Dominic's birthday, and no more swine flu

Dominic turned 5 on October 1st. It's hard to believe when I first met him he was 2 1/2.


4th of July 2007

And with Jerry and Gabriel:



Now for pictures from his birthday party last week:

This is the face of a 5 year old we just (jokingly) told that the presents were actually for Orion. We're so mean, I know.



And then the look when we told him to go ahead and open them, we were just kidding


It's a Didj!! (the thing is actually pretty neat)




Blowing out the candle on his VERY yummy cake!






When we pulled the cake out Orion got so excited he ran and got his own spoon before we got around to it. The boy is a total chocolate kid!




Speaking of Orion, he agrees with Jerry, who stated the other day that the popcorn maker my parents got him last year for Christmas is the second best gift we've ever gotten.....right behind the crockpot they gave me. We use both all the time, and Orion knows what the sound of the popcorn maker means and will drop EVERYTHING (literally, no joke) and run into the kitchen when he hears it.



I am sorely disappointed in the lack of good (or even decent) fall decorations at the dollar store this year. I was looking forward to maybe actually decorating for a season. I have a horrible eye for decorating though, so it might just be me. I think the only thing I'm halfway good at is Christmas decorating, and that's just because I can throw whatever wherever and it'll still look at least okay.

Gabriel is now just about over swine flu...today was his first day back to school and when we walked in this morning the entire classroom erupted into greetings and "Gabriel's back!! Yay!" He must be really popular. He was grinning ear to ear and excited to be there, and the teachers told me when I returned to pick him up that he had a perfect day with no tantrums and no trouble. Hopefully he'll have another great day tomorrow. Wednesday starts his fall break, which lasts through the weekend.