Houston, we have a tooth!!!

Maricela finally has a tooth! It's her top right one. We first noticed something there last Saturday (April 21) but then I thought maybe it was a kankersore because it was just a little spot and I couldn't really see a tooth. But, the last three days she's had a runny nose and a fever, and yesterday we were finally able to feel a tooth. The other girls all started getting teeth around 6 months and had at least four by Maricela's age. And none of them ever got a fever while teething. Also, they all got their bottom left tooth first - the top right was the last of their first four. And it's Maricela's first to come in. So this has been a little bit different teething experience for us. I've been trying to get a picture of it, but she doesn't want it touched, she doesn't want anyone to come close to her mouth, and every time she has her mouth open and I think I can get a picture, her hand gets in the way, or something else. So I'll keep trying.But we're pretty excited that she finally has a tooth. Hopefully it won't take the rest of them very long to come in, cause she really likes to eat food, but it's hard when she can't chew anything up.

Funnies

Here are some random things the girls have said lately that have made us laugh.

• I had poured some milk into my cereal and then realized that the milk wasn't very cold. I checked the fridge and saw that the temperature thingy was turned to "OFF". So I turned it back on and then when Keith came home a few minutes later, I told him about it. All the kids were in the kitchen with us, listening. Keith said "It was probably one of these monsters that did it." To which Elena replied "Probably it was me...cause I did it." We just started laughing.
• Also, Elena likes to call us "mother" and "father". I don't know where she got it from, but she's been calling us that for a few weeks now. "Mother, can I do this? Father, can I have that?" It sounds so weird to me to hear mother and father instead of mom/my and dad/dy. So we started calling her "daughter", and the funny thing is, she's not too fond of that. Oh well.
• Elena also gets "very" confused with "really". As in "I very want some candy" or "My toe very hurts". She's so silly.
• The other day Elena was dancing around like she had to go to the bathroom. Keith told her to run to the bathroom before she went in her pants. She said "I don't have to use the bathroom. I just have a song in my head."
• This is a little bit of potty humor (pun intended), so don't say I didn't warn you. Amya used the bathroom and then called me in to wipe her. There was a lot of "stuff" in the bottom of the toilet and I said "Amya, you sure did a lot today!" And she replied, "No, I just borrowed some from Elena. She forgot to flush."
• Téa likes to tell people "I love you this much" and she holds up her hand with her thumb and index finger right together, like she's crushing a bug or something.

Okay, for some reason I'm having a hard time remembering silly things that Amya and Téa have said. I'm going to have to think about it some more.

Taylor and Maricela

Jenny and Taylor came over to visit yesterday. When they got here, we realized that the girls were wearing the same outfit (they got them as presents from Memmie!) We thought that was cute and took some pictures of them playing together. They really liked watching this monkey go around; they kept trying to catch it!

poser

Here's a page I did of Elena, making a lot of silly faces. I swear that girl is just like her daddy.

better sister

I forgot - I made this scrapbook page today and wanted to put it up. We had been taking a walk together and Téa was really into holding hands. Amya and Elena had taken off without her, and she stood next to me yelling, "Hand, Nena, hand!" I was able to get pictures of Elena running back to take Téa's hand, and then leading her away to catch up with Amya. I love my sweet girls.

2nd grade teacher

Has it really been a month since I last posted? It doesn't seem like that long. I have been so busy though. We started our spring field experience last week. I don't have a partner this time around, so I had to plan everything and put it all together myself. So it's been really hectic. But I'm having a great time. I'm teaching in the first grade Spanish class at Amya's school. She'll get to be in my class this week, but because of spring break, I'll only get to teach her for two days. But that's okay.

I have some other really exciting news that I can't wait to share. My school is starting to offer internships. What that means is, instead of doing student teaching during the senior year, you go to summer school and then teach all during your senior year. The class is yours - you are the teacher. There are people assigned to help you, but you're the one in charge. I had thought about applying, but then decided not to because I didn't think it would be something we could handle. Keith told me to go ahead and apply though, he knew how much I wanted it, and said that we could make it work. So anyway, we had our interviews on Friday. I interviewed with the Provo school district, then had an hour wait til I interviewed with the Alpine district. I thought that my interview with Provo went really well and I was happy with my answers to all of their questions. I had asked them when they would be letting us know if they would pick us or not, and they told me within a week. While I was waiting for my Alpine interview, another girl sat with me who had also interviewed with Provo. She said that they had told her that she would know by 4:30 and not to worry because she had interviewed well. After she said that, I just knew that Provo wasn't going to pick me. They had told me that I would hear in a week cause they were going to send me a "sorry" letter. So I was pretty upset. But I went in and did my Alpine interview. When I came out, there was a Provo lady waiting for me, and she told me to come with her because they had a few more questions for me. I thought that maybe they wanted some clarification on some of my answers to help them make up their minds or something. But as soon as I sat down in the room, she said that she'd like to offer me a job!!!!!! I was so excited, I actually said "shut up" after she said that, cause I just couldn't believe it. I'll be teaching 2nd grade next year!!!!! I still can't stop smiling, I'm so excited. I just can't believe that I've been given this opportunity. This is something that I have wanted to do my whole life, and I'm gonna get to do it!! I just wanted to share that with you guys.

Now on to the girls. There's not a whole lot of new stuff going on. We're just plugging along. Amya's doing great in both her English and Spanish classes. Elena is continuing to try and entertain us at all times, every day. Téa is so cute - she follows Elena around and copies everything she does. She's also started copying us too, so basically anything that is said in this house is said twice - once by us and once by her. Ah - a new development. While I was typing this, Keith yelled to come down and see Maricela trying to crawl. So I went down and sure enough, she was trying to get somewhere. She didn't move, but you could tell she was trying to. So hopefully she'll be crawling soon.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. I'm going to try to be good and post more. Cross your fingers for me. :)