Memories

Many of you probably remember that Darius never crawled. He was a world-champion butt scooter. It has dawned on me that I never got a video of it, that makes me sad. Today we were watching Mya's latest attempts to crawl (get up on hands & knees, dive forward, repeat) and talking about how he used to get around. He was nice enough to re-enact the butt scoot for me (with some added funky moves), so I could have that video:




Mya was very entertained.

Story Time

Today, Taye read me a story from his Changing Pictures Bible Stories book. If you know this book, it may sound familiar.




Once upon a time there was a rainbow. A quiet rainbow, a hiding rainbow, a stay at home rainbow...


One day it was time for the rainbow to come out! The end.

My bad...

We have had a recurring leaking problem under the kitchen sink ever since we replaced the garbage disposal a few months back. Last night it was bad, and Luis hasn't had a second to fix it yet, so the mess in the kitchen is building up quickly. I made a can of baked beans to go with lunch today, and after a moment's hesitation, decided to just toss it in the trash since I couldn't use the sink to rinse it. I tossed it in, and Taye ran over, "Oh, no, no! That's recycling!"

Darius, while looking at Mya: "Hey! Mya has 'me' eyes!"

Not quite what I had in mind...

Me: "Its a really nice day today, we should do something fun. What would you guys like to do?"
Darius: "Ummmm...how about...wearing backpacks!"

Bath time

Mya has had the strength to sit up for a long time now, but balance was a foreign concept to her, and one she showed little interest in. Just in the last day or two she has decided balance it worth mastering. She is now an official sitter, which can only mean one thing - sink baths! No more baby seat for her. She spent the entire time splashing, the kitchen was a mess. Good times.

Outside!

We have spent the vast majority of the last three days outside. Awesome. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera much of the time, so you'll have to take my word for it. Friday we met Tia and the girls at one of our favorite playgrounds. We spent three hours there, shared a picnic lunch, played in the sand box, had so much fun. To top it off, they came back to our house afterwards and stayed until bedtime.

Saturday, after running some errands, we went to the playground near our house. Mya went on the swing for the first time, and I so wish I had my camera. She loved it, and spent a ton of time in there. The boys ran around with Daddy, the best playground buddy to have.

This morning we got up and went to the flea market. We love the flea market, if you didn't know. We're a little bit excited about the idea of getting stuff for our new house at the flea market, but we're not letting ourselves go there yet. Still, it was fun poking around, and the weather was gorgeous. We went home for lunch, and the kids didn't come into the house until dinner time. They ate lunch on the porch, and then went out into the yard. They helped Daddy wash the cars:


Alex and Abby came over to play too. You can see they didn't have any fun. I can't wait for more.

Showoff

The other day I took some pictures to show off Mya's new push-up skills. But its not even worth showing any more.

Oh, ok fine, I'll show you anyway...


Pretty impressive, huh? Well, except that in the last two days she has started doing this:


And sometimes this:


But forget that, just look at this:



I'm not quite sure I'm ready.

This, by the way, is her 'looking at Darius' face:



And this is just a cute bonus shot:

Creativity

The creativity got started early today. Daddy got the boys into glueing Cheerios onto drawings:

Darius often likes to put a Tinkertoys stick and wheel together and caal it a pop. Today he showed me this and said, "Mama, I made Tia with pops!"

Ask and ye shall receive...

eventually.

Pictures from Maeve's party:

Busy weekend...

We hardly had a chance to catch our breath this weekend, it was very busy. Saturday we went to Maeve's birthday party. I would love to share some pictures from the day, but alas, I cannot. You see, I forgot my camera, and while I was told by someone who shall remain nameless, that unlike when I say I will email pictures and then take days to do so, she would actually email me pictures that night, yet I still have not received that email. So we will skip ahead to Sunday.

Sunday we had Mya's baptism. Finally. Matt and Tia are the Godparents, and they came up with the girls. Gramma Donna, Mom, and Jim came to the church, and Nana and Grandad met us at the house afterwards. Gramma did the first reading for us, while Mom and Jim babysat all 4 kids and took pictures! They won the multi-tasking award for the day. It was a small group, which was actually very nice. I felt like we had time to visit with everyone.

Mya was the sixteenth baby to wear the Christening gown that Mom made for Fran(k) in 1981. I love having that gown around, and if I have anything to do with it, my grandchildren will wear is someday too. :o)

We attempted a post-ceremony photo shoot, but it wasn't so successful. We gave up and headed out.

At the house there were plenty of opportunities for photo shoots. With all the snazzy dressers...


Cuddly Kodak moments...


And just general, all-around cuteness...


Matt, Tia, and the girls stayed until bedtime (and beyond!) Somewhere around dinner time, Luis got the awesome idea to order pizzas, build a fire, and take the party outside.


In the Random Moment of the Day, I overheard Taye telling Olivia, "Did you know your teeth are bones? See? They're white!" I'm sure she was thrilled to know. :o)


There was swinging...


and sliding...


Even Lupita got in on the action (which makes me wonder how many 3 year olds you know who name their dolls something as awesome as Lupita - I love it.)


And, of course, extreme s'mores making:


This girl has a knack for making yummy messes.

It was a great day of celebration, I think the lady of the hour (well, day) would agree.