If I don't write something down it will soon slip from memory and a week later Jon and I will be trying to remember that funny thing one of the kids did and it's gone.

So here are some things I pulled from facebook or wrote down when it happened. 

Whenever Dominic uses correct table manners he calls it "eating fancy".

***
 The kids are reading a book on the body with Jon.
Dominic - "What is that?"
Jon - "It's fat cells."
Dominic - "Then where are the skinny cells?"

***

A couple of nights ago I watched Parent Trap with the kids for their first time. For the next several days Caitlin kept asking me to watch Trap the Grownups.

 

From Facebook -

Caitlin is learning the sounds of her ABCs. Today she chose to work on W and the first word she picked to go with the W sound was weapon. Me thinks Jon and I talked a bit too much about last night.
On another note - my cat ate half a bag of Cheetos. Do you think he's going to be sick?!

Caitlin just saw the ASPCA commercial and asked me to mute the tv so we could pray for the poor animals. Melted my heart!

Merry Christmas!

The kids were sweathearts and let us sleep in. When we woke up we opened gifts. Jon woke up sick so he took the pictures and I handed out the gifts. So not very many pictures, but the kids certainly didn't mind.

They are both wearing Angry Birds pjs. =)

I love it when I get a gift that I know is wanted and will be loved.

Dominic has been asking begging us for a DSi for quite some time.

 Poor Jon felt so bad.

 Caitlin beside one of her Christmas presents. A 3d puzzle from Thailand.

Notice her bow. She went around putting bows on us as the gifts were unwrapped.

 Dominic putting his Star Wars legos together.

 We gave Jon some Tylenol and he slept for most of the day.

I feel bad that I gave him my sick. Poor guy!

 It was a lazy, slow day. Some of us never got out of our pjs.

 And just like last year, I completely forgot the stockings.

Dominic's had a ds game in it so I wanted to open them later. So we had our traditional cinnamon rolls after opening presents. The kids went right back to playing and I started a book. Later that morning I remembered them.

 They make good socks.

Merry Christmas from the Murrell house. 

Even though some of us are still sick, we had a really great Christmas spent with family.

Opryland Hotel

When I was a teenager we would often go to the Opryland Hotel to see the lights. The kids loved it and come home exhausted. It's changed since I was a kid. There is more to see and it's geared more towards the kids now.

 (Photo credit: Kim Murrell)

 Throwing pennies into one of the many pools.

 I have the sweetest, cutest kids - EVER!

 This pose was Caitlin's idea.

Do I make my kids pose for pictures too much?

 And in case you think the entire time was spent making the kids pose for pictures,

these are from the Dreamworks Shrektacular show they put on.

 

The kids sat down near the stage and I sat up in the balcony. Mostly because the seats were more comfortable, but also so I could get some good pictures. I was thankful I did when the main dude picked people out of the audience to help him. Yikes!

 They really seemed to like our kids. They gave them cookies and talked to them several times before and during the show.

 During the show the kids were called on stage to dance with the dancers and movie characters.

My kids have no fear. You couldn't have paid me enough as a child (or an adult) to get up there and dance around. But my kids loved it.

 I love this hotel! Where else can you find a river, rainforest, fountains and a town inside a hotel?

 I don't remember Santa's old fashioned village from before. So either I have always missed it or it was new. Everything was "old timey".

Caitlin could barely fit into this car, but it didn't stop her.

 Dominic had an even more difficult time and gave up pretty quickly.

We had so much fun and the kids were exhausted after, which was a good thing.

Definitely a fun tradition.

Advent Calendar

We had so much fun with the Advent Calendar this year. I was able to come up with some great ideas in spite of the late notice. A few were put off or cancelled because I was sick, but most of them went well.

Watching the parade

 

Glow stick bath

Decorating ginger bread cookies (it was supposed to be a house, but we couldn't keep it standing)

Making Christmas presents for our friends and family

Making "ginger bread" Christmas trees

 Wrapping presents

 Going to see the lights at the Opryland Hotel

(more on that later)

 It was a success and I'll definitely do another calendar next year.

It was also a lot of work so maybe I'll opt for a Lego one or something. =)

The noises coming from Dominic's room are unearthly (and I don't mean angelic).

Caitlin - "Dominic, what is wrong with your problem?!"

 * * *

More proof that the box is as enjoyable as a toy.

 Surprise!

 She couldn't let Dominic have fun without her.

 

* * *

Jon was trying to convince someone to eat the last spoonful of green beans after lunch so he wouldn't have to throw them away (not enough to save). When he asked me Caitlin said "No, it might make her fat." Yikes! Nothing like a little honesty. =)

* * *
We were learning new signs (ASL) at the supper table the other night and Caitlin shows us the universal sign for talking on and on.
"This is the sign for blah, blah, blah, blah."
Jon and I died laughing. I don't remember if we ever told her why we were laughing so hard.

Birthday!

Caitlin had a fun, but packed birthday.

Because she had gymnastics in the morning we met Jon for lunch.

Caitlin chose to eat at Cinco's because she remembered that hat she saw another person get to wear on their birthday. I'm sure it helped that she loves the food.

 Unfortunately when they came to sing to her, she was crying about something we had made her do. 

 Ice cream cheered her up though.

 But the sweet guys at Cinco's thought she needed a candy ring in addition to the ice cream.

 She then chose IHOP for supper.

She had requested a pink and purple cake. But I forgot until the night before and was rushing to try and get her gifts wrapped and cake made. So please ignore the lack of decorations or the skill level on the icing. I figured she wouldn't notice as long as it was pink and purple. Thankfully I was correct.

On another note - On Thursday I couldn't get Caitlin to come to the table to eat breakfast. So finally I went into her room to get her so we could take Dominic to school. She was sprawled out on her floor playing with her doll house and the Polly Pockets. I threw her into the car in pjs and no shoes. When we returned she headed straight for the bedroom to play again. Nothing I said could convince her to change her clothes or eat a thing. Since I was feeling pretty cruddy I left her alone and about 11:45am she came out asking for lunch. I convinced her to change before lunch or she would have spent the day in pjs. Every day she's spent at least a couple of hours playing in her room. Even Dominic is enjoying using his men to play with her. It was clearly the perfect gift for baby girl.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!!!

Caitlin is 4 years old today!

It hardly seems possible that the chubby little baby girl with a mop of dark hair is now a big tiny 4 year old with golden brown hair and huge smile.

I had procrastinated in setting up an appointment for Caitlin's 4 year old pictures. Combine that with my laziness, our busy schedule, and my impending cold (or something) and I decided to try to do them myself.

So here are just a few of the tons of pictures I took yesterday. Caitlin and I had tons of fun!
And even though I got some good ones that I can use for her "professional" pics to send to family, my favorites are when I captured her being goofy.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!