Fill That Pool!!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa decided that today would be a perfect day to get their pool opened for the season. With Brian's help (as well as Daddy, Uncle Kevin and Uncle Colin), everything was ship shape in no time! Brian took charge of skimming the bugs off the water. The only thing missing now is a few days of hot weather so that the water gets a chance to warm up!

Happy Birthday Anthony!

We went to a birthday party today......no wait, it was a graduation party.....no wait, it was both! Our good friend Anthony is not only turning 14 years old, he also just graduated from the 8th grade! Anthony's parents back yard was the perfect spot for the bash and the moonwalk jumper was a HUGE hit with the kids!

When Brian wasn't bouncing, he was sliding........

......or playing a game of Wii. Congratulations Anthony and good luck with High School next year! Thanks for inviting us to your party - we had a great time!

Lions & Tigers & Bears......OH MY!

We were shopping for a specific item today and we knew exactly where to go to find it.......Cabela's! If you have never been to one of these stores, they are worth the trip. The suburb of Hoffman Estates opened a new store last year and for us, it's almost like a trip to the zoo! Since the animals we see here have seen a taxidermist, they don't move around much and are easy to get a picture with! There is a two story display right in the middle of the store with about every kind of animal you could imagine on display!

If that weren't enough, they also have an African animal display. Brian was reminding me what sound the Lion makes!

There is even a big aquarium. The boys were fascinated by the fish!

Tool of the Day!

Brian will be the first one to say that there is no such thing as an "ordinary tool". They may not all be extravagant but they are all useful. Such is the case with today's tool of the day. While this Green thumb Garden Spade may look ordinary, it served an extraordinary purpose today. It was used to plant a tree in memory of a very special young man. Prior to joining the Army, Sgt. Josh Harris lived in the Village of Brookfield. This brave soldier gave his life defending his country. This tree will serve as a living memorial of him for his family, his friends, and all of the people who utilize this wonderful Brookfield park!

Book Nook

We think that Brian may be part mountain goat because if there is ANYTHING that can be climbed......he will find it! Today, he conquered his dresser! As you can see from this picture, Brian couldn't take just any book up to his private reading nook. He had to look at - and toss aside several titles before he made his choice.

We didn't mention this but last weekend while we were getting ready for bed in our hotel room Brian gave Mommy and Daddy another very pleasant surprise. After reading a few books it was time to say our bedtime prayers. Brian announced "I do it" and sure enough, he said the entire prayer on his own while Mommy and Daddy sat next to him beaming with pride!

Brian Thomas: Part Boy and Part Fish!

We mentioned that we spent last weekend at the Holiday Inn, but we didn't mention our time at the pool. If Brian had any say in the matter - we would STILL be at the pool! The last time that Brian was at a swimming pool he was getting brave by jumping off the edge into one of his parents awaiting arms. After spending a few minutes getting familiar with the water, he was ready to jump in from the edge again. Mommy and and Daddy were both busy catching our little flying fish as he made continual (and I do mean continual) leaps into the pool!









By the second day, we heard the familiar "I do it!" phrase because he wanted to just jump in - he didn't want anyone to catch him! Mommy and Daddy were not in favor of his idea but sure enough, before we could knew it he had jumped in! We were concerned that if he went all the way under water instead of having someone catch him that he might get scared and not want to get back into the water. That was not the case with our daredevil! He jumped in (scaring his parents half to death) only to pop back up and shout "Again!" We let him continue to jump in, but he had to do it in front of where one of his parents (or Uncles) were standing.















Happy Birthday to you.....
Happy Birthday to you....
Happy Birthday dear Aunt June.....
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!

Let Us Never Forget!

We couldn't leave Iowa without paying one more visit to Great Grandma! She ended up with a lot of company since Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Kevin, Aunt June, Krista, Erika, Uncle Colin, Aunt Karyn, Haley, Uncle Corey, Daddy, Mommy, Spencer AND Brian all got there at about the same time!

Great Grandma's house is only a short walk from the lake and it's not a visit if you don't go check out the lake too. While a variety of photo's were being taken, Brian chatted with Aunt June and Krista about the weekend fun we all had.

With today being Memorial Day, Brian and his family want to extend a special thank you to the men and woman who gave their lives so that we can enjoy our freedom. Without their bravery and dedication to our country, we wouldn't have the opportunity to just throw a bag in the car and take a drive to spend a casual weekend with friends and family. Thank you all and God Bless America!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Great Grandma was invited to go to church with her son Great Uncle Dave and his wife today. To say that she was surprised when she found out that all of her kids, grand kids and great grand kids were there too would be an understatement! As the pastor greeted everyone and informed them of the birthday girl in attendance, he also pointed out that she is still just a youngster. There where two ladies in attendance that made her look like she was just a kid - one woman was 102 and one was 103!

After the service we gathered in the church gym for lunch and some entertainment. Several of the great grand kids had a song/dance number that they performed. Brian and Spencer as well as several of the other kids got in on the act too. They performed the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". This is a very popular song with Brian right now - which means, Spencer must do it too! When Great Grandma sliced the cake.........guess who was first in line waiting for a taste!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma.....and many many more!

Mason City Here We Come!

Grandma, Great Uncle Dave, Great Aunt Karri and Great Aunt Judith have been secretly planning a surprise 90th birthday party for Great Grandma for quite awhile. Their goal was to have all of her kids, grand kids and great grand kids their for the party. Getting Great Grandma as well as 35 other people to be in the same place at the same time is a big order - but they made it happen and tomorrow Great Grandma will be in for a big surprise! But before that can happen, we need to get ourselves to Mason City Iowa! We got off to a little later start than we wanted but we were still able to arrive at the I 80 truck stop for lunch like we had hoped. This is a great stopping point for us because it's huge! The boys had a nice chance to run around and play for a little while before they had to get back into their car seats for the rest of the trip. Brian was very excited to see that the arcade had a Deal or No Deal game! He loves watching this TV show although he refers to it as "The Numbers Game".

Brian wasted no time crawling up into the Semi that was on display! By the time we got back on the road, both boys fell asleep and took a nice nap!

Oops, Caught!

Our realtor put our house on today's "realtor tour" so we needed to be out of the house from 9am - 3pm today. While Mommy was rushing around gathering what we needed to take with us for the day.......Brian was busy getting into some mischief of his own!

Tool of the Day!

The children were nestled snugly in their beds.......

........while visions of Shick 36 inch Aluminum Monkey Wrench's danced in their heads!

90 Years Young!

I hope that we have the same amazing genes that Mommy and Daddy's Grandmothers have! Great Grandma Irene celebrated her 90th birthday just a few weeks after Brian was born. Great Grandma Dorothy celebrates her 90th birthday today! Since Mommy is behind in updating this blog, she won't be giving away any secrets by saying..........she is going to have a big surprise this weekend! Happy Birthday Great Grandma!

Happy Birthday!

Unfortunately, Grandma and Grandpa had to head back home to South Dakota today. We didn't get to see much of Grandpa on this trip, but it was sure fun having Grandma here for the week!

This afternoon Brian made a phone call to his Aunt Karyn to wish her a happy birthday. If any of you watch the Sprout channel (a children's cable TV channel), then you are familiar with their Happy Birthday song. With some coaching from Daddy, Brian sang the entire song to Aunt Karyn over the phone tonight! Talk about adorable!

I Scream You Scream.....

.....we all scream for ice cream! When the suggestion was made that tonight would be a good night for a Dairy Queen ice cream treat.......no one complained! Brian likes his ice cream served in a cone, but he still prefers to eat it with a spoon. Go figure!

Me and My Dinosaur!

Since Brian got this dinosaur on our last zoo trip, he has become his newest and best friend! He takes naps with him, he brings him for rides in the car, he came to church this morning and at breakfast........he had his own bib!

Hit Me!

We have decided to teach Brian how to count cards. This way we can take him to Vegas and win enough money so that we can build an even bigger addition onto our new house! Just kidding Dept. of Child and Family Services!!!!!! Actually, Grandma pulled a deck of cards out of her purse and Brian's attention span kept him mesmerized for a very long time! He called out the numbers of the cards and quickly identified the hearts and diamond shapes. He thought this was such a fun game, later in the day he requested to play cards again!

Mall Madness!

Grandpa flew in last night but we only got to have him for a short visit because he flew out for another meeting this evening. We needed to be out of the house while it was shown this afternoon. Since it was raining, we decided to go play at the mall for awhile before taking Grandpa to the airport. Yorktown Mall in Lombard has a great play area. It's so great in fact that it often takes some bribery to get Brian out of it......like, letting him take a ride on the kiddy train! Spencer thought he wanted to go for a ride too but at the last minute, he decided it looked safer to watch from the sidelines instead of riding.

Tool of the Day!

*****Since Daddy is still at work and Brian is taking a nap, details of today's tool of the day will be coming shortly!

"Mommy, I Draw!"

Mommy is in charge of organizing the crafts for our church's vacation bible school next month. Since she is doing lots of experimenting with possible project ideas, Brian and Spencer have been helping too! Who ever invented washable markers was a genius!

Back To The Zoo!

Grandma and Grandpa got here from South Dakota yesterday! Grandpa had to catch a flight and leave right away but we get to keep Grandma for a week! This is a win/win/win situation. Mommy can get some packing and organizing done, Brian and Spencer get to play with Grandma and Grandma gets to just enjoy being Grandma! Since we all needed to get out of the house while a realtor was showing it today, we decided to pay another visit to the Brookfield Zoo. With Grandma's help, Brian was able to take the ride on the carousel that he couldn't take on our last zoo visit.

The zoo has a big exhibit going on right now called Dinosaur's Alive. Today, Brian got this new "Mold-er-ama". For those of you who haven't been to the Brookfield Zoo, "Mold-er-ama's" are vending machines that are located throughout the zoo. They make a small plastic mold of the shape of a great variety of different animals while you wait. If you grew up in this area and went to the zoo, you paid a quarter for a Mold-er-ama. If you go to the zoo today, bring a few quarters because they now cost $2.00! It was a good $2.00 investment because Brian has been especially attached to it!

You know it's been a good zoo outing when this is the result during the drive home!

Tiptoe Thru The Tulips......

Brian will make a wonderful boyfriend/husband someday. He LOVES picking and giving flowers! Granted, they are usually dandelions right now, but I'm sure his taste in floral selection will improve with age!

Thanks to Uncle Corey for snapping these pictures! (As to Brian's tie; he wanted to wear a tie with this outfit but he insisted that he needed to be outside the vest and not tucked inside. After all, why bother to wear a tie if no one can see it?!?!?!?!)

Happy Mothers Day!

Even though Mommy has only been a "Mommy" for just under three years now, she doesn't take for granted how special of a title she has! Granted, some days are more challenging than others, but the smiles, giggles and hugs definitely outweigh the occasional tantrum. After going out for a yummy brunch today, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to relax and enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

Daddy never asks to share Mommy's iced tea but Brian and Spencer sure do! As you can see in this picture, Spencer wasn't happy that he had to wait for Brian to finish getting a drink before he could get one too!

We hope that all of the Mommy's out there had a wonderful relaxing Mothers Day too!

Sorry, No Autographs!

Some guys are just too cool for their own good.......Brian Thomas is one of those guys! We got these sunglasses for him two two years ago but he hasn't had much interest in wearing them (and keeping them on) until recently. He requests to wear them now - and it doesn't have to be sunny for him to want to put them on!

Take Me To The Zoo!

Our Realtor needed us to be out of our house for the majority of the day so that it could be shown. That worked out fine for us though - we just loaded up and went to the zoo! Mommy knew that Brian would have no part of riding in the double stroller since he is a big boy now - so Spencer rode and Brian walked. Mommy couldn't have been more proud of what a good little boy he was! He was willing to either hold Mommy's hand or keep a hand on the stroller quite a bit of the time. When he got distracted and wanted to take off running, Mommy would say "Hey Brian, are you ready to go see another animal?" That would stop him in his tracks and he would respond "Okay Mommy, lets go!"

Brian kept looking at the map so he could decide what animals we were going to see next. He actually appears to have a pretty good sense of direction which is a good thing because his neither of his parents do!

Tool of the Day!

Today Brian is helping out with the garbage can. It's a 32 gallon rolling unit with an attached lid. Model? beats me.....come on its a garbage can!

Walk The Plank!

Take one aluminum scafolding , add a roller and a Daddy with a wild imagination and what do you get? "Arrrrrr Daddy.......me thinks I might just have to walk the plank!"

With a simple move of the roller and the addition of a lawn chair, the pirate ship quickly becomes a huge teeter totter! Is that back yard fun or what?!?!?!?!

School Day!

Brian went to his first day of school today! The school that we will most likely enroll the boys in offered a sample hour of their pre school this morning. The school offers a pre school class for 3 year olds and 4 year olds. Since Brian will have turned 3 by September, if he is ready, he could go. Brian has a little back pack and Mommy has offered it to him to wear before but he wanted to part of it. Today however, he insisted on wearing it - even on our drive to the school!

The Principal met us at the door and took us to the class room, which happened to be the 4 year old room. Due to some sickness, there was only one other little boy here but Brian acted like he has been going to school for years! The teachers aid was the first person to come introduce herself. Brian promptly went over to her and gave her a hug. The teacher was the next person who we met - she also received a hug from Brian. He played with a variety of fun things at the "work stations" through out the room. Eventually we met the director of the Extended Care program.....she also got a hug from Brian.

The other little boy in the class was a little older than Brian but they still played together very well. They made a craft project (he's holding the rainbow fish he painted), took turns and shared the toys very nicely, and eventually picked up all the toys and books. The class ended with a story, a prayer and "the good bye song".

Mommy and Daddy will be encouraging the subject of using the potty much more frequently because if today is any indication, Brian is more than ready to go to school this fall!

My Suitcase

They say that imitation is the best form of flattery. If that is true, then Mommy and Daddy are very flattered because Brian imitates nearly everything he sees us do! Brian watches Daddy bring his briefcase into the house each day when he comes home from work. Obviously, Brian needed a briefcase of his own and this bag of blocks did the trick!

While Mommy was changing Spencer's diaper Brian came into the room and the conversation went something like this.

Brian: I need hug and kiss Mommy, I'm going to work!

Mommy: (giving him a hug and kiss) Okay, have a good day at work, I love you Brian!

Brian: Thank you Mommy, I love you too. (he walks around the corner)

(about 5 seconds later he comes back around the corner)

Brian: I'm back Mommy! (coming over to give her a hug and kiss)

Mommy: Did you have a good day?

Brian: Yes! (waiting about 5 seconds......then)

Brian: I need hug and kiss Mommy, I'm going to work!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

Who is 7 years old today? Well, it's not our good friend Ralph who also celebrates a birthday today but it is.........Erika!!!!!!!!!

Brian was a very good boy as he sat next to the birthday girl and watched her open her gifts. It was great getting to spend some of your actual birthday with you today Erika!

The Snake Says Hisssssssss!

Shortly before the boys woke up from their naps today Daddy came into the house to inform Mommy that he had just caught a snake. As you can imagine, Mommy was equally excited to hear that not only had he seen the snake, but that he had also managed to catch it and put it into a container so that he would be able to show the boys as soon as they woke up! Brian woke up a little later and he actually WAS happy to see what Daddy had collected in the yard!

He was curious and not the least bit afraid. He was content to just hold the container and didn't ask to hold the snake.

Paint Brush

Today is day one of our exterior house painting project! The name of the gentleman doing the painting is Helman. He is a very nice guy but Brian just doesn't have a clear understanding of the fact that he has a name. Brian prefers to just refer to him as "Paint Brush"! Here are a couple examples of what we mean.

(While returning from a wagon ride)

Brian: There's my house!

Mommy: Yes it is, what color is your house?

Brian: It's gray.

(Brian spot's Daddy's truck in the driveway)

Brian: Daddy's home......and so is Paint Brush!

(While looking out the windows)
Brian: Where's Paint Brush?

Fortunately, Paint Brush.....er, Helmen has a good sense of humor about this!