Family-gotta love em

Just a bunch of pictures I've taken of us. Both condos are the same with very similar decor. It has confused all of us at times. We forget which condo we are in and go looking for something that isn't there.

Wrestling. Caitlin is obviously losing. I can hear the squeals from anywhere. I know immediately what's happening. Dominic always assures me that "she loves it."Enjoying the fireplace.Eating supper.Like Father. . .Like son. (any wonder where he got the idea to stick out his tongue?)Our silly little family!

Tuesday fun

When we opened the door to go out this morning this is what we saw. Almost snowed in, but a little snow wasn't going to stop us.We went swimming this morning. It was strange to put on snow suits and go swimming. This is the windows inside the pool building. There is a ton of snow, but the wind is blowing and so it makes huge drifts against the buildings. The guy running the shuttle said they were running out of places to put the snow up here on the mountain.Caitlin in her snow suit all ready to go swimming.I put Dominic into this drift to see how far he would sink. If he'd sunk to the bottom it would have been over his head, but I guess it was packed pretty hard. He thought it was cool though.Our hot tub outside our front door. Also some other pictures of the snow."Mommy, take a picture of me with my head under water."

Guess WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!

Caitlin took her first steps this morning!!! Grammy had been telling us she was going to walk while they were here. But when it happened none of us were prepared or expecting it so didn't get pictures of the very 1st steps. But we got on the ball and have video and pictures of the 2nd time. Caitlin acted like she wasn't sure what all of the fuss was about. She's certainly not going to take off and be walking everywhere this week. But now she at least grasps the concept. =)

Beech Mountain/Fast internet

We left our house on Sunday to come skiing/snowboarding for a week. Saturday was the day that we got snow and we left as it was melting to come to a bunch more. Our modem was fried when the electricity and phone lines went dead while I was online Saturday morning. But we found out that we finally get dsl at our house after 3 yrs of dial up. So when we get back home we'll be getting new internet. Yippee! Won't have internet while we are waiting, but then I'm set. So excited.

Just a few pictures that I've taken so far during the day we've been here.

Gramps with the kids in the window looking out at all the snow. This is in their condo. Ours is two doors down. They are huge. There is so much room for us all to be in one place without feeling crowded. There are some empty ones for those of you who should have joined us. =)This is the view outside our condo window.Caitlin was trying on Dominic's goggles.Dominic all ready to go skiing.A few pictures of Dominic skiing. Aunt Kim took these with her camera phone. Jon forgot to take the camera, but hopefully we'll be able to get some more since we're here for several more days. There is also tubing, ice skating and swimming. The hot tub is right outside our condo door. =)

Gymnastic Birthday Party

One of Dominic's little friends invited him to his birthday party at the gymnastics place. Both kids had so much fun. The main attraction was the foam pit. Caitlin couldn't get enough of it.Dominic and his friend Anna are buried in here somewhere.Got a perfect picture of my friend jumping into the foam pit. =)Caitlin and Jon playing.Playing games.Dominic loved this hat and wore it for two days.Eating cake.

Snow

We woke up Saturday morning to about 5 inches of snow. I had about given up hope of us getting any this year. Dominic and I were pretty excited. =)Caitlin caught onto our excitement although she didn't have a clue as to why.Getting ready to go outside.Isn't it beautiful? It looks really dark in the picture because I forgot to change the settings on the camera.Snow angels.Caitlin seemed to really like the the snow although she wasn't sure what to do with it.Dominic was having balance problems.

Saying hi to the snowman we made. On our way to church.

Just like brother

Caitlin adores Dominic and wants to do everything he can do. Right after her bath the other night she crawled over to the skate board and tried to get on. She's been doing this for a while and I finally got the camera out. She can ride on it like a scooter using her hands and feet to propel her forward.She's also started climbing onto everything. She climbed onto a small kid's chair and fell over the other end onto the edge of the skate board. Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but she has a nasty goose egg on her forehead.

Super Bowl

A bit late -

We had some friends over for the Super Bowl. Dominic had so much fun with one of the kids. They were playing hide and seek and these are some of the places I found them.It was great to have friends over and Dominic really enjoyed having some one more his size to play with.

Growing?

My children seem to be eating an enormous amount lately. So I thought I'd blog about it so everyone would believe me. =)

I grew up not being allowed to eat snacks. As a child I never knew why I wasn't allowed to eat between meals, it was just a rule. Now as a parent I understand how snacking can sometimes ruin a meal so I don't allow my kids very many snacks either. But Dominic is blowing my mind with his eating lately.

Yesterday I kept track of how much they both ate just to see if it was my imagination or not.

Breakfast

Dominic -

3 regular size pancakes with peanut butter and applesauce.

2 bananas

2 glasses of soy milk

some yogurt (not sure how much)

Caitlin - (remember that she weighs 16lbs)

2 regular size pancakes with peanut butter and yogurt

1 banana

1 glass of soy milk

Lunch

Dominic -

1 bean burritto

large serving of rice w/ vegies

2 cups juice

about 10 crackers with hummus and cheese cubes

Caitlin -

1 cheese sandwich (she hates beans)

about 5 crackers with hummus

1 cup of soy milk

1 sliced apple

At 3pm Dominic told me he was hungry and was almost crying about it. So I fed him.

Snack

1 large bowl of stir-fry with tofu and noodles

1 cup soy milk

At 4:30pm he started asking when supper was so I fed him some animal crackers and more soy milk.

Supper

Jon was taking Dominic to the Y to swim and Caitlin and I were staying home so I made him a "picnic" supper to take with him to eat after he went swimming.

Dominic -

2 cheese sandwiches

1 apple

1 bag of animal crackers

1 cup soy milk

He ate the soy milk and most of the animal crackers once he got home from swimming right before we put him to bed.

Caitlin -

2 bowls of pasta with vegies

She kept asking for more and I didn't have any more pasta.

1 slice of wheat bread

1 carton of yogurt

She also drinks milk before going to bed each night.

Now doesn't that seem like an enormous amount of food for two little kids to eat. Jon and I joke that we'll have to take out a loan to feed them in a few days.

Poor Kitty and other things

A couple of cute pictures and some of Dominic's thoughts.

One day when asked why he was whining so much -

"I'm whining because I need more Legos so I can build my house. I'll have to spread the world to everyone so that I'll get some more as a present." This was followed by a very pleading look to me.

When told to eat some vegies -

"I'm getting to be a strong boy and I don't need to grow up to be 5 so I can stop eating this."

"Daddy, are you a pilot?"

"Yes."

"When I get to be 5 can you take me up in your airplane so I can touch the sky and the clouds?"

Apparently 5 is the age to be around here.

A bit of back ground on Tolkien, our cat -

He weighs around 15-16lbs. He's chased off large dogs and can catch prey (even birds) even though he's declawed. We brought him home when he was 1 yr old, almost 7 yrs ago. So this 9-11 he will be 8 yrs old. If you upset him he will bite you since he doesn't have claws. So technically he's old and ornery. But when it comes our kids it's another story.

Our poor kitty is so tolerant of the kids. Caitlin is very gentle with him and just follows him around petting him and squealing. But Dominic has always been a bit more rough in his loving.

His favorite thing is treating Tolkie like a dog and laying on his stomach to read a book or play with something.When Tolkie has had enough he'll get up and leave. But, strangely enough, he keeps coming back for more. This picture is of Jon and Dominic reading the worship story and Tolkie climbed up into Jon's lap.Caitlin caught in the act of trying to steal something.And very proud of herself for getting it.

Salsa

Jon and I tried out a new Mexican restaurant today. While the kids and I waited on Jon to get there we munched on the chips and salsa. Normally both kids only eat the chips. But Caitlin noticed me dipping the chips into the salsa and had to copy me. She is into copying everything she sees so I wasn't surprised. What surprised me was that she LOVED it. The salsa wasn't hot at all, but it had enough kick that I expected her to at least make a face. Nothing. Later when she didn't have a chip and she dipped her hand in and got about a tablespoon in her mouth she made a tiny grimace. =)

I think Caitlin's eating habits are going to be totally different from her brother. Last night for supper we had spaghetti and peas. The rule is that you have to eat your vegies before getting seconds or dessert. Dominic decided that he'd rather skip seconds AND dessert than have to eat his peas. The peas were the first thing that Caitlin shoved into her mouth. Dominic's first comment if something is new is "I don't like that." He's very reluctant to try anything new and has been that way from the beginning. Caitlin, on the other hand, will try anything once and loves vegetables.

Hmmm! Sounds like Jon and I. =)