Sitting with Dad

Our girls LOVE LOVE LOVE sitting with their dad. For some reason, sitting with him means sitting on top of him. Sometimes it's in a nice spot like his lap. Other times he ends up with them on his head, his neck, his back . . . lots of strange places. If he's sitting down though, it doesn't take long before someone is sitting with him. They just love sitting with their dad.

Today Taylor decided sitting on his arm was a great spot.



With Shelby and Taylor getting some Dad time, Payden decided she needed to join in.


Declan decided he need to look at this whole spectacle . . .


We love you cute . . . silly . . . girls!

That's My Tom

Tom headed to Seattle for a job interview. That same weekend his good buds Craig and Justin happened to be in Seattle taking a CE course. Tom met up with them at their hotel and found this . . .


That's my Tom!

Saying Goodbye

Tom decided to take the camera to school on his last day to get pictures with friends. Unfortunately, the time went too quickly, and he wasn't able to catch everyone, but here are a few people he did catch . . .

Reena



Kayla


Kyla . . . who took wonderful care of Tom . . . especially during the first 2 years


Lisa . . . the comp lifesaver


John . . . that handsome man (a standing joke between John and Tom)


Cynthia


Joe


Melissa


Lupe . . . mi salvavida


Thanks for your friendship!!! They brought wonderful moments to an otherwise miserable experience. We will miss y'all!

Group 4 End of Year Party

As Tom's last week of dental school came, so did the invitations to all sorts of events. One of the first ones we attended was for Tom's group . . . Group 4's End of Year Party. With the kids dropped off at my friend's house, we headed to Los Barrios Mexican Restaurant (as seen on Bobby Flay's Throwdown).

We had a great time mingling with everyone and enjoying some delicious food. After a while, the seniors got together to get a group shot taken to give to their group leaders, Dr. Santos and Dr. Partida.

The boys: Joe, Tom, Jake, and John.
The girls: Kayla, Carissa, Cynthia, Brittany, Melissa, Kyla, and Jamie.


We got to sit down and eat with Tom's ex-scheduler Bea and Bea's sister. We had a great time chatting and especially discussing what it was like to grow up poor. We really enjoyed their company.

Unfortunately after 2 hours it was time for us to go even though the awards hadn't been given and dessert hadn't been eaten. We had a great evening, but it's still hard to believe that the end is near. It seems so unreal.

That night was the night for flowers. At my friend's house, Taylor decided to pick some flowers for us and had some grand plan about where she'd put them for us to find (she has many grand ideas). We opened my friend's door to find these flowers on the floor waiting for us. We also arrived to an extremely upset Declan, who had apparently been traumatized the entire night. Tom and I were really surprised by that. He's such a chill baby, but it was his first time with a babysitter while awake. We are grateful to Shauna and Jay for watching our kids.


At the party, all of the seniors received a flower to wear made by Bea. They were really beautiful and in Tom's favorite color.


We are definitely thankful for all those in Tom's group who helped him through the years and were glad to be able to celebrate the end of dental school!!!

Pulling Himself Up

I can't believe it!!! Declan decided to pull himself up today. My baby is getting so big!!!!


Now he just needs to learn that he can't just face outwards and start moving forward. Fortunately, I was fast at catching him . . .


Way to go Declan!

A Visit and Saying Goodbye

With school nearing an end, it was time to sell the motorcycle. My sister's husband Keith had mentioned to Tom numerous times that he'd be interested in buying it when we were ready to sell. Tom gave him a call, and the deal was done.

Since Lori and Keith had moved to Austin a bit ago, we decided to take a little road trip to see them and to hand over the motorcycle.

I have been meaning to make bows for my nieces and was finally able to get some finished for Lori's girls, so I brought them along with us. Addie looked quite cute wearing her new bow.



As soon as we got there, the girls got right to playing with their cousin Avery. They did a good job of finding all the different places to play in the house (the kitchen, the front room, the living room, the backyard), but I think the most coveted place to play ended up being on the back porch using Avery's art easel. They loved painting, and we ended up with a few squabbles over it all. They also had a good time chasing down the cats and trying to corner them. They were successful in trapping one of them in a room, but I fortunately came along and saved the cat.


While the girls played, Declan got to play with Papa.


Meanwhile, I finished up the bows so that I could leave Addie and Avery with a good collection of bows.


Avery liked them so much that one got immediately put into her hair.


At one point Payden found Addie. Payden LOVES babies and was excited to find a stationary baby to talk to and coo at and bounce. Addie loved the attention, too. It was cute seeing the two of them together.


Finally after a bit of a visit, Tom and Keith got down to business and went out to check out the motorcycle.


After one last trip as a family on the motorcylce and after some more playing and after dinner for Declan and then for the rest of us . . .


and after a little nap . . .


it was time to say goodbye. We decided to snap a shot of the 2 new grandbabies together right before we headed out the door. What cuties!


It was so nice to visit Lori and her family as well as see Nana and Papa. It's such a bummer that right as Lori moves close to us, we have to get up and move. Thanks for the good company, the good times, the playing, the food, and for buying our motorcycle from us.

Another One Bites the Dust

This picture makes me laugh and has quite the story behind it . . .


Now Shelby has lost teeth by: eating an apple, being flicked out by Dad, being elbowed in the mouth by Taylor, kneeing herself in the mouth, and just falling out. I guess it was time for a new method. Anyways, she had this tooth that was just dangling. Lately, she does not want to do anything to encourage her loose teeth to fall out, which of course drives her dentist dad nuts. Tom kept asking her to try to get it out because plaque was accumulating on and around the tooth because she was too afraid to brush it well. She would try to wiggle it, but only half-heartedly. So one night, Tom kept bugging her and bugging her, but she didn't want to do anything. He then tried to bribe her . . . Littlest Pet Shops, the movies; when she refused that, he just started saying stuff and actually told her she could have a trip to Hawaii . . . but she would not do anything or let him do anything. By this time with all the prodding and looking in her mouth, Shelby, our sensitive one, ended up in tears.

Now how this next part happened, I have no clue. Somehow, Tom convinced her (he didn't even push her to do it; she did it rather willingly) to let him tie floss to her tooth and to the door. I have no idea what she was thinking when she let him do that. She knew what tieing a tooth to the door was for . . . to pull teeth out, yet she let him do it. With the tooth tied to the door, Tom told Shelby to shut the door. She grabbed the door knob and shut the door . . . but kept ahold of the knob while she shut it. It was hilarious. We laughed and laughed, and then Tom tried to convince her to just push the door shut. She knew what that would do and refused. Of course all of this exchange was accompanied with much howling and wailing and crying.

After a bit, she started flipping out and demanded that Tom take the floss off her tooth. Tom checked it out and had no idea how he'd get the floss off; it was tied too tightly. Of course, she started flipping out even more. He went to get something to see if he could cut it off. When he came back he grabbed the floss to try to get it out of her mouth. She got really jumpy . . . she was afraid he'd flick it out or pull it out with the string . . . well, she ended up jumping back and yanking the floss hard and out came her tooth. Tom immediately covered up the hole with his sock and had her close her eyes and tilt her head all the way back, so she wouldn't see the blood and start crying. After stopping the bleeding with toilet paper, he let her go. At that point she started blaming Tom for pulling out her tooth. We were laughing so hard. She would not believe that by jumping away from Tom, she had pulled it out. After a minute or two, she calmed down and the first thing out of her mouth was . . . "You owe me a trip to Hawaii."


Well, she didn't get to go to Hawaii, but we then made a trip to Toys R Us and she got some Littlest Pet Shops. Boy it sure would be nice if she would be a little more brave and get these teeth out the easy way, but it certainly made for a good story.

When Did She Get So Big?!?!

For awhile now, we've been going to starfall.com, and then either Shelby or Taylor will help Payden play, which means moving the mouse around for her. They let her make any choice that needs to be made, but they maneuver the mouse for her.

Well, I came down from showering one day and found this:


Taylor had decided she was going to let Payden do it, and Payden sat down and did it. She was so proud of herself and actually did a really good job moving the mouse around. Despite the fact that she's CONSTANTLY trying to be big, it still is fun, and a little sad, to see her getting so big.

Sleeping Changes

I've postponed this day for a long time. Because of Taylor's crazy sleep habits and our small house, Declan has needed to be mobile. Sometimes he sleeps downstairs and sometimes he sleeps in our room. Having him sleep in his carrier has allowed me to easily move him and yet keep the same sleep environment for him. Well at the beginning of the month, I noticed he started doing this:


I don't know how he slept like that. It doesn't look very comfortable. Well, one night he was sleeping in the playroom when I heard him crying. Not his normal falling asleep cry, but an unusual one. I went in to check on him and found him face down on the floor. Apparently, he had gotten into this crazy position, arched his back, and then pushed himself out on the side of the carseat. As he fell out of the carseat, his body flipped over, landing him on his belly. I laughed and put him back in the carrier to go to sleep. A few minutes later we heard that cry again and he had done it again. I had hoped that he'd last until we moved, but as always, my plans must always change. He now sleeps in his pack 'n' play like a big boy.



Too cute. As for the sleeping arrangement, things have definitely gotten trickier. Both Declan and Taylor have to fall asleep in our room. Since he still takes 3 naps, he usually goes to bed a bit later than her, which works out. Some nights, though, they both are ready for bed at the same time, and so usually Declan will have to wait until she's asleep (he will make up for lost sleep; she on the other hand . . . ). I hate those nights, but until we have a house that fits us, we will make do.

Easter: Easter Sunday

Kids and taking pictures. Sometimes I don't even know why I try! Well after Sacrament, we left Nana and Papa's church and headed back to take pictures in Easter outfits, eat and get ourselves packed and on the road.

Honestly, I had such difficulty getting a good shot of the kids. Declan just wanted to play with the grass. When he would look up, it wasn't to smile. The girls were wiggly and just hard to get a good shot of.

This is one of the only where they were all 4 looking up and had good faces . . . you just have to ignore Shelby's hands.


We tried for a different pose. The girls just erupted in giggles. Declan got squished a bit, but didn't care - the grass was just too interesting I guess.




Since Declan just wasn't working for us, we tried to get a shot of just the girls. It was nearing the end of the shoot and they were getting antsy.



Finally, we made them laugh to get some of them all smiling.



It was CRAZY getting these photos, but they were sooo cute in their Easter outfits!

Easter: Hanging Out with Family

Besides enjoying Easter festivities, we also got to enjoy some time with family. We talked and watched "Bedtime Stories" and had a relaxing Saturday afternoon together.

Declan was trying to watch TV, but Nana's coffee table was in the way, so he had to cran his neck to see. It was cute.


Here's Declan getting some time with Aunt Angela . . .


and with Nana . . .


We're glad Angela and Scott were able to come over, and we enjoyed our visit with them.


Holidays are the best!

Easter: An Easter Egg Hunt

My sister Angela and her husband Scott were going to arrive around noon. Since they would come around naptime and wanted to go egg hunting with us and since we'd gotten up SUPER early, I told Taylor and Payden they HAD to take a nap first before we could go hunt for the eggs the Easter Bunny left in the backyard. Fortunately, it worked. Once their naps were over, they were ready to go ... a little groggy ... but ready to go hunting for eggs.




Shelby actually found a real bird's egg. It was teeny tiny.


I think the Easter bunny was having fun hiding the eggs . . .



You see the number of eggs in Payden's basket? Shelby and Taylor were so sweet and would pass up all of the eggs on the ground, saying they wanted Payden to find them, and there were a LOT of eggs on the ground.








Again, that bunny was having TOO much fun!




After all the eggs were found, I had them sit down, so I could get a shot of them with their loot.


Payden's basket was so full that her eggs kept spilling out. Shelby and Taylor really were so kind to her.



We went to get a shot of the three of them Payden noticed a bug -outside of all places!! You can tell how she feels about bugs . . .


It tooks us a minute to get Payden to sit back down - she really was concerned about that bug being by her. When I noticed how many more eggs Payden had, I asked her to share with Shelby and Taylor, and she just handed them over to her sisters. It really was sweet to see all three of them sharing so easily and so willingly with each other. So here are our egg hunters.


Finally we headed inside to check out the loot.




The eggs were filled with candy and money. What a nice Easter bunny! Unbelievably, Taylor and Shelby ended up with the exact same amount of money. Crazy, huh?! They had a wonderful time, and we loved getting to be a part of it.