My Webelo Goes to Resident Camp

I went 4 days without my camera. As crappy as that camera is, I really missed the hunk of junk. I felt naked without it. Like when you're used to wearing a watch every day, then suddenly you forget to put it on for the first time in 4 years. All day I was, "Oh how cute, let me go grab the cam-... nevermind." Or "Wait! Don't move. I have to get the-... grrrrr!" But now the camera is back and I can stop shaking.

Dominic and Brad had a very busy, exhausting, sweaty time at resident camp. 4 hours into the trip Dominic sliced his foot open on a rock in the river. The med staff on site did not have the necessary equipment on hand that day to help him so they sent him to the hospital. The nearest was 1 hour away. It was hard on Dom because he had to endure 4 shots of numbing stuff so they could clean the wound and seal him up with dermabond. "No swimming for 48 hours" the doctor said. Not what anyone wants to hear when they are at camp and it's super humid. But Brad said he was a real trooper hobbling around and hardly complained at all. Awww.

They did a whole lot more. Archery. BB shooting. Flag stuff. Fire stuff. And from what I understand the eatin' was surprisingly awesome. But really it was all about the trip to the ER for Dom. All the other stuff was mere filler. Brad was Super Husband for taking tons of pictures for me to obsess over. Unfortunately 75% of them were blurry. Hey, it's the thought people. And like I said before... it's a hunk of junk that camera.

I loved Dominic's comment when he walked through the door when he got home. "Aaah... I can't wait to have myself a nice big bowl of fresh cereal..." It's nice to know that the one thing that saw him through his sweaty campout was the idea that we had Fruity Pebbles stocked in the pantry. Nothing like a big bowl of rice, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, red 40, yellow 6 & blue 2 at the end of the day. That's my boy.

Den 4 Wolverine Patrol

Fire stuff and Flag stuff.

Look! It's Dominic cleaning! (*Fist pump*)

"I am The Dom" Click, click, blow! ........... Archery was tough but he got it eventually.

I want to add that apparently the boys did a fab job on their tie-dye shirts. Brad said they got a lot of positive comments on them. Thanks Ms. Dawn!

For the 4 days that Dom and Brad were gone, it was just me and Ethan and Carmine. The house was strangely quiet. You'd think with two boys still in the house you would't notice so much. That wasn't the case. "What do you want to do now, mom?" Ethan asked after we dropped off Dom and Brad. It was our special time. Shall we do a puzzle? Draw? Movie maybe? First we did a puzzle. Next we went to the rental place and picked up Batman Begins. We watched that while Carmine napped. Next we gave each other temporary tatoos on our biceps (hello, camera?) For dinner we had porkchops and baked potatoes. After baths we did the puzzle again, much faster this time, then after putting Carmine to bed we seal up the night by coloring with markers. I told myself that whenever Ethan asked me if I wanted to do something with him, my answer would always be 'yes'. Every time. And I did. And it was so worth it. He sent an Email to his 2nd grade teacher that said 6 words: "I'm having a good day today." Aaah... that's what it's all about. Right there.

Carmine is Steppin'

Last Thursday night Carmine decided he liked to be on his feet. Well sometimes. He still prefers to crawl because it's a lot more efficient. But every so often we'll catch him on his feet.

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Ethan Looses Another Tooth

I love the jack-o-lantern look that Ethan has now. Believe it or not, his second top middle tooth is very loose also. I cannot wait for it to pop out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it comes out before the other top one grows in. He sounds so cute right now with his lisp.

Cool zombie mouth .......................................... Cute crooked smile ......................

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Ethan in A Hamster Ball

We were invited to Lizzy and Walter's school block party. It was a free party that their elementary school was having for the kids and their families. There was food (that was not free), a book fair, a puppet show, karaoke, games, and two gigantic hamster balls for the kids to try. Even Christian got inside one. Ethan loved it so much he did it twice.

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Carmine's 1 Year Pictures

Our Baby is 1

No way. Yes way!! It doesn't seem possible, but it's true, Carmine has turned 1. It's freaky to Brad and I how fast this year has flown by. Carmine has been such a blessing to our family. No matter how hard the day is going, Carmine always has a big smile on his face for all of us. When the boys come home from school they always run over to their little brother to give him hugs. And when Brad comes home from a brutal day at work, Carmine's hugs and sloppy kisses even make his daddy forget about all his stress. We love our little Ragu.

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We had an early birthday celebration the weekend before Carmine's birthday. It was Mother's Day and we figured we could have two celebrations in one at Grandma's house. Currently his favorite thing is Elmo (big surprise), so Grandma picked him up a luscious cake with Elmo, Dorothy, and Mr. Noodle on it. When it came time to smash the cake he really got into it. Unfortunately it was late and Carmine was super tired. By the time he was done he looked like one of the guys from Blue Man Group, or Avatar, or Sleepy Smurf.

Carmine Enjoying Dancing With the Stars

Last night while watching Team Gaga perform on DWTS I happen to notice Carmine holding on to the coffee table and feeling the music. He swayed from side to side then after a few seconds he would change things up by bending his knees and bopping up and down. It was so cute. Occassionally he would do it one handed and wave his arm around.

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Carmine's 1st Haircut

Before .............................. After

"Booo!" ....................... "Yay!"

When little old ladies telling you how beautiful your little girl is, then you know it's time to get your little boy's hair cut. Brad had a day off of work last week so we took Carmine to Hair Diddle Diddle and got the 1st Haircut Package. It was totally overpriced, but hey, you only get a 1st haircut once, right? They put him in the fire engine, turned on the tv, and handed him a giraffe and wooden train. He was an angel. Discard the dried syrup and pancake chunks in the before pics.

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2 Year Old Predator Attacks Cute Baby Boy in Mall Play Area

I remembered how several years ago I would take Dominic and Ethan to the mall and let them play in the "play area". We would stop by American Cookie Co., they would get an Elmo cookie, I would pick up a cup of coffee, then we would take the elevator down to the "play area". Always tons of kids. I remember the older annoying kids. They would run around and unknowingly bump and send the little ones to their bottoms. And for whatever reason, the bigger annoying kids always had filthy socks on with holes. And they were always half on - half off. Why is that? Big annoying kid's mom's never paid attention either. Always texting. As the years passed, Dominic and Ethan became the bigger annoying kids, and to their disappointment I banned them from the "play area". They were getting too big and too rough. Besides, their socks were dirty. I just couldn't be one of those moms. I know all I would do is sit there and text. I would not pay attention. One of my boys would send a defenseless toddler to their fluffy bum. But now, now I can return to the "play area" with my adorable Carmine. I will be diligently hovering over him. One of the good moms. My arms will shield him from big annoying kids (ahem, or small annoying kids). My baby will love the "play area". In fact I will even take off my shoes. I'm so awesome.

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Today is the Day!

"TODAY IS THE DAY!" Ethan exclaimed. He had been working hard over the weekend on getting his training wheels off his bike. He got determined. He got mad. He got bruises. Then he finally "got it". Yaaay!! He ran into the house this afternoon periodically to give me updates. "Mom, I peddled 4 times." "Mom, I peddled 5 times." Then finally "MOM I CAN DO IT!!". So I grabbed the camera and this is what I got...

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Premature Buzzing

I know it's not summer. But they needed a trim and we wanted to save money and basically all we know how to cut are buzzes. Ethan was my guinia pig and let me experiment on him with an actual cut. It was very choppy, but I can see that if over time I continue to practice it will be pretty easy to cut a "normal" boy cut. Whenever we give them buzzes we always pay them $2. It's a terrible thing to pay our own kids for a haircut. But believe me, it's worth it. Choose your battles I say. I had to tip Ethan too. He was such a good sport. I think he sat in that chair for an hour. That'll do boy.

Before.............................. Experiment Hair............................ After

Before.............................. Reverse Mohawk................................... After

Dang we make cute kids.

Spring Break

Allthough it is nice not having to get up at 6:30 to get the boys off to school, I think spring break got old around.. oh, say, Monday morning. Well I guess that's not entirely true. Dominic and Ethan spent the first weekend with Grandma in Midlothian, so Brad and I were able to get some things done around the house. NOT! We had another baby, so it was all about switching off the job of baby holder so one can either paint a wall or any other odd job around the house. Carmine did manage to crawl around the floor of the garage. He got a tastey sampling of dried leaves, dusty cobwebs and other courious garage floor bits. Mostly I hovered over Carmine while Brad repaired an old chair, finished putting together his portable workbench, assembled a cabinet, and painted a wall. See, he got it done after all.

We've had pretty nice weather during the week. It actually got into the 70's. Beautiful. I treasure these days in Texas, I realize how much I took for granted the good ol' days in California when we were very rarely subjected to mother nature's mood. Now, today is Saturday, it's 35 degrees (but feels like 22) and we're expecting 2-3" of snow overnight... That's Texas for you. But maybe the frost will kill off a few more insects. See how I see the silver lining?

Wednesday night we had cousins Lizzy and Walter spend the night. And Thursday we took all the kids to Bear Creek Park in Keller. It was a nice park. Dominic and Ethan each got to pee on a tree (yesss) and we all had a turn in pushing Carmine in the swing. He didn't stop smiling.

Dom diggin' the swings.

Ethan could swing himself the highest, and he loved to push his little brother. A little too much. Carmine got much air.

Aunt Heidi made Carmine laugh. He was so cute with his crooked smile.

Steppin' Up

I'm serious this time. We need our gates.

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Ethan's 2nd Grade Production - PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL

Last night Ethan had his 2nd grade production at school. He was pretty excited about it. Constantly reminding me when he needed to be at school Thursday night, and that he had to be in the 2nd grade hall but parents were not allowed. He even told me what songs they were going to be singing. And don't forget that I had to make sure he had a plain white shirt to wear. Plain white. No writing on it. He did admit that he "was getting embarrassed to sing in front of everyone". Trainslation, stagefreight. I reminded him that not everyone in the audience will be looking at him. Most parents will be looking at their own kids. So when he feels freaked out just look at us.

Stagefreight, I'm afraid, is an understatement. Terrified maybe? He was cute as can be of course. But can't you just see the pain in the poor boy's face?

He was our star though.

And he never found us in the audience.

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Spaghetti Dinner

Carmine eats spaghetti for the first time. I chose elbow mac instead of linguinni because I thought it would be easier for him to get a hold of. He really enjoyed it. Even the meatballs. I'm still trying to figure out this movie making software so please forgive the portion that is really stretched out. I haven't figured out a way to rotate it 90 degrees without it looking warped.

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A Film

The boys got two snow days last week on top of a holiday weekend. That's 5 days without school. By the 5th day we had to get pretty creative to help pass the time. Brad and I recently discovered that we had some fun movie making software on our computer. I'm so glad I married a person who has a clue about computers, because I sure as heck don't. I would've been playing around with this years ago.

I gave the boys freedom to make a movie short. I told them it can be whatever they wanted it to be. Just please, no one getting shot or macheted. They are obsessed with weaponry, blood, and bodily functions (in that order). As they walk in the door after school the conversation will go like this:

Dom : "Ethan guess what. Micheal made a bad choice today and took his DS to school. Mrs. Doyle saw it and took it away."

Ethan: "Ha ha! Did he take a knife and stab her neck?! Haha!"

Dom: "Ha ha ha ha ha! Yea, Micheal was like "YEEEE - WAAAA!! CHUUUU!!" Then a swift karate chop to the air followed by running after Ethan with a pretend knife in his hand. All the while Ethan runs about with his arms flailing making blood spewing noises.

Should I be concerned?

I tried my best to encourage cute stuff for the movie. Like chipmunks. I was a fool. I've included the dialogue because it can be a bit hard to follow. You'll see why. This was all them. I had nothing to do with the plot, the dialogue, or anything (my disclaimer).

Ethan: "Hello, I'm Ethan."
Dominic: "Hello, I'm Dominic."
Both: "We will be performing a dance."
Ethan: "Do you like the circus?"
Dominic: "I love the circus!"
Ethan: "Do you like pie?"
Both: "We love pie! Now let's do our dance."
Carmine: Squeak!
Both: Chipmunk robot sounds. (???)
Mom: "I knew one of you would end up dead."

Dominic: "Hi Grandma! Can I have $2 for the toy store?"
Ethan: "Sure. Give me .25 cents back."
Ethan: "Aaaahhh..."
Dominic: "To be continued"

Dominic: "Ha ha! Very funny Grandma."
Ethan: "But what if I am not your Grandma?"
Dominic: "Maybe your a murderer."
Ethan: "They always run... To be continued."

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Hide and Seek

Lately I have to catch the boys candidly in order to get something cute or funny to share with the world on our blog. When they were younger I could say, "Hey Ethan, show everyone your new trick and flare your nostrils", and ta-da!! Or on a whim they would perform the latest song they learned in music class. This morning I begged them to give me their rendiditon of Lady Ga Ga. But they just wouldn't do it. I told them if they both did it together then it wouldn't be embarrassing. They didn't fall for it. Oh well. I haven't given up on them so stay tuned.

This afternoon I caught Dominic and Ethan playing hide 'n seek with Carmine. It was so cute. I had about 5 mintues of video, but I've scaled it down in this clip. Oh, and please know, Ethan picked out his own clothes this morning. I hope that's obvious.

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So Proud

Awards day for the first semester of the school year was on Friday. We're so proud of Dominic and Ethan. Dom made the A/B honor roll and Golden Eagle (conduct). Ethan made the A honor roll, Golden Eagle and perfect attendance. They each earned a free video rental from their school at Blockbuster for making the honor roll. And as promised from mom and dad, they get to rent a Wii game of their choice. Oh, and it was Hat Day.


Ethan. A honor roll. Golden Eagle. Perfect Attendance.




Too cool for school.




Dominic with Michael and J.T.




The honor roll kids.




"Mommy! Take my picture! Micheal will be like, "Aaaah! I can't believe it!" and I'll be like "What?! Aduuuuuh!!"