The Littles

Is it pathetic that I got more pictures of the ride home from our trip than the whole rest of the trip combined?  These kiddos are just too cute.

I love when Patrick crossed his little ankles when he sits. Dominic used to do the same thing when he was Patrick's age.

And Jackson learned to "say" please in sign language. He seems to be such a people pleaser. He loves doing things that will bring applause and cheers. Patrick--not so much.

Honeymoon 2

Luke and I haven't gotten away for an entire weekend since our honeymoon, almost 4 years ago, so we thought it was due time. My parent watched the littles and we escaped to Kansas City. (I didn't get too many pictures, but wanted to document the trip in writing, at least)

On our way down, we took our time and stopped in the cute little town of Weston, Kansas. We went to a tea room in the historic downtown and enjoyed some clam chowder and beer--what better combination?

Afterwards, we stopped by the beautiful Catholic Church on the Benedictine College Campus.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn that had a Coco Keys Water Resort attached. It was ironic that the place was packed with little ones, all anxious to try out the sweet water park. The two things I wanted to do on the trip were sleep in and sit in the hot tub. The hot tub was down all weekend.

And, Saturday it snowed 9 inches. Despite all these seeming annoyances, we had a very, very nice time just being together.

Friday night included dinner at Jasper's, a fancy Italian restaurant. The Western Nebraskans in us tried very hard to not use the wrong fork at the wrong time or pronounce the Italian incorrectly.

Saturday was filled with visiting the President Truman Museum and lots of shopping. By Saturday night, we were happy to order Pizza Hut into our room and rent The Blindside.

It was so great to spend some time alone with my one and only. Thanks for a great weekend, babe!

Another Spring Project

D and I and some of our friends put these egg nests together. Recipe found here. They were pretty yummy, too!

Sprin

Too much

Dominic, to Patrick bouncing in his high chair: "There's no music, Patrick"

Finally!

Few things can brighten your mood like a 63 degree day! The babies were too young to really enjoy the outdoors last summer, so it's been fun to watch them experience walking in the grass and the dog barking next door.

Jackson

Patrick

Man, I love the sun on my face!

Man, I love playing with sticks!

And, a photographic illustration of the Dominic/Patrick relationship.

Praise Jesus for Beautiful Weather!!

My Beautiful Babies

St. Dominic Savio, Pray For Us!

In a moment of serendipity, I realized that it was Dominic Savio's feast day today, patron of our little Dominic . We've been wanting to celebrate feast days, so when I realized it was D's day, I asked him what treat he wanted for after dinner. Cake, was his reply. So, D and I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Then we had to wait an eternity for it to be ready--30 whole minutes. And even then I told Dominic we needed to wait until after Daddy got home so we could all celebrate. Fast forward an hour or so...I went upstairs to get up the babies and change their diapers, walked into the kitchen and Dominic had pulled a stool up to the stove and dug into the cake.

Then I scolded him and he cried until I gave in and let him eat some cake (with a fork). It was for his feast day, after all.

Happy Feast Day Little Dominic!! We Love You!

Keeping Busy

Since Dominic has been getting a little older, I've been enjoying doing various projects with him.  I love sitting with him when he's learning and making! I'm really not very creative, but I've started following all these blogs written by ultra creative people and have been feeling a little inspired. Here's a few of our latest creations:

For Valentine's Day, we made stained glass windows (directions here). These were good, because Dominic is into glueing, so he could do quite a bit of this project himself. I thought I could do this with shamrocks, too, but those are a lot more difficult to cut out than hearts...so we'll probably pass on this.

For Lent, we did this Crown of Thorns. D put the tooth picks in and loved "smushing" the dough. Unfortunately, he thinks it's a hat and I've been having a hard time keeping it off his head.

I saved some egg cartons, thinking there must be some uses for them. The other day we made this caterpillar.

And today we made these masks. I actually think they are a little creepy looking, but D has enjoyed wearing them around all day. He says he's keeping his on until Daddy gets home--3 hours from now. We'll see how that goes.

Welcome to God's family, Baby Joseph

Yesterday, our family was able to celebrate the great occasion of our nephew's baptism! It was a beautiful day and wonderful to witness the transformation of a soul right before our eyes!!

After baptism, the little one was brought to the altar, as a foreshadowing of him receiving Holy Communion.

Dominic and his cousin, Jessica--so stinkin' cute.

Baby Joseph made it through the day like a champ. He's a very precious and good little baby. He was able to sleep through all the chaos of the party.

Welcome, little one, to the joy's of God's family and the Catholic Church! We Love You!

Almost Spring

Finally able to get the kiddos outside for a bit and enjoy our porch swing, my very favorite thing about our house.

Heavenly Smiles

Dominic: Between singing a made up song about pancakes and pretending to steal my nose, "Dominic makes Jesus Laugh"

Winter Wonderland

Dominic seems to remember every little thing he sees on TV and wants to experience it himself. "Mom, can we fly a kite?" or "Mommy, can we go ice skating sometime?" or "Mom, can we build a snowman?" Last week, we attempted to build a snowman, but the snow was too fluffy, so today we tried again. Patrick woke up just in time to join in the fun. I doubt he would call it fun, though. He screamed most of the time we were outside, clearly upset that he couldn't figure out how to walk in the snow and was forced to crawl!

We did get a snowman built, though. And, by "we", I definately mean "me". Dominic wasn't interested in the work that goes into building a snowman!

Dominic was disapointed that we didn't have any carrots for the nose (it amazes me that he even knows that a snowman is supposed to have a carrot nose) so we made do with plastic toys from around the house.

After the fun, D put his little face in his hand and exclaimed "What a day!" He cracks me up.

All Aboard the Baby Train

Dominic's new favorite thing to do with his little table and chairs.