6 Years Old... OW MY GOODNESS

My little man turned 6 on January 3rd.  It feel on a Thursday this year and Dominic had been waiting so patiently. Year 3 now mommy has kept with her Balloon tradition.  And this year was THE BEST.  Dominic was so blown away. 

What a BIG BOY !!

This year Dominic wanted to has his theme as Star Wars (thank goodness mommy kept the decor from last year).  Dominic opted to have cupcakes for school and then he choose his cake design in honor of the Star Wars game hs plays with daddy.

On Dominics Birthday he wanted to have it at the Trampoline Park which is a lot of fin and VERY exhausting. Dominic had many school friends from Moose Hill, World Academy and then family and friends.  We all were waiting in the lobby to gather and then we released the kids for the next hour of running around jumping, being Ninjas, playing virtual games and so much more.

After an hour of craziness. We knew we needed to fuel up and get pizza and cake.  We all gathered around and got our grub on.  I was aking Dominic about how much fun he was having and I feel these pics speak for themselves.  The kids were sprinting from one end to the other on the sky area, playing Ninjas on the combat area and then Dodge Ball.  They also just opened up an area where you create your own avatar and play against other friends on the T. V.  It was really neat.  NEAr the end of the part (2nd half) you would find Dominic, Owen and Brady over there playing non stop.  

We were so blessed to have such good friends celebrate with Dominic.  His new great friend William from Moose Hill and his main pals from WA, Owen and Joey were by his side.  We were so loved by dear friends the Hanlon crew in which Cayleigh is 6 months to the day younger and her little sis.  They have been apart of eachothers lives before they could say their 1st word. 

OW Madeline you just keep us on out toes

The past few months Madeline has grown up in so many ways.  From being in a big girl bed, REALLY loving babies, playing teacher and being a 'mom' to Dominic.


This was when we went to Ralich cook out and Madeline was watching the other little girls and playing.  The Vogels brought their dog Charlie and Miss Maddy was so smitten.

 I attempted to take Madeline to get her hair trimmed for there was a 'sort of' rat tail and I thought we should get this fixed.  $20 dollars later and literally 4 snips it was gone.  Mom learned that next time shell take this on. The one thing that I have seen with Madeline is for the most part she has a lot pf patience.  When Dominic went for his 1st hair cut Dominic just sat there and was so enamored about the process.  That is why I know now Madeline has the same characteristics and I wont be paying $20 for 4 cuts from the scissors. I attempted to take Madeline to get her hair trimmed for there was a 'sort of' rat tail and I thought we should get this fixed.  $20 dollars later and literally 4 snips it was gone.  Mom learned that next time shell take this on.

I cannot help it.  Madeline LOVES soccer and as you can see shes non stop, even when were leaving.  She just grabs moms bag with the snacks and said,  "Let go.. were all done here mommy". 

Madeline LOVED soccer and  we have done 2 seasons.  She enjoys kicking the ball and all soccer activities.  Her favorite is Hungry Hungry Hippo.  This is where there are two soccer nets and all the balls are in the circle.  You take the ball and dribble to the goal and score.  Then you will go back and repeat. 

I love all my moments with Madeline. Now that Dominic is almost 6 him and Daddy has thier one and one time. But when Daddy is away we def have our non stop board games, Ninja plays and so much more.  But when Madeline and Mommy get time together is is filled with puzzles, SOOOOO many books we read, coloring and CUDDLING for a movie.  Pretty much any movie with this sweety involves singing and dancing.  

As you can see below even her and her brother just love to have dance parties in the kitchen.  It is nearly impossible to have dinner without a PARTY, 

During the month of December mom took a few days off and hung at home with the kids. 

 We played at home and then went to a few trampoline parks.  These were so much fun for we played dodgeball, fought on hte beam with eachother, trapeza and then got take down bar the BAR>

This is Dommy and  Daddy time. So we do let Dom have sleep overs SOMETIMES on our floor. There are times where Mark or I will sleep on the floor with him.

Christmas Fun

This year we decided to put up our non real tree and then bake cookies and decorate.  Since this is what we decided we ended up putting the tree up on the 1st of December.  We hauled up all the ornaments and Holiday decorations.  As Mommy brought things up.  Madeline started to take it upon herself and place the decorations all around.  Then later after we updated Madelines set up we opened up the family ornaments.  I love this so much because we get to think about who got who what and why.  My favorite tradition Mark and I started when we were dating was to buy an ornament that represents something that that person accomplished or what reminds you of them.  So when we were just dating our tree was filled with lots of color balls.  Now its fill with so many memories we have over the past decade and half.

With the year coming to an end I tried to take some extra days off with the kids and take some field trips.  One day I took them to the trampoline part and BoBos.  At the trampoline park.  The kids were non stop from jumping on the pit to swinging on the bar and dodge ball.  One of Madelines favorite activities was swinging on the bar then dropping into the pit.  I love hearing her giggles.  Then the second I would say dodge ball.  Dominic and I did the balance beam fight and dodge ball of course.  He is getting to be a much better thrower.

That week leading up to Christmas we celebrated with the Ambrose family and made gingerbread houses. At the Ambrose party, the kids were running around singing songs and eating way to much cookies. from Madeline the youngest to Kayleigh 16 the oldest. Watching the kids, I had to admit that it was really fun the see all the cousin hang out.  Later on that day, we finished making our gingerbread houses.  The day before we built them and now was the fun part to decorate.  Madeline has such a sweet tooth I knew 8-% of the icing would end up in her little mouth (it did).   I have to monitor and help apply the icing as she applied the house decorations.




That following week was Christmas.  On Christmas Eve we went to a new park and got crafty. There is a park a few miles away that we pas everytime we head to school and Madeline asked everytime can we please go.  FINALLY we found a nice day and made it happen.  When we got there were headed right to the swings and then climbed on the gymbore set.  After a few hours there and Benson Park we headed home to get ready for the Christmas Eve party.  Dominic and Madeline this year were both really excited to get dressed up and look nice (NEVER HAPPENS).  I did not even need to tell Dominic to wear a cool t-shirt under his nice shirt.  We even did it right and took family pics before we left.

When we arrived at the party the kids enjoyed dancing and playing with Aunt Kim's dog.  We ate, danced and played our annual present exchange game.  As the party was winding down we left around 8 to head home and get ready for Santa Clause.  When we got home we put on our PJS, wrote our letter to Santa and put out cookies and mlk.  As the kids went down and we read a few Christmas stories.  The kids were so excited.  The next morning I was very surprised that the kids slept till about 7:30 amd and that was perfect for us.  No naps the day before and today will be a really long fun fiull day... it was great.

When the kids woke we were ready with coffee in hand.  We headed downstairs to see all the goodies Santa, Mommy/Daddy and family had sent.  Our 1st thing we open every year are the stockings that mommy and daddy get for the kids.  Dominics was filled with a phone charger (he keeps stealing moms), car art set, little stuff bear, play doe and stickers.  For Madeline we gave her a stuff dog, play doe, crayon set for the car and jewelry, NEW washable makers with a coloring book.

After that we dove into the presents.  We still try to stick to alternating a kids every time.  For the most part this does work.  Dominic's presents ranged from really cool Marvel and Disney books to read with mommy at night, legos, building set to make projects with, legos and other Star War toys and  science kits.  His FAVORITE was saved for last and was the Switch.  I was reluctant but we have been playing games together and put a time for how long and he cannot play everyday.

For Madeline, since she LOVES babies.  Mommy built her a wooden high chair, a whole bucket of baby doll clothes, books, Doctor McStuffins jacket along with a new kit, puzzles and dress up clothes.

We had a great time spending time and playing with our toys and making memories.


Later that day we heading to Nana and Bampas for our annual holiday party.  We headed over around 1 with toys to hand out in hand.  It was so much fun as it is every year and making fun memories.  Madeline was really lucky to get a awesome wooden baby doll cradle, clothes with cool animal hood, and matching games.  Dominic got science kit, legos, and clothes. 



At the end of the awesome holiday 4 day event. We had a blast and I feel compared to last year moving on December 15th.  It was a bit more calmer. 

A week later we celebrated New Years Eve.  This was the 1st year I had off that day.  The kids and I hung out all morning playing and getting our crazies on.  Then we headed to BoBos.  It was fun to get out and just get our bounce on and climb.  When we headed home a nap was not in the books so we laid low with a movie until we head to the MONARCH GAME!!  The kids just love Max the lion and we always have a great time.  We got the the game a little early and were able to watch the players get on the rink.  As the game progressed we ate screamed and kept our eyes out for Max the Lion.  As we were watching the game we kept see Max on the other side of the rink.  Madeline kept asking to run over and hug him.  I kept on saying hes making his way over but he did not and Madeline was so sad.  But I had to let her know that out of all the games we have been lucky to see Max at least 2- 3 times each game.  At the beginning of the 3rd period the kids were done and we headed home. Once we were home we cuddle for a bit with stories and then sleep time.