Great times, great friends, great kids

Last week our great friends, Matt, Amy and Heidi were in town for a wedding. We always love when they come to visit and feel so blessed for the amount of time we get to be with them. At this point in life, they live in Boston while Matt finishes his residency. They will probably be there for a few more years, after which we are hoping they will be coming back home to AZ! (But not thinking about it or hoping too much - wink wink) Anyway, on Friday, the whole gang - the boys, Cody and myself, Uncle Travis, Matt, Amy, Heidi, and Amy's dad all met at the zoo. We have a another mutual friend, Melissa and her son Luke, who met us there as well! They weren't able to stay as long, but we were excited to have them join us. It was a blast to have everyone together. Both Melissa and Amy are expecting (I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of the two pregos together - oh well). Amy in February and Melissa in April. Can't wait to meet their newest additions! At any rate, here are quite a few of the pictures I took - I had a hard time choosing, there were so many cute ones. I realize that most are of Jacob and Heidi. Aidan was in his stroller 98% of the time, so I didn't get many cute ones of him this go round. I felt a little guilty about that when I got home and realized I hadn't had many shots of him. Next time, I promise.
Here are the ones that made the cut:

Smiley boy Jacob

Luke, Heidi and Jacob consulting the map to see where we would be off to next

Luke, just chillin' in my stroller

Heidi and her daddy

The cuteness that is Heidi

The littlest stud, Aidan

Proud parents to be, round two - Matt and Amy

Heidi with her Papa

Just wanted to show you that we did actually see animals
Cody, Jacob, Heidi and her Papa looking at the orangutans

Uncle Travis and Aidan relaxin' in the shade

Heidi sharing her peace offering, a leaf

Jacob and Heidi feeding the turtles

Lunch time hugs!!

Working off all the food they ate (or didn't eat)

How do you think this moment ended?
1. With a sweet kiss from Jacob to Heidi
or
2. With a not so sweet flattening out of Heidi

We'd all like to think it was number 1, I'm sorry to say it wasn't . . . .(it wasn't a major face plant - Jacob wasn't trying to be mean, he just got excited and gave her, what I would like to call a "love nudge")
Heidi took it like the strong woman that she is and was fine and running around again,
and yes, Jacob apologized.

Go Cubs!

We are hoping to see the Cubs win tonight and keep the series alive!
Go Cubs!

The Thomas Boys meet Indie!

Last week, we were blessed to be able to spend time with our great friend Lisa and her 6 week old baby girl, Indie. It was so great for me to catch up with Lisa and to meet Indie for the first time. I really didn't think that the boys would be all that interested in her. I was a little off on that thought. They were very interested. The boys were very curious about the little being that lay before them. They wanted to love on her so much, and by love I mean poking and prodding and kissing and snuggling, but didn't understand that she was too little for all the lovin' they wanted to give her. I just laugh at the pictures because it appears that Jacob's head is the same size as Indie's body. Which it really could be. My son, God love him, has a gigantic noggin. Poor Indie probably saw this huge head coming at her and just didn't know what to do! :-) I am happy (and relieved) to say that she survived her first interaction with two little boys. Maybe Lisa and Jason won't have to worry about boys, ever, because my two traumatized her. Just kidding, they weren't that bad. Thanks for the visit Lisa and Indie!

Little Miss Indie, practicing her Dr. Evil imitation

Jacob going in for a kiss

The boys checking Indie out

"Ok, what's going on?"

"Seriously, what's going on here? This kid has got a huge head!"

"Holy cow, there are two of them!"

Aidan decides to wage a sneak attack, poor Indie has no idea.

"Oh sure, you just sit there and take my picture while Aidan gets me . . ."

"I know there still here, were did they go?

NaNa (neyney)

The cutest thing, (other than these little tooshies) is hearing Jacob say Aidan's name. Just recently he started to call Aidan by his name. It usually sounds like "NeyNey" or occasionally "NeyNen". I love to hear Jacob calling for his brother. This morning, as we were sitting eating breakfast, Jacob was trying over and over again to get his brothers attention. When he finally did, both shared big grins at each other. It's great to watch them play and begin to interact with each other, Jacob calling Aidan over to play or calling Aidan's attention to a toy that Jacob has OK'd him to play with. I've said this before and know I'll say it many times more, it is so much fun to watch the boys grow together, interact more and learn to care for each other. I hope and pray that as they grow up, their friendship will continue to grow and always be strong.

At Grammie and Poppop's
(Dad was intended to be PaPa, but Jacob pronounces it "PopPop" - I think it will stick!)
house, waiting for their bath after a fun evening of playing.

Happy Visit

Jacob had his very first trip to the dentist today. Dr. Sims and his office call it a "Happy Visit" and really focus on making it a very positive experience. Heather, our hygienist, told me that depending on how Jacob reacted, we may only ride up and down in the chair and that would be it. Well, Jacob was awesome! Heather showed him each of the tools that they use and then was able to look in his mouth. (We had practiced that this morning after brushing his teeth). She said his teeth looked great! Then Dr. Sims came in, made him a balloon out of a glove, looked at his teeth and we were on our way. Jacob was given a goody bag with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and flossers in it. Then he got to visit the treasure box on the way out and found an awesome plane! All in all I would say we had a very positive and successful first trip to the dentist.

New interests every day!

It seems like everyday brings something new in the Thomas household. It's so amazing to see your child's interests evolve in their ever changing world. It may seem like just little things to some, but to me, it is so much fun and I get so excited about what the next "new thing" will be. Jacob has really started to play and use his imagination. His newest interest is the wooden train sets. We had a play date with a good friend of ours yesterday and they brought over a wooden train set. It was all Jacob would play with. Now, being the perfectionist that he is, (and that fact that he got up way to early) he would get frustrated when the trains would come off the track or the trains wouldn't stick together because he didn't understand the concept of magnetic attraction. Needless to say, the trains did end up in time out a couple of times after flying through the air. Despite those minor details, I think the sets will be on his birthday and Christmas list. We went to a great toy store today and I started his collection with his very own train. I also learned that this is going to be quite the costly hobby. I'm not ashamed to admit that we will be searching Ebay, Craigs List and buying the off brands . . . it's not like Jacob will know the difference.

Jacob and his new train

Hey, this is my train!


Jacob's second new interest is air hockey. I believe I mentioned this in the last post. At Grammie and Papa's, he turned their coffee table into an air hockey table. At first he just clenched his fist like he was holding the air hockey thing (sorry, don't remember what it is called) and hit a ball back and forth with Grammie. It took Grammie a minute to figure out what he was doing. Then Grammie had a great idea and brought out butter dish lids and they worked great! He made everyone play with him. Aunt Lorissa is in the picture playing below. At home he made me sit on the floor and we used stacking rings to play. Jacob's knowledge of what it is he wants and how to do it absolutely amazes me. He is so creative and will find ways to accomplish what ever he wants.

Aidan newest interest are trying to stand up (no photos of that at this time), eating Cheerios and any other bite size foods we place in front of him and making silly faces. Aidan loves to laugh and smile and make others laugh and smile. He is so care free and very active! I used to think he was going to be my laid back baby, but I'm now thinking differently . . . I now have a feeling he is going to be the one that gives me my first heart attack! He just decides what he wants to do and does it. No fears in this little man.

Eating Cheerios

Hey, wanna see my Cheerio?

Silly faces!!

Just me and my amazing boys!

Fun with firsts

We had fun week filled with a few "firsts". Jacob has started to associate objects with actual words. He will now saw "ball" for ball and "cup" for cup. A new favorite activity for Jacob is coloring. I painted a table with chalkboard paint and he loves to color on it. He also had fun coloring pictures of Curious George. At a birthday party on Saturday we discovered that Jacob has a knack for air hockey! There was a mini air hockey table and he somehow knew exactly what to do! It was awesome!

Aidan's first for the week was pulling himself up! I was looking the other way (which, for the record, has been his way of doing everything for the first time - I missed the actual rolling from front to back and from back to front, the pushing himself up to sitting position and now this. Little stinker.) when Jacob pointed and mumbled in Aidans direction. I turned around and there he was, standing at the foot stool. Before I know it, I'm going to turn around and he'll be walking!

Great friends, one great blessing . . .

Last week, our very good friends, Lisa and Jason Miller, welcomed their first baby into their family. Indie Rae joined her parents on Tuesday, August 14th at 5:16pm. She weighed 7.7lbs and was 19 3/4 inches. She's adorable and mom and baby are doing great! We are so happy and excited for Lisa and Jason and can't wait to meet Indie at Christmas time! ( I wish it were sooner though!)
Congratulations to the Miller family!!!

I'm a big boy now!

Hey! I'm a big boy now!!!!

I have my third tooth - the upper right finally popped through and the left one is on it's way!

Me and my snaggle tooth

I get to take big boy baths with by brother now too!

I also get to sit in a booster seat at the table with everyone!

Jacob shares his big boy toys with me now, I love the ball popper!

And I can finally join Mama and Jacob on walks or bike rides in the GoBug!
I love being a big boy!

Silly smiles, brotherly love and a little bit of trouble . . .

Jacob has really become quite the "ham" in front of the camera. If I have the camera out, he's smiling. Sometimes he gives the goofiest smiles - it's hilarious!

Jacob has also started to give hugs to his brother - it's adorable and Aidan loves it!

Just for a good laugh . . . Jacob found my lipstick one morning while I was in the shower and left a nice hand print on the drawer. Thank God for Fantastic!