Mother's Day 2009 - Scene 1

For Mother's Day we got to go to brunch and then to the park. The first present though was very early when T3 slept all the way to 9:00am! Unprecedented. This running around all day long thing must be working good at tiring him out. You won't hear me argue. But then I got my wrapped up present...a bouquet of flowers and a huge serving platter that Tom and Tommy made a pottery store. It has Tommy's handprints in the middle of it. Perfect.

Everybody Helping Me Open the Presents

We had planned to go to Granite City for brunch and their website siad they opened at 10am. So we rolled in about 10:04 and the line was outside the door and down the sidewalk halfway. I was pretty disappointed but I am not going to wait for brunch anywhere for that long. So we got back on the road and racked our brains for a backup. I had heard an advertisement on the radio for a champagne brunch at a hotel but I couldn't remember where the hotel was. Then we drove by it. We went in walked right up to the host and we got seated without any wait. They had a full breakfast spread, lunch spread, prime rib, and dessert table. Worked out great. And they were doing a raffle drawing each hour. Just so happens when Tom was up paying he got his raffle slip in the box just in time, so it was on top, and they pulled it out. We won a free night stay. They have an indoor pool, so we'll just save it for a crappy weather day this summer and then just head there to hang out at the inside pool. Things always manage to work themselves out.

Dessert is the Best Part

Nice 'Stache

Then we headed out to Wildlife Prairie Park and we couldn't have asked for a better day. It was sunny but not too hot and the park was full but not overcrowded. We walked around for a few hours and checked out all of the animals. The next couple of entries show our adventure.

Checking out the Bison

I LOVE Eagles

Hangin' at the Beach with Daddy

Tommy was sick for 3 days so I had to stay home with him because Tom had a big project going on at work. So in order to try and catch up a little bit, Tom took Tommy to the volleyball courts so I could go in to work for a little bit. Tommy sat and watched while Daddy played a whole game like such a good little guy. There were these two pictures from the morning...I couldn't decide which was cuter.

So sorry

We've been running around like crazy for 6 months now and I haven't posted a single thing. After all the gentle reminders, not-so-gentle reminders, and outright demands of get some pictures of your kid posted, I've finally sat down and sifted through 6 months of photos. The next few entries are by month and I've tried to highlight a little bit of what was going on for us each month.

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So my sincerest apologies for falling behind and I hope you all enjoy catching up on our lives.

Easter Stop #2 - 2009

Even though it was the middle of tax season, we were able to stop for a night to see Grammy & Grampa L. Right away we had to head down and see Grampa's tractor in his new barn. I think it is still a little too big to operate. Then we went for a walk around the lake...dogs in the lake, people not. They love it so darn much. Back up at the house, we played with Gramma with her toys she got out. And managed to get in some piano banging too. We headed home after that but stopped to see G Gramma L before-hand. She had chocolates and Tommy got to pick some out...he went right for the peanut butter eggs.

Grampa's Tractor

T3 is Checking Out That Ginormous Barn

Playing School House with Grammy

Future Mozart

Playing My "Drum" for G Gramma

Easter Stop 1 - 2009

We headed back to Ohio for the Easter Holiday. On Easter Eve, we did the first basket. Tommy got into the Easter egg "hunting" thing after he figured out there was food in them. The "hunting" was pretty difficult since they were laid out at the edge of the room in a nice, easy to see circle. We put out some carrots on Easter Eve for the Easter Bunny too and he ate them all up. Then in the morning the Easter bunny brought another basket via Gramma S. The Easter bunny is super nice. For lunch we headed over to G Gramma S to see the rest of the fam. And the Easter Bunny had gone and left another Easter basket with more snacks and stuff.

Easter Eggs #1

How Do You Get These Things Open???

Tommy, Clayton, & Jimmy with G Gramma's Baskets The Whole Clan

Tommy's Easter Outfit

April 2009

Aside from Easter, which I will get to next, Easter brought about two very important things. First Tommy finally ate and enjoyed some shellfish. Whew! We've tried shrimp quite a few times and the crab with moderate success, but I was starting to think this boy did not inherit Tom's or my ability to put away pound after pound of that sweet stuff. So finally we got him downing it like there was no tomorrow at a friend's crawfish boil. He ate it as fast as Tom or I could get the darn things peeled. Probably around 30 of them. And they were Cajun style and he didn't bat an eye at that either. So look out Kobayashi!

Lookin' Cuter Than Those Crawfish Hillbilly Golf Anyone?

I Ate a LOT of Crawfish

The second big thing to happen was we got the main part of Tommy's playset up. I figured we'd get him a swing, a slide, and a sandbox kind of deal...but neither of us quite knows how to buy small. So we ended up with quite the fortress in the back yard. A baby swing, a regular swing, a hammock swing, a trapeze, a rock wall, monkey bars, slide, sand box, and fort. And the best part is we thought we could put it together ourselves. The pros do it in four hours says the salesman. But the boy loves to swing and is really getting into the slide too. He even started climbing up the ladder by himself although I am not quite ready for him to do that.

Swinging ROCKS!

March 2009

March brought the thoughts of spring and the Home Show. We went this year without a project really in mind. But fortunately something always comes to me and we will probably be breaking ground on a new patio shortly. The funnest part of the show was the big play area that was set up off to the side. He didn't spend a lot of time at it since he decided to be shy right then, but Tom showed him how to put the blocks on top of each other. Next year he'll be throwing them in the aisles and running over everyone else's piles. I'll take shy for now.

Blocks at the Home Show

We had another Crabfest. I've lost track at this point but I think it is number 6. I won this one full out by a 1/2 pound. The crabs were "full size" so the boys ran out of excuses. Afterwards a little cleanup and book reading was in order. He can recognize the duck every time in this book.

Bathtub Readin'

Tommy got his second haircut. Apparently a little more traumatic than the first one but once he had his cookie everything got all better. Thank goodness they stock cookies. It was getting to that "business in the front, party in the back" point so its a good thing we got it chopped.

Haircut Drama

And of course with March comes springtime fun. Tommy absolutely loves trampolining. He stands at the back door and points to get let out to the yard. And then he stands beside the trampoline until somebody lifts him up. Dunkin and Gracie have certainly taught him persistence. Which brings us to the point that Gracie has been waiting for a younger sibling forever. And finally she gets one that can wing the ball for her. Granted it might not be in the direction she wanted or the direction he intended, but Tommy loves to throw the ball for Gracie. He even chases her around and tries to get it out of her mouth. There are plenty of adults that have never succeeded at that trick but he has managed it a few times. Of course she just chases after him until she gets it back noe way or another.

Trampoline Funnin' CATCH!

February 2009

February started out with a SuperBowl party. We just about had everything cleaned up and ready to host when I got this deja-vu experience. Somebody got into the cupboard again...and this time decided he had a hankerin' for some spaghetti. But how can you get mad.

Spaghetti is Sooooooo Good

Tom went to Vail for some snowboarding but I had to work. So as a result, Tommy headed back to Ohio and hung out with Grammy & Grampa L right in the middle of tax season. (Grampa L is a CPA). But even with all the busy-ness, everyone had a good time.

We did manage to get some more snow sledding in before the snow was done. This time went a lot smoother and Tommy stayed on the sled while Tom pulled him around...most of the time.

Doggy Toys Work Just as Good

Oops!

Tommy is really into drawing, coloring, or just general paper fun. So Tom got out our camping table to go with his OSU folding chair. And it works great for snack time too without getting the huge high chair out. However life is never quite as simple as sitting in a chair at a table, is it?

Snack Time

Now What!?!?!?!

January 2009

January was a little less busy but still plenty of on-the-go. We did get some good snow that lasted long enough to go sledding. Unfortunately it was getting dark so the photos weren't that great. Tommy seemed to enjoy it when I rode with him. When he went down the "hill" by himself he fell off. But then when he went down the "hill" with me I ran us straight into our fence. We'll need to try out a real hill at some point if we dare.

Dunkin and Tommy Sledding---Faster Daddy

So your average 1-year-old apparently can, and will, get into everything. No surprise for anyone but I still can't believe how fast he does it. The picture tells it all.

Cheerios Anyone?

Chris got Tom tickets to the Hot Summer Nights Tour in Indy this year. This is where the professional volleyball players tour around in the winter. Last year we went to the same deal in Bloomington and Tommy got to meet Kerri Walsh. She was there again this year but was about 6 months along expecting so she wasn't playing. But Tommy seemed to enjoy the day and such anyways. We made a weekend of it leaving straight away after volleyball on Friday night and we got into Indy around 3am! Totally worth it. And of course T3 was WIDE awake when we got there. But we stayed in an old train depot which was pretty cool. Got up in the morning and got some pool time in before we headed out to the nearby mall for some walking around and dinner. It was a nice fun family weekend.

Delish Ice-Cream at PF Changs

Mini-AVP Ball --- Yumm! Explains the Obsession with Rock Band Maybe _ _

December 2008

December was a very full month as anyone can imagine. Tom and I got back from Mexico and just started right in on the holiday activities. Tom went snowboarding up north for a weekend and I got the presents bought and wrapped. Then we had everybody over for some Christmas Fried Turkey. Jess and Adam were back through for the holidays so Grady and them stayed with us to take advantage of the best doggy hotel ever! Tom's parents came out to watch Tommy while Trent, Amy, Tom, and I went to Chicago overnight for the Bears v Packers right before Christmas. 2nd coldest game at Soldier Field I think but the Bears did win so I'm happy we toughed it out to the end. It has to be cold if your hot chocolate freezes within the same quarter. Then we all packed up and headed to Ohio for Christmas. Tommy was a little more into it this time and he almost got the hang of opening the presents.

Tommy Practicing the Drums

Tommy and His Cat Lego DumpTruck from Uncle Chris

Tommy in his Christmas PJs Tommy and his Christmas Wagon from Gramma & Grampa L

Tommy Hamming it up for the Camera