Do you know how much fun The Little Gym is?

This is Thomas' second favorite place to go every week. (His most favorite is Sabbath School ~ isn't that cute?) And it's one of my favorite places to take him. He gets to run around like a monkey and I don't have to worry about other parents looking at me strangely. (I'm serious!) We started going to The Little Gym when he was 9 months old and we've been addicted ever since. We've even made friendships with other little boys almost as active as him and their mommies. What a lifesaver. I love watching his confidence build as he masters the skills and tries new ones. We get to move up to the next level here soon and it will be fun to see him challenged even more. We will certainly miss our teacher and friends when we move to Boston. But hopefully our friends will come visit and we will keep in touch with them. And of course we will have to find a Little Gym to go to up there!

At the Park with Cradle Roll

So, I'm still trying to catch up on the past couple of months. I wanted to share these photos of when Thomas' Cradle Roll class went to the park for a picnic. We decided to go after church one Sabbath in October. It was a little chilly but standing in the sunshine felt really good. The kids had a great time and I'm sure they all took a good nap afterwards. (I know Thomas did.)

A Trip to Chattanooga (in August)

Right after Thomas' birthday Latonia and I decided to take the kids for a long weekend to Chattanooga. It was fun to get away from our busy schedules for a few days. I'd say it was a vacation, but anyone with kids knows that isn't the truth. Even though it's a lot of work before and after we had a lot of fun. We took the kids to the Aquarium. They had a great time seeing all the different water animals. I really thought he would enjoy touching the sting rays (without the stinger, of course) but he didn't really want to stick his hand in the water. He did like the birds and penguins, though.

We also made sure we went to the Creative Discovery Museum. It is one of the kids' favorite places to go and has activities that appeal to all of them. Thomas' favorite is the water play area. He may not have wanted to stick his hand in the water with the sting ray, but he had no problem splashing around in the museum's water area. I think he would have been content to stay there all day. I think Sam really enjoy the dinasaur room where you can "excavate" in the sand. And Maddie really liked the exhibit about Clifford the Big Red Dog. Needless to say they were tired for the ride home. We look forward to going again sometime.

Thomas Turns TWO!

I can't believe my little baby is TWO!! Where did this second year go? It really does seem like just yesterday that we celebrated his 1st birthday. He has grown so much this year. We decided to go with The Farm theme for his birthday since he loves the farm animals. And Old MacDonald is one of his favorite songs. He was really excited about his birthday for the whole month of August (and a while afterward, too). We were planning on celebrating outside again this year, but thanks to a few sprinkles we brought the party indoors. The kids had a great time jumping around in the bounce around and we have gotten many hours of use out of it since then. Thomas did freak out a little when it came to blow out his candle. For some reason he has a fear of them. Mima discovered this earlier in the summer and we had been trying to work with him on getting over it, but it's still there a little. He at least didn't run of screaming. He was having such a good time that he didn't really want to stop and EAT the cake. He just liked looking at it.

We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family that came and celebrated Thomas' special day. He really did talk about it for weeks afterwards. It was so cute.

Thomas' Birthday Cake

With Thomas' birthday quickly approaching I had to make a decision about his cake. For some reason this year I felt like I had less time to prepare for it. Of course, I already knew the theme (The Farm) and had purchased decorations and stuff but I just felt so much more prepared for his 1st birthday. I went looking for his cake at the place where I had ordered his 1st birthday cake and decided I didn't want to spend the amount that they were charging for the cake I wanted. So, then I did a little research on the computer and decided to make it myself. Yep, you read that correctly. I decided to make it myself. I mean, how hard could it be? I was beginning to freak out about it a little as the party day got closer and closer because I didn't have time to do a test cake. Thankfully, it turned out fine. I am actually very pleased with the result. I was able to stretch it out over a few days and the most important thing is that Thomas LOVED it. He didn't really eat any but he loved looking at his birthday cake.

We're BACK!

Okay, so it has been FOREVER since I've had a chance to update my blog. Life got really crazy for a while and I'm hoping it will settle down a bit. I started working part-time in the office at the school where I used to teach. Thomas comes with me most days and does very well hanging out there for a few hours. It's definately been an adjustment adding that into our already busy schedule. It's only for this school year, though, so I know it won't be forever.
I know we will be busy once again for the holiday season coming. And I wanted to try and catch up on what's been going on for the past few months. Yes, it probably has more information on Thomas than John or myself. But that's the way life is now and it makes us happy. ;) So, start checking the blog again to see what has been keeping us so busy.