What do you want to be when you grow up?

This was an exhibit at Crown Center that we got to go to with the Sienkiewicz kids. The girls had a blast running from place to place. Dominic pretty much spent all of his time on the tractor part of the exhibit. I guess he wants to be a farmer when he grows up. Or something that involves heavy machinery.

It is too quiet....

"What is Dominic doing?" This is what I was asking Isabella while I was fixing dinner. "oh mom, he is just sitting reading his favorite book" she said. This is what I found when I went around the corner. Dominic reading the bible. Funny that a 2 year old can be so absorbed in a book with absolutely NO pictures. But then again it IS the Bible!--who needs pictures

Kitty needs to go to

Since Dominic is now going on the potty he felt that it was time for "sugar kitty" to learn as well. This was the scene from the living room today. Funny boy.

Super Big Boy Pants to the Rescue

That's right folks, Dominic is wearing underwear. He is officially Big. What is more fitting is that his big boy pants have turtles on them. Our new phrase now is "you don't want to go pee-pee on your turtles." We will see if that prevents any accidents.

A day with B-W's

We got the pleasure of spending the day with the B-W family. I am always amazed at how our kids can play together all day and still like each other at the end. Isabella is especially liking the ability to play with baby Anna.
(We are a bit concerned that they allow Anna to play with knives at such a young age.)

Sleeping Angel

Since Dominic is such a big boy with his new found independence from diapers. He seems to think that he shouldn't have to sleep in a crib either. He begged me to let him sleep in Isabella's bed for his nap and I said he could as long as he didn't get out. Sure enough he fell asleep like a little angel. I guess we should start looking for a bed for him huh?

How does this happen so fast?

I had a phone call this morning and I was delighted that the children were playing so well with one another. They were busy scurrying back in forth between my room and theirs. They were giggling and talking and every so often fighting over toys. When I came in to really survey the damage I found that most of their toys had migrated to my bed. It was a huge accumulation of fun in the covers. Luckily with a bit of prodding Isabella took the toys back to their homes. I am still amazed at the damage they can do in such a short time period.

President's Day Activity

We are studying about America and some of the first presidents this week in honor of President's day. We have been learning about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington in particular and today Isabella got to make a log cabin like Abraham Lincoln grew up in. Although I doubt he had a welcome rug quite as beautiful as the one she made on his house.

Diaper Dance

Have I mentioned that my son is pretty awesome? I actually think that he may have overheard me talking the other day about how Isabella was potty trained at 27 months and decided since he was 27 months old TODAY... he would be up for the challenge. (He completely tunes me out when I talk about Isabella talking in full sentences at 18months. Apparently that challenge is not worth his time.) So why is Dominic more awesome today than any other day, you ask? Well we left our house at 9:30am and spent the whole day with Grandparents (both mine and theirs) and my sweet boy came home at 7pm wearing the same diaper he had on at 8am this morning. Now before you start calling Child Services on me, let me tell you that this diaper was completely dry from 8am-8pm!!!! He is amazing. All bodily waste went into the potty. What a champ. Now you see why he is awesome right? We will see if today was a fluke or if he is really getting this potty thing. I will keep you posted.

Valentine's Party at Great-Grandma's House

The kids had a great time getting to celebrate Valentine's day again with their Great-Grandparents and their Grandma Mary. They got to play with their cousins, Josie & Cole all morning. After a yummy lunch everyone had a fun time decorating cookies and looking for candy Great-Grandma hid in the living room & exchanging Valentines. The kids finished off the day by getting to spend the afternoon at playing with Papa Dave & Grandma Mary at their house. Needless to say they slept well that night.

Building the perfect Snowman

I think we have had more snow this year than I can ever remember (not that my snow memories go back farther than 2003--after that I got mommy-memory which is pretty short-term) but most of the snow we've gotten this year has been dry and not good for making snowmen. Today's snow was pretty much like falling slushee so it was perfect for making our first snowman of the year. Isabella was pretty proud of her creation and didn't seem to mind one bit that her gloves were completely soaked.

And the Award goes to.......

Michael had an exciting night Saturday when he attended the Addy-Awards (this is the big advertising awards competition that they hold every year) He has had some of his work accepted into the competition every year and has won both bronze and silver awards but this is the first year that he has won GOLD!!! He is holding the very heavy award in this picture. Isabella calls it the "snowball" since it looks a bit like a block of ice with a snowball inside. Needless to say we are pretty proud of him. His work will go on to the next round of competition....I am not sure if that is at the regional or national level. Pretty cool.

Proud Mamma & her little Genius

This week has been a proud one for this little boy and his momma. Dominic has been doing an awesome job going on the potty. This week I have only had to change 1 poopy diaper (which is a big deal since I am normally changing at least two a day)!!
That's right, he has gone on the potty every other time for five days! I am not taking much credit for his success, he simply does the sign for "potty" and I take him there. Sometimes I ask him if he needs to "go" but for the most part this is ALL him. This doesn't mean that we are putting him in "big boy pants" anytime soon...but it is looking more hopeful that we might have him potty trained before summer. It is pretty cute to hear him say "dadddee, poo-poo, potttteee" after he has gone. His sister was potty trained at 27 months old....he will be that same age next week.

Pin the Heart on the Cupid

The kids had lots of fun trying to stick the heart on cupid. Although they spent most of the time giggling about being blindfolded instead of trying to win.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

The kids woke up to a room covered in hearts and a yummy heart shaped pancake with whipped cream and sprinkles, if that doesn't say love I don't know what does.

Little Ladies Valentine's Tea Party

Isabella hosted her first tea party at our house in honor of Valentine's day. The little girls showed up in nice dresses and had the most wonderful manners as they drank their "tea" (cocoa & red lemonade) and ate their heart shaped snacks and cookies. They had a great time playing pin the heart on the cupid, musical pillows, Valentine Bingo and making Valentine's cards.

Of course what little girls party could be complete without dressing up as a princess? The party was a big success and Isabella was pretty exhausted for several days afterwards. A big thanks to all the little girls who got to come and make the day special!

Yes, he is really licking the table

After a long day of making Valentine cookies I started cleaning up the kitchen when I saw this out of the corner of my eye. Dominic had climbed up on the table and was licking all the sprinkles that were left behind. He had a nice red and pink glow to his nose, mouth and chin. He was just trying to help clean up.

Grandma is here

We had the joy of Grandma Margie visiting over the weekend. She got to help in preparing for Isabella's Valentine tea party and had lots of fun playing games and reading to the kids. We had a wonderful time while she was here. After she left Isabella sat down with a sad face and said "I can't believe that my Grandma is gone, I had so much more I wanted to do!"

Valentine Factory

Isabella spent the WHOLE day working on her Valentines. She started after breakfast and kept on working until 5pm(with only a few breaks for her reading lesson and eating). They were quite the creations. She was very proud of the end product. Our floors are covered in glitter...small price to pay for beauty huh?

A new home for Dominic

As I cleaned up dinner one night I heard a muffled cry from Dominic....saying "mommeee....mommmeee" I looked around trying to figure out where he was hiding and this is where I found him. All curled up pretending to sleep in the bottom of the hallway closet. He was pretty proud of his new home and didn't understand why he couldn't sleep there all night.

A Case of the Yuckies

We got through the holidays unscathed by illness but the end of January was a rough one. Isabella started us off with an ear infection/fever/strep throat. Followed by Dominic coming down with some gastrointestinal bug that lasted days. Michael rounded out the week with something worse and Isabella and I finished off the weekend with a shortened version of the yuck. So here is a picture of us all "recovering" on the couch. We are glad to be in the land of the living again.

Grrrrr