Our newest addition . . .

I hope that my children never ask for a cat, dog, horse, etc. because I really don't think I will have the will power to say no! Thus leads me to the introduction of Flicka the Fish, the newest member of the Thomas family. Let me take you back a step - Jacob has had a new fascination with fish. Whether it be the fish at the Bass Pro shop or the fish at the zoo, he loves to watch them and pretty much throws a fit every time we have to say bye bye to them. At first I was not keen of the idea of something else to take care of, clean, feed, blah, blah, blah. But then the soft spot in my heart took over and I thought that a small fish bowl wouldn't be that bad. So today I purchased Flicka. Jacob and Aidan were super surprised to see her when they woke up from their nap. It was very fun to watch their excitement. I am so glad that monkeys and tigers aren't legal, otherwise we might have the beginnings of a zoo in our backyard,

A Man of Many Hats

Aidan has a new obsession . . .he loves to try on hats. Which is a surprise to me. He never used to like wearing a hat. His mood and the hat determine how long he will wear it. Aidan will actual bring a hat and hand it to me, indicating he would like help putting it on. And after he has it on he typically gives a silly little, "I'm so proud of myself" grin. Here are a few of the hats and helmets he has enjoyed over the past couple of days.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

We'll find out . . . My mom, sister and I are taking photography classes together. It is one night a week for nine weeks. I have always enjoyed taking pictures, I just never had a great deal of knowledge about how a camera worked, picture composition, etc. Now a days it's not too hard to get a decent picture - set your camera to Auto and away you go. But I want to do better than that. So, with one full night (the first class was pretty much just introduction, didn't learn much at all) of lecture behind me, I set out to test what I had learned (which wasn't much past the basics at this point). For our third class, we have to bring in three enlarged pictures of things we shot over the past two weeks. Here are a few of the contenders:
(I'd love to know what you all think)

I wanted to bring in at least one photo of the boys, since they are what I shoot the most. It's very difficult to get a decent picture of them - (while trying to apply what I have learned as opposed to setting the camera to auto and going with it) they are constantly on the move! By the time I would get the focus right, the EV meter set correctly, etc., they were long gone! I liked this photo because it caught Jacob helping wipe Aidan's face in focus while in the background you can see that Nan and Lori are really enjoying watching what was going on.

The next two photos were much easier to play around with - seeing as the flower couldn't get up and walk away. :-) I was really able to play around with aperture, shutter speed and EV values. Now, will I remember what I had set at the time of the picture to make it work - heck no! Most of the time I can't remember were I put my keys . . . I'm just hoping that someday it will become second nature, like driving a car . . . . if I can ever find my keys . . .

So much to get caught up on!

Wow, after a very full December, I finally have a minute to sit down and update the good ol' blog. We have had a wonderful month, filled with lots of family and friend time; from decorating trees, to Christmas lights, birthday celebrations and finally celebrating Christmas . . .
I made an executive decision not to post pictures from every single event - otherwise this post would go on forever - I think I have well over 200 (I'm not exaggerating) pictures from all of our festivities. I didn't represent each activity because it was so hard to pick just a few, plus I wanted to add a few from the last couple of days, but I think you'll enjoy the ones that made the cut.

Our Little Swedish Elves

Christmas Eve




Christmas Morning

New bikes for both boys!

Lovin' the mini air hockey table with PopPop

Aidan had a blast playing with Josh

Playing this week in the new fun ball thingy . . .no idea what it's called

Our little scavenger . . . you'd think we never feed him

What happens when you don't see little hands getting into the makeup drawer . . .

Aidan decides to try out eyeliner

Life is full . . .

We have been so busy the past few weeks. Life has been full of so many wonderful things. Here's the low down from the past few weeks (starting with the most recent):

This past Sunday, we went and picked out our Christmas tree - but haven't decorated it yet!

This past Saturday night we celebrated my mom's 50th birthday party with friends and family - it was a blast! (3rd party in 3 weeks - we are party animals!)
Me, my Mom and my sister, Lorissa



The next batch of pictures are from our fun family tradition where we all go to my parents house and help them decorate their Christmas tree. (Check out my sisters blog, The Knights, for a funny video of Jacob) Jacob had his own interesting way of decorating the tree . . . throwing ornaments!

Hey, check it out!

The art of decorating, performed by Jacob

Aidan decorating the tree

What happens when you ask Cody, Doug and Travis to participate in decorating

This ornament is ready to be hung!

Attempting to take a picture of the gang! Not very easy with the little ones, but always entertaining!

The Big 0-1!!

Happy First Birthday Aidan!!
Last night we had family over to help us celebrate Aidan's very first birthday. I cannot believe that it has been one whole year since his arrival. He rang in his birthday by really starting to take multiple steps all on his own - without me setting him up to do so - he will just turn and go! Aidan still hasn't said any other words, other than "ball". Each time I ask him to say "mama", he just looks at me and laughs . . . .oh well. His party was fun and he received a ton of great gifts! However, my poor little man partied a little too much and when he was enjoying his cake, he well, lets just say it all came back up. I felt so bad! No worries, I do not have pictures of it. (We do have video and are thinking of sending it into America's Funniest Home Videos . . . he was making some great faces before the incident and then whammo . . .does that make me a bad mom, hoping to gain a few extra $ through the misfortune of my little one?) At any rate, he woke up this morning doing great, which I was thankful for. Here are some pictures of the big day.
(I apologize for not having many pictures with other people in it - I did a bad job this time around of getting pictures with multiple people in them. Sorry!)

Aidan's Cake (we had a bigger one for all of the family)

What a good little man, offering to share his pizza with his Auntie Tiffany

Aidan decided on his own that it was time to open presents . . .

And was not happy when I started to move them

He rebounded quickly and was up and on his way

The boys loved the gift from Aunt Lori and Uncle Less

I have been waiting patiently for my cake, now bring it on!

This is what I'm talking about!

Wow, it's got some kick!

Oh yeah, this is awesome!

OK, I'm not feeling so good . . .

But I feel great today!

So good, I think I will try out my new Bounce and Spin Zebra that Mama and Dada gave me!