Penny Candits

No nap this day and she finally just crashed, mid-show by leaning forward out of her chair at about 4pm. I love her bottom lip and the little bit of drool forming.


She went poopoo in the potty on Sunday (something she has yet done consistently) and was so proud she wanted everyone to see it. She had to look at it like 10 times before she was ready to flush it.

She loves twistie piggies in her hair (this is what I mean by frazzled hair-do's by the end of the day)

She needed to go potty but she couldn't get the lid up on the toilet and discovered the bottle of powder behind the seat and decided to just play instead of ask for help. Sean heard her jabbering from out in the garage and came in to see her covered in powder (as well as the toilet covered in powder).

I'm sure it felt nice and fresh as it was GOLD BOND MEDICATED POWDER...lol

She loves and cuddles on her kittie constantly. Dominic's new thing is to do this whenever he is playing on the floor. I remember doing that ALL THE TIME when I was little and sometimes, I still do.

We got a CAT

Our kids have wanted a cat since we started visiting the local pet stores in the last year. At first Sean and I said NO, NO, NO. It just won't ever happen. About 4 months ago I told Sean that I'd been softening my opinion and wouldn't actually mind one because the kids are so smitten by these cats we go visit. I loved the interactions they had with these cats and wanted that interaction in our home.......BUT, I told him that I would never pressure him into letting us get one. I was letting him know my opinion on the matter. If he ever changed his mind about NO CATS, I would be okay with getting a cat but it would have to be his decision because I didn't want the guilt trip for the following 14 years about the cat.

So we're standing at the pet store on Monday, Sean is watching the kids play with cats and he buckled. Oliver won him over and he told Dominic we could get a cat. So the next day, we came back and picked up Oliver. He's 2 and house trained already (phew..I don't think I could have done a kitten) and he's really really sweet. GREAT with kids and affectionate, but not overwhelmingly so.

Penny and Oliver absolutely adore eachother. She is all over him all day long and he doesn't just endure it, he likes it. He'll come up to her and nuzzle up against her or lick her, ready for more. She loves it and its fun to see them interact. See some of the videos to truly understand what I mean.

Dominic is just awestruck that he actually, finally has a pet of his own. He's been "waiting for this day his whole life." He cleaned out the cat litter without my telling him today. Love it!

In this photo Penny said to Oliver "lets take a nap All-love-her"

They were trying to catch his tail because he kept moving it left and right. Dominic is so happy to have a cat....its his favorite animal, so he says (a dog would not suffice).

Penny's new boyfriend "All-love-her," as she says it.

Taking Oliver Home. Don't mind the ALMOST birds and bees lecture or the WHOA'S from Penny as we rounded the long corner to get on the freeway (my eyes weren't on the camera at all, I was just holding it.



Playing with Oliver. He really likes this mouse, but he was kinda pooped by the time I got the camera out.



Penny, loving and playing with Oliver. She's funny.

My new favorite way to DO Penny's hair

Penny has challenging hair. I love it, its beautiful, but its a challenge to have it be able to look decent all day long (perhaps that is the challenge for all little girls?). Its curly and it likes to do its own thing and so does Penny....unfortunately, some of the things Penny likes to do (like roll on the floor, use her head as a sliding mat, and hide under blankets) wreak havoc on a hairstyle ...... no matter what hair type you have. Add curls and you've got yourself a great hairstyle for crazy hair day at school. So on many days out of the week this is what Penny looks like by the end of the day (or right after she wakes up from naptime)

But, when I do her hair, its so angelic and sweet I could just stare at her all day. The curls on the side of her head make the perfect ringlets usually. I just love it.

This is my new favorite way to do Penny's hair. Her hair is actually down to her shoulder blades and getting quite long.

She's making a silly face here.....her favorite thing to do is make a silly face for the camera and laugh at it when she's done.

I didn't put a clip on her bangs, I usually do.....it looks better with a clip, but you get the idea. So curly and sweet.

Randoms

I love light jacket weather. Penny wanted 'glubs' too but they weren't really needed. We played outside for a few hours the other day just enjoying the sunshine and our friends that we had over. After the soccer game in the driveway and bike riding, we walked up the street to a grassy field and played some more soccer. The boys had a blast and Penny learned how to go potty in the great outdoors.

I love these big brown eyes

We have 6 nativity finger puppets and Penny's favorite is the baby Jesus. She adores this little baby Jesus and carried around with her everywhere for about 4 days. She slept with it and cuddled with it and just loved on it. She's going to be such a good big sister.

Dominic thinks its a treat to sleep on the beanbag. He's only pretending to sleep here. He's such an amazing little guy, I just love him to pieces.

Halloween Night

At the start of Trunk-or-treating AKA: an easy way to get lots of candy and see all your friends from church in one place.

Running/sprinting from house to house. Penny learned the word Hannah Montana and wanted to follow Hannah (Stella) all over!

There were lots of booty shots.

I couldn't get Penny to touch her halloween costume on Friday morning....when we got home, she had a screaming fit when I made her take it off. I love this picture of Daddy and Penny

At one point she decided to walk and pant like a Doggy (inspired by the doggie across the street.

And then a few minutes later she would put her head on the side of the street every 5 feet. She was being so goofy.

This is the happy candy dance. He must have got a great loot from that house!

I love this profile even though its blurry.........ugh, we need a better camera.

Anam and Sean have great hair.

Penny knew where mom was but couldn't figure out who was under that wig, even though he sounded like Dad

She figured it out and gave him a big smooch. Then told him to take it off.

She wanted a picture with a "bleeeeeeeeeh" face. ...per her request....silly girl

So this was the whole wizard getup. My favorite part of his costume was his wizard staff....I made it with a bamboo stick and a rubber ball with blue glitter inside it. I found some raffia wrapped wire that I was able to work through the bamboo (drilled holes) and use hot glue and lots of wrapping to makem it stay nice and tight. It was pretty cool and he had tons of fun wearing it.

Halloween was a great success this year! We had lots of fun and both the kids loved getting candy! Needless to say we have lots of treats for when Penny goes potty!

Fun videos

Just some good 'ol family fun videos. Enjoy

Playdates!

Dominic was supposed to have a friend stay the night on Friday but his friend got a bad cough. So, we got to have a "stay late" with his friend Nathan instead. They played, wrestled, ran around, played chutes and ladders and then watched "The Iron Giant" while eating popcorn. Penny likes to think she's just one of the boys whenever Dominic has friends over and Dominic is so good at just letting her in on whatever they are doing.

Penny has claimed this blue pillow. She has to sit on it everymorning when she drinks her milk and also whenever she is watching a show. She's so funny.

all 3 crazies. I love this photo.

Then today we had Nathan's sister Addie over to play (she comes every Monday and we love it!). Penny looks forward to Addie coming over every week and they play really well together. Its good practice for Penny to not be bossy! =)

Eating their snack on the trampoline. Its where they both wanted to be. =)

Pumpkin Carving Time

In Alaska, you can carve pumpkins right when they come to the store. It doesn't really matter, because as soon as you put them outside, they freeze anyways. There is no chance of them rotting in the frigid temperatures. You can enjoy your artwork for the whole month of October and into December if you wish......that is how it is in Alaska.

California however, rots a carved pumpkin in a matter of 1 week, sometimes less. So, Dominic has been itching to carve his pumpkin all month and yesterday was FINALLY the day. Here lies our adventure

Sean hates the thought of carving pumpkins. Every year he has dreaded the carvings (interestingly enough he was excited to do it the year before we married...putting on the big show I guess.....lol). YET, every year when we are done, he admits how much fun it was as a family. I love forcing traditions....*insert evil laugh here*. Perhaps next year, he'll acquire Dominic's excitement for it and be begging to do it on the first day of October, to which I will have to say "Sean, we can't do them yet, please be patient."

Dominic was all grimy and gooey this year, totally loving the gore of the inside of the pumpkin. He LOVES roasted pumpkin seeds so he was determined to get every seed out of the pumpkins. He even offered to help Dad with his. Despite his yucky faces in some of these pictures, he was loving the mess.

Mommy gutting out the inside of Penny's pumpkin and Penny waiting patiently to see it. Dominic had his all drawn out at the point. He drew Penny's face too (we opted for a smiley face for Penny's because she loves smiley faces).

Another yucky face. Grandma was over for dinner and stayed for the carving.

Penny got bored and found the wrapping paper I used for the table (I've had this roll for 6.5 years and use it ALL THE TIME). Amazingly enough, it still has a huge piece left. She pranced this piece around the house and loved the noise it made.

Daddy hard at work on his pumpkin

Penny has discovered the world of drawing circles and LOVES to draw them all the time. We gave her a pen and she drew millions of little circles on the paper.

She also loved the pumpkin seeds. But then again, who wouldn't with all that butter and salt on them right?

We have about 6 pictures of the back of Dominic's head. He kept putting his head right in front of Daddy. =)

Thats it. We love carving pumpkins. A trick we heard this year is to spray the carved parts with Pam to slow down the rotting process (again not needed for those Alaska readers).

Dominic drew his and Penny's and carved Penny's out with no help. I had to help him with his mouth, but he did everything else. He's getting to be quite the carver! He has a pumpkin carving party to go to at a friends house on Wednesday and already mentioned that he's super good at it and can't wait to carve his own pumpkin with his friends. I love him. =)

Kiddos

They are getting so big its hard to believe sometimes. I love these little yidders. =)

Paddle Ball Fun

Her paddle ball skills are amazing....lol

Photo

This picture just makes me laugh. The slightly wierd face Penny is making while looking at Dominic....and Dominic trying to get he and his Halloween glass into the photo. I love these kids!

Dinner Fun

Tonight we had mummy dogs...... in keeping with our halloween traditions. This is the 3rd year we've made these and the 3rd halloween we've loved them. You can make these with little smokies or with full sized hot dogs and just wrap biscuit dough around it (or pillsbury stuff if you don't make your own) leaving a spot where the hot dog sticks out on the upper 3/4 of the dog. The kids like them (penny likes the biscuit, she won't eat meat. How is she my daughter? I still offer it to her but just don't care if she actually eats it)

During Dinner Penny started being silly so we took some pictures. Which led to the following. Remember, I had just eaten a hot dog, which I'm pretty sure messes with your brain. I do not wear makeup anymore unless I'm going somewhere where I might see someone I know....which doesn't include the grocery store or post office (my stops today). I mean why...... I'm so beautiful without it *lazy*....lol

I started using proactiv just over a month ago...I love it and only had to doctor out 3 small blemishes from this picture...the rest is all nature-al! Why did I not try this stuff years ago? Its the only face system that actually works on my skin and doesn't dry it out. My skin thanks me everyday

I love that her fingers got involved with the silly face making abilities.

This was the first time Dominic has been able to consciously go cross eyed I think. lol.