EW!

saw this bug walking super fast in my driveway the other day. i didn't know what it was so i looked it up on google (which is where this picture came from).

it's called a velvet ant, which is actually a flightless wasp and has a nasty sting.

the wildlife here in tennessee continues to amaze me (and scare the hell out of me!).

http://www.duke.edu/~jspippen/hymenoptera/velvetants.htm

making friends

dominic is starting to make friends with some of the neighborhood kids.

on a hot day, i set up the sprinkler and lewis, the boy from next door, came over to play.









here are dominic, lewis, and another neighbor boy, eric, catching inch worms in our back yard.











the joy of living on a cul de sac! i can let dominic drive around without too much worry that he'll get run over.

all of the homes here have young children and each evening when the heat starts to subside, everyone comes out to the front to talk & play.

here are dominic & lewis taking dom's fire jeep for a spin.

cowboy batman to the rescue

we've been working really hard to get the house cleaned and unpacked, etc... all that fun stuff that comes with moving. dominic's job is to help with the vacuuming.

after vacuuming up something noisy, he decided to investigate.....






.....by emptying the entire container of dirt back onto the carpet.


boys!

a long time coming

dominic was promised a bike this summer and he finally got one! it was so fun... we kept it a surprise until we were in the bike section at the sporting goods store.



daddy giving the exciting news






"i like this one!"















proud of his choice

dominicism

so dominic and i were playing play-doh and he was the owner of a pizza shop. he needed an employee and i was the applicant. i was hired without an interview, probably because he loves me. :)

i asked how much the pay was and he told me, "$5 an hour"

i asked what the hours were and he said, "tuesday for 15 minutes, wednesday for 1 hour, and saturday for 2 hours"

i love being a stay-at-home mom, it's the best job ever! (even better than my pizza play-doh position)

wisconsin visit: part 2

darn this blogger... this picture was supposed to be the last one. dominic is zonked out driving back to tennessee. notice how he's holding tightly to agent p's arm.

thanks for the platypus, grandma!
















pushing daddy on the swing at possiblity playground












campfire at grandpa & grandma's... photographed by dominic
















s'mores at sunset









if the s'mores aren't ready, have a marshmallow!

dominic is such a ham :)



























dominic and grandma, posing for a picture












waiting for the campfire to begin














domino and "roro", lori, enjoying an afternoon together

thanks for lunch, lori!










dominic and his grandpa, playing a bean bag toss game















dominic and clara, posing for a picture

















sharing a ride









tina holding dominic and clara.

thanks to you, tina, and your mom for having us over to swim. we had so much fun!!












dominic was helping to stack wood in grandpa's barn










dominic was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with his friend, michael. michael's mom bought 'just for fun' so we got to play there for free!


michael and spidey, um i mean, dominic... enjoying a snack





















dominic and his friend, nigel, having a superhero battle.

thanks for meeting me out, hannah! it was so great to see you.








i found a tree where a bunch of "wishes" collected and suggested dominic make a wish. here he is, whispering to the wish tree.









the second leg of our journey was spent in plymouth, with a stop in milwaukee to see some friends on the way. jada's dad & stepmom put us up, or put up with us as the case may be ;)
we really enjoyed ourselves, thanks so much for your hospitality!!

during this part of our trip, we:

• had some play dates
• visited & dined out with friends
• went to kohler with jada's mom to check out the italian goings-ons there
  
• dominic had a sleep over at jada's mom & step-dad's... but i forgot to leave the camera behind! so i have no pictures of this :(
  
• went swimming at the mauk's house
• had a campfire and s'mores (and teased grandpa a lot!)
  

wisconsin visit: part 1

@ the racine fireworks. i think i was the only one enjoying them; my sleepydoos couldn't stay awake

















chillin' at racine's fourth fest parade.
thanks for loaning us the comfy chair, uncle mike!







our friends' kids, christopher and lucas, battling it out with tom and dominic

we had a great time, jacksons... thank you for the hospitality











the anniversary party
tommy brought out his fireman gear for us to try on... that was fun!


this is dominic's cousin, carly












dorothy (nona) even tried on the gear! :)
she looks so cute!





















































this is tommy, helping dominic get the gear on. it's really heavy!

tommy - thanks for going to the trouble to haul all this stuff out for us :)












the golden pair... cutting their replica wedding cake

(way to go jay & annamarie! a great idea to have the original wedding cake recreated!)




the original* graceffa clan

*minus david





















swinging cousins (dominic, alexis, isabelle)










dominic wrestling with his cousin, vinny















sparklers in the front yard













a new friend, dominic named him "mr. crab"











dominic and uncle john looking for mr. crab













the first part of our trip was spent in racine with tom's family. thanks for allowing us to stay with you.

during part 1 of our visit, we:

• celebrated a 50th anniversary for tom's parents joe & dorothy. we really enjoyed ourselves at the party, where dominic had a blast playing with cousins and chasing chase, who he really is quite fond of
  
• spent time at the beach in racine; building sandcastles, walking, and playing on the jungle gym
• watched the fourth fest parade with friends
  
• saw fireworks (and enjoyed the nice, cool temps)
• cooked-out with friends
  
• golfed
• played at possibility playground
• dominic made wonderful memories!!

i really wish we could have done more, seen more friends (sorry i missed the cook out reese's, i was stranded with no vehicle), etc.... but the time flew by and we couldn't squeeze it all in!

5

happy birthday to the 5 year old!
thanks to nono & nona, grandma & grandpa, nanny & papa, roro, uncle jay & aunt annamarie for sending birthday surprises in the mail!!