Mixed bag

Today was one of those days that is so mixed up and crazy that the label depends entirely on my outlook. I'm choosing to be positive today so it was a great day. =)

I dropped Dominic off at school and headed to Nashville. Mom had another doctor appointment and thought we could meet for lunch. Her doctor's office was only an hour away so we thought we'd shop and then get lunch before I had to head home.

Baby girl was so weepy and clingy that I was beginning to wonder if she was trying out for the part of a dryer sheet. It was crazy! But despite the wine whine and static cling it was a really fun morning. I dashed home to pick up Dominic so we could make it to Bible study in time. There are a couple of moms in Bible study so we let our kids play in the church gym while we study. Until last week it's worked very well for us. Last week they left the gym (without us knowing) and then couldn't get back in. The principle of the school texted his wife to let us know he had some "lost" children. So after a very, very early bedtime I'd hoped they had learned their lesson. They did! They chose something different this week.

They decided to have a water fight INSIDE! Every single child was soaked and it took a couple of mops, some rags and a bit of work to get all of the water off the floor. Needless to say, there were some very unhappy moms and another very, very early bedtime.

But when you see this face (he finally lost that tooth while kayaking on Sabbath)

how can you stay mad?!

 Or go in to tuck in baby girl and find this. 

Her explanation was that it was to dry her wet hair while she slept. Wow!

I have the cutest kids! Granted there were moments today that the cuteness wasn't hitting my radar. But I love them dearly and am so thankful that God gave these very children to me.

My first 1/2 marathon was in Knoxville this past Sunday. So our plans were to head out early Sabbath morning so we could go to church with my cousin Matt and then have a picnic and visit the zoo that afternoon. We would spend the night with my cousin and then head to the race early on Sunday.

But on Friday night Caitlin decided to have a upset stomach. She threw up once. Since my cousin has two little kids we just couldn't chance getting them sick. So Jon stayed home with her and my dad, Dominic and I headed to Knoxville.

 

After church we headed to the Knoxville zoo. We had passes and thought we'd check it out. It's about the same distance as the Nashville zoo, but we still haven't made it over for a visit.

I have several pictures of animals, but ironically the two main things that Dominic loved were not even zoo animals.

He played on this lion forever. I had to make him get off so that other kids could have a chance.

 

 But he was having fun, so I let him go for it.

 The knees of a boy who knows how to have fun!

 My sweet boy!

 His favorite was this jeep. It even got a mention for the next two nights during prayer time.

He could have played here for hours. It was hilarious and so cute watching him make up stories and act them out.

 Leaving the zoo on the train.

Caitlin

This little girl cracks me up. Since you can't see her entire outfit I'll describe it. She's wearing a red and white Elmo shirt, a hot pink tulle skirt with purple and yellow patterned tights and sandals. Baby girl rocked it!

 Jon and I will make our before bed rounds and often find our children in the oddest sleeping positions. I didn't want to wake her up with the flash so the picture is a bit dark. But I think you get the picture.

 

Baby girl wanted braids again. My friend, a hairdresser, told me to use aloe vera gel to keep the fly aways in control and to help with her crazy side part. It works great and she was so excited to have "tangled" braids.

Easter

Our Easter was rather unplanned this year. Jon and I had left the kids at my parents so we could have a weekend to ourselves (more about that on my other blog). We picked the kids up on Sunday morning and returned home. So the whole hunting for eggs was a serious after thought. Thankfully I'd purchased some things and stored them in my closet several months before.

Due to the rain we had the egg hunt in the library.

I didn't fill as many eggs as I normally did because I didn't have enough things and there wasn't a ton of room in the library. So I gave the kids some extras in the bottom of their bags.
This is the thing they were most excited about. Gum!!!

I don't think it lasted the week. But they enjoyed it, so that's what counts.

Just a random picture. Some high school friends came to Nashville for some meetings and were able to come spend the night at our house. The kids took advantage and had Uncle Rodney reading them stories.

My cute kids!

I have quite a few pictures that are really not enough to fit in a separate post so here they all are.

The kids were helping me make a new dessert. I'll eventually post about it on my other blog.

 Caitlin has this thing about keeping the "wet" off of her mouth. Almost every meal she needs a napkin so she can keep the wet off. So she's wiping her mouth with her apron in this picture.

 One of our many tiny snowfalls.

 Dominic begged and begged for me to have a kids pottery party.

 They both loved it, so we plan to do it again in the summer when the kids can jump in the sprinklers after they finish to wash off the paint.

 "Hey guys look! I'm a dog and my tongue is waggling all around in the wind."

 "My silly brother."

 But it sure looked fun!

 Caitlin and her friend on a nature hike.

The bags were for any treasures they might find.

Just in case you might have missed it - My kids are the cutest, funniest, and awesomest* kids in the whole world. Love them!

*Spell check tells me this isn't a word. Clearly it hasn't met my kids yet.

Dominic

I was talking to Dominic about a friend of ours and made the comment -

"She thinks you are the cutest thing ever."

His response -

"Just like everyone else does."

And the thing that got me was that he was in complete seriousness.

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I had a pottery party last night and when a friend of mine left, Dominic commented on how beautiful and adorable she was. When I asked him if he knew what adorable meant he said "little and really, really cute." My friend is tiny. And I think Dominic is half in love. =)

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Dominic told a classmate that she looked like a rockstar when commenting on her new hair cut. I was surprised, because he likes long hair on girls, but this was apparently a shorter cut. But he told me he loved it, hence the rockstar comment.

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Dominic and some of his classmates were talking with their teacher about how tired she was that morning. Dominic comes out with the seemingly random comment "My mom is probably laying on the couch right now taking a rest." What?!
So that evening I asked him what he meant by that.
He truly thought I came home every day from dropping him off and spent the day reading and resting on the couch waiting on him to get home.
Funny thing was about the time he was saying this, I was out running 6 miles. And that day I didn't come home until after I'd picked him up from school. Guess I need to educate my dear son on the jobs of a stay-at-home mom.

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Dominic lost another tooth over spring break.

Random cuteness

Dominic is slightly obsessed with beyblades. Caitlin was trying to tell me the name of one of them.

"Mom, I'm family owned."

I started laughing and I think that's what clued her in that she'd said it wrong. Apparently she was trying to say she was Fang Leone.

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Dominic just told me he doesn't want to be around when Caitlin and I do our nails because the nail polish is ferocious.

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Caitlin is playing with Dominic's legos and quietly singing "My ears are too big for myself." Dominic and I are laughing our heads off and she hasn't even noticed.

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Caitlin came out of her room wearing a long sleeve shirt and shorts. I told her to go back into her room and put pants on because it was cold outside.
"But Mommy, I'm staying inside today."
"Caitlin, we are going out this evening."
"But it's this day, not this evening."
She's still wearing her shorts. I can't argue with that kind of logic.

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Jon was showing me some yoga poses I could do for my knees.
At least he was trying to.

 The kids decided to show us their version of the splits.