It's a...

If you let your child feed himself spaghetti...

be prepared to pay the consequences. At least he REALLY enjoyed himself.

Elmo's Demise

Warning: Do not let any children under 5 see this post.


Last Christmas, I spent $60 on a dancing Elmo doll for my 1 year old. He loved it...for the 5 days that it worked. Since I purchased it more than 60 days before Christmas and I no longer had the receipt or original box, Toys R Us was not interested in returning my money. After checking consumer reviews, I learned that this was a very common problem with this particular toy. I was a little miffed to say the least. Here is the result of my wrath.




Let this be a lesson. Don't mess with Mommy.

Happy Halloween!

Special Visitors

Earlier this month, my Grandpa and Aunt Pauline came out to NH for a visit. We were thrilled to have them and did our best to show them lots of fun things New England has to offer. The leaves weren't spectacular yet, but we still saw some pretty fall colors while we drove around. Christian was especially excited to have visitors and we quickly learned that out little boy is quite the showoff for company. Just wait till the whole Evers crew arrives for Christmas this year. He is going to go NUTS! Our first outing was a drive around the area. It was kind of chilly and overcast, but we also managed to get out to Lull Farm in Hollis to see all of the pumpkins, mums of every color, and every apple variety you can imagine. We picked a few apples so that Pauline could teach me some yummy recipes. Christian had a ball playing with the pumpkins. We capped off the evening with a little pumpkin carving. Ryan was the expert craftsman.

Wednesday was rainy, so we stayed in for part of the day. Ryan and Papa went to the covered shooting range (which is becoming tradition for all of our visitors,) to do a little target shooting. We thought that since Papa was in the military he would be at least a little familiar with a firearm. I guess they don't shoot that much in the Navy! However, Ry reported that Papa was a natural much like the other Evers men. He did great and was very willing to try all of the toys Ry brought. Have I mentioned that Papa is 90? Yes, 90. Here he is in action.


Meanwhile, the lady folk stayed home to bake. Pauling taught me how to make apple butter. I've always wanted to learn because it is so yummy. I've never canned anything till now. Look Mom! I canned something!


Thursday was much nicer and we ventured out for lunch at Pickity Place. It is a cute little home out in the middle of nowhere built in the 1700's. It has been turned into a restaurant that serves lunch made with herbs and vegetables that they grow on site. I fully plan to take all of the girls here when they come for Christmas. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was very festive. To top off the perfect afternoon, Christian was an excellent boy and didn't make a peep during the meal. I actually got to sit and enjoy my food without having to apologize for a screaming child. It was heaven.
We also took a trip to our local Budweiser brewery. I hear the tour is actually really interesting, but we went to visit the horses. The Merrimack brewery is one of three plants that house the famous Clydesdale horses. They have 18 there, but several were out touring. We watched two of them being groomed. These horses have it so good! Here is their stable. I think they live better than lots of people here.

The grounds are beautifully landscaped and there are several apartments on site for all of the horses' caretakers. They have lots of fun things to see, like some of the wagons they pull and their harnesses. Christian loved looking at the horses and running around all over the place!



Friday we drove north to the lakes region to take a cruise on the Belle around Lake Winnipesaukee. It is one of my favorite places in New Hampshire and I was so happy to be able to show it to Papa and Pauline. The lake was beautiful and the town was not even close to being as crowded as it is during the summer season. What a fun day!

We were so happy that we were able to share this special visit with Papa and Pauline. It was so fun to see my little boy get to know his great grandpa. I know he won't remember this visit when he gets bigger, but I will always have the pictures to remind him.

Live Free and Fly!

After we got married and I moved to New Hampshire, it was my job to be the "Ambassador of Fun." Meaning I did all the research to plan cool weekend adventures around where we lived since I hadn't found a job yet. Amongst our many adventures was a surprise birthday trip to SkyVenture in downtown Nashua. Yep, we went skydiving. Ok, indoor skydiving. I have always wanted to skydive, but I can't justify jumping out of a perfectly good airplane so this seemed like a good alternative. They take you into a giant vertical wind tunnel that simulates skydiving without any of the danger of falling to a gruesome death. I bought Ryan flight time for his birthday and off we went! We had a very fun time to say the least. I wish I had pictures to document the occasion, but sadly I do not.
We thought it would be fun to take Allie, Joe, and Thomas to SkyVenture so we got them all gift certificates for Christmas last year. We were finally able to go this past weekend (thanks Jinga!) Jen and Tagg decided they wanted to try too, so the Thomas crew sat on the observation deck to watch the Romney crew take flight. Here they are in their diving gear The kids were so brave! We thought they might be a little scared at first, but that was not the case. When it was their turn, they dove into the tunnel without a second thought.

They all did great! After all of paying customers have had their time, the instructor shows off what one can do with a little practice. Here he is in action.

We capped off the afternoon with a little Five Guys Burgers and Fries. What a fun day!

Tax Day 2011

April 15th is Tax Day. Some people dread this day. Some people (like my Dad) look forward to it with great anticipation. Ryan and I will too, next year. Why? It's not because we are expecting a sweet return, although that would be nice. We could use it to pay for all of the medical bills we will incur when the newest Baby Thomas is born.
That's right, Baby T2 is expected to join our little family on April 15th. Ryan and I are very excited and Christian has NO idea how this will rock his little self-centered world.

I will now attempt to answer any anticipated questions:

How far along are you?
9 weeks

How do you feel?
Not too bad, but not too awesome. Really tired most of the time.

Is this a surprise baby?
No.

Any cravings?
Not really. Nothing like the orange juice and corn dog phase I went through with Christian. I have little desire for sugar which is probably the most notable change.

Do you want a boy or girl?
Ry wants another boy, I don't really have a preference. Since there are two other boy cousins that will be close in age to play with, another boy would be ok. But I would be happy with a girl too.

Does Christian like other babies?
He likes them when someone other than mommy is holding them. When I held my little nephew for the first time, Christian burst into tears and threw a lego across the room. It will be interesting.

Are you going to try a VBAC or another c-section?
I shouldn't even have to answer this one. I've been through labor once and I have no desire to do it again. C-section all the way.

Do you have any names picked out?
We've agreed on a boy's name, but not a girl's.

If I have missed anything, feel free to ask. Family, I am sorry for keeping this from you, but I wanted to have my doctor appointment first. Mom, get your plane ticket. I could use a little help around here come Tax Day 2011. Let's hope for an early spring so the newest Baby T can be greeted with warm sunshine and blooming flowers rather than black ice and Nor-Easters.

Big Boy Haircut

There hasn't been a whole lot of blog-worthy events lately. Sorry, Mom. But I did take Christian to Supercuts today for his first haircut (other than me trimming his baby mullet a few months ago.) It was a little scary at first and there were some tears, but once we broke out the lollipops and he got to touch the electric clippers, all was well. I am a moron and left the camera in the car, but I did take some pictures when Christian got back in his carseat.


The final result

Behold the Glorious Bounty

We got home to NH last Wednesday. It has been very hot here for the last few weeks. So hot that they instituted an outside watering ban. You could water by watering can but not by hose. I don't quite get the logic, but we followed the rules anyway. Before we left we arranged for a kid in our ward to come over every other day to water the garden and flower beds. Our lawn has seen better days, but the garden is doing great! Here is what the beds looked like before I left


and when we got home


Geez! The melons are taking over our lawn! We have lots of watermelons, cantaloupes, beets, and cucumbers, still more zucchini and yellow squash than we know what to do with, and I also picked a few peaches. The corn should be ready soon. I learned a lot about what works and what I will do differently next season, but overall I'm pretty proud of our first little garden. I should have been a farmer.

Aloha!

It's been awhile since I posted, but for good reason. We just got back from a wonderful vacation with the Evers/Syphus crew. I'm sad to say that I didn't take many pictures, but Stacey has a bunch on her blog including our basic daily itinerary and our new favorite thing to do in Lahaina (mmm...shaved ice!)
Christian and I left for the homeland (LOP) at the beginning of July. This kid took 4, yes 4, very long flights in a short time. I was very concerned with how he would handle this. I am happy to report that he was an EXCELLENT little boy. We only had one very minor meltdown while we were landing for a layover in Chicago because his ears were hurting. Not too bad! Once we got to CA, the party began! We had so much fun playing with cousins, swimming at Mr. Bearry's pool, going to the park, jumping on the trampoline, painting race cars, visiting with aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents, and decorating for our pre-Hawaii luau. Needless to say, with six little kids running around, Stacey's house was quite the zoo. I was coming downstairs one afternoon and got a kick out of the overhead view of the living room. This is what we can expect when everyone comes to New Hampshire for Christmas this year. Ryan flew out the day before we all left for Hawaii. Poor guy had a 6 hours time difference he had to adjust to. We got up and headed to the airport early the next morning. With 14 people in tow, we were quite the sight at the airport. Luckily Christian qualified for a carry on so we didn't have to buy him a ticket. We weren't able to get rooms next to each other, but at least we were in the same building. The kids (and adults) ran back and forth to play, get snacks, watch shows, and eat wallermelon on the balcony with Grampa. Scott and Elle were brave enough to take some sweet waves with the help of Jeff and Grampa.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for such a fun trip. I can hardly wait until we can all get together again for Christmas!

Patti's Revenge

I was not my mother's neatest child. I was routinely grounded for not cleaning my room. I would prolong my chore of doing the dishes for HOURS. My clean laundry would remain unfolded until I wore it again. I have gotten much better over the years, but if you saw my house today you might think otherwise. But now IT'S NOT MY FAULT! This picture proves it.


My little tornado can empty a drawer in a split second, and as soon as I have that one picked up, he's off to make the next mess elsewhere. Yes, Mom, I can hear you laughing two thousand miles away.

Ode to Jeff

Tomorrow is a big day for Ryan. His dream vacation begins at 8:30 am at the Sig Sauer Academy in Exeter. Yes, its GUN SCHOOL! We live about 45 minutes away from one of the most well known tactical training schools in the country. When we got our sweet tax return this year, Ry got the OK to sign up for his dream course, the Combative Carbine Operator Course. Doesn't that sound like a day at Disneyland? Well to my dear, sweet husband, yes. Yes it does. I fully expect Ryan to be tossing and turning tonight in bed. I will ask him what is wrong, and he will respond, "I'm too excited to sleep!"

I laughed as I told him that Jeff used to get really worked up for big events when he was a kid. Whether it was the first day of school, soccer practice, or an LOP swim meet, he would lovingly lay out his outfit for the upcoming day on his bedroom floor. His soccer uniform was my favorite, the shirt on the floor tucked into the shorts, socks in the shoes complete with the shin guards on top...you get the picture. So in honor of Jeff, Ryan has prepared his gear in similar fashion, from the tactical vest and flashlight in the pocket down to the gloves holding Sport Beans.

P.S.

Dear criminals,
Our house is not the one you want to rob. I'm not even kidding.

Empty Nesters

It's official. Our little birdies are all grown up. Last night as I was getting ready to mow the lawn, Ryan called me over to look at something in the grass. It was our little baby birds that have taken up residence in the tree on our porch. After a quick look around, we found the other two scampering around on the walkway. We kept trying to put them back in the nest, but they were clearly ready to fly the coop. It's amazing how fast they grew. They only hatched about a week ago! I wonder if I'm doing something wrong as a mom because Christian has been with us for over a year and he's not even close to leaving home. I guess human babies take a little longer to cook.

The mom and dad birds were hovering around and were not happy that Ryan and I were there. They were pretty fearless flying around us and trying to lure us away from their babies. It was kind of cool to see that they were willing to risk their own safety to save their kids. All of Mother Nature's creatures love their kids. God speed, little birds. See you when you come home to nest next year. We'll keep the porch light on for you.

Lake Winnipesaukee

Being a Thomas has its perks. This weekend we headed up to my sister and brother in laws' house on Lake Winnipesaukee. Yes, Winnipesaukee. I realize it has a silly name, but c'mon. Look at this place. It's gorgeous.

This is the lake that was in "What About Bob?" (I'm sailing!) The lakes region is a beautiful hour long drive from our house in Merrimack. We left our humble home Friday afternoon to drive to this palace on the water. This was the view from our room.


This is a water lover's paradise. Think of it as a super sized Lake of the Pines for rich people. Instead of old people riding around in golf carts, you have to watch out for the Marriots driving around in their vintage Rolls Royces. Christian went for his first boat ride on the "biggie boat"

we jetskiid till our thumbs were sore from holding the throttle,
splashed in the water,






played tennis, rested, and sunned on the beach to our hearts content. There was also much playing of Settlers of Catan (at which I rule,) and Hearts (at which I stink.) It was a weekend full of great company, tons of fun, and of course delicious food. Yes, that is rice crispy sushi with gummy fish. Probably the only sushi Mom would ever try. Isn't it cute?


Thanks, Jen and Tagg, for the SUPER FUN weekend! Can't wait to do it again!

Our Little Nest

This is one of the pots on our front porch. I was out watering this morning when a little bird flew out of the pine tree. I took a closer look and here is what I found:
There are three little blue eggs in a tiny nest! How fun! I would have taken a better picture, but I didn't want to touch the tree. I've heard that if humans touch a nest or eggs, the mother bird can smell our human stink and won't come back. I don't know if this is actually true, but didn't want to chance it. My sister in law, Jen, also found a bird nest in the wreath she hung on her front door. I am very curious to see if these little eggs hatch. Even if our garden doesn't grow anything this year, maybe we can take pride in watching these little baby birds grow up on our front porch.

Teething

You can almost hear the whining in this picture.

To Me From Me

I decided to indulge a little for Mother's Day and get myself a little treat. If you will refer back to my post titled Top 10 Things I Hate about New England, number 6 is "No See's candy." It's hard living so far from a See's store, but after a little research, I discovered that these little babies can now be shipped anywhere your heart desires. Even a CUSTOM MIX! (which is the only way to go.) I was one happy Mother when this delicious package of chocolatey goodness arrived on my doorstep today. Now I will get to the point of this post, which is actually to let everyone know what the selections for the perfect box are:

Rum Nougats

Marzipan

Mayfairs

Strawberry Creams

Key Lime Pie truffles

Pecan Rolls

California Brittle

Caramel Almond Squares

Coconut Creams

Chocolate covered caramels, no nuts (these are Ryan's favorites in case I'm feeling generous.)

If anyone should happen to need a great idea for me for Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Labor Day, or any other gift giving holiday, please refer to this list. Thank you in advance.

SPRING!

Let me start by saying...I LOVE SPRING! It really was a very mild winter. I can't complain. But there is nothing like seeing the little red baby leaves on the trees to lift your frozen spirits. Spring came early this year. In fact, there are even the beginnings of tiny peaches and cherries on the branches of our fruit trees where pink blossoms once thrived. We're going to get fruit this year! How exciting is that?!

Mom, you're going to kill me, but I didn't get any pictures of the blossoms this year. You'll just have to come out here and see for yourself next year. Trust me, it was spectacular. Ryan and I spent last weekend weeding and planting in the side yard. It is so much fun to pick out plants and flowers that I have always loved! Last year we made a feeble attempt in this planter, but learned the hard way that lawn clippings with grass seed does not make the best mulch. After much weeding, we were shocked to find that the bleeding hearts we planted and thought had died last year grew back this spring with a vengeance. They are huge and beautiful! We also planted columbines and red rhododendrons for spring color. Pink peonies, purple hydrangea bushes and a white hydrangea tree will blossom later this summer. Believe it or not, there are no deer here to eat our beautiful plants. Lucky us!

We also added a little color to the front planters. The yellow forsythia, pink azaleas, and purple mini rhodies are past their prime, but the white azaleas can give you an idea of what they looked like.

We finished our outside projects this afternoon when we planted our garden boxes. We built these earlier this spring but had to wait to plant till after the last frost. Being the eager beavers we are, Ry and I tried to start seeds in February. We learned this was a little too soon and not much survived the long wait till planting. This is the before shot with just some snap peas, sunflowers, corn, and peppers sprouting. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, zucchini, yellow squash, beets, pumpkins, and strawberries as well. I even threw in some daisies and dahlias to pretty things up a bit. I'll keep you posted to see how things are growing.

Easter in May?

No, we did not celebrate Easter in May. I just took my sweet time in posting the pictures due to the previously mentioned missing camera cable. Good news, I found it. We had the whole Thomas/Romney crew up to New Hampshire for the festivities. The weather cooperated beautifully for our Easter egg hunt, almost 80 degrees! This time last year the kids had to put on their parkas and snow boots to search for eggs in a foot of snow. Thank you, Mother Nature, for the early spring.

I busted out the fine china, crystal stemware, and Gammy's silver to set the table. I am really going to make an effort to use my nice stuff and not just let it sit in the china cabinet forever gathering dust. The table did look beautiful, even though it was a folding table borrowed from the church. Someday we'll get a real dining set...

The food was really yummy and I still have the bone from the huge honey baked ham in the freezer just waiting to be made into soup. I wish Gammy was here to teach me the secret to her delicious bean and ham soup. Here is the spread.

I decided to make an Easter egg cake for Christian's first birthday. It was two layers, one chocolate and one white with strawberry icing. It only took me a few hours and a major melt down after I dropped one on the layers on the floor to get this

I was pleased. We gave Christian the first slice thinking he would tear into it and devour it.

Not so much. This is what he really thought of my cake.

This boy definitely did not get my sweet tooth! Presents followed cake eating. Christian loves his new toys and still plays with them. Yes, that is a roll of toilet paper. Mommy wanted to get him a toy I KNEW he would love. Happy Easter, everyone!