I thought I posted these pictures

Nicholas had his preschool Christmas program a week ago. He was so cute in his button up shirt and tie. We were very happy that he was actually singing too. After his program we went out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins.

Nicholas and Miss Tricia after the show.

During his class song

Nicholas and Trinity before the show.

Nicholas in is cute... oops I mean handsome outfit.

Cookie Day

Every year we (my mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews) get together before Christmas to make cookies. We have pizza, decorate cookies and the kids all enjoy playing with each other.

Well, I spent last night making cutout sugar cookies, 93 of them. The dough just keeps going and going. This morning I did some rearranging of tables. I moved the dining room table into the kitchenette area so the kids would not be on the carpet with the colored frosting. Then I moved the kitchenette table into the kitchen area for extra counter space. The table was a little cramped but it worked.

My kids are the youngest of the group so sometimes I have to remind the older kids that my kids are not toys. Other than that they all had fun playing and rough housing.

Christmas is coming

I am not sure if we have any pictures of me and both of the kids. So, today I set up the camera with the timer and got this one. Not too bad for only having a few seconds to run to the couch and get seated.

We have been getting ready for Christmas here the last few days. The kids decorated a gingerbread house and then ate the candy off on it in about 2 days.

Today Dominick crammed a tree into the back of my hatchback and brought it home. Do you know the first thing that I thought of when he told me about the tree? Not how much did you pay, or where it was purchased or anything like that... No, it was Awesome! Who is going to vacuum all the PINE NEEDLES out of my car?

Dominick has not been the only NAUGHTY one though =) Trinity had a huge fit today when I did her hair for school. After I was done she decided she hated it. I reminded her that Santa keeps a list of all the kids who are naughty and nice. She got over her fit pretty quick.

Nicholas is always very NICE. He helps out around the house. We have been working in preschool workbooks while Trinity is in school. He can write his name all by himself now!

Jake Owen concert

Dominick came home from work last week and told me that he bought tickets to see Jake Owen (I had no idea who that was at the time) He told me about the show and that all the proceeds went towards Oregon Foster kids. I was not going to say I didn't want to spend the evening with my husband so I went along. The Governor Hotel is beautiful (they are celebrating their 100 year) and the food was delicious. Jake Owen sings country music which I don't listen to but Dominick does. I like alternative rock mostly. However, I do have to say that I really enjoyed the show!

A Day in the SNOW

We took the jeep out with 7 other vehicles to play in the snow. We headed toward Sunset Falls and at about 3500 feet we were pretty deep into snow. We got a little stuck in one area but nothing we couldn't get out of. That is what makes it a little more fun, getting stuck and having to figure out how to get unstuck.

The kids loved driving in the snow but they loved PLAYING in the snow even more. The kids got their snow clothes from Fred Meyer on BLACK FRIDAY for 60% off. They stayed warm and dry all day! Nothing is worse than cold, wet and tired kids on the long drive home.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving. We started out by having Dominick's family at our house. We had tons of food! I brined, smoked then baked a turkey breast it was the best turkey I've ever had. We also made sweet and sour meatballs, ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes... the works.

After everyone left our house we headed out to my parents house. We had a nice visit with them. I brought them the left over turkey breast so they could taste the deliciousness =)

Nicholas wore his suit that used to be Dominick's. It's still a little big but Dominick's Mom and Grandma loved seeing him in it. We used the dishes that were Dominick's Great-Grandma's.

School pictures and Halloween

Okay so first things first! We got the kids school pictures back. I went out and bought new picture frames and hung them up on the wall right away

preschool 4 years old

The photographer said smile and show your teeth. So his fake smile is turned into a fake smile with his teeth showing.

Kindergarten 6 years old

I really like that Trinity's school had different poses and backgrounds to choose from. The only issue I have with Trinity's picture is that her headband is pulled forward.

Last night for Halloween we had SO many trick or treaters. I bought 4 big bags of candy and we ran out. I took our kids out around the neighborhood (Dominick was not feeling well) and almost every house had their lights on. The kids had so much fun!

House full of Kids

I had one of my nieces and two of my nephews stay the night last night. So we had 5 children running around the house last night and this morning. They all play together very well but they do get loud. They played outside yesterday but today it's raining and will be all day.

Cody has kept himself busy playing games (computer and wii). This is the kids playroom and where some of them slept last night not a war zone.

This is Nicholas' room which is normally pretty clean but of course all of the toys had to come out of the drawers.
None of the kids got much sleep so I am sure mine are going to take a good nap this afternoon while I am getting the house back into order.

2 days of no school and it's raining!

I have been playing around with my new Windows 7 and Microsoft office 2007 that I got for free from Microsoft. One of the perks of working for the company that I worked for was being able to take tests for different products that we sold in our store and get free or nice discounts. If I was certified for different companies products I was able to "sell" them to our customers better. I rarely ventured out to the sales floor but I still got the perks.

Trinity didn't have school on Thursday or Friday due to parent teacher conferences. It's been pouring down rain and Nicholas has a cough that sounds like it might get worse before it gets better. So we've been stuck in the house!

Thursday we read a lot of books! I had my conference with Trinity's teacher. So far Trinity exceeds all of the goals in her class. The class breaks up into 3 different groups for math and reading depending on skill level. Trinity is in the highest for both. Her groups also get more Spanish mixed in with their learning. I am happy that they are challenging her and keeping her busy instead of holding her back to wait for the other kids to catch up. Trinity loves to learn new things and I hope she always has that eagerness to learn.

On Thursday we also made sculptures out of marshmallows and toothpicks. The kids had fun with that one. Nicholas kept eating the marshmallows off my sculptures. We had a huge bowl of marshmallows too.

Friday we made green slime out of cornstarch, water and green food dye. I had to talk Nicholas into touching it but once he realized it washed off pretty easy he was ok playing with it. I could not believe how easy this stuff was to clean up and how fun it was to play with.

Getting ready for Halloween

Halloween is coming up pretty fast. We have started getting out our decorations. The kids have their costumes. We are having a little Halloween party at our house for the kids. I just have to wait now...

Today I was thinking that I have not taken a picture in weeks. So, out came the camera today and took a picture of my center piece. The bottom of the center piece needs some small pumpkins or something in it. I also have a nice runner to put across the table.

Today I was playing with photoshop and this is what I came up with just for fun. The kids love when I photoshop pictures with them in it. The pictures are of them in their Halloween costumes that they picked out for this year.

changes

After 3 years of working I am taking a leap and going back to staying at home with my kids. I've had a hard time the last 6 months or so working full time. I was away from my husband and kids way too much, especially since school started. We are cutting back and budgeting so I can be home with the kids.

I am excited and nervous at the same time. I love being home with my kids but I know we will not have any extra money. However, when you weigh family and happiness vs. money and extra stuff I am sure everyone knows which is better in the long run.

So here we go...

Trinity started Kindergarten

Trinity started Kindergarten last Wednesday. She was so excited to walk to school and meet her class. So far she loves everything about school except she thinks recess should be longer.

In this picture she is ready to head off to school. She is also showing off her newly pierced ears. We went and got them pierced the Sunday before school started. She picked out pink heart "diamonds" for her starter earrings. She is getting so old, I can't believe she is 6 already.

Trinity also had her 6 year Dr appt and she finally weighs just over 40 lbs! I can shop in the girls section for most of her clothes now instead of the toddler section. Her Dr is not worried about her weight because she has followed the same curve her whole life. She is always between the 15th and 20th percentile in weight for her age.

Dominick's Birthday

Today was Dominick's Birthday. We had plans to go out to Campers Hideaway at Lake Merwin for the weekend with some friends for some boating and jet skiing. However, the weather did not cooperate with us at all. It's been very rainy and on the cooler side (mid 60's).

So instead we got up this morning and went out to breakfast. Dominick choose Billygan's Roadhouse. Their food is always good and we had never eaten breakfast there so we decided to try it out. The breakfast was delicious and the service was awesome, like usual.

We went to Ikea to get a lamp for the kids playroom and found some other things for the house. We found a bistrio table that we really liked and then we found the exact table we picked out in the "as is" area with nothing wrong with it. We paid half as much as we would have had we not looked in the "as is" area. Plus it was already assembled for us. We were excited about that.

Dominick wanted to sit at home and watch a movie together as a family. He choose Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I don't remember ever seeing it when I was younger. Trinity really enjoyed the movie and Nicholas fell asleep during the movie. We ate cinnabons while watching the movie. Cinnabons are so yummy!

For dinner we dropped the kids off to their Grandma CC's house and met some friends at Newport Bay. We all ate and talked. The food was so good. I had spicy sausage gumbo and crab cakes. Dominick had New England clam chowder and sliders with a yummy bell pepper mayonaise.

I think all in all Dominick had a good Birthday!

Nicholas' first day of school

Nicholas started preschool on Monday. He walked right in the classroom, hung his backpack up and said bye mom. It went so much smoother than I anticipated, which made me happy.


He said he got to use scissors carefully and the teacher showed him how to use the glue. He is excited about going on Tuesday because it will be Science day.

Fun Day with Mom

The kids and I found a really yummy Thai food place pretty close to our house. Trinity is always cheap at restaurants that have white rice because that is all she wants to eat. Nicholas and I had really good soup (Nicholas ate his and Trinity's), satay chicken w/peanut sauce, Pad Thai w/chicken and I had some wild jungle spicy curry (lots of bamboo shoots, carrots, green beans and egg plant in a very spicy sauce). All so YUMMY!


After lunch we went home and got Nicholas' bike (Trinity didn't want hers today) we all went for a walk to the park (school 2 blocks from our house). It was hot out by this time so we brought lemonade with us and found a little shade.


The kids and I had a running race from the little play area to the big play area and back again. I won but Trinity changed the spot we had to touch to win and didn't tell us what it was until she was touching it so she could win.

Pretty Fingernails

Dominick took Trinity to get her nails done today. She had them painted purple with flowers on them. She was so excited. The first thing she did when I got home from work today was show me her nails and tell me all about it.

My 4 year old

Nicholas is now 4 years old! He weighs 44-1/2 lbs and he is 3'9" tall. Which puts him in the 94th percentile for his weight and 100th percentile for his height. He is so big.

I have been watching his fluid intake for a while now and I was concerned about his drink soo much all the time. He is always thirsty and not just for juice and soda but water or whatever is there. I mentioned this to his Dr. She said it is a sign of being diabetic but she was not too concerned about it. She did have us go to the lab and get some tests done though just for my peace of mind. We should have the results in a few days. Nicholas is healthy and active so I am not too worried about the results.

Nicholas had a very fun birthday party. We had cake and ice cream and then all the kids played outside with water balloons and water guns. He had so much fun!

It's 1:47am ... I should be sleeping

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would do a quick one this very early morning. We have been very busy with weddings, camping and other family fun stuff this summer I have not had time to post. I took a few pictures of Nicholas in his new Transformers hat he picked out at Target.

This first picture he was wearing the hat sideways because he was showing me the different ways you can wear a hat.

This second picture he was running towards me to see the pictures I had taken.

Can you believe my baby boy is going to be 4 on July 31st?? Where has the time gone?

July 3rd

On July 3rd we went hiking as a family. Dominick and I both had the day off. It was so nice outside and the waterfalls were awesome. The kids loved it and we got a bit of a workout too.


We forgot to pack extra clothes for the kids. Trinity cannot help but get wet when there is water near. She took her shoes and socks off to play in the water a little and ended up getting completely soaked. Nicholas got his shorts a little wet but they dried pretty quick.

4th of July we had a party at our house. We had tons of food to snack on. I forgot to take pictures this year so we just have to keep our memories in our heads. The kids stayed up late playing and watching the fireworks. We had a fun laid back weekend.

Weddings

I have been to 2 beautiful weddings in the last week. The first was one of my cousin's from Springfield, OR. She looked so pretty and had so much fun. The second was one of my cousins from Astoria, OR. She is my Great-Aunt Betty's granddaughter.

I loved when we were younger and all the kids would get together. We had so much fun playing and of course getting into trouble. Then we got older and that stopped for some reason. I am looking forward to camping in a few weeks with my cousins and my sister. It's going to be a girls only camping trip. We will post about that later.

I was realizing today that my baby is turning 4 in 1 month. Why did the time go by so fast. I complained sometimes about how much he cried if I was not holding him. Who'd have thought that I would miss those days? When the song "You're Going to Miss This" plays on the radio (when Dominick is driving because I don't listen to country music) I know exactly what they are talking about.

feel the love

Me, Trinity and Emily at Laurie's wedding

The Zoo again

We will be going to the Zoo quite a bit this summer since we have a Zoo membership. They have all kind of fun events going on like concerts and fun events. The kids love going and seeing all the animals. Plus walking around is good for them. We got rid of the strollers when Nicholas was 2 because I figured he was more than capable enough to walk by himself and it's so much easier getting around not having to push a stroller.

So here are some pictures from today's Zoo visit.

watching the water shoot up in the tide pool

Trinity monkeying around

The mountain goats always look so unkept but apparently they shed in the summer.

In other news Trinity only has 2 days left of preschool, tomorrow and Tuesday. Wednesday she has a kindergarten visit to see her new school and meet the teachers. We have heard rumors that Kindergarten will be 3 full days instead of 5 half days starting this fall. I am assuming that they will talk more about that at the parent orientation on Wednesday.