I know everyone is busy, but it seems we've been in warp speed for the past few months. Let's see ... we finally found a house to rent in a suburb of Pittsburgh. We haven't seen it personally, but we are banking on the good taste of our brother-in-law. Clint and I flew to Alaska for a post-fellowship job interview ... and we accepted (more on this later). We attended a family reunion in St. George, Utah and then continued onto northern Utah for more family time.
But the fun doesn't end there! In the coming six to eight weeks, we are graduating (hooray!), moving (ugh!), and having another baby (it's a boy!).
Meanwhile, Baby Shari has learned to crawl and stand herself up to furniture. She has also sprouted curly hair and eight teeth! This picture was taken at Grandma's house at the beginning of April. At the time, this was a new trick for her, and as you can see, she was very proud of her achievement!
Can you believe we found matching PJs for the girls? With the age difference between them, I doubt this trend will continue ... but it's fun while we're here!
At four years old, Scotty says the cutest things. He is most noted for saying, "Whadjasay?" ("What did you say?") But he also says every time he is hungry, "My tummy go grump." This is shortened from, "My tummy is grumbling." And the other night, he came into my room after Nicole and Grant had fallen asleep and said he couldn't sleep in his room because it had "bad news inside it." I'm guessing he meant bad dreams.
Scotty recently adopted the Mercy Watson series as his new favorite book. He gets all six out every day and asks anyone to read them to him. When no one is available, he reads them (and falls asleep with them) himself.
Here are a few old pictures of sleeping kids that I don't think I ever posted. Both of these are from March (which is why Shari looks so little!)
This is Grant trying to finish his "Jack and Annie" book before falling asleep. He set a goal to read one book a day. Sometimes he makes it, sometimes he doesn't.
 |
Grant's new hobby is domino towers. He says that when he grows up, he wants to be a doctor who invents things (like "cool domino roads and towers"). He made a cool track and got a teenager to pay him 50 cents to knock it down. I love the entrepreneurial spirit!
Grant still loves math and numbers and making connections with numbers in ways people normally don't think of. On a recent trip to the library, Grant fell hard and scraped his knee badly. When it started to heal, he came to me and said, "Look, Mom! I have the number 100 on my knee!" So appropriate for the boy who is obsessed with numbers. I hope it doesn't scar, though.
Back to the topic of future careers, last night when Clint had to give me my progesterone shot, Scotty was still awake and wanted to assist. Clint had let him on another occasion, and Scotty apparently hadn't forgotten. I didn't really want a four-year-old administering me a shot, so I told him that when he grows up, he can become a doctor and give shots all day long. He replied, "No, Mom. Grant go grow up and be a doctor. I go grow up and have construction job." He still LOVES big machines!
Nicole is growing up faster than ever. Just the other day, she told me that she thinks it's time for her to have some "big girl" things, like perfume and make-up. Wow, if that wasn't a reality check! Since the boys were gone for the weekend on a boys campout ...
... Anyway, Nicole, Shari and I hit the mall, dinner out and Nicole's piano award ceremony. It was a long afternoon/evening of shopping and fun. It all culminated with Nicole winning many awards, including the grand prize for excellence in piano out of 64 students. Nicole was so surprised! In addition to her gold medal, she won $50 in cash and an iPod nano. On the way home, she said, "I really am growing up, Mom!" I made Nicole hold all of her prizes for one photo, which was trickier than it looks.
Since we are moving so soon, Nicole had to quit her swim team. These two pictures were taken at her last meet in March. It was her first time jumping off the diving block for a competition and also competing in the 50 yard events.
Daddy couldn't make it, but it's still a good sized cheer squad compared to most kids.
Finally, we had a nice view of the partial eclipse last Sunday. I wish we would have planned ahead and driven to the Grand Canyon for a viewing party, but we can't do EVERYTHING!
