tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81092233231555933282024-03-12T20:16:12.882-04:00The Alphabet KidsAngie, Bryan, Christina, Dominic & Ethan. One happy alphabet family.Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-67645012331354712042010-09-28T23:18:00.014-04:002010-09-28T23:48:14.562-04:00Holy S*#% An Alphabet Kids Blog Update!!!<span style="font-size:130%;">Okay, so it's been a while since we last posted a blog update. Well, for those of you who have been patiently waiting, I (Daddy) give you The Alphabet Kids update!<br /><br />Let's start with Christina. Sissy began Kindergarten this year. Yes... KINDERGARTEN!!! Holy cow is she growing up fast! She loves wearing her school uniform...</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171530105762434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwLpvHJ1S21es59WF5jBWoGnJMquOg-P_WpCVbXdmE_UZRK28SI0fSpoRUu9b7n_xhgy2njVc2PNVyL74AUG1H9ZMYlTOIIVxwGZg2JEEUhm0CfehU7poJcMo6Sv89P_5T1jkTAAT65sg/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+032a.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">And as you can see, the school is following my strict instructions to form her into a nun! She's eating a carrot (healthy) while reading her bible!<br /></span><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171798696227890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil2vxqqIS49GyRI7S8fj2lPxSmGT04R8yAstXYupTHg0UGrAWsKpDCZjiiU9dKzGssnxn7YMhGOHyAru2egRQKCRfGWbDyFadJo8EepR-ddxEv4qUJHAlVds-7W7I-cRexZauHTfqGF8E/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+056a.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">As for No. 2 (Dominic), he just LOVES preschool and all of his friends. Well, to be honest, he only has four friends at school. That's because of the 16 kids in his class, 12 of them are girls! So the boys have banded together already and are fast becoming best friends. Dominic is learning so much too. Check out his letter writing below...<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171796425387362" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhseGtC6Jb_6zWUqIyy8CGE16dtbIM60kdc-rTOM_pSG-4I0agIUjo5Dn6bGJdXWo6_TGuYSBGfE5yjJcLu5ASFz-VCchRKdc7IEG5inHMYiKJ3acoAtpzxXJovCnJnGmKtZOz5RbVWkiY/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+054a.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Not bad for a 3 1/2 year old!<br /></span><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171538970490322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWtfZZagJ2x6lNsBZRGuHkWCHeSL67uijlNkOoyid_z65G1uu66_9N-KbKNYg5Nb1Nj3scXvNaPX38OIU1mzIqwZVtK7PhX2_lK2RQZZhQwZ1JnhdcopbnrrgDyAtGbKu3FazNNvRB0k/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+046.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">Unfortunately while Bubba was practicing his letters, no one was paying attention to Ethan...<br /><br /></span><br /><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2oFTcy21esIpQIknzshOzM9A76_AJiaiohs7tCTd6N-QDF3HTu9xy2PwQ0VQKymjoPGI0RXeeTu7yDgbJhpFsR2szH0XZ_9RfAv2Bj4unxaAEMGX2K6qRVioR_yOedUEH8r_Ogi5BFY/s1600/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+051a.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171794717184898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH2oFTcy21esIpQIknzshOzM9A76_AJiaiohs7tCTd6N-QDF3HTu9xy2PwQ0VQKymjoPGI0RXeeTu7yDgbJhpFsR2szH0XZ_9RfAv2Bj4unxaAEMGX2K6qRVioR_yOedUEH8r_Ogi5BFY/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+051a.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size:130%;">That's either some great medicine or he filled up his syringe with Grade A sugar!</span></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Well, it's getting late and it took me over an hour to figure out Angie's password for this stinking blog, so I will leave you with an "awww" moment. Big brother Dominic reading books to his little brother Ethan. How cute...</span></p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522170699988501202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc-dcLGq-OBZXxZcflWDz5q-bN2FDc6WPm25GehPoH1tWgJSgB4TQGvDGZwo-DIQ-L4uJmBIOH6PQhJT_IKB_XYz_28caZI0dMhu0nTHS1I-aai0fH5bOcJMmWXy0i7bgNovhwDnf5-eA/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+008a.jpg" /><br /></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Cute until it was time for wrestling!!!<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh53eLcRROiVlt-k6pP7VzUkHmPEmXCfSQjNQU7nUC0dBqgJIm2nXFgcOhCOvB9eLona1ps0-UElaf3m_yCHuWCJDipZ9PZON4XXDZ7ldIsLZblHSgFupX1VdRaYMVV86sTOhcgRCTarvU/s1600/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+042a.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 389px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 292px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522171524699648898" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFgiaP9dJm6ZJMpaPaoVTF3qx6lV8ktbo0Gchhr7NnD8evr3DkC5mIoNRn4PLz8mqKP9I8ROPPsGiqdqLGtfaz8XQTxDdzgUbNZspNv4AudMOxzyHLeKALe5LvUPEqZJg1yGpm4vZsHA/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+014a.jpg" /></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size:130%;">Good night from the crazy world that is The Alphabet Kids home.</span></p>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-37399542916330794672010-01-08T20:18:00.012-05:002010-01-08T22:33:47.185-05:00Dominic Turns 3! - I know I'm late!<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424545032985801490" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPb7l8tyKhalZBWJ-jNZ5RhNOERGH9N8XQyPUxAE0xQesVevW65ZSKkXyvMf9fa3QBR0NKsSSgS8fyq8is97yKvu9iQSgrgLbQXy61hKqEVjJKZcHXjbraSNXKJ7U1PyXWNVhmgTNuQc/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+013.jpg" /><br /><br />Dominic James turned THREE! And it's hard to believe how fast the past 3 years have pasted. <br /><br />We had a wonderful time celebrating the big 0-3 with our Bubba.<br /><br />First, the Saturday night before Dominic's birthday, Daddy and Bub celebrated in style. They went to a Cleveland Cavaliers game. Christina made him a sign to take to the game to hold up. Not only were we able to catch a glimps of Dominic and his sign on TV (we TIVO'd it for those of you who'd like to see it), but Dominic and his sign made the jumbotron along with a birthday message from the Cavs.<br /> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424546361003285410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ0lUBEz0D7bGuBSMFwS17epJAlR8rtUCUcxh_I4fT4o3NxNjqMnScWFoIM6tY6hphFWkFrub31XB6lTJh6rvHCbjxcugkrMs8zn24fXc6kWghrDMWpoWD-qRdHtiFgPVrcI1jR3jVSgQ/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+011a.jpg" /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424545042241944290" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibm_m4dHMtrX7hO71rIHVR8lj9B9yaDgolZ8VF0MqU8YYIbR32wttBJKvWWmqeeKAw2J-xBsp591PX4dR7_GW5d2OZCawFuOBzpuSgjrvB9DxXPjypL3qnlOD9Y2Zq_4HMDbDPCrcG5Ug/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+010a.jpg" /><br />Then, the night before Dominic's actual birthday, Christina stayed up late to decorate. She (along with a little help from Mommy) hung balloons and streamers. She also went and got him special Spiderman plates and cups to have his birthday breakfast on. Dominic had a yummy breakfast of sprinkle filled cupcakes with blue frosting. (This was his requested breakfast - good thing his birthday isn't everyday!)<br /><br />But now on to the fun party!<br /><br />Our house is just too small to host a family birthday in December, so we were thinking we were going to go with Dominic's favorite pizza place for his party. However, when he was asked where he wanted his party, his first - and only - response "McDonald's!" What surprised me was that our McD's is nothing fancy. No slides, no jungle gym, just a few video games (which my kids can't play) and the small computer with a coloring pages game on it (that the kids love to play). But if McDonald's is what Dominic wanted, it's what he would get.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424547628119554210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtl5qwvVwvOjaGOHjOkxLUzkkYzACow8XxiFV_9Jk2w8pm-didHBGY1BTl8iC6V2OrI30J4dV6c5zIB8Z3TVRbd-GKsEq-CGKknA57gRxf4giIU18b37UTJmaZ8mGOzlrrMAO2hmTLw0s/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+027.jpg" /><br /><br />They had a blast. We had plenty of food and fun for everyone! The staff was great and was very accommodating even before the party began. They did so much for us and everything was included- happy meals, party favors and even cake & ice cream. So for those of you reading this that live around here, I highly recommend a birthday party at McDonald's. <br /><br /> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424545051064557650" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGm4ufhWuijl7T-4b8LEiySujMVuGJxhphTndHm95XBhvmh280RZivr5tJshBqitNeu3OP7LXNUZ2b9mu-S3GLtdlnmK7dbeted0B5LCfaIH-2kJbMv26dxAp3LyHBLCh1SySuK2DZ5w/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+006.jpg" /><br /><div align="center">Big sister Christina and Birthday boy Dominic wearing their party hats. </div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424547629693930418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvQmjhSFjhLG9vAWLpXAYbojiHNTbXAmSs1vu1qv4Jv-_t8G-hexVxbhhMFlifeh-aCLhzrtOeSBSbv90YTo8WFumhILAdF0-tntS6bm_oLJ_1NRUuQkD8bjV_w_pqJ0zfIaqcNLA_upc/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+010.jpg" /><br /><div align="center">Little brother Ethan getting in on the "cheese" for the camera action. He was happy to have french fries!</div><div align="center"><br /> </div><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424545056003133410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJNK1D0TpnBLrseamFamI0g8f6XlSPc4WeR7Eoxr2u2W9VCU9Y7RVoN9cU_D-kJ3rIg7xhbppMUMO2t7q4vrIxBCodd3bAK8ih19odlhuEM90CO-UOCCA6oFCrDNrRI6bWngJkKha1Y_M/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+015.jpg" />Dominic blowing out his candles on his Ronald McDonald cake. If you look closely you'll see the drool that was hanging from his mouth! It was quite gross, but the nice McDonald's girl grabbed a napkin and cleaned him up! Needless to say, no one wanted to eat any cake from that end!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 225px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424547642907876082" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieT7PXV3s_5xsmxrsZthAN0Pb8yCJh6NeHrc171vRGFO_SIGMnfZs6iZPgeguI1ulEEyvyft4moY4laZOw8DNouabxYHqe5Ro04vAWmBi_JusD8KJqkunyCROO8jcLXjlAlijWWcrdR68/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+048.jpg" />Dominic wearing one of his favorite gifts, his fireman outfit. I think for the first 24 hours after he got this all we did was hear that he was on his way to a fire somewhere in our house and had an emergency!<br /></p><p>All and all I think Dominic had a great birthday. I still remember the day we brought that little man home from the hospital. He's certainly grown and has quite the personality now! Infact, this last picture, he picked out for himself to add to the blog:</p><p align="center"> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424547640746616834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfzGK3WEezxPbzkSrtdy8CimCwyBqCbOyO1sHZaRxfgrhBwRQGbxH_KdSwa8DRWYXwFpjkElldAIKe1KrDRvdTtuszmL04oNjBvkLVTRBSZ62rg-Z_2_qSc64PbRy1QcHN5qYgf3fyRSc/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+033.jpg" />Wish us luck on the next three years to come! Just kidding!<br /><br />We love you Bubba James!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1MnkD2N-G-SvWv6RIZbUBOcdirKp7zGjsQwjuzw3q1PO06r0TYl0f1Mcsh9vq8Z9Wln2wOHPY1Y6rWRvyq1TQ1j6UYyg-eHwX-vKm7D6PfCAyVvKHjySmBKUJyNM-ORBUfSXXSnJMUEU/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+010a.jpg"></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-76503988245422920022009-12-19T00:57:00.006-05:002009-12-19T01:29:30.852-05:00Christmas Cheer"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loudly for all to hear!" -- Elf<br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw04b2pZ7jEprSCTOu1KdB4iwIors0_JqMNtJh9GtdDOyjhptog3h7wk0hmAYbm0ClBg2N-nh3nGKmFJGLfuw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#ff0000;">Merry</span> <span style="color:#33cc00;">Christmas</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">from</span> <span style="color:#33cc00;">The </span><span style="color:#ff0000;">Alphabet</span> <span style="color:#009900;">Kids!</span></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#009900;"></span> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416825377882177842" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09oBwCsn9lywpZvXTT1w2m-v-mSN3P9NadnG0X-ZpzIpxkfUZ_uC7e044e75WgIbSmwbGbWHar5s5ttAQCi9VjRPlOlGPD8eUEiIPd5H3cTYKADBDm67n4H6JbVoHhZcjW1RfT7BuBMw/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+019.jpg" />Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-36982251901892961592009-11-19T22:53:00.009-05:002009-11-19T23:49:11.306-05:00Trick or Treat AGAIN!<div><div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406034443082543250" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_TBC3jlrt1Uo_1wUwS0xjLeGVPEkbQKmpjiSDcWC1Lem_j8XCDcJjR20uLguw8SDx2WcYdZWQucEy8T5uixyqs-7Dc-xvjmLe1k4SgwAVF_TcLLnU1QhBHF4jva661gTX1fFbaX97mk/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+059.jpg" /></div><div></div><br /><div>I promise this is not just a repeat of my Trick or Treat from Halloween. Or the Halloween party at school. I know I tend to repeat myself or forget what I've said and done (we'll blame that on Ethan's 3 am wake ups) but this is a new blog, about, you guessed it - TRICK OR TREAT!<br /><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div>So, about the beginning of October I was throwing away a bucket full of candy that was left over from a parade the kids and I went to in early JULY. After thinking about that and all the candy my kids would be getting trick or treating, I began to have candy on the brain. It was like a message was sent to me when I picked up a magazine that Joyce had given me and I read an article about a woman who sent Christmas stockings to soldiers serving overseas. I had my moment when the light bulb went off.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We were going to send some of our candy overseas to some soldiers. I thought about it and decided I would ask the other preschool moms (and dads) if they would be interested. I sent home a flyer. At first, I heard nothing. Bryan told me that he didn't think we'd get much, since our kids didn't bring home tons of candy. But I held out hope. I was going to get SOME candy.</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406032287087712482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilxbpoGKI7k7TUZIWMeNqMyrh0W2MJHDi7xhhTIDsSQzVJq8IIAEVTUfbVZVv8MkvtVhu76HaDStFQ7T4moEp9PBc0MJn918tpx8HPzAgcXJ0-7R_rep9fOl5gSlWCtfFmZh_dWhJWHLM/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+025.jpg" /><br /><div>But then the candy started coming. Next it was pouring in. But I still had to figure out who to send it to. Through our church I found a woman who is a member of Blue Star Mothers, and her son is serving in the Marines. She actually offered to pay my shipping! So I sent out a follow up email to parents and even made some phone calls. Bring on the candy!</div><br /><div><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406032301407826258" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOf5LOLXD2bpN9ucM4SOWwZUgePhjhzUJHeQLIJa5A3Wv5XdTZAD1Zst4V7uIbHwuHjX6D0FxpYH2Py_c4Bzmp0FziyRGzi2cKkZeI4wrFcgHlJuZGP_t-Yh42MtZ_nW8zRWQAb8UoPk/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+033.jpg" /><br /><div>I went in to the preschool Monday morning to have the kids write out cards. They were really cute and asked about where the soldiers lived, how their candy was going to get there, etc. </div><br /><div><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406032286576960578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1m8FpCJavIYH3rE6wBLihf9vhl7IMLzxQ7YXqvCdR6Av_jz3-Gs6QbqJgEbWUbyvjJIibjH1BaA2n1o5CbgTkqq8XhoUilCp8T5Z-p6oUpDzDDjMpy9AJZnnVgvHd5gXG0A3kj2LIH3c/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+019.jpg" /><br /><div>I had Bryan write up a news release for me and I sent it out hoping that the hometown paper would pick it up and add it to their "School News" section. Today I got a phone call that the Register wants to use us as their feature school article in Monday's paper! Super excited, but with only a few limited pictures I rounded up a few good kids & parents (that donated candy of course) and in less than 20 minutes had 5 kids for more pictures! You guys rock! I also got an email tonight that we'll be in the Catholic Chronicle as well!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406034429089623826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeNN2eH0fbFDPFzwETmDZB_78DIlDrqQkBStLjtXxCheTtfhSZ8UWO8zU4v2JPENw52Xb08PexKQvsmgMcBJd98RMjomNhUiX5bmrklJBQVMhQsfh6evWrpD1cROKNKQJruLJRF5OAPxo/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+053.jpg" /></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406034435876616242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIHYDAn9lIwc-K6HqqumjYSmRTx_mah3eSAfgc1wN8Yzn4qXhgj-jdRomgawKDGJrryDlrKxOoTmCe5yC_wcqrbNIYNUWWUWDbDklcJ9wi9X44zcugmIy08VnOzo4KxrTDIOlDWGbIdh0/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+056.jpg" /></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406032308919398882" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgV4VZLA32Oyhee9CgBuzIj0Sg_y2BBu_fTKKNS1ph4Dh4Bm1LEAKk4rEyNBg52sBt66vvIcMF_MVcN0OGYSWCvOsZkplkb36HORdmQGLr19xGh565OGpA6WUwNYybSAt8aJKHWDicCFI/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+047.jpg" /></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Super super excited. I've been on cloud nine all day! While I should just feel good about the "doing good" part and not need the recognition, it's always nice to know that someone does recognize your efforts.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>But really it wasn't just my efforts. It was the efforts of the kids in Christina's class. I took my Blue Star Mom tonight 54 pounds of candy. Yes, you read that right! 54 lbs!!! And I guess not only the recognition is good, but it's also good knowing that 54 lbs of candy isn't going straight to my hips & thighs!<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406032299206457602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNfCrE5mteoqCWrO16ztQzYqdnfhppQZ3GKV8MSYFp1xKM-GmCi34sV8mHQtUCZQG5OULHajSo8VvGt7zfXNXofm5C4NOkvB-75E-McNLwRXVcsjAguUVCoIRJ4jLEQGYhsLd6rctV5kM/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+030.jpg" /></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br /><br /><p>I also need to add my funny with Christina & Dominic and the candy. Dominic could really care less what was going on with the candy, but Christina and I had to have a talk about where her candy was going. </p><br /><p>After I explained to her, and how well can you explain war to a four year old, she seemed ok with her candy going to the soldiers. Well, Christina & Dominic were helping me box the candy up and she asked him if he knew where the candy was going. She then told him it was "going to soldiers who are fighting for us and fighting for candy - and now they don't have to fight for candy anymore." I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry, but I do know I have one amazing 4 year old! </p>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-79903557814531239112009-11-08T21:59:00.008-05:002009-11-08T22:39:04.391-05:00Snack Time!Ok, so my kids are usually not picky about what they eat, for the most part. And when it comes to snacks, we stick with the kid favorites - goldfish, bananas, fruit snacks, cheese & crackers, granola bars - you know some good, some not so good for you.<br /><br /><br />Well, Bryan went shopping on Friday night by himself and brought home this jumbo bag of Shearer's Butter Corn Puffs and asked me if they reminded me of anything. And they did. A little over a year and a half ago this picture of Christina was taken. You can tell by looking at it that she enjoyed her snack.<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401935748445364370" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKt6Hpy5CUL_fD0tbdIUKaFzONzHqBzvYmWKVjSr0xvMVCJojpx35NnPi4Mjc6CGLKr8AUntlJ177MoEx-msXENhr0pgQ968OJH-esXNuzI3dEPbbnVBdnyWylFeb4xOZtXPG6f8PCd28/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+001.jpg" /><br />But I don't think we'd had them since then. We now have two more kids who would most likely be helping their big sister with this new bag. And helping they did! Well, Christina might have called it a hinderance, since she had to share!<br /><br />Anyway, Saturday at lunch Dominic ate three large handfuls! By Saturday afternoon snack time, Christina and Ethan got in on the action. Then, when I came down stairs last night from putting Ethan to bed, Christina and Dominic were sitting on the couch eating cup fulls.<br /><br /><br />Don't be to harsh to judge my children's eating habits. I know they need their fruits, veggies, grains and what not, and we try really hard to stay on top of this. But sometimes it's fun to just eat junk food! So we don't do this everyday, and my kids do enjoy their green beans and grapes.<br /><br />With that being said, Dominic found the bag of "popcorn" this afternoon and the snacking began again. I actually had to pour them into a bowl because the bag was getting torn! They were fighting over it! They finished their bag off this evening. So in a little less than two days my three children ate an entire bag of these things!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401935763868861922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5YXAvchPlY-Lu3jKykyblF4qArxB4Bkgct2BrJUrsvegBiBust3VEgAtpZt4bsTL_E0pD_2-dpEqRDYUmOHElhU9-BhrTwIA4LSq0qVb5wC-J_l-bdL6cHtkqlr31w66Ufd62PQQBFY/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+004.jpg" /><br />Christina was enjoying having the bowl in her possession. She did make sure everyone got some, but at one time she was holding the bowl above Dominic's head and told him to reach!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401935756237959010" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMVyp8ev8vqJAq7d7Dajd0uIqMbVp0BYvwKyGJFh5_Y25JjF_VorXbb4eFK4wT1oC631moiY5WBhPem5x8JU1sLRKO5jyOc-6_AE_6rQVCu0qk1FDXtZdRBxw1wP-rRLuRzMYSbVK8ag/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+001.jpg" />Everyone sharing nicely. Ethan was quite into this. He doesn't get chips, so this was a real treat for him!<br /><br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401935764476350098" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwnoe64NLiPe6XhqAvEcFz904kPDUZIKRLOmUMO3CAtMUQrrFhOyipGv8WeGmsLy-iGbxloWzPm2yEUWv5_hSufLiOgaMYsnoG0CUr88hRRmP90pHVDZ4iwnmpFGh8USBliH2M_VOQCio/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+012.jpg" />Dominic & Ethan drinking their milk. Christina holding her bowl with a death grip!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401935768843720818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8uzbH6R56ksBfp5abIRFVSwlBt8sf-RXDYhXJUyniUqifdHm7siwP7gRVvazpG3x2GgPybGQQG66R1YCnSMwNRpArPEJE0FQbASVF0MmL32ENj0HUg4HlJbDv1RTueqEXfuuFp7Whdvo/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+017.jpg" />Dominic and Christina with their empty bag. Guess we'll have to head back to the Market.<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>We love Shearer's Butter Corn Puffs!</strong><br /></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-42996609311642180122009-10-31T22:15:00.013-04:002009-10-31T23:30:20.425-04:00It's Trick or Treat Time!Happy Halloween from the Alphabet Family!<br /><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398958493436374738" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOuLqBwSexkrKJjzmeVIYJE8erUv_22sHmSihVRh9WXWfiCWIi3rzz8kJ5KMNTs9TpaMMERZJzmsZM7IML6y9BtqS9TNanLfI4c95gEOMpLra_fHTopXu3GEKmth5S9vx9d7G1uVpi0y0/s400/DSC03823.JPG" />We had a chilly night, but that didn't stop us from heading out to collect our loot! If you have not seen our last two posts, here's the low down on costumes: Christina was a beautiful butterfly, Dominic was a mischievous monkey & Ethan a pleasantly perfect pumpkin! </div><br /><div></div><div>What a fun time! </div><br /><div></div><div>Christina and Dominic were ready to go shortly after getting up this morning. Someone remind me next year not to mention that it's Halloween until about 5 minutes before we get ready to go. It was a long day for them waiting for 5:30 to come! They did pass the time by asking me how soon it would be until they could go trick or treating. Bryan walked in the door and changed his shoes, however he didn't make it far enough in to even take off his tie. </div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398958490953823426" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOfuYHuNYm9PcXHxLbPF09dRSsrUizNJO0ftdul0kydjA4k99eykOoDNGZeebJxeMqIS1vtqv0o3ygAriKkzqTaKDO_p_FioczfvUGEApN-jByMg2UBPMRYvbt2n3Mj8p-a41Am3ajJVQ/s400/DSC03815.JPG" />Laying on the couch this morning, giddy with excitment of what was to come later on today!<br /><br />So out we went.<br /><br /><br />Christina was into Halloween last year. Dominic enjoyed it, but tonight was different for both of them. Their excitement tonight seemed to feed off each other. Dominic must have tripped about 5 times trying to get out of the wagon faster than Christina. If I would have posted all of our pictures you'd see a theme, Dominic heading back to the wagon as Christina is still making her way up to the house. Here's one of what many of them look like:<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398958505554198706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP7yueh962DgkbgcnzBk84T-7-XuTMA-BRQu7JzEwtdsTBDZRfA1SIpfxgo2AXTfEUw3MQIOZTDBnJnLYtXzbvag41H6IO6D9Fdo5ZLYktIpPL6Vi3F6cD6ajcBQSSdP3tHfmC6f8D9l4/s400/DSC03826.JPG" />Ethan was very happy hanging out in the stroller. He did get his fair share of candy, even after we told people he didn't need it. At one house they even let him pick out his own candy. He decided on a roll of smarties and a tiny tub of play-doh.<br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398969148675214818" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN_L_wVBMNEK3gareoUM1lHpvq4jFmQnDamFyYg5pmIiRSn4TQL4HDqFMsDd8UNSFoFuMXVTjPaWiHdjA8g58Zm792GSvCAirRZwnH3sYfE78U0TQE-JYsSFj_rtxwk3iB2FXCa0sN3As/s400/DSC03842.JPG" /><br />Christina was also pretty excited at one house. She got to get a bag of Fritos and proudly showed them off for the camera. Since when do people hand out Fritos for Halloween? These are the same people that also offered her a juice box. You might be thinking maybe they weren't expecting trick or treaters, but they were! They actually had 4 families partying in their yard with baskets of candy and what not that were handing out! So my girl brought home the Fritos!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398958511514503394" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rh0pX-0lmHLXNkSRntUIau6oc6lvJWSagIEF_ATfH_5Xxhmqo0gxVzoUQDULgJZwMRTAh9N9ookqBD8AsiyciFr-IhYXNgUNNj5C14wR-cRPEBOuMvP3lqugOQFaZxqK7GfgnzZxVIU/s400/DSC03844.JPG" /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div>Dominic had to check his bucket after almost every house. Making sure that they really put the candy in there and then to tell us what he got. Here's the monkey checking things out:</div><div></div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398958506161068354" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXFdBows9a1mQAF_Xx0sth6JEhU2zjhdCtJ9pGUWkFmMVcJZqyLollOsbaxYDd925EVPqLbK6oVoztLYMXdIsm-6dViwwMimbGTqJLqi9lnLitzpvY97Cg2z8cvM5PNqN9BME6KTk4nY0/s400/DSC03834.JPG" /></div><div>We were only out about 45 minutes but the kids had a blast! We barely got in the door and the buckets were dumped on the table. Obviously by the photos below, they had a great night!</div><div></div><div></div><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcgQ14xl5jmI0jVUDbY_3ym7HZmZq4yaHeiyC3sVBFpR4DCvinX9crXfMWu43vuZKiyQLVGQfwv8l1eA5k-1sWu4hZ8DyFcx8lZPyh6W4Tsg8hxG063SL5dxgVJHIulNWi1Rm2HrDL_k/s1600-h/DSC03853.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398955899026609922" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdcgQ14xl5jmI0jVUDbY_3ym7HZmZq4yaHeiyC3sVBFpR4DCvinX9crXfMWu43vuZKiyQLVGQfwv8l1eA5k-1sWu4hZ8DyFcx8lZPyh6W4Tsg8hxG063SL5dxgVJHIulNWi1Rm2HrDL_k/s400/DSC03853.JPG" /></a> Ethan with his smarties and M&M's<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqauU3-wkj-Kx6ASpMUTyA0qL_e3iOCK6o_RywOmxMeEq6COVChmvHqInHN1-2LYuBKdzv3MDPz7q-dBLadSnAebbBmECpQp5SvfButy9M8Dp7tZVWP8ts1j5NYa3jVamEwBurMfCcFN4/s1600-h/DSC03850.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398955832050363458" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqauU3-wkj-Kx6ASpMUTyA0qL_e3iOCK6o_RywOmxMeEq6COVChmvHqInHN1-2LYuBKdzv3MDPz7q-dBLadSnAebbBmECpQp5SvfButy9M8Dp7tZVWP8ts1j5NYa3jVamEwBurMfCcFN4/s400/DSC03850.JPG" /></a> Dominic found some Lemon Heads<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNqYs4CGIidHgJEbb1dfq5hw0GffHr9V9E8UaoKCiFgh4ylqPobTGRJc2o5781QFGaIiBCZIW6ApKKoF8H1haB2qhUsuXJoxz09WS2EU7J4ZGrn-_Xxpk54v9_why4_P-DWQy2CWR5Z0/s1600-h/DSC03848.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398955829269495442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimNqYs4CGIidHgJEbb1dfq5hw0GffHr9V9E8UaoKCiFgh4ylqPobTGRJc2o5781QFGaIiBCZIW6ApKKoF8H1haB2qhUsuXJoxz09WS2EU7J4ZGrn-_Xxpk54v9_why4_P-DWQy2CWR5Z0/s400/DSC03848.JPG" /></a> And in true Christina fashion, she liked, ALL OF IT!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Hope everyone had a wonderful night trick or treating. Truly a fun, cold evening. </div><br /><div>Can't wait for next year! </div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-79490154209944096472009-10-28T20:49:00.007-04:002009-10-28T23:10:43.870-04:00Happy Halloween (at preschool at least)!<div><div>It's been a Halloweenirific week for Christina. She had her Halloween party at the library yesterday. The kids were all asked to wear their costumes. The librarian, Mrs. B, even came dressed as the Cat in the Hat. Christina I think was more excited about the M&M's they gave her and seeing if she could get them all eaten before we got home and her brother saw what she had!</div><div></div><br /><div>Today we had her Halloween party at preschool. Christina decided she was going to be a butterfly this year. So we hit the sale at Old Navy and got her the cutest butterfly costume around! Of course, it was the cutest because she was wearing it!</div><br /><div></div><div>This is Christina's costume from behind:</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397828708457633586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqrwC6dV6BTcEz3BVG8DIRU12gQdqWM0TOiw3mXkev7XLZ6dkgtO_f1nys3yZrjbFcCC0Rj27GXN-J20Ib3ljFpTl1WH9LBVML01yVLCHZHzCbNGwz1zo0tp0ABs1Lk3HnH-KLizLoXnw/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+007.jpg" /><br />They actually combined the 3 and 4 year old classes for the Halloween party. So if this looks like a big group it's because it is! There are 24 of them when they are all together! I seriously don't know how these two teachers have the patience!<br /><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397828701865401890" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7N8zeNQLSiyM_Tuxb3zJGX6bTiXo3GUPfedwZbbkvxmwHrQ5SOdILrhBR39cqMf6SaK-Cvyq5Uy80GYLWBoNV4uaSjFVodaxWq45XWB5M-7Tq2u0B0iISLu3sby166vkmCoRxNZRb3g4/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+048.jpg" /></div><div> <img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397820764216608402" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgFt2gKofsjFc4QBfMsqKPdqwYWVF8uHucTNJK263sjpod8OzFKVb1ibwucIHVsZSb0kd2BdyLcGft8QeydLUQnqWIma2LihqgAc34bjG_1-iB-xIvhWjXwzNE6SNjXT5BBa-emy7llsg/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+043.jpg" /></div><div>Christina's best friend at school is Jersey. In the picture above we have Reagan (also known as Princess Leia), Elizabeth (backwards Tinkerbell), Christina (the cutest butterfly in the universe) & Jersey (super girl). I unfortunately don't know the princesses next to super girl's names (sorry 3's)!</div><br /><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOJkGMwF2HbDBYG6FrcWY3XeU-fpr5j60hw6sEUys6KY4sPYy0ff8xwmrpVXTgC10trn0y6R-eGy9jmezYsdUAuFC3u4FmllIb1VAXPqvO7SkBMEq3gvDXX4KvCTvDYHmKH4E-QinszA/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+042.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397820752914465074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbOJkGMwF2HbDBYG6FrcWY3XeU-fpr5j60hw6sEUys6KY4sPYy0ff8xwmrpVXTgC10trn0y6R-eGy9jmezYsdUAuFC3u4FmllIb1VAXPqvO7SkBMEq3gvDXX4KvCTvDYHmKH4E-QinszA/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+042.jpg" /></a> Christina eating her halloween cupcake. Although when asked if it was good, she informed me all she at was the frosting. And the cupcake was even chocolate! What was she thinking?!<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCR4fUtvBT7RhHAXf_mWApL15Pm_usgWDT0ZqhI_rwfXY3MQlqybFgTf_a_IWFu-O5gZd68wLmlogOCgQ8n9E9PKT1VHIBN03p3xZ3VuaBLlv1CE-u9oQ3f6bWN7QtiS8NTXnNWo7aEM/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+012.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397820745201717666" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCR4fUtvBT7RhHAXf_mWApL15Pm_usgWDT0ZqhI_rwfXY3MQlqybFgTf_a_IWFu-O5gZd68wLmlogOCgQ8n9E9PKT1VHIBN03p3xZ3VuaBLlv1CE-u9oQ3f6bWN7QtiS8NTXnNWo7aEM/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+012.jpg" /></a> Christina crawling through the tunnel during one of their many fun activities at the party.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3M39vFDeG29Z7jjtToqYocUJd0uCagwmfooi5AlZIjQRuvJUh_LJtlkSaIVote2B5a7ZcCzYfKv65NY9aIfg7BnTC9LZJQFvPLZ3q7vBWdsIvD1mCFh6T0kKwv8fR9Mnvx8g3D1Wc-Q/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+010.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397820737687638434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC3M39vFDeG29Z7jjtToqYocUJd0uCagwmfooi5AlZIjQRuvJUh_LJtlkSaIVote2B5a7ZcCzYfKv65NY9aIfg7BnTC9LZJQFvPLZ3q7vBWdsIvD1mCFh6T0kKwv8fR9Mnvx8g3D1Wc-Q/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+010.jpg" /></a>This is Christina and Malena. Malena was cinderella. You may remember Malena from the birthday party post a few months back. They shared their party together (with Tinkerbell -Elizabeth) back in June. </div><br />Anyway, thought I'd post these up here so that Bryan will get off my back about me not doing a blog. He was nice enough to go to the party and take the pictures, the least I can do is blog about them!<br /><br />Rest assured for the die hard followers, we'll have a post after Saturday night. Trick or Treating for everyone!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Sleep is calling me and after the week of sickies we've had-boy do I need it!<br /></div><div><br />Night!<br /></div><div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-13386357996762506062009-10-25T21:24:00.012-04:002009-10-25T22:13:35.373-04:00Fun For (F)All!It's guest blogger time again!!! Daddy's back, thanks to mommy taking care of two sick kids. Yuck! <div><div><div><div><br /></div><div>As the leaves have started to change colors and quickly fall off of the trees, the Alphabet Kids have been itching to play outside. So daddy fired up his trusty leave blower and built a pile of leaves in the back yard for the kids to play in. Needless to say, I think they had fun!</div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Christina and Dominic did their part to help build the pile.</div><div><br /><br /></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396714601600955122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjp2G7rn362pex2YsGCb1XK6xw6j5DF0vs9fqRLJRlQSz0rYA7ZVLOMm6wTpyKwKAP4AlCiUZjFKysq2JOIJEPZU-xqd-AdguohFKEnRNxE_DQ6iwp-tdIVhKWIWX1pWZnYuwkWnFzX0c/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+078.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div>After jumping in the leave pile over and over again, Christina found it fun and amusing to throw the leaves up in the air!</div><div><br /><br /></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396715167364464482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAIX9tpYR29-pTxwEum4_sMZPMus83vCofOKiwwnrYXhbschKXjJcHZjUHN0W7lzdUNv7HgEpvU8dxzPz8xiqKxhIRnzjI3nhyphenhyphenS9OuEdTa_7w7-6jcY0AVqnv2UhtA4AuYC_ZpQZ6OQyI/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+126.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div>Ethan, who was NOT a fan of playing in the leaves, still found sissy to be quite funny while he was swinging nearby.</div><div><br /></div><div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396715669451516930" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQqWVmuRPPH3-Xcjtawnfx-kzxpN2nm_yR0llSfj4FuZoJ3Ir0M5HsYRARUwE2cq86i1Zw2FutDUUPMvoVPrw0OEE54RYPAAcUm-1dTOzyuPzvx2sFmmUqfgfdCMSFmA3OD86Vo9bUbpA/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+107.jpg" /></div></div><div> </div><div>This evening, we tried to take our minds off of the horrible Browns game (as Dominic asked me, "The Browns are stinky like the Steelers daddy?". I had to explain to him the difference but ended up telling him, yes, the Browns stink and so do the Steelers, but for different reasons.)</div><div></div><div>With the weather being nice, we decided to go on a nature walk. So we piled the boyz into the wagon and away we went. </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396719688722648018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIt6rY7KsIn3OgPGbwlJ52JH2WAedJeY6ZI7dUV0UaiEJCYFL3kuo9MjitjzTVwvS4HfZaMIgjHX1JaXxkCpq7ZWU4BuM6zgBNqMwTW1lupk3lgmWyQPTgXq4F_3I_h6avuVnTHsAJgeU/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+002.jpg" /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Before long, Christina wanted to pull her brothers in the wagon. Thanks goodness that rail was there or the boyz might have ended up swimming tonight! I think Dominic's facial expression says it all about his sister's wagon-pulling skills.</div><div> </div><div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396721449421983954" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd88kYViDvxhGH-i1k_Avye3wF-hhaZxNbz2PLJSGSHkICvXg0-E0uZp088zLKoDt6D7Vnx8WE2MotmcqBVtRPPY91N03pH7z-8MPVZh5IxLum_ClbXouoKAtcrfyWBMP7JSYKnPZ-qn4/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+018.jpg" /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Of course, our little nature girl (not to be confused with Dominic, our Jungle Boy -- long story for another blog!) but our nature girl can't pass a pile of leaves without throwing them in the air. She is such the camera hog!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396721456234096562" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz2HVkz_lJTdhtyEg2bVHje6sYj4KFQqfNCeNAq4GjUbAz9U6UEbeN7-vYDDPP5F4vlj3X6oCqWEt9PrYPJw69S8Ha6wN5pumW-AVW5jpz196jWNRjjvG-aLkPjXCc9A8Uewg0J8dV18c/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+011.jpg" /><br />Dominic had to take his turn pulling the wagon.<br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396716585302429074" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDbuj6bYGlOSxwG7aAlz6wCX1iCq05WHg1vTEfctClGqPGk1YhPjO1A0jNRXz6qKHwwHDITDuJrmTsgONxqRF0ukMd0nSXrrlnHesHuYVKrJ_W-9G0OR2tVQ9wNI0yqMKRlImO6zIaEH4/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+052.jpg" /> </div><div>All in all, the perfect end to a memorable fall day for The Alphabet Kids... </div><div><br /></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396721444729986034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8H18a5ZafGKLRF1jWpshz3Lq8rPFW-6Ey_frIWfPdpUcl7KTmMMOGKreLJf95Ky2nQSo_OlQF1UxqLWZLalqen3OCb-ShlhppSVpssqdOOgKiGAdQ9MBu_vjASHf5sxmDqLqKmVETsbU/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+016.jpg" /><br />Now bring on Christmas!!! </div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-63664945030495073842009-09-30T13:50:00.013-04:002009-09-30T14:19:13.224-04:00Long time, no blog!WARNING!!! This is a guest blogger (daddy). Mommy is WAY too busy watching three kids, cleaning up her spare bedroom and watching her favorite reality shows to blog lately. So, without furter delay, I give you... Daddy's Blog! <div></div><br /><div>We have done quite a bit in the last few weeks. We went to Cedar Point with our friends from Toledo (otherwise known as Dominic's girlfriend Madelyn and her family)</div><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387320832340811874" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAq00N5EslXSzKQCubggSznWCGmyRknN4vB0KkRAodwIbQTyYOI-nrL771hvX5x-A4AlLDB0E42K1yYCkLUkzwnQ8W7pvrwIk4AlJY4GPiF-aYJoWlwFJ9_2U3iJDD-yrik5vvmsMZZ94/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+072.jpg" /><br />Aren't they just a lovely couple? (Note: I am sure Angie will do a more detailed blog about our trip to the Point as there were a ton of great photos.)</div><div> </div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387326408215347618" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMluqtfP6xyoprFNLA-Btchd_J8aGH80L_ALcc_A2j3IPitdy9ychnPvBLJF306LBcVBvuvSaJ68wI4z0GJNY6GEI-kVpnyrB0ZcjlXqTWzkIJvkLaPk74XZ0KQOAkkqE2SgZVJ9Vyssc/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+034.jpg" /><br />Six kids between two families! All of them under the age of 4!!! Yikes!<br /><div><br /></div><br /><div>In other news, Papa Dick and Daddy made Christina a garden this summer. She did a great job and definitely has a green thumb! </div><br /><div></div><br /><br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387321679836579106" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfcuGZJYRQGmI8KF8-ZXHtscjMWmHJgQq4yo2MlVKb-eJL1Nitz0oTRgP-Cg7RZAYM1JizKeluZEuP1qpZGuwhjrbwVMv0c16nFD2PuLAtmhYovI3PeyYeU5zjzzg9n6EbnQ961guNXM/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+002.jpg" /> </p><br /><p>Lots of tomotoes... although they rarely made it in the house before being eaten!<br /></p><br /><p>The kids spent a TON of time out on their swingset and slide! Christina can now ride the "banana swing" all by herself, Dominic loves playing in the sandbox and Ethan enjoys crawling around in the grass (with the occasional snack of dirt... YUCK!)</p><br /><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387322426341641762" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYjGWwsu0SiBLYRU90mWXFZ2zSpMb1tWXryVhtilhPT6Seh2PTUIUsTWcakOzGRF1hB_sKr0uDOaZV0qcJObPIbu2sWFJAbkpdDD6nybPzJu3NOIx-wSqk1c9Xjr5Wpzq5ptaQdh3wdHQ/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+028.jpg" /><br /><br /><div>Well, I have to run -- my old lady is yelling about something! </div><br /><div>I hope you enjoyed the updated photos. Be sure to post a note on here about how much you enjoy reading our blog and seeing updated pictures of the kids! Maybe the Mrs. can put down the bon-bons and update it herself! (boy am I going to pay for that comment later!)</div><br /><div>Oops, I almost forgot, Halloween is just around the corner...</div><div> </div><br /><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387323517632552274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzBhmChLj5jMJOFHi6wT73dSP-TCW6qoCFNyqPGuEB1E-ANUD91zTxuveVAqjKFy9K4B2IOWonUPVTKKZBdayyg_1GHLYCpTWWAIY7YJxpfxph4U4eRizQ1AwvJ23LJPipgYbknRjx8ZY/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+004.jpg" /><br /><div></div><br /><div>Don't ask! Angie wanted them to dress up like the Wizard of Oz. Obviously, you can see the kids won that argument!<br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyu2MJGyClksXXczys8fVV3tiFU2y9jITv_M3AOl981FDeTzx3y8-tQ8JBS_YW4kvGIBmSA76qHIf2G3o_kTg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-12038683500274196652009-08-10T20:42:00.005-04:002009-08-10T21:54:36.326-04:00Ethan Turns O-N-E!<img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368503794766823602" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_FsvOva9xYiC5CNN6gIKZidUInvWCGqmlc6MKso5lmlk5ex3LlPX7nKz5c8gAAq2eVj0LAFupVBDxMf3zah3C7SOnWBMxX93cRjQf5_QYWhSfaoqIW_h96vsU71uKf-iJDZnt1aXXO78/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+035.jpg" /><br />Happy 1st Birthday Ethan Noel! <br /><br />It's official. I finally have to admit, that once you have kids, time truely does fly by. People have told me that you blink and before you know it your kids are grown. Well, Ethan isn't exactly grown, not yet anyway, but the past year has gone by in no time.<br /><br />Ethan has grown so much in the past year! He's in the process of cutting two more teeth (which will take him up to 6), in the last month he's started crawling and now all we hear is "mama" and "dada". He's our "jumbo baby" weighing in at a little more than 20 lbs and measuring 30 inches tall. He's a super happy little man who loves to eat goldfish, play cars with his big brother Dominic and dance with big sister Christina.<br /><br />On Saturday, August 1st we celebrated Ethan's first birthday with family and a few close friends. Mom & Dad came up (I guess from Indiana it's technically over) to help get things ready because Bryan had to work during the day. Gamma Chris, Christina & myself spent the morning making the coolest cupcakes. We decided to do a sports theme and made baseball, football and basketball cupcakes. I was really excited how they turned out considering it was a relatively easy throw together. <br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368503769325617330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0DHwlZmnBG_s5P_lNGrIRF1nLV1spt3dXm-MVkAxvM8LK1mX8JdYKKLK8pOY40catwkq16OFk4f_ykMcb_679SxRZVMkc6G7XwsEkBtheAx8JRQeo6qTpGgZ9dL6ADpY1O3zdaR9ShpE/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+039.jpg" /></p><p>I made Ethan a baseball cake for him to eat but these are the cupcakes. I was quite proud of our work. </p><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368503782981130194" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcNkQAmZrm3P93tBRfSDPvtNqngUbuLn204ip70tHd3wCZinu3x3XnB3gIIW_Rr_rXXYt55f8HNVUdcCu1Tes5hy5lotY5aZQaa9kmEF_Zqz38Fx0H_QQ-fT1oRrScO-TmcPqPx5LMKUo/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+056.jpg" />Here is Christina, Olivia, Madelyn & Dominic enjoying their cupcakes at the party. The girls all sat down on one side of the picnic table and Dominic (the ladies man) just had to sit down with them! Dominic just ate the icing off of his and had an orange mustache the rest of the night. I think this was their favorite part of the party.<br /></p><div><div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368503778078057058" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ZdpDgvMjHT8YlJA6iz8zxV5K-YZ9KV4yZeBfDOVsF7HLDL6nUsy6U_wMIRiqs4-CBBt4tlgbVojKlaTLMaKnqlDEDSmhVo6bd1wQMtBp2i8a_7WYVbPOEjV3_CNW3P9fOEqPS2hWXOE/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+043.jpg" /> Birthday boy Ethan really wasn't too sure about the whole cake thing, however once he got into the cake (I cut it so he could pick it up), he really got into it. I think he sat there for like a half an hour and just went to town. I ended up throwing him in the tub just to get the chocolate out of all of his little folds! Even after the bath, I found cake inside his ears!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>All in all, it was a wonderful night - good weather, good food and good company. Can't get much better than that! Which is a good thing, because we'll be doing it again in about 12 months (which will be here before we know it)! </div><div> </div><div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvJpl_p85NBU77_JToB_-0RV7CbBA-wwA_jKo5GWtkYuAbYgM4FwTQab4sPbJ-x6ONZ7E2T3FZ41GFZGg1DuGSBHrxxxn0cnDa88SghVQknCbu3ox57W1xSyPgX7CMKZpN60M2_q9p1U/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+026.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368503761394821778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvJpl_p85NBU77_JToB_-0RV7CbBA-wwA_jKo5GWtkYuAbYgM4FwTQab4sPbJ-x6ONZ7E2T3FZ41GFZGg1DuGSBHrxxxn0cnDa88SghVQknCbu3ox57W1xSyPgX7CMKZpN60M2_q9p1U/s400/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+026.jpg" /></a><br />Our three musketeers! Can't imagine our life without any of those little faces!<br /><br />Happy Birthday buddy! We love you!<br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-52160671378514669202009-06-29T23:51:00.008-04:002009-06-30T00:15:45.909-04:00Fun with the watering hose!<div>You are all being treated to a guest blogger tonight -- daddy! </div><br /><div>Earlier tonight we took the kids out back as they have been begging mommy to take them outside recently. Why you ask? It's not because it is fun playing in the backyard or because the kids are bored in the house, no, they have been itching to go outside with daddy so they can get me wet with their new sponge balls that Christina got for her birthday.</div><br /><div></div><div>Well, being the wise old dad that I am, I decided that I would trick the kids (it's not too hard, they are all less than four-years-old) and I got out the hose from the garage.</div><br /><div>Let's just say that the kids got ahold of hose and had some fun!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 351px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 261px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352964483721457810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYoqFhqFjEH-9wbiCIIKR7o-dzErh8-dMGw0ILc3mBsBClPLAudUgUlFBuA0RldqZMId22er44_EXWnnKZ0iQ2bw__tp3lSzTNWT_ShJq1nfqdN7iwJzeSbUUoj-uFO6RmwkUgsIagNVo/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+007.jpg" /> Can you guess who got squirted the most? I can!</div><br /><div></div><div></div><div>Sometimes there were battles for the hose:</div><br /><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352965135064342578" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg92kjJcTS7Kiujs-pwI6oO8xXHVsJs76TsfvLF0OqgPefTupR5kyeNgwakqSjDDdIqoN-SYBHnSp7aN3yfc5P5qt5ylLDCWtrYRtCxcX-euSuRAvrYy96ci0YEr6bEr1cmQKXCVtHhK8g/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+016.jpg" /><br /><div>And even though "sissy" won most of the battles, "bubba" got his own revenge as well!</div><div> </div><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 321px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 214px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352965602895180786" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr1T77bChfqGz6JLoChdewZKgnelK8zh35oAJhkqWnYBFW2_ArB5qGSvIzRD4NhPYHNu9-brZiOuZrNMJ_4UD_812jalF0eDZKX2WtD-YQfvnzmI8O1F8Jvtc75FBcrK2iF9ydFuUKrh8/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+020.jpg" /><br /><br />And Ethan, well he just tried to stay out of his brother and sister's way and enjoy playing in the grass for the first time with mommy!<br /><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 322px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352966704946033394" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKA4MCZgiz_v33jZbxQ_TW2NFxfMHL2IYQQgj6OHM8_H13P6RL86eYV-pgZ6-_kszAkmDljSRQdfcYcrBwOojeXk36ym7m2kRy5znxrqRD-y7u5EGx9nfTxnS_P1hIZRHSunCnk93WI-A/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+017.jpg" /><br />All in all, I think the kids had a good time tonight (even though daddy stayed dry!)<br /><br /><div align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyoW9xifVg550bEI9hV_1anyvHMQXgfuTZLeyOLw5eHU5d6zVaW672v9HSfborMbgnlUiRbFz06WGgeXwiLXQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-25286614601614052762009-06-28T20:35:00.011-04:002009-06-28T21:43:23.165-04:00Christina Turns 4!Turning 4 is such a chore. At least it was for mom & dad! Ha. We had party central at our house for about a week and a half. The demands of a four year old should really not be that demanding. After all, she is only four. But then again, you only turn four once, so we decided to make the most of it. Here are our highlights.<br /><br /><div><div><div></div><div>Gamma Chris & Papa Dick came up the weekend before the big day. After a fun day of Papa putting in new windows with Daddy, Christina had her fun. They took her to Toys R Us and let her pick out whatever toy she wanted. She settled on a princess dress up set and a Hannah Montana head set/music player.<br /></div><div> </div><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352542989944281682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXRZ6CdwXjdhE_BZ-jwn0nz8EgKbPDO3V-pU4BvMiSd9Ok7cNWLZJog5qu8XQFC0x3YH9AFgJGVaas0kXAWKxW1Eo5UOG-PFvPRsaRL8hQGXm6Pab_fGE3G9cTPkZ-l4iKnk82qj1xzIU/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+014.jpg" />Here we are showing off our new look as a princess with our pajamas. </div><div><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div>We knew we had a jam packed day of fun for Wednesday. Before going to bed on Tuesday night, we told her she could have a special birthday morning breakfast. Without hesitating she informed us she would have apple dippers from McDonald's, birthday cake and sweet rolls. Bryan and I looked at each other and without saying a word, put the kids to bed and I started on a cake while he ran to Meijer for sweet rolls and McDonald's for apple dippers. If at this point you're saying "you've got to be kidding me" just wait. Bryan got home and had streamers to hang along with a "Happy Birthday" banner and even princess tableware. (These decorations didn't come down for over a week!) </div><div><br /> </div><div></div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352544714982114242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYoWbTi19WYx7joNK-8IWjn0hhOqFOoB1SSYQe7_7qzYKno6zw8CbL8j7eB5kZplVZlLV0cpjhmXLpJ7RQWidu4S2guzDyZugTXmzWHYJd52ZBD0M7PwgPm4LHNEIU6hHRdwt3spwxbYI/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+009.jpg" />Birthday morning with all of our birthday breakfast wishes.<br /><br /><div></div><div>Christina was told she could have what ever she wanted for her birthday dinner. Without missing a beat, she decided she wanted to go to Friendly's. The funny thing is, she's only been to Friendly's maybe twice, and it's been easily over a year ago. But we said we'd go. She was all big girl all the way. For those of you who know Christina, you know she takes some time to warm up and come out of her shell. Well, no more! Friendly's seemed to bring out the friendly in Christina! She wanted to order her own meal (and Dominic's too). She also was very insistent that they sing "Happy Birthday" to her. After the wait staff left, she even asked me why the rest of the people in the resturant (the patrons) didn't sing to her also! Then on our way out, she saw a waitress across the room, that didn't come sing and wanted to know why she didn't sing to her also. She was hilarious!</div><div> </div><div>On to our next birthday celebration. Last Sunday we had Bryan's family over for a small family party. Gamma Joyce & Papa Phil, Great Grandma Lena, and Uncle Andy & Aunt Chris came over to celebrate. Christina had a blast. More and more presents and even new sand for the sandbox! Which is where we spent most of the evening. </div><div> </div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352545893859938434" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHwjBvPVMTXDbsQshdAr0mUw0GgouCQXGCfmuBgQN8NAlLVlZ2umdd-dbFZYoikjm6WT9ShW-5PbrjMmUJ-_zCmzzyXN_EH7GOCFJhDDaTJnNBJAJ1UEJRvpOzuYlnE_YNKeiXMXGHtA4/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+066.jpg" /></div><div> </div><div>And another cake for another party. We love Hannah Montana at our house!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>And the last of our birthday celebrations took place this past Tuesday. Two of the other girls in Christina's preschool class have birthdays right around Christina's, so we decided to have a joint party with Elizabeth & Malena. Everything went extremely well. We had it at the park down the street from our house and invited all the kids from school. The kids had a blast! Most of them hadn't seen each other since school let out, so they were so excited to see eachother. I think the highlight of the night though was when Mrs. Klaus (their teacher) rode her bike up to the party. (We had invited her as well.) You would have thought she was Hannah Montana (see above comment on HM)! The kids were running and screaming to her and hugging and squeezing the heck out of her. Too cute. Anyway, the party went really well. And yet again, Christina got more gifts! </div><div> </div><div> </div><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352545898981006802" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrK0x32RQB0P0fl4fDghkADwEWFzUeKqsT57K_d6juMPMg-UKLormX2O8rmEqA21RJJLHSoF_xO5f5pKM1I7snJTNg8Wq0avhiDvhPmE2cVONibkPf2YFWtapfveNTZ2IaBDOHc8VA05o/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+038.jpg" /></div><div>The birthday girls! Christina, Elizabeth & Malena had a super fun party on the lake!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Last but not least, did I mention that I submitted another card for the Sunny Side Up Show on Sprout? Oh yeah, I did. So for those of you haven't read all my blogs go back and read about Dominic's birthday card from last year. Christina's card made the show again this year! So she's been on for the past three years (Dominic hasn't made it yet- don't get me started)! Here's the video clip so make sure you check it out!</div><div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzyo_peH9wHKEb4WxZ0BG9366yA97DXAL_vUhHX_Cz8Bkk2TP_Wzox4CrI0SKJPPsMyWZdQHAL1hFOC3am_' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div> </div><div>Anyways, the decorations have finally come down, most of the gifts have been opened and Christina is another year older. My baby girl is growing up! Yes, the past four years have gone by super fast, but we've enjoyed every minute of it. We have so many wonderful memories to still be made and for that we are truly blessed.</div><div> </div><div>We love you Christina Anne!</div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-22995359879305480162009-06-18T20:48:00.007-04:002009-06-22T22:28:14.783-04:00Christina's Last Few Days of SchoolSeems it's been a while since I've been on here. I am now determined to get more than one post on here a month since Bryan is giving me a hard time about my "monthly posts". So for my die hard followers (pretty much my mom) you'll be getting at least one more post this month (Did I mention it will again be about Christina - hello she turned 4)!<br /><br />Christina finished preschool the beginning of the month. While in September I never would have imagined this school year would come to an end this quickly, the last few weeks went by in a blur. She truly enjoyed herself and has grown into a wonderful young lady over the last 9 months. She can hardly wait to join her classmates, Mrs. Wollf & Mrs. Klaus again in the fall.<br /><br /><br />The last few weeks of school were packed with FUN! FUN! FUN! The kids walked to the library, visited the fire station and got to spray the fire hose, a trip to the beach and even a walk to get ice cream!<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pivf9Xzj3q9clldzDpo_LY81QeU7jgC4eCylfTiDc9k4jb5DuKwmIXwg5zFHv6P_K_ta0TF2c6zHc83F3Hlxwhzyv0PPi5lkiy_9RN-Xl_mOieh0Cc1J0ci912y-hO-FwvexqKKMIxo/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+045.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348842284868811122" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pivf9Xzj3q9clldzDpo_LY81QeU7jgC4eCylfTiDc9k4jb5DuKwmIXwg5zFHv6P_K_ta0TF2c6zHc83F3Hlxwhzyv0PPi5lkiy_9RN-Xl_mOieh0Cc1J0ci912y-hO-FwvexqKKMIxo/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+045.jpg" /></a><br />I'll start with the picture above. Obviously the above picture is Beach Day. Mrs. Klaus lives on the beach and she was gracious enough to invite 13 three & four year olds over to play on the beach for the day. We were told they would be playing in the sand, so no swimming or swim suits required. Um, yeah right. I was a driver and stayed, boys in tow, to check out the action. I don't think a single kid left without getting a "little" wet. Most were soaked! This picture is the entire class sitting on a log before heading to the picnic table for cupcakes and ice cream!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS2GEfiFXhX1LrNKGczzJ52TaQl5XEmTudPFmQtGnZuRiUwkctB4eTH4V5wzQ-RIOX7-0YdoszlPNVbnw5O-HXKsXsp6n1m4j1_NwXXWd_XW0LuS3oNsFSkYLA-oQohDeu9uEpPdx_ik/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+017.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348840904494601474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCS2GEfiFXhX1LrNKGczzJ52TaQl5XEmTudPFmQtGnZuRiUwkctB4eTH4V5wzQ-RIOX7-0YdoszlPNVbnw5O-HXKsXsp6n1m4j1_NwXXWd_XW0LuS3oNsFSkYLA-oQohDeu9uEpPdx_ik/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+017.jpg" /></a> Christina and Reagan holding hands after walking over to get ice cream. You would think that when the teacher tells you that you can get "whatever ice cream you want" you wouldn't get a green slushie. But that's my girl! <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2g4eea0I1V6-G6-NLkF0MC9MKVmjsn6fcM949HL1Lpr3HIaZW2zBbNA8x0YV08pzDfHFJGoGiJDs9v9yxioxArf9Zxg1-QFHDNmT6Nvv6UqXYN39yuaHuuFsCSW8h3uLm-21tG7WnR4U/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+038.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348840899433396210" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2g4eea0I1V6-G6-NLkF0MC9MKVmjsn6fcM949HL1Lpr3HIaZW2zBbNA8x0YV08pzDfHFJGoGiJDs9v9yxioxArf9Zxg1-QFHDNmT6Nvv6UqXYN39yuaHuuFsCSW8h3uLm-21tG7WnR4U/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+038.jpg" /></a>Christina and Elizabeth at the beach. It was overcast, but the kids still had a blast! As you can see by Elizabeth's shirt and shorts, most of the kids got pretty wet. Christina was playing in the sand in facing away from the water. Too bad she couldn't have moved in more because by the time we left it looked as if she had wet herself from behind!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNM_pRJufFhycmEV_2Xywyd8MoB9Mdnn5RW4OhLxSRx6lMx21DeqB0yWAMHSV-xELckPCFRclHIfGOrALwdyQEpMePNIgoTstpvRsHWR_62SdKE4hXh8sYxv_1S0uEeyL71JECsFk61sQ/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+031.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348840894472778274" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNM_pRJufFhycmEV_2Xywyd8MoB9Mdnn5RW4OhLxSRx6lMx21DeqB0yWAMHSV-xELckPCFRclHIfGOrALwdyQEpMePNIgoTstpvRsHWR_62SdKE4hXh8sYxv_1S0uEeyL71JECsFk61sQ/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+031.jpg" /></a> This is Christina, Malena & Elizabeth. You'll hear more about these three in my birthday post. The girls all have birthdays during the same week so we're having a group party for the three of them. Should be lots of fun! <br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSIE7b3E3GnusZj2GD6y1RiHVLFViw3_bSd-rGfU97UJ9UkHsPpjKnDH076xbZjyVaLyBdjMsgkAFbmXmg4NSf7zNGrI_we3IqaY5-Ru6WQIarizg_3Gp5GihGkO2GjIoNhuJQcx58oE/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+028.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348840886605641474" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKSIE7b3E3GnusZj2GD6y1RiHVLFViw3_bSd-rGfU97UJ9UkHsPpjKnDH076xbZjyVaLyBdjMsgkAFbmXmg4NSf7zNGrI_we3IqaY5-Ru6WQIarizg_3Gp5GihGkO2GjIoNhuJQcx58oE/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+028.jpg" /></a><br />Couldn't do an entire post without mentioning the boys at the beach. Ethan was a trooper and pretty much hung in the front carrier the entire time. Dominic however, well looking at the picture should say enough. He was running from the top of the beach straight towards the water and then back again. With several sandy falls he went home soaked (his diaper was like the size of a football) but had a blast playing with the boys in sissy's class.<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdYQl9crD-NyJRo-ZSHv5IQsgJsSKe_VlXtn7UfXL-3l2y48kA2tWAfJhauSZuf2mfjQRcXWrPU4U_jlalB2L4w442bk2aWtazbwSUJD5xHmTL5_oHYOYZiW3BFGSyfnIZECQFx1meAQ/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+014.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5348840883038679202" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdYQl9crD-NyJRo-ZSHv5IQsgJsSKe_VlXtn7UfXL-3l2y48kA2tWAfJhauSZuf2mfjQRcXWrPU4U_jlalB2L4w442bk2aWtazbwSUJD5xHmTL5_oHYOYZiW3BFGSyfnIZECQFx1meAQ/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+014.jpg" /></a> Ryan and Christina with their slushies. They thought it was quite fun that their tongues turned different colors.</div><div><br />All and all a wonderful end to a great year. If this is what we have to look forward to with the school years, I say bring it on - we love it!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-10501895153924059622009-05-24T21:59:00.003-04:002009-05-24T22:39:02.194-04:00Summer is Officially Here!I think it's safe to say that summer is officially here for the Alphabet Family. Daddy hasn't had a day off from work in over two weeks, so when we knew he was going to have today off we wanted to make sure he got to relax! What a fun day we had!<br /><br />The day started out by talking at breakfast about being good at church. If the kids were good today during Mass, they would get to go to the beach and to get ice cream. Nothing like bribing a two and three year old! As I type this, I just realized that the ice cream promise never happened. At least the kids didn't remember! <br /><br />Well, church wasn't the easiest hour of our day, but we made it through. There were baptisms this morning as well as Memorial Day weekenders so it was a little more packed than normal. And Dominic didn't seem to understand that not everyone around us wanted to know what color crayon he wanted to use next. I thought that he would stay quiet if he got to color, no such luck. <br /><br />Did I mention that Christina got a new swim suit yesterday and HAD to wear it to church? After much convincing, she finally understood that if she was to walk in to church in her bathing suit, they would not let her come in. So she wore it UNDER her dress, so she would be ready to hit the beach right away.<br /><br />We did end up making it to the beach. I was a little nervous. One big lake, three kids and two adults. At least Ethan isn't mobile and just was happy cuddling with Dad or Mom. But really the kids did great. Christina was all about going down to the lake and getting buckets of water. Dominic was just content sitting in a hole Daddy dug him and playing in the sand. They could have cared less that there was a giant lake behind them and jumbo amusement park on the other side. They were just having a ball in what they thought was their own private extra large sandbox. <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiam-Fr2jNp7RXsWO-0Ncw7JABClGcG-ZGdnsMOKJsCr9p53uoEkDP5xasWbKpLMAz5OhgvW_KR0GpcTAbT6qDO0dnoQufK6gVqTqhW6St5xDQI53q5GMXQZKMG7lxOX7cejdF6fGysxs8/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+052+(2).jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339577638212863234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiam-Fr2jNp7RXsWO-0Ncw7JABClGcG-ZGdnsMOKJsCr9p53uoEkDP5xasWbKpLMAz5OhgvW_KR0GpcTAbT6qDO0dnoQufK6gVqTqhW6St5xDQI53q5GMXQZKMG7lxOX7cejdF6fGysxs8/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+052+(2).jpg" /></a>Christina dumping water from one pail to the other. </div><div align="center">Dominic ready to dig in. </div><div align="center"><br /> </div><div align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339577623302972386" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzhyI3b3AZeVNM_JKxJialJTSAhLdEa4iPzf59Cg-c0a0Ufk5GxkFsoeNHpMD80VamDbSjDry6_8XZhd3BlYuvf8w1Ks3NEBwhshzfyzE5aToBT31ier66aoUTkLqIQpnN7z6PtOV9Zeo/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+046.jpg" /></div><div align="center">Right after we arrived, filling our pails to make sand castles.</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLekWuNKfcqh_M4LUGStj00ucXyFkULGE_PToUFzp2-i6ixAqxi6DrGqtZpqaWjC6rtxxcGaJCfAgYO-t24yJMtQ11iwWHRe4Rp71yEJQnmboXTVYNfM0PGwzihFSEvxMyo_u8ABICNVU/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+070.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339577633378185410" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLekWuNKfcqh_M4LUGStj00ucXyFkULGE_PToUFzp2-i6ixAqxi6DrGqtZpqaWjC6rtxxcGaJCfAgYO-t24yJMtQ11iwWHRe4Rp71yEJQnmboXTVYNfM0PGwzihFSEvxMyo_u8ABICNVU/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+070.jpg" /></a> Dominic filling his turtle. </div><div align="center">He played happily in the sand just digging and dumping, over and over again! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41niCX8aYViL_gcpANnsijaMBWcItP_xw2yZa2O1keJvypo4dhtZkmWJQ12XJeHPGo9T7lS5yNkjDi36tcPFLG3OED5aCtgM74OrnqD2HnutjM_j6Jb75EVmmChr42E6qUQPMHkha4s8/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+057.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339577632110187682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh41niCX8aYViL_gcpANnsijaMBWcItP_xw2yZa2O1keJvypo4dhtZkmWJQ12XJeHPGo9T7lS5yNkjDi36tcPFLG3OED5aCtgM74OrnqD2HnutjM_j6Jb75EVmmChr42E6qUQPMHkha4s8/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+057.jpg" /></a> Christina quite proud of her first sand castle.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMYDGJSr2YWTekGXsdqczkr-Mfoc4_43ZNk8By1TK7h_-yh6qaWRa6etrtCjHUT6lWVDsMXxi_4yiJz-nufaAdloWynTtZiN8IxoDCQpzyQDHJG5cfj5LE3oaizdm8y0ugEMLSKILf28/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+056.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339577627825668482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMYDGJSr2YWTekGXsdqczkr-Mfoc4_43ZNk8By1TK7h_-yh6qaWRa6etrtCjHUT6lWVDsMXxi_4yiJz-nufaAdloWynTtZiN8IxoDCQpzyQDHJG5cfj5LE3oaizdm8y0ugEMLSKILf28/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+056.jpg" /></a> Ethan had a never ending battle wearing his hat. </div><div>I think he looks cute with it on!</div><div> </div><div> </div><div align="left">All and all great family fun day! You know they had fun when they're all in bed asleep by 7:30!<br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><div></div><br /></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-6848798322987210802009-04-18T22:42:00.005-04:002009-04-18T23:28:05.134-04:00Our "Bay Cation" to Kings Island<div align="left">Some friends of ours from church thought it would be fun to take the kids down to King's Island for opening day. After blocking out all the terrible memories of riding in the van for more than 10 minutes with our children, we happily said yes. So on Friday afternoon, we hopped in the car and after what seemed like an eternity (about 4 hours in real people time), we arrived.</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">The ride down was full of it's own adventures. Not leaving until almost 2 p.m. left me dreaming that my children would blissfully nod off and sleep most of the way down, but that wasn't the case. Dominic has been battling a cold/cough for a while and he tends to get a little <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">phlemy</span> (if that's a word). Needless to say, he coughed most of the way, and at one point I was holding a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Rubbermaid</span> bowl to him so he could toss his cookies & <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">phlem</span> (really french fries, mandarin oranges and chicken nuggets - WENDY'S), but we continued on. </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">After a rough night in a hotel room with 3 children three and under, we got up this morning wondering if today could get any worse. Luck was on our side and today was WONDERFUL! (Besides the tired kid meltdowns in the car on the way home!)</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Christina rode her first roller coaster. It's called Little Bill's Giggle Coaster, and it's all she wanted to do when we first got there. I rode with her and the giggles really do come pouring out with every "hill"! She had a blast. I think Daddy was a little bummed her first coaster wasn't at CP, but once he saw how much she enjoyed it, he was thrilled. We were suckers and bought the pictures, I'll have to see what I can do to get them on here. </div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">KI put in a new coaster this year. While we didn't ride, it was well worth standing and watching it run. We stood on a bridge and watched it come over head and down into some water. Dominic was so excited and would literally shake with "<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">wow's</span>" <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">every time</span> that we could have stood there all day. It was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">definitely</span> a highlight (not the ride, Dominic's excitement any day!)</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Ethan was a real trooper. He spent a majority of the day in the stroller. He did get to ride the train in the "boys" seat with Daddy and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Bubba</span>. Mommy and Sissy sat in our seat and "checked out our boys" so we had fun. Ethan did actually fall asleep and took a nice little nap in the stroller which was really cute (Christina and Dominic NEVER did this so it was a special treat for me). Other than his blow out <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">poopy</span> diaper that left him without any shorts on, I'd say he had a great day.</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">I did say shorts in that last sentence. It was absolutely beautiful today. It had to be in the high 70's and plenty of breezy sunshine. The kids wore their sun screen, and Dad and I are both wishing we would have put it on ourselves as well. </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center">Anyway, here are some highlight pictures:</div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><br /></div><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326233146657655426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAf4F15h-PiNdsK-yE0BbOado1nJ3VjSuDxYS8kmQhMhnzujGCCil8vsgR-Ff91fRmaCIGOGqrKvc3jyZUtoDlTXi2C6bvoREl0YzAXI1FvLe8X7pej6QLf0W2J0E-KsuiybFWkQR8Ltc/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+020.jpg" border="0" />Dominic & Christina driving their car on the bridge. They thought this was the coolest!<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326233152021327794" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrXBr2NeWmVpSjTGydbs8W1u0JDrjCezZvJVJUL-GG6WQmTdeMSBuGE4b_8wtSIa7nh4a3AcTFpXvowvuYzJSyEaRc7tCM27ytYuXlrWFZweV5rk2ZKvdo7-30k-Qr7_DsKycrl4-ix94/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+023.jpg" border="0" />Again, in the "carnival" (that's what it sounds like when Dominic says convertible).</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326233159958934690" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ht5t_SmlkUiCgdEThiv5MKC4zN1t3DvzU41i3R8LUS7WH9NS4XxNNYVFAr4IPzX5QL72bOTZIFmGudbIY9wRtuRIR4t7-VedcfL5nBrqyPRzK0J6V8TXFuirltKLKSvhSPmDrVewkH4/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+026.jpg" border="0" /><br />Ethan asleep in the stroller. He missed out on the Lazy Town helicopter ride with his big sister and brother, but I'm sure he enjoyed his zzz's.</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326233164385288994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiwZfw9KwHDFyp9SjaeFo6BKg7E3rTJeLI-icWVFSlwce6LoXKf7YXtKxM7_nW3s8k98FLfb1-fFoxbCtZhzuW5VTIJ3K1DlRiukC6EPI67opmYQ6nsJ-YB5lxA2SHQEe_Y6ATPJ98318/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+030.jpg" border="0" /><br />Christina saw Dora from up on the helicopters and told Bryan (after they had waited a half an hour) that she no longer wanted to ride, she wanted to go down now and meet Dora. Being the good dad that he is, he said no way in heck after he'd waited with them, but he made sure when they got off, they got to go meet her. Christina let Dora know she was coming by yelling to her from the helicopters the whole ride. This picture has Dominic, Christina, Daddy, Dora and Hunter.<br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326233167038323074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim9R9HctHlrvNVRAzZmdXI4W3Nk-IK8cvWGaWU5jUyTkweoYJMUMSsnU5d_5O7U7KB9QOxqvC-tXFxu6kar44NWJvs4zO5V0AzQl157cNPchgsF1pDgPhHLTXCyD7NckHKXugJJ5jWJQA/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+031.jpg" border="0" />You can't see it too well in this picture, but Dominic had a cheese & ketchup mustache from his chicken bites and french fries he was dipping in his sauces. Christina was just being her cutie patutie self.</p><p> </p><p>Anyway, we're home after a long exhausting day. So I think it's time to hit the sack, the kids are zonked, and I think I'll be asleep before I make it upstairs!</p><p> </p>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-29848996952255257762009-03-17T23:31:00.005-04:002009-03-17T23:58:01.250-04:00I Love This Weather!!!I love this weather! It couldn't have turned out to be a nicer day!<br /><br />Tuesday's tend to be my day of chaos. Christina has to be at preschool by 8:45 a.m. (which means everyone has to be ready by 8:30 and I'm not a morning person), Dominic and Ethan and I then come home for all of an hour before we head to Lap Sit at the library, we then hang out there for about 15 minutes before heading to pick Christina up at school, and from there it's over to pick Daddy up and take him out for lunch - by the time we actually make it back home to do anything it's about 1:30 - and that usually means trying to get Ethan down for a nap, so it's 2 before I can start my normal morning routine!<br /><br />But today was wonderful! We opened the doors and windows and let the fresh air in while I got some things done around the house, but when dad got home from work is when the real fun began. I think Bryan had his dress shirt and tie off before he was even in the door. He then ran around for about 15 minutes to get the swing set ready, and the kids spent a good hour outside before dinner. After we ate, I got Ethan down for bed and when I came back downstairs it was spooky quiet (not normal at this house!), but Daddy had taken the kids back outside, and we were finally able to get them in for the night around 8, which is past bedtime!<br /><br />Christina did so well pumping on the big swing. She didn't quite get it last year, but she just took off with it! Dominic was his normal giggly happy self. A little aprehensive about the slide at first but I'm sure he'll be the monkey he was last fall again really soon! Ethan loved the swing, he was too little for it last year, but it's perfect now! <br /><br />Anyway, wanted to post some new pictures, and let everyone know we are doing well. Life is crazy as always, but we're enjoying every minute of it and not looking back! <br /><br />Let's pray for the beautiful weather to stay!<br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vcY0RsChtXdZxWPBzVUU9Htr8M0AoHfp4hGsbAXM1J7bQBb3uhODtSsfcR25a7N1wq9BxN7e_mEuJil6KQDbkv9DIaAA0Io81sBK6-WdHGGGSCoP5CtBtHrwkMzS7cYEgtK7fAq50a4/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+023.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314367012334907858" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9vcY0RsChtXdZxWPBzVUU9Htr8M0AoHfp4hGsbAXM1J7bQBb3uhODtSsfcR25a7N1wq9BxN7e_mEuJil6KQDbkv9DIaAA0Io81sBK6-WdHGGGSCoP5CtBtHrwkMzS7cYEgtK7fAq50a4/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+023.jpg" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> Dominic on the glider, Ethan in the baby swing and Christina on the "nana" swing.</span></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-MxzT1Shl9qPa9QwtQPvlm2gTx30_U9P3kPYcYzBI4uh5zq_l26RtxpyMlHpKQhz8hmMPRnFmWA59TGn4ktWTwjqlgtN9T8UDT7mkXasrl-YaxHLCvyvW6eqHWRkqd5uthV18OU-QoF8/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+022.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314367007125992114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-MxzT1Shl9qPa9QwtQPvlm2gTx30_U9P3kPYcYzBI4uh5zq_l26RtxpyMlHpKQhz8hmMPRnFmWA59TGn4ktWTwjqlgtN9T8UDT7mkXasrl-YaxHLCvyvW6eqHWRkqd5uthV18OU-QoF8/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+022.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> You can actually see Ethan smiling better in this one, and I'm so proud of Christina "pumping!" Check her out!</span></div><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGq_TnjGZuCuku6-WeW-CtQUGDAg8q7CH9iu8LsD1wXZwX2oHZYc8Xz6wpI-nVUC8L2cA6TSKaSlsf1SFrc2-UZuX-exwURzt8MaeKCe47AYC3C6SPW12oDlvbePsFX66Abcpc46e0qVk/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+008.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314367000028498114" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGq_TnjGZuCuku6-WeW-CtQUGDAg8q7CH9iu8LsD1wXZwX2oHZYc8Xz6wpI-nVUC8L2cA6TSKaSlsf1SFrc2-UZuX-exwURzt8MaeKCe47AYC3C6SPW12oDlvbePsFX66Abcpc46e0qVk/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+008.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> Dominic the dare devil making his first of the new year trip to the slide!<br /><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi304qqmAffcvFrezP5hsrPxq_guLDQ08hD1be4tn3WyFM_W3PfzWU-K9Cm6LdXQPyqPVaGPYTq-ij2Np4ij64opa7jETvzda_yl7oXorIrQYITNJ3V3jDaPdKzxw02vol3QlBI02BbYlA/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+004.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314366994834073906" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi304qqmAffcvFrezP5hsrPxq_guLDQ08hD1be4tn3WyFM_W3PfzWU-K9Cm6LdXQPyqPVaGPYTq-ij2Np4ij64opa7jETvzda_yl7oXorIrQYITNJ3V3jDaPdKzxw02vol3QlBI02BbYlA/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+004.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Ethan's first ever swing ride! He loved it!<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-44109318820762326282009-02-04T10:03:00.008-05:002009-02-04T10:58:39.252-05:00Yes, I know, it's been a while...<div align="left"></div><div align="center">How cute are we?</div><div align="center"></div><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcIDqLpDE5jmPQfmclklnWfKPqmusoiWsVJPMDAp86jYxrfxmwevsO7GMv55z345Hh0szGUQhAN5DugQftqzgqlO4ojQnHBfNdz29g9kd8biFvDdc9WkgD1-9REvXCAHhX69kJHA5l0c/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+035.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298971341671733026" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcIDqLpDE5jmPQfmclklnWfKPqmusoiWsVJPMDAp86jYxrfxmwevsO7GMv55z345Hh0szGUQhAN5DugQftqzgqlO4ojQnHBfNdz29g9kd8biFvDdc9WkgD1-9REvXCAHhX69kJHA5l0c/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+035.jpg" /></a> <p align="left">You don't have to remind me, which Bryan is doing on a regular basis, that it's been a while since I last posted a blog. I've been telling myself for the past month I want to get on here and do it, I just haven't. Yes, we've been busy, but ultimately, I've been um, LAZY! There, I said it, now I'm going to "get over it" and "move on." </p><br /><p>You'll notice those last two comments were placed in quotes. Those were exact words I was told yesterday by Christina, who is three I will remind you, when I continued to push her for more than "nothing" as her response to what she did at school. But this blog isn't about the fact that my daughter has my husband's attitude, because we all already know she does!</p><br /><p>Not much exciting going on with us! I've been selling junk I've been finding around the house on Ebay. I'm actually not doing to bad and it's kind of fun to see what we can get for stuff. Some things have been a total flop and either sold really low, or not at all, but I've had my share of triumphs too (my Rachael Ray cook book sold for $50!!!!). </p><br /><p>Bryan and I both recently joined Facebook. We're having fun catching up with old friends (who if you are one of them reading this, yes, I will soon get pictures on there too - the blog was calling for an update long before I joined Facebook). So if you're on there, search for us, and add us to your friends list.</p><br /><p>The kids are growing like weeds. Christina is loving preschool. I think if she could she would go everyday. And the things she comes home knowing, just blows me away. Her teachers are amazing! Dominic, our little comedian, makes me laugh all the time. He copies everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, his big sister says. Ethan is just getting huge. He's easily at 6 months what Christina was at 1 year. When you stand him up, he comes up past Dominic's shoulders. </p><br /><p>Here are some highlight pictures of what we've been up to:</p><br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298965995629021986" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvnzdJvL_IlVQKw9W9aHQTGEuTgkwD71Y9LDrVjudm_vD4GTVCB2wqdgyiU1_jXOJKFxfYWc4HATXwua5jZkuLyWQbzHYuV_MMPlg6zyyW4UrL-VFAwfzfxCxo0PhOP-HGazWvXhVsrw0/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+028.jpg" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Christina & Dominic enjoying popular presents from Christmas</span></p><br /><p><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298965989882215826" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDPzWozXNgAbPNBMBFGaVMJsVHjD4ggORuS_Q_HVJPfuv-srMk7z5bDgqtp9JMQwm8F8MyZoKQuvb9NP7MJ2yW22XaCS_xi8jyMCz20QYFumsYLa1aNFEGzFWt7ls4kZOLIZ4ASccuRi0/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+009.jpg" /></p><br /><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Christina making snow angels, it was Dominic's idea, but he chickened out!</span></p><br /><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298966009809092418" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQGN_9kE_ewteaEQAoKmV6vSUMI_2WcE29j27s39S_lk-l7N-PxXhe2PYAiko8FWSebjayoCXRS509edNGsrMBCtx7cZZGKJKR8jsK6XpT_78Ggl8jLZebrTYj5T32FXLBzNGWnDCmnQ/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+061.jpg" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Ethan (not quite sitting on his own) looking handsome and drooly!</span></p><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><p align="left"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298965999849940178" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_fGUfOfp7zPZ93eTPnKCDiu3_Vxf-ToeRejzCeNgslylHLf1HLwP0BkW2ulnfrsDC-LKdtkLkboAWkqOMFuQHlzK3w6lx2LrOTwMpzhgzGIkiO4o5jW-sv0iVGDbbaApZl1in2EJty9I/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+049.jpg" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Dominic and Christina making their first snowman!</span><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5298966010396270050" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W_T1dTKQ1oeErPnr_BcCRfgiqGzcBT1gEdWb3I2EaMMp3GI6EB_zNu9AIRhMrRnsnNqImu87Rv7fFSek-YOtnjSanBWvZyuTgL8rcGMmnA5WReFWAvEaAstHB97CbQgHhFaLrkFsm50/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+040.jpg" /><span style="font-size:85%;"> Ethan just looks so big to me in this picture, I had to post it! Is it possible he's not just 6 mos. old?<br /></span><br /><br />So for today, that's going to be it. But I do promise to start posting on here again really soon. I hope everyone is well and healthy! </p><br /><div align="left"></div><br /><div align="left">All our love from the Alphabet Family</div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-83225686364193781712008-12-06T15:20:00.020-05:002008-12-07T23:32:09.966-05:00Lunch with Santa!<div align="left">I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted a new blog. We've had one sick kid after another, and I think the colds are now making another round! So unless Spring comes tomorrow, it might be a while before I have three healthy children all at the same time!<br /><span style="font-size:0;"></span><br />Gamma & Papa came up for the weekend for Dominic's birthday. We had such a good time,<span style="font-size:0;"></span> despite the snow and Sprout card fiasco. I'll get in to that on my next blog. <span style="font-size:0;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"></span>Saturday we had such a fun lunch. A local resort here has a lunch with Santa. For $12.95 for adults (the kids are young enough they ate free), we got to have lunch with the big man himself. While the food is average, however very kid friendly (chicken fingers, hot dogs, mac'n cheese) it really is a fun event. They have a characture artist and a guy there doing balloon animals. We had the cutest little characture done of the three kids. When Santa actually "arrives" you hear what sounds like his sleigh and reindeer landing on the roof. I was a little freaked at first, until I realized what it was. It was sooooo cool to see the kids excitment when they realized what was happening.<br /><br />We attended last year, and this year we didn't make the same rookie mistakes we did last year. Lines got a little long early on last year, so this year, before Bryan even had our table, I took Christina & Dominic and we went and got in line to get our characture. I think he did a really good job, but by the time he finished ours, the line was huge! We did the same thing for lunch too. Everyone was in line for pictures and balloons, so we actually made our way right up with no waiting. Santa is what we need to work on for next year. Once that sleigh lands, I'm going to go up and wait at his chair because by the time he made his entrance, kids were EVERYWHERE waiting! All and all though, it was well worth it. Dominic went up and sat on Santa's lap. Ethan joined him and my big girl Christina stood with her brothers and told Santa what she wanted! No tears from anyone! It truly was a Christmas miracle! <span style="font-size:0;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:0;"></span>Ok, this is it for tonight. I'm going to do a blog tomorrow about Dominic's big day. I won't leave you waiting though. The card DID NOT make the show. Needless to say, I'm not happy! Fill you in on the rest tomorrow!<br /><br />Here's some of our favorite pictures from Saturday:<br /><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277260115478208882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCnk_EORpwTpYDLaHGcn25RZzymxSsehqaB5ZDrI6boyKz6zjS1W_cjYUOGQwAvYEf_6JgaqBJNC5IgmbnGjMJphSyb1fgs_LdsaSXDAXDh474pPKsjTXXYxraFJ1uCkUmd8EJpbEa2Q/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+048.jpg" border="0" /></div><div align="center"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Dominic, Christina & Ethan's characture! Isn't this the cutest!?!</span><br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277263974342460338" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixp1YnJfQHUq-RucbVURrY0ktzyCwTSXfhDzFo9GuWjdEVOz1LsvquR63zU_bFptD0gaM2fx_A4TwckaBSOeVWN2omCie7aVNLCBICfDX8kxbvI713Q4bjEqYqbhV_-sszfeEZlYqQR1k/s320/10.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Christina & Gamma drinking their lemonade at lunch.</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277263983941886434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtmhwNgxd1tipqnSQJxX46vLCgnnorap_2tbmLRgfbVM7cjxCjbp7pAeYTb3jU-PANYYjrI-XQJMNFfJ2_m-GON_PlgdrZhRoiFlp3FN7DQV2xAafKET6FGqd9og461BNGBOpUVICE-XI/s320/17.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Christina & Dominic waiting in line to see Santa.</span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">And I saved the best for last (drum roll please):</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277264012255980546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2IO-xSCJoJ6hjn8h2R00Kmt_f9IGAoftd_VUwOoiUcnLHwQ2WpH2m0Dcilg0GpoR0ijrGWZgw5mKwntD4uqwe9Iqz98_0s6da2oBOB-tatdBYzDCDNbC_vmFj2hsbKy_SttPpbTpA9Cg/s320/23.jpg" border="0" /></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dominic, Ethan, Christina & SANTA!!!!!</span></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><br /></span>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-79121214475954762832008-11-17T21:50:00.005-05:002008-11-17T22:09:42.336-05:00Our trip to the Fire Station<div align="center"><div align="left">Dominic loves fire trucks. I would even go so far as to call him a fire truck fanatic. Well he just happens to be lucky enough to have a grandfather who is a volunteer fireman in the area here. So we called Papa Phil last week to see if we could come over and show Dominic the fire trucks. Papa said he'd be more than happy to show us around. So on Saturday we made our way over to the fire station and had a wonderful time! Even Christina was getting in to it. </div><br /><div>Here are some of my favorite pictures.</div><br /><div><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269828957716546658" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKNHaAoNSz7CPjiQDlW5a8Ju0qMEZjDFMM4YCo5_HeAQ5jXPDJtx6NxBCn-8AVL_MnyQ1-lUrS_tPQla2Z3O32qgUMbMgD5epO8O7xhjD811KN6YLvpYxC1_0WB4r82bhIsJpu5VipDI/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+047.jpg" /></div><br /><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Christina wearing Papa's fire hat.</span></div><p align="center"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269827396960818242" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz0YSPZKQN52hyphenhyphenU4HWoWiYnA0OCG0D_GHtOpvqSDmT8L9VfuMCsDrX99o-rEV4bhnphme-U3mxjUHOUggSjGK-lgiLJpOwLk-AHjGMwfmWMXVjeGWvK5DoUsZTjo0Elo5uugd2jjVNfJo/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+037.jpg" /><span style="font-size:78%;">Dominic "driving" the fire truck.</span></p><br /><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269828268018805810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhCt6u0msxHIpuRU7inuhGF_BR88BEsU3SUaaqZm77gN6nM7WP9ajrjNOUgZFmiTaVI4er56k_aN-P0B-EAQWhZKG-Z66_IUsAYl9JpSQeeWYDXdBVyecd9DQhr4f_73eKCENZLyL8U8s/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+049.jpg" /><span style="font-size:78%;">Dominic, Ethan & Christina sitting on the truck.<br /></span><br /><div align="center"></div><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269828277992958018" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF7KXo7uO5xLilTbL2bk90kEwCrzlwiX7pmVihyJEopKocBpWmCk-5OBahCmgsN8dPsujGiQC8GWJ7X4UzyL9t3qlGJMeETRZ8l7fzWQtD6VjXwSpM6zmiADx4S1_2GlI8pWJLD9aLclk/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+043.jpg" />Dominic playing with the big tire (you can see his reflection in the center).</span><br /><br /><div align="center"><div></div><div></div><br /><div align="left">All and all we had a great time. Can't wait to do it again when Ethan is a bit bigger and he gets into it! Thanks Papa!</div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-22452442678943213332008-11-12T23:39:00.007-05:002008-11-12T23:56:35.071-05:00Dominic JamesOk, so my last post was a little long winded on Dominic's card. My husband was the only person to post a comment. And his comment was filled with sarcasm. However, in his defense, he has had to hear (and see) me check my blog and complain that no one is commenting. So thank you, I think, dear for posting.<br /><br />I just want to let everyone know, I have finished my work on Dominic's card. After this, you will no longer have to hear about it until I start work on Christina's card for her 4th birthday. I take that back, you may actually hear about it again on December 7th (Dominic's birthday), when we find out if his card made the show or not. I really hope it does. Let me know what you think. I personally think it turned out pretty cute!<br /><div><br /><div></div><div>Anyway, here's the card: </div><br /><div><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267998475062493874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1Qg-nhMr3s4cLlLB6vg0nZouFMOppPyZXLtHUMCRNDNzunIRkqV4s62dIdxxUHNOtb2m1qg5qAgLXAnSukp7TnedfcW5Y6pReYTMiHjoGiVzdJJZgTkYDBmGZksoq830kU3XFdDrx8c/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+021.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267998485468310946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigHXT_BxTUtpsf28u1oZpZOBv4m_dU6Zvra791ADXmm3bazd4SfKJCFwTTTk2tF5Cap-pfNc84ypsRnq9bvdaIMROWFyRSLK4jnQ6NTVhwiCIIaa999DYkBl2Wt9s6tuFcj2-YHlYJmHM/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+022.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>On another Dominic issue, he truly is the funniest little guy. For the most part, he's so easy going about anything. It's always, "Ok, mama" which is nice. At some point I'm sure he's going to get tired of all the things I do to him, but I had to do this one and he happily took part.</div><div></div><br /><div>Bryan brought home a box the other night. When we asked what was in it, he said Lee at work gave him an old Halloween costume that both of her kids wore. I was a little skeptical, but thought we'd check it out. </div><div> </div><div>So this is Dominic as Humpty Dumpty. </div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267999670597669250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGM68pPnm4H18icazL8kah5F_26vDWEEl9gORqVgegMZxJRLVOO3oIpyKs6r3KrCq4WPimMl8Egl2H_q73L51KSuxtAL-yRJ9MlYnCF8Iq_gJcPUyFJhydoJgBXVHhkLnoQVitHZv7000/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+004.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div>Now I had previously wanted the kids to be the Wizard of Oz next year (Christina as Dorothy, Dominic the Tin Man and Ethan as the Cowardly Lion), but I've changed my mind. Someone WILL wear this costume! It is tooooo cute! I think I can even put white tights under the pants to make them more like knickers (I think that's the word). So if anyone has any good other nursery rhyme characters for me for Christina & Ethan I'd love to hear them!</div><div> </div><div>I'm done for the night. Let me know your thoughts!</div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-24779502239223655182008-11-09T23:08:00.008-05:002008-11-09T23:49:53.314-05:00Planning Dominic's Birthday Card<div align="left">I'm a little behind in my planning of Dominic's birthday card for this year. While I have about a month until his actual birthday, I need to get the card done so that I can get it sent in for the birthday segments on Sprout Network.</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">This year it WILL happen. Dominic's card HAS to make the show. I'm obsessed. I should back up and tell you what this is all about. </div><div align="left"><br />Sprout network used to have a show called "The Birthday Show" that was all of 10 minutes long, and they showcased like 6 or 8 home made birthday cards that were mailed in. Christina watched this everynight before going to bed. So for her 2nd birthday I used construction paper and made a really hokey Elmo card and mailed it in. As luck (or as I like to say, my artist skills) would have it, my card made the show. It was by far the coolest thing on TV that day! We TIVO'd it and have since put it on DVD so we'll have it forever!<br /></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266878806492615058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVnXsjXb4824VVN4TTUSyoXi_XEGKmf2ARm0yE3O1JPTecaAf_gE68kioWX61JRukol-P5j507X5aRZDX9M4XghQzq406pCrhAIAHu3I1Zn_w_RXHf-RZe0Siu0B_w0BzwlZcxnhWI52Q/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+001.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:78%;">The outside of Christina's Elmo card.</span></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266878809162954002" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDsnwTCOYyIYSYS2xce-kNr8j7s4G0CT715VLy_-aDG50AMGuzuxJBNgaPTuo53Dphkac6BWorA9rjTq02IMY3rcBQXMDKfZlL9tF_kCoBAjlWnzDNzgs6Z7T-1Y7SSm96Hb0qbZOXLDk/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+003.jpg" border="0" /></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">The inside.</span><br /></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left">So needless to say, I was cocky, if I got Christina's card on TV, I could do a better card for Dominic's first birthday, mail it in, and it would for sure make the show. Since he really wasn't in to anything Sprout character wise, I decided to do Bob the Builder. I spent weeks cutting out orange and yellow squares to make Bob's shirt. And gluing them down was even more of a pain. But I was certain this card was going to make the show.</div><div align="center"> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266880955034266386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrscP9pGxMRVQGgV9mNBFG2X2T31O7YvABvbUJe3Otu-Nz1b-gk8hNuUNrVUy1z-RZimtb_eb5_qpcBab4xivPuiIyYrWB9m1mfAjznWfPbTcCN5Fy2BMsmG7cPsRpoicijItxZCAv-kY/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+009.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"> <span style="font-size:78%;">Outside of Dominic's card.</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"></span></p><p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Inside of Dominic's card. </span></p><span style="font-size:78%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266882371845559186" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWIcxgp70b85KoXgWF3SbLp0KINtDwA7RtVtUjMzJ98EO1a-GR1GpDoDy8H_xA_MZcTEYsq3HQPWpEm6AxtPvXiO3bBJeacM8y3Tulkay0n-spxe6o8NaLfYMEjZxeSVG-mprBqXq-nW4/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+013.jpg" border="0" /> </span>I'm sure by now you've figured out Dominic's card didn't make the show. I was so bummed. (Now that I look back, the card was kinda dorky.)<br /><br /><p>So anyway, I again decided to make Christina a card for her 3rd birthday. Afterall, she made the show last year. Well, Sprout has changed the format now, and it's a part of a 3 hour long program and they do birthday's throughout it. So now we were going to have to sit through a super long show just to see if my card made it. I'll save you the suspense - IT DID!!!! She even had some cute little comments on the pictures from the girl that hosts the show!</p><p>Here's the card:</p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266884777301174178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZiJdVzFL8Lqt7bAD0SFwKMoYD5_fDWbYQaeWnHWCKneVj7WAXnRQBf-nSjw3wrM4HNVNb8bKpw6v4g9MLH275mN5zdho5wO3iu37t6TCXRZDuwlcvGgx7hpOB1fS3NNkU-wj0H8RM5Y/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+011.jpg" border="0" /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266884995040471218" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 316px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDLzDmof1Y2O0PR3XIuwFovSTSKZ3k-aufLQviRkRI1eeuiugOhqCUsychYqrun16WhUpF4kC2jQCgA2jU1YeVQ3RhMCGFDGM2EHkTLhlYrww2gNqO1Si2QOAu16_Ok-Y0KqhxS5iXgMw/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+013.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p>So now if you're keeping score (which I am) it's Christina 2, Dominic 0. Dominic's card is going to be the COOLEST card this year. We went to two different stores to find paper, and I'm in the process of finding the best picture of Thomas I can copy to make the ultimate birthday card.</p><p>Ok, yes, I'm a little obsessed. But I will get Dominic's card on TV this year. With that being said, I'm going to go start looking for my Thomas picture and I'll keep you all posted on my progress. Say a prayer for me and my card! </p>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-89949395668430107682008-11-07T23:06:00.006-05:002008-11-08T15:08:40.495-05:00The things I've learned from preschool<div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyp1Ntg1arNT6v4d7QHuBU-uiNXRGLIRl1wZ18ZnKenamB3gMlrAIFykTwtZZmYoisaEnlLrWzE4TAE8ksAtXu4jAvWd_MT5sqF6W1BTEqdf9eATN7tzDiUD169RLA3WSc5TUfb6dABE/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+011.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266134334792655874" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyp1Ntg1arNT6v4d7QHuBU-uiNXRGLIRl1wZ18ZnKenamB3gMlrAIFykTwtZZmYoisaEnlLrWzE4TAE8ksAtXu4jAvWd_MT5sqF6W1BTEqdf9eATN7tzDiUD169RLA3WSc5TUfb6dABE/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+011.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Christina walking to school in early September.</span> </div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left">For those of you that don't know, in September of this year Christina began preschool. Bryan and I debated long and hard about the decision to send her. For me, I wanted her to go so that she could interact more with other kids, it wasn't so much for the learning. Bryan supported my decision, however I knew he was more nervous than I was.</div><div align="left"><br /></div><div align="left">We had so many reasons that said she didn't have to go, she had just mastered potty training, she had a new baby brother at home, she's never been left with anyone since she was 6 months old, the list could go on. We both cried but told ourselves that at any time we could take her out and send her next year.</div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266136487202670258" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DpXE9KbRFPh_qykXmtfkq0toiOqtAjKcYhey-2LJfOKL_L0OVycblCo0U86YsY4_qH08od5PNvKxFo5CkaCWt8_X_a23tVYP6oz5T4LyE6AtzPKM0AKxkulyIWLlmX54RN0QpIdMRuw/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+016.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><span style="font-size:78%;">Hanging up her coat and backpack on her hook with Mrs. Wollf.</span></p><span style="font-size:100%;"><p align="left">Fast forward 3 months and after the first week of tears by all three of us, Christina is loving it. She talks about all the kids in her class, brings home the cutest little projects (and even makes things for her brothers), but I think the best part has been the fun songs she's taught us! Bryan, Dominic and Ethan may disagree, but I've enjoyed learning my months of the year put to music, about a squiggly worm in an apple and now the latest one stuck in my head is "The Family of the Sun" (to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell").</p><p align="left">It goes like this: </p><p align="left">The family of the sun, the family of the sun,</p><p align="left">there are nine planets in the family of the sun.</p><p align="left">Mercury is hot. Mercury is small.</p><p align="left">Mercury has no atmosphere. It's just a rocky ball.</p><p align="left">That's all I'll post of the song, I'm sure you get the idea. If you would like the rest, I do have it memorized, and I could always email it to you if you really want it.</p><p align="left">All and all school has been a wonderful experience for us. Christina is loving it and learning to be a little more outgoing and independent. Mom and dad are learning that our little girl is growing up and she can do well without us. Dominic just loves the fact that sissy's school has a playground that he gets to play on when we pick her up. And Ethan, hopefully is absorbing some of the solar system knowledge!<br /></p></span>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-87788811347322388972008-11-03T23:06:00.005-05:002008-11-03T23:30:10.063-05:00Ethan the thumb sucker<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiwS1IET6JD_okdCJHvzg7uvguezwkXNH7AAv4TvWCF1EL3wy9Z6ETv5CpJH_cGyhivzQ0zMT-aEEFx53_4FcvLPpnkETrIbbFYJw-u8OgmQAqXIDff8Oxfc5bkvbwB0wEmZzxpH5pk0/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+037.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264654818183257010" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYiwS1IET6JD_okdCJHvzg7uvguezwkXNH7AAv4TvWCF1EL3wy9Z6ETv5CpJH_cGyhivzQ0zMT-aEEFx53_4FcvLPpnkETrIbbFYJw-u8OgmQAqXIDff8Oxfc5bkvbwB0wEmZzxpH5pk0/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+037.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div><div>I have to start this by saying it truly is the cutest thing I have EVER seen!</div><br /><div></div><div></div><div>Within the last few weeks Ethan has turned into our little thumb sucker. I was a little aprehensive at first, but seeing him with that little thumb in his mouth has won me over. </div><br /><div></div><div></div><div>Christina and Dominic both took a pacifier. I should say take, since Dominic still has his, and Christina uses hers still at naps and bedtime. We've tried several different options to get rid of them, but in the end, we buy more or give them back. We're wimps.</div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>I said this time I'd try and go without. See if we could get him to NOT take one. But with nursing, and him constantly sucking or crying, we went ahead and tried. When he took to it we figured we'd have another one with a "mouth" (Christina and Dominic's name for their pacifiers) and for a while there we did. But he's very happy now with his thumb instead. Infact, if you try to give him the pacifier, which I usually try to when I go to put him to bed, he spits it out and in pops the thumb.</div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>It's actually nice that he can "find" it in the middle of the night and sooth himself back to sleep. I still sometimes get screams from Christina that she can't find her mouth in the middle of the night!</div><br /><div></div><div></div><div>I guess I need to remember that no kid (at least none that I know) graduated from high school with his thumb in his mouth. I know at some time we're going to have to break all three of them of these yucky habits, but for now, well I'm just happy they sleep!</div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264654040641870210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgreogJOpwK-EmvEDfiK-fU084V_GxH3op8EO8G6f2dWhDklsdolWMAH6J9mbHAP7ddDRkwXKxp0dqj1hPkJELSHeP44q8hi7tygWHPVaI4ThU8ffDQgFb09M5AMzO1UuuOtFMQessGpdo/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+007.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-27231697010931425962008-10-31T19:05:00.000-04:002008-11-01T13:16:21.594-04:00It's time to Trick or Treat!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHLS57A2zT0ypEgQCwOaCwEvza3F3iXS6Mqupp2nnLKgEXdMl_zrwTazn7Mt5xVK2LNkGqUnyT2CCm_xba_FLiM6PI2M_Hs6Ceot8m4IkkBabbfeanvOmmM6YWslK6bOXxARjGpwlfLc/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+086.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263738632767053154" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHLS57A2zT0ypEgQCwOaCwEvza3F3iXS6Mqupp2nnLKgEXdMl_zrwTazn7Mt5xVK2LNkGqUnyT2CCm_xba_FLiM6PI2M_Hs6Ceot8m4IkkBabbfeanvOmmM6YWslK6bOXxARjGpwlfLc/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+086.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div>We just got in from what was by far, my favorite trick or treating experience EVER! I probably said the same thing last year- or the year before that, however, I now know that I was mistaken.<br /><br />All day today the talk has been about going to get candy. What do we say before and after, holding hands when we walk down the sidewalk, etc. Around 4 o'clock, Christina was jumping up and down saying, "I'm so excited, I can't wait for Halloween to come!"<br /><br />Christina was a bumble bee, Dominic a pumpkin and Ethan wore his pumpkin onsie. Christina had to bring the big pumpkin canvas bag to dump her bucket in as it got too full. Dominic on the other hand feared he would never see the candy again if it got dumped, so he opted to scream "NO, MINE!" at me as I tried to dump it!<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAmUilSaQCzqJqfaVH8a-9N9ds0YEllmQALLsw8TVUBl3QuzRwX6_0NfxzWjfs8RhXhiRvIG6x23kHLo-13hT8cCNbIWGJ7sroQIH31pDWi3ZZAKJul6cFF2tvhlyk7z4lC-JKPKTLXgM/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+086.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvt83cwdqm0qU6n9LRT68SUz4DbH-1U7LgV9gziEg3NuYCUSC8skKqlNFVtk8NYssKOT2obBQhmMcgjMdVG1mP4M0XtHaH9XrSwfM-FPIvlWtYQ7xtBiileu7zxvXUdgbs4FoldhOCISQ/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+083.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263484044423639378" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvt83cwdqm0qU6n9LRT68SUz4DbH-1U7LgV9gziEg3NuYCUSC8skKqlNFVtk8NYssKOT2obBQhmMcgjMdVG1mP4M0XtHaH9XrSwfM-FPIvlWtYQ7xtBiileu7zxvXUdgbs4FoldhOCISQ/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+083.jpg" border="0" /></a>We only hit about 15 or so houses, but the best was Christina telling us, "this is so much fun guys" over and over. She even came out of her little shell and was quite loud in her "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You". Dominic was also a hit, if he was offered the bucket of candy to choose, they would actually have to pull it back or I would have to stop him, because he just kept filling his pumpkin! </div><div><br />All and all the weather was great, the kids were adorable, and everyone had a super good time. The best part of all is I didn't even have to dress up and I now have a great stash of chocolate!<br /><br />I know next year will be even better (because Ethan will get candy too)!<br /><br /></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"> </div><div align="center"><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff9900;">Happy Halloween!</span></strong></div><div><br /></div><div align="center"></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263460110079136994" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwSC9hGh6pzOlTIAiLek2tA16B41UfAJucbk9burbsWJq2QgXxs7F7yXgXgQYHE3C3O1ZtEDfYmf2iJ5SmZ-w0WY-hXMOXkt-fAjTOPQs1xhtnnJF_az2_QRK6Y70QwLj07Oa2YAQpVJs/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+063.jpg" border="0" />Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8109223323155593328.post-26085483431519543622008-10-31T00:20:00.001-04:002008-11-04T17:40:48.703-05:00So I've finally started that blog<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKay8rZDhzjC63rUSya-SQifpW542ygKRjjpUbOGVGd5thj9WCDc-I9YEQrcsNK6_RlnROhbRuDANUqYf2G93cWpbHrEzPnaF18T4iGBD8F9BkLU415JOIiaXL_79cw-xX07TJYfHh7s/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263174074091599890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyKay8rZDhzjC63rUSya-SQifpW542ygKRjjpUbOGVGd5thj9WCDc-I9YEQrcsNK6_RlnROhbRuDANUqYf2G93cWpbHrEzPnaF18T4iGBD8F9BkLU415JOIiaXL_79cw-xX07TJYfHh7s/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+002.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div>I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while now. But with three little ones underfoot, and the OLDEST being 3, my spare time is usually spent - oh wait, I don't have any of that! So I've decided I'm going to make time to do this.<br /><br />With so much of our family out of the area, it'll be a nice way for everyone to see what the kids are up to. Thanks Mandy for blogging about your two cuties- you've been my inspiration that this will work!<br /><br />With that being said- here's what's been going on at our house lately!<br /><br />We've recently been making some changes to our bed time routine. As you can imagine, getting a 3 year old, a 22 month old and a 3 month old to bed it night is not an easy task. Multiply that with the older two sharing a room, and for a while it was party central in the kids room until 11:30 some nights (starting this at say 8ish)! I'm convinced they would have gone on until the sun came up if we wouldn't have gone in and stayed there until they fell asleep.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJzSOVDOFOY94v0g6viXY9u6UIG2MDR3e1GWCtrWx0BOYGR-W0UGh7HbX3sh_B8U2hbfD1inIgXRybu1tyyStM5BtOgGPvsmLMHxTUa1eNBXgKT-IUzMdc66pVS26jeH0w_lOff_u08w/s1600-h/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+021.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263174399705593458" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJzSOVDOFOY94v0g6viXY9u6UIG2MDR3e1GWCtrWx0BOYGR-W0UGh7HbX3sh_B8U2hbfD1inIgXRybu1tyyStM5BtOgGPvsmLMHxTUa1eNBXgKT-IUzMdc66pVS26jeH0w_lOff_u08w/s320/Christina+and+Dominic+and+Ethan+021.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />So now, it's Ethan down by 8, Dominic up to bed by 8:30, and Christina gets to stay up with Mommy & Daddy to watch one of "our shows" until Dominic is asleep, then she's up to bed. It's worked out really well. With that being said, the conversation she and I had yesterday at nap time cracked me up.<br /><br />I told her that she needed to take a nap, or she wasn't going to get to stay up late and watch mommy & daddy's shows. After several attempts to get out of napping, she finally said,"I'm GOING to take a nap, but what's on tonight anyway, Surbibor (Survivor)?" It was too funny!<br /><br />Ok, so I'm going to try and post this, and maybe attempt a picture or two before I call it a night. Hope everyone enjoys!</div>Angiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17385596257462161824noreply@blogger.com10