Christmas Part II

So after a quick lunch on Christmas morning, we packed up and headed up the road to Nana & Umpa's house.  We arrived around the same time as other family members and I can't remember if we opened gifts or ate first, but there were definitely many gifts to open!  It was a crazy scene and I'm still not quite sure who gave the boys the gifts they received, but they were all wonderful and well received!




Sometimes it's the smallest things that bring big smiles...


And Parker enjoyed his first candy cane...


Then it was time to relax...


The tree without all the gifts looked a little bare, but still beautiful...


Thomas' big gift from Nana & Umpa was his first real bike.  He was very excited about it and was so happy to ride it the day after Christmas (after riding it all around the house Christmas evening).




And then he and Parker switched rides (the ride-on was Parker's big gift)...


Later we went down to the "farm" and saw some other family members.  Thomas had a blast with his cousins.  He somehow convinced Mary D to push him around the house on the little car.  They must have had fun...


Meanwhile, Parker had his own fun, playing on the chairs at the table...


After a few nights there, we headed home where Thomas was excited to try out his new bike in our neighborhood.


And then he kind of crashed.  But not on the bike.

(with, fittingly enough, a book he received for Christmas about a boy who has TOO MANY TOYS!  Not that we know anything about that around here...especially post-Christmas!)

Overdue visit

Thomas had fall break from school this past Friday and Monday, so I decided to take the boys up to my parents' house for a couple of nights last week. I realized I haven't been up there to spend the night in next to forever, and it was nice to be there. With Trey traveling so much, it's always nice to get a mid-week break (of sorts). I went a little picture crazy down at the lake, and if I try to narrate all of them, I will never make this post. So here they go...

The boys enjoyed some time down at the very big sandbox...


A couple of cute profiles...




Parker said "BOAT!" about a thousand times every time his eyes spotted one. He's in mid-word here...


ANd he's not one who is much for having his hands dirty, but he tried his best to remove the sand (just to get more on them the next moment):



"Ick!"



Thomas, on the other hand, doesn't mind the sand at all...







Looking at that picture makes me want to run out and have one of those black profile shadow things done! Do people still do those?

There was a little bit of playing together...










And everyone was happy when Papa got home...


Neither of my children are great veggie eaters. Parker won't eat pretty much any vegetable (except sweet potatoes...and I'm not sure that counts), and Thomas eats only a few (story about that to come). But pretty much every time he goes to Nannie's house, I hear a report that he ate a bunch of carrots and hummus (at home he will occasionally eat carrots with hummus, but there must be something about the way Nannie cuts her carrots!). So yeah, some children get a milk moustache, but my son, the one who will not drink milk, gets a hummus moustache.




The boy loves hummus. :)

The biggest excitement from this trip was Thomas' first time in a big boy bed there. He had been sleeping in the crib there because Nannie didn't have the side rails set up. But we were able to get them together and Thomas was most excited to sleep in a big boy bed there. Since his bed at home is a twin and the bed there is a queen, he had a LOT of extra room. When I went in to check on him and he was sound asleep, he almost looked lost in that big sea of a bed! He loved it though, and he slept great. I took a picture when I went to wake him the morning we left:


Thanks Nannie and Papa for a great mid-week visit. We should do it again soon...definitely more than twice a year!

First fish and other fun

Two weekends ago, Thomas spent the weekend with Umpa & Nana. He had a great time, as usual, and Nana & Umpa shared some great pictures from the weekend.

The most momentous part of the weekend was that he caught (and released!) his first fish:


If you can't see it there, here's a better view:


And in typical "fish story" fashion, I asked Thomas how big the fish was he held his arm up tall and said, "This big!" Starting young. :)

While at the Josey's, Thomas showed off his swimming skills:




And back at Nana & Umpa's house, Thomas really enjoyed the new, neat "horse" swing they hung for him:


Thomas had a great time and can't wait to go back soon!

Father's Day weekend recap

I can't seem to get in a blogging groove lately. I get overwhelmed with large posts that need to be done and then I keep putting it off for 10 tomorrows. But I'm going to try to do better.

Father's Day weekend we spent with Nana & Umpa and the boys had great fun. Here were all the males on Father's Day:


Thomas had great fun playing with is cousin (a few times removed) Mary Douglas. And then we all managed to fit in the car to see the animals at Mary D's house (it was a bit of a tight squeeze for her):


Umpa and Thomas led the way to see the animals...


They found Ramsey...




Parker was intrigued, too:


And we saw the chickens and peacocks, but somehow I don't have any pictures of that... Umpa and the boys took a little break down by the pond:




Then we went and said hello to the pony, and gave him a little grass to eat:






Then everyone joined us for dinner...


And Thomas didn't want to say goodbye to the girls, but he made sure to give (and receive) big hugs:


The next morning Parker enjoyed some time hanging out in the dump truck with his Aunt B:


For some inexplicable reason, he was in a tongue-hanging out kind of mood.

Later both boys hung out a little with Aunt B (the "yellow one," as Thomas would say):


Then Umpa took Thomas to go see the fire trucks, which he loved as usual:






Meanwhile Parker was back at the house, checking out the cat (he was most interested!) with Nana:

And hanging out with Aunt B:


We had a great fun-filled weekend, and I know the boys look forward to returning soon!