Tucumcari, NM

Hey, everyone!

First, an explanation of Mari's nickname. Her "real" name is Marisol ([mah'-ree-sohl] a Spanish name -- "el mar" is "sea" and "el sol" is "sun" -- "sea and sun" -- perfect for our beachloving selves)... We are a family big on nicknames. We have millions of them for just about everyone. SO, when Mari was born, Matt recalled the name of a town in a book that he loves (a road trip book, of course) -- the town being "Tucumcari, NM". He started calling her "Mari Tucumcari" -- that evolved (devolved?) in to Mari Tucums and then just Mari Tooks and eventually it came to what it is today -- "just" Tooks or Tooky. In fact, Z took her to a once a week gym class for toddlers. Every week when the kids had to tell the group their name, she would say "Tooky". Not Mari. Sheesh. We knew when we named her Marisol that it would be rough -- people in good ole' Cincinnati aren't exactly well-versed in Spanish pronunciation. But now she calls herself Tooks or Tooky. Oh well. Oh and Matt found out eventually that "Tucumcari" is actually pronounced "too-cum-carey" -- oh well again! What will we do at preschool in the fall when she calls herself Tooky?

So another productive day. The babies slept through the night again last night (did Matt already say that?). They got showers and so did Matt and I. We played downstairs. We ate lunch. I finally took Faith and got to the library to get a library card (we moved here in March [I was 32 wks pregnant w/ twins] and moved from a different county). Let her pick out 3 books for herself and 2 for Tooks. Got 3 for myself (a HUGE laugh -- if I DO find time to read for pleasure, I inevitably fall asleep -- as I did this afternoon). Eventually, my mom came over, we had dinner and AM came over. Mom and AM watched and played w/ the kids while Matt and I began to tackle the garage. My great aunt (whose house this was) moved out about a year ago at which time we started de-cluttering our condo to put it on the market. The de-cluttering went to the garage here. Now we are trying to get through at least some of these boxes. We made a pretty good dent, actually. Got a good hour and a half done on it. AND, the girls got really worn out by AM!!! AND, my awesome mom did our dishes and cleaned up our kitchen. Pretty good.

I went to pokeno last night. First time in like 4 months I think. My sister originally invited me to this group -- it's all "her" friends although I consider them mine too, now! Anyway, we take turns hosting once a month. The host makes dinner (always AWEsome -- those women can sure cook) and buys the prizes. We eat, play, tell stories & give updates on our lives, eat some more, get the prizes and go home. It's a generally great time and we laugh quite a bit!

OK. It's time for babies to eat and go to bed -- Matt says his leg is falling off from bouncing Robby, so I better relieve him!
Steph