Aaron’s Birthday and Baptism

The biggest event in March was Aaron’s 8th Birthday.  On his birthday Paul and I took him out to a private dinner at The Melting Pot and celebrated just with him.  Of course he got lots of great presents (clothes, games and even a real camera), but it was nice to spend that special time with just him.

About a week later my brother, Marc, and his wife, Kayleen, and their 3 kids, Jackson, Lance, and Ellie came into town and then a few days later Paul’s parents and his sister, Sara arrived.  We did a lot of fun things together including attending more little league games, an Astros game and had a great time being with the family.  We ALWAYS try to go to the opening day for the Astros!

The real reason for everyone coming though was Aaron’s baptism.  Aaron chose to be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a beautiful service and we are all very proud of Aaron for making this choice!

 

That same weekend was also Easter and the kids had an Easter egg hunt at my moms house.  She even got a piñata for “the kids” to hit!

 

And since Aaron turned 8 he began to attend cub scouts.  Doesn’t he look so cute in his uniform?  He has already earned his bobcat and wolf rankings and is now earning arrow points and belt loops and pins.  The whole family is enjoying the activities with him.

The rest of the winter

As I look back through my pictures from January and February and March I see that we didn’t take a lot of pictures.  But that doesn’t mean we didn’t do a lot, just that we didn’t take a lot of pictures!

January was pretty quiet and the only picture to post is of the boys jumping on the trampoline.  We are loving having it in the backyard and play on it often.  Christian especially loves it (I can’t count how many rounds of “duck-duck-goose” we’ve played!)

February we started baseball season, t-ball for Brian and coach pitch baseball for Aaron.  The season lasted all the way through May so I’ll post more about that later.  My favorite thing in February was a visit from my friend Melanie.  She and I were best friends in college and have only seen each other a few times since then, but she flew out and hung out with me for a few days and I LOVED it!  However, we never took any pictures…silly me!  Oh well, I have my own memories!

In February we went as a family to the Houston Zoo.  We had such a great time we bought a membership and went again in March.  I’ve been planning to take the boys this summer, but just haven’t yet.  Maybe next week!  Here’s pictures of the times we’ve gone so far. 

The boys enjoyed riding the train that goes by the Zoo around Herman Park.  Especially Christian who loves train!

Aren’t they all so handsome!

Christian had to pet each animal just once!

Riding the carousel.

Brian was right at home with the monkeys!

That’s Aaron and Brian inside gopher holes.

Christian liked looking at the frogs inside the caves.

At the beginning of March was the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  We decided this year to buy tickets to the Livestock Show and Fairgrounds, but did not buy Rodeo tickets.  To say that the boys loved the carnival is an understatement!

The kids especially liked the Fun Houses.  I think they went on all of them!

The boys liked to race down the tall slides.

We took turns riding on a few of the rides.

We spent all afternoon and evening playing and eating there and by the end we were all exhausted!  I ended up carrying David in the sling and pushing Christian in one stroller while Paul pushed Brian in another stroller because he was too tired to walk any more.  We had a good time though and I’m glad we went. 

It was a good winter and we rarely needed coats at all, just long sleeved shirt.  I love living in Houston with mild winters.  On to spring!

Christmas in July

Better late than never I’d say!  Here’s what we did last December for Christmas. 

We had a great Christmas season this past year and even though I haven’t blogged about it until now, it is worth mentioning.  We were very busy the entire Christmas season, and not everything we did had pictures taken of it. 

A local church hosted an amazing Journey to Bethlehem where we walked outside experiencing everything from the Angels to the Romans to seeing Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus.  It was a wonderful experience and I hope to go many more times. 

Our ward held a Relief Society meeting and our little family were asked to play the roles of Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus.  It was precious, especially having David asleep in the cradle that was provided. 

There were several other parties: a tacky sweater party, a hot chocolate party, ward Christmas breakfast…all good times.  One of our favorite experiences this Christmas involved a home in our neighborhood that set their lights to music.  We would drive by almost every night so that the kids to watch “the music house.”

My sister, Marcia came into town with her husband and 2 children and we spent a lot of time with them.  We went to the park, bowling and hung out both at our house and my moms house.  My mom even worked with the kids to put on a puppet show based on a book we grew up with as little kids.  Everyone had a lot of fun with that!

On Christmas Eve we spent the morning making cookies to deliver to friends, then went to my moms house for the big family dinner.  When we got home the boys each opened their one present of new pajamas then tried to go to sleep to get ready for Santa to come the next morning. 

Christmas morning was chaos as everyone opened their stockings and saw what had been given to them.  Aaron and Brian got a trampoline, Christian got a basketball hoop and David got a Bumbo (which he hated!) Paul and I got each other a sprinkler system which had been installed a few weeks earlier (which we are LOVING this summer!)

I think the favorite gift we gave was a wooden toy Paul made modeled after a toy my siblings and I had when we were young.  He made one for our kids and both my brother and sister’s kids. 

Another favorite was the hexbugs.  We now have 8 bugs and a lot of track.  And it still gets played with a lot.  By all of us! 

I couldn’t resist dressing David up in this Santa suit and my sister bought one for her daughter, Brooklynn, who is 3 months older than David.  Isn’t he the cutest!

Now to keep blogging the rest of the year!  I’m working on it.

David’s After Visit Summary

David had his 6 month well child visit today and it was determined that he is not much of a well child!  He’s had a cold the last week or so and the doctor said his lungs didn’t sound great, a lot of wheezing, so we are now giving him albuterol breathing treatments every 4 hours or so.  Additionally, he has ear infections so we’re on antibiotics.  There was also a yeasty diaper rash we need to keep an eye on and possibly treat. 

And she found that he doesn’t just have 4 teeth, he has 5!  Another one has popped through on the top with the 6th one obviously close behind (very swollen). 

He got 4 shots and so in addition to his antibiotics, breathing treatments and Orajel for his teething we’re now giving him Tylenol for the shots. 

Pair all that with my new mastitis and antibiotics and we are all drugged up here!

Here’s his latest statistics though.

• Height:  27.25 inches (79%)
• Weigh:t 16 lbs 15.5 oz (41%)
• Head Circumference:  17.52” (72%)

He’s growing perfectly normal and we just hope we all feel better soon.

David is 6 months old!

Can you believe that he’s 6 months already?  Since I haven’t blogged very much lately and haven’t shown many pictures it’s kinda hard to believe, but it’s true.  Today, on “leap day” is his 6 month birthday and we’ll do his check up and shots and hopefully I’ll remember to write in his baby book. 

So here’s what he’s into these days. 

He’s “almost” crawling but not quite sitting up by himself much. 

He LOVES his solid food and we feed him baby food twice a day.  He has 4 teeth but is still nursing like a champ.  He still does NOT sleep through the night but typically is a very happy baby. 

January 2012

February 2012

Many people say he looks just like the other 3 boys, but many other people say that he has a look that is totally different from the other 3 boys.  I don’t know what I think, but I think he is amazing!

My adorable sleeping boys

Until I find the time to update properly, here something to tide over the Grandparents. 

I’ll try to do better later.  Love you!

Christmas Card

We didn’t send out very many Christmas cards this year, but we did send some.  We had this card printed at cardstore.com (they had a great sale Thanksgiving weekend!) and we included a short note.  Here’s what it all looked like.

2011 has been a great year for the Thomas Family. Here are some of the highlights.

Paul took a trip to China as part of his MBA program then later graduated! He started a new hobby of geocaching and worked on staff at a Boy Scout Wood Badge course.

Jen found out on Christmas day that she was expecting another baby and gave birth to David in August. She became more of a foodie and cooking became more of a hobby and skill as she tried lots of new recipes for her freezer cooking and using her bountiful basket.

Aaron (7) learned to ride a bike without training wheels, ran a 5K and moved from 1^st grade to 2^nd grade. He loves math, loves to read, loves school and is growing up to be such a great kid.

Brian (5) got a bicycle for Christmas and learned to ride it without training wheels by April! The weekend before he started kindergarten he cut his foot really badly, but everything healed up nicely and was fine. He makes us laugh a lot and is a joy to have in our family.

Christian (2) went from a baby to a little boy, especially after David was born. He talks a lot more, loves anything with wheels, balls, socks or shoes. He is a very sweet little boy and makes us smile every day.

David (3 months) was born on August 29, 2011 at 9 lbs 2 oz. It was a rough delivery with an unexpected cesarean birth. He is a beautiful perfect baby who nurses great even though he already has 2 teeth!

During the summer we took our first road trip to Utah and had a great time spending time together as a family. We feel so blessed to be such good friends with each other and are proud to say “I’m glad you’re mine!”. We are looking forward to many more years of adventure as a family!