Autumn Fun with Leaves!

Dominic and Brianna watching Daddy rake leaves. Of course it didn't take long for them to get involved.












Dominic helping daddy pick up leaves.












Brianna playing in the leaves. She really was trying to help.













A LaRouche family portrait.













Brianna and Dominic posing for the camera.

Trick or Treat

Firefighter Dominic and Princess Brianna excited and ready for Halloween to begin.












They wore their costumes ALL DAY long!!


















Here they are at daycare with their friend Lacey (the witch)













Look at all the candy mom!! I'm going to eat it all OK!

Apple Orchard & Pumpkin Patch

Dominic and Brianna riding with mommy on the tractor around the apple orchard.













Dominic and Brianna in the pumpkin patch trying to find the perfect pumpkin for Halloween.












Wow, look at all these pumpkins. How long do you think it would take for us to knock them all down?











Here it is mommy. I found the perfect pumpkin--but I can't pick it up. HELP!












Oh, Dominic it isn't that heavy. Watch I can lift it up.

The Basement is Finished

After over 2 years of sweat & tears (mostly from our friends and family) our basement is complete. Now when you all come to visit you don't have to work & you will actually have a place to sleep too! Of course we are still working on living room furniture so it looks a little bare right now, but the kids love the big open space. The day we had the carpet installed the kids opened the basement door and said something like "Wow, we like our new carpet!! This is our new toyroom!!" It sounded a lot better than I can put into text here. Anyway, it is one of their favorite places to hang out now and they can run around like crazy because there is nothing down there except their toys. We hope to have you all over to see the finished product very, very soon. We want to especially thank Mom who inspired us to get started and helped with sooooo much of the project. We would also like to thank Dad for his electrical expertise, Jeff & Shanon for driving so far to help with trim only to catch the flu from our children, Rochy & Kris for the many weekends doing ceilings, mudding and for a beautiful entertainment center and finally Mark for teaching us how to do bathroom tile and for helping to install our backup sump pump. We owe all of you so much for all your hard work and we love you all!

Dominic having a blast!

Dominic playing with the cars at the Children's Museum



Dominic doing the chicken dance.



Dominic playing in his snow boots and pajamas.



Dominic laughing and having a great time.



Dominic playing in the tunnel at the First Steps Reading Day.

More Summer Fun with Brianna

Brianna with a huge grin.
Brianna posing in her snow boots.





Splashing in the water.



In the crane at the Children's Museum.



Sliding down at the First Steps Day of Reading (yeah they got some books too!)

Summer Fun!!

Brianna and Dominic lounging in their chairs relaxing in the summer sun.

Boating with our friends Brent and Susan. Brianna loved going fast--she's quite the dare devil. Dominic enjoyed himself too until it got late & then he was practically sleeping on a 50 mph boat.

Mommy reading Green Eggs and Ham to the kids on Mother's Day. I'm so lucky to have 2 of the most beautiful and intelligent children on the planet.

Brianna found the snow boots and wanted to wear them Saturday morning around the house. Later on we played hokey pokey and danced around with their boots and pajama tops.

Brianna & Dominic getting ready to play in the sprinkler. Brianna is a water baby! Dominic enjoys watching more than playing but their both cute to watch anyway.

Easter Weekend 2006

Dominic in his Easter outfit.

Brianna in her Easter dress and mad because mommy won't let her wear her sweater for the picture.

Dominic feeding the giraffe at the zoo.

Brianna loading up on Chocolate eggs.

Dominic with a mouth full of chocolate.

Brianna and Dominic watching the butterflies.

The kids had a great time Easter weekend. On Saturday we went to the zoo and botanical gardens where they were having a butterfly exhibit. Dominic and Brianna had a blast. They both thought the butterflies were really cool. While at the zoo they got to feed a giraffe and pet an elephant. Well Brianna wouldn't even get close-she's afraid of anything larger than a bird. Sunday morning, the kids attacked their Easter baskets and got plenty of chocolate in their systems by 9am to last them for a while. Fortunately by the 10:30 Mass they were coming down off the sugar-high and were actually quiet well behaved since they were so tired. They looked absolutely adorable in their Easter outfits. Brianna loves to dress up and she got a pink purse that she carried around the next 2 days.

Our Trip to England--December 2005

Amanda holding Nadia and Andrew holding Brianna.

Nadia's Baptism in England

Brianna, Nadia and Dominic at the party after the baptism.

Nadia digging into the cake.

We made our first international trip (with the babies) in December 2005 to visit Andrew's sister Amanda and her husband Martin and daughter Nadia. Nadia was being baptised in England where Martin's family lives and so we traveled over the pond to be there for this very special occassion. This was the first time we got to see Nadia and the first time the twin's met Amanda and her family. It was a very short trip (only 4 days) but it was well worth it. We learned some things for our next international trip which will be an even longer flight so we should be better prepared this summer when we fly to Malawi to visit Andrew's mom and sister Giselle.

The Twins 2nd Birthday--February 5, 2006

Here are some of our favorite pictures from Brianna and Dominic's Birthday Party. They had an absolute blast! The theme was Dora and Diego and we had an adventure through JellyBean Jungle, then across Birthday Present Lake and up Ice Cream Mountain to recover the key to the birthday cake. The kids got tons of presents and were spoiled rotten by their grandparents (ok, and us too!)

Starting Our Blog

Thanks to Shanon & Jeff for showing me how to setup this blog. It will probably take me some time to figure it all out but I will try to keep it updated with the latest news and pictures.