The new Mobile

Derek got a little mobile above his bed. I have to lay him in their sometimes for a little bit if I am putting some one (mainly Addie) in time out or I have to cook dinner or give baths. He was getting bored so I bought this little sports mobile and i turn it on for him to watch while I am busy. I had no idea he would like it this much. He starts kicking and giggling when it starts spinning. And you can tell he just wants to grab it and put it in his mouth.

Derek's Mobil

I am telling you he loves that thing.

Two peas in a pod

My mom dressed the girls up in their princess dresses today so they could dance to pretty music. Addie loves to do this and you can see she really took to her character. The only thing missing in her mind are several mirrors so she can look at herself while she dances. Her sister being a girl too was dressed in a dress as well but she does not like it the way Addie does. They are very different. Addie is a girly girl. She loves to always have jewelry on and she told me once when one of her earrings came up missing to find it fast cause she looked like a boy without it. Olivia hates anything I put in her hair and she doesn't take to the princess movies the way Addie does.

Olivia does not want to be a princess

My mom dressed Olivia up in a pretty green princess dress with sparkles and puff sleeves. She didn't act all proper and delicate and dance around like Addie. Instead she found some stickers and decided to put them on a stuffed cat. Not at all interested.

Aunt Net!

Annette my sister sent a Valentines Day package to each of my kids. They love getting packages from her. Each kid got candy and a Valentine straw. The girls got heart necklaces and bracelets. And they each got a card. Plus a special thing that was specific to their liking. Any who . Here is how it all broke down.
Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Addie opening her package

Horse Stickers

Unicorn

Here she is admiring it. For those of you who dont understand what she is saying she says the horn is beautiful and look at the collar.

Olivia's Kitty

Olivia got a Valentine Kitty. She was after both Addie and Dallin so she was dying to take her turn. She opens the package and says " Aw Cute" She is delayed a bit with her speech so this is one of a very few words she can say. Its a big deal that she said anything.

Dallin's Package

He got these hotwheels cars called crashers. He knew all about them the minute he saw them. I guess he has seen them in commercials and wanted some. He also got Nascar stickers and a straw and some candy. Dont kid your self folks. Straws are so cool to kids. He went right away and got a drink of apple juice to test it out. My kids also like to use them to drink the milk out of their bowls in the morning. I think Andrews mom started that.

Hot Wheels Card

Dallin loves hot wheels and Annette had told me on the phone she got him a hot wheels card that plays music. I thought he would open it and just rock out. But he seemed overwhelmed with the fact that the card was playing music and then got very interested in finding out how it worked. Then Olivia went to town she loved the card too.

Dallin Figures it out

He is so interested in it. And then decided what was going on is that they put music in the card. Genius

olivia opening the card

She kept opening it over and over again. It was so amazing to her.

olivia dancing to the card

Derek's Card

Baby Dereks card was sooooo cute. I loved it. He was asleep so we will show him tomorrow. But it made my heart melt cause he is my baby baby and the little message inside was even better. Its one of those things you keep forever. They are only little and super sweet for so long I will always remember how small he was when I look at that card. So Cute!

Playing with Derek

I have some video clips of Olivia playing with her brother the best she knows how. Her and Addie always ask me to bring him in the room and lay him down in the general area they are playing in. They legitimately think he is playing with them and they get all sorts of craby when I pick him up and take him back. Its a unequal relationship cause they do all the entertaining and fetching of toys while he just sits there and kicks his legs. But they love to play with him all things considered.

Olivia loves Derek

Big Meeting

The client Andrew is on right now is about an hour commute. So he wastes about two hours a day just driving. He needed to work this Saturday but didnt want to drive there so he was working from home. He had a big meeting scheduled to happen at 7 a.m. with the client and the partner on the phone. And he said "If I am going to convince the partner I can work from home I have to really do well in this meeting." Translation. You have got to wrangle the kids and keep them from screaming, climbing on me and stealing my paper work off the desk. So we had sugar coated cereal in sandwich bags with milk in sippy cups and watched a movie. I even waited to put away the clean dishes in the dishwasher till after he hung up. He was proud of us.

Child Abuse

Addie made me tie her to the kitchen table this week. It felt so wrong. And can you imagine what people would think if they came over and saw a child tied to a table. But she was pretending to be a horse. She had this set up for a few days. One day we were playing outside for a while and I noticed she didnt come back out. She had re-tied herself and couldn't get it off her neck and so she was a horsy for a little longer than she wanted to be. Andrew (Mr. practical) explained to me the dangers of her maybe chocking "What if your in the shower and she has to go to the bathroom" ect... and I finally had to hide the leash and put it away.
Bummer. I always wanted a horse I can remember as a little girl wishing for one a star one year.

Art

Dallin loves to draw and color. He prefers his own creations but he as been abiding by what the teacher is asking him to do lately. This picture is so cute to me. Maybe after all four of my kids have been in kindergarten i will just throw these pictures away cause they will be so common. But for now he is my first and its so fun to ask him what is in the picture. This one he said is a plant in a jar. The green triangles are the plant. Then he drew a skull head next to it cause we live in the desert and thats what he thinks is a normal accessory for plants. The pink little flower is smiling. And the black areas are the food apparently. And there are blue drops cause its being watered. Finally there is a little yellow sun in the left hand corner.
Could it be cuter?
And I love how they write their name when they are first learning how.

Art

This one I kept from a couple of months ago cause I thought it looked just like me. He drew a picture of me holding baby Derek in the pool. The best part is he drew circles around my arm indicating water wings. I don't like to swim very much and he thinks its cause I cant swim hence the water wings to help me want to get in the pool more.

School Bus

I have Dallin ride the bus to school. Its only a block away from our house. But loading the kids in the car every morning and afternoon especially when the baby is usually sleeping got to be very hard and exhausting. So we put him on the bus and each day we go out and get him. We sit on the curb for at least 5 minutes until the bus comes. The day I decide to go out three or four minutes later to avoid sitting there for 5 minutes the bus driver comes early and we are not there to get Dallin so we sit just like this and wait.

She can see the bus

As the bus rounds the corner Olivia gets frantic with excitement. And yes she is just as excited everyday. Kids are funny like that. If you pick them up and spin them around you could do it it 100 times and its just as fun to them as the first time. And they could do it 100 more times.

Yes we do this everyday

Here he is getting off the bus. I know 5 years from now I will look back at this time and wish life was this simple again. This really is the biggest most exciting part of the girls day.

Sweet boy.

He always gives his sisters hugs and kisses when he gets home. He is a very loving brother. Both girls adore him. They beat each other up on a daily basis but they love when he comes home cause he always brings the peace back into play time.

Helping sister

Dallin always picks Olivia up and carries her when ever its needed. Here he is helping her get down the step like he always does on the way into our house after getting off the bus.
If I am nursing the baby and she has a marker and is about to color on the couch I tell him to get her and he picks her up and brings her to me. When you have this many kids you kind of have to use all your resources. One day I went to water the plants outside and I came in to find out he had put Addie in her room for pushing Olivia.

Jed Addie made you a Valentine

Andrew's grandfather isnt doing well so i bought these photo frames to make him and take to him to say get better. Colleen stoped by and he kind of was tired and wasnt up to having the little kids come over that night. So we still have them at our home. The problem is Addie wants it to go to uncle Jed. She keeps getting it and hiding it so she can give it to him. I give up. But I dont have stamps and the time to mail it cause here in Arizona we have to drive our outgoing mail to a box. So here it is for him to enjoy. She really did actually make it all by herself. Pretty good for a three year old huh. But she does specialize in pink and anything that has to do with hearts.

Dancing for Uncle Jed.

To give you an idea of how much she likes Uncle Jed she starts the morning needing her hair to be brushed and playing "Uncle Jed". Essentially some one is assigned to be uncle Jed and she goes about her day as if her best friend Jed were there playing with her and talking to her. If no one will play along then he becomes her imaginary friend. She got so mad at her little sister for climbing up on the chair next to her at dinner because Uncle Jed was sitting there.
In this video clip she is dancing for him and Dallin is laughing she says "its not funny its beautiful".

playing uncle jed

She is still playing Uncle Jed.

uncle jed off to school

Here is Dallin very excited to be going off to school and free of playing uncle jed. He has had to play uncle Jed one too many times.