Best Friends

Caitlin and her best friend. I had a best friend like this growing up and I love that my daughter gets this wonderful experience of sharing her school day with her best friend. 

I adore this little girl and would gladly steal her if only her mom would give her up. So far I haven't had any luck in this department. =D

Funnies

The discussion right now -

Did God or Satan make farts?

Heaven help me! 

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Dominic - "It hurts a man to brush his hair. It's like pulling it out. Men have crazy hair. That's why we keep our hair short. It just isn't a good experience to brush it."

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Caitlin was being difficult this morning. Dominic and I were in the kitchen and I muttered under my breath "that girl is going to be the death of me". Dominic then starts singing "The worst is yet to come."
(Taken from a popular song on the radio)

The funniest part was that he was so incredibly proud of coming up with the perfect thing to say that he's mentioned it several times since. It's been weeks now, and he will still comment on how awesome it was that he said the perfect thing at the perfect moment that had me laughing.

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Dominic and I were talking about how some kids went through "awkward or ugly" stages. He asked if I thought he'd gone through that stage. When I told him no, he said "I really think this generation is better than the last. We are stronger, healthier, and better looking."
WELL. . .

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Trucks and history

Jon has been wanting a full size truck for quite some time. But with our business picking up, it was becoming a necessity. He found one that he wanted, but it was in Maryland. So we came up with the brilliant idea to take the kids to D.C. We'd make a trip of it around fall break and then if we liked the truck we'd buy it, but it wouldn't be a wasted trip if we didn't end up purchasing it.

We packed an incredible amount in a very short time. I think we walked our legs off. But it was a wonderful experience to show the kids so much history.

They enjoyed looking up at the Washington Monument and then getting dizzy.

I have the sweetest kids. They were pretty tired from walking by this point. So we stopped for a rest/photo break.

Somebody got locked in a head trap.

Both Jon and I have family members who are on this wall. It was a beautiful, but sobering moment to show our kids their ancestors and explain why they were on that wall.

Since the 3 of us were all born in NC we had to get a picture.

We had just finished watching the food truck race on Netflix and the kids were enthralled with food trucks. They were so excited to be able to eat from one. But the glamour quickly wore off when none of the food appealed and they realized they'd have to eat it standing up in the cold weather. So they settled for a picture.

We didn't end up buying the truck, but had so much fun that we've talked about doing the trip again.

Breat Cancer Awareness

In October my friend Tamorah and I took our girls got get pink extensions. The money spent is donated to breast cancer research and with breast cancer in my family history, I'm always eager to help. 

Dallas was so sweet and patient with the room full of giggling girls.

Tamorah had her dogs with her. Aren't these four precious?!

New hairdos.

 

 

Lost!

I had plans to write all of these posts in the order they happened. But the others are going to have to wait. 

We had a wonderful 9+ inches of snow this last week and Jon and the kids were home. We had tons of fun sledding, building snowmen, and having snow ball fights. The kids would come in to warm up and change out of wet clothes. I had to bribe them one day to come in and eat. 

Church was cancelled due to the road conditions. So Saturday morning we all headed out to find the best sledding hill. About halfway through Caitlin fell and got her gloves and arms wet and packed with snow. She claimed to be tired and so we headed back to the house for a hot shower and some rest.

After the shower she begged to go back to find the others. She claimed to have heard them just down the road from our house - the hill we started on. I let her go into the front yard to look and see if she could see the sledders. She wasn't to leave the yard unless she could see them from the driveway. She turned and saw me watching from the window and then headed down the street. She raised her arm as if waving so I assumed she'd found them. I couldn't quite see the hill from the window, but it's almost in front of my in-laws house. So I knew she'd be fine. 

About 10-12 minutes later, Jon and Dominic came in. I asked them where Caitlin was and it dawned on us after a quick discussion that she hadn't ever found them. We all threw our clothes back on and headed outside to look for her. Several of the neighbors joined the search. After searching the entire neighborhood and tracking her as far as the next main road we begin to panic. I called 911 and Jon headed to the garage to get the truck so he could look further. Just as I began to explain to the operator what my problem was, I saw the sheriff's suv coming towards me. I flagged him down and was shocked and relieved to see my daughter sitting in the seat beside him.

She had decided to go find her Daddy and headed the long way around to the other subdivision. Someone saw her walking and called the police. By the time he reached her, she'd walked a mile from home on a curvy, icy, road that had traffic and no shoulders. A young teenage boy had been worried about her and was driving slowly behind her while he called it in. 

I've never been that scared in my life. I now have a tiny inkling of what a parent must feel when their child is abducted. Because for a moment I thought I'd lost my daughter. Those were the longest moments of my life.

So I've hugged both of my kids more than normal and savored their smiles and giggles.

If you see me sporting a head full of grey hair you can blame it on my danger girl.

The things they say!

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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."

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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.

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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." 

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Apparently my children are very limber.

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Motorcycle riding with Daddy.

 

 

Caitlin

The kids had to a school project. They both had to pick a person that they considered a hero that they wanted to emulate in some way. Then they had to dress like them.

Dominic chose to be Russell Wilson, a Christian football player. 

I was able to find a helmet and football uniform. But after he put it on, he refused to let a picture be taken.

Caitlin wanted to be me. 

It was a bit amusing to hear the two kids discussing how to dress like me. It's interesting to see how someone else views you. And it was a little disconcerting to see how accurate they were.

 Caitlin has lost another tooth. I love this look!