Merry Christmas!

From all of us,

Merry Christmas!

An Early Christmas

Dominic's school has an interesting program where you can send your student to school with a list of recipients and a bit of money. They can then 'shop' for gifts with some assitance from the grown-ups running the program. This way, your young student can 'shop' for gifts for their family.

So we decided to send Dominic to school with a short list of people and a small sum of money. That day he came home with four gifts. He bought gifts for DominicsMom, myself, Jocelyn and Grandma Pat. Grandpa Frank and Grandma Pat visited this afternoon, so Pat received her gift, which was a very nice keychain. I had high hopes for the remaining gifts...

At that point, Dominic went into overdrive as he wanted to give us the rest of the gifts. We resisted at first as Christmas is still several days away. He slowly wore us down as the day went on and we finally relented. Dominic collected the three gifts and presented each of us with our gift. We let Jocelyn open hers first - she was still very groggy from her nap and Dominic helped her open her gift. Imagine her surprise when she pulled out a dinosaur egg! This is the type where you take the egg, place it in the water, and then wait. Over the course of a day or two, the dinosaur will 'hatch' and spring forth from the egg (the dinosaur will slowly grow as it absorbes the water, thus 'hatching' from the egg.)

Well, one out of two wasn't too bad. DominicsMom went next. She received a nice little bracelet that said "I love mom". Very nice!

I went last, opened my gift bag, and pulled out a nice little yo-yo. It was a nice little yo-yo, lighting up at the bottom of each swing. I did better with it than I normally do, although Dominic ended up playing with it more than I did.

Well, it's the thought that counts!

DominicsDad

Welcome to Jacob Lee!

Congratulations are in order for DominicsUncle Lee and Aunt Rebecca! They welcomed Jacob Lee into this world around 4pm today. Jake weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz and both Mom and baby were doing well.

DominicsDad

Feeding the Fish

While visiting DominicsGrandpa Frank and Grandma Pat, the kids had the chance to feed the fish again. Dominic and Joss both really like to watch the fish, but so does Jake! But I'm not sure if Norah even knows (or cares!) what a fish is...

Uncle Andy, Aunt Laurie, and Jake look at the fish.

The kids pose with their GreatGrandma Amy.

Joss takes a break and scowls at us from her rock.

Uncle Andy & Jake check out some more fish.

Cool fish!

DominicsDad

Learning about the Tooth Fairy

DominicsMom with another story:

The other day, I was volunteering in Dominic’s classroom so I got to take him to school. As we were walking to the playground/waiting area, he recognized his fellow daycare classmates. He ran up to say Hi to them and walked with them for a bit… I was following close behind and heard the following exchange.

One of his daycare classmates turned around and said, “Dominic, I lost my 2nd tooth! Look!”

I said Wow and asked her if the Tooth Fairy came? She got $5 and a note from the Tooth Fairy.

As Dominic turned to continue walking, he dejectedly said, “Ahh, I’m never going to lose a tooth!”

DominicsDad

Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving up at DominicsGrandpa Frank and Grandma Pat's house. DominicsUncle Andy, Aunt Laurie, Cousin Jake, and Cousin Norah were also visiting, so it was a full house! Norah is still so very young at only 5 1/2 months of age. Both Dominic and Jocelyn were very good to Jake and Norah. Joss in particular was taken with Norah, helping Laurie feed and hold her on several occasions.

Grandma Pat holds Norah.

Jake, Joss, and Dominic watch a movie.

Jake and Joss play on a chair. I'm not sure how much fun he was having, but little Joss was having a ball.

I think I'm in trouble when she starts to date...I'll let her start on her 25th birthday!

Dominic watched the Alvin & the Chipmunks movie (the live action version) and then got down to grove with the music during the credits.

The kids had a blast during the weekend. We practiced some baseball and Dominic did really well hitting the ball, both off the tee and when Grandpa Frank pitched it to him.

DominicsDad