Round One!

We spent the weekend celebrating Christmas with my family. First with Grammy, Mike, and Bri. Thomas had a great time with Uncle Mike. He big and rough and throws Thomas around. We aren't sure who was more tired, Mike or Thomas, after hours of rough-housing. Thomas got some really nice presents. He loves his shopping cart, food, and Elmo Potty book.

Napping with Mike after a delicious dinner of Beef Wellington. (Thomas is naked because he spilled his milk on his clothes at dinner. Since he hates to be wet, he proclaimed that he was "hot" so that we would take his clothes off. He ran around the rest of the evening in a diaper and winter boots- much like a toddler Napoleon Dynamite stripper.)



Thomas and Aunt "Brwi."




At Grandpa Dale and Grandma Pam's house, Thomas was elated to open "Elmo Live." It is a toy Elmo that talks, moves, dances, and tells jokes. It's fun for us now as well, we'll see how long for the novelty to wear off on Alan and I.





Kisses for "Melmo."




Thomas with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Dale.





Stay tuned for more Christmas celebration photos.

Big Boy

Thomas had his 2 year well baby visit today. He is 37 inches tall and 34.5 pounds. Our little boy is growing very large. He is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight. He was brave when receiving his shots and only cried a minute. Afterward he told me "shot hurt, cry." Big boy. He forgot all about the pain this evening and showed off his battle wounds to daddy, one in each leg. It's hard to believe that he was once only 21 inches and 8.5 pounds. His weight has quadrulped since he was born. Remember when...?!

Ahhh, almost makes me want another.

Christmas Dance

What a busy day! Thomas and I attended the 3rd Annual Van Buren ISD Childrens Holiday Dance this afternoon. My work puts this on for the children of employees. We didn't make it last year- Thomas was sick. But, we made it this year and had a great time. Santa and Mrs. Claus even made an appearance. He sat on Mrs. Claus' lap for a picture (a huge step compared to last weekend), did the Limbo with the other children, and feasted on lots of "kid food" (hot dogs, chips, mac n cheese, veggies, yogurt and chocolate milk).

Thomas comes face to face with a mini-Santa.

Notice his cheeks stuffed with chips?!

Enjoying the candy cane from Mrs. Claus.

Hmm, both my pictures from this event involve food.

Cookies

Thomas and I made Christmas cookies today. We made sugar cookies with Grandma's recipe. The same cookies I made growing up. He enjoyed using the cookie cutters. To him it seemed a lot like playing with Playdoh.

Rolling out the dough and sampling the cookies before they hit the oven.

Hmm, which one did he eat? I baked it half eaten figuring he could finish the rest after it came out of the oven.

Snowy Sunday

It has been a snowy weekend so far. We headed out early this morning to shovel and plow again. Alan thinks we have gotten about 7 inches of snow this weekend. Some areas north of here got 11 inches yesterday. Wow! Thomas and I normally watch Daddy do all the cold outdoor work, but we were feeling a little more adventurous (and sick of looking at these same 4 walls) this morning.

Thomas lends a hand with the shoveling.

Daddy gives Thomas a ride on the "klow." Thomas is fascinated with the plow. We watch from the window on most days while Alan plows the driveway. Today, Alan is the hero.

All bundled up!

Happy Thanksgiving (& Birthday to me!)

We spent the day with the Asiala clan just Northeast of Muskegon. Many aunts, uncles, and cousins were there for dinner. As always, there was way too much good food. Thomas loved the meat (turkey of course) and meat dip (gravy to the rest of us). A bit of a surprise -- he LOVES cranberries. We had to hide them at one point (after 3 servings, I felt he should be done). Alan's Uncle Don and Aunt Kathy spent last night with us and will stay again tonight. We've had a great time catching up and playing Wii bowling with them. Here are some highlights:



Thomas coloring with his cousin Laura and second cousin Frances. The girls took really great care of Thomas all day. When I went up to take this picture he told me to "go away." Now that he is a big boy, mom can just sit back, have a glass of wine (or 2) and actually talk to people. Imagine that. Thanks Laura and Frances!!! You're the best!!!

Family photo. We decided the Christmas sweater could also be a Thanksgiving sweater :) Thomas is wearing his "stuffed turkey" hat. Joke of the day --- Tom Turkey.

Thomas humors me for one more picture of the "stuffed turkey" headband. I'll never know where Carol comes up with all these ideas.

Daddy Pound Deer

Alan called this morning shortly after leaving to go to work. He hit a deer a few miles away from our house. I told him we would be right there. I got Thomas ready, told him Daddy hit a deer and we had to go help. I got to listen to Thomas say "Daddy deer, Daddy pound deer" the whole way there. Alan was not amused by Thomas' excitement. Alan is fine and his car is just a little dented. Nothing like a little excitement at 7am.