Boys will be boys…today was another day in the “Toddler Smackdown” wrestling between Dominic and Carlos. I have to say at this point it’s surprisingly even and they take turns pinning eachother. Maybe we have future WWF/WWE wrestlers (or perhaps Olympic wrestlers!) on our hands. They’ve got good wrestling form at such a young age although I think there are some illegal moves as well.

Dominic is REALLY into drawing and does a lot of suns and smiley faces. It’s amazing that you can actually tell what he’s drawing, I’m in awe and think he has some talent. He really does enjoy it. So, I got him a drawing pad that’s all his own, I’ll have to scan some of his masterpieces to share.

Went to the new Walmart, it’s a huge store but pretty typical of any Walmart once you got inside. We found Dee some “little boy socks” since hers were getting worn out so that was a bonus. Also, the boys got “The Incredibles” so they were very pleased to get a new movie. Dee and I are so sick of Toy Story. If anyone has kid movies to pass along, we will HAPPILY take them, our collection is limited and a movie really helps Dominic get through his asthma breathing treatments!

Spent a nice mellow morning at my folks house today and let the boys play while we visited with Nana and Papa. The rest of the day we just hung out and caught up on house stuff. The boys are all tucked into bed and sleeping soundly, going to go watch a movie!

Dee is in 7th heaven, we went last night to the grand opening of the Home Depot superstore in Poulsbo! It was fun, actually, we got the boys ready to go and went out there and saw the store I hate to say it, but all the Home Depot stores look the same to me, but Dee assures me that this one is special. They did a good job, though, and had sandwiches and cake and a few doorprizes that I’m guessing we didn’t win.

Friday the new Walmart in Poulsbo opens and we drove by it, it’s HUGE…200,000 sq feet and it has a grocery store and regular Walmart stuff. It’s fancy, though, with eartone paint and river rock on the pillars outside. It’ll be nice to have it so close, we’ll see if it’s going to be good. Walmarts around here tend to be somewhat creepy. We’ll head out there on Friday to check it out, we know how to have fun! When we were down in Hoquiam we saw cute “Heartbreaker” shirts at Walmart but didn’t buy them and now I wished we had so I’m hoping this Walmart will carry them.

I have Nate and Connor here this morning and then Alice this afternoon, and then Mary’s bringing BBQ for dinner and they are sleeping over so that will be fun.

Dee and I made a HUGE mistake last night and forgot to wake Trey up before we went to bed and feed him his “gut-bomb” bottle. So, he was up about 10 times during the night until around 3am when I finally realized that he wasn’t just spitting his pacifier out and getting upset about it, he was hungry! Yes, I’m a bad mom…but anyhow, I was up at 3am feeding him and then he slept until around 8am. Can’t say so much for the other two, they were up early (a new pattern).

We made the best pork last night, had Mary and Alice stay for dinner. Basically it was 1/4 pork steaks dipped in flour, then in egg, then in bread crumbs and fried up. Not something I’d go for everyday but man it was tasty. We had a big spinach salad and peas to go along with it so that made it healthier. The kids loved it, too. We got the kids through the bath, into bed and we hung out and watched tv and clipped coupons. Somehow Dominic got himself out of bed and slept on the floor, crazy boy, but I got him back into bed when we went to bed. Too funny!

Took the kids to playgroup this morning and they had fun. Carlos loves playing in the toy kitchen there and Dominic colored and played with the dolls with Alice. Dominic is really an outstanding drawer…he’s doing lots of smiley faces and suns and you can really tell what he’s drawing. He’s singing tons, too and it’s very neat to see his artistic side coming out. Trey’s working on another tooth, that’s two now, and Carlos is busy getting into everything he can. He gets ahold of the phone so often I’m sure he’ll be calling some of you soon!

Busy day tomorrow, we are getting a new freezer! Mary’s dad works for some people who are moving (they are friends of ours, too) and had the inside connection and we got lucky. Can’t wait to actually have ice cubes, it’s been a long time since we had room to do that. Also I’m going to make food for Trey and now we’ll have freezer room to store it so I can make a lot at a time.

Nothing to say, just adding some pictures! Someof the boys sleeping, Alice and Dominic with their band-aid noses, Carlos in his new shirt, Carlos celebrating the Seahawk win with some cake, Trey posing for the camera…that’s all folks!

SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!! I never thought I’d ever see the day this would happen. Our house was hopping with Dee screaming and yelling at the TV during the game and the boys were throwing their hands up and saying “touchdown!”. Hoping the fans in the city aren’t tearing things up tonight to celebrate. I just can’t wait ’til the Superbowl now, it’s always fun to watch but I think we’ll have to get the boys some face paint or something festive. Anyone interested in coming to a Superbowl party???? Beer, munchies, game on the big screen with surround sound?! WOO HOO!

We had the best day yesterday, we took the boys over to Seattle and had lunch with our friends Beth and Bert who are here visiting from Washington D.C. It was fun to cross the water with the boys, they loved the ferry boat ride. We met Beth and Bert at Red Robin and caught up on all the latest while the boys chowed down on french fries and dip-dip (ranch). All’s going well with them and we always have lots of laughs. Thing I miss most about Clipper is my friendships there and I’m glad we’ve kept in touch!

Came home and got the boys to bed early, watched “Fever Pitch” (we really liked it, highly recommend it). Cute move and about baseball, too…what could be better? Had to get Trey up for his bedtime feeding and watched some of American Idol. Who doesn’t crack up at the first few audition episodes, they are too funny and I just can’t believe that people go and make such fools of themselves and think they are singers. Where are their family and friends to stop them?!

Trey’s got an appointment at the cranial-facial clinic at Mary Bridge in a couple of weeks to see if he needs a helmet for the flat spot on his head. It seems to be rounding out some, but it’s still pretty flat. People seem to think he’s been lying on his back too much, but in all honesty we could’t lay him down flat since his big brothers would have fallen on him or something worse. So, he’s been sitting up in his exersaucer since he was 2 months old. I think it’s just he sleeps on his back…we’ll see what they say in a couple weeks.

Looking forward to dinner with Mary and Alice tonight and then we’re going out tomorrow night to a friend’s for a church meeting. It’ll be fun, it’s a wine tasting from around the world potluck. Then Saturday we have a foster parent group potluck at our place and then Sunday of course we hunker in and watch the Seahawks game. GO HAWKS!

Another weekend almost coming to a close…can’t believe it’s over already. I worked all day yesterday at the Island Invitational wrestling tournament (as I have for the past 17 years!) doing the computers and it was fun but I honestly missed Dee and the boys! I barely got to see them before I left in the morning and they were already sleeping by the time I got home. What a change from seeing them 24/7.

Went to church this morning and now the boys are down napping and Dee’s crazy as a loon and out in the yard working. It’s THIRY SEVEN degrees outside and the ground is so mushy you can barely walk out there. I think she’s nuts, but more power to her..she loves to be in the yard. So I’m going to go through the Sunday paper and cut out my coupons and head to Safeway to do the week’s grocery shopping. I went to Albertsons on Wednesday because I saw some things on sale in their ad that I had coupons for and I had my best shopping yet….are you ready for this?! I spent $30.83 and saved $102.74!!!!! I was jazzed. We got so much food, mostly cereal and oatmeal and soup but all in all it was a great deal. I strongly encourage you to play the grocery game! It’s amazing how much you can save.

We tried getting a cute picture of all the boys in the bathtub…that proved to be just about as fun as getting them to sit for a Christmas card picture. So, here’s the one that came out best. Also, Trey’s very proud of his new little tooth…always grinning these days to show it off!

Off to clip coupons!

Carlos has a girlfriend! Following in his big brother’s footsteps, Carlos has befriended a little girl who comes to play at our place every so often. Her name is Faith and he adores her. It’s too cute…he’s always going up to hug her and give her kisses. She doesn’t seem to mind, he’s ecstatic. It’s too cute to watch. He loves having someone his age come to play. He’s also taken to wearing Dominic’s Spongebob knit hat around the house and he looks like the kid in Fat Albert with the hat on, it’s hilarious!

Trey’s tooth is really coming in, he’s fussing about it and couldn’t be drooling more than he is now but I would be too. That tooth looks angry!

Dominic has been the dancing fool lately, everytime any music comes on he’s up and dancing around. If Alice (his girlfriend) is there he wants to dance with her but he can cut a rug and do the white guy dance on his own for sure!

First off…I HATE CARS! We had the switch that controls the windows go out when we were down in Hoquiam, the window didn’t work and then it went down but not back up again so I was driving in a serious rain storm with the window 1/2 inch open. Nice. Anyhow, Scott took the door apart and did his mechanic thing and got the window back up again and we went on our merry way. Well, I was chewing a piece of gum and was so stupid and din’t think and I clicked the window switch and down it went an inch and not back up again. Dee worked on it when she got home, she tried to get the window back up again but now it’s all the way down. Fingers are crossed that the mechanic I take it to today will at least put the window up. I ordered a new switch on Ebay and that should fix the problem.

With the car hitting 100,000 miles, and the boys only getting bigger and starting to fight sitting next to eachother in the car I think we’re ready to sell the Volvo and look to something bigger. If you know of anyone wanting to buy a nice 1998 Volvo S70 GLT…it can be theirs for only $8800! It’s a great car, we’ve really loved it and hate to get rid of it especially for a MINIVAN or something like that. Argh, I said I’d never be a minivan mom, but damn..with 3 kids it’s either minivan or Suburban!

I’m off to the mechanic’s…wish me luck!

So we road tripped down to Hoquiam fcr the weekend to visit with Linda, Scott, Leila and Emma. We planned to leave bright and early, but getting three boys and all the gear packed in the car and getting out the door proved to be more of a ordeal than we ever imagined! Anyhow, we got there in the early afternoon. Stopped in at Salvatin Army and hit the jackpot with 2 pairs of Levis for Dee and I for only $5 and they are like new and fit great. Went into Walmart and got a new microwave, got tired of ours sending out blue sparks everytime we try to nuke something. That can’t be good. It was a madhouse in there, a serious zoo especially with 3 adults and FIVE kids! We were quite the spectacle…and of course, Dominic had to go potty twice when we were on the other side of the store. Oh well!

Got back to the house and had a great time with Linda and Scott, just hung out, had a great dinner that Linda made and just relaxed while the kids played. It was really nice to see them and spend some time together with nothing to do but chat.

The kids had a blast with Scott throwing them up in the air, as you can see from the pictures. With their vaulted ceiling they really got to go high!

Got back last night and had dinner with my folks and helped them put Christmas stuff away, then got the boys home and into bed while we started laundry and got the bags unpacked. Great visit, but nice to be home and back into schedule today…Alice is here and Mary’s cooking chicken enchiladas and key lime pie for dessert! We’re spoiled for sure.

Off to check out cars online…I’m ready for a change!