Off to Florida

We left yesterday for Florida. When we fly out of Wilmington we always stop at this McDonalds that has a really great play area.I love this picture of the kids.Next stop-airport. Dominic and Caitlin had their backpacks on.Caitlin's backpack only had her blanket and bear. This was in the hopes that she would take a nap on the plane. But we weren't that lucky.Playing with mom and dad's sunglasses. We went to the "Lake House" first and spent the night. Then we spent the day on the water before heading up to the "River House".

The kids and Jon when we first woke up this morning.The view from the lake house.Self portrait.Jon took this precious picture of Caitlin.

Silver Springs

We went on a boat ride up the river to Silver Springs. It was beautiful and we saw some amazing things. There were animals everywhere.

Heading out into the river. Dominic had to be at the front.Caitlin was quite content sitting in the back with Grammy. The goldfish might have made a difference. =)The picture is so small. But this is of a mommy duck and her nine little babies.Dominic eating a snack with Grammy and Gramps.Caitlin finally stopped eating to check out the view. The water was so clear that we could see all the way to the bottom of the river regardless of how deep it was.We stopped and anchored the boat so we could have a picnic lunch.Jon and his brother Jason.Our family! Aunt Sue took the picture. Left to right-

Jason, Kim, Dominic, Grammy, Me, Jon, Caitlin, Gramps, Uncle Tom (front)This bird can't fly very well with wet wings. So he's drying his wings before taking off.Thought this tree was cool.The whole way up everyone was keeping their eyes out for the monkeys. The story goes that these monkeys were used for a movie years ago and escaped. So they have made a home here in the woods near the river.We saw quite a few alligators. There were several huge ones and we even saw a couple of babies.Uncle Jason's beard.Dominic had to have one too.Aunt Kim's new hair.

These boots were made for walking

Caitlin found these boots that were in the grow into box for Dominic. She thought they were so cool.She couldn't even walk in them and promptly fell over.Dominic loves these boots and didn't want to be left out of the pictures.

Carrots

Dominic picked carrots today as his vegie to go with his lunch. I had given him a small handful of raw carrots and he was dutifully eating them. They aren't his favorite, but he'll eat them if given no other options. I noticed a couple about a foot from his plate on the table.

"Dominic, why are your carrots on the table instead of on your plate?"

"Oh, my brother wanted some and I was so sweet and shared with him."

Caitlin has to have everything her brother has. So she asked (pointed) for some carrots. She only has the two front teeth on the bottom so I figured she wouldn't be able to chew them very well and would end up discarding them. But she put them between her top and bottom teeth and proceeded to shred them by pulling the carrot between them. She ate about four baby carrots this way.

The Murrells are Rich!

Today Dominic wanted to discuss why we had given some of his clothes to a family a few weeks ago. I was trying to explain the difference between poor and rich people. I also explained that there were all types of families in between and some poor people were really poor and others were just poor, etc.

"Dominic, are we rich or poor?"

"Rich."

"Why?"

"Because Daddy works and then he comes home and lets me and you have all of his money to spend. And I have lots and lots of stuff."

"Oh! Well are we rich or really rich?"

"Really, really rich. Cause we have everything we have to and lots other stuff too."

My kid is so smart! We are wealthy because we have everything we need and lots of "stuff" that we probably don't need. =) We have been so blessed and I'm thankful for my little children who remind me of that.

I love you more than anything!

Yesterday I asked Dominic if he wanted to go with me to Old Navy or with Jon to Best Buy. This is his reply-

"I love you more than anything else, Mommy. But I love Daddy even more so I'll go with him."

Today I told Dominic to hurry and get into the car because it was hot inside and I wanted to get the air running.

"I can't go as fast as I used to when I was young. I'm now 33." I'm not sure whether to be horrified or just laugh. =)

While I was making lunch I heard Dominic talking.

"Don't say that to me, it annoys me when I hear it."

"Okay, I'll try my hardest not to annoy you, but I really like that word."

A sigh and a pause.

"Thank you for not annoying me."

I asked him who he was talking to and he said

"My dear."

"Who?"

"My wife. You know! My dear." (Jon calls me dear and Dominic has copied him several times.)

Spring Fun

This spring has been wonderful. The weather has been so nice for the kids to play outside. We've had a ton of play dates at our house and have also enjoyed the nice weather while working on projects.

Dominic and Miles enjoying all of the sand at our house. They also went into the wood where Dominic accumulated a face full of bug bites two days before his pictures. =) Jon brought this box home from work and cut little windows and a door into it. The kids have LOVED it. It's in the middle of our small living room, but since it keeps them entertained I'll work around it.Caitlin wearing her cheer leader outfit. Ironically this was Dominic's t-ball day so she was able to be his cheer leader. =)We had a few projects at the rental house and since the back yard has some pavement and is fenced in, I took the kids and joined Jon. The kids loved riding their bikes (since we don't have any pavement here at home) and Caitlin loved the flowers. She kept trying to put them into her hair. They were both very dirty and exhausted by the time we headed home.Notice Caitlin's very dirty face?

Growing arms

Jon and Dominic were outside and Jon noticed Dominic getting his arms wet with the hose.

“Dominic, what are you doing?”

“I’m watering my arms so they’ll grow.”

Today I grabbed Dominic as he ran past and hugged him. I told him that I wanted some cuddles. As soon as he could wiggle free he went running into his bedroom. He came back with his bear named Cuddles.

“Here mom, will this help you?”

Caitlin loves remotes. Yesterday she saw the remote laying on the coffee table and got so excited. Usually they are kept out of sight in the coffee table drawer. So she ran over and turned on the tv. She then climbed up onto the couch and set the remote beside her. I heard a huge sigh and came over to see her grinning as she watched tv. I'm going to have to keep my eye on this little one. =)

For some reason Dominic stripped from the waist down to go to the bathroom. When he finished, instead of washing his hands, he put his clothes on the steps and climbed inside. I hadn't heard the water come on and this is what I saw when I opened the bathroom door.

Caitlin's putting her angel to work early

Tonight was one of those times that I've imagined but hoped to never have actually happen.

I had come upstairs to start supper and the kids were outside with Jon. I started supper and then got on the computer. Jon came up the stairs and told Dominic-the last one up the stairs-to shut the gate behind him. He even glanced back to make sure it was closed.

Jon went into the bathroom to work on the shelves he's been painting. A few minutes later I heard a thump, thump!

I knew immediately what had happened and ran screaming for the stairs. I made it to the gate as Caitlin hit the last few steps at the bottom and landed on the tile. If any of you have been to my house and seen the stairs you can imagine how freaked out I was. Caitlin was crying a little bit, but I think she was too fascinated about mommy freaking out. She just kept staring at me. Dominic was scared as well and we ended up comforting him more than Caitlin.

We've checked her out and watched her for hours and she is totally fine. I've been thanking God every 5 minutes ever since.

I just couldn't get my heart to stop pounding and asked Jon if he thought we should take her to the dr. even though she was eating, laughing and climbing onto everything. He said no, but did we need to take me. We probably should have. =)

Cimn and Daddy Ack

Some of you might remember George. He was Dominic’s way of dealing with scary monsters. He disappeared when Dominic was no longer afraid. But around the time that Caitlin was born, Dominic created an imaginary brother. Brother gets blamed for everything that happens-good or bad. If I ask him where he heard something and he can’t remember he says that brother told him. If he wants to argue with me and knows he can’t he’ll say that brother doesn’t agree with me.

Gradually brother acquired a sister. Like brother she didn’t have a name. She was just sister. And then sister was joined by “friend” who was also nameless.

It can get amusing when Dominic tells someone all about brother and I have to explain that he’s imaginary so they don’t think I have more kids.

A couple of months ago he told me that friend was named Jon and sister was named Sarah. Last week he came up to me and showed me a piece of paper with CiMN written on it. When I asked him what it said he gave me a bewildered look. “Can’t you read it mom? It says simn. That’s my brother’s name.” So now brother has a name. Then a few days later he was talking about Daddy Ack. When I asked him who that was he said it was Cimn’s daddy.

Today I learned that Daddy Ack has brown hair, a pony tail and beard. He is tall and fat in places and skinny in other places. He rides a motorcycle and doesn’t own any other cars. So Cimn (brother) has to either ride on the motorcycle or drive himself places. He can do that since he’s 13 years old.

As you can imagine we have a rather full car and some interesting conversations when Kitty, Cimn, Sarah and Jon (friend) join us. =)

My cool kids!

This is just a random post with a bunch of pictures and cute things the kids have said or done.

Dominic is now enamored with kitty. Kitty is a mangy looking stuffed animal. I can't remember where we got her, but she looks like she's been around for a while. Dominic takes her everywhere with us, although I'm able to convince him to let her nap in the car when we get somewhere.

In this picture she is going potty with Dominic. It's actually a milk jug that holds cookies that Caitlin got for her birthday. But it works well in Dominic's mind for a potty for kitty.In this picture she is wearing a barrette. Since kitty is a girl and Caitlin was wearing a hair bow he thought kitty should have something too.After worship we always brush our teeth. I think this is Caitlin's favorite part of the going to bed process.I put Caitlin in these little overalls and Dominic ran to put his on. He wanted to "match" with her. Jon took this picture because he noticed she was walking everywhere with her hands in her pockets.Caitlin was trying so hard to look out the window to watch Dominic playing ball with Lucas. She pushed the chair over to the window and was standing on her tip toes. This is her expression when I caught her.Going down the slide. Caitlin can't climb up yet, but loves sliding down.I asked Dominic to wear his sunglasses. He obeyed, but this is not what I had in mind. Since I wear mine like this I had to laugh.Caitlin eating salsa out of the bowl at a Mexican restaurant. She LOVES that stuff.

Easter Part II

It was brought to my attention that I'd been slacking in the blogging dept. So here is part II.

Sabbath morning I tried to take the kid's pictures with their Easter church clothes on. I got some really cute pictures. But as you can tell, they were in a silly mood.Caitlin was showing off her dress.Dominic had said something funny-at least to Caitlin.Sunday morning I went out and spread the eggs on the ground. Dominic went around picking up his favorite colors.Caitlin obviously thought she was a princess. After picking up a few she sat on the ground and would point at which egg she wanted us to get for her.I didn't want to fill the eggs with candy. It's really hard to find little things to put in those eggs that don't have sugar in them. But the kids seemed very excited with their loot.