What I am thinking about right now...

Ahhh...palm trees, drinks poolside, WARMTH...amazing company! The rain this morning really bugged me! Living here in Sequim, I am not used to the "inconvenience" of rain. Luckily by afternoon the sun was shining! So I really think that this trip we just took last month, LAST MONTH...was it that close?...must be a HAVE-TO each year! Can you believe we go back to middle school, and some of us to elementary school? People I talk to love to hear "our story" and how we are still so close after all of the years, all of the moves, all of the changes...and even though we have changed-our commitment to one another never has-love you all!

Drama from the Mama...

Gianna wanted to go inside and went up to the door...
Vince: G, can you open the door?
Gianna: No, my back's killin' me.
Vince: G, you got drama from your mama!

Birthday Celebration Again!!!

These two buddies have a great time sharing their birthday celebration with their preschool friends! This is the second year we have done together and boy is it helpful-mostly for the stress of the moms!

Kim made this AMAZING tractor cake!

...with buddy Harrison!

Getting ready to blow out the candles with Keenan as a helper!

Emma is such a great sport, surrounded by all boys!

The boys had a great party! This year we opted for EASY...McDonalds with Happy Meals (toy provided so no assembling of treat bags!), the jungle gym for entertainment (no game planning!), cake and ice cream...DONE! The boys had 8 kids from their preschool come to their party and the theme was John Deere...those were the invitations we found and so it went from there! While Dom was eating he said, "This is the best birthday party ever!"

A Prayer Answered!

Little Olivia, our niece who is about 2 weeks older than Gianna, has been fighting heart disease since she was born. She has gone through multiple surgeries and in the last few months was put on a waiting list for a heart transplant. She just got a new heart yesterday! Dominic prayed for "cousin Olivia" each night-that she would get a new heart...prayers have been answered today! We are so happy for her and the family!
Her website is called http://www.runningtoliv.org/ and her story is at http://www.caringbridge.org/ and the site name is oliviaapa. Her journey is documented in these places...and it is an incredible one!

Little Gifts...

Today Gianna and I were enjoying a coffee and "cokat milk" at Starbucks...a little girl time while Dominic was at preschool. Gianna was admiring a tumbler on a display that had butterflies and hummingbirds that fluttered when the cup moved. A sweet older lady watched Gianna with the cup and talked with her about it and then whispered to me that she would like to buy it for G! I said no...she did not need to do that, but she insisted, saying she was a grandma and loved to do things like this...so she bought the cup for Gianna! Gianna loudly said-"dank you yady!" and "so chtute!" What a gift!

Olympic Game Farm Visit

And we are off to visit the animals! Just sitting up in the front is exciting enough!

Dom and Pryce were ecstatic about sitting in the front seat with the window down, calling to the animals and feeding them bread!

Uncle Jared even let us drive!

I know you have MORE food!

Auntie Toni and Kaden enjoying the Kodiak Bears!

Is someone behind me in the picture?

These Bison are HUGE! As you can see I was veering away!

Not shy at all!

Sweet cousins!

Uncle Jared, Auntie Toni, and Kaden came up for a visit this weekend. Going the game farm was really fun! Believe it or not our family has never gone there in all of the time we have lived in Sequim! The kids LOVED feeding the animals...but maybe even better than that was sitting up front, driving, and seeing the peacocks and bunnies!

And they are off...Vegas Madness!

Hmmm...looks like trouble! Off to Vegas today for March Madness!
Look out Vegas!

More pictures to come when they return!

First Day of Spring!

Gianna had a fun time planting Forget-Me-Nots at First Teacher today! Some clowns came in and she wanted NOTHING to do with them!

After planting her seeds she got to eat a "dirt cup" treat! As you can see she got really into it!

The day was so bright and beautiful, spilling sun onto us as we played outside...just what we have been waiting for!

The girls were trying to pedal this bike around, but their legs were just not long enough...they resorted to pushing it and pulling it to get it around.

A dead worm! They loved touching the squishy, rubbery worm! Oh-to be 2!

Fun Questions to Ask Your Kids

When you have a second, ask your kids these questions....it is a RIOT!

1. What is something mom always says to you? do my chores

2. What makes mom happy? doing the right things

3. What makes mom sad? when I don't do the right things, like my chores

4. How does your mom make you laugh? tickles me

5. What was your mom like as a child? nice, hair coming down

6. How old is your mom?18

7. How tall is your mom?16, 19 8 tall

8. What is her favorite thing to do? snuggle up with me (dom)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? she goes shopping

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

11. What is your mom really good at? wrapping up presents

12. What is your mom not very good at? mommy, don't say that...

13. What does your mom do for a job? work at school

14.What is your mom's favorite food? strawberries

15.What makes you proud of your mom? for doing things right

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?

17. What do you and your mom do together? we go shopping, all the time (when asked to elaborate about where we go shopping: Safeway, Wal-Mart, Costco...really exciting as you can see!)

18. How are you and your mom the same? same hands

19. How are you and your mom different? we wear different clothes

20. How do you know your mom loves you? she loves me all the way up to the sky

21. What does your mom like most about your dad? loving him

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Barnes and Noble

When I reflect on his answers it makes me wonder what I say or do that makes the topic of chores stand out in his mind...because the truth is- we are not very good at being formal about chores. We do say "this is part of your chores" I guess, upon further reflection, about many little things through the day! He has so many traits of a "first born"- his need to do things right, his strong feelings about right and wrong...he is also such a peace-maker and wants people to be happy. So when I asked what I don't do very well, that was not ok with him! He would never have answered that because he would not want me to feel bad. At least it is apparent through his answers that he knows I love him!

Fort time!

The girls loved being in their fort. They piled pillows, books, and babies in there...to the point that we had to take some out so they could actually get in!

This is Gianna's little friend Kinzley. They are 3 days apart in age, and because we watch Kinzley and her brother a few days a week these 2 girls are like sisters. They have strong personalities...which will serve them well as they get older! Right now, Gianna's strong personality is clashing with mine!

We tried!

So...we tried to potty train Gianna, but it was not working, so I decided that we would give it a rest and try at a later date! (Mostly for my own sanity!) This is when she went potty on the toilet one day, and the next day was a different story- 5 times, yes 5 times I changed POOPY and wet panties...the poopy ones-well that was the deciding factor- we will wait! Everyone says girls are so much easier to potty train than boys, but not in our house! We did the potty-train-in-a-day thing with Dom and it really worked!

Dominic and Pryce were so proud of Gianna when she went potty in the toilet. They cheered her on, clapped...did the whole celebration thing! Dominic said "I am so proud of you G!" when she did it.

Later when she had gone in her pants for the 3rd time, and I was a little bit irritated, Dom said, "Mom, I am sure she is sorry." (She was NOT sorry!) He is always looking out for her and protecting her.

Our Day with Auntie Marissa

Heading out...you gotta keep these guys busy and active!

Snuggles

We get to eat outside! Picnics are the best!

Fun for all!

Auntie Marissa watched G and Dom on one of the days we were in Spokane. They had a blast and G still says "Me Anna's house." She wants to come back!

Dom is STILL 5! (He thought with each party, he got one year older!)

Dominic got to celebrate his birthday with his Olympia friends this weekend! Grandma and Grandpa were there, and Grandma helped all of us out by playing the piano when we sang Happy Birthday! You wouldn't believe how amazing we all sounded while singing...with the help of a piano!

Dominic's cake was made by Mary Durray...she made our wedding cake, Nick's Marine Corp. cake and pirate cake, Gianna's first birthday cake...she welled up when she gave Dom's cake to my mom, thinking of how fast the years have flown since our wedding!

Blowing with all of his heart!

Buddies together again!

Samantha made Dominic a present...she worked so hard to decorate the box, handwrite a letter to him (her writing is amazing for a kindergartner!), and she even made him his own personal journal- what a gift from the heart!

Zach gave Dominic the gift of "choice!" ($20 to pick out whatever his little heart wanted!)

All of the kids corraled! THANK YOU Auntie Jenni for hosting the party at your house where the kids can run free! The basement worked wonderfully for all of the energy and action we packed into the house!

When Dominic went to bed this night, his prayer was to thank God "he got to play with his friend "Zachy."