Kid's Night at the Park

There was a kid’s night at the park last week. It was mostly games and Dominic seemed to enjoy it. While we were waiting for the next game to start I took some pictures of the kids next to the water.

Playing with Daddy

Jon was throwing Caitlin up in the air. She LOVED it. I kept trying to get pictures of her up in the air with her hair all fanned out. Got this really good one.

Of course, Dominic had to be thrown up into the air and have his picture taken also. After we take a picture he always wants to look at it.

Dominic's new word is tragedy. Everything is a tragedy.

"Mom, if you come into my room, it will be a tragedy."

"Daddy, be careful. If you fall it will be a tragedy."

For the most part he gets it in the right context. But it is a bit dramatic. =)

I love this picture of Caitlin with her Daddy. I couldn't decide which picture I like the best so I'm posting both. She clearly adores her Daddy.

Children's Museum

Last weekend we went to the children's museum in Raleigh. The kids had so much fun. I took a ton of pictures and now the problem is deciding which ones to post here. The kids missed their afternoon nap and so I expected them to be a bit cranky. But they were both amazing. We left around 5pm and I don't think we had even left the area before they were both asleep. Guess we wore them out.

Caitlin was enjoying the view up high.

One of Dominic's favorite places was the little kitchen. The store was right beside it so you could buy your food and then go home to cook. What amazed Jon and I was the little refrigerator that you can see to the right of Dominic was an actual refrigerator. It even had ice in the freezer.

The pirate ship was pretty cool. They had a foam anchor that Dominic told me to grab onto at the bottom and he'd pull me up to the 2nd level. Crazy kid! Love this picture of him in the hammock. It's in the bottom of the pirate ship.

One room was a vegetable/healthy room. Dominic is climbing the vegetable wall.

They had a peas and carrots ball pit. I wasn't able to get any good ones of Dominic in the big kid pit because he was constantly moving. Caitlin was a bit more accommodating.

Dominic is jumping up and down because his car won. I even got him with his feet off the ground.

There were too many things to describe and post pictures of. Dominic had so much fun. Caitlin even enjoyed herself, despite being so tired. We will definitely go again.

Nylons and a fat tummy

I was going through my pictures and found this. I had meant to blog about it and forgot. It was the weekend of Caitlin’s dedication and all of the grandparents were here. My dad was holding Caitlin

and Dominic was with Jon’s parents. Dominic was playing with a car and was running it up arms and legs and across the pew. He noticed while running his car up Grammy’s leg that it felt funny so he started feeling and noticed that she had some very strange “socks” on. The picture is of him trying to pull her nylons off her leg. He kept asking her why she had those “socks” on and then running his hand up her leg. He tried to pull her skirt up because he wanted to see where the “socks” went. I was afraid she would have a ton of runs by the time church was over. =)

This week we were eating out next to a very large women. Dominic pointed to her and asked me why her tummy was SO big. I knew she could hear Dominic and was a little stumped as to what to say. So I told Dominic that God made her that way, but that it was rude to point. Not sure if this was the correct response, but I was put on the spot a bit.

Brother and sister

Dominic's brother is imaginary now. He goes everywhere with us. He is invisible to me, but Dominic discusses everything with him and he plays with him. His sister is not invisible. She is angel, his little owl. He takes her with us as well. She has to have everything that Caitlin has or is doing.

He sat with us on the couch today and feed Angel a bottle while I nursed Caitlin.

Today while eating lunch his brother sat in the extra seat and Angel sat on the table. He wanted her to be in the high chair, but I don't have an extra one. I got an extra bowl and spoon and the picture is of Dominic feeding her. I guess brother can eat all by himself.

I had to ask a few questions since brother is now invisible.

"Dominic, what is brother's name?"

"Brother Murrell"

"What does he look like?"

"He's white and my size, but his mom is brown."

"I'm not his mommy?"

"No, mom. His mom is brown and his daddy is all black."

"Where do they live, Dominic?"

"Here with us."

"Where do they sleep?"

"In your bedroom with you and daddy"

Okay! I guess I never noticed the extra people in my bed. Might explain why Jon feels crowded at night. And he thought it was me hogging the bed. 

Guess I'll have to explain. =)

School & a big girl seat

Both Dominic and Caitlin had big moments today.

Dominic has heard me talking with my friends about preschool and he decided that he wanted to go to school just like Daddy and his friends were doing. To put him off I told him that I was going to home school him. It didn't put him off and he's been bugging me almost every day since to start school. So on tax-free day we went to the store and made a big production of buying school supplies and today we had our first day of school.

Dominic LOVED it. He was so upset when I told him that school was over. And as soon as Jon got home he had to tell him all about it. He wouldn't sit still for the picture so this is the best one I took.

Caitlin also had a "growing" moment. She is getting so big that it was getting difficult to carry her around in her car seat. So today we switched her to the big girl car seat. It is still rear facing, but doesn't come out of the car. So now she's in a big girl seat just like her brother. When I put her in Dominic was in his seat already and they sat there giggling at each other.

Bedtime

Dominic and Jon have this routine that they do when they go to bed. Caitlin has become aware of this and wanted to see what was going on. So she has crushed the bumper in her crib down so she can see through the slats. Then after Jon has left the room they "talk".

Dominic was eating at the table and I was getting everything ready to feed Caitlin. I finally got her in the high chair and sat down. Dominic said "Oh, good. I'm joined. I was getting lonely."

I had a cold earlier this week and it resulted in a cold sore. Dominic's friend had a fever at the same time and so we had quite a few discussions about being sick. Dominic thought he wanted to be sick too, I guess he wanted some attention. And so today when Dominic bit his lip today he informed me he had a hot sore since he was hot.

Caitlin's first ride on the fire truck. She LOVED it. She can only go backwards, but this didn't dampen her enthusiasm.

Dominic's thoughts and ideas

Dominic can get pretty creative when it comes to making skateboard parks. Caitlin is too big for her baby bath and so I'd put it aside to take to the garage. Dominic saw the possibilities and was using his Tony Hawk man to make some "amazing jumps". Where does he learn this stuff? =)

Dominic was playing with his skate board men and I asked him to do something. He sighed and obeyed. When he returned to his men he sighed again and said "Okay, now where were we, guys?!"

We always ask Dominic what he's thankful for every evening after the story. Then we pray and thank Jesus for what he's thankful for. A frequent prayer has this in it -

"Thank you for all the good things we did today and for all the bad things we didn't do"

Dominic has frequent questions about digestion, farts and other bodily functions and fluids. He asked us why we ate. So we turned the question on him. His answer was "to make me grow and grow and grow all big." "Yes, but why do Daddy and I eat?" A very bewildered "I don't know!"

Dominic loves to pick his nose and I'm trying very valiantly to correct that little habit. We were in the car and so when I saw the finger go up the nose I handed him a tissue. He told me his boogie was stuck. So I told him to blow really, really hard. He blew and then said in an awe filled voice. "Mom, I blew up a yawn!"

I was playing with Dominic this morning (If you can imagine - skateboarding). He gave me one of the taller men and told me I was three years old and he took the shorter one and told me he was five years old (the age he has been promised a "real" board). I told him that if I was three I needed the smaller guy. "No mommy, you just growed really faster than me."

I know this blog post is mostly about Dominic, but I love this look on Caitlin's face. She's trying to grab that bag w/out my noticing. She wanted to taste it and I had told her no. So she waited until I was putting groceries in the trunk and just casually reached down and grabbed the bag again.

Belated Birthday pictures

A little late, but here are some pictures from Dominic’s actual birthday. I went to a friends house and posted a blog on his actual birthday using her WiFi. I had intended to post everything after he went to bed that night, but with the modem out I knew I wouldn’t be able to. I really wanted to post a birthday message on his actual birthday. I know - very OCD. So here are the pictures.

He wanted to have pancakes for breakfast, Taco Bell for lunch with Daddy and pizza and cake for supper. Thankfully they were all wishes that I could make happen. So we invited some friends over for supper and I made another cake.

I forgot to make the cake until 3pm and everyone was coming over at 5pm. So the cake was still a little hot when I tried to put the frosting on. This was a normal cake for me, unfortunately. But thankfully I didn’t have to put any major decorations on it.

The kids were covered in food and so we (gently) threw the kids in the tub together. It was a bit crowded. =)

More Missouri pictures

We went to Merimac (sp?) Springs near Rolla. It is a natural spring that is privately owned. They raise river trout. There was a park at the springs and we went and had a picnic.

LOVE this picture of my 83 yr old grandma.

Grandpa sneaking a nap. =)

Caitlin and Mommy.

Feeding the fish with Grandpa.

We went to the library while we were there. It was a bit more rural than I was used to, but Dominic loved it and he enjoyed the theme for the day - bubbles. In case you can't tell from the picture, he's inside a giant bubble.

Missouri

We left the day after Caitlin’s dedication to fly to Missouri to see my aunt, uncle and grandparents. The kids are good travelers and are better at flying than driving so the trip was long but went ok.

When we got there I thought that Dominic and Caitlin would be shy, but Dominic walked right up and hugged my aunt and uncle. He’s never met them before but I guess I talked about them a lot before the trip and so he felt comfortable with them.

Caitlin also warmed up quickly. She liked everyone, but she LOVED my grandpa. She would light up when ever he walked into the room. It was precious.

The kids are playing under the coffee table. Dominic would crawl under with his flashlight and imaginary tools and “fix” it.

My Grandma and Aunt Linda.

These two certainly love each other.

My little ones with their great-grandparents.

Grandpa showing Dominic his tattoos. Dominic was very fascinated by them.

Grandpa and his little girl.

Grandma and Caiti girl.

Baby Dedication

Caitlin’s baby dedication was very sweet. The pastor talked about the meaning of her name, which was an angle I hadn’t heard used before. Caitlin - pure and Brianna - strong. So if she is like her name she’ll be a strong pure young lady. Nice.

When the Pastor held Caitlin to pray she grabbed the mic and Jon had to hold it so she wouldn't put it in her mouth.

Early Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Dominic’s birthday early while the grandparents were here. Dominic wanted a skate board park cake. I have NEVER made a themed cake before. So here is a picture of my attempt at a skate board park cake.

I made the actual cake before Dominic went down for his nap. He was pretty excited. He brought his seat over to the oven and thought he’d wait until it was done baking. Poor little kid just couldn’t wait for 30 minutes.

Here is the final product. I must admit - I was impressed with myself. =)

Dominic trying to blow out his candles. He was told not to spit and so had trouble blowing with out spitting.

Dominic got several nice presents. But the largest one was a new bike. We tried to pick out one that looked the most like a trick bike. I don’t think he was convinced it was a trick bike, but he loved it anyways.