Vacation at the Lake 2009

Here are some pictures of the family fun had at Thousand Hill's State park in Kirksville Mo. 7.21.09

Award Winning Artist

Isabella competed in the North Kansas City drawing contest this year and she won first place for the 5-6 year old age group. The theme was Viva la Fiesta and she drew a picture of the dancers that performed at the library kick off party. She did a really good job remembering all the detail from the dancers, right down to the buns on their heads. We are proud of our little artist. 7.17.09

My little girl is 6!

The theme this year was garden fairies. So we made a fairy garden cake complete with three of Cicely Barkers famous fairies: Columbine fairy (my favorite), the Tulip fairy & the Christmas tree fairy (Isabella's favorites). For the past two years we have really enjoyed learning about the beautiful garden fairies through several of Cicely's books so we thought it was only fitting to incorporate her fairies into the cake. Best part is that the fairies double as Christmas tree ornaments/keepsakes for years to come. They are so beautiful it makes me want to buy more of them.
Isabella had a wonderful party and received many great gifts. She has many new craft projects to do now.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a pretty tiring week leading up to Mother's day so I was so happy that I got blessed with the ability to take a nap in the afternoon. I woke up to this beautiful picture on my front porch. Isabella and Michael made it (Dominic did make some "buildings for Batman to climb" in there too). Isabella made the side with the tree & rainbow---she has talent! 5.10.09

Almost a blur

Dominic's facination with superheros has grown and now includes the Flash. He has been racing around all over the house and outside ever since I scored this awesome costume at a garage sale this weekend. It is pretty darn cute! He practically lives in this costume. We have had a few trips to the grocery store as Flash and the other shoppers find it greatly amusing....mainly because when he is wearing this he can't walk anywhere....he has to run! Here is a shot of him running at the speed of light---luckily I have a fast shutter. 4.24.09

Happy Spring

Our neighbor is a 1st grade teacher and she called to see if we would like to babysit the baby chicks from her class, over the weekend before they went to live happy lives at a farm. We of course said "yes!!" At first I was very worried about the safety of the poor fluffy babies but in about an hour the kids adjusted to the "rules of chick holding" and did quite well and handling and cleaning up after them. Not one of them was squished too hard or dropped from to high-- thank goodness. The morning after we got them Dominic woke up at 6am (he normally wakes up around 7:30 or 8am) so he could go and "see the chickens" then he proceeded to come and wake me up to tell me that "the baby chicks are very hungry, get up mom and give them more food!"

It was so awesome having them here as pets for three days....but I will have to say that I was quite alright when they had to go back to the school....my house was starting to smell like a farm. Notice in the first picture that Isabella has 6 baby chicks sleeping in her lap ...that is quite an accomplishment for our little "mother hen." 3.27.09

Family Easter picture

It was too cold this year to take the picture outside so here we are all dressed up ready for church. 4.10.09

Easter Breakfast 2009

We had blueberry muffins, cookies, hard boiled eggs and homemade Easter candy. 4.10.09

Easter Peeps

Thanks to the book "Owen and the Marshmallow Chick" peeps will forever have fond memories in this house. The kids look forward to them every year Dominic especially has fondness towards them since he and Owen have a special bond since they both love their "blankies." Here are the customary peep eating pics. 4.11.09

Finding the Easter Baskets 2009

The kids didn't take much time at all to find their Easter baskets this year. I think that the Easter bunny is going to have to take it up a notch next year to make it more challenging. Dominic's was behind the trash can and Isabella's was buried inside the library book box. 4.11.09

Personalized Easter Cookies 2009

The tradition continues, here are the kids with their prized cookies. Just wouldn't be Easter without all this sugar. 4.11.10

Time to dye the Easter Eggs

On Holy Saturday we have the tradition of dyeing the Easter Eggs for Easter. The kids had a great time coloring eggs and being creative. 4.10.09

Seder Meal

Last year we did our first Seder meal on Holy Thursday in honor of the last supper. Isabella had such fond memories of it that after Christmas she starting asking me "when are we going to have the last supper again?"
This years Seder was pretty successful and we got to actually say most of the scriptures and readings since the kids we so involved. They had their fill of wine (sparkling grape juice). Notice that "Sarah" Isabella's doll also was part of the celebration. Isabella made sure she had "wine and bread" too. 4.9.09

He has my heart

Dominic and I had some alone time today while Isabella was at class and we played Legos. We were going to make a rainbow but we decided to make a rainbow heart instead. Dominic was pretty proud of our creation. 4.6.09

Our first pet: meet Bubbles

Having baby chicks in the house made the children really want to have a pet so we decided to let the kids pick out a fish. I did some research and found that Betta fish are the easiest to take care of so off we went to the pet store to buy a new pet. They picked out a beautiful blue & purple Betta fish and all the fish supplies.
In honor of the big occasion we kicked off the morning with fish shaped pancakes, Isabella insisted on wearing her "fishing hat" for the day and after breakfast we put Bubbles into his new home. He is thriving and the kids do a great job making sure he is well fed. 4.3.09

Make yourself at home

When I left the room the kids were watching a video and sitting in a chair. I came back to find them in a makeshift little bed made in a laundry basket with pillows and blankets. Don't they look cozy? 3.25.09

Top of the Mornin' to Ya

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. We had a festive day in honor of the great Saint. The kids woke up to a green toilet (must have been those leprechauns) they got to eat green shamrock pancakes while they wore their leprechaun hats. We read books about St. Patrick and spent the day at the park. For dinner we had reubens (yummy) and shamrock shakes. It was a fun day.

Pushing the limits

We have been working on keeping Dominic in his bed through the night. He has had the habit of waking up in the middle of the night and wandering into our room and falling asleep in our bed. He isn't scared or anything, just a bad habit. This night I was having difficulty keeping him in his room. He pulled all the regular tricks: needing a drink, going to the bathroom, needing a flashlight.....after awhile everything was quiet and I just assumed he was finally asleep. Which he was....but in the hallway. It was too funny when I went in to check on them and I almost tripped over him he was pretty determined to not sleep in his bed. 2.19.2009

Faster than a speeding bullet

The past three months there has been a sound track playing in my head most of the time. It starts early in the morning with Dominic begs to hear "the Superman song--just one time" However most of the time that leads to listening to the whole sound track, over and over and yet over again. In the begining it was so cute watching him fly his superman figurine around the house (ok it is still cute). We thought this might be a phase..one of his obsessions that he would grow out of in a few weeks. The opposite has happened (much to his daddy's delight) he has added to his one flying figurine and he now has a Batman, Robin, Green Lantern, Flash, and a Wonder woman in the line up. (Michael has a stock pile of superhero figures that Dominic keeps stealing from his office shelves.) When he is feeling a bit more energized he sports his Superman cape and flys around the living room or the grocery store (yes...he wears the cape out of the house). He loves to tell you about how superman can catch crashing airplanes, spot speeding bullets and of course...fly. His knowledge of the superhero grows everyday due to his insatiable need to ask questions. You see Michael has created a superhero fanatic...what he doesn't understand is that I am the one that is with the 3 year old fanatic most of the day trying desperately to answer "why superman is so strong?".. "why Lex Luthor is so mean".. "who is faster the Flash or Superman" "why can't Batman fly?" So if there is anything you want to know about Superman please ask Dominic I am sure he could give you a ear full and even some flying demonstrations. He might even sing you the theme song. 1.2009

Attack of the squirrels

We decided for fun to put the gingerbread house out on the deck to see if the squirrels would come and eat it. They were not interested in the candy but they loved the gingerbread. One squirrel has been around more than the others, he will come up to the door and look in, Dominic has decided to call him "pizza" since he fed him a piece of pizza one time and the squirrel liked it. 1.19.09

Matching Cousins

For Christmas we got Trista and Trinity dresses that matched Isabella. It made for some really cute pictures when we celebrated Christmas at my mom's house. 1.1.09

So Sweet

All dressed up for New Year's Mass: the Solemnity of Mary. 1.1.09