On movies we will not be seeing:

A few nights ago Dom crawled into bed with us. Nothing surprisingly new, but we actually heard him bolting down the stairs, crashed sideways into our master bedroom door jam and finally snuggled in with me. When I asked him what was wrong he told me had a nightmare about "The clowns from the commercials".

I couldn't figure out what commercial he'd seen, and didn't think any more of it.

Earlier today he caught sight of an ad for "Alice in Wonderland".

"MOM THOSE ARE THE CLOWNS!!" he yelled.

It's no wonder he's having nightmares about these "clowns", they're UBER creepy.
I'm sure the movie will get rave reviews, but based off the weirdness factor this movie puts out, we won't be seeing it.

The Road Home

I took this picture the other night and I've been trying to think of a poignant blog to pair with it, and I can't.

It's simply the road home.

Dominick's First Lost Tooth

Other than a dimple in a cute little chin,
What's more adorable than a toothless grin?
~Azu "Betty" Espezia


I was wondering when Dominick would start loosing teeth. Ed and I are both grossed out by wiggly teeth and I was SUPER relieved that when it finally did happen Dominick didn't even notice. After lunch he came to ask me a question and his tooth had fallen out. (I found it embedded in the bottom of his pizza slice!)

The SUN!

Days like today are the reason we moved to Tennessee. The sun was out in full force, it was a balmy 53 degrees and there was nary a cloud in the sky!! It was gorgeous!

I had a million errands to run (ok, maybe more like 4) but as I watched the kids running around in the yard, so happy to be outside, I couldn't bring myself to pack them all up into the car. Instead, I grabbed my latest book and planted myself in the white rocking chair on the porch and wrapped the sun's warmth around me like an old blanket. 20 minutes later I decided I wanted to play more than I wanted to read and joined the kids in the treehouse for some fun.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today: (I've been working on taking "cleaner" pictures so that I have to do less processing)

Dominick's 7th Birthday

Tuesday we celebrated Dom's 7th birthday.



After Tae kwon Do and his favorite meal of turkey, stuffing & corn-on-the-cob, we had a small family party in his honor!


















His Birthday loot included:- Discovey kids metal detector- Playmobil Fisherman's Cabin- LEGO Toy Story Army men - Lego Racers- Yadda Yadda Voice recorder w/ scrambler thingyIt was a fun night and Dom was thrilled to bits with all of his gifts.

Queen of Blogs part DEUX

My first background was more about "doing it" than it was about putting together something that was aesthetically pleasing.

So I've been at it again, and I think I've found the right formula! I think this background matches my banner pretty nicely (I used pieces from the same scrapbooking kit) and I like that you can read the posts easily without any interfering colors or patterns.

Let me know what you think and if you want your own let me know! I'm taking requests!! :)

You can call me Your Majesty...

... BECAUSE I AM QUEEN OF BLOGS!

Yes, it's three in the morning, yes I'm little hyped up on caffiene, BUT after HOURS of trial and error and uploading and deleting like a gujillion times, I have now created both my own Blogger background AND matching banner. It's not perfect by any means, BUT [DUDE] I made my own BACKGROUND!!!

I got skillz! Don't be hatin'. HOLLAH!

Party, Party

Brooke's had a very busy weekend, we postponed plans for HER Birthday party because she'd already been invited to two other parties. Friday night was spent at a slumber party and Saturday she was invited to her first "Dance Party" at a local coffee house. Tre' chic!

I've been thinking: If she's already this cute at 13, what on earth does 16 have in store??

Lucky #13

HAPPY SWEET THIRTEENTH!

I can remember everything that happened on the the days each of my children entered the world. But with Brooke, I can remember the day so clearly, it could have happened yesterday. (I attribute this to being 18 and scared out of my wits)

Breathing through contractions in the back seat of Allie and Joe's car, the smell of the hospital, the perfume of the nurse taking care of me, the stick of the IV needle, the crack on the ceiling in the shape of a crescent moon. I can remember looking over and seeing my sister cry as Brooke came into the world filled with tears of her own. I can remember the first time I was able to see my daughter. But of all these memories, ,my strongest is of the night of her birth as I sat alone in my hospital bed. Allie and Joe had gone home for the night and it was the first time I'd been truly alone with my child. I realized I wasn't just "Leslie" anymore, I was someone's Mother. I was Brooke's mother. Brooke had made me a MOM! I sat there that night looking down at the tiny package I held in my arms and thought "How will I ever do right by this child?"

13 years later I'm still asking myself the same question.

Brooke is an amazing child. She is the epitome of everything that is good and sweet and kind. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and she makes me proud each and everyday.

So, while this is Brooke's birthday, it's my celebration!

Lego Nailed it.

Dominick got the "Lego City Garage" for Christmas.

As I sat with Dom putting it together I couldn't help but chuckle at the picture they chose for the instruction manual. Apparently, some unfortunate soul at Lego has had the great pleasure of being towed and judging from the photo I'd be willing to bet he didn't like the experience too much.

Allow me to interpret:

Person 3: The angry customer. (Note the scowl)This guy is busy. He doesn't have time to be broken down, he's in a hurry.
He knows nothing about towing, even less about his actual vehicle, but NOTHING the wrecker driver can or will do will be good enough.

Person 2: This is the "helper".
This is the guy the owner doesn't trust enough to put behind the wheel of an actual tow truck, so he pawns him off on one of his better employees. Helper's job description is limited to dragging chains, grabbing tools, sweeping up debri , throwing down oil dry and most importantly: bugging the hell out of the real driver. He smiles a lot because he's not actually doing anything, but likes the idea that's he a tough wrecker driver like his pal. He's an absolute dolt.

Person 1: This is the Tow Truck Driver. He's not smiling either.

He works from 6am - 9pm and he's on call 24/7.

He's beat from head to toe, and is in desperate need of either sleep or caffiene.

His cell phone is an extension of his body, it never stops ringing and can't be turned off. He'd much rather be anywhere right now than in the middle of the road with "Angry Customer".

He hates Helper. A lot.

Dumpy, the moderately content snowman

Add "Snowman Construction" to the growing list of things I THOUGHT I knew how to do, but clearly don't. That's a skill set I just haven't aquired. One day we'll make ol' frosty proud. For now we'll have to make due with sticks for hair, and fuse plugs for eyes!

Faster than a speeding sled...

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

- Marc Brown