Graduation and Birthday

Yeah Dominic! This was his weekend. On Sunday Walden University granted his Master's degree. It will arrive in 6-8 weeks. It's finally over!! What do we do now? Who knows, but at least that hurdle (or mountain) is behind us.

And then, Dominic turned 29 on Monday. Yes, he is younger than me, but only by 15 months. Unfortunately we have all been sick this weekend. Not quite the flu, but a miserable head cold. We just sat on the couch and watched t.v. The wonderful Chinese food dinner I planned turned into frozen pizza, and brownie bites replaced the cake. I made the dinner tonight, and we did the cake, candles and presents yesterday. In the attached picture, we have the lovely Lisy modeling yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

Movie review: The Invasion. I thought it was very good. There were a few places I covered my eyes, but it wasn't necessary - the music and suspense led me to think it would be. Dominic, who saw the 1970's version, said this one wasn't as scary (fine with me). It seems to us that filmmakers have forgotten how to use suspense to make a movie truly scary; nowadays they rely too much on the gross factor. But without anything to compare it too, I fully enjoyed this movie.

Cereal & Grapefruit

This morning Benjamin tried to pour his own cereal, but somehow it ended up all over the floor. In the 5 seconds it took me to turn around and put the cereal bag back on the counter, the boys dove mouth-first towards the floor and Elisa crawled at breakneck speed from the living room to "clean-up" the spill. How thoughtful of them. I said nothing to encourage this behavior, besides laughing and getting the camera.

Sammy thinks he likes grapefruit. While passing through the produce section earlier this week, he reached out and bagged 2 grapefruits. I do let him choose fruits and vegetables to encourage him trying new foods. He hasn't tried grapefruit since last summer, but he swore he loved it. Well, if he didn't, Dominic would eat it. Dominic doesn't go out of his way to buy grapefruit, but he does eat it. I find grapefruit revolting unless it's a soda.

So for a snack yesterday Sammy decided to eat grapefruit. Benjamin, who almost always follows his brother's lead, eagerly asked for it, too. I cut one in half, sweetened each half, then showed them how to eat it. Benjamin took one bite and spit it out. I asked, "What do you think? Do you like it?" He replied, "Ye... nooo." Fair enough. I turned to Sammy. "Do you like yours?" I asked. He actually said, "Yes. Daddy likes it, and I like it, too." It took him awhile, and he kept asking for more sugar, but he ate up his half.

Dominic was at work and I didn't want to waste Benjamin's grapefruit half. So I did the craziest thing and ate it. I poured the sugar on each segment. That kind of helped. The boys loved watching the funny faces I involuntarily made. Although I attempted to set a good example for them, it might have backfired. I still like the carbonated grapefruit best.

Trip to Spokane

Why does it take so long to get back to the normal routine after a trip? We were gone 10 days (counting travel time), and we've been home for 8 full days now.

Driving was a bit scary. Google maps gave an estimated travel time of 10 hours. We thought of making the trip in one day. Then Dominic spun out on the icy road during his commute. He called work and came home once his nerves calmed down; we decided to make it a 2-day journey. Good thing, too: we drove through a snow storm over the mountain passes in Idaho. There were times we could only go 20 miles per hour. Fortunately we made it safely there.

We had a fun week, meeting the new in-laws and playing with grandparents and uncles. Even though it's been one and a half years, Sammy remembered his extended family as if no time had passed, and Benjamin followed his brother's lead. Lisy took a little longer, but she eventually let everyone, including Froggy Grandpa, to hold her.

The wedding was beautiful. We were a little late due to road conditions (Spokane needs to employ more snow plows) and buying Dominic a new suit. When you take a big trip you're bound to forget something, and we forgot a suit. But it turned out alright. I have wanted to buy Dominic a new suit for awhile, so I'm counting that purchase as his birthday present this month. Oh yeah, the wedding. I enjoyed helping decorate the night before, and the place looked really nice. The colors, pink and burgundy, were perfect for a February wedding. The best part was how happy Devin and Maran both looked. I know part of it was getting married in the temple. Congratulations!

Why is it that we get sick whenever we travel? Dominic felt oogy that first night, but felt only queasy the rest of the week. Benjamin threw up twice: once in his grandparents' hotel room (the smell was so bad they had to switch rooms) and once in a restaurant.

Overall we had a good trip. The kids did very well in the car. Elisa did pretty well considering she grew a new tooth. Two more erupted since coming home, bringing her up to 6 teeth.

Christmas tree myths debunked

I'd like to share a few things I learned about Christmas trees and children. Myth #1: Put the fragile at the top of the tree, where they will be safe. 2 problems - balls and lightsabers. To quote Sammy, "I don't know why it broke. All I did was throw this (a ball) at the tree." And lightsabers can reach much higher than little arms. Myth #2: Fake trees don't lose their needles. Well, lightsaber battles near the tree don't help. Plus, the needles fall off in droves when a rolly-polly toddler lifts up his shirt and charges tummy-first into the tree, repeatedly.

Cute Sammy story: Sammy was trying to go somewhere, but Elisa was in the way. He said, "Move, Lisy. C'mon, Lisy, move out of the way. Why isn't she moving?" So I had to explain that although she can crawl, she doesn't yet understand what we're saying (but she does recognize her name).

Cute Benjamin story: Lately Benjamin will state in all seriousness, "I a boy." Once I asked him what that meant. His reply, " I a daddy dinosaur (pronounced die-o-or)." The next time I asked the same question, he said, "Me!"