Trick-or-Treat

Dominic was so excited this morning when I told him it was finally Halloween. He's been waiting for weeks to wear his costume. For the past 3 years I've given him the choice of what he wants to be. Two of those three years he's chosen to be a pirate.

Last year I wanted Caitlin to be a Lady Bug since we call her Caiti bug, but I couldn't find a decent one. So this summer I found one and that's what she was tonight.

She wasn't fond of the hoodie. =)

She picked this hoodie to wear this morning. This is actually what reminded me that it was Halloween.

Caitlin in her Halloween outfit that she wore today.

Aaarrrrrrgh!

Aren't they precious?!

We went to a local trunk-or-treat that a friend had invited us to.

Eating snow cones.

 

 The actual trick-or-treating at our neighbors. Oddly enough they didn't get any candy. They got money, crackers, stickers, etc. I KNEW I liked my neighbors for some reason. =)

Wonderful weekend

My brother Zeb (Zac) came up to see us in our new home.

The kids thought he was the coolest ever.

It's so neat to see my baby brother out playing with my kids. He ended up spending more time with them than he did with me. =) Guess that's part of being a grown up. Kids are more fun.

 Caitlin had just woken up when he arrived and wasn't sure which end was up. So I was pretty amazed when she sat on Zeb's lap while he checked something out on the computer.

Dominic took advantage of another adult who would read to him.

Caitlin with her bike helmet on. She had just been outside trying skateboard with the boys. She came in extremely dirty. Her clothes are ruined. But I can't complain because the smile on her face was worth it. She was so proud of herself.

Skateboarding in the dark.

After church we went down to the Obed River to watch Zeb and Bethany boulder.

 

Dominic wanted to try. Bethany was spotting him.

Climbing with Daddy.

Caitlin thought she could do it too. She touched the boulder and said "Oh yuck!" That was the end of her climbing experience.

She LOVED the chalk. I'm afraid she wasted more chalk then was used to actually climb.

 

King(s) of the hill.

Taking a break.

 Hiking out.

Experiments

I heard the cat crying from the living room.

Then an "ouch!"

Dominic came running towards me -

"Mom, I pulled the cat's tail to check how sharp his teeth were."

"Dominic, you shouldn't EVER pull the cat's tail. It hurts him."

"BUT MOM! It was a scientific experiment. I HAD to see how sharp his teeth were!"

I quickly sent him outside so my mom and I could laugh with out him seeing. Poor kitty!

Amazing Husband!!!

My husband is an amazing man!

He's an wonderful dad and the kids clearly adore him. 

Considering all that he does for them it's no wonder.

He got home from work one day and the kids pounced on him. I took a few pictures to document his torture. I'm sure he'll be pleased to have everyone able to view his pain. =)

 

 

Dominic loving on his Dad.

Jon was working in the workshop on my library. He had some help. Dominic came into the house to get a tool looking like this. He said he was getting ready for Jon to run the saw.

Jon takes Dominic to Little Lambs and I stay home so Caitlin can get to bed on time. I finally remembered to take a picture of Dominic in his dress uniform.

This is the look that Caitlin gets when she sees Jon walking in the door.

Whirlwind Trip

I still have a rental house in NC, so this last weekend we made a whirlwind trip to go do an inspection on it. We had intended to fly, but when I heard how much money it was going to cost I convinced Jon to drive so I could put that towards getting my hardwood floors. I'm sure that he would rather have flown, especially after several hours of Dominic crying because he was getting a cold and couldn't breath.

The moon was huge driving through Knoxville. Pictures aren't great since we were driving.

 

We left after Jon got off work on Friday and arrived at 3am Saturday morning. The kids were awake by 6:30am. We headed to church and then spent the day running around trying to spend a little time with everyone we had been missing. I'm usually really good about taking pictures and this time I forgot every time, except at the park and when we met Michelle at 37th Street.

Caitlin pushing Jon on the merry-go-round.

Caitlin really enjoyed riding as well.

Dominic got a bit queasy after a few turns.

 Jon took some great pictures of the kids on the swings.

 

I love this picture of Caitlin.

Dominic and Adelae are so cute together.

 

I just love this little guy. He's so precious. And always happy (although his mom might not agree).

We woke up on Sunday morning and went to the rental house to do the inspection. Then we met a few more friends and headed home.

I took these pictures while the sun was setting. We were on the way home and had stopped to eat.

 

 

For some reason Caitlin wanted to hold my hand when she was going to sleep. She only wants to do this when she falls asleep in the car. My arm was going to sleep and so I told Dominic to hold her hand.

It was a crazy fast trip, but it was so nice to see everyone that we had been missing and even meet a new little guy who was born on Friday. We had fun, but are glad to be home again.

Pretty Forgettable

Dominic has lost a library dvd and isn't allowed to watch any tv/movies until he finds it.

Today he asked me if he could watch tv during quiet time.

"No Dominic. You haven't found that dvd yet."

"But Mom, I thought you were pretty forgettable."

Pumpkin Carving

The kids are old enough to enjoy jack-o-lanterns this year. 

So I went to the store to get the pumpkins. I had intended to get the regular size, but the kids fell in love with the tiny pie pumpkins. So we came home with two of those instead.

Jon started out with a knife. But it just wasn't sharp enough. So he finished with a saw.

The kids were fascinated and couldn't wait to see what the inside looked like.

They were NOT impressed. Dominic helped us scoop out the guts. But he thought it was disgusting.

 After Caitlin touched it the first time she wouldn't do it again.

After Jon was finished I realized I didn't have any matches. So two days later - here is the finished project.