Dominic's Birthday #2

We decided to have a small birthday party for Dominic with his friends here in Indiana. The Holdaways and the Huberts joined us for Dominic's 2nd 1st birthday! The kids had fun running around and playing with all of the new toys. I made chocolate cake with flavored cool-whip frosting (spumoni cake - a favorite for kids in my family) and the kids ate it up.



This is before Dominic realized that there was cake to be eaten.



This is after Dominic realized he likes cake!

Christmas #3 - The Final Christmas

We celebrated Christmas #3 at home. It was the best! We had so much fun. I think we enjoyed it so much because it was just us at home. We were able to relax and just let the kids play. While we enjoyed going back home to visit, we did not like seperating Christmas into three parts. Next year, we are going to stay in Lafayette and have ONE Christmas. Here is a clip for the grandparents of each of the kids opening a present.

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Christmas #2

We went back home for Christmas. It was probably the best visit we have had yet. Ashton could not sleep the night before Christmas. He kept waking up and talking about Santa and presents. Finally, at 6:45 a.m., we let the boys get up and open presents. By then, Dominic understood the concept of opening presents. He dug right in.

Here are the boys playing with what Ashton believes is the most important thing in the world, Thomas! He recieved over 30 trains for Christmas, and knows the name of every single one. I swear, Thomas the train is like a drug for toddlers. They should have a 12 step program!

Later that day, my brother Paul came for Christmas dinner. I rarely get to see him anymore, so I was of course really happy. Ashton loves saying Uncle Paul. I think he feels like he is getting away with something because he is not allowed to call Daddy Paul, as he often tries to. Paul's son Payton is only 2 1/2 months younger than Ashton, so they love to play together.

Dominic, Uncle Paul, and Ashton playing around.

It took all of Ashton's self control to watch his cousin Payton open a present and not open one himself.

This is not a very good picture of Ashton, Dominic, and Payton. This was the best we could with three kids under the age of two. Grandma wasn't with us to celebrate Christmas because she lives in Oregon, but I knew if I didn't show a picture of all of her grandbabies together, she would never let me live it down!

Dominic's 1st Birthday

Dominic is a one year old! I cannot believe it. This year has flown by so fast. Dominic had a huge family birthday party this year. Paul's side of the family usually gets together for a Christmas Eve celebration, but this year we decided to make it a birthday party. Instead of everyone exchanging Christmas presents, Dominic recieved birthday presents. Which I am sure the family was grateful for, it saved them a lot of money! Paul's family is huge! Dominic had fun playing on the stairs all day (we don't have any at our house). Both of the boys were a bit overwhelmed by the large amount of people all crowded into one house. Ashton never left Gammie's side. All in all, it was good seeing family that we really don't see anymore now that we live in Indiana.



Here is Dominic sitting on Grammie's lap. He held onto the Elmo for the rest of the time we were there.

Another Trip to the Children's Museum

Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum once again. The kids always have a fun time when we go. This time we went with the Madsens (Maren, Spencer, and Josh). I took a lot of pics. Well actually, I tried to take a lot of pics. My camera does not always agree with what I want to do, and does what it wants to do. It just doesn't understand who the boss is. Anyways, here are the kiddos have a grand ole time.


Dominic in his first picture with Santa! He wasn't thrilled, but he was much happier than Ashton-who wouldn't even stand next to Santa to get a pic.



Ashton, Josh, and Dominic playing at the water table. For some reason, the kids always want to play at the water table, get wet, and run over to play in the sand. Hmmm...



Dominic, Ashton, Josh, and Spencer looking like they are riding through a haunted house rather than around the carosel.



Ashton is giving a how to on fishing. 1. Pick up the fish. 2. Manually affix the hook to the fish's mouth. 3. Hold up the fishing pole and say "Mommy, I fishing!"



Josh and Dominic looking like cuties!



One of my favorite pics of Dominic. He was in the middle of yelling his usual "BobBobBobBobBob!" You can tell he is having a ball.

Christmas Came Early

This year Ashton and Dominic celebrated Christmas really early. This was not on purpose. I happened to be on the phone with my mother when the UPS man arrived with all of our Christmas presents from her. She insisted that we open up the main boxes to make sure there wasn't anything broken (she had sent a few glass items and some pasta). Then she wanted the kids to open THREE presents each. I said no way. We comprimised. They opened all of them.

All it took was a little team effort of Ashton, Daddy, and Monty and Dominic joined in on all the fun. Everyday since we have had this repeated converstation:

Ashton: Open more presents please mommy?

Me: There aren't any.

Ashton: Go store and buy more presents?

Me: No honey. Santa Claus is coming soon.

Ashton: Ask Santa Henry.

Ashton: Santa bring me Donald and Douglas!

Then Ashton happily runs off to play. He firmly believes that Santa is bringing him every Thomas the Tank Engine train there is! I guess we will just have to wait and see. Thanks Grandma!

The Christmas Bush

We have had our Christmas tree up for a couple of weeks now. All was going well. There were no major incidents, just the usual pulling off every ornament that could be reached. Dominic pulled on the lights a couple of times, but he never seemed to interested. On Sunday night, we were putting away groceries when out of the corner of my eye I saw the top of the tree swaying. It went down. It went down on top of Dominic. He was fine, a little scared but absoluetly fine. He was laying under the top of the tree so we think he tried to take off while holding the Christmas lights and got so far that he was able to pull it down. We have a fake tree because we rent and aren't allowed to have a real one. Paul was able to salvage part of the tree. I refuse to buy a new tree right now because we will be out of town for Christmas. Why buy now when we can buy a tree 50% off in a few weeks? So now we don't have a Christmas tree anymore, we have a Christmas bush!


This was our normal size Christmas tree last year.

This is our Christmas bush this year. At least we got 7 1/2 years out of it!

Dominic Must Be a Distant Relative of Roald Dahl

There is absolutely no doubt about it, Dominic must be related to Roald Dahl. After nearly every meal the kid eats, he looks like a character straight out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The other day we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Dominic ended up looking like Violet.

Ashton now thinks that making cookies is the best! We decided to make thin mints. Dominic was allowed to have ONE after he finished his dinner (we never have a problem in that department), and this is what he looked like.

It has been really cold outside lately, so I decided that we needed to have some hearty comfort food for dinner. I made shephard's pie. Dominic loved it so much that he decided he just had to cover every square inch of his little body in it! He even managed to shove a bunch in his ears. He ended up looking like an oompa loompa. I didn't have the camera out to get a picture of that, but I was able to take a picture of him eating something else.

You be the judge. Does he look like an oompa loompa?

Bath Time: Too Much Fun or Not Fun Anymore?

Dominic LOVES taking baths. If he hears the water running, he makes a beeline for the bathroom. If it is someone else's turn, he screams bloody murder. I always throw both of the boys in the tub together, it makes life much easier. But if I am not fast enough at getting them undressed, Dominic tries to climb in the tub himself. He is getting to the point where he will be able to do that soon. Anyways, baths have always been a fun splash fest often ending in a flooded bathroom. Not anymore. Dominic is too way too busy to splash. Now when we put him in the tub, he immediately flops backwards (often hitting his head very forcefully against the tub) so he can lay down in the water. The more water covering his face, the better. He makes these horrible faces while laying there. When I pull him up, he laughs hysterically and does it all over again. It's almost impossible to wash him!


Doesn't he look so unhappy? He's not. This is his idea of a good time!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Grammie was in town and the kids got to eat cookies all day. We had some friends over for dinner and had a ton of food. As you see, both the boys ate very well.


Dominic is trying to get the hang of using a fork!


Ashton happily eating away!

Ashton missed his grandma who lives "very, very, far, far, away," so this message is for you.

In case you couldn't understand the begining, he said happy thanksgiving Grandma!

Getting Ready For Thanksgiving

Grammie is in town to spend Thanksgiving with us. Ashton spent the day helping Grammie prepare for T-day. They made the sauce, meatballs, baked an apple pie, and made cookies. Ashton topped them off by decorating them.


Ashton did a great job!

Still Sick

Today Dominic and I still didn't feel good. Paul even spent half the day at home tending to the kids so I could get some rest. Ashton was determined to make me feel better by singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and kissing me on the forehead.


Isn't he just the cutest thing ever!

ER Visits and Sick Children

This past weekend was crazy! Friday evening was another trip to the ER. We should get a frequent customer discount, we have been there way too many times in the last year. Ashton told me his arm hurt while we were at the mall and I didn't believe him. It was a few hours later that I realized he wasn't faking it. When he wouldn't get up to watch Thomas the Train, I knew something was wrong. I felt like the worst mom in the world for not believing him! When we finally did go to the ER, it really wasn't even worth the trip. Ashton popped out his elbow and fixed it himself before the doctor even saw him. Infact, he was swinging from the bed with his "bad" arm when the doctor came in to see him. The doctor wanted in x-ray just to be sure, and Ashton thought it was the coolest thing to get a picture of his arm.


In between hurting his arm and being sick, Ashton found time to build a fort with Daddy

On Monday Ashton came down with the stomach flu. He was throwing up all day. It was so sad to see him laying there looking extremely pitiful. Dominic took full advantage of Ashton being sick and decided it was time to get even for all the beatings he has taken from Ashton. Dominic woke Ashton up by slapping him and pulling his hair. He climbed up and started pummeling his belly. He hit him every chance he got!

Tuesday morning Ashton woke up completely healed. It was Dominic's turn. He was so pathetic laying there just looking at me. I felt so bad. He woke up today completely healed. It was my turn. So I know that tomorrow I will feel great, and Paul will probably be sick.



On a completely different note, here is a video of Dominic walking. It's for those grandmas that live so far away.

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A Day at the Park

This weekend we made what is probably our last trip of the year to the park. It was wonderful weather for the kids to play outside. I am sure that cold winter days will soon be here. The kids (including Monty) had a ball. The park was really close so we walked while Ashton rode his bike. Yes, I know he needs a helmet. The way he rides sometimes, I am sure that he thinks he is Evel Knievel. I will get him one as soon as spring is here. He won't be riding it too much more and his head won't stop growing!

Dominic drove his first car while Ashton rode his bike.

The boys being the cutie pies they always are!

Slide fun with Mom and Dad

Monty deciding if he should make a jump for it or go down the slide. He chose the slide!

Halloween

This year Halloween was a two week event for us. We got the season kicked off by going to the Madsen's donut party. Next, we went to Boo at the Zoo for some trick or treating. Ashton had fun, but was ready for more. Then, Paul and Ashton carved a pumpkin. The friday before Halloween, we went trick or treating at local businesses. My brother, John, was in town and joined us. We had a blast. Yet, amazingly enough, Ashton was not satisfied. All of the pre-trick or treating just got him amped up for the main event. Finally the big day came. We were hardcore trick or treating for more than two hours! The kids were exhausted, but everyone had so much fun. I thought Ashton would be asking to go some more, but he must have gotten it out of his system.

Even though it is hard to see his costume, Dominic was a bat. Ashton was Pablo from the Backyardigans. He picked out his costume all by himself.

Ashton now thinks pumpkins are one of the coolest things in the world!

Ashton is a big boy...and so is Dominic

The boys are growing up so fast!

Dominic loves to play the piano.

Ashton is such a ham.

Ashton is trying to show everyone what a big boy he is, but Dominic is a camera hog.