll only get to teach her for two days. But that's okay.

I have some other really exciting news that I can't wait to share. My school is starting to offer internships. What that means is, instead of doing student teaching during the senior year, you go to summer school and then teach all during your senior year. The class is yours - you are the teacher. There are people assigned to help you, but you're the one in charge. I had thought about applying, but then decided not to because I didn't think it would be something we could handle. Keith told me to go ahead and apply though, he knew how much I wanted it, and said that we could make it work. So anyway, we had our interviews on Friday. I interviewed with the Provo school district, then had an hour wait til I interviewed with the Alpine district. I thought that my interview with Provo went really well and I was happy with my answers to all of their questions. I had asked them when they would be letting us know if they would pick us or not, and they told me within a week. While I was waiting for my Alpine interview, another girl sat with me who had also interviewed with Provo. She said that they had told her that she would know by 4:30 and not to worry because she had interviewed well. After she said that, I just knew that Provo wasn't going to pick me. They had told me that I would hear in a week cause they were going to send me a "sorry" letter. So I was pretty upset. But I went in and did my Alpine interview. When I came out, there was a Provo lady waiting for me, and she told me to come with her because they had a few more questions for me. I thought that maybe they wanted some clarification on some of my answers to help them make up their minds or something. But as soon as I sat down in the room, she said that she'd like to offer me a job!!!!!! I was so excited, I actually said "shut up" after she said that, cause I just couldn't believe it. I'll be teaching 2nd grade next year!!!!! I still can't stop smiling, I'm so excited. I just can't believe that I've been given this opportunity. This is something that I have wanted to do my whole life, and I'm gonna get to do it!! I just wanted to share that with you guys.

Now on to the girls. There's not a whole lot of new stuff going on. We're just plugging along. Amya's doing great in both her English and Spanish classes. Elena is continuing to try and entertain us at all times, every day. Téa is so cute - she follows Elena around and copies everything she does. She's also started copying us too, so basically anything that is said in this house is said twice - once by us and once by her. Ah - a new development. While I was typing this, Keith yelled to come down and see Maricela trying to crawl. So I went down and sure enough, she was trying to get somewhere. She didn't move, but you could tell she was trying to. So hopefully she'll be crawling soon.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. I'm going to try to be good and post more. Cross your fingers for me. :)

first toast

I told you she was an eating fiend....

Night at the Museum

We took the girls to see Night at the Museum Monday night. They were really excited to get out and do something fun. As the movie was starting, during the opening credits, Elena said (loud enough for everyone in the theater to hear)

"I not sure I going to like this movie!"

Everyone in the theater started laughing. She is so silly. And she ended up liking it. All the girls liked it. It was really cute and fun.

Long time no blog

I'm sorry I'm such a slacker at blogging. I just get so behind in my schoolwork that this is the last thing on the list, with cleaning my house coming in second to last. ;p Our ward just split today, and now we'll be meeting at 1:00. I hate 1:00 church. It's right during nap time, it's feels like the day's almost over afterwards, etc. But, it could give me a chance to get caught up on the blog on Sunday mornings. So hopefully I can stay on top of it.

Here are some things that have been happening lately:

• Maricela is an eating fiend. She wants to eat all the time. She LOVES refried beans. (I wonder who she got that from?) The other day we were at the pizza place and we could tell that she wanted to eat. I didn't think that pizza would be very good for her, so I went to the store next door and got her some teething biscuits and some of that dry toast. She ate one of each while we were there! She's also tried baby cereal and some baby foods, but her favorite by far is beans.


• Jenny told me yesterday that Taylor's two bottom teeth have started coming in. She's two months younger than Maricela, and Maricela doesn't have any teeth yet. I don't really care that she doesn't have teeth yet (that means she can't bite me) but I also have that "Why doesn't my kid have/do this/that?" feeling. Do you know what I'm talking about? I mean, I know she'll get teeth and everything will be fine, but I also wonder why didn't she get them first. Silly, I know.


• On that same note, she STILL does not roll over. She's six months old and can't roll. At her check-up, the doctor asked me if she was rolling yet, and when I said that she wasn't, he said "Yeah, the big ones usually don't". I laughed at that. None of mine were ever quick roller-overs.


• BUT, she can sit up! She can sit really good on my bed and on the couch. When you put her on a hard surface, she falls over faster, but she can stay up for awhile when she's on something soft.


• We had Maricela's baby blessing on Feb. 4th. (That was also Keith's birthday.) We had been waiting for my dad to come out, so he could be here for the blessing as well, but we just couldn't wait any longer. Keith's brother was teasing him that after he blessed her, he could just put her down and let her walk off the podium, we had waited so long. Keith's sister Iva has a baby, Dominique, who is four months younger than Maricela. We were able to do both the blessings together in our ward. That was pretty neat. Here's a picture of the two little girls.
  
  


• Amya is writing like crazy. She's constantly making books and writing stories. Last night she wrote two pages in her journal titled "About myself". She wrote down things like her favorite color, favorite tv show, favorite foods, etc. I am so proud of her and all the learning she is doing.


• Elena is as crazy as ever. She loves to make people laugh. The other night she said something silly (and now I can't remember what it was) and I started laughing. She realized that I was laughing because of what she had said, and she repeated herself about five more times, just to make me laugh more. She is such a comedian. After I stopped laughing, Keith was telling her that he's the jokester in the family, she can't try to take his place.


• Téa is getting smarter and smarter. We checked out a library book called The Water Hole (an awesome book if you're looking for something to read with your kids - by Graeme Base). It has different animals hidden in every picture. Téa is so good at finding them, and then remembering where they are. She loves to get it out and point out all the animals to us. I think we'll be buying it, cause she'll be missing it after we return it.


• I just found out my student teaching assignment for this semester. It's in Amya's first grade Spanish class. I'm excited but nervous at the same time. I was not expecting it at all (all of the assignments for this semester are supposed to be in Salt Lake). Amya's really excited. I'm just a little nervous about teaching in Spanish - I might mess up. I guess we'll see how it goes.


• One more thing, last night I was doing homework and Keith left to set up chairs at the chapel for ward conference. Usually the girls are pretty good when they're downstairs by themselves, so I thought I'd be okay to work on my homework a little bit longer. When I came downstairs about 20 minutes later, I heard the girls in the bathroom. I went in there, and saw that Amya had drawn a bath for all of them, Maricela included! All four girls were playing in the bath, with Amya holding the baby. She was so proud of herself for getting the girls clean for church, but I was a little scared. I'm lucky that nothing happened to the baby! She's such a good little helper, but sometimes she goes a little too far! :)

Hopefully this was enough of an update for you. I'll try to get some pictures up and if I'm lucky, I'll be back again next Sunday.

beautiful smile

Here's a page I did today of Elena. I LOVE how she was smiling in this picture.