Easter pictures

I had the kids Easter pictures taken and bought the cd. But I haven't been able to get the pictures onto the blog before now because of our internet speed. Since we have wireless here I thought I'd put a few of them on the blog. If you are interested in a copy of the cd let me know.

Caitlin was getting hungry and wasn't thrilled to be on her stomach. But I think this picture makes her eyes look beautiful.

This picture seems to capture my son's love of life so perfectly.

Dominic kept kissing Caitlin so the photographer took advantage of it and it made an adorable picture.

This one is a bit blurry because it has been enhanced to look "softened".

Not sure why she used this #2 since he'll be 3 this year, but the picture is cute.

More camp meeting

Here are the last few pictures of camp meeting before we head for home. We've had a wonderful time and are sad to be leaving camp meeting and the mountains, but are missing home.

This afternoon after the kids woke up from their naps we headed to the dam to let Dominic see the "waterfall". He loved it and spent the whole time throwing rocks into the water.

I was playing around with the camera and tried to get Jon and I in the same picture.

Every day when the kids went down for a nap, Jon would take a ride on his bike. These are some pictures from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I grew up in these mountains and would move back in a second if Jon could find a job here. But we've looked and there just isn't anything. So every year I come to camp meeting for my mountain fix. =)

It's amazingly beautiful, isn't it?

My parents came up for a couple of days to see the kids. I'm quite sure it wasn't to see me. =) My dad really enjoyed holding Caitlin, but I think she was so fascinated with her skirt that she probably didn't even notice who was holding her.

This week Caitlin leaned over and got a hold of my drink. I noticed that she was sucking on the glass. It had ice in it and she would suck on it and hold it until her little nose was red from the cold. She would get upset if I took it away. She's also paying close attention when we eat so I guess I'll start her on solids next week. She'll be 6 months old on Friday so it's time.

Greenville Zoo

We took a side trip to our vacation yesterday. We went to Anderson, SC to visit some friends who had moved from New Bern. I'd heard about the Greenville, SC zoo and thought since it was free (to us) we should make a day of it. There as a 60% chance of rain so I brought extra clothes and we headed down to SC.

Dominic LOVED the zoo. It was as much the ability to run every where as it was the animals, I think.

This iguana was sitting right in the window and watching us. A guy that had been to the zoo a lot told us he'd never seen him in the window before.

We had made it through about half the zoo when it started to rain. We weren't very close to a shelter and were a bit wet by the time we made it. Caitlin and Dominic seemed to think it was great.

Dominic kept drinking the rain water.

He was soaked by the time we decided to make a run for the play ground outside the zoo. It had a pavilion and covered play ground.

He had so much fun at the zoo and then later at our friend's house. Both kids slept pretty good that night as well. It amazes me how adaptable kids are. They'll have fun in almost any situation.

Camp meeting pics

I finally got my camera connected to the computer so here are a few of the pictures I've taken so far.

Caitlin kept trying to eat Jon's Gatoraid bottle.

These are of Dominic playing at the play ground here on campus.

Dominic in his little air mattress bed. He kept telling Pastor Jason it was "cozy".

Camp meeting

We are having a wonderful time here at camp meeting. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures to put with it at the moment because I failed to bring any extra batteries or the charger for my camera and it died today just before I tried to take a picture.

We got here on Sunday evening and I needed to go get groceries for the week. When we returned the kids were tired and ready for bed so we headed up stairs to start the evening routine.

At about 11:30 as we were getting into bed my stomach growled and I mentioned that I was hungry. Somehow that made Jon think of the groceries and it dawned on us that we hadn't ever gotten them out of the trunk. So at almost midnight we were running down the stairs to retrieve our food. Thankfully everything was fine. Jon and I are SOOO forgetful. Can you imagine what we'll be like in 10 years? =)

We took Dominic putt-putt golfing this evening for the first time. He had so much fun. He was getting better and better, but was using the club more like a shovel. At the last few holes he just kicked it into the hole. Pretty cute.

We are staying in a house w/ several friends. The room that we are staying in is very nice. It has a very large bedroom, huge bath with a jetted tub and a large walk-in closet. The closet is large enough to put Dominic's air mattress and Caitlin's pac-n-play in. Every evening we give them a bath in the tub. It involves one of us getting in the tub and the other helping from the side. They love it. Then we put them to bed together in the closet. Tonight I had to ask both of them to be quiet several times because they were "talking" to each other. Caitlin will make some noises and Dominic will answer her. He answers as if she's really said something. If I ask her a question he'll tell me what her response is.

Dominic & Caitlin

Sabbath morning we were all laughing at Caitlin. She's really chewing and drooling right now. I'd put her in her little Bumbo seat. She didn't have a shirt on and her chest was dripping (literally) wet. I took some pictures, but won't be posting them because it won't show up on here. But while I was taking them, Dominic crawled up beside her and so I got some cute ones of them both.

I love these pictures of them looking at each other. I've included some from a different day. Dominic was eating lunch and I'd put Caitlin on the table so she could watch her big brother. It's her favorite thing to do.

Country living

A couple of days ago I looked out the window and thought I saw a piece of trash in the lawn. I intended to go pick it up once the kids were down for their naps.

About 30 minutes later Dominic started yelling that he'd seen a turtle outside. I looked out and saw my trash moving. We went out and found this huge turtle trying to make it into the woods. It was about a foot long and almost as wide. It has spikes on it's tail and a few on the back of it's shell. Our neighbor had found a snapping turtle a few years ago and it had been a bit aggressive. This little guy wasn't the least aggressive and seemed very afraid of us.

I couldn't get a good picture of his head since he wasn't very friendly. But I'm hoping some one knows what type of turtle he is.

Air show

Jon took Dominic to the airshow this year. It's the first time we've been to the air show since we moved here 7 years ago. I knew that the noise would be too much for Caitlin so we stayed home.

Dominic is still talking about all of the things that he saw. He loved it. He was a bit scared when the jets flew over, but otherwise had the time of his life.

Mother's Day

We went to pick strawberries on Mother's day and Jon got this cute picture of the kids with me. I love Dominic's face. You can't see it very well, but it's covered in strawberries. Thankfully the owner doesn't mind kids eating her berries.

This picture was actually the first one taken. Dominic couldn't get his hat on straight and Caitlin kept eating her dress.

Oops!

Dominic and I (and of course, Caitlin) had a rather interesting day. I didn't have anything planned so I asked Dominic this morning what he wanted to do. He requested the lending library. I threw some things into the diaper bag and we set off. After I left Jon called on the cell and we made plans to meet for lunch.

We get to the lending library and Dominic has to pee. I remembered that the toilet was a very high one and they didn't have a step stool. I told him to wait while I got Caitlin settled and I'd help.

"No, Mom, I can do it all by myself."

I came in to find him bouncing up and down while he peed trying to get the pee into the toilet. As you can guess it was shooting out in this wonderful up and down stream all over everything. When he turned around (still peeing) and saw me standing there he yelped and grabbed himself w/ the front of his shirt (still peeing). I had the hugest mess to clean up. I couldn't just leave it there. I turned around and saw a pile of very soggy clothes and no Dominic. I rushed out of the bathroom and there is my son in all his nakedness at the front door of the library. A UPS guy came in about then and his eyebrows went up and I heard a gasp and "OH! MY, little boy!" Dominic laughed and said "Hi, I'm a nakey bum!" Sigh!

I would have headed home, but I'd make arrangements to meet Jon for lunch and to drop off some things at a friends house. So I put part of his wet clothes back on him and we headed to Target. He is now the proud owner of a new outfit complete w/ underwear. It is Thomas the Train and he's so proud of it that he's been dropping his drawers all day to show everyone. =)

That will definitely teach me to check the diaper bag twice before heading out the door.

Bum/Aquarium

My son is a typical boy. He thinks farting is funny. So he'll fart and then laugh. Then he'll look at me and say excuse me. (I'm TRYING to instill manners. Just not sure if it's working.)

A couple of days ago Dominic told us his bum was growling. We thought he meant stomach, but oh no, he actually meant his bum. He'll inform us with this smirk on his face that his bum is growling again.

Our friend Alyssa was riding with us to the aquarium yesterday. I wish I could have captured the look on her face when Dominic told her his bum had growled. =)

Here are a few pictures of us at the aquarium yesterday. It doesn't matter how often we go, Dominic loves it.

Prayer

This past week I've heard Dominic praying several times. It's so cute because when he normally has prayer he says "Dear Jesus" and closes his eyes. At worship he folds his hands and at meal time he wants to hold our hands. This prayer is totally different. It's like he's just talking to God. Jon and I aren't ever with him when he does this.

As he's playing w/ his toys -

"Dear God, Thanks for my trains."

"Dear God, Thanks for my cars. They are fun."

Looking out the window -

"Dear God, Thank you for the rain and birds." (It wasn't raining & I didn't see any birds.)

So this morning Dominic was a little sniffly (is that a word?) and I decided to spend the day at home. I heard this little prayer -

"Dear God, Thanks for letting Mommy take me to Andy's house." I looked over to see him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. If that wasn't a hint I don't know what is.

Trouble

Dominic always has a harder time obeying when he's tired. (Don't we all?) Last night was a rough night for some reason. He was up from about 2am until almost 7am. So he slept until 9am, but I had a Bible study and had to wake him up. After wards I was outside talking with a friend and had told Dominic to stay where I could see him. I turned around to find him creeping around the corner out of sight.

I called to him (using that "you're in trouble" voice). As I came around the corner I saw him dancing around like he was trying to decide how to get out of the fix he was about to be in. I could actually see the gears turning in his head as he saw a patch of flowers. He quickly picked one and running over to me w/ the sweetest smile said "Here's a flower for you Mommy. I LOVE you SOOO much!"

ARRRGH! I'm being manipulated and it's actually working. Sigh!

For those of you who are concerned about my caving in - I did make him sit beside me while I finished talking instead of running around. =)

Papis is gone!!!

We've been trying to convince Dominic to give up his papis (pacifier) for some time now. We promised him a party and presents. We told him it would mean he was a big boy now. Nothing had worked.

He had started chewing on it. I told him it would break it, but, of course, he didn't listen. So the other morning I found a hole in the pacifier. I showed it to him and told him that it would fall off pretty soon if he didn't stop chewing on it. It gave me an idea and when he wasn't looking I cut off the tip. That was Friday.

Sabbath morning he was showing me his broken papis and telling me about the rough night he'd had because papis was broken. I showed him another crack further down on the plastic and told him that pretty soon the whole thing would break. He got the most disgusted look on his face and gave this huge sigh.

"I'm going to throw papis away." I let him and last night we had a party. He didn't sleep well for his nap and bedtime last night. But I think he's enjoying his presents and will hopefully soon forget about papis.

The VERY home-made cake. Jill made the little pacifier. I think she did a great job.

Showing off his new presents. Annie & Clarabel from Thomas the Train.

He was pretty excited that he was getting to eat cake.