So I came home from work on Thursday to find Thomas hard at work building snowmen (with what snow hadn't melted yet).  After 2 hours work he was up to 6 snowmen and Catherine and her friend Lily came out and added one of their own- 'Olaf'.  He took time to show me his method of using a 'starter' snowball and rolling it, collecting snow as he went.  

Thomas later added carrot noses and tennis ball hearts.

Mustache man-- kind of reminds me of a muppet

That evening I went out with Brandon to the store and saw that the front yard was completely leveled.  What!  I was pretty steamed about the mean neighborhood kids that knocked down all of Thomas' work.  Brandon was like, don't tell Thomas tonight, he'll be too upset.  'We'll talk about it when he sees the massacre tomorrow'. 

Well, kept my mouth shut for about 10 minutes and then secretly asked Catherine if she saw what happened to all the snowman.  She was like, 'oh that.  Thomas went out and demolished them all with his swords after he finished building them'.  Really!!  Brandon said, 'How Buddhist of him'.


So the next morning, I asked Thomas to show me HOW he demolished them.  He demonstrated on my storage buckets.  We had a great video, but after 8 tries at downloading it to no avail, I have settled on these pictures.  

You get the idea:)

 

 

My fixer/finder

So I've always been pretty in love with Thomas.  His sweet hugs, coy smile, bug eye silly face.  We've always been buddies.  But recently this gem of a kid has come up with a new way to please me.  He's become my fixer/finder.  When I get to my whits end in frustration over one thing or another he'll say, 'What's wrong mom?'

'The password list is missing and has been for a week!' - that I have one copy of and is always in the desk and would be an absolute pain to recreate. 5 minutes later I have it in my hand.

'I cannot for the life of me get my bike lock open, why didn't I write down the combination!'.  Literally 2 minutes later Thomas has the combo figured out and the lock open.

'Rin's glasses have been missing for 2 weeks.  We've searched the house, the cars and the church over and under and they are no where to be found.  Time for more serious prayer!  If we don't find them this weekend, I've going to have to give in and get new ones.'  Next day Thomas is the one to uncover them.

And this is just what comes to mind right now.  Over and over this year he has saved me.  Thank you Thomas!

In response to Priceless

So according to one of my sweet, slightly younger than me sisters, I am slacking a little in the blog department.  It's true.

I am not a natural blogger, but I do value sharing a bit of me and my life with my family, so I will continue to try.  Thank you Lys, for your encouragement.

Like Alyssa, we just got family pictures taken.  at JC Penney's (I recognized her backgrounds!).  Only for us it is not a biennial event.  More like triennial, if that's a word.  Or whenever Sean has grown another 8 inches.  Whichever comes first.  I did set an 11:40 appointment...a little wiser than Lys here.  Although considering we also waited an hour to ACTUALLY get in to have our pics taken, maybe a 10:30 would have been best after all.  And then just show up an hour late.

Anyhow, we saw many an unhappy child at the studio, but not us!  One of the joys of having all children over 8.  In our hour wait we went back out into the 10 degree temps and headed over to Sports Authority to get Sean a winter coat.  Apparently I am the kind of parent that only does that every 3 years as well.  Or whenever Sean has grown another 8 inches.  Whichever comes first.

Then back at JC Penney's we still had some time to peruse the holiday section for ornaments white and ornaments sparkly and nutcracker frogs and cows and such (whose mouths, Thomas noted, were not aligned with the opening of the nutcracker.  A great disappointment.)

Finally our time came, and I actually thought the kids were fairly cooperative.  Even giggly at times.  Then we got to preview the pictures.  Sean!!!  He had a near death stare in almost every pic.  ("That's my smile!" He said in defense).  Ah well.  Luckily he's just a good lookin' kid in general.   I will say that Brandon and I looked pretty awesome in every shot ;)

Only have the little emailed order form with really low resolution pics so far, but it will give you an idea of what you'll be getting in your mailbox come Christmas.

    

My favorite moment in the day was getting our purchase summary:

Purchase Summary

(1)  16x20 Gallery Wrap

Free

regular

$174.99

savings

$174.99

(2)  8x10

$11.98

regular

$19.98

savings

$8.00

(6)  Sitting Fee

Free

regular

$59.94

savings

$59.94

(1)  6 free cards

Free

Regular Price Total

$254.91

Savings

$242.93

*Grand Total

$11.98

*excludes tax and merchandise The 'free' things were actually a $30 groupon, so Grand Total was actually a little more.  But still, not bad, eh?