If you're happy and you know it....

Dominic's new thing that JJ got him into is watching youtube videos on the internet. First it was UFC fights, but since we now have banned those from the house due to his aggressive nature, we have stuck to Lion King videos and other Disney movies. I like them because they are only clips of the movies so he isn't sitting in front of the TV watching a whole movie. Recently JJ has found more interactive movies and songs which Dominic loves and his speech is getting better I think because of them. His fav is, "if you're happy and you know it."

Well Worth the Wait

Yesterday a good friend enlightened us with some wonderful news (Thanks Alanna!). She said that the next day, the cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory was only going to be $1.50!!!! I was completely in shock because normally a slice of their incredible cheesecake is about $7 or $8, and its my absolute fav! Apparently it was the Cheesecake Factory's 30th anniversary. So JJ came home from school and off we went to the Cheesecake Factory today. Naturally when we got there it was an hour and 15 minute wait. So we just walked around the mall a bit to pass the time, but it was well worth the wait.....yumm!
We sat and went over our weight loss goals over this incredible cheesecake, it was a fun night! Thanks again Alanna.

Hey Honey....He's Doin' It Again!

So Dominic's got this new thing thats kinda freakin' his parents out a bit, well it freaks out JJ a little bit more than me. It all started about a month ago when we were at our friend's house for dinner, and their little girl is Dominic's best little bud. Well, he goes straight into her room and prances out into the kitchen in her little princess high-heels, and wouldn't take them off the whole night. We all kinda just laughed it off at the time, but since then, more things have been happening. Being that I am a psychology major, I read in all my texts that these are the EXPERIMENTAL years, and that it is perfectly normal.....but JJ is not convinced. Today I found him in this....
and then it went to this....
and finally to this....
Please take note of the PINK binkie that seems to be his fav out of the millions that we have in our stash. A couple of hours later I find him in our room with my nursing blanket around his neck, and (you cant see it, but underneath) he's feeding his stuffed cow!
I have always heard of little girls doing this when a new baby arrives, but NEVER a little boy! Humm, should we be nervous?

Can someone say.....ATTITUDE!

So today since Mondays are JJ's long days at school, I decided to take the kids to the local water park with some friends of ours. It was really fun, but it was a long day in the hot sun, so naturally we were all wiped out and Dominic of course passed out the second he hit his car seat, and Riah was exhausted and cranky too.But the worst part of the whole thing was when we came home and I asked Dominic if I could take him out of his wet icky diaper, he said, "NO!" and gave me this face....
and this face....and then he proceeded to take down his sister in UFC moves and laugh because he was on a farting rampage, check it out...

He can be such a stink pot sometimes....in more ways than one!

Gotta' Control the Urges!

So I always thought that I would be one of those moms with all boys, because I just think boys are so great, but lets face it, little girl's clothes are just so much cuter than little boy clothes. I have always thought this, and thats why I thought Heavenly Father wouldn't give me a little girl because he knows that I like to shop....but he did. Maybe he is trying to help me get over this weakness of mine. But anyways, I guess you could call me an impulse buyer, so since our finances at this time do not allow for this fun, thrilling, satisfying activity to occur, I simply stay clear from places like the mall to keep from the temptation. Well, while my mom was here we went to Babies-R-Us to simply get a new stroller for the babies with the $875 that she won at the casino the night before. Just going there to get a stroller.....yeah right. Might I add that she is a trillion times worse than me with impulse buying....she's an impulse buyer with money....watch out everyone! So we came out of that store with not only a new stroller, but five brand new outfits for Dominic, new dress shoes for Riah, and as we are strolling up to the register she grabs this whole outfit for Riah as well....
Might I add too that as we walked into the store, she told Riah (as if she understood) that she wasn't going to buy her anything else.










Well the outfit was so cute I couldn't wait until Sunday to put the whole thing on her for church. So I guess the lesson here is if you are an impulse buyer, stay away from clothing stores, because little girls clothes are just too cute!

Passing the Time

So with my mom now gone, JJ at a seminar every weekend, and not able to leave the house because the car in the shop, I decided to take a few pics of me and the kids. This is how we typically look on a day that we don't leave the house......viewer discretion is advised! Me with no makeup andDominic half naked because he now likes to strip. But Amariah is getting so big, and Dominic is an awesome big brother, although we are working with him on the UFC moves with her....gotta say, its a fun life.

I Love You Mommy

So my mom just left us after a 10 day visit!.....Talk about a let down after she left. She met her new granddaughter for the first time, Amariah, who is only four months old....(clear the throat). Its okay mom I realize there are work obligations. She absolutly spoiled the heck out of us. She bought me, JJ and the kids tons of clothes and took us to fun places like six flags. But what I realized while she was here, was that I really do miss being around her. And one thing that I have grown to love so much about her is her sense of humor. She can be so bold and blunt with her thoughts and opinions, and its just so funny! Ask me about eight years ago and I would have said that I couldn't stand that about her but I really do love it and always get a good laugh around her. I miss all our crazy late night talks, and I love the fact that she leaves a place a little better after she's gone. I owe my clean house and organization to my mommy, although I still feel that she is a little OCD, I strive to be more like her. Thank you for all that you did for us, those late night talks, no sleep, nice dinners, and of course YOU! I love you and miss you tons!

Dominic Loves His New Sister

So here are some recent pics of the kids for those of you who aren't connected to us through facebook. I just loved how a lot of these turned out!

New to the Blogging World

Well I have found that we have many friends that do this blogging stuff, and since I thought it would be a good way for the extended family to see recent updates in our family, I thought I would give it a try. Except just note that every blog will be from me (Tori) because of the fact that my husband hates the computer and so naturally doesn't know too much about them. I think I can have the liberty in saying that I know the most about technology in this family and that is a sad thing. But I don't mean to harp on my wonderful husband because he has many other wonderful strengths. So here it is, our first family blog.... Oh and I entitled it Ding Dong Bells just because I thought it was cute, I wasn't implying anything else ok?