Baking Cookies

Since we were given a day to stay at home thanks to some snow I thought it would be fun to let Thomas help me make some cookies. He really enjoyed stirring the ingredients together. Although, he may have enjoyed pushing the camera remote more and saying "Cheese!" Either way it was a wonderful way to spend the morning and I look forward to having my little helper in the kitchen more often. I guess he is getting to an age where he would enjoy it

January Snow

We woke up this morning to a snow covered lawn and school being closed. YEAH! It's actually the second snow fall, which is amazing that it has snowed twice within a week. The first one I wasn't able to get pictures of but this time we went out first thing this morning. Thomas really enjoyed it. He may have enjoyed splashing in the puddles more, though. But I think he'll enjoy the snow that we'll see in Boston. Enjoy the pictures!

New York City

Well, I'm finally getting a chance to post about our trip to New York City in November. John had to be there for a conference and a few weeks before his trip it dawned on me where he was going and for how long and I REALLY wanted to go with him. So, I was able to arrange for some time off at work and found a reasonably priced plane ticket and it was settled that I was going too. I am so glad I did. NYC is AWESOME! John arrived a day before I did. My flight got in pretty late and I took a shuttle from the airport to the hotel ~ that was an adventure in itself. First of all there were traffic jams at midnight! This city really doesn't sleep. Secondly, the driver pretty much zig zagged in and out of traffic. I really did have to hang onto my seat. When I had arranged for the shuttle it didn't dawn on me that there would be 8 - 10 other people wanting to be taken to their hotels too. Silly me, thought we'd all be going to the same hotel. So what would have been a 15-20 minute ride turned into over an hour. But I did make it safely there. The hotel was only a few blocks down from Time Square and it was still going strong when I arrived. The next morning I was tempted to sleep in after getting in so late, but I didn't want to miss anything. I was there to see the city and that's exactly what I planned to do. I walked a mile or two (not sure how far it was now) to the Rachel Ray show in hopes of getting in on stand-by. No luck unfortunately, but I did get to see a lot of the city in the process. I went back that afternoon to try again, but still not luck. Oh well, maybe on another trip to the Big Apple. On the way there I came across the Grand Central Station and enjoyed checking it out. It actually took me awhile to find Rachal Ray's studio in the morning because of a few wrong turns, but it was just more that I got to see.
When I went back to the hotel the first order of business was to ditch my cool looking boots for my tennis shoes. I've never had a problem with them before but the streets of NYC require shoes that have cushion. I found Rockefeller Center with the ice rink and the Christmas tree which was in the process of being lit.
After John got out of his meetings that evening we decided to go to a restaurant at Grand Central Station and then check out the Empire State Building. I don't think I've mentioned yet how cold it was while we were there. IT WAS FREEZING! At least compared to what we are used to here in Memphis. It was made worse by the wind that just whips throughout the city. Thankfully I was able to convince John to get a hat for his head (I had already purchased one earlier that day) because I knew it would make a huge difference. Well, once we got to the top of the Empire State Building the wind and the cold went up a few notches. Thankfully there was a little room you could warm yourself up in but then you couldn't really see the city. So, we walked around it a couple of times and got our pictures and decided we were good to go. It really is breath taking, though to be able to see so far in every direction.
The next day I was hoping to get up early and go to The Today Show and see if I catch of glimpse of the crew there. I didn't quite make it out as early as I had hoped. The thought of being so cold again detered me a little. I did see Al Roker out on the plaza and had a close up view into the studio but that was about it. So, from there I headed across the street to a book signing that was about to start. It was Richard Belzar who plays Munch on Law & Order SVU. I got to meet him and his dog and get a free book that he signed for me. Later that afternoon I came back to the NBC studio and took a tour of the place. They wouldn't let us take pictures which was a big disappointment for me, but that's the way it goes. It was really cool to see behind the scenes. We were actually able to see the set of Saturday Night Live while they were rehearsing. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be. On my way back to the hotel I took a little detour to FAO Schwarz to find a teddy bear for Thomas. That is another amazing place. I don't think I'd want to take a child in there for fear that they'd never want to leave. I know I didn't see the whole place but I almost got lost in the part that I did see. Leave it to NYC to have a toy store that is so grand.
That night there was a reception for the conference attendees at the Rainbow Room (sponsored by one of the device companies) at the top of Rockefeller Center. We had to listen to some presentation (don't ask me what they talked about) by the company and then there was a buffet to enjoy. Most of the time when I go to something like this I know a few more people than I did that night. Despite not knowing many people before hand the ones that I met that night were very friendly (even a current new yorker) and were good conversationalists on topics other than surgery. It was a lot of fun and we ended up staying until there was no one else left.
Unfortunately, the next day I had to fly home. It was such a fast trip but full of fun. If you've made it this far you are quite the trooper. I have rambled on long enough, but I certainly want to go back some day.

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.

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July this year was a little low key. I'm not sure why... maybe because it was the beginning of the new academic year for John. Even though we didn't go out to see any fireworks we certainly heard them at our house... well into the night.

And since John was working on the 4th we went out to Millington to see Pop's Plane. I really thought Thomas was going to enjoy this since he loves the plane at the Children's Museum. WRONG! He wouldn't go near it on his own. Pop climbed into the cockpit and Thomas wouldn't even let us hand him over. He clung to me like his life depended on it. I was finally able to climb up on one wing hanging onto him at the same time. Eventually I climbed into the plane beside Pop.

He was okay for a few minutes while he checked out all the knobs and buttons (that we wouldn't let him touch). And then he'd had enough. It was time to get out and go explore what really had caught his attention from the beginning... the garage door opener. Yet another of his favorite things. He can talk about the garage door all day long and LOVES to watch it go up and down. And since the hanger door opens differently than our home garage he was even more intrigued.

So, hopefully soon we can go back for a second look at Pop's plane and maybe Thomas will warm up to climbing in it. Watch, there will come a time when I'll wish I could get him out of it. :)