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

Christmas #3 (The LAST one!)

Our third, and final, Christmas was spent with the Asiala clan. Thomas got to spend lots of time with his cousins and even rode his BRAND NEW bike quite a bit. We are home and unpacked and enjoying the quiet, de-Christmased house. Some highlights of the final hurrah:

Getting a little help learning how to play his new game from Laura, Josh, and Daddy.

Bummed out Laura, disappointed to be losing at Candy Land.

When the parents are away, the grandparents will play...

The day after Christmas is Andrae's (Alan's sister) birthday. We celebrate by going out to dinner with the whole family. This year Roger and Mona treated us to Logan's Steakhouse. It was delicious. Afterward, we ventured out the the Santa House. The Midland Santa House is amazing. It has even been featured on HGTV! Santa had already headed back to the North Pole, but it was fun just the same.

Sitting in Santa's sleigh with his cousins - Mike, Laura, Chris, and Josh.

Christmas #2

We had a wonderful Christmas. Thomas was surprised by all of his goodies on Christmas morning. He was thrilled that Santa brought him a bike and shovel- you know, big boy stuff. He tells everyone that asks, "Santa brought me a BRAND NEW bike." Hee, hee. He has riden his bike every day since Santa brought it. A little in the garage, some at Grandma Mona and Grandpa Rogers, and even a little on our snowy driveway. I think this bike will turn out to be one of Santa's smartest deliveries. Thomas loves to ride it and I'm sure that will only increase as the weather improves.

Helping Daddy!

Christmas Extravaganza #1

We spent the past weekend celebrating Christmas with my family. We had lots of fun and Thomas got spoiled, just like we should have expected. Grandpa Dale and Grandma Pam have an adorable new puppy, Koda, that Thomas loved on a bit.

They bought him these really cool blocks. He is having a fun time trying to build the tower with all the blocks. He hasn't been successful as of yet, but I'm sure he isn't done trying.

Thomas spent lots of time cutting, stamping, and gluing paper to stuff into an envelope for Uncle Mike. As you can see, Mike was SO surprised by his paper :)

Grammy made Thomas's day with this scooter. He had a blast riding it around her basement and slept really well that night. Now that we are home, he likes to ride it around the house. Oh my.

Posing in his new Christmas pajamas from Grammy.

Nino Grande

Thomas is one BIG boy! He had a well child appointment with his pediatrician today. At 3 years, 1 month, Thomas is weighing in at 40.1 lbs and is 41.25 inches tall. He is in the 96th and 97th percentiles for weight and height, respectively. Thomas is growing and developing faster than we could have ever imagined. Dr. Green was impressed that Thomas rides a bike, can write the first 3 letters of his name, and that he potty trained himself this past summer. We are super proud of our little man and can't wait to see what is in store next. Remember this nino pequeno (small boy)? Times sure have changed!