Fun with Grandparents

Grammy and Gramps are here and we having a lot of fun.

First we took them to our favorite ice cream yogurt place.

 

Then the next day we headed over to Fast Lane Fun Park.

We hadn't made it over there yet.

It's a really fun place. There are lots of different things to do. 

We chose putt-putt golf and go-carts.

The kids enjoyed the game, but certainly didn't follow the rules. Balls were moved, hands were used, and we had to wade into the water to get some balls Wait! Both of these were actually my fault. =)

 

Caitlin finally found the flowers and abandoned the game all together.

Then we headed over to the go-carts.

Much to his delight - Dominic was big enough to ride with one of us.

Much to Caitlin's delight - she was not. She wasn't very impressed with all of the noise.

It was so much fun. We will definitely be going back again.

Mail

Dominic hit the jackpot today.

He received three letters from family today and one yesterday.

He was one ecstatic little boy.

So thank you Grammy, Lukas, Grandma and Aunt Kami for making a little boy very, very happy!

Thank you for coming!

Dominic received the sweetest card in the mail yesterday.

It was from his teacher and the kids in his class.

They thanked him for coming and told him they were looking forward to seeing him next year.

Mrs. Beth-Anne also sent some of his work that he did while in school and pictures. I've included some of them below. 

Isn't that so sweet?! He loved it.

 

 

Spring fun

Today was gorgeous. It rained during the morning which cooled the temperature a bit and made for a beautiful afternoon. The kids played outside most of that time. 

Dominic came running to get me because he'd found something in a tree.

This is what he found.

 

This is Caitlin's reaction to slugs.

Love this picture of Dominic.

The kids thought it was hot enough to play in their "pool". They begged us to fill the turtle with water. It was a bit chilly, but they had so much fun.

 

Airplane

When I picked Dominic up from school his teacher showed me a craft that the kids had done. She had different types of pasta and the kids made airplanes. There were several different types of planes. Dominic had chosen to make a small biplane. It wasn't completely dry when we picked it up and some of the pieces fell off.

I told Dominic that we would repair it, but we kept forgetting and today I caught Caitlin eating the dry pasta.

So Dominic and I decided to make another one.

I got out the glue gun and Dominic showed me where to put the glue.

We googled biplane and this is what we came up with.

 I was pretty impressed with his design. I love the tail wheel.

Dominic wanted to add more details like the picture, but I'm not that talented with the glue gun.

Jon thinks it needs a rudder and elevator. Picky men! It's just a pasta plane. =)

Ready for school

Dominic came up to me just now.

"Mom, nine plus eleven equals twenty, right?

Yikes! This boy is ready for school.

And I'm working on being ready for him to go. =)

He's so smart and loves to learn new things. 

He pours over books about the body and how things work.

I'm not sure if it goes with him talking a lot, but he asks questions all day long.

So in a couple of weeks we will be signing Dominic up for Kindergarten.

Easter morning

My family never really celebrated Easter.

We would attend a church service with an Easter sermon and, of course, my parents explained what it was all about. But we didn't do the eggs, the bunny, special food, etc.

So when my kids came along I had to pick and chose what traditions I wanted for them.

This morning was beautiful in so many ways.

We slept in and then went to the church for a Easter service and pancake breakfast.

The service was short, but very meaningful and incorporated the children which I loved.

I helped with breakfast and then the kids played while we talked and cleaned up.

 

 

Then we came back to the house to hunt for Easter eggs and have a fun family day.

 

 The stash.

Of course we went to Taco Bell. It may be Easter, but it's also Sunday. 

And we can't let a Sunday go by without eating Taco Bell. =)

Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully your day was as blessed as ours!

A Daddy sled

The new way to exercise.

 

School Day

Dominic woke up way early this morning. Can't say as I blame him. I was up early as well. So we cuddled on the couch for a bit before getting ready for . . . gulp. . . school.

I'll say it again. This boy was way too excited to be leaving me. =(

But I'm so glad that he wasn't dreading it.

Last night we finally put Caitlin's carseat back together and so this morning I put it in the car. I didn't want to be the weird parent who showed up an hour early so I waited until 7:50 to get the kids in the car. (We live 5 min away.)

Problem was the car seat had been put together backwards and I couldn't get it to snap together. So VERY quickly we switched cars and I drove very fast safely to school.

Then I parked and walked him in - to the wrong door. 

Nice job mom!

Dominic seemed a bit shy when we first walked in the door, but was his normal self when I went to pick him up.

I asked him how he liked school and he said

"It was super fun! I should go there next year!"

The teacher said he did fine as well so I need to be preparing myself -

my baby boy is going to school in August.

Sigh! If I'm this bad now, how in the world am I going to make it when he goes for real.

I forgot to take a picture this morning so I took one when we got home.

 He was filthy so he must have had fun.

School tomorrow

Tomorrow is ACE Round-up.

This is the day that prospective students go to Algood Christian Elementary for a half day to try the school out.

Dominic is beside himself with excitement. He's been waiting for this day for "years and years". He has told everyone that he comes in contact with, including random strangers, that he's going to school tomorrow.

Round-up is Thursday. Monday morning he picked out his outfit and told me what he wanted in his lunch.

Tuesday we went to the store and picked out the things to go in his lunch box.

He's been counting down the days since Sunday. Today on the way to meet Jon after gymnastics I hear a screech from the back seat. Scared me to death.

It was Dominic.

"IT'S ONLY HALF A DAY TILL I GO TO SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!"

I'm torn between being excited for him. It's hard not to be.

And being so sad that he's leaving me. I won't be there with him, watching out for him and sharing in his experiences any more. Ms. Beth-Anne will have to tell me if he says something cute or gets in trouble.

I know that for Dominic this is the best decision, but yikes! it's tearing me up inside.

The kids

Just a few random comments and pictures that don't really have a theme.

Caitlin has started being very disobedient lately. So she's been punished way more than either of us would like.

We were in the car and she was doing something (I can't remember what now.). I asked her to stop and she didn't. So I reached back and spanked her. In this tearful little amazed voice she said

"You mean to me. You hurt me."

There are some moments that happen as a parent that you never even imagined before you had children.

Explaining to my 4 yr old son why licking his feet was NOT a good idea was one of them.

Caitlin and I were in a bakery today and she starts talking to the lady who owns the store. She pointed to my eyes and said 

"Dis mommy's eyes."

Then she points to her eyes and said

"Dis Grammy's eyes."

She was apparently listening all of those times we talked about who our children resemble.

I walked into my bedroom during quiet time and found Dominic and the cat watching tv on Jon's computer.

Apparently Tolkie needed some bandages. And strangely enough kitty seemed to be actually watching tv.

Day trip to Dayton

Yesterday we woke up super early (5am) and headed to Dayton to help my cousin and her family put a roof on their house. Jon has done this numerous times and so offered his services. I went along to watch the kids and document the process with pictures since I don't usually go higher than the 2nd rung of a ladder.

Our gps is in serious need of an update. We've been meaning to do it and just haven't. I think after this trip we will remember. Three times it took us on a crazy detour into the countryside. One of the roads had a gate across and we had to turn around. After that time it made us a bit leery of trusting it. It killed me that we were pushed for time. It is beautiful country and I wanted to stop and take pictures so much.

The weather was beautiful and they got a lot accomplished (I'm assuming since I know nothing about roofs.) 

 

Caitlin and Dominic had so much fun playing with cousin Liz on the trampoline. I think they could have stayed on there all day.

 

 I tried to get Caitlin to take a nap, but she just didn't want to miss anything. So I finally gave up.

On the way home we went over the first mountain with her asleep. Then we stopped for supper and headed to the next mountain. Caitlin started crying. I'd wondered the last time if she was a bit carsick. But this time she proved it beyond doubt. She threw up everywhere. Thankfully there was a little place to stop on the mountain. I had a change of clothes and we cleaned her and the carseat up as best as possible. Jon drove very carefully around the corners and she seemed fine after she emptied her stomach. Next time we'll be better prepared and won't feed her a big supper before heading over a curvy mountain road.

Piyets

Caitlin pulled her pjs out of the dirty clothes this morning and put them on over her clothes.

I didn't realize until I was taking pictures that she thought this made her look like a pirate.

"Arrrrr. I piyet. Arrrr."

 

Write me a letter!

Every day little man runs to the mail box and returns with our mail.

Unfortunately for him he rarely gets mail. Most of the time the kids are okay with my junk mail.

But lately he's been wanting some mail of his own. His grammy sent him a magazine and he gets the Imagination Library book once a month. But apparently this isn't enough. So this morning he started a letter campaign to get a letter in return.

So if you have a bored moment in your life - Dominic would like something in the mail. It doesn't have to be much. Just a little note, a card or some stickers. It will make him a very happy little boy. =)

Hold Me!

"Hold you me, mommy."

"Why Caitlin?"

"Hold you me, please!"

"Okay, I'll hold you, but why do you want me to hold you?"

It wasn't until after I was holding her that I got my response.

"I luv you n luv hold you me."

She has this sweet little girl voice that just melts me every time.

Big girl bed

Caitlin did so well sleeping on the camping trip that Jon 

suggested that she might be ready to try her toddler bed again.

We had tried previously and she wouldn't stay in the bed. 

So we put her back in her crib since she hadn't tried once to get out if it.

We put her in her bed on Sunday night and she's slept there for three nights and as many naps with no problems. She seems really excited to be sleeping in her big girl bed. And unlike her brother hasn't asked to go back to the crib at all. Today she came out of her room a few minutes after I'd put her down for her nap. Once I put her back in her bed again she stayed.

It's also amazing how this has changed her after nap attitude. She would call for me to come get her as soon as she was awake enough to yell for me. Then she'd cling to me and whimper if I put her down for 30 minutes to an hour. But she has to wake up enough to crawl out of the bed and come open the door.

Then she stands at the door and calls to me.

"Mom, I awake now!"

She's wide awake and ready to finish the day. We haven't had a whimper or whine at all.

It's wonderful. And today she asked several times to go potty. 

So maybe we can start again on that this summer.

Style

Caitlin has had opinions for quite some time about her clothes. Just like her brother I guess. =) I have to pick out 2-3 things and let her choose every morning what she wants to wear. This helps the tears when she isn't wearing what she wants. Then she does the same with the hair bows.

Today we met Jon for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Jon had to return to work and I was paying at the front. When I turned around I saw a little Chinese lady putting these into Caitlin's hair.

They are pink Hello Kitty hair clips.

Caitlin was in love. She wouldn't take them out. 

It didn't matter that she was wearing a red outfit. She wanted them to stay.

She had gotten noodles and rice all over her clothes. So when it came time for her nap I allowed her to pick out something to wear to bed (and for the remainder of the day).

She came into the living room just now wearing this plus Dominic's crocks which she removed for the picture.

The socks are Dominic's and inside out.

There has been an additional hair bow added.

Boy is she ever proud of this look!