A not so quick check in............

Just a quick check in as we had a busy weekend. We took the kids last night to a parade in a town a little south of us. They had their "electric light parade". It was fun, the kids REALLY seemed to enjoy it, especially Dominick! A float would go by and he say "another one!" in his special way. The kids were both really good with saying Merry Christmas. Dominicks sounded more like "Marie MISSMISS" but we knew what he meant. I'll try to get him on tape before the sounds come right. (He LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine and for a couple weeks I thought he was saying "Colson and Jen" (close friends of ours) and he was really saying "Gordon and Train"). Dalaynie had to point that out to me in her special little 5 year old way! Here are a few photos of the festivities...

Smiling All Cute with her hat!

Dominick is saying "CHHEEESE". Laynie's just smiling and David looks startled....

Laynie looking all cute again with the parade behind her. You can't see much but her!

Me and Laynie (I have gum in my mouth....)

This fire engine was soo cool. They had it all decked out with Christmas lights. Nick thought all the big trucks were cool until they'd honk their horns. Then he'd just want David to hold him really tight and protect him!

Our friends gave Nick a 3T winter jacket a while back so David tried it on to see if it'd fit. It's getting colder in the evenings (low 50's... YIKES) so he thought Nick could wear it at the parade if he got too cold. I was doing my hair when Nick started pounding on the door and crying to come in to the bathroom where I was. I had no idea what was going on and had to try really hard not to laugh at the poor boy. It was truly a "Christmas Story" moment when the little brother was all bundled up to go to school but couldn't put his arms down. Dominick was MUCH less impressed though. This was a HUGE sign for me that our family would never make it in Minnesota (or any where north of Denver for that matter!). Being the opportunist I am I had to grab the camera and take a few pictures....

I don't think I really need to caption the pictures as they kind of speak for themselves.... The big consequence of this situation was that what we use to call Nick's jacket now needs to be called his "sweatshirt" or he screams at the idea of putting it on. I wonder who's anal retentive personality both my kids both exhibit sometimes......haha!

On a more somber note, I'm really starting to take in my moms death. I think it was my cousin that said to me at the funeral in regards to my aunt "yeah, it took me a good couple of months to really accept she was gone. I thought I was doing well up to that point". I had told her I felt "OKAY" about everything and was really glad mostly that my mom's at peace. That was at that time. Now I'm just filled with anger and resentment over the way she was treated by those that claimed to love and care so much for her. I don't think I'll ever get over it and honestly, I think as long as I can move past it, that's okay. What goes around comes around... one way or another.

I took this photo of a rose that bloomed on my rose bush this past week. It isn't like any other rose that's ever bloomed there before, you can tell by the leaves. Unfortunately, Laynie decided to pick it yesterday so it's sitting in a glass on my counter, still beautiful. I was going to find a way to "preserve" it because for some reason it made me think of my mom each time I'd pass by it. Like somehow she was sending me a sign that things are good. If that's the case I hope she works her magic on my whole back yard this winter!