More Color

I did some tie-dye stuff when Mason was born inspired by a friend who did some for her son.  Here are some new ones that I will give to my sister and her two best friends that are all expecting babies.  Its really fun to see how they turn out because you never know until you unwrap them.  I am so happy with how these turned out.  I hope they are too.

Colorful Day

Poster painting.

My very colorful cake.

Positive Note

I finally got a nice note from Christian's teacher.  She is seeing some improvement and she thanked us for the flag!  I think this is a huge step forward.

Memories

Okay, I know this is kind of silly but I'm doing it anyway.  This picture was taken before we got married.  We were young and skinny.  I cut my hair short because Dominic likes short hair.  I hated it but I am considering cutting it short again.  I need to loose more weight before I even consider doing it though.  My face is too round at this point for such short hair.

I can't believe I was ever so small.  Those jeans were my absolute FAVORITE jeans!  I know that I will never look like that again.  I have three beautiful kids to thank for that :)  I just wonder what I will look like when I get to my goal.  

I'm going to be candid.  I was really tired of being the biggest woman in a room of people.  I felt embarrassed for Dominic to be married to me although he has never made me feel like he was embarrassed.  I want to be healthy more than anything.  Being thinner and buying normal sized clothes is just an extra, a great bonus.  It takes time and I am perfectly okay with that.  When I get there, we are going to take another photo together.  We will be 10 years older, he will be bald and I might have short hair again.  However, the best part is that we will be together.

100th Post

Yes, this is my 100th post on my blog.  Okay, I know its not that exciting, its just life.  So yesterday was a pretty great day.  I had Sarah, the babysitter, come over at 11:30 and I had a waxing appointment at noon.  I mailed a package to Dominic and bought some Forever Stamps since the price is going up AGAIN!  I grabbed some lunch.  Quiznos has these cute little Sammies that my sister introduced me to.  I LOVE the veggie one, so good.  Try them if you haven't yet.  After lunch I went to Kohls and picked up a new pair of shoes, some shorts for Mason and a couple other things.  Then it was time to get back home.

I also stopped off at Lowes to order the cabinet doors for the kitchen.  It should take about 3-4 weeks to get them in.  I'm realizing at this point that I will not have the kitchen done by the time that Dominic gets home.  By the way, Dominic managed to find out about the kitchen as he does ALL of my surprises.  He logged onto our snapfish account and saw the album of pictures.  Figures!  He never mentioned it until one day I realized that he probably saw them.  I asked and he said yes.  He said that it will still be a surprise because he doesn't know exactly what I'm doing and by the time he gets home it will be 7 months since he's seen the kitchen anyway.  I was disappointed but oh well.  Nothing I can do about it now.

Yesterday was a gorgeous 80-something degrees.  Today its supposed to snow.  Welcome to Texas in March!

Dominic called last night.  We talked a lot about how much we miss each other and started making plans for when he gets back.  He wants to have some people over and he definitely wants to cook.  He wants tacos, fajitas and BBQ.  The boys are missing tacos.  Maybe I will make some this weekend for them.  We still have a bunch of tamales to eat too.

I made the reservations for the Vegas part of our vacation this week.  We are going to stay in a spa suite at the Luxor!  I cannot wait!  Its going to be so great!

Update on TAKS

Yesterday I got the official results of the TAKS test that Christian took.  I found out that this portion of the test was for reading and the math TAKS will be at the end of April.  Christian answered 35 of 36 questions correctly.  He scored a 2502 on the scale.  Standard is 2100 and Commended Performance is 2400.  Again, I am so proud!

I emailed Dominic and told him to call when he could so that Christian could tell him the news.  He called that evening and spoke to both of the boys.  Dominic was very proud of Christian as well.  

Yesterday Mr. Page spoke about Christian's Flat Stanley and the flag also.  I asked him if that made him feel special, he said yes.

The little boys and I went to Walmart today.  We needed a few groceries.  It figures that when we are almost done and almost to the front of the store, Ayden has to pee.  I prefer to take him to the family bathroom where I can leave everything in the cart including Mason and just watch Ayden from the door.  Otherwise I have to take Mason and the diaper bag out to go into the bathroom with Ayden to supervise and help...one handed.  The family bathroom is just plain easier however its at the back of the store, figures.

So proud!

I just picked up Christian from school and he gave me such great news I almost cried!

Christian took to school his Flat Stanley scrapbook, American flag and certificate stating where the flag was flown.  Dominic flew the flag on two missions with him in honor of Christian's class. It was Dominic's intent that Mrs. Hill keep and hang the flag in the classroom however we sort of expected another misunderstanding, somehow.  Thank goodness that didn't happen.   The first thing Christian told me when he got in the car is that Mr. Page (the principal) might talk about the flag in tomorrow's morning announcements to the whole school!  How awesome is that?  Christian is SO excited!

The second bit of news that I almost cried about is that Christian only missed ONE (yes, you read that right) question on the TAKS test!!!!!!!  If I could have fallen out of the car I would have.  I am SO PROUD of him.  What an amazing accomplishment!  He is so proud of himself and was so giddy and excited to tell me.  What a smart kid we have :)  Yeah, Christian!

I can't wait for Dominic to call so Christian can tell him the exciting news!

Quiet Weekend

Well the weekend was fairly uneventful.  We didn't do much.  Saturday we went to Target for a couple things.  We got out of there as fast as possible since Ayden wasn't behaving himself and Mason needed a nap.  Sunday we went out to take back some movies, get milk and a newspaper.  That's it!  I organized the laundry since I have SO much to do today.  Every laundry basket is full and we've used about every towel we own either for showers and baths or sopping up water from the leaking washing machine.

The repair man came this morning and fixed the problem.   Ninety-four dollars, two visits and 30 minutes later the washer is fixed and I started a load before he even got out of the driveway.

I will start making calls today to get some estimates on lawn mowing.  I am no stranger to mowing a lawn.  My sister and I used to have to mow the lawn when we were young.  I mowed the lawn once since Dominic and I have been married.  He was gone for training in Germany and we got a warning notice on our door when we lived in base housing.  I HAD to mow the lawn and couldn't wait for him to get back.  I did and had no problems but if Dominic had it his way he wouldn't let anyone mow his lawn, including me.  I'm not sure why that is exactly.  I guess he thinks that no one will do as good of a job as he can.  Anyhow, I have offered many times to mow and he won't let me.  That's not why I will hire someone.  The reason I have to hire someone is because I have a 1 year old that needs constant attention.  I wouldn't be able to mow while he naps either because then Ayden would be in the house alone for an extended period of time.  He's too young to be left unattended.  So we'll see what happens.

Time to go switch laundry around!

Back to Normal

Well we are getting back to the routine. We woke up early and drove Kara and Julio 2 hours to the airport. Its always a long drive because we turn right around and drive back 2 hours. Thank goodness for the DVD player in the car. It keeps the boys from slugging each other which seems to be a new thing in our house.  I need to stay on top of that!

Julio called and said that they got home safe and were on their way home from the airport.

It has been a very busy week but we had a great time.  It was nice to have a break of the normal schedule.  

I spent some time trying to clean up a bit and get the house back to normal.  I have a ton of laundry to do since the washing machine is still broken.  I can use it if I want to sop up water from the floor.  I might have to do one load to be sure Christian has school clothes for Monday.  The repair man is bringing the parts to fix it Monday morning...FINALLY!  If anyone was wondering if the SHAM WOW really works, it does.  I bought them because of the leaking washing machine :)

We got a box from Dominic on Tuesday.  It had pictures and Flat Stanley.  I made a scrapbook for Christian to take to school with him.  There were lots of pictures with Flat Stanley.  Dominic also flew an American Flag with him in honor of Christian's 3rd grade class, so he will be able to take that to present to his teacher on Monday.  

I really missed Dominic this week.  I didn't get to spend much time on the computer chatting with him via email like I have been.  We made it beyond the half-way point now.  Dominic says its downhill from here.  He tells me that he is ready to come home now and that makes me feel sad.  I know in the beginning that he missed us but he was happy to be there and doing his job.  Now he just wants to be done so he can come home to be with us.  He knows that he's missing so much of the boys and I know that makes us both sad.  I can't wait to see him!

Busy week

Kara and Julio

Christian with the flamingos.

A sloth sleeping in a tree.

It has been quite a busy week but we've had a great time.  We went to Dallas on Tuesday and visited the Dallas World Aquarium.  That was really fun.  It made for a long day but we enjoyed it.  We came home to a corned beef and cabbage meal.  Delish!  

Yesterday we took Julio to Bahama Bucks.  They have the best snow cones EVER!  Every time someone comes to visit us we take them there.  Julio wasn't disappointed :)

Today we are just hanging out at home.  Kara and Mason are taking naps and everyone else is playing quietly or watching tv.  Later we are going to go to the store for a few things.  We will take Kara and Julio to the airport tomorrow morning.

Christian had a doctors appointment yesterday.  The doc increased the dosage a little bit.  We'll see how he does with that.