Sleeping Angels

This picture makes me smile. I can smell my kids sleeping looking at it and that is the best smell in the world (next to newborn baby breath). They love to snuggle up and fall asleep with eachother sometimes and would do it every night if we let them, but it takes them forever to actually fall asleep this way, that we just can't let them do it as often as they would like
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They giggle too much and we don't have a garden to tell them to go weed until they are done talking (love you gpa Hirt). Under the blankets, their arms were overlapped. I love it.

Dominic's Book of Stories

Penny Draws a HAPPY FACE

Penny has been drawing happy faces for the last couple weeks and is absolutely thrilled with it. Lately she's been trying to manipulate that dang mouth to make the faces she wants. Little deviations in the angle elicit silly giggles from the drawing board even though they mostly all just look the same. Its fun to hear.

She had some great laughs with this one.... these were mostly silly faces and one sad blue face.

Annie, you wanted to know how the kitchen fit into the living room. It IS a large kitchen, and meant to be used from both sides. However...for now, this is perfect. I could put it in her bedroom so that she could use both of the sides, but I really missed her playing with her kitchen in the living room. She makes us treats and cooks all the day long when its downstairs. Where, when it was upstairs, she didn't play with it as often.

Someday we'll have just a huge playroom completely seperate from sleeping where great big toys like this can be put and fully appreciated on all sides. =) There's even a little nook to the right of it where her shopping cart usually gets parked. But today, it was in the kitchen delivering groceries to me while I was cleaning and hadn't made it back yet.

So, there you have it.

Playdate

I do a swap with my friend Suzy so that she and I can go in to our sons' 2nd grade classrooms and help out once a week. So once a week she watches Penny while I go in..... and then I watch Addie once a week so she can do the same. Our 2nd graders go to different schools now, but it still works just fine for us.

Today was our turn to have Addie over. They play VERY WELL together and rarely argue over toys....which is really a rare thing at this age. It was hilarious to see them interact especially today for some reason. Penny had some serious energy and was very intense the whole time (see video coming soon below).

It was also nice enough to play outside so we busted out the tricycle and the scooter today too. The tricycle has a little storage bin in the back and Penny and Addie made sure to fill it with tons of lava rocks from the yard (have I ever mentioned how much I hate lava rocks)? It was pretty heavy when they were done.

Thanks for a great afternoon Addie!



This video was just after we had finished a gymnastics class just 30 minutes earlier. She has learned to jump finally (she is a little vertically challenged) and gets excited when she actually does it.......so do I though.

Sewing with the kiddos

Nothing to do with Sewing....but doesn't he look so handsome all ready for church?

Dominic has a book of interviews that we've been collecting from various family members. We printed these out in book form on cardstock and instead of trying to figure out how to format the pages so that I could print them out double sided OR gluing those one sided pages together so that you could read it like a book.......Dominic decided that he wanted to sew the pages together with white thread. It turned out to be a great solution and looks very neat!

I controlled the pedal and let him do the steering. For the cover, we used a piece of posterboard cut slightly larger than the book and I let him sew a pattern on that all by himself. He got to do the pedal and the steering on that one and he was really having a lot of fun.

I bet he'll ask to do this again. He had A LOT of fun.

Penny wanted to try too and it was surprising how easy it was for her to move that piece of paper around. She was having a lot of fun steering. We didn't use any thread after our project was done. It just made holes in the paper. Its still fun and I love how the paper feels afterwards.

See how happy?

Complete concentration was required. The tongue helped.

This is actually how I first learned how to sew and be comfortable with a sewing machine. Our teacher in high school would not let us sew any piece of fabric unless we could perfectly sew specific patterns on paper (I think there were 4 or 5 of them that we had to master perfectly. Some straight lines, squares that got smaller and smaller, circles that got smaller and smaller and then zig zags). This really gave me confidence to be able to sew a STRAIGHT LINE, make corners and and manipulate whatever I was working with to do what I WANTED instead of vise-verse.

The Kitchen...& box.....& screwdriver.

Our free Step 2 kitchen that we won on a blog contest finally arrived earlier this week. Its an amazing kitchen and the kids love to play with it.

break in story. Chocolate Chip Cookies are a must at our house.....Penny loves to lick the batter. Since I make it with flax instead of eggs, I let her eat more than I normally would. =)

Okay, so here is the great kitchen. It has a light under the hood over the stove. The burners make noise and light up to either be sizzling or boiling something. Its the Step 2 Fresh Market Kitchen. Penny has been loving it and we love that its colors are neutral enough that we were able to put it in our living room without it looking like the toy hub for all things pink and purple. Its a great addition to our living room corner ....

This screwdriver that it came with is seriously her favorite. She is distraught when she can't find it and loves to go around and fix things. Seriously though.....it would have taken me 15 hours to screw in all the screws this thing had with this screwdriver and my arm/hand would have fallen off in the process.....thank goodness for electric screwdrivers.

It came with a little reusable shopping bag. I think I should post this picture on the walmart shoppers website. She's my little ragamuffin.

More loved than the kitchen on the first day however, were the boxes that the kitchen came in. These kept the kids entertained all night long.

They ate dinner in them.

Dominic read his book in his box after he was done decorating. I taught him how to do the special fold to keep a box shut without tape. He's been having fun re-shutting it, but can't quite shut himself in it obviously.

Penny enjoyed barely peeping out the tiny hold that was left in hers after it was closed up.

Handsome Daddy.

Dominic hid in his box when Dad came home. He had written Sean's name and address on the top so that Sean would just think he was a package of books. It TOTALLY worked.

And Dad was shocked that instead of finding a box of books, he found a box of Dominic instead. Dominic's laugh was priceless.

So Thank you Step 2, for the free kitchen......but also the great boxes that are still in our living room as well as the great screwdriver that got no use during assembly but is a beloved toy to my little girl.

I finally look pregnant

I am really crazy sometimes. I had so many things to do this particular morning and Penny asked if she could paint. She's really good about staying on her mat that is under the easel....and I'm usually always in the room with her when she's painting (though not always watching like a hawk). However, this particular morning....I NEEDED to shower at the particular time that she was painting. There was no way around it. She was having a great time painting...and I didn't want to tell her she needed to stop. She was in her zone. So, I did an absolute "NO NO. "

I told Penny that I was going to go upstairs to shower but she could continue to paint if she stayed on the mat. She could not come upstairs to tell mommy that she was all done. If she was all done, she had to sit on the stool and wait for mommy to come downstairs. As I'm relaying this information to her, I was calling myself crazy in the back of my mind....knowing that I was going to regret this but wanting to see how it would unfold. But in reality....I have my small carpet shampooer and I was prepared to not be disappointed if she didn't obey. She is only 2.

I went to take a shower.
Penny stayed on her mat.

She got creative and decided to paint with her hands. She was still painting with her hands on the paper when I came down (fastest shower of the century I tell ya). In fact, I startled her when I spoke because I think she thought she would get in trouble for using her hands.

I loved it! And there was no mess to clean up other than wash her hands. Who is this girl? lol

My belly is growing and Penny loves to snuggle it. She already loves this little baby and will often coddle him and kiss him and feed him (carrots today) and sing to him. She has announced/asked me a few times, "maybeeee the baby can come out and play today...kay?" Sorry Penny, I'm only 24 weeks.......I keep telling her he's not done cooking yet and we still have to wait.

She is going to be a GREAT big sister.

We got some Polly Pocket dolls for free off freecycle and I purchased a few more on Ebay for $10. She absolutely LOVES them and calls them her barbies. I love that they have underwear painted on and we don't have to have naked barbies around the house.

Dominic likes to read in interesting places lately. He's quite the bookworm and finds it a TREAT when I let him stay up as late as he wants if he is reading. Shhhh, don't tell!

Multi-tasking is hard. She's talking to me (Katie) on the phone while going potty and reading a good book. This is her designated potty book. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse makes for good toilet reading.

Friday night was a cold/rainy day. We got the fireplace going and all cuddled up for a movie. "Up" is a great family movie. Dominic and Penny were nice and cozy on the beanbag......

......while Daddy and I were nice and cozy on the couch. I love nights like this. =)

A few days ago there was a SLIGHT break in the weather and the kiddos were itching to play outside. It lasted about 20 minutes or so before Penny got chilly and wanted to slip inside my jacket to get warm (her hands were ice!) She loves her beanie (I think I got this beanie from Jon and Maggie about 5 or 6 years ago)

Super fly, dope drop kick. Take that!

Another amazing kick by Dominic. One of his favorite things to do is kick this ball (soft rubber $1 ball from Walmart) onto the side of the house and see how high he can get it to go. It can keep him busy for a long time.

I love those cheeks poking out of her hood.

Getting warm with Daddy so they can run outside to the car to grab something.

See? She brought the baby some plates so he could eat too.

My belly has definitely POPPED out and is showing. People now feel comfortable asking me when I'm due...which is great. For a while there people's eyes would avert to my stomach and then dart back up to my eyes like, "whoa....you missed the gym much? Holidays treat you well?"

I love this stage in pregnancy when the baby is active, my energy is back and the buzz of a new baby is just around the corner. We're excited to welcome a new little boy into our lives and feel extremely humbled that the Lord has given us this opportunity once again.
Babies are such blessings.

And she hugged and snuggled with him.....popping her head up now and then to give him a big kiss or two.

Handsome boy after a Saturday shower.

He started whining about something. I was taking pictures of his whining because I wanted him to see how ridiculous he looks when he whines like a baby. It actually ended up making him laugh because I was laughing so hard at the pictures. And he agrees, he does look really silly when he whines.

Penny has learned how to draw her own smiley faces. I love how big the eyes are. How many can you see? She was so proud of herself. She then went on to trace around a toy plate (unprompted) which I thought was pretty creative on her part.... she made it all the way around except for where her wrist was in the way and then told me to come look at the circle she made. I was way impressed!


More to come, we took LOTS of pictures this week and since this blog is for us (we plan to print it out someday soon) I figured I can't get ENOUGH of our life on here to enjoy years and years down the road. Who needs to scrap book anymore? Not me!

Penny memorized a scripture

We memorized John 8:12 last Monday for FHE. I didn't really think Penny was paying particular attention but today...while playing...she recited it word for word. Dominic and I were saying it in the car this morning so I know she's heard it since last Monday but still.....it amazes me how these little brains of theirs are just sponges!

2009-2010 School Picture

Here are Dominic's school pictures. I like this 2nd grader and though its not his full smile, its a great picture still.

Its been fun to compare his pictures from 1st grade, Kindergarten, and his 2 years of pre-school. His face has stayed the same for sure, just gotten less baby-ish.

The last week unfolded

Dominic loves to eat with chop sticks. Anything he can, he tries to (I'm thinking about getting him a reusable set that we can put in the dishwasher for his birthday. That's how big of a fun obsession it is). Penny doesn't usually like stir-fry...but this time, since I gave her chop-sticks (she dropped one) she ate it all up. Guess you just need the right kind of fun, not the right kind of food, to get them to eat.

The next night we went to a Korean all-you-can-eat place for a friend of Sean's birthday. It was scrumptious. We had to cook all our meats in the middle of the table on a grill......all the meat was pre-seasoned to perfection. Penny and Dominic were excited to use chop-sticks again...I don't mind them, but they didn't have another option which meant I had to help Penny eat her food and I couldn't eat mine fast enough!

Love this cheeser grin.

Friday night Dominic had a few friends over to watch a movie. Penny had to sit with the boys on the beanbag under the "soft and cozy" blanket RIGHT NEXT to her brother. Dominic is pretty good about letting her invade all of his personal space, even in front of his friends. If you haven't seen G-Force yet, it was pretty funny.

Cupcakes at the restaurant. Our brown eyed girl.

Our blue eyed boy! His face is growing up so much!

Penny was in the kitchen for a few minutes and then came out and asked.... "Mommy, where did my markers go?" I died laughing. Hiding them under her hat? what a goof.

These are her SOFT AND COZY pants and are her absolute favorite. Since I don't do laundry everyday (I know...I'm a horrible mom right?) she can't wear them everyday. I just went back to Old Navy today to see if I could buy stock in them....but they were all out. I think I may have to actually MAKE her some polar fleece pants, she loves them that much. Time to bust out the old patterns!

She loves to play with rice and beans....pour, spill, measure, cook, stir, carry, shake.....LOVES IT. Dominic used to be entertained by this for 30-60 minutes at a time...Penny is the same way. Rarely does she get them off the mat. =) I've banned Dominic from playing with these anymore...he gets too creative and I find them all over!

We all snuggled up and watched a show before bed time (Back at the Barnyard is hilarious)

Our Wrestler

Dominic started wrestling a few weeks ago and they've already started meets (he started a few weeks late too). Its so fun to see him go at it! This particular meet he only wrestled once (and we waited almost 3 hours from when we checked in to get that match) and wrestled against a team mate and great friend Nathan. They wrestle together during practice and while they are the same height, Nathan is quite a bit stronger and has more meat on his bones (actual muscles). Its SO FUN to see them completely enjoy this sport. I love it. Enjoy!
(I couldn't figure out my indoor sports setting on my new camera so these are super blury. Sorry!)

Waiting for his name to be called and watching the others wrestle. His singlet was baggy, it was the smallest one they had by the time he got one. So cute.
Warming up. They both probably wrestled each other more in warm ups than they did in the actual match. There were a few times where we had to remind them that they weren't trying to hurt the other person, just pin them on their backs. AND, they made sound effects during warm-ups too. I love these little guys.
I am very proud of his enthusiasm for wrestling. He really LOVES it this year. Go Dominic Go!
The ref in the video says towards the end, "they're like two worms out there." A perfect description.

Embrace This Day