It’s hard to believe, but Thomas is turned 3 years old last week. He had a fun party with Grandma and Grandpa Boggess, Grandma and Grandpa Gibson and Uncle Brian and Aunt Ella.
Thomas is such a great little boy and it is so fun to watch him grow. I love the sense of humor he shows when we read his animal picture books and he purposely mixes up the animal names, just to get a reaction.
His imagination is really starting to blossom as he plays with his toys. When he’s really playing, he sends his voice up about 3 octaves (if that’s possible) and talks back and forth between his cars and “guys” as they have their various adventures.
As of this last summer he’s been sleeping in a “big boy bed” and has made a nearly seamless transition. For whatever reason, there hasn’t been a single night (knock on wood!) that he has climbed out of bed. He’ll holler at us if he needs something, but he doesn’t get out of bed without permission. I’m not sure how we pulled that off, but I hope we can remember what we did for the next one.
Thomas still loves to give “power hugs” and insists on saying and hearing “night-night- I love you”, to and from every member of the family before going off to bed. We cover him up with the blue gingham blanket that Grandpa Gibson made for him when he was a baby, hand him a handful of little wash cloths and a pacifier and he’s off to dream land. (I know, I know — 3 years old and still has a pacifier. Kind of a sore subject in our house right now, but it’s only at nap time and bed time and we keep having flashbacks to taking Kaylee’s paci away at 2 1/2 and recalling that she never took a nap again. We like nap time. We’ve brought it up a couple times with Thomas – mentioning that big boys don’t use pacifiers. He he is quick to tell us that he is a “little boy”, not a “big boy”. Hrrmph.”
He’s right, though. He’s still our little boy and it’s kind of bitter sweet to think about him getting so big. In the meantime, we’re doing our best to enjoy our little boy. It wasn’t hard a while back after going through the checkout lane at Menards and he asked in a voice loud enough for everybody to hear, “Did we save big money, Daddy?”
I replied, “Yes, Thomas. We saved big money at Menards.” And Thomas, with his crazy hair, grinned. That’s my boy!
Here’s the first picture of our newest family member – currently weighing in at a little less than a can of pop. If you squint just right and tilt your head, it looks like we have another cute baby on the way on or about February 7!
The kids are super excited. They claim to all be rooting for another boy. The way Emma figures it, if we have another girl then we’re locked into having 2 more boys after that so the girl-boy ratio eventually evens out. Umm… if that’s the way it works I think I’m rooting for a boy too. We decided to wait to find out so it will be a surprise on the baby’s birthday. There’s something kind of cool about hearing the doctor make the “It’s a boy/girl!” announcement in the delivery room. We’ll obviously be thrilled either way and we’ve already got a full compliment of both boy and girl clothes, so we are good to go.
Kaylee is going to be moving into Emma’s room to open up a bedroom and, for the time being at least, the girls are really looking forward to it. Grandma and Grandpa Gibson are hooking them up with our old bunk beds from when I was a kid and we’re in the process of thinning out some of their excess stuff to make space. We’ll see how it goes, but I have a funny feeling there may be a significant adjustment period for them both as Emma learns to deal with Kaylee’s teeth grinding and Kaylee learns to deal with Emma’s very regimented bedtime and morning routines. Wish us luck!
Thomas thinks it’s very funny now to stuff things in his shirt and walk around telling people he’s having a baby. I think it’s funny too. I think he generally has a pretty good idea about what’s going on, though we weren’t exactly sure how to respond when he asked Kari when the baby was going to come out of her boobs. We decided it was best to just change the subject. You aren’t going to win an argument about where baby’s come from with a 2 1/2 year old.
Kari’s first trimester was a little rougher this time as compared to the others, but she seems to be handling it in stride. They threw a battery of extra tests at her this time around due to her advanced age (I’m not sure when 35 started being considered old?), but she and the baby have passed them all with flying colors, which we are grateful for.
I felt the baby kick for the first time last week. It was so cool!
Here’s a little 3 second clip where you can see the baby doing a little “Go Hawks!” fist pump. He or she is obviously very, very smart!
Thomas got the hang of pumping on the swings this summer. Pretty good for a 2 year old, huh? I’m only good for about 1/2 hour of pushing so his new-found coordination is awesome. Looks like we may need to work a bit more on his counting skills, though…
I’m not quite sure what to say about this next one. I guess our girls are talented too? Amazing how entertaining a bendy straw and an armpit can be. I can’t believe it’s taken me this many years to learn this trick.
The first day of school came last Thursday with great fanfare and excitement. Ice cream socials and new outfits and brand new crayons.
Emma is now officially a 2nd grader. She looks very mature, don’t you think? Since 1st and 2nd grades are combined, she is in the same classroom again this year with Miss Beuter so felt right at home. She claimed to not be excited, but she was ready to go that morning in record speed. If only it was that easy to wake her up every day of the school year.
Kaylee is back for another year of pre-school at Christ the King too. Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be filled with stories, snacks, crafts and playing. Pre-school is awesome!
On August 5th, Kaylee turned 5 years old! Congratulations Kaylee on your golden birthday!
Grandmas and Grandpas came over the weekend before to celebrate and Kari made a “bird house” birthday cake, at the birthday girl’s request.
When Kaylee woke up on the 5th she was so excited because of how much she had grown over night. The dramatic change was positvely confirmed by Emma who noticed that Kaylee had grown all the way up to her nose, when they recalled that the night before she only came up to Emma’ chin. Wow! Turning 5 is awesome!
Kaylee took the the Yeoman kids and Paras and Will out to see a movie that morning (Hotel for Dogs) and then back to the house for cupcake decorating and presents. Then to top it off a trip to Chuckee Cheese where we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Gibson again for pizza and fun. Sweet.
We went to a retirement party and passed on some congratulations to Kari’s mom. After 41 years working for the state the congratulations are very well deserved!
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We went to a reunion in Shelby.
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And to the Omaha Zoo.
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where Emma got to feed the birds.
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4th of July came with all the usuals. Thomas went to his first fireworks show and loved it!
So, Kari’s been pining for a play house for the kids for some time and, to this point, I’ve always just smiled and nodded and agreed that would be a good idea.
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Then a couple months ago my neighbor, John, mentioned that a friend of his had a bunch of walnut trees cut down on his farm but the loggers only took the trunks, leaving all the tops. Turns out those tops were plenty big for … a log cabin! Brilliant! Kari’s happy and I have an excuse to buy a new chainsaw!
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3 trips down to the farm cutting 8 foot lengths of walnut and a few weekends later and the cabin really started coming together. I put some steel rebar though the windows and door. The corners are notched together, just like they did it in the olden days … well, the olden days with chainsaws. Believe it or not, it’s surprisingly sturdy and, according to Kari, it turned out a lot better than she was expecting (though I have a feeling her expectations may not have been that high?!).
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Had to break down and buy some actual lumber from Menards to frame out the roof, but then ran across a little Amish run saw mill south of town where I picked up some cheap wood to cover it with.
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It’s been a hub of activity for all the neighborhood kids ever since. They’ve gotten very creative, putting sticks in the larger cracks to make little tables and hauling chunks of wood in there for little chairs.
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And another good thing is that someday we’ll have a nearly endless supply of firewood!
As if we needed one more thing to love about Thomas, he now gives out, what have come to be referred to as, “power hugs”.
They are really pretty simple. Thomas wraps his arms around your neck as far as he can reach and then squeezes like there’s no tomorrow.
It doesn’t matter how crummy your day has been — if you ask Thomas for a power hug, and you’re lucky enough to get one, all of the sudden you can’t help but feel good.
I am absolutely convinced that if everybody in the world could get a power hug from Thomas it would be the solution to world peace.
Oh… one word of caution, though. Thomas gets annoyed if you don’t shave your whiskers and watch out for his power kisses. They are a little sloppy.
Well, Emma’s first year of Girl Scouts just finished up. She was a Daisy this year and, due to her outstanding performance, was proudly promoted to a Brownie at a Bridging Ceremony held this last weekend.
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Of course with Kari as the troop leader, the ceremony (which included a family picnic for about 70 people) was a rousing success.
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In fact, the whole year was such a success that all 19 girls signed up again for next year already. I’m hoping next year they’ll give family discounts on the cookies.
Thomas is such a great little boy and it is so fun to watch him grow. I love the sense of humor he shows when we read his animal picture books and he purposely mixes up the animal names, just to get a reaction.
morning (Hotel for Dogs) and then back to the house for cupcake decorating and presents. Then to top it off a trip to Chuckee Cheese where we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Gibson again for pizza and fun. Sweet.
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In fact, the whole year was such a success that all 19 girls signed up again for next year already. I’m hoping next year they’ll give family discounts on the cookies.
