Video of Quinn

I found this unpublished video on my blog as a draft.  I had to publish it, so I could view it.  It's from 2008.  The playback speed is a little choppy, but you get the gist of it.  

Kid Follies, Again

Yesterday, we all loaded up in Dom's truck on our way to do an apartment. When I got in the truck, Dom asked me if I had "such & such" which I just had in my hand prior to walking out the door. I said, "No, I must have laid it down on the table so I could blow my nose," then walked out the door without it. (I've been sick by the way, reason for blowing nose...) So I hopped out of the truck and ran back in the house to retrieve the "such & such." That is when Alex turned to Dom and said, "Now, I know where I get my memory!"

Yesterday, when we were in the truck driving back home, Quinn asked me, "Mom, do they have water beds that have fish inside them?"

Some More Kid Follies

Look at that, two posts in a row! Wahoo! I'm on a roll. Before I lose these two things I have floating around on a piece of paper, here they are.

Ethan was talking to me one day and he said, "When I'm a mom..." I explained to him that he won't be a mom, he will be a dad. He then said, "I don't know how to have kids. I don't know where to go?"

The other day, I came out of my bedroom after having showered and blown dry my hair. Quinn looked at me and said, "Mom, are you going somewhere?" I replied, "No." He then said, "Then why is your hair poofed out?"

Children Are A Blessing

From the Lord, right? That's what the bible tells me in Ephesians. "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward", Eph 127:3-5. I have to remind myself of that when something like this occurs.

Anna took a dry erase maker and colored all over my kitchen floor, walls, and doors. I can't turn my back for a moment. But do you want to know what I was thanking God for as I was cleaning up this mess? Mr. Clean Magic Erasers!

A Few Kid Follies

The other day, we were all gathered around the table eating dinner, when I commented about how our older two children both have dark hair and our two younger children both have light colored hair. Alex looked at Dom and said, "Yea, and Dad has Dottie Dog hair." LOL! (Black and WHITE like Dottie the Dalmatian)

Today, I had the kids sitting at the table doing some "schoolwork" (we haven't officially started back up this year. Next Week) and I was acting a little silly goofing off. I was just trying to have some fun getting the kids to laugh. ;) Quinn looked at me and said, "what did you do with my mom?" I guess that tells me something, like I haven't been silly enough lately!

I thought this was such an adorable picture with Quinn and his kitty. There's nothing funny about this picture, I have just been waiting for the "right" post to include it in. But I'm tired of waiting. I thought you all could enjoy it now!

Fun With Dough

Monday, we had friends over to our house from the Monticello Moms group, that I have been a part of for a couple of years now. It is just a group of moms that get together so our kids can play and we can enjoy each other's company. I am hosting for this month of August. On Aug. 11th, I invited them over for "Fun With Dough." And it was fun, but also very messy.

We started off with dough to make Bubble Bread. Yum!! You pinch of a small piece of dough, roll it into a ball, dip that into melted butter, then dip it again into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, (1 Cup brown sugar & 2 T. cinnamon), toss that into a bundt pan, and repeat. Once all your dough has become cinnamon/sugar balls, let dough rise for 30 minutes, than bake for another 30 minutes in 350* oven. Oh, this is so good right out of the oven, and is worth the wait. It disappeared very fast with so many little mouths to feed.

While the Bubble Bread was rising, we made play dough. Play dough is fun for the kids, but, oh so, messy for the moms. I should have taken a picture of the mess after everyone left. And the moms did help clean up before they left, but Anna kept playing and then Quinn and Ethan joined her. There was play dough everywhere in my kitchen, where I was trying to keep it contained.

I looked around at the mess after everyone left, and thought, "why did I bother to clean my house before everyone came?" But once I started to clean it up, it wasn't nearly as bad as I had originally thought. I was able to tidy up fairly quickly with help from Alex and Quinn.

I have a few friends who think my house is always immaculate. Hah! With four kids, is that even possible? I spent two days before anyone came over trying to get my house CLEAN. Yes, maybe by some standards it was already clean to some people, but I am a perfectionist and I want my house perfect. Which is really impossible to keep that way with kids in the house. I'm trying to find a balance to that, keep house simi-clean to my standards, but not so clean that I drive myself and my children insane trying to keep it that way.

Overall we had a fun day and I am happy to have had a messy house afterwards as proof of that fun. It was worth it. August 25th, everyone is invited back to my house for "Fun With Water." Don't you love how I've titled them as some great event? We are going to have swimming, sprinklers, and snowcones. I guess I could have titled it SSS. Stay tuned for pictures from that in the days to come.

Haircuts

Besides being chief cook and bottle washer in our home, I am also the family beautician. I cut everyone's hair including Dom and myself. Today, I cut the boy's hair.





Here's Alex before I cut his hair. This was a challenge to get him to smile. He didn't want his picture taken. He is starting to act more like a teenager everyday. But he is only nine!














Here is the after picture of Alex. His hair is a challenge to cut. It is incredibly thick and is slightly wavy, making it hard to comb. It seems like I can cut and cut on his hair and never be done. I am always telling him to be thankful for that thick head of hair and that I hope he keeps it all his life.
















Here is Quinn's before shot. He looks kind of cute with that shaggy hair. I can always tell when its time to cut their hair because Quinn's hair is hanging over his ears. His hair is fine and straight so it shows its length faster than Alex's wavy hair.
















Quinn, after. I always joke with the kids about taking off their ears and re-attaching when I'm done. Those pesky ears are always in the way. Its hard to cut around them without actually cutting them.


















Ethan, before. His hair wasn't too long this time. I did a real number on him last time, cutting it quite short. Isn't he cute?















Ethan, after. Looks like he just won a race, doesn't it? His hair is very fine and thin, so it is the easiest to cut, but it also shows any of my mistakes the easiest. Quinn's hair used to be thin almost like Ethan's but thickened up in the last couple of years. Maybe Ethan's will thicken up here eventually too.

Here is sweet little Anna. I didn't cut her hair today, but did it a couple of days ago. Here she is after her bath today to remove chocolate ice cream from her hair. I don't have to contend with her ears while cutting her hair like I do the boys. I just trim the ends and her bangs. The challenge with her is keeping her still, but she's pretty good about it.

Children Are Expensive

One of my favorite quotes is "children are expensive," spoken by Pastor Reb Bradley about child training. Today Anna brought that quote to light. A few hours ago, the boys ran to tell me, "Mom, you are going to be mad at Anna! She flooded the bathroom!" I have to say, I could have been furious with her if she didn't have three big brothers who have already paved the way for her. She is not the first of my children to do this. I think all of them around this age have done the same thing. The most memorable one was Quinn when I was in labor with Ethan. Yes, I was having contractions, just hours away from delivery, when Quinn ran the bathroom sink over and I was hunched down on my knees sopping up water with towels on the floor. So, today, Anna's sink runnith over didn't hold the same weight. There was an inch or so of water on the floor, but Alex, Quinn and myself sprang into action. Out came the carpet cleaner to start sucking up the water. Alex took charge of that while I started drying out the vanity drawers and cabinet. Quinn supervised! In a matter of minutes, the bathroom was cleaned up and I was thankful that it was water from the sink and not the toilet. :)

So why are children expensive? That bathroom cabinet has been water logged so many times, its paint is peeling. Eventually the cabinet is going to need to be replaced. But I say that we should wait until the kids are old enough not to run the sink over anymore. Maybe in ten to twenty years? Sounds like a jail sentence, doesn't? ;)

And let me add that the last child who ran that sink over propelled me to remove the plug permanently. So without a plug, how did Anna stop up the sink? Toilet paper!

More Kid Follies

OK, it's time for a more upbeat post. I'm doing better and haven't cried in several days since Dottie passed. I think I'm on the mend. But here a few cute things the kids have said or done recently.

• Ethan took a sesame seed off of his hamburger bun and said, “Mom, if I plant this, it will grow a hamburger.”

• After telling Alex to do something, he muttered, “I’m the only one who ever does anything around here.” He kind of sounds familiar. Hmm….

• After Ethan gave me a kiss good night he said, “I’m glad you don’t have spiky cheeks. Dad has spiky cheeks.”
  
  Here is Anna pulling her shirt up over her head. I think she looks like a flower, the kids say she’s an elephant.

A happy heart makes the face cheerful... Proverbs 15:13

Blueberries

This morning I went blueberry picking with my friend Meg in Tally. You can visit her blog by clicking on the link. You can even read about me on her blog. Oh, I feel so honored to be mentioned in cyberspace. :)

But anyway, near her house is a blueberry patch that is unkempt and the owners of that particular property let people come and pick blueberries for free. Anything for free is wonderful. It only costs gas, which is outrageous and with the gas hogs we drive and how far away from everything we live, it is still quite costly. But that's life in the year 2008.

These blueberries were huge and very sweet. Much sweeter than the ones we picked the other day and had to pay for at a U-Pick Blueberry Farm. It was an enjoyable morning. Meg in Tally made me meet her at 8:00 am! Uhh! ;) She really didn't make me, but suggested that the earlier the better to try and beat the heat. Which I thanked her for because it was much more pleasant to pick in the cool of the morning rather than the heat of high noon, which is when we picked at the U-Pick Farm. But meeting her that early made me get out of bed at 6:00 am in order to shower and get the kids up and going and be out of the house by 7:15. Which really turned into 7:30 before I was out the door, but yet, I still made it in time. Woo Hoo! (You see, I am a little spoiled with homeschooling my children. I don't have to get up super early to get everyone out the door to meet the bus. Which is really how I prefer it!)

I only had Ethan and Anna today since Alex and Quinn went to work with Dom to do their lemonade stand.

Here is a picture of them from yesterday in the stand Dom built (I am so blessed to have such a handy husband!). They grossed about $55 Friday. Dom and his co-workers joked with Alex and Quinn and asked if they were hiring since they are making a decent amount of money, more than some adults make a day.

Here you can see their location, tucked in the corner by Publix, yet still in front of Colortyme. They are enjoying themselves and wanted to do the lemonade stand again today, rather than go blueberry picking. I can't blame them.

I'm still waiting for more comment entries from yesterday's Flowers post before I reveal the winner. Oh, I know you can't wait to find out who that will be!! But I'll give it another day or two before I spill the beans on that story.

Week In A "Long" Glance

Well, I need to fill you in a whole week’s worth of my life. I know you can’t wait to find you what we’ve been up too. All week I thought I would get some free time to blog, but I don’t think free time exists when there are four children in the house. So now I am forcing myself to sit and write between loads of laundry. Where are the kids you ask? Kids? What kids?

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, as I am sure you are well aware. The day was going well. I was in the middle of cooking Dom some crab legs for his special dinner and then it happened, the power went out. If you have been keeping up on my blog, you know that I wrote about another time when the power went out. And I said that I sometimes enjoy it, as long as it comes at the “right” time. Well, during dinnertime, is not the right time. But thankfully, we have a gas cook top that the power does not effect (except the electronic ignition, that a lighter takes care of for me during power outages). So dinner continued to cook by candle light, except that I had planned on using the oven to broil a steak because we are out of gas on our grill. My oven is not gas, it is an electric wall oven, separate from my gas cook top, in case you were wondering. So I could not broil the steak, and had to pan fry it instead. Steak is not so good pan fried, which I thought, but had no choice. It was tough. But Dom and I enjoyed the crab legs and just the kids were forced to eat the tough steak, except Ethan and Anna who like crab legs. The evening continued for three hours without power. The utility trucks ended up right in front of our house cutting down branches away from power lines. Dom and the kids were on the front porch playing a game of UNO, since it was cooler on the porch than in the house, and there was more light outside than in the house. So the kids got to see the exciting trimming of tree branches by the utility company. Soon the power came back on after that.

Which brings me to Monday with more tree trimming from the utility company. Several months ago, Dom called the utility company and wanted them to cut down a dead tree that we thought might hit our power lines if we were to cut it down. Well they showed up Monday to do that and to trim branches on our property away from the power lines. Here they are:
And I have to ask the question, “How many people does it take to cut down a tree?” “One to cut and three to watch.” It was kind of funny to see them all staring up while watching one guy do all the work. The three on the ground did get to work picking up the branches and feeding them into the chipper once the guy in the cherry picker was done doing his job.

Tuesday was spent doing tons of laundry and cleaning the boys room. My children know how to horde trash. I spent the whole day throwing 5-6 trash bags full (the big black trash bags, not the kitchen size) of junk, mostly paper wrappers and such. I really don’t know, but it wasn’t all toys that I tossed. I don’t know how they manage to do this. I send them to their room to clean, and everything goes under their beds and in their closet. With three boys in one room, it gets messy.

Wednesday, we went to Panama City to pick up a couple apartments. For those who don’t know, we have a business where we lease furniture to corporate apartments. We have several in Panama City. While we are there, if we have enough time before we head back home, we take a swim in the ocean. It is fun, and I enjoy the Gulf so much more than I ever did the Atlantic when we lived in Melbourne. Panama City beaches have nice white sand and the water is so much clearer than the Atlantic. It also is not as wavy, which I like. I was always fighting to stand up in the Atlantic without getting knocked over and carried to shore by waves. The gulf is better for kids in that respect too.

Thursday, took us to the big town of Boston, GA. The Thomasville Library had a magician on Wednesday for their summer reading program. Alex really wanted to go and see him, but we had to be in Panama City on Wednesday. So I found out what other libraries he would be at and Boston it was to be. Boston is a little closer to us than Thomasville. It took us about 30 minutes to get there. And I was being sarcastic when I called it big, it is a tiny, little town, but hey, they have a library! The Magic show was great and Alex even got picked out of the audience to help with a magic trick. He enjoyed that and poor Quinn was so disappointed that he wasn’t picked. I tried to tell him that we needed to be happy for Alex, but I’m not sure that I got through to him.

Friday, took Quinn and Alex to Thomasville with Daddy to run their Lemonade Stand. They have been wanting to do a lemonade stand for quite some time now, even trying to build one out by the road in front of our house. I told them, they would probably only sell two cups of lemonade in front of our house, one to the mailman, and one to Daddy. Not many people travel our road! So, Dom said that they could do it in front of “his” store. Dom works at Colortyme, right by Publix, so he gets a fair amount of “traffic.” So Alex and Quinn got their shot to do a lemonade stand. They did very well. Dom was surprised at how much business they got. They made about $60 selling lemonade at $1 a cup. Of course they spent that much in start up costs, because we didn’t have a big cooler for them to dispense the lemonade, but Dom donated our money for their start-up expense. We plan on taking them to the bank to open up their own accounts to save the money they make.

While Alex and Quinn were in Thomasville, I was outside feeding the critters. I went to look at the turtles. Yes we have turtles, that I have not blogged about yet!! Dom travels the back way to Thomasville on dirt roads and he sees lots of turtles crossing those roads. He stops to pick them up and bring them home to Quinn who is just “critter crazy.” He loves all critter life and it really makes me wonder what his vocation in life might be when he gets older. But anyway, he had five turtles in a baby pool outside. Dom wanted them to dig a hole to sink the pool into the ground so they would be ground level and could get out of the pool if they wanted to. He planned on fencing off a little area around the pool to keep them from wondering off. Alex and Quinn were having a little trouble in digging that hole, so I decided to help out. I dug the hole, sunk in the pool, added more water and then “IT” happened. “IT” is Ethan had Alex’s PSP (a hand-held game, kind of like a Game Boy for those of us who are from the Game Boy generation. LOL) and he dropped it into the pool of water. I didn’t even know that he had it outside, so I was quite upset. These things are expensive and Alex just spent over $100 to get this one repaired, because the LCD screen was broken. It took a long time for him to save up enough money to get this repaired, so I was upset even more about Ethan dropping it in the water. So I stopped what I was doing and ran inside to take apart the PSP and try and dry it out. I had a blow drying on it and I managed to get it working again. But I still have an extra screw that I do not know where it goes after I put it back together. But it works, which is what matters, right? It didn’t seem like I spent that much time in the house, maybe 30-45 minutes before I went back outside to finish the turtle sanctuary. I went out and was trying to see the turtles in the water, which is muddy, because I made a dirt embankment for them to crawl up on and out of the pool. But, I only saw one! I couldn’t believe it, four turtles escaped while I was in the house. Oh, how was I going to tell Quinn?! I finished fencing off the turtle area, so the one that was left wouldn’t escape, and I broke the news later in the day to Quinn. He wasn’t happy, but he took it quite well. Dom will now be on the look out for more turtles!

Saturday, took us to Monticello for the Watermelon Festival. We got there before 10:00 am to watch the parade. The kids enjoy it, but I really don’t get why people flock to parades. I think they are a little boring, and if I didn’t have kids to take, I wouldn’t be there. But, I do it for the kids. After the parade we went to see a play at the Monticello Opera House, an old historic building. My friend Tammy (Hi Tammy!), had three of her children in the play. It was nice to watch a show where you know some of the “stars.” The show was nice and everyone enjoyed it, except I was constantly trying to keep Anna in check. The musical numbers held her attention, but in between those numbers she was bored and bouncing all over the place. I wish I had the energy of a two year old!

Sunday, yesterday, we rested! It was quite a lazy day for us, which is quite unusual. Dom and I were both tired, and we kept dozing off while watching TV with the kids. It was good for us though, especially Dom who doesn’t have too many lazy days.

That wraps up my week. Hopefully it won’t be a whole other week before I blog again. I know this entry is rather long, and I like to keep them a little shorter so I don’t consume so much of your time in reading them. But until next time…

Touch-A-Truck

This blog would have been loaded today with pictures of the kids and trucks, if I had remembered to bring my camera with me today. But since I didn't, you'll just have to visualize the kids inside a fire truck or a police car. Today we went to the Thomasville (Georgia) Library for their Touch-A-Truck day. It is part of their Summer Reading Program where they have special shows and such to get you in the library and reading their books. It's a homeschoolers dream to have FREE teachable moments such as these.

We barely got there in time, because I was thinking we didn't have to rush out the door today, since we could view the trucks anytime between 10:00 and 12:00. We didn't get in the car until about 11:00 and since we live in the middle of nowhere, it takes a good 40 minutes to get anywhere near civilization (except Monticello that is 20 minutes away, but who's counting). So we got there just in time to see a fire truck leave with siren blaring, maybe to a call, but who knows. There still was a fire truck there that the kids were allowed to climb up in. Oh, how I wish I had a camera on my cell phone for these moments. Quinn even sat in a police car, and they all climb up into a bull dozer. Exciting, isn't it? The crowning moment, free popsicles from Blue Bell Ice Cream. Yea!! Anna was wearing hers all over me and herself. She was savoring it instead of eating it. Would have been another cute picture. But here is one of her with a Blue Bell hat on from when we went to a Blue Bell function when they were touring the U.S. celebrating their 100th year in making Ice Cream. We got free ice cream that day too. Yum!

I'm not sure who that is behind her, but its not me, I am the one with the camera.

Here is one with Quinn and Alex at the same Blue Bell function.

And here is one that I took with Dom and the kids when Dom rented a 'dozer to use around our house. This should help you visualize what today's pictures could have looked like.

I'm happy now. I still got to share pictures of my kids even though they weren't from today.

Almost Big Bed

Anna's growing up. Sniff, Sniff!! I haven't wanted to see this day come and I've tried to prolong the inevitable. But she is ready for a big bed, almost. She has started to climb out of her crib, so yesterday, Dom took off the front rail, so she can get in and out of bed easier. I put the boy's old bed rail under her mattress, so that she won't roll out of bed. It adjusts so you can fold it down and out of the way. Putting sheets on the crib is now easier, since safety standards prevent any space to be between the mattress and the railings, it's almost impossible to get sheets between those places. I understand the safety issue, but come on!!

The boys were all in big boy beds by the time they were two because I needed the crib for the next baby. Anna turned two in April, but I didn't want to graduate her just yet and I don't need it for another baby. So I'm trying to keep her a baby. How am I doing?

So far she is doing pretty well with staying in bed. The boys were a "um" nightmare (can I say that and still get Mother of the Year Award) to keep in bed. I have had to go and put her back in several times, but I think she gets the picture. Or I'm just experiencing "beginner's luck" and she will turn into that "nightmare" to keep in bed. No, not my little girl. ;)

Here is the whole gang enjoying Anna's bed. This is really a cute picture, but when I upload onto my blog, pictures get all fuzzy. I don't know why.

Lately, Anna has this "thing" with putting on socks. She goes and gets socks out of her own drawers or her brother's drawers and puts them on both her feet and her hands. She also likes to wear shoes, anyone's, her brothers included. Here is a picture where you can see she has two mismatched socks on, her brother's socks that is. She is showing you her pretty ball too.

She put on this head band herself, as you can tell. She can make funny faces, just like her brothers. They've taught her well.

Ethan's Quote of the Day

Ethan, who loves watermelon and had almost devoured a whole one, although a small seedless one, said, "Mom, I'm glad Dad bought watermelon, it gives me power to run fast."

Quinn & Power

Quinn did the sweetest thing today. Early this morning he came into my room, tapped me awake, and then said, "I made breakfast." In my groggy state, I wasn't sure what he said, I only know I heard something about breakfast. Of course after he had woken me up, I rolled over mumbling "hmm." Remember, I'm not a morning person, and today was one of those great sleep in mornings, you know the kind where it is cloudy outside, so it is dark inside. It was raining this morning, which will bring me to my next topic "power." I did get up a few minutes later, my bladder was calling, and I went to investigate what this thing was that Quinn had woken me up about. There he sat at the table amongst 5 place settings and 5 cups of juice. Each plate had a bagel on it with cream cheese. I said, "you made breakfast?" He said, "yes, and it took me forever." How sweet is that!

So, Quinn and I ate breakfast alone, since everyone else was sleeping. Quinn eventually woke up Alex, so then the three of us finished our breakfast. Then the power went out. Thankfully Quinn had breakfast all made, so I didn't have to figure out what I was going to make with no electricity. God must have been speaking to Quinn this morning providing us with a meal before the power went out!

So the next picture is the boys sitting at the table doing school work by lamp light. Ethan just joined us to eat his cold bagel and Anna is still sleeping in. I think she takes after me and Alex on the sleeping issue!

The power eventually came back on after more than 2 hours. I usually kind of enjoy the first hour of no power, as long as it comes at a "convenient" time. It allows me to take a break from the chores that I can't do without power and I usually take that time to read to the kids. But by the time the second full hour passes without power, I'm ready for it to come back on so that I can do all those chores that need to be done and require power, like take a shower. Living in the country and requiring the use of a pump to get water from the well, makes me a little envious of you city dwellers! Not really, I love my country life! I just always keep a couple of jugs of water handy for these power outages. And they normally happen every time it rains. It hasn't been raining all that often lately, so even when we lose power, we have to be thankful for the rain that is so needed.

Kid Follies

Nothing too exciting has been going on these last few days, so I will tell you a few cute things the kids have done or said recently.


Domenick had bought some Peanut M&M’s and Quinn wanted to know if he could have some. I said that he could have a handful. A few minutes later, I walked into the kitchen to find Quinn with the nut cracker. He was cracking open the Peanut M&M’s and removing the peanut. LOL! I told him not to waste the peanut, someone will eat it and he said, “Oh, I’m not wasting them. I’m giving them to Ethan, he likes them.”


Yesterday, Quinn killed a wasp that made its way into our house. Ethan was with him and said, “Be careful, its stingray may still be alive.”


This will touch any homeschooling mother’s heart. Quinn and Alex were at the table one day doing their school work and Quinn said, “ I’m glad we’re homeschooled, aren’t you Alex?” Ahhh! Music to my ears! Makes it all worth it.


The other morning Dom went into the kids room to wake them up early, since we needed to get somewhere that day in a timely fashion. He then came to tell me that Alex is just like me. When he told them it was time to get up, Ethan sat right up in bed, ready to go; Quinn stretched and looked around; and Alex said “Oh, God.” Yes, Alex and I are not morning people and we don’t like to get up.


I’ll try and make this a regular piece on my blog. Kids are always saying the “darnest” things and I never remember them years down the road, so by writing about them here, I’m keeping a record that can be enjoyed in the years to come.

Anna & Quinn

Yesterday, Dom (short for Domenick - it's easier to type) finally put up a swing for Anna and here she is on it (don't tell her brothers that it's hers, they think it is for everyone, which it is;). I've been wanting to hang a swing from this particular tree ever since we moved here. It's only been almost four years, so better late than never. I finally "convinced" him that his little girl needed a swing and you can see how she enjoys it.








Here's a closer view of Anna,
dirty dress and all.





The swing is located near our "tree fort" that Dom and I built several years ago. We had seen a light house/tree house built like this many years ago when Alex was a baby. We had dreamed of the day when we could finally build it and with 5 acres, we finally had the room and we jumped at the chance to tackle the project. It's three stories high and was a slight challange to build, especally getting the roof in place. Dom built the roof on the ground, had me standing on the third level to help pull it up, while he carried the roof on his back up a ladder. I was praying the whole time that, one Dom wouldn't fall and get hurt, two that I wouldn't fall and get hurt, and three that the roof wouldn't fall and get hurt. As you can see, God answered my prayers! - at least the roof part!





With the extra rope Domenick had left over from hanging the swing, he made a rope ladder to attatch to the tree fort. Here is Quinn making his way up the ladder to the second floor. Don't worry, he is a "professional climber" and has even scaled rock walls.











-----See, there he is.----->













<----------- Here is Quinn being silly with a little chick on his head.