Random Derek

Okay - don't miss my post below, but as I was just finishing the last one, Derek says to me - Mom, let's play Candyland, then Dance Dance Bolution (aka REVOLUTION). I told him just a minute (since I'm obviously getting my blogging out for the day), and he says - okay Mom, I'm going to set the timer on my kitchen, and when it beeps then you have to come play.

I love it when they use our "tricks" to get us to do what they want. Very very clever, that little boy of mine :)

A day at the discovery park

Have you been to the Discovery Park? It's over in Pleasant Grove, and boy oh boy, is it fun! It's a hit for kids of all ages!! Derek, Jenna & I headed over there on Wednesday to have a play date w/ Cambrie, Ethan & Amber. It was a GORGEOUS day. I snapped some really fun pictures of the kiddos.

Here's little D - running around in the castle

I had to include this one, because it seriously looks like she's doing the "talk to the hand". Isn't that funny??

Derek -- looking SOO BIG!!

This was the first time I had done Jenna's hair in these little boufants, and I just adore them. She is such a fun baby, and is getting so big!!

Jenna & Derek - He loves his little sissy!

Why am I feeding you if you're just going to throw up?

When Jenna was younger, she had acid reflux, so I had to give her Prevacid (miracle drug) every morning so she wouldn't throw up every time she ate. Well, as she got bigger, and since she's started on solids - it's been fine. So, we don't have to give her medicine anymore for it. But - lately, every time I feed her in the morning she throws up --All over me! Dang it. This isn't working out very well for trying to reduce the number of feedings she has in a day, since she gets hungry sooner than I want. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to go back to Prevacid again?? --ugh

At some point the Christmas obsession is going to HAVE to stop!!

Late last fall my darling Derek began to be VERY excited about the onset of the Christmas season. Before Thanksgiving had even arrived, he was CONSTANTLY (seriously EVERY conversation) talking about Santa and presents and elves and sleighs etc etc. At that point, it was a little over-kill, but we thought it was cute that he was so excited (especially me, being a Christmas lover).

Well, that spirit of Christmas love turned into Christmas obsession and now I can't get it to stop -- still... Yes, it's APRIL!! Derek's favorite movie is Santa Claus 3 (aka "Santa Claus Jack Frost"). He STILL watches it frequently! This morning over breakfast he sang a lengthy rendition of "You'd better watch out" to Jenna. At bedtime, he asks for Christmas songs (and we have to talk him out of it -- really, it's NOT Christmas time anymore!!).

And - to top it off, his reading recommendations these days are (This is his current list of books checked out from the library):

Do Salamanders Spit

Long Arm, the Adventure of Brachiosaurus

Diary of a Spider

Pumpkin Jack (Uh oh - we're starting to change seasons...)

Santa's Little Helper

Merry Christmas Stinky Face

Wishing you Blessings from A to Z (Christmas themed -- w/ Snowmen)

Christmas Coyote

Can I tell you, the only thing worse than the fact that he INSISTS on checking out these Christmas books is - that he wants me to read them to him every day. I DON"T WANT TO READ CHRISTMAS BOOKS IN APRIL!!

I've tried miscelleneous things to get him pumped up on the current season, or upcoming holidays, but to no avail. Alas, my 3 year old is OBSESSED with Christmas.... it's going to be a long next 8 months. <>

Easter & More

This past weekend Dave's parents invited Derek to sleep over on Friday night. Of course we snatched up that offer!! While Dave & I drove up to Morgan - had dinner & went to a movie, Derek was having the time of his life!

Derek & Papa have a special bond. Jim likes to tell stories with Derek. They almost always involve a character named "Buster Crab" along with "Sarah Crab", and ever since Derek saw 102 Dalmations, they also include "Cruh-ella The Veal" (aka Cruella Devil). They had a wonderful time reading & telling lots of stories. Then on Saturday morning they headed off to the pet store to try and find a hermit crab for Derek to take home as a pet (which of course would be named Buster). But - they didn't have luck, so Derek decided he wanted a white rat instead. THANKFULLY Jim told him no :) (Sigh!). Anyway, They had a wonderful adventure running into different stores & getting lunch together. THanks to JIm & Linda for being so involved!!

While Derek was off w/ Dave's folks we went down to the Gateway downtown to watch my friends Amber & Stacie finish the Salt Lake half marathon. While wandering around, we bumped into Hailey who was down there also w/ her dad. She ended up running the kids race. As she put it "we were only running for like 2 minutes". True - it was the fastest race I've ever seen! Really - 2 minutes & it was done. Anyway - it was fun to bump into her!! Here she is w/ her dad's girlfriend's kids -

Hailey, Elijah & Allison
Here are the big finishers (Don't they look AMAZING after running 13.1??)
Easter after church we attempted to snap some pictures of the fam :)

Here's Jenna workin' it out on the 4 note piano!!

The whole bunch... it was a bit breezy! Do you like how Derek is sticking his belly out?

Saturday before Easter we met up w/ the Whitings & Fosters to put on our own easter egg hunt at the park. The kids had fun but it was SOO cold & windy! Derek insisted on wearing his chick costume that he wore when he was 18 months old. Don't ask me how on earth he squeezed in -- it was shear determination!

Dying easter eggs! Hailey looking very thoughtful & Derek showing off his new trick - a wink!

Our easter animals - the chick & the bunny!

A closeup of the Easter (Jenna) BUnny!

So Sad!!

Well - I must have some crafty bug, because I've just wanted to sit & sew and ignore all my housely duties the past few days. I sewed this dress today (w/o a pattern - my bad!!) for Jenna, but after it was all done, I tried to put her in it, and could only get it over her head & one arm in. It's TOO SMALL!! Dang!

I thought it was too adorable, so if anyone has a 0-3 month old girl that would like a dress -- let me know & it's yours. FIrst come, first serve :)

This is what I get...

Yesterday I had planned to get together with a couple friends to do some crafty stuff. Well - I had the best intentions of getting everything done before hand... Not so much.

Why is it that every time I do some sort of project, my house becomes a total wreck? Here are just a couple glimpses of what DIDN"T get done yesterday... scary laundry room!!

clutter kitchen central
ANd - the best part isn't what you see - it's what the kids were doing while this crafting was going on. Besides the climbing into the window wells, turning on all the sprinklers & just the general kiddish-chaos, when my friend Amber was leaving, we opened the back door to call her daughter in... well, Derek was standing at the bottom of the steps peeing on the grass, and Cambrie was squatting w/ pants down over the grass also peeing. Kids are SO hillarious.
After trying to stop laughing ourselves, we went on to tell them to use the bathroom - not the back yard to go to the bathroom.

Got to love those days where you try to do something out of the normal routine. :D

Conference weekend

We had a last minute getaway this weekend. We left Friday after school & took the family up to Logan for the night. It was great to get away for a while -- even one day!! We took the kids swimming, watched movies on the wall of our hotel room using a projector (Beverly Hills Chihuahau - Dave's favorite!), ate yummy food & had fun hanging out.

For Derek - the best part was swimming for sure!

Jenna also got to swim -- and isn't her bikini SO cute!? I thought she looked so adorable. Hailey had a great time jumping back & forth between the pool & hot tub -- over & over again!

After the pool - still smiling!
We ate at The Bluebird in Logan, and it's tasty. But, most especially, their dessert is good, and huge & cheap! 3.50 for all the sundaes! Oh, I was happy! I love treats!

So does Hailey!

Derek really just wanted all whipped cream & marshmellow sauce (or as he says -- mushmarlow)

Jenna got to taste and she LOVED it! Yum, Ice cream!

Three bugs in a rug!

Jenna shots

I was browsing through my camera getting ready to blog our weekend, and realized I had some cute pictures of Jenna that need to be posted. Here are just a few...

Jenna having some fun time w/ her Mimi

These are my FAVORITE pictures... sacked out in the high-chair!
How cute is this one!? We went to play at my friend Natalie's house & Jenna got to try out the little walker/roller toy. She scooted all around the floor -- backwards :)

TOOTH! (okay, not the best picture -- but it's there!!)