Happy Valentine's Day!

We just returned home from a long weekend up north. Our good friend, and Thomas' godfather, Hasky was up from North Carolina. We spent the weekend with him and his parent's at their lake house in Sugar Springs. Alan and Hasky fished most of the weekend. They were pretty successful, catching lots of bluegills and a few pike (27" and 24"). Alan even caught an 18" Bass. Here are a couple of pictures of the guys and their pikes.

Thomas and I ventured out on the ice for a quick stint as well. Unfortunately, the camera broke just before Thomas caught his first fish. So....they'll have to take him fishing again just so I have more to scrapbook. I'm sure he's wondering why it took the guys so long to catch so many fish. He just put his line in and pulled his Bluegill right up. Beginners luck, I guess.

It was great to be away for a while, to recharge our batteries and spend some time with such a great friend. Congratulations to Hasky, he'll be getting married in Aruba in just a few short weeks. Best of luck to Hasky and Hollie!

The new camera is on order and Thomas BETTER NOT do anything picture worthy before it arrives.

Ice Breaker

It is Ice Breaker weekend in South Haven. We have all been sick this week, so a little time our of our germy house sounded great. This is a festival that we have always enjoyed, but haven't been able to go for the past couple of years due to other conflicts. There are ice sculptures, an amatur chili cookoff, and a professional chili cookoff. We LOVE the professional one. Local restaurants prepare and serve free samples of their chili in an effort to win the annual trophy. You walk around town, eat, and judge the samples. It is a lot of fun and a great way to spend a little time outdoors.

I explained the concept of the ice sculptures to Thomas this morning. He was excited. Power tools and ice; he couldn't wait to go! He even brought along his chainsaw in case anyone needed help. In true Putman fashion (Kathy's brother), Dave let Thomas help out with his sculpture. He was pretty proud of himself. Yes, he even brought along his safety glasses.

T's Favorite Song

So, apparently Blogger has stopped allowing access to my video posts from last night. I guess the material was too offensive. Sorry if I offended anyone with my bubble covered singing boy last night. Lets try again, here's a clip of Thomas singing his favorite song (Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor").

The NEXT American Idol

Thomas has been singing a lot lately, especially in the bathtub. He humored me for a couple of videos tonight. Seems as though Thomas has gotten his singing abilities (or lack thereof) from my side of the family. Make sure your sound is turned up nice and loud. Feel free to sing along!

So, we have all been battling a cold this week. When I picked him up from daycare yesterday, this is the exchange we had:

Me- "stop picking your nose"

Thomas- "I'm just getting a booger out."

Me- "that's gross, get a tissue."

Thomas- "When I was sleeping in my nap cot, I put my boogers in my sock."

We are SO proud.

Snow Baby

Thomas loves to play outside in the snow! While I was working late yesterday, Alan and Thomas built a snow fort. Alan took lots of pictures for me! What a good guy! Thomas was so surprised that his fort was still there this morning and again when we got home this evening. He's proud of all his hard work.

Peeking out his window.

Thomas likes to play (what he calls) "snow tag." Really, it's snow ball fight. He has deemed Alan and I bad guys and likes to throw snow balls at us. Likewise, he likes them thrown at him. When I pulled up in the driveway last night, the 2 of them ambushed me and then hid in their fort. Thomas was cracking up. So fun to watch my 2 boys play together :)

Little Fishy

We are in Traverse City for the day. Alan has a distance learning class here. Why does he have a class here? He is working on his Masters Degree through GVSU, but doesn't like to take the traditional go to class every week type courses. Rather, he does distance learning and only has to report a couple of times on the weekends and submits all his work online. This is the farthest he's ever had to go for a class. While Alan was at his class, Thomas and I played in the pool.

With the assistance of his Aquajogger, Jr belt, Thomas is totally independent in the water. He uses one of these belts when we go to the gym. He's getting really strong in the water. Thomas will swim contiuously for 1-1.5 hours, all the while jumping, splashing, racing with Mommy, and going underwater. I figured the pool at the hotel wouldn't be nearly as fun if he didn't have a belt of his own, so I ordered one.

Hoping that this big swim tired him out. We'll be leaving the hotel soon to get Alan from class and we're hoping that he'll sleep most of the 3 hour car ride home. Wish us luck! But first....we should probably do a little shopping....

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year with our great friends, John and Suzie. They treated us to a wonderful evening. We played lots of Scrabble (yes, we are old now), ate delicious fondue, and shared many laughs. The perfect way to welcome in the next decade. Good friends and good times!f