The things they say!

************

Every day when I drop the kids off at school they lean up into the front seat to give me a hug before they get out of the car. When Dominic leaned up I felt something on his face. 

"Dominic, you have something on your face."

"WHAT! I sure hope puberty isn't getting on me!"

"Uh, no. Pretty sure it's peanut butter from breakfast."

"Oh. Okay. I'll wash it off when I get inside."

************

Conversation overheard while the kids were playing in the other room.

Dominic - "Caitlin, it's just a fact you are going to have to accept and live with."

Caitlin - "Why?"

Dominic - "Because sometime we have to live with the fact that our family has very long eyelashes. We can't do anything about it."

Caitlin - "Okay, but it's annoying."

Oh to have such problems.

************

Dominic wasn't wanting to change out of his clothes from the day before that he'd also slept in.

"Can't I just wear this. It would be easier for everyone."

"Why?"

"Because I wouldn't have to change and you wouldn't have to do laundry." 

************

Apparently my children are very limber.

************

Motorcycle riding with Daddy.

 

 

Happy Birthday Dominic!

Our little boy is now 9 years old. 

And what a fun age that has been so far. 

Here are a few pictures from his birthday celebrations.

 

 

Growing kids

Jon asked me to help him hold something outside. He's working on the garage. I wasn't really paying attention as I slipped my feet into some flip flops at the door. Later I looked down and realized they were the ones Dominic had been complaining were too small for him. While a tad tight, they definitely fit me. What has happened to my little boy?!

**********

He isn't the only one growing like a weed. Today I packed lunches so we could spend the day at the pool. I packed a sandwich, chips, grapes, peanut butter crackers, and some cookies in each lunch. We go to a pool in a neighboring town that provides free lunches to the pool attendants. So the kids skipped the burger, but took the fruit cup, milk, and chips. Caitlin ate EVERYTHING. She then helped a friend polish off a massive jumbo bag of popcorn and ate a few of my carrots. Upon returning home she claimed to be starving so I fed her more carrots and a large banana. We were all going in different directions so had sandwiches again for supper. She ate two sandwiches and some carrots. I have no idea where she's putting it, but expect to be changing out her wardrobe again soon.

**********

Jon just came inside a bit exasperated, holding a book. Apparently Dominic was reading while he was mowing. I'm a little afraid to see what my lawn looks like after that.

Dominic and Caitlin are in two summer reading programs. And while both of them have always loved books, this has inspired Dominic. If he's not outside, he's reading. He's plowed through an impressive amount of books in just a month and isn't slowing down. I had mentioned several months ago that I wanted him to experience other types of books. He was reading books that were all the same genre. And while there wasn't anything wrong with them, I wanted to widen his imagination and vocabulary. He took me to heart. He's read Around the World in 80 Days, 2 Hardy Mysteries, Judy Bloom, non-fiction about sharks, anatomy, dogs, insects, etc., and several classics. We are also flying through the Little House books at night. We are almost finished with the series. This does my heart good to see my kids fall in love with reading.

Spring

We've been busy this spring and I just haven't taken as many pictures as I normally do.

So here is some of the things we've been doing this spring.

I went up to run the trail run at Fall Creek Falls again this year. We had intended to camp that weekend, but a combo of Jon being out of town all week and constant rain until Sunday morning prompted us to just drive down the day of the race. I've written about my racing experience on my personal blog, but thought I'd throw in some pictures here of the rest of the family.

It was rather soggy still so the kids got muddy. Leila (my niece) was there and it was fun to play on the playground and cheer for the runners.

 

 The kids ran a little ways with each of us (my cousin, dad, brother, and I) as we came close to the finish line. The pic below is of my brother.

I absolutely LOVE daffodils. So each spring I find a place that no one will notice if I steal some blooms and fill up a vase or two to keep in the house. I thought if I planted a ton it would work, but then I loved the view out my windows and so couldn't pick my own flowers. So Jon found a field, while out biking, that is not in view of anyone's home.

The kids had the entire program at church a couple of weeks ago. It was precious. They sang songs, had a skit for the children's story, and acted out the sermon. 

Caitlin was the princess in the story of Moses.
Dominic was an Israelite in the story of the plagues of Egypt.

 

We went to Blue Coast the other night and Caitlin had her face painted. She asked the lady for a blue lady bug. This was a couple of weeks ago and we are still finding glitter around the house.

Dominic

I made the comment to my family last night that I had assumed that once the kids were past a certain age, that the funny and cute stuff they said would stop. Boy, was I ever wrong. Dominic keeps us in stitches. Some of it can't be written down because it's all in the manner or tone that he says it in. And other things are hard to explain without a novel length post explaining our family's inside jokes. But this kid keeps my face hurting from laughing.

He loves Legos. I've written about that before. But what I love about him is the creativity. He'll buy or ask for a kit because of the pieces that come in it. Upon receiving it, he'll make the kit in the box. Then he'll take it apart and make what he really wanted to make with the pieces.

This was a wedding that he designed. I was rather surprised to see the weapons involved. I asked him why the pastor officiating had a gun. He explained that it was a flair gun to shoot off fireworks when they were finally married. Now why didn't I think about that for my own wedding. =)

Dominic was having a really hard time keeping his room clean. It was so bad that it took us an entire day to get it back in order this last time. So I made a deal with him. If he could keep his room clean, to my standards, for 31 days (thus creating a habit), I would give him a Lego table. It's amazing what a little motivation can do. I also explained that he wouldn't be able to get the table right away since Daddy would have to build it. And if his room ever got messy again he'd lose the table for a week each time. He was amazing. So Jon finally built the table. Thankfully he had some scrap wood in the shop. So the only cost was the plates.

 Jon did an outstanding job. But it was torture for Dominic to wait. He was fine without legs, but Jon insisted. He didn't want it sanded, but Jon insisted. As soon as the plates were glued down he begged to bring it into his room. We told him that we had intended to stain or paint it and the glue needed to dry. But he couldn't wait another second. So we put Legos on the cracks to hold the pieces together and he began building his town. The entire month he was keeping his room clean he had a notebook that he would add ideas to about what buildings or creations he was going to make to put on this table. This boy is in heaven. It's been hard to get him outside to play, which isn't usually the case.

Dominic is at that wonderful stage that affection is gross. He loves giving hugs and will tolerate me giving him kisses as long as it's not in front of his friends. But other people showing affection is beyond disgusting. The other day we were talking about getting married and he said he wasn't going to kiss his bride when the preacher said he could. He was just going to shake her hand.

Me - "Dominic, what if your wife doesn't like that?'

Dominic - "I'm going to find a wife who doesn't like kissing, just like me."

He also has decided to have foster kids since he will be a great dad and he's heard horror stories about foster parents. The bonus is that he'll never have to touch his wife at all that way and can still have kids. Oh how his tune will change in a few years.

The kids love granola and since it is usually filled with sugar and not cheap I started making my own. I've taken my mom's recipe and adjusted it to fit our tastes. The kids eat a ton of it. And even though I make the equivalent of 3 boxes each time, I can't keep up with the demand. Dominic put this sign on the door going outside in hopes that it would remind me to refill the container.

I'm over the moon excited. We bought our lovely home, in part, because of the spacious back yard. But having to mow almost 2 acres every week or more gets old every year. So Jon decided that Dominic was old enough to mow. And the kid loves it. He begs to mow the lawn. We'll still need to use the weed-eater and trim some closer things, but hours have been added back to our week.

I love this boy!

They make me laugh

Recently I made a Mexican dish and used salsa. I didn't have time to blend the salsa like I normally do. Caitlin was eating and in a very astonished voice

"MOMMY! There's onions in here. You know the Murrell family doesn't eat onions.
How could you?!"

************

Caitlin just came into the room with her dress on backwards.
"I accidentally took off my clothes. So I had to put them back on. And I put my dress on backwards."

Jon and I are trying to figure out how one accidentally takes their clothes off.
This could be a very, very bad thing.

************

Dominic called Jon into his room to help him get to sleep.
"Daddy, can you please help me. I have too much mental energy and I can't go to sleep."

************

It was St. Patrick's Day and Dominic was dismayed to find that he'd outgrown his only green uniform shirt. Fearful that he would get pinched all day he taped a green crayon to his shirt.

We were all thankful when Jon pointed out that he had a pair of running shoes with lots of green on them he could wear.

 

That racing heart again!

Today a dress that I'd purchased online arrived in the mail. Caitlin was as excited as I was and begged me to open the package.

When I opened it I was a bit surprised at the fabric type. It was more soft and filmy than I'd anticipated. 

Me "I'm not sure I'm going to like this fabric."

Dominic - "Why. Because it's going to show every thing on your body?"

I'm not sure how he put the two together, but yes. That was my concern.

As I walked down the hall to the bedroom to try it on I hear him say -

"Because that's going to be highly inappropriate."

I couldn't help it. I laughed.

The dress was a lot more flattering than I'd hoped, especially after seeing the fabric. I came out to show Caitlin. She liked it and asked me to keep it on for a while.

Dominic - "You need to take a picture and show Daddy."

He paused and looked at me for a few seconds.

"That's going to make his heart race, isn't it?!"

He even brought me my phone so I could text the pic to Jon.
Then as if he hadn't totally cracked me up he ran outside to play.

Racing Heart

You know those times that you're sure you've done something and yet it isn't finished? 

Well I was quite sure I'd written about Dominic and the racing heart. But when I was writing another blog post and referred to it, I thought I'd check and make sure so you'd know what I was talking about. No such blog post exists. So here it is. =)

Recently I was talking to Jon about a new author I'd just reviewed and how much I liked her book. Dominic heard me describing the plot and begged to read the book. It was about a spy and he'd just finished several books on spies. He was positive he'd love the story. Since it was Christian suspense I knew it would be clean, but wasn't sure about how much suspense he could handle.

He LOVED the book. There were a couple of times he had to ask me a question about something, but for the most part he just enjoyed the story. One of those questions has lead to a whole amusing side thing.

He had read a paragraph where a woman mentions some things that she's not really liking about a guy. It went something like this - "He's arrogant, bossy, and he makes my heart race."

It was the female protagonist who was reluctantly falling in love with the male spy.

Dominic asked me what that meant - making someone's heart race.

I wasn't really sure how to respond. So I looked at Jon and batted my eyes at him and told Dominic

"Daddy makes my heart race."

Dominic gagged. =) 

So now whenever we want him to leave so we can talk about something we say "We're getting ready to make our hearts race."

He clears the room so quickly you'd think it was on fire.

************

One morning I was waking up the kids. Dominic wouldn't wake up so I kept kissing him on the nose. In a very disgruntled voice he mutters "You DO NOT make my heart race."

Chef in training

Dominic absolutely loves everything to do with cooking and baking. He loves watching the shows on tv and he loves the actual cooking part.

I've been slowly teaching him things like pancakes, grilled cheese, and spaghetti. But apparently I was not teaching him the cool stuff fast enough. He asked if he could create his own recipe.

He asked me a ton of questions relating to a pasta dish. Then he sat at the table and had Caitlin running around checking for grocery items so he could add the ones I didn't have to the grocery list.

This was his grocery list.

spinach

white sharp cheddar cheese

He had me be his sous chef and created this.

 

It's a White cheddar cheese sauce. I loved that he wanted two different types of pasta. I was skeptical, but it ended up working out. The recipe is a mixture of my answers to his questions and a recipe he found online. The only problem turned out to be us forgetting the spinach. But I think Daddy was a little happy about that. =)

That was last night. Tonight he had me teach him how to make quesadillas. He did great. Maybe I won't have to cook many meals in my future. =) Although he did mention at supper that he prefers baking to cooking. Guess he's just like me.

Toothpaste and Halloween

This morning I hear a little voice coming from the bathroom -

"Hmm, I have toothpaste all over the back of my shirt! I wonder how that happened?"

I waited until the dear boy had vacated the bathroom before going to inspect.

Toothpaste was ALL OVER the floor, on the tub and my towel BEHIND the area where he would have been standing. It was also in the usual places like the sink, counter, and toilet.

What in the world was that boy doing while he brushed his teeth? On second thought, I don't even want to know.

********

I received a text one morning from the principle at the kids school. In the text was this sweet photo telling me about how they were holding hands during chapel.

********

Caitlin had career day at school. When we talked about it she told me she was going to be a princess.
"Caitlin, a princess is not a career."
In a very offended voice I was informed that -
"Princess IS a job."
So I asked her teacher about how much leeway we had with the career. She told me Caitlin could wear her princess outfit and that could be the stay-at-home mom, since SAHM's wore every day clothes. That way those that wanted to be a mom could still dress up.
When Caitlin heard that she decided that she really wanted to be a vet. That way she could work with animals. "Mom, your job isn't very fun."
WELL. . . I enjoy it.

So here is my little vet.

 Apparently the camera inspired them to try out some jumping pictures.

 

********


Halloween

 

We don't really do the door-to-door thing anymore. It's too much work for mom.
So we usually pick a church trunk or treat. This year we showed up at one at 7:15pm and they were packing up. Their website had said they ended at 9pm. Because everyone felt sorry for the kids they got a ton of candy, but not a lot of fun.

The next one we tried was super crowded, but they had a lot more fun with the games.

For some reason Dominic chose to forgo the outfit and only wore the helmet. ??

********

Caitlin and her best friends

********

Dominic and Caitlin have been attending a Lego club at one of the local libraries. But we showed up one day to find out that Lego club had been cancelled until further notice. The kids were heartbroken. So when we got home I gave Dominic a challenge just like he would have gotten during the club meeting. One of the challenges was I asked him to "make me a supper".
This is his version of macaroni and cheese with broccoli.

The club was cancelled because the old librarian quit. But they have a new librarian and she was sweet enough to start the club back up again. The kids were thrilled.

********

When we got our new kitties I cleaned up the indoor litter box for the kittens to use outside as a bed. Dominic climbed inside with both cats.

 

********

Dominic's teacher at school is approximately 6'4. Caitlin, for some reason, wanted to wear his jacket.

Just as a side note - My kids have the coolest teachers. How many people get sweet texts and pictures from their teachers. I love our little school!

Silly kids!

 I am loving this age. These two are so fun. This was for a photo prompt that I needed. But since I didn't end up using it, I thought I'd share it here. 

************

This morning I went in to wake Dominic up. I kissed him, and rubbed his back. Nothing was working. He was as still as a mouse. Then all of the sudden, in a totally awake voice, he says

"Wake me up when alligators are extinct."

What?! His eyes were still closed. It kind of freaked me out and I yelped. And I heard him mutter -

"And make me a sandwich. Hold the mayo."

I have a very strange little boy.

************

A couple of days ago I was with some friends and was telling a story about Caitlin to illustrate the differences between my children. She told me I HAD to write it down so her future husband would have an idea of what he was getting in to. Once again, I was sure I'd blogged about it, but it isn't there. So here is the story - a bit late.

This summer I watched a boy just a few months older than Caitlin for a few days. The kids get along great and he's a doll to watch. But by the end of the week emotions were a bit high and the kids were tired. My kids were dealing with a torn up house from the fire, company the week before, and late bedtimes.

I'd noticed that Caitlin was crying about everything and had already listened to some disagreements. The boys were outside on the patio playing with some cars when Caitlin wandered out and sat down beside her little friend.

A few seconds later I heard her crying.

"He was thinking mean thoughts about me!"

The poor little guy was looking completely confused. 

"I was thinking about my cars. I promise Ms. Tima."

Apparently Caitlin had seen a look cross his face that she was sure was just like the look he'd had when he'd teased her earlier and her emotions were so close to the top that it just sent her over the edge. She was so sure she knew that he was thinking those teasing thoughts about her.

Poor little guy didn't even know what hit him. :/

************

When Jon was dry walling the kitchen he allowed the kids to "help". They wanted to make hand prints. So he gave them a space that would be behind the cabinets and let the prints dry. I wrote their names and the date beside it. So now whenever the kitchen is renovated again, 50 yrs from now, someone will find those hand prints.

My babies are growing up. They are able to truly help us. And it's nice to be able to interact with them instead of just take care of them. 

Jon and I are both calling this the sweet spot. They can function on their own with very little help, they are tons of fun to be around, they get such joy out of everything we do with them, they still love to be with us and hug us, and they aren't embarrassed to be seen with us.

Flat beans

 A long time ago I made lentils. The kids enthusiastically ate them. Since Jon doesn't care for them, I fixed them while he was at work. I told the kids they were flat beans and they ate them up.

Several weeks later someone made a comment about lentils and Dominic said he hated them. I tried to convince him otherwise with no luck.

I made them again and again. I called them flat beans and the kids inhaled them.

Tonight a very sweet friend made us lentil tacos for supper. I was stressed to the max and was so grateful for her thoughtfulness. But the whole time she was pulling the things out of the bag I was praying she wouldn't say the word lentil loud enough for my kids to hear.

I put the food on the table and Dominic had prayer.

"Thank you for this yummy food we are about to devour."

He ate three massive servings. I asked him just now (over an hour later) if he liked lentils.

"No, they're gross."

I'm wondering how long I'm going to have to use code names for food. When will my children realize that new food, or food with strange names tastes really good.

Caitlin wasn't stingy either. She ate two huge tacos.

That pesky future wife

I'm beginning to wonder if I should pray silently for my kids future spouses. 

Because more often than not, I get questions or comments about my prayer.

Again last night I prayed for Dominic's future wife. I can't remember what I said since I change it up every night based on what I pray for Dominic. 

But when I finished Dominic was silent for a moment and then -

"What if I'm a butcher?"

Coming from a vegetarian I was a little surprised and started laughing.

"Dominic, do you know what a butcher is? They are basically people who cut up meat."

"Oh, I thought it was a guy who never married."

"No, that's a bachelor."

"Oh, close enough. What if I'm one of those."

I think I said something along the lines of it didn't hurt to pray and God would understand. I was still too tickled about the butcher to be totally sure of my answer.

Braces

Dominic took another step in the growing up process yesterday.

He has braces. They are only on his two front teeth to move them together, but it's still metal in his mouth.

 He's been great about it, even though it's been hurting him. Since Daddy can sympathize much better than I, they've had some long phone conversations (Jon is working some long hours and then going down to work on our townhouses in Chattanooga.).

 

We had to celebrate with ice cream. It isn't every day that one gets braces.

8 Years Old

Here are the "professional" shots I promised. 

I want you to imagine gorgeous 70 degree weather, a really fun cousin to play with, and a mom wanting you to pose for pictures. This was not a good combination for my newly turned 8 year old. But he reluctantly agreed. So I felt lucky to get these couple of pictures before he ran back to play.

I love that smile!

 

Goofy painter

Jon and I have been spending quite a bit of time in Chattanooga trying to get one of our town houses ready to rent. Dominic and Caitlin have been amazing helpers. It's been wonderful having them working right along side us. But Dominic desperately wanted to paint. I was several years older when my dad first handed me a paint brush and I was really reluctant to let him.

He assured me that he would be incredibly careful and paint really, really slowly.

And then he proceeded to demonstrate. This would be his expression while he's painting.

After I finished laughing I agreed to let him try in one of the closets.

I'll be honest - it wasn't half bad. It was definitely done by an almost 8 yr old. But still, not bad. And I didn't see this expression once while he was painting. =)