Raising a Reader

Liana recently had a graduation ceremony at the Pasadena Public Library. Our school participated in their Raising A Reader progam. The kids each get a book bag from the library with four books which they take home for the week. They return it for a new bag with different books. At the end of the ten weeks we get to go to the library for a ceremony.
James, Liana, I , and Ms. Daisy (Liana's teacher).

The kids all get a certificate and a Library Book Bag. They are taking a bow for being Future Readers.

I know Liana has her eyes closed, but she is still cute.

Liana waiting her turn.

Enjoying some books on tape while we wait for the ceremony to start. And you are right when you think James is not happy about getting his picture taken.

Rainy Days at School

So some people wake up and see the rain coming down and hate it. Lots of teachers wake up to the rain and probably hate it even more. I wake up and see the rain and get excited. I love everything about the rain except driving in it of course. I also don't mind the rainy days at work either. You have to be a bit more creative, but that is part of the fun. Here are some of the things we enjoyed on Friday.
The ever faithful playdough and two of my sweet little girls. The peg boards are always a hit. The kids get to stretch rubberbands over them. I have only lost one eye with this activity.

My school is equipped with a covered patio which allows the kids to get outside and not get wet. It is still cold, but they can't tell.

Okay, I found these suction cup balls at Target in the party favor section and they are in my rainy day bag of tricks. I love them. They stick great to windows and the kids love them. Plus they are so soft that if the kids get hit with them they don't hurt. And no I don't throw them at them on purpose.

Liana's class went on a rain walk. The school has a bunch of umbrellas for the kids and they love walking in the rain.

Liana loves walking in the rain and just got the cute raincoat as a hand-me-down from a co-worker. Just in time.

I need a sibling

Anyone who knows James and I, you know we both come from big families. I am number two of five kids and he is number nine of eleven. We both have always imagined our lives together including a big family. We had only been married about 9 months when we got pregnant with Liana. In our minds eye, no matter how excited we were about it, we could not believe God's crazy timing. I had been working two jobs because we had so much trouble getting James a work visa and James had finally gotten a job he had only been at for about 3 weeks. But we did it and were blessed with an amazing daughter.

She is one of the best kids ever and even though she knows no different, our family just does not seem complete. Last July, we found out that we were pregnant. We were excited, but no near as excited as Liana was. Unfortunately, it was not in God's will for us and I had a miscarriage a few weeks later. James and I are very eager to have another, but know that there is nothing we can do if God does not want us to have another. So in the mean time, we get to let her enjoy being a big sister to her cousin Sophie.

Sophie was over for dinner with her parents and my mom started to give her a bottle. Liana quickly ran to the table and wanted to feed her. She is so sweet and gentle with Sophia and there is a part of me that is so sad for her that we are not able to give her that sibling she so desperately wants. Maybe she will be our only one for us. At least we got the best.

5 Things I am Thankful For.

When I was younger and would be down in the dumps, my mom would have this way of getting us to realize that things were really not all that bad. She would make us name 5 things that we were thankful for. You would then have to go through the whole week waking up and doing that, not repeating anything from the days before. It sounds stupid, but it really helped. I am not down in the dumps today, but still feel that it is a good practice. It is so easy to look at what we want and not focus on all that God has blessed us with. So today, these are my five, in no particular order.

Sophia Grace Puffer. My newest little niece by my sister Rachel and her husband Jason. She is a constant reminder of God's timing and goodness in our lives. Well, and she is the cutest baby around.My amazing daughter Liana whose love for life is inspirational.

I am thankful that I have a job where I get to be in the same place as my daughter. I am thankful that I have a job at all with how things are going in our economy right now. Even though i feel at times God is pushing me to do something different, I am grateful for Pasadena Christian Preschool. Liana got the book Fancy Nancy from my sister's roomate. She took it to school and her amazing teachers got out all the dress up clothes so they could all be fancy nancy.

James. What can I say? I sure got lucky with this one. He is more then I deserve. God knew what he was doing when he sent me across the world to find him.

Everyday that Jason walks into our house, I feel like crying. I am so thankful that he is home from Iraq and back where he belongs. He is also now finished with the Marines officially after 7 years of service. Even though Jason came home in October, Liana still thanks God every night at dinner that Jason came back from "The Rack". Apparently she thought Jason was just taking a long nap.

So now it is your turn. It is really not hard. What do you have to thank God for today?

Family Fun

You know how, Saturday comes around and you didn't have anything planned. I usually look forward to those kinds of Saturdays because I am always so busy. Anyways, I have started feeling like James and I are in a rut. On the days we can go out and do something, he usually ends up working on his truck or playing his video games and i just hang out at home. I decided that we needed to get out and do something so with some friends of ours we hopped on the Gold Line and went down to China Town and Alvera Street. Very fun, if you haven't done it you should go. We had a really great time.

Liana loved all the fun shops and no, I did not let her get the hat.

Enjoying Lunch at Hop Louie's.

James and Liana try on hats on Alvera Street. Note the back scratcher James bought in China Town.

Here we are in China Town with our friends, James, Liana, Pam, Tim, Brian, and Heather.

Even though, Liana's face does not show it, she had a great time riding the Gold Line Metro.

Happy 2009

So one of the many things that I want to do this year is keep in better touch with my friends and family. I figured having a blog would probably be a great way to do that. So who really knows what all this blog will be about, but it will keep you updated on the exciting times of the Domingo Family. I am sure there will be a few exciting stories of working with two year olds as well. Enjoy!