My sweet boy

Dominic was being very noisy and I was getting a bit exasperated. 

"Dominic, you don't have a quiet bone in your body, do you?"

"Yes I do. My stomach is a quiet bone."

"Well sometimes it growls, but mostly it's quiet."

Dominic asked me today why everyone except Grammy and I were sleeping.

"Because we need the rest Dominic. If you'd stop talking to her, I bet Grammy would go to sleep too."

"I can't ever stop talking."

At least he's honest.

Talking

When Dominic was a little guy just learning to talk he would ask me to hold him.

"Mommy, hold you please."

I loved it and couldn't ever bring myself to correct him. I wanted it to last for as long as possible.

Eventually he quit and I was sad.

Guess what?

Caitlin asked me to hold her yesterday.

"Mommy, hold you please."

I'm in heaven.

Now I get a few more months of precious baby talk.

She's really talking well. She doesn't pronounce things clearly sometimes, but she's putting words together to make sentences and answering questions.

One of her favorite things to do is to say

"Huh?" as if she didn't understand something her brother asked her.

Then he asks louder. Each time she asks "huh?" and he gets louder.

It ends with her laughing and Dominic very frustrated.

Snow . . . Again

The snow from Christmas is still here today (Monday) so we headed out again to play this morning.

This time I actually remembered to take my camera.

Dominic still doesn't have any ski pants so I layered him up and put the old pair on him that was losing the elastic. 

As you can see, the elastic has finally given up. Dominic wouldn't notice until the pants were around his ankles. Needless to say, when we came in I ordered him some snow pants.

 

Caitlin kept eating the snow. It must not have tasted very good because she would make a terrible face.

Didn't seem to stop her from eating more though.

 

Snow angels. Notice the pants. =)

 

On the slide.

 

 

I'm about to get hit with a snow ball.

 

The snow is melting this afternoon and will probably be gone by tomorrow. But the kids enjoyed playing in it so much and it was wonderful to have a white Christmas. I'm so thankful that we live in a place that gets the occasional snow storm.

Appropriately

Overheard this morning -

It was snowing and about 25 degrees. Jon is wearing a sweatshirt and shorts.

"Daddy, I don't think you are dressed appropriately for the weather today."

Interesting considering he wore sandals to Dairy Queen last week when the temps were in the 30s. And wore a t-shirt today when it's even colder and snowing.

All that aside - What 4 year old uses the word appropriately?

Ice cream and other stuff

Last week the kids and I met Jon for lunch at Dairy Queen. We don't eat there very often and don't ever get the kids meal. But that day we decided that we would allow the kids to have a treat.

It was Caitlin's first ice cream cone. 

She wasn't sure what to do with it at first. 

But she caught on very quickly. =)

Dominic ate the whole thing.

Caitlin ate hers very slowly and about half way through the cone decided she was done. Crazy little girl!

"Mom, come take a picture of me in the laundry basket."

"Now come take a picture of Caitlin. She's being cute."

Sure enough, he was right. =)

"Mom take a picture of Caitlin and me. We are holding hands. Aren't we being sweet?!"

Not sure why he has such a serious face.

Caitlin picked out her clothes this morning and with only a little help, dressed herself.

Her shirt has a pink flower on it.

My precious babies.

Merry Christmas

We woke up on Christmas morning to snow. I can't remember the last time we had snow on Christmas Day. 

Uncle Jason (Jon's brother) and Aunt Kim came up for the weekend to spend Christmas with us. 

It made Christmas even more special.

Opening presents from Uncle Jason and Aunt Kim on Friday.

Christmas morning I went to get the kids to take the Christmas picture in front of the tree. Dominic had already changed out of his pjs.

White Christmas! 

This was taken when we first woke up. It has been snowing ever since.

Leaving for church.

On the drive to church.

 Church was pretty dead this week. There was one other little girl in class with Caitlin. So their little class was very relaxed and geared toward what the two were most interested in.

The theme is all about Christ's birth. So Tamisa (the teacher) had them dress up as wise men. Caitlin kept calling herself a princess.

 

Riding the camel.

Mary riding the donkey to Bethlehem.

Playing with Uncle Jason and Aunt Kim.

My kids have been blessed with the best aunts and uncles. 

I'm so thankful that they have relatives that play with them and that they can look up to.

Caitlin was copying Aunt Kim. Not sure what Dominic was doing. =)

Catching a ride with Uncle Jason

Aunt Kim is reading to them in the library. (Also our temporary guest bedroom at the moment.)

Our Christmas picture. It was after church so Caitlin and I were having some hair issues, but I still like this picture. 

My kids are so happy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve

Christmas fell on Saturday this year. Jon had Christmas Eve off and so we decided to celebrate then instead of trying to fit opening presents in before church on Sabbath.

I had Christmas pjs for the kids, but forgot that we were celebrating early. When Dominic picks out his pjs he doesn't always pick a matching pair. I figure it doesn't matter and let him mix and match.

We allowed the kids to open presents before breakfast.

I knew that once Dominic opened his Lego house he wouldn't notice anything else. So we gave him his other two presents first. I was right. Everything else faded and he focused on that house until breakfast.

l

Caitlin really likes Legos as well so we might be getting her some next year. Until then Dominic can share.

In this picture she's wearing her apron that she got for her kitchen.

 

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then checked out the stockings.

I had been looking for kids umbrellas without any luck. I had given up and last week we were shopping for something else and Dominic pointed them out. The kids were going to remember them, but I got them anyways and put them in the stockings. They didn't mind at all that it wasn't a surprise. They love these things.

 

 

Caitlin

Caitlin has had a week of potty training and is doing so well. She's had a few accidents, but for the most part she remembers to ask us before she gets to panic status.

We are so proud of her.

She loves her princess panties and getting candy after she goes.

Pictures from last weekend

These are the last few pictures from last weekend.

My computer has been out of commission so I've had to wait to post these.

The kids really enjoyed jumping on whoever happened to sit in this chair.

Caitlin and I - self portrait.
 Baby girl had just woken up. I love it when she's so cuddly.

 Making sure the picture took okay and I didn't cut our heads off.

Lexi and Leila were being silly.

 

 Kami and Leila

 Kami and Lexi (can you see Leila peeking around Kami?)

Isn't my sister gorgeous!

 

Sarah

 

 These kids have so much energy.

 

 Bethany took some great pictures of the kids.

Dominic

 

Lexi

 Can't you just see her as a brooding teenager. =)

 Leila

 Wild child

Bethany was taking tons of pictures of me, so I had to return the favor. =)


My dad is so cool. I love spending time with him.

 Everyone looking at the pictures I'd taken of the girls.

 My mom hand made these stockings years ago. I remember Jon putting them on his feet one year when we were dating and now the next generation is following in his footsteps. Yikes! Now I feel old.

 Caitlin got a jack-in-the-box for Christmas. She loved it. She's convinced my dad to help her push the clown down and then wind it for her.

I love her expression when the thing pops up.

 

 This is actually Dominic's toy, but Caitlin was "borrowing" it.

 Last picture - I promise.
My brother in a tree.