The Thomas Family

Merry Christmas

2011-12-07T13:59:00.000-08:00

Well it's that time of year again, when I dust off the old blog and actually post something. 2011 was another fun year for us. Ben is now 6 (close to 7) and Austin is 4 (even closer to 5) Brian and I are also one year older but I will let you guess the exact number. Ben started 1st grade and is loving it. He is a full fledged reader now. It amazes me how quickly they get it. This year Austin has really improved his self taught beatboxing skills. I love it when he beatboxes and break dances (also self taught) at the same time. This year Ben was old enough to play on his first baseball (T-Ball) team. He was a great hitter and enjoyed the status of being the only true lefty on the team.

In January Brian got a new job. He now works for PWC in mergers and acquisitions. Changing firms can be challenging. Getting to know all the new personalities. But Brian now has them all figured out and is enjoying himself. We got to do a lot of fun things this year. This summer we took the plunge and went camping for 4 nights with almost the entire Thomas clan. We stayed on a lake and spent our days jet skiing. We had a great time. We also went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the first time (boy's 1st time). It was pretty cool. But maybe a little over priced.

The school year started with a bang for Ben, actually it was more of a crack, crack. On the 3rd day of school he fell of the monkey bars and broke two bones in his arm on the same day as our 9th anniversary. It is an anniversary I will never forget. The next morning he had to have surgery to have pins put in to set the bone. He had to wear a cast for 7 weeks. Just long enough to not get to play soccer.

Austin got to play on his first soccer team. He absolutely loved it. It did not matter which goal was his team's, he was excited to get the ball in any goal. He was known for his goofing off during the game. At the season end party he won the award for the best cartwheels during a game. Always entertaining as usual. (not sure why this is underlined but since I blog about once a year I am not going to figure out why.)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Lake Tahoe this year. Brian had a great time taking scenic pictures and I enjoyed learning how to make a quilt with a true expert (Brian's Mom).

We hope all is well with you and we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe 2010 is almost over. It has been an exciting year filled with lots of firsts. Benjamin is now 5 (6 in March) and Austin is 3 (4 in January). They are finally at the age where they play well with each other. They both learned how to swim this summer and have become little fish. I really enjoyed this because for the first time in 8 years I got a tan. A lame accomplishment, I know, but I really did enjoy it. Benjamin also started Kindergarten this fall and absolutely loves it. He is in a combination kindergarten & 1st grade class and is already doing 1st grade math. His only complaint is that the 1st graders get to stay at school longer. Austin also had a big first, he started preschool. So two days a week for 2 ½ hours I am kid free. I love it! I mostly use the time to clean because cleaning without the boys making a mess somewhere else in the house seems like a luxury at this point in my life. But sometimes I just sit on the couch and watch Regis & Kelly or read a book. Austin was so excited to finally get to be the one who go to go to school he did not even look back to say goodbye. We went on our first family camping trip this summer and had a good time. Maybe we will try more than 1 night in 2011. We also went on our first official family vacation. One whole week in southern California. We went to the beach and to Sea World and of course Disneyland. The boys were actually big enough to ride everything, we had a great time. We can tell the economy is picking up because Brian was pretty busy with work this year. He is still working for KPMG and was promoted to Manager. But as of January 4, 2011 he will be changing to Price Waterhouse Cooper working in their mergers and acquisitions group. He is very excited about this new opportunity. We really did have a great year and feel very blessed for all of the things we have. We hope your 2010 was a fun as ours. Merry Christmas!!

Melissa this is for you......

2009-12-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the family trees that I made as a gift for Christmas. Clearly the picture is not the best. I had every intention of taking better pictures in the day light.....but I forgot....and now they are wrapped.

But I do love the way they all turned out. It is the gift I am most excited about giving.....I hope my mother-in-law likes it. And as much as I would like to pretend I was the creative person who thought of this I cannot. My friend, Shauna, made these for her family a while ago and I decided to copy it. And it is really easy. I made it in Word using Word art to manipulate the "branches" . Actually Shauna made it in Word and just emailed me the one she made and I changed the info to our family.

It has the full names of everyone (maiden names for girls) along with their birth dates. I printed it on vellum paper and put a decorative paper behind it. Put it in a nice frame ($7.50 at Michael's 50% off) And Viola a neat gift.

I love Christmas. I love Christmas. I love Chritsmas...

2009-12-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

I have to keep reminding myself that I DO LOVE Christmas. I was so excited when Thanksgiving was over. We immediately got our Christmas tree (it has to be real-love the smell) and decorated our house. Oh I loved it. And now 9 DAYS away from Christmas I am not sure why. For some reason I decided to make 15 presents by hand this year. What was I thinking....well I was not thinking at all. There are 3 different projects, pajama pants (even though I am not an experienced sewer), Snowman crayons ( I had to peel 168 covers off), and my favorite and by far the most attractive 2 family trees (super cool, I will have to take a picture and post it) and when I decided to make them I did not think "O maybe not a good idea since you are making so much already". NOPE. So here I am again 9 days away from Christmas and I have done nothing for the pajama pants except buy the flannel, and have not attempted to melt any crayons, the family trees I am actually almost done with but they were the easiest. And then the CHRISTMAS CARDS. Every year I HATE them and every year I do them. In a effort to look cute I got us all coordinating outfits. We got all done up and for 1 1/2 hours we took pictures (Brian has turned into the Nazi photographer...but that is for another time). None of which actually turned out well. The picture we are sending has to be in black and white because the color looks funny. So you cannot tell we have coordinating outfits on. And Brian and I are the only ones who look decent. And out of the 4 of us Ben and Austin are by far the cutest part of the family. So below are some of the pictures that will not be on the Christmas card because they would not fit. See the are pretty CUTE! But you won't be able to tell that from our card...o-well. So it is here and now that I have decided to stop stressing. So what if the cards are going out late? So what if I accidentally put the return address label where the stamp goes on all of the envelopes? So what if the family letter does not have anything to say about me because all I did this year was try to survive? Well I did and I am HAPPY it is Christmas time. REALLY.

TIRED....

2009-12-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

....of genes that fit in the morning but by noon could fall off. Tired of pulling them up! Tired of cleaning up cutie peals (little oranges) because the boys can peel them themselves and they do anywhere and everywhere. Tired of my wedding ring flopping around on my finger because the cold has shrunk my finger. Tired of looking for my wedding ring because I have taken it off somewhere. Tired of being cold. 72 Degrees in the house should be warm enough right?

Don't get me wrong. Life is good. Just needed to get it out.

Day at the BEACH

2009-08-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

We got to the beach in at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
They touched to water

Austin decided to sit it out

Ben loved it

Brian convinced Austin it was fun

SHARK!!!!!
(Not really)

And we ended the day with some strange flavored ice cream

A good day at the beach

Waste of time??

2009-05-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.-- Phyllis Diller

AMEN

Now that I have been feeling better I have been trying to catch up on all of the house cleaning that I had been ignoring but..... we are not naturally clean people. Not to say that we are gross and smelly (although I did find 3 rotting apples under the couch thanks to my boys). We just don't put things away, we come in and drop everything. So I feel like I am cleaning & cleaning & cleaning the same things over & over again. And it is taking up ALL of my time and energy. But now that I am obsessed I am extremely frustrated.

I know some people have a system that works for them.

Clean on Mondays
Do one big chore a day
etc.

But I do not see how these systems can work. If I only clean on Monday it would be a mess the rest of the week. If I only did one chore a day it would always look as if I had done nothing at all.

So I am asking for HELP . Does anyone have some advice or words of wisdom that would make this process easier? Because I want a clean house but I also want some free time. Is that too much to ask?

Hello

2009-04-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I can't remember where I was when this happened. But the story I got was, Ben colored on Austin's face....so Austin did the same to Ben

Brian opening his favorite Christmas present ever. (I got it for him and me)
Benjamin's stuffed animal graveyard

I'M BACK! It has been awhile I know, but I am returning to the blog world. We have had a strange 6 months, my insomnia caught up with me and I began to feel a little crazy. I developed a thyroid tumor that could be cancer (still don't know). And my Dr. discovered I have sleep apnea. Seriously it has not been a fun 6 months for our family. But after tons of different medications (all of which made me sick or did nothing), biopsies, ultrasounds, blood tests, and sleep studies (by far the worst) I am feeling like myself again.

As I was beginning to write this I thought "Oh I should look to see what cute pictures I have on my camera". And after looking.....not many. For Christmas Brian got a fancy new camera (It was a great surprise and he said it was the best Christmas present he has ever received) and he is now the designated family photographer. So he downloads the pictures on to his computer which he always has with him....One day I will get them. But hey, I do need to pace myself. (I has been months since I blogged) So here are some of the random pictures on my neglected camera

It has been so long since I blogged that I put the pictures first.HAha. o-well.

My 1/22/07 Account of Austin's Birthday

2009-01-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

As today is Austin's 2nd B-Day, I thought I'd recount the day of his birth as it was a bit of a miracle in my book...

On Monday, January 22, 2007, we were blessed with our newest addition to our family, Austin Henry Thomas. He weighed in at 8 pounds 2.4 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. He has straight dark brown hair.

We were truly blessed with this birth as little Austin was literally in a "life or death" situation as he was transitioning to this world.

Corinne awakened me at approximately 4:40am Monday morning telling me she was in labor and that her contractions had started about an hour earlier. When she woke me her contractions were about 15 minutes apart. Corinne showered and did her hair. I also showered. We called grandma Wilma to inform her we needed her to come out and watch Benjamin while we went to Washington Hospital in Fremont, CA.

Our memories are already beginning to fade. But when I originally called my mom I told her the contractions were 15mins. apart. She at first thought she had some time to shower and prepare grandpa's lunch. However, Corinne quickly went from 15mins to 5mins apart. I called my mom and told her she needed to leave ASAP! It took her to about 35mins to get here and we got to the hospital.

It think it took us about 20-25 minutes to get to the hospital. I think we got to the hospital around 6:15-6:30am. They checked Corinne and she was at 3cm. They had her hooked up to monitor her and the baby's heart rate. Corinne said that she didn't remember the contractions hurting this much last time. At the next check she was about 6-7cms. Since Corinne's water had not yet broken the doctor decided to break it for her.

Both the doctor and nurse were amazed at how much water was insider Corinne. A few minutes passed as they clean up, but the nurse quickly discovered that something was not right. Corinne looked at me with a very worried look on her face and mouthed "something is wrong!"
Apparently, right after the water was broke, Austin's blood pressure dropped drastically. Within minutes the doctor and nurses were literally racing Corinne on her bed down the hallway towards the operating room for an emergency c-section. Unbeknownst to me at the time, as Dr. Siobhan Calhoun was wheeling Corinne to the OR she had her hand up Corinne and was trying to keep the baby in its place.

Apparently, Austin had developed a short umbilical cord which was wrapped around his little neck like a loose fitting noose. While he was suspended in the watery cocoon that was Corinne's uterus, he was just fine-the cord was loose around his neck. However, once the water was broken and the uterus collapse around Austin, apparently the umbilical cord either tightened and caused his blood pressure to drop drastically. This tightening was worsened by the fact that with the loss of the water Austin had moved farther south which increased the tightness around his neck.

From the time the nurse discovered something was wrong, until the time Austin was pulled from his mother's womb, literally not more than 5 minutes seemed to pass. However, I think they were the longest and most terrifying few minutes of my life. I had no idea what was going wrong. Corinne's pregnancy had progressed very well-no complications.

Corinne was placed under general anesthetic because that is the quickest acting stuff. I was not allowed in the operating room. I stood out side the doors and could barely see a couple of the doctors and nurses shoulders and heads as they stood around Corinne.

As I stood outside, I prayed. I prayed that Corinne and the baby would come out of there fine. I prayed that the doctors would know what to do to help them both. I called my mom frantic telling her to start praying because they had taken Corinne in for an emergency c-section, because the baby's blood pressure had dropped drastically once they broke the water. I called the Prices and told Dan that Cary needed to hurry (she was in the shower) to the hospital because Corinne was in an emergency c-section.

Not more than 2 minutes passed from the time Corinne was wheeled into the OR until Austin was pulled out - but it felt a lot longer than that. From my position. I could see them pull Austin out screaming. I could also seem them pulling out bloody gook from Corinne. Shortly there after the nurse brought Austin to me and I got to hold him. They told me he was doing great. They also said that Corinne was fine.

After the doctor finished sewing up/stapling Corinne, she came into the recovery room to do some paperwork. I commented to her that it sure didn't take long to get him out. She told me that normally the whole procedure takes about 2o minutes. However, that this situation was life or death for the baby and that that was why they worked so quickly.

Later when the doctor came to Corinne's room to check on her and the baby, I asked if there was any chance the baby had suffered any kind of damage from the loss of blood pressure. She told me no, that baby's can apparently go close to 18mins under such circumstances without causing brain damage. We were very happy to hear that.

Austin looked perfect. Needless to say were were truly blessed throughout this whole experience. We were blessed Corinne's water did not break at home, because it is very unlikely we would have known anything could be wrong with the baby and it is very unlikely that we would have gotten to the hospital in 18mins. Austin could have easily died or suffered severe brain damage had Corinne's water broken at home. We were blessed that the nurse noticed so quickly that something was wrong and we were blessed that the doctor acted so quickly and so proficiently.

Needless to say, I'm never going to forget this experience and how blessed were truly were.

Still alive......

2009-01-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

Yes I have been a very bad blogger lately. It's funny because as I am falling asleep I frequently write an entry in my mind. But as you can see they never make it to the blog. Life has been crazy since before Thanksgiving. I will blog about it soon.

Finished Product

2008-12-20T21:15:00.001-08:00

Here's our beautiful tree. You can't even see the enormous whole that faces the back. Last year Benjamin got to put on the star so this year Austin got to. He did not see the significance of this, but had fun anyways.

.......Side note....my computer had a virus....it is fixed now and I have a lot to update (nothing too exciting just some really cute pictures)

Christmas Tree 2008 Part 4

2008-12-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

Once I finished cutting through the tree trunk. I discovered something very disturbing about my dream tree. See below:

Right next to this "perfect tree" that I thought I had found had grown an unseen smaller Chistmas tree whose pine needles and branches made up about 40% of the green, fullness on one side of my perfect tree.

Of course, from the side where I started cutting the trunk I could not tell that there was another smaller trunk next to my "perfect" tree.

Once the cut tree was moved to the side, I was astonished and astounded at the same time to see that 40% of my tree was not there.

Good for us that where were were planning on placing the tree in our home, you can only see the good side of the tree ;-)

Christmas Tree 2008 Part 3

2008-12-20T16:38:00.000-08:00

After Austin lost interest in cutting down the tree he decided to eat some dirt.

Christmas Tree 2008 Part 2

2008-12-20T16:35:00.001-08:00

So once we found the tree, the boys and I started to cut it down.

Christmas Tree 2008

2008-12-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

So this year we decided we'd go to a Christmas Tree farm and cut down our own tree with the boys. Good idea right? Right - sort of...

So we get to the tree farm and spend an hour or so looking over the various patches of douglas fir and noble fir trees.

We finally find a tree that has the right amount of fullness, but no too full (so that there is open spaces for the ornaments to hang). The right height, 7ft. - check. A good green color - check. We liked it so much we posed for an impromptu family picture. We were so proud of finding the perfect tree. See picture below:

My thoughts on the Presidential Election of 2008

2008-11-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

My gut reaction is that I’m:

- depressed a candidate as liberal as BO was elected President of our amazing country;

- concerned about our economy and how BO’s new policies will affect it;- upset that our taxes will likely be increasing soon and there will be no end in sight to government spending and the ever increasing size of our federal government;

- concerned that our enemies abroad will now ramp up their plans and attempts to hurt America’s interests at home and abroad without serious fear of U.S. retaliation;

- bothered by the fact that we don’t know who really funded BO’s campaign;

- concerned about what type of Supreme Court justices he will appoint when the opportunity presents itself and the case they will decide ;

- concerned about what BO will do to our healthcare system.

All that being said, it is nice to see that an African American can be elected President of the United States. I only wish he was an African American more in the mold of Ronald Reagan and not Karl Marx.

Did I mention I’m a conservative?

May God Bless America, because we are really going to need it, especially over the next 4 years...

Say Cheese

2008-10-24T13:29:00.001-07:00

The boys latest thing is sitting next to each other, looking adorable (and acting like they actually like each other) and saying cheese until I get the camera and take a picture of them.

And as you can see it always works. I just have hard time getting them to smile at the same time.

Why I'm Voting Yes on Proposition 8 - by Brian Thomas

2008-10-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Plain and simple – I believe marriage between a man and a woman is an institution ordained by God. And as such I think we should do everything in our power to protect it, and have government protect it through the democratic process. I believe that a child needs a father and a mother. I believe that the institution of marriage (as defined above) helps strengthen families and the children in those families.

In addition, I don’t want my state’s public schools legally permitted to indoctrinate my children with beliefs that run counter to my moral beliefs. I realize not everyone shares my same moral compass and that is fine. I’m voicing my humble opinion and I expect others on the other side, like you, to do the same.

Now to name a few of the other things that could happen if Proposition 8 is not passed:

1) As I mentioned earlier, I don’t want California schools to be teaching my children that gay-marriage as a moral equivalent to a marriage between a man and a woman, because I don’t believe that it is.

2) I don’t want California schools to begin instituting an aggressive policy of normalizing homosexual behavior to elementary school children and not allowing parents to be notified before or after, or being able to opt-out their kids from it. - See what’s happening in Massachusetts where the courts have already legalized same sex marriage - on April 27, 2005 David Parker was arrested and thrown in jail by school officials over his insistence of being notified regarding his son in kindergarten being taught about homosexual relationships by adults.

3) I don’t want pro-same sex school teachers legally permitted to subtly and not so subtly indoctrinate my kids with the gay agenda – see Massachusetts again where a teacher read a homosexual fairy tale to second graders.

4) I believe that if Proposition 8 is not passed that there is a much greater chance that the day could soon come that expressing one’s moral beliefs which do not condone the homosexual lifestyle could be considered “hate speech,” which would bring all kinds of potential legal ramifications, including but not limited to churches losing their tax-exempt status for failure to not grant the same rights and privileges to homosexuals.

5) Church charities will be forced to shut down adoption centers because they will not place children with same sex couples – See Massachusetts

6) Once the door is opened and it is determined that marriage can be redefined by judges, there is a greater chance that the definition of marriage will not stop there but will be expanded to include all kinds of unnatural combinations.

Those are some of the reasons I'm voting Yes on Proposition 8. But most importantly, as I mentioned above, I'm voting yes because marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. As such, I think marriage should be defined in only one way: as between a man and a woman.

Cute Thomas Cousins

2008-10-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

These are all of the Thomas boy cousins. (Yes two are ours). We now live REALLY close to Brian's brother Jon and his family so we get to see Nolan a lot more now. My boys really love it. (and yes my boys have otten their hair cut since this picture)

T-Ball for a 3 year old...not recommended!

2008-10-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

In our lovely new town of Dublin California they offer T-Ball for 3-5 year old children. We were so excited. Benjamin LOVES baseball. He has a Tee and a glove and has been playing with Brian for over a year now. We thought this was great. He will love it. WRONG. There is a reason "Little League" does not have T-Ball for children until they are 5. And that is because to a 3 year old it is really boring. Way too much down time. These are all pictures of his first game. It was HOT this morning and I put him in black sweats. And the league gave him the largest shirt they had so the poor boy was sweating the whole time. He even had an audience (Gma Cary, Gpa Dan, Gpa Brent and Uncles Tyler and Trevor) which he usually loves. And he requested that everyone shout "Go Ben" or "Way to go Ben" when he hits the ball. We all complied but this did not help. Here he is playing 1st base.

Here he is yelling "throw the ball HERE!!!"
Bored and playing in the dirt.
Finally his one chance at bat. He was so excited about the helmet. (He has some odd obsession with helmets. He has already requested he get a bike helmet for his birthday) He was the only kid to wear it. So the lesson learned is this. Three year old children should not play group sports. We will try again when he is five.
Austin had a great time though.

Facebook

2008-10-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Brian has finally convinced me to get on facebook. I am still not sure what it is for, but I am giving it a go. Brian told me it is going to be my next obsession, but I am not convinced yet. I have not completely gotten into blogging (as you can tell) and I have been doing it for over a year. So we'll see. But I need a new picture, of this I am sure! I am usually taking the pictures so the only pictures I am in are the ones from Paris.

Sick Update

2008-09-18T14:21:00.001-07:00

As you can see Austin is now fine. The only thing that remains is a cough every now and again. We still do not have any firm answers for what he really had. The Dr said if it happens again then they will put him on preventative meds. But for now we are being optimistic in our hopes that it will never happen again.......And I did not stage this picture. He did it all on his own. He loves the horse. Too CUTE!

Sick

2008-09-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

It started out like this. A little guy with a cold and a cough. I should have known something was wrong because even when he is not feeling well he does not sit still. I actually thought it was cute and took a picture. I thought is was just another cold.
It ended up like this. A little guy in the hospital because he could not breath.
So all day Thursday Austin was not feeling well. He was really clingy and had a bad cough and was weasing. Around 4pm I called my Mom and put Austin on the phone to see what she thought of his wease. She said it did not sound good. I ignored her because, it was just a cold. Then at bed time I decided to call the "advice nurse". Her advice, "go to the emergency room immediately". So I found someone to watch Ben (luckily 95% of Brian's family live within 3 minutes of us) and called Brian who was still working at a client's office in SF and went to the ER. On the drive to the hospital I thought to myself.....Am I overreacting? When we arrived they quickly put us in a room and a DR came. Wow, I thought, this is the first time I have not had to wait......that should have been a clue. Well After hours in the ER, breathing treatments, steroids and x-rays. It was determined he has Restricted Airway Disease. WHAT IS THAT???? Well, it's exactly like asthma but it is not chronic......YET. He did have a cold that turned into bronchitis. And that caused his lungs go on lock down. They said this could happen every time he gets a cold or never again.

His oxygen levels were still too low so we got to stay the night. The Dr. thought we could go home in the morning......after a few minor setbacks we got to leave at 5pm the next day. Austin HATED it. He was so sick of people touching, pulling and holding him down that he would scream when a nurse or DR came near him. We are all home now doing breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock (I feel like I have a newborn again). With DRs appointment's every other day. I am hoping to get more answers about what this really is on Monday. Is this Asthma and they are just hesitant to call it that? Why?

Preschool

2008-09-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Benjamin's first day of preschool was last week. He was so excited. He got dressed up in his new first day of school shirt and grabbed his snack and was ready to go.
When ever the camera comes out Austin strikes a pose.
When we got to school he got his name tag, which he was very excited about. Then he sat down and completely ignored us. He would not even look up to say goodbye. I thought I would be thrilled when he finally started some school but as I was driving away I was a little sad. I can't believe he is old enough to be in school.

Oakland Zoo

2008-09-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Brian had the whole week off. Most of the week was spent painting and replacing all of the ugly, generic light fixtures in our place. But one day we got to go to the zoo.
We saw all of the major zoo animals. Elephants, lions, monkeys. We even almost go to feed the giraffe some leaves. But the zoo keeper got to us first......

Austin enjoyed climbing around on the frogs

The Oakland zoo is a little sad when we compare it to the Omaha zoo (oddly enough there is a GREAT zoo in Omaha). But Ben does not remember it and Austin has never seen it so they think Oakland is great.

Yummy

2008-09-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

The other day Austin and Ben were dong a little coloring. Austin LOVES to color, but this time he decided to lick the marker. He looked so funny with purple lips and tongue that I had to take a picture.
And because he has recently decided he loves getting his picture taken he kept putting the marker in his mouth for more picture. He is such a ham!!

Rockin

2008-09-02T19:07:00.001-07:00

Benjamin discovered the drum set in my parents garage the other day. He is quite a natural. It is amazing how he can pick up the drum sticks for the first time and know how to hit everything.
He does not appear to have any rhythm yet, but he looked really cool doing it.

All grown up.......?

2008-07-30T13:10:00.001-07:00

So the other day Benjamin was having some yogurt and Austin decided he wanted to some too. I put him in his highchair and did not put a bib on him because I was going to feed him. But he decided he was way too big for his mommy to be feeding him. So after a few minutes of whining I let him have the spoon.......this is the end result. He is getting to be such a big boy these days. He no longer wants to be my baby. :( Although he is still fine with me carrying him everywhere (he is 30+ lbs). One step at a time, right?

Our Future Olympian

2008-07-20T19:57:00.001-07:00

Last Wednesday was Benjamin's first swim lesson. He is taking them at a local indoor pool. It has been a strange summer here in CA. It started out really hot (In May!!!) and since has been in the 80's. Which is not hot enough for me or my children to get in an outdoor pool. So I found a place that is indoor and warm all year round. One of the rules is that the students have to wear goggles. So Ben picked these red one's out. I tried to convince him blue or green would look better, but he wanted red. His favorite color is red, much to his father's dismay (BYU is Blue and U of Utah is Red). This has been hard for Brian, but he has finally let it go and love him anyways :). He was so excited about swim class. There were three other kids in his class. All whom screamed their heads off the entire time. Ben did not even hesitate to get in.
Here he is "swimming".
"Floating"
At the end of class he received two ribbons. A pink one for waiting his turn and making the bubble face (holding his breath) and a rainbow one for not crying. He thinks he is ready to swim on his own now. The other day he said to me "Mama, I'm a big boy. I don't need a swim teacher anymore."

Still Alive.

2008-07-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

It has been 3 weeks since the big move and we are all still alive. This move has really been the worst so far. I have moved quite a few times since we have been married, 5 times in almost 6 years to be exact. So one would think I would be a pro at it. But I still find it hard. I hate the chaos of the pre-post move. Boxes, disorganization. And it was hard on the boys because they did not like the chaos or my disposition. And this time we complicated things by selling all of our old furniture before we moved because my motto for our new place is "No Ugly". So that meant nothing could come. And we were so lucky because our place came partially furnished with new furniture. We moved in and discovered that most of the furniture that came with the place was not going to work. So we had to sell it too. The "bar height" kitchen table-very cute in our space but not functional for us shorties. The entertainment center was so low that every time Austin walked past it he would smash his hands on the screen of our new plasma TV. Had to go. And lastly the above couch. I did not like it that much (hard leather, modern design) but we were hoping it would work because it fit so well in our space. Well after living with it for 2 weeks we decided it was not working either. It is the most uncomfortable couch I have ever sat on! So we posted it on Craigslist and sold it in less than 24 hours for a ridiculous amount of money. I really did not think we would sell it for what we were asking and certainly not so fast. So here we are without a couch again. And yesterday we bought another couch (that should arrive in 2 to 3 weeks) that I am very excited about. We found a store that makes custom furniture. So we got a couch that is the same proportions but in a different style. I hope it turns out how it looks in my head. So this is where we are. We painted the family room, kitchen and all the halls. And Brian put closet organizers into the closets (fabulous). There were some days I would just go into the closet, because it was the only organized room in our house, to feel a little peace. Life is getting back to normal. We have been going to the neighborhood pool down the street and enjoying being so close to our family. Next week Benjamin starts swim lessons which should be fun. One day soon I will take better pictures and post them too.

Little Gym Graduation

2008-06-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

This Spring Benjamin took a tumbling class at the local Little Gym. He loved it. He got to run around and jump on things and not get in trouble for it. At the end of the class they have "show" day where they show everyone what they have learned. It was very entertaining!
Here he is striking a pose on the beam. Not a skill taught but he certainly mastered it.
More beam work.

Flips on the bar

Summer salts.

His Thomas Grandparents came and so did his Dad. He LOVES and audience!
Cousins Chloe and Nolan came to watch too.

Awards time. He had a lot of fun, but I do not see a Gold metal in gymnastics in his future.

Still Moving

2008-06-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well life has been crazy lately! We sold our kitchen table, couches, entertainment center and book shelves, (all on craigslist- Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE craigslist?) so we are basically living like we are camping. And that is not all that enjoyable with two small kids. We are supposed to close escrow tomorrow, but that whole process has been a complete nightmare and I will not be surprised if that does not happen. But from what I hear that is normal. The boys and I just got back from LA visiting Jackie (I will post pictures later) where we all got the FLU. But life is good. Just busy.

Comfortable?

2008-05-29T19:33:00.000-07:00

Does this look comfortable to anyone? This is how Austin likes to sleep. Sitting, hunched over with his face smashed into his blankie. He falls asleep like this because he likes to rock himself to sleep. He sits there and rocks back and forth. We had to move his crib away from the wall because we would hear, thud, thud, thud for 20 minutes whenever we put him to bed. We first noticed it when he was around 10 months old (He is now 16 months old). It really disturbs Brian. He is convinced Austin will have a bad back later in life because he sleeps like this. I think if it hurt him he would not do it. I am just so excited to finally get a picture of it. (He is an extremely light sleeper) So this is to our little rocker.....I hope you don't have back problems later in life!

Moving

2008-05-21T14:03:00.001-07:00

This has all happened so fast! Last week I got a call from Brian's mom (Brian was in Dallas all week). She said there were some new condos in Dublin that were going to be marked down 25%-40% starting Saturday at 9am. I wasn't too optimistic that it was something I wanted but I thought I would check it out. (Real Estate in CA is ridiculously expensive!!) I went and fell in love. Beautiful 3 bed 2 bath, 1400 square feet with hardwood floors. The builder had created this frenzy by telling everyone that hundreds of people were getting pre qualified (they only had 25 units to sell) and that people would be lining up to get the one they wanted. So my TYPE A, competitive personality kicked in and I was determined to be 1st in line. Even though Brian had never seen them and had no time to look over the numbers to see if we could even afford it. But I thought it was worth a try. It was the biggest three bedroom available. It was on the ground floor so it has a nice patio and beautiful upgrades. The sales people told me a lot of people wanted that unit. True or not, I don't know but I was not taking any chances. So I got one of my younger brothers, Tyler, to watch my kids and I showed up at 8am Friday morning. And I was 1st in line. It happened to be the same day as some record breaking heat (it is not usually 95 degrees in May!) But I didn't care. I had a cooler with cold water, a lounge chair and umbrella. My other younger brother Trevor came to sit with me (in case I had to use the restroom). I was there about 15 minutes when I see Brian's brother Jon coming up the sidewalk. He was number 2. Then about 20 minutes after that Brian's sister Shannon showed up. She was number 3. It was just so funny. The Thomas family likes a deal! As you can see from the picture above there was a line! The people in front of me are Brian's parents. They came to hang out. Brian caught an early flight out of Dallas and made it to Dublin about 4:30. After crunching numbers for a long time (until about 1am) Brian decided we were going to go for it. So I went home and Brian slept on the sidewalk. It was really all worth it and so satisfying to know we were #1.

This is the only decent picture I have of the place. And the cherry on top is that it comes partially furnished! New couches, new kitchen table......so basically the only items of furniture that we currently own that are coming with us is our boy's furniture. Easy move! We are so excited!!!

Exciting News!

2008-05-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made an offer on a new home!! Because my husband is a lawyer and extremely official I cannot say we bought a new home yesterday. But that is what happened. 29 more days until close of escrow. Funny story but I am way too tired to tell it all now. I never knew how exhausting major life decisions can be! More to come.

Clean Teeth....Finally

2008-04-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Today Benjamin went to the Dentist for the first time. Am I a bad Mom? Should he have gone sooner? I don't know. But the good news is that his teeth look great! Here he is waiting, and actually excited.

He also go to read his first Highlights magazine. An exciting day of firsts.
Ready to go and bubbling with anticipation.
Not so excited anymore! It took about 5 minutes of me begging and bribing to get him to open his mouth for the x-rays. And another 5 minutes of begging and bribing to get him to open it again for the cleaning. 50 minutes later his teeth were clean and he had quite a stash of goodies. A blue balloon 2 bouncy balls and a bag of fun teeth stuff.

Benjamin's first MLB game

2008-04-20T19:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Benjamin went to his first Oakland A's game. (First of many, I am sure) Benjamin and Brian had matching #3 Chavez shirts that Benjamin thought was great. They had good seats in the lower deck by third base so a few foul balls came their way. In the picture you can see Ben had his glove ready to go at all times. He kept yelling to the players "Hit it to ME!"
He also got to go with Brian's brother Jon and his son Nolan, Benjamin's only male cousin.

He got to eat lots of junk food....soda.

And popcorn....

The game started at 1pm....Benjamin's nap time
But he had a great time anyways.
They lasted about 4 innings and even got free bobble heads. Benjamin loved the game!! On our way home from church today he remembered that he forgot to tell his friends about the game. He was very upset. He told me to go back so he could tell them. I convinced him that no one would be there. So he deiced he would call them instead.

Mini Me Golf

2008-04-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the nicest day of the year. It was 89 degrees and it was so nice Brian decided to leave work early and have some family fun. We went miniature golfing for the first time (Ben calls it mini me golf). And it was quite an experience.

Benjamin quickly decided he did not need any help.
And was very excited when he found two balls in the hole.
Austin looks like he is being a good boy and golfing with the family.....but this is the only time he was where he was suppose to be.

This is how it went. Benjamin running one way and Austin running the other.
They both really enjoyed the water features. Austin is trying with all his might to get through the fence.
And when hitting the ball did not work Benjamin would just throw it.....why not? That is how they do it in baseball...Overall it was a fun time on a beautiful day!

Goats, Goats and more Goats

2008-04-10T14:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was dollar day at Happy Hollow. It is a fun park with lots of rides, playgrounds, a puppet show and a small zoo with some random animals. Potbelly pigs, sheep, monkeys, and the very best part is the goat place. You pay 25 cents and get a handful of food and you get to feed the goats. Unfortunately for my deprived boys, I had no change. Benjamin being the resourceful boy that he is, got food another way. He went around and picked up the food on the ground that kids had dropped. (It got a little tricky when we was having trouble distinguishing between food and goat poop. Luckily there is a sink to wash your hands when you leave the pen)
But he soon decided that he did not like the goats coming at him with their mouths open.

Next he figured out how the goats get water. He thought it was great that they were licking him. They were actually trying to get the water that was running through his hands.

As usual Austin found dome dirt to play in. He also found some "pellets"that looked tastey. Luckily I caught him before they made it to his mouth. This boy will eat anything!

Then he found this cute baby goat who was trying to take a nap.
The goat tried really hard to ignore him. But Austin did not care.
He deiced this goat needed a hung. TOO CUTE!!!! (He really is hugging the goat) He is such a hugger. And such a sweet boy!

2008-04-02T14:09:00.001-07:00

Another First

2008-04-01T19:59:00.001-07:00

Benjamin got himself dressed yesterday all by himself for the first time. He picked out his clothes (clothes he got from his Thomas Grandparents for his big B-day) and I told him to put them on as I went to get Austin. This is what happens every day. But when I got back down stairs he actually had put the clothes on. But both his shirt and pants were backwards. So cute!! I congratulated him and then switched them forward. Later that day I was helping him go to the bathroom and I noticed he had no underwear on. (How I didn't notice when I switched his clothes earlier I do not know...) Apparently he likes going commando.

Benjamin Turns 3

2008-03-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

Benjamin's birthday was on Wednesday this week. We wanted to do something to celebrate even though his party was not until today (Saturday). So we made really big cookies, put three candles in them and sang Happy Birthday (one of Benjamin's favorite songs to sing) to Ben.
We let him open one of his presents because he was going to need it for his party. He was SO excited. I have never seen him so happy about a present before. As you can see, it is a baseball glove.

He immediately ran outside to play some ball with his Dad. He catches really well if you throw the ball right into the glove, otherwise he is still learning.
We had his party at a park near our house that has a baseball diamond so he could play.
After sliding into home plate he decided the dirt felt nice and made a "dirt" angel.

I spent way too many hours on his baseball cake, but he loved it! It even has a chocolate mousse filling.
He thought it tasted pretty good too.
This is the only picture I could get of him looking at the camera while opening his presents.

Austin got caught in some of the balloons, but that did not stop him . He just kept on going. He walked all over the park attached to the balloons. It was quite hilarious and it made it easy to spot him.
He also found lots of dirt to eat and roll around in. If you look closely you can see his 1 tooth. Yes, he is 14 months and only has one tooth. But we are excited to announce that as of today he almost has two. (It has cut through but not enough to see when smiling)
After an exciting party Ben decided to relax on the bleachers. A great end to a great day. (And the best part is that all the mess is in the park, not in my house)

Easter

2008-03-24T13:45:00.001-07:00

We had a nice Easter. Last Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt with all of the CA Thomas cousins. Benjamin got to meet the Easter Bunny. He thought that was pretty cool.
Benjamin got to decorate eggs for the first time. He had a blast. But he did not think the cups were doing a good enough job of decorating the eggs so he chose to use his fingers as "paint brushes" too. You can see the dye dripping from his hand.
Austin was perfectly happy sitting on Grandma Cary's lap and playing with the strainer.

These are Benjamin's masterpieces. He was quite proud of them!
This is the first year he understood what he was suppose to do on Easter morning. He had a blast. Austin did not participate in the egg hunt. He was too distracted by his basket full of candy and goodies.
The boys with their baskets.

Dressed for church.
With Dad.
With Mom.

Cowboy Ben

2008-03-22T17:54:00.001-07:00

I just could not help myself. Brian's Dad took these pictures. He dreams of one day being a cowboy himself. But for now he just has a hat and some boots that he never wears. But they sure help to make adorable pictures

Baseball Boys

2008-03-12T14:17:00.001-07:00

Last week was my Grandpa's 79th birthday so the boys and I went to his house to celebrate. (Benjamin never misses an opportunity to blow out someone else candles) Before we left he insisted we bring his baseball stuff. Baseball has been his obsession since some time last spring. Brian of course loves this and insisted he have a tee to practice with . Problem is, they don't make tees for a 2 or 3 year old. So our tee is for a 5 year old. But this does not stop Benjamin from enjoying it.
And like all good little brothers Austin is also obsessed with baseball, because if Benjamin likes it Austin does too. The tee is actually almost as tall as he is. But that does not stop him!

But he does not like to share yet. So when it is Benjamin's turn this is how he reacts. I know I should be comforting him, but it really it hilarious!

Facebook

2008-02-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

For any of you interested, post a comment to this posting with your email and I will invite you to "become my friend" on Facebook.com, that's right, Facebook.com.

Its actually a pretty cool website that helps you track down long lost friends and even some family. You can choose exactly what information to put on there and who can have access to what.

Germany Pix

2008-02-28T09:57:00.000-08:00

Here are few pix from when I was in Berlin:
Picture above: Me in front of the Reichstag ~ The German equivalent to U.S. Capital Building - notice the nice glow of the cool sunset reflecting off the building.
This is the Grand Palace at Sansoucci Park in Potsdam Germany. This park is the largest World Heritage site in Germany. It is sometimes referred to as the German Versailles.
I believe this is a statue of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This is located in Alexanderplatz in Berlin. These guys are famous for writing the "Communist Manifesto." - Real winners ;-)

Back from Paris

2008-02-25T19:45:00.001-08:00

We had so much fun in Paris. It is a beautiful city. Now I know why people say there is no place better than Paris in the spring. They have gardens everywhere and trees trimmed to look like rectangles. And when they have leaves and flowers I imagine they are very pretty. All of the old buildings (and everything is old) are enormous. The food I did not think was so great. But I am a picky eater. But the pastries were fabulous!!! They have croissants with chocolate in the middle....yummy! The French people are not rude but they are not all the nice either. Everyone (tourists included) wore high heeled boots everywhere. They really like the boots over the jeans look. It seemed a little ridiculous to me. I am all for looking nice, but it seemed a little crazy to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe in heels. So I was the only person walking around in Pumas. But I was okay with that. And somehow everywhere we went people knew we were Americans before we even said anything. Then we realized that it was probably because no one but Brian was wearing a baseball hat, probably because they don't play baseball there.......duhh.....Brain enjoyed using all the different setting on our camera we got for Christmas. Thank goodness for digital cameras or else we would have spent a fortune in film. It was cold, but not freezing. Below is everything we did. I broke it down by day mainly for me so I don't forget. So this is a long one.......

Day one: We got into the city around 12 and went to the Champs-Elysees (shomps-eleesay). It is just a long street that is pretty famous and at the very end of it is the Arc de Triomphe.

We decided to go on an open top bus tour around the city. It was nice to see the city and decide what we needed to go back to. Here is our first sighting of the Eiffel Tower. It is funny it is so famous because of all the things to see and do in Paris it was not that great. Don't get me wrong it is definitely worth seeing, but after an hour we had seen it all.
After the tour we climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
This was the long spiral staircase we had to walk up to get to the top.
Day 2- My Birthday (These pictures are out of order)
The last thing we did on day 2 was go to visit the Eiffel Tower. I think it was great to visit it at night. We took the elevator to the top. Very high. Pretty cool. Once an hour at night all the lights sparkle.

Top of the Tower.

First thing we did on day 2 was go to Les Invalides. It was built by one of the king Louis's to house men injured in battle. Now it is a museum with Napoleon's tomb. The French really love Napoleon!

The building

Then we walked to Musee Rodin (Musee means museum). Neat sculptures.

"The Thinker"

Then we went to Notre-Dame. Cool old church. We got there too late to climb to the top, but I was okay with that because my feet were killing me.

Day 3- We went to the Louvre. It is enormous!!! It was originally one of the many Palaces in Paris and was converted to museum so the building itself is quite beautiful. For those of you who saw The daVinci Code- We were disappointed to realize the end was Hollywood magic. In the end Tom Hank's character discovers where Mary Magdalene's tomb is. He goes to the Louvre and walks on glass and sees the two triangles meet.....anyways as you can see the triangles go up....you can't walk on them.

The triangles meet.

We Saw the Mona Lisa. It was the only painting we could not get next to and the only painting covered by glass. A little disappointing. Brian thinks it is because it is a fake.....And as far as paintings go it is pretty nice, but I don't see why it is the most famous painting in the word.

We also saw the Venus de Milo. We really saw a lot. It took all day to go through the whole (almost) museum. By the end I was sick of looking at religious and naked girl paintings. They really liked their naked girl paintings in the 1600's.

Day four- We got up and took the train to Versailles. After standing in a ridiculous line we got in and there were so many people in there that we could not even move. So we left. We later found out that the workers at Versailles decided to be on strike that day......We went back the next day...So we went back to Paris and went to the Musee d'Orsay. I really liked this museum. It housed all (most) of the impressionist paintings. Really cool!!! I have decided that is my favorite period of paintings.

It was an old train station that was converted into the museum in the 80's. Definitely worth seeing if you are in Paris!

Day 5- Versailles (again) This time it was much better. The workers were not on strike and we paid for a guide. It is really beautiful and once again enormous. But it was the biggest building that we toured. And the gardens are amazing. I imagine they absolutely beautiful when everything is blooming.

The grounds are so big we rented bicycles to see everything.

Lots of beautiful fountains everywhere.

Day six- (Last day) We toured the Opera Palais Garnier. It was the original opera house in Paris. At some point a long time ago they decided it did not have enough seats (2,000) so they built a bigger one. Now it is here the ballet performs. If we ever go back to Paris we are definitely going to see a show at the palais. So beautiful.
Then we went on a cruise on the Seine River. Pretty fun and not as cold as we had anticipated.

We did not know they had a Statue of Liberty too.....theirs is much smaller (Eiffel Tower in the back ground) Brian is very proud of this picture. He decided he liked taking pictures on this trip. It was his goal to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower from every angle. And I think he did it. I was only taking pictures if he was using the video camera. And that was fine with me.

Then we went to the Place de la Concorde. More cool fountains and a really tall 3,000 year old obelisk given to the French by the Egyptians.

Last picture - if you look between our heads there is another picture of the Eiffel Tower. We had a great time. But now it is back to real life.

More from Deutschland

2008-02-16T12:14:00.001-08:00

So my project finally finished and I finally had some time to go site seeing. Jim and I originally planned on hopping a train this morning and spending some time in Prague, Czech Republic and then coming back to Berlin. But our stinking hotel failed to give us the wake up call this morning at 530am. In restrospect, it was probably better that we didn't get the call because had been up to 1230am Friday night finishing the project.

When we finally rolled out of bed we decided to go to Potsdam, Germany (they call it the Versailles of Berlin) (Its about 20 min. train ride from Berlin) (see http://www.germanplaces.com/germany/sanssouci-potsdam-sights.html). Its a pretty cool town. Frederick the Great, former Czar of Prussia (I think) built these palaces in Potsdam. They are pretty opulent.

We got to Potsdam around noon, hopped on a trolley/train type thing and rode it into town. We went to Sanssouci Park and saw a couple 18th century palaces. That was pretty cool. (I'll post pics when I get state side). The downer was that it was freakn' cold. I'm mean Omaha, Nebraska dead of winter cold. Unfortunately, when we left the hotel it looked quite nice and of course we were not properly layered as a result. Well that's all fine and dandy b/c you know we are guys and guys are tough. But when we discovered after leaving the palaces that the bus stop did not have a bus passing by for another 2 hours we had to walk back to the downtown area (think Freakn' Cold." Anyway, we had to walk for about 40 minute (in the Freakn' cold) before we got back to where we found a place to warm up and eat some dinner. And yes, I left my new earmuffs in the hotel that my lovely wife bought be right be for my trip. DOAH!!!!!!!

Anyway, the palaces were cool and Potsdam is a cool little city - a must see next time you are in Berlin. But we really were blessed when we found this restaurant (http://www.pfefferundsalz-potsdam.de/index1.html). An Italian restaurant on Bradenburg Street in Potsdam. It was really good italian food and hit the spot.

One annoying thing about Potsdam - 90% of the restaurants seem to close at about 6pm on a Saturday night. Crazy eh? This italian place was only open to 7pm(or so they said when we arrived at 6pm) even though they were still sitting diners when we left around 7pm - Go figure...
The thought did cross our minds that they might just not like Americans - I guess we will never now.

Anyway, the plan tomorrow is to sleep in, go to Church, and then see as much of Berlin as we can.

More to come, until next time, as they say here in Berlin -

Hasta La Vista, Baby!

Guten Morgan!

2008-02-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

I'm (it's me Brian) blogging live from Berlin, Germany. (That's right Kellers, the little red dot in Germany on your Clustermap was from yours truly ;-)). I decided it's about time that I contribute to the Thomas Family blog.

Unlike my lovely wife, who can update the blog with frequent stories related to adventures in child-rearing, my daily life isn't all that exciting to write about (how interesting are stories about how large corporations attempt to reduce their worldwide effective tax rates?!) I know some you are probably thinking to yourselves, "come on Brian, tell us, tell us," but I'm going to spare you the gory details.

Anyway, I'm in Berlin, Germany (something somewhat interesting - hence the post). I'm hear on a business trip. It just so happens to be the week of Berlin's international film festival (http://www.berlinale.de/). It's a big deal around hear. All the city's theaters are showing are entries in the festival. My colleague and I want to try and see one while we are here. But unfortunately, our work has been keeping us busy. This deal we are working on is supposed to finish on Friday. We planned to stay through the weekend, so hopefully we will have some time this weekend to enjoy the city. If anyone's been to Berlin before and has some recommendations, let me know.

The thing that bugs me the most about this hotel I'm staying in (http://www.hotel-berlin.de/default-en.html) (it was the only hotel available as this was a last minute trip and we only had 5 days to book the place + international film festival in town), is that there is no FREAKN' ESPN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean seriously, talk about torture. Everything is in German (on TV), except CNN and the BBC channel - whoop-D-stinkn'-do. This truly is painful. After a long day at work, you can't even watch Sportscenter!!!

Something humorous - on a busy street near our hotel there are some business offices. One of the businesses is named "Rent-A-Cadillac." Inside the window is a 60's era convertible cadillac of some sort. Who woulda thunk it? Talk about a great business plan. Talk about a good franchising opportunity - coming to a neighborhood near you "Rent-A-Cadillac - where even you can enjoy the pleasure of driving a Caddy for a day!" The possibilities are endless.

On a side financial note, when people say the dollar is weak these days - you can't really appreciate it until you travel to Europe. Talk about depressing. The other night we went out to dinner to an Argentinian Steakhouse and purchase a standard steak and potatoe dinner, which would probably cost you at the most $40-50 bucks in the states. The dinner cost us about about $110!! Ridiculous - good thing our client is paying for it ;-)

Anyway, I'll end my ramblings now b/f I say something really embarassing. Stay tuned for the next European blog update - coming soon...

Look out France here I come.....

2008-02-04T18:47:00.001-08:00

Words cannot explain my excitement!!! On Saturday Brian found out that he would have to go to Germany for about 2 weeks to "oversee" something. (I don't completely understand what he does) At first I was pretty irritated, I don't enjoy being a single mom. But then he suggested we meet when he is done to celebrate my 3oth birthday. YES!!! I honestly was kind of depressed out turning 30. I really enjoyed being in my 20’s and Oprah says the 50’s are fabulous. But 30, what is fabulous about 30? It just sounds old. But now bring it on. I will be in Paris, there is nothing depressing about that!!! I can't wait. I am actually having a hard time sleeping because I keep thinking about all the places to go. The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Palace at Versailles..... I think I will live on carbs the whole week-French bread, croissants. Yummy!! The only draw back is that it is about 30 degrees. But I will just break out the Nebraska gear and enjoy it!!!

New and Improved

2008-01-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

I was looking at a friend's blog (Emily) and I saw a link to where I could get a different template for my blog. Yea! I am a little conflicted about what kind of a design I can really get away with. I (Corinne) do everything for the blog but most of the content is about my boys. So I think this is a good compromise. Flowers in brown. Not too girlie but pretty enough for me to like it. This is great. It is like redecorating my house but cheaper and with much less effort. (Although I am expecting to be getting some new couches very soon!!!) Don't be surprised if it changes again.

Captain Adorable Turns 1 Year Old

2008-01-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well it's official. Austin Henry aka Captain Adorable turned 1 year old today. This year has really flown by. He still seems like such a baby to me. He is such a wonderful addition to our family. So sweet and CUTE!! He had a great day. We started the day off with pancakes. He did not know what hit him when we sang Happy Birthday to him. At first he was startled and then he just laughed.

Great way to start the day.

He did not notice the hat. But for some reason he kept looking behind him. (there is nothing there but wall)

We are having his official birthday party on Saturday but I wanted to celebrate today too. So I made some big chocolate chip cookies. I put a candle in it and we sang to him again. He has never had a cookie or chocolate or that much sugar before. He liked it!!!

Then the sugar rush came to an end. Happy Birthday Austin!!!

The frow had to go....

2008-01-19T13:56:00.000-08:00

Everyone told me not to cut it, but I had to. It looked ridiculous. Tight curls on the side, no curls on the back and loose curls on top. I must admit I think it looks much better now. These are just a few of the MANY pictures taken of the momentous occasion. The first haircut. Brian video taped it, my Mom took pictures. I held Austin and Benjamin rearranged all of the hair products. Austin was not the most willing participant as you will see....

I am not sure I like this

Save me!!!

No more please!!

Ahhhh Binky

Brush looks fun

Yummy brush

I'm Done!!

This is the final product. He did not hold it against Doreen, my hairdresser since high school (except for my stint in Omaha where Teri the great handled my hair). I am sure you will agree....much better.

Scarface

2008-01-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

Austin now has a new nickname. Scarface. It happened this Saturday. We dropped the boys off at Brian's parents house so we could go to the temple. Upon our arrival back we saw our beautiful baby boy with a large band aid on his forehead. When I asked what happened I was told, "he needs stitches". About 3 hours earlier he was sitting on Grandpa Brent's lap when he decided to jump off. Apparently he forgot he has no balance yet and went head first for the coffee table. He seemed to be quite over it by the time we returned because he was all smiles. We changed our clothes and went to the emergency room. 3 1/2 hours later we left with "liquid" stitches. For those of you who have not damaged your children yet, "liquid" stitches is basically super glue. So now Austin is walking around with dry, hard glue on his forehead. But the good news is, it should scar less than regular stitches. In the mean time Austin turns one in a week and we will be postponing his one year pictures until the glue has worn off. These are some before and after pictures.

Christmas

2007-12-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas was really fun this year. Benjamin sort of understood and was really excited. The only part he understood was that Santa was bringing him a present and that was all he needed to know. His favorite present was this horse. It neighs and moves it's head. Lots of fun. And Austin was was very happy with his ball that rolls on it's own.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we went to a park that my Grandpa helped build 10 or 15 years ago. Benjamin and Austin loved it.

BYU Boys

2007-12-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

These are my BYU fans on the day of the Las Vegas Bowl where BYU beat UCLA. My boys were all very excited. Our ward had the nerve to schedule the Christmas party the same time as the game. Brian struggled but he went to the activity and recorded the game.

Christmas Card Fun

2007-12-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

These are some of the great pictures we took trying to get a cute picture to send to all of you with are Christmas card. If you did not get a card it is because we do not have your address. If you want one next year email us your address. Who knows maybe next year Austin will be picking his nose.We tried three times. Every time the boys would not cooperate. And to top it all off we somehow turned off the flash. So even if we would have taken a great picture it would have still looked awful. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving (a few months late)

2007-11-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving we spent with the entire Thomas clan in Tahoe. We had a great time. And even got home in time for Brian to see BYU beat Utah in the biggest football game of the season. All together we had a good few days. Although we had not been in weather that cold since leaving Omaha. The family pictures were a disaster, but entertaining as usual. Benjamin decided he was over looking cute so he decided to scowl in every picture. The family and grandkids picture is already out of date. We have another niece who was born 1/2/08.

Halloween

2007-11-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

This Halloween Austin was a pumpkin (the same pumpkin Ben was for his first Halloween) and Ben was a lion. Ben was very upset that Austin got to be the pumpkin . He really wanted to be the pumpkin again. Unfortunately I did not know this until the day of Halloween so he had to be the lion. But he made a pretty cute lion. We went to a carnival and trunk or treat activity at church that night. Ben loved it. He got to eat yummy doughnuts and bob for apples. Austin was a little cranky because it was past his bedtime but he won best costume anyway. (Ben won best costume when he wore it too).

Saucer Fun

2007-11-07T10:16:00.001-08:00

Austin loves the saucer as much as Ben did. These pictures are just too cute, I had to add them.

Rain Day

2007-11-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

This was the first rainy day this fall. Ben woke up from his nap and was very disturbed that all of his toys were getting wet. He insisted on going outside to wipe them off. It was not cold so I let him. He got a rag and began to wipe everything off but he got distracted by how fun it is to play in the rain. So fun.

Updates

2007-11-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well I have been very bad at adding things to the blog but I promise to get better. Benjamin is now potty trained and Austin has been crawling for about a month and a half. He still does the army crawl, but he is very efficient at it. His favorite place to be is under the kitchen table. If I leave the room when I come back he is always under the table. And I have started doing some contract work for and HR Outsourcing firm here. It is great I work from home as much or as little as I want. Perfect for a busy mom.

Cute Boys!!

2007-09-12T09:58:00.001-07:00

We had these pictures taken as Austin's 6 month pictures. He is a very happy boy. He is 50% in height and 95% in weight. Check out his thighs. So chubby!

2007-09-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Benjamin is still quite a character. He loves to be the center of attention. And knows how to put on a show for the camera.

2007-09-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Benjamin thinks it is hillarious to make Austin fall over. Luckily Austin is tough and he usually enjoys it.

Summer Fun

2007-09-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Benjamin And Austin discover they love the pool and the beach (especially the sand) !!