Geaux Saints!!!

Sorry it has been so long since I've updated this site. I've been preoccupied with Farmville and learning to crochet...very addicting stuff!!! Things have been great, Dominick is now 4 years old and enjoying his new Pre-K4 class. We had a great Christmas at my parents' house with my family and nieces. We also recently took little man to see the show Walking With Dinosaurs...it was AWESOME!!! Even if you have no kiddos and no interest in dinos, the show is super cool and anyone would love it!!! Dominick really, really enjoyed it...well worth any amount of money it would cost. Here are some randon pictures.

Dominick chillin with cousin Izzy.
A picture of one of the machanical dinosaurs in the show. Sound and light affects were so awesome!

At Dinosaur show.

A Christmas present...Lightning McQueen Geo-Tracks.

This was not a staged picture, this is how they were sleeping with Mickey (our dog) one night when I was getting ready to hop in my bed. So sweet!!!

Maw Maw, Paw Paw, my nieces and little man (who does not like to take pictures and always looks drunk unless I bribe him with candy or something).

Nicole and Dominick trying out their new skates from Santa.

4th Birthday

Dominick has to wear Saints clothes to school tomorrow so I had this shirt made for him. I had to bribe him with chocolate candy to get him to agree to a picture.

Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas Trees

Here are pictures from the last month.

The pumpkin patch.

Carving pumpkins

This was the first year Dominick was allowed to go trick-or-treating. Normally we go to our church party but we decided to let him try trick-or-treating and he had SO much fun!!!

Thanksgiving dinner at school with the parents

Dominick's favorite color is blue, so we bought him a blue Christmas tree for his room. He is so excited over all the Christmas decorations this year!

Growing Up To Quickly

It feels like I woke up a few weeks ago and I had a different child. Dominick has suddenly hit a new "stage" of development and I'm not so sure I like it. To give a few examples: he is extremely sassy and obnoxious, he suddenly doesn't "like girls" or want to play with them (before, his best friends were mostly girls), he tells me no and refuses to do what we tell him to and no punishment seems to help... A few weeks ago he told his teacher and each child in his class that he didn't care that he was not getting Treasure Chest because he "has better toys at home". Just now, I was folding clothes and he kept jumping over them, I told him to stop several times and them I told him "If you knock over my clothes I'm going to turn off the TV." He walked away and a minute later walked up to me and said "I hid the remote, now you can't turn off the TV Momma". WHO IS THIS CHILD??? I know this is just a new stage but I can't wait until this one is over. I'm purchasing 2 new recommended Christian based books on boundaries and discipline this weekend. Can't wait to start reading them!!!

He loves these new PJ's and wants to wear them every night, even when he is sweating. He told me this weekend, "I'm not sweating. Look Momma, do you see water dripping down me face?" (sassy boy).

My Little Reader

This is a video of Dominick reading one of his books.

As a first grade teacher, I can not stress the importance of reading to your children every single day. It increases their vocabulary, teaches them comprehension skills, instills a love of reading, teaches them what fluent reading sounds like, helps them understand plot, characters, problem, solution, and that every story has a beginning, middle and end...all by simply reading stories to them (not teaching or explaining anything-just reading). I can not even begin to tell you all the things Dominick has learned from us reading to him daily his entire little life. He can tell me the characters of the story, the speaker (narrator) of the story, he has picked up on many words that I do not normally use in my vocabulary, he can read (recite) all the stories I read to him (which is the beginning stages of reading), he can can tell me the problem from the story, etc. It is really amazing to see the skills he has that many of my first graders do not have when starting the school year. It is truly AMAZING in my eyes!!! So parents, pleeeaaase take that extra 15 minutes each night to read to your little ones! It is great family time and they learn so much from it.

School Projects

The next three pictures are a few of the projects Dominick's teacher has done with his class lately. She is so creative and teaches him so much. They work on a project every day. I'm extremely grateful he has such an awesome teacher!!!

This little project was to help the children learn their addresses. Each child's address was written on their little bag-houses. So cute!

This was our last visit to MawMaw and PawPaw's house. We went to an indoor place that was full of different fun jumps and slides. The kids loved it!!! This is Dominick and his two little cousins (my baby brother's kids).

This is one of Dominick's pride-and-joys...a lady bug who grows grass out of his head that Dominick loving named Spot. He LOVES to give Spot a hair cut every few days.

Check back soon, I will post a video of Little Man reading!!! He LOVES to read books to his stuffed animals!

Swimming and Icecream Truck

Dominick has been enjoying swimming at his fake aunt Beth's pool this summer.

He has been swimming more and more on his own, but after seeing many different kids with floaties, I was finally able to convince him to put some on. It gives me a break from being his personal floatation device.

The dogs always magically appear and become Dominick's best bud when he is eating a snack.

Dominick is walking up to the Ice cream Man with his $5 bill. Some how Dominick never fails to hear the Ice cream Man's music coming!

He was so excited! Not only did the Ice cream Man give him a Sponge Bob ice cream, he also gave him back 3 dollar bills!!! He thought that he ended up with more money because he had handed the man 1 five dollar bill and the man gave him 3 one dollar bills back. So in Dominick's mind he ended up with MORE money! He said "Look Mom, now I have THREE dollars!" Hahahaha, what a smart boy for noticing, he never ceases to amaze us.

YUMMMMMM!

Surprises Are So Much Fun!!!

When Dominick and I got back from a trip to Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house, Daddy had a big surprise for him hiding in the garage.