Team Thomas

here are a few

2012-01-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to me! A friend watched the kids and we went out to dinner and Brennan picked out the dessert.

We bowl one time a year, at Christmas.

Speaking of the holidays, it was great to see family and everyone was very generous. Quinn liked the boxes the best :)

September stuff

2011-09-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

September had a busy start, and I'm sure as the kids get older, it will continue to stay that way. Here we are at open house for Brennan. He started Preschool this month. It is a 3-4 yr old mix class. He goes MWF from 830-11.

Bathtime is always a hit. They can't get their clothes off fast enough to crawl in when they hear the water start. They love when Adam blows bubbles with his hands. They scream with joy.

First day of school. He was so excited, and is still so excited about school. He asks everyday if he is going and gets a little mad on Tues/Thurs when he is not going.

Waiting for the doors to open at school. Adam and I both came for drop off that day. It was a big day for everyone, but no tears by any of the Thomas family. His school is a few blocks from the Y so they let me leave and come back on his school days. I have friends to drop him off on MW and I drop off on Friday, and then I pick up each of the days. I'm very glad the Y is willing to work with me and get him to school.

I ran another half marathon a few weeks ago. I got a PR (personal record) by 7 mins, and got my goal time and then some. I was hoping for a 2:10 (to beat my previous time of 2:14) and got a 2:07. Not too bad, huh! I'm going to take a little time off from running and have some toe surgury (get a few more nails removed- sorry if tmi) and then I'll start training for my full marathon in December, that race is April 29. I'm headed to California to do the Big Sur marathon with my brother, and that will be his first marathon too.

summer pics

2011-09-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

Everyone love ice cream!

and free ice cream is better yet. Free coupons from Miss Sue and the summer reading program at the library. We like to visit the library throughout the year on Monday nights for the family storytime.

I competed in a few races over the summer. It has been fun to see my time drop, speed increase since my half marathon in May. I competed in my first triathlon at the end of August. I was the swim leg. I was the 3rd fastest woman out of Lake Michigan. It was a sprint tri, but the lake was cold nonetheless, 56deg. Oh! and we won the womans relay event. Here are my teammates, Mary and Lori. I really enjoyed the relay event. It was my first tri and I just had to get the swim out of the way. I'm a great swimmer, but open water is way different than in the pool. I've pinned it to, that it is the opposite of clostraphobic, but it's that there is too much water around me and I don't know what is under me. BUt the more I do them hopefully I can overcome that. I'm looking forward to next season. And I have another half coming up in 2 weeks. And then I signed up for a full marathon in April in CA. My bro and I are running the Big Sur marathon!

And as you can see from the post just before this, we spent a short time over Labor Day at Mermaid Lake with the Reed family and my brother. We had a great time!

It was a little rainy, but that's OK.

Other events from the summer- Adam and I went to Upper Peninsula MI. It was great. The kiddos had a sitter and we had some time away. We went to Pictured Rocks Nat Lakeshore. Put iit on your bucket list people. It's awesome and we also spent a few days in Marquette. And we'll be back next summer, they have a mountain bike race and Adam is going to jump into the racing events too.

**and not real sure what is the problem with this blog. but hopefully I figured out a way around things so I can post.

Mermaid Lake

2011-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

We spent a short 24hr time period in Northern WI at Mermaid Lake visiting with my brother Joe and his girlfriend Suz and her family (who have a cabin at this lake) we had a great time.

Happy Birthday Quinn

2011-06-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

It was pretty fun to watch Quinn get into her cake. And she was green all over her face. and the green cake is thanks to brennan, it was his selection for her :)

reposting some of the missed ones that i had saved...

I did it!

2011-05-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

This one is real old, but this is when the problem began and I wasn't able to post, so it goes back to May....Here I am (not sure where exactly) with a couple thousand other people getting ready for the big race, 7am Sunday May 15, the Cellcom Marathon and Half Marathon. The weather was sunny. From the picture you'd think it was great, but there was a nasty nasty wind. June 2009 I ran my first organized race of any distance, a 10K, about 6 miles, and I had more energy at the end and wondered of I could ever do a half marathon, 13.1 miles. We had a baby last year, so I wasn't doing anything runningwise. And this past fall I had toe surgery, ended up with some bad infections and hadn't exercised for 4 months, and used this race to help get myself back on the exercise wagon. I'm not one to pay for something and not follow though. The training calendar that I followed wasn't too too much of a commitment, running 3x a week and swimming once. The long runs were Saturday, so it was manageable with work and the little ones. So the training began.

Here I am in the purple, waving at the family, I'm behind the woman in red. This was about mile 4. I'm super glad that my dad and deb, as well as Adam and the kids could come and watch me accomplish this goal of mine. I decided to run with a pacer, to help me catch my goal time of 2:15. I am glad that I did. I stopped to use the restroom at mile 2, then spent the next mile trying to catch them. Then at mile 5 I had to stop and take off a layer, and spent the next mile trying to catch them and at mile 6 I got head of them, but never saw them pass, so I figured I would be right on track.

Coming up on Mile 10. Feeling good, I made a new friend on the course, the guy next to me, we had been pacing off each other since mile 5 and around mile 9 we started talking, Daniel Schumacher, (small world) happens to be from Kohler, has cousins that I went to high school with back in Sheboygan, his mom lives there currently and he actually lived there after college too, and he went to college with my good friend Heather Dunn, knows her husband from work. So we passed the time of the last 3 miles chit chatting. That last mile 1.5 miles was a killer! I'm not sure if it was the chat or the crazy wind that we dealt with around mile 8.5 and then again during the last mile.

Here I am crossing the finish line, looks like 2 people behind the guy in yellow. I did it! When I caught up to my dad afterwards, he said you looked disappointed at the finish. I had two goals from the start of my training, I wanted to run the race and I wanted to finish under 2:16.27 (that was the average finishing time last year and I thought - I can be average). When I came around the bend, it said 2:18, I was so close! But come to find out, that was the gun time. My chip time was 2:15.46! I did it! I was so happy! And what an accomplishment. I trained for 18 weeks, committed to my runs on my treadmill in the basement watching my tv shows; Friends season 8 and 9 and I got hooked on Glee. Not many people like the treadmill, it was my friend. While the kids napped, there I was jogging away....But I worked hard and I am proud of myself.

Next.....I think I'll sign up for the Fox Cities Half Marathon in Appleton on September 18, our 7th anniversary actually and see if I can't better my time, under 2:10. and then the big one....I talked my brother into doing a full marathon next May, the Big Surr Marathon. Might as well get it crossed off the list....

Hold the phone...I couldn't post this on Monday, something was wrong with the site, but they marked the course incorrectly- I know hard to believe a race at that level would do that- but just after mile 3 we all ran an extra ..800ft about .15 of a mile. So they had some fancy number of .9886 that they multiplied our times by and everyone did better. So my official time is 2:14:14.

moms day

2011-05-09T18:27:00.001-07:00

moms day was nice. I went swimming with Brennan and then had some time to myself, I rode the half marathon course on my bicycle to get a feel for the course. When I got home the kids were still napping, but dinner was ready, so we had a nice meal without the kids. So we could talk and my meal was hot....and then the day made a turn.

Brennan has been doing great staying dry. He hasn't had a #2 accident for a long time, he had stopped doing that in a diaper way before he stopped going #1 in the diaper. But I spoke too soon. We were at the park last night, and sure enough there it was. But hopefully the walk home, seeing his cloths go in the garbage and the cleanup in the shower, helped him see that it doesn't belong in his underwear.

And as for the picture.....I love sweets. For moms day Quinn picked out a huge cupcake with the really sugary frosting. Today Brennan felt that a nap wasn't important and while I was downstairs running, he was upstairs playing in the living room and eating my other half to the cupcake (without my knowledge- I run with headphones on). When I came upstairs, I saw him and the mess, and shooed him off to bed. Probably 2 hours later, I was finally curious about the tupperware container on the table...what did Adam give him for breakfast in a tupperware container.....and that's when I realized what he had done. I was at a loss for words. I am still at a loss for words. I can't believe he did that.

oh well.

running.

2011-05-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

The big race is only 5 days, 10 hours and 37 mins away (but whos keeping track.....) I am very excited, and have worked hard over the last 18 weeks. I hope I have a great run and we have some nice weather, I'll be happy with not downpouring rain, and no highwinds...

and photos too

2011-04-20T12:20:00.001-07:00

playing in Kids Korner

playing at home

some of Quinn too

2011-04-20T12:01:00.001-07:00

she is at a fun stage. She laughs all the time, when you tickle her, or give her kisses, and she loves to laugh at Brennan and that just eggs him on....she likes to clap her hands and she likes toys. She crawls all over the house and can go from laying on her tummy to sitting up. She's not pulling herself up to a stand, and really doesn't like to put any weight on her legs, but we are working on that.

finally

2011-04-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is DJ. He has played an important role in our potty success.....as many of you know (or now you do know) Bren has some issues with going #2. It has gotten better, but a few months ago- maybe January, we started forcing him to go #2 on the potty. He wouldn't go in his diaper, so one night I put him on the pot and said you will not leave the bathroom until you go. So needless to say there have been many many hours logged in the bathroom by all.

He is doing very good with potty training. We are not 100% accident free, but he does good, usually dry during the day, will tell you when he needs to go, but still working on it. So we have been using a lot of bribes. For the most part he is liking the bribes. I now have a 'surprize prize' box. If he stays dry for the day, he gets something. Each time it's different from the box, maybe a car or book or movie etc. Oh, and don't forget about the Skittles. Each time he goes at home he gets 3.

But there are two special cars. And we put them out in the open, on top of the fridge and would push and push and remind him about them. One is a car that he will get when he is trained. And the other is a car for when he goes #2 at the Y. We spend a lot of time at the Y, he is there maybe 25+ hrs a week. That needs to be a comfortable place for him to go #2. And today he finally did it! I'm so proud of him.

dentist

2011-04-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

Brennan did a great job at the dentist this past week. I was so proud of him, especially since our last visit was a bust (he wanted nothing to do with that place and I'll spare you the details.) Since he did such a great job, next time we are going to try an actual cleaning and some xrays. Which will be great, since he has an extra tooth and a half in the lower jaw. A tooth and a half you might be asking yourself.....They should have 20 baby teeth and he has 21 and teeth come in pairs- so you'd think it would be 22, but one tooth fused to another. So the dr said they can't count it as an extra tooth, but I needed to be able to explain this to Adam, so we call it a half. At this point nothing to worry about, there is lots of room in his mouth, but we need xrays to see what will be coming in after the baby teeth. He had his first dentist appt at 2yrs old account of the 'mutant' tooth (that's what I like to call it). But no cavities!

Quinn 9 mo

2011-04-05T12:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos of Quinn. At the pool, she has as much fun as the rest of us do. And she doesn't mind going down the waterslide or being dunked under water either.

I don't know if you can tell by this photo, but this nice white jumper....the front is very dirty; on the belly and knees and forearms....she is on the move and you can only keep your floor so clean.

Having a little lunch at the YMCA

I love your happy side....

and your sad side.....

We had her 9 mo well check yesterday, and we win another great parent award.....ear infections in BOTH ears! but happy as a clam. She had a fever (for like 4 days) but she had no other symptoms and since the well check was scheduled already I just thought we'd wait it out. Oh well, now we know. but she is a trooper and her are her stats.

Weight: 18.1 lb ~ 29% (dr is ok with this, it usually drops when they start moving)

Length: 28.5in ~ 75%

Head: 45cm ~ 80%

just a little peanut with two bottom teeth, and I have to add that she has beautiful hair.

getting more and more comfortable

2011-04-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

Each time we go to the pool he gets more and more confident. Jumping this way was his idea.

spring can not arrive soon enough

2011-03-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

things are always a little crazy

brennan

2011-03-21T13:59:00.001-07:00

This is where we're at in potty training. I'm sure we're not going about things the right way, but it's getting a little frustrating to say the least. One day he does great, the next day he is going 1 and 2 in the pull-up. It seems like we've tried the praise, treat, and prize route and now we're on the take away route. These are some his favorite things. He hasn't asked for them all day, so I don't think he really cares....
Brennan got a bicycle for his birthday. Adam finally had a few spare minutes and could put it together. the box said 15minutes and in Adam time that means at least an hour :)

It was a beautiful day here in Saturday, and of course the first day of spring on Sunday it was rainy yucky, so we gave the bike a whirl in the basement.

We had returned home Sunday morning from running errands, we were in the house and brennan was taking his time in the garage, Adam when outside to find Brennan sitting on his bike pretending to ride. He was looking forward to playing. When we finally got to the basement, it'll take some practice, but I'm sure he'll enjoy riding when he understands the concept.

He was already in bed for about an hour on Tuesday when I went to check on him, and this is what I found. It looks like he reacted to a bite of some sort. So at 9:00pm I was running to the store for benedryl, to find that you shouldn't give little kids benedryl, so then we ended up trying to contact the dr to find out what to give him. In the end the dr said to give him some. But he's back to normal.....

Quinn

2011-03-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that just a week ago we were saying to ourselves.....hmmm why won't she crawl?!? and now we're saying 'oh crap!'

and would you check out that hair! I wish I could just roll out of bed and have that kind of volume and what not. when I roll out of bed there is just a smushed spot in the back, even when I had long hair I still had the flat spot, but not her. I'm jealous, and so is Adam. but when it comes to Adam and hair, I think he's always jealous....

and now she's really on the move

2011-03-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

We returned from a vacation to find that nothing is safe.....(the kids stayed at home with Grandma while Adam and I went to Chicago. We did a lot of walking and visiting with my brother and his girlfriend who were visiting from CA and Adam's brother and wife who were visting from UT)

and she's off

2011-03-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

and she's on the move- well sort of..... and ask me why we want her crawling?......lol

Swimming

2011-03-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

It may not look like much, and he didn't go far, but we were very excited when he went underwater and swam without flotation. Way to go Brennan!

fun times

2011-02-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

hanging out in the kitchen

check out that mop of hair! We have hair cuts for the both of them scheduled for mid February. Remember folks, we have tried the hair cutting ourselves, and have decided to leave that to the professionals....

Brennan's bathroom time ends up turning into a family affair due to the lenght of time we end up spending in there. So we try to make the most of it... Atleast dad and Quinn are having fun.

He looks in good spirits here. But this is only 5 mins into it. You should see him 60+ and when it's after his bedtime. I'll try to remember the camera for next time...

Here are his 'poop cars' for lack of a better name. The next day after going #2 the first time in mid January, we headed to walmart to get some cars, and he picked out a 3 pack of Disney 'Cars.' He worked very hard for those cars, and we've since added to the collection, as well as take some away to rest on the shelf. With the slip and fill of the diaper, or when we sit there for 2+ hrs with nothing to show.

preschool

2011-01-29T11:55:00.001-08:00

I signed Brennan up for preschool today (program starts in fall). It was very surreal....to think that this little guy is gonna be 3.

Number 2 for #2

2011-01-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

Today was the second day that Brennan has done #2 on the potty! We are super proud of him. He has some bowel issues, he tends to hold it too long and then it hurts and then he continues to hold it. So at this point, I'm over the potty training. When it happens it happens. But I'm glad that he is going number 2....and it only took 40 mins in the bathroom. (the first time it took 2 hours in the bathroom....)

Needless to say there were Skittles eaten today, and we made a trip to Shopko for a few cars.

13.1

2011-01-16T11:41:00.001-08:00

There's no turning back. I called Adam from the Y yesterday and had him sign me up. Sunday, May 15, I'm running in the Cellcom half marathon http://cellcomgreenbaymarathon.com. I'm not a runner. Adam and I ran the Bellin 10K the summer of '09, that was my first organized running thing, and as I crossed the finish line I thought....I have more to give, I could run some more...the next year we had Quinn, so running a half marathon has been on my mind. I need something to get over the winter blues, and I need something to help me get back into exercising. I had been watching the registion creep and creep and started running. I ran 4 on Saturday, and it's a mental thing. It was hard (I haven't done any exercising since Sept due to toe surgery) but I did it, and just need something to look forward to. So here I go!

keeping busy

2011-01-14T13:04:00.001-08:00

As is the life of every parent out there, we are staying busy. We had a nice holiday time, I had 10 days off from work! Even though my kids don't like to sleep, and are both up before 5 each day, it was nice to not have to rush off to work. We split the time between Green Bay and Sheboygan. It was nice to spend some time at Papa and Deb's house, time for the kids to hang out with the grandparents and my brother and his girlfriend were in town from CA and it was very nice for the kids to play with them and get to know them better. But there were lots of presents and lots of food. And we all also got to go to a wedding, on New Years Eve, my brothers best friend, his baby sister got married. So it was great to to spend the start of the new year with my family.
Fun photo of Quinn after a bath. Her hair is getting so long. Pretty soon I feel her first hair cut coming on.

For as long as I can remember the Nawikas family has bowled on Christmas Eve. Joe and Suz were on an airplane during family bowling, so we went one afternoon before lunch. We got some bumpers, which were helpful, but we still didn't do the greatest....

But the photos turned out good!

Here we are at the wedding. I don't remember the last time I was up for the actual midnight new year. Man I'm old! But it was a very nice wedding.

Santa

2010-12-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

I didn't think it was going to happen this year. At the beginning of the season when people would bring up Santa to him, he would say that he didn't like Santa....so I wasn't going to push it, and he wasn't going to visit. Then I thought it should visit, and we got an Elf on the Shelf thing to start a nice family tradition. Then this past Saturday we were at Penneys getting photos taken, so right next door to the mall where I knew the big guy would be. So we're in the car and I run in to double check that he is inside, I come back out and say to him, guess who is inside, Santa is here! would you like to go see him? Sure he says. So off we head. When we got to the entrance, I still wasn't sold that he'd go in there, but sure enough he walked right in, walked right up and snaked the candy cane.

Looking good! He told Santa he wanted some books/dvds etc (with some prompting from Santa) but this past week at daycare he's been telling his teachers that he asked for dragons. So I kindly remind him what he asked for (cuz dragons are not coming!)

We did pick up the Elf on the Shelf (I had never heard of this before and saw it on my step sisters blog) and thought it might tie in nice with having just seen the big guy. So I told brennan that as we left Santa gave me something special to share with you....We named him Floyd.

It's been pretty fun being Santa. Picking up some little things that he likes; animal crackers, chocolate milk, gc for Mcdonalds, and then there will be a few books too.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Some December happenings

2010-12-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of our december.He has been happy to work on art projects at the day care these past few weeks, and they have had some cute projects. These are Christmas tree bulbs that they cut out and put on a crown.

This is going to be a fun holiday tradition, I can feel it! I used to love advent calendars, especially the ones with candy in them! But Brennan really loved this and would ask several times during the day if he could do a door. He had a hard time grasping that he could only do one and that we are counting down to the big day.

Hanging out at church, he will play nicely in the nursery, with the promise of a donut after church. As you can see, he played nice.

We took Quinn swimming for the first time on Sunday Dec 19! It was a good time. She enjoyed herself and didn't cry. She would have been in the pool sooner, but we were waiting for her bms to firm up (tmi? oh well) and we have her on some solids now, so that has helped.

It was pretty cute though, the night before I told brennan that we were headed to the pool after church, and that the whole family was going, even Quinnie. And he got a little worked up....no no Quinnie can't go swimming, she's not a big girl yet! Well bud, you have to teach her, you have to show her how to use her arms and blow her bubbles. He was worried about her.

Snow

2010-12-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

So we had our first snow fall of the year this past weekend, and it was biggie, a blizzard! It would have been great if we could have put ourselves in lockdown for the weekend, but we had to travel to Sheboygan on Saturday for a funeral, my grandma passed away (my moms mom) after losing her second battle with cancer. It was a slow drive home on Sunday in the wind and when we got back to town on Sunday, this is what we found in our driveway. We actuallly parked our car in our neighbors driveway. Jeff made a path for us to get in, so I could atleast get the kids in the house.
Our neighbor Jeff made a path for us, so I could get the kids inside, and Adam then went to work. Thank goodness for the snowblower.

This was the drift by the front door.

Here's looking to summer! I can't wait :)

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T10:51:00.001-08:00

We had a very nice Thanksgiving this year. I missed seeing my family, but had to work both Thursday and today, and honestly didn't feel like I needed to add the stress of a quick visit to my life. Brennan had been getting excited for the holiday and was wishing everyone Happy Thanksgiving, and Thursday morning Adam woke up and said he wanted to make a meal for Brennan. And it was great. As we said our prayer, Brennan said he was thankful for his mom and dad, and the drs that give him shots so he can stay healthy....
This is Chicken Tom, our centerpiece for our meal on Thanksgiving. He made some great art projects at daycare. (instead of Turkey Tom he has been calling him Chicken Tom)

The happy family getting ready for the meal, Chicken, ranch potatoes, cornbread stuffing, corn, rolls and pumpkin pie. yum yum

Baptism

2010-11-24T13:03:00.001-08:00

Quinn was baptised earlier this month. She didn't made a peep. Just a few weird faces when the water went on her head.

Halloween

2010-11-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Halloween was sort of a bust over here. Brennan was really diggin' in hard with the heels and the 2 year old independence and did not want to wear a costume to any of the events that we went to. There were some costume parades at the Y daycare; did not want to participate. We went to Schneider (Adam's work) to trick or treat; no costume, so I would not let him get any candy. Sweet Street, an event at the Packer stadium; no costume. Halloween at the Y; no costume. And trick or treating in the neighborhood; no costume. I really thought he'd have been OK with the smock/cape thing but hate the hat, and it was the other way around. He was OK with the hat, but no way was he wearing the cape. He was supposed to be a dragon. On the positive side, at least there is no candy in my house for me to eat....

'CANDY' Adam is trying to get Brennan excited about the candy maze that we just went through at Sweet Street.

crafts at Halloween at the Y

Here we are having a tantrum in the neighbors yard, because I won't let him go to the door since he doesn't have his costume on.

half of the costume, he would wear the hat of the clown costume. We stopped at 3 houses in our trick or treating adventure, this is Ms Jenny, one of his daycare teachers that lives down the block.

He really enjoyed handing out the candy. He'd run for the door and loved to chat with everyone that was there. Photo op with the really cool pumpkins that I carved, you can see that smiling nice for me is the last thing on his mind, since the kids are coming. Can't you see mom! they are coming!

Fall color

2010-11-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

The fall color has come and gone, and now I dread the snow and cold and soggy ground until May....I love fall. The colors were so vibrant this year.

Emergency Vehicles

2010-10-21T12:14:00.001-07:00

Our lives have been busy, yet I don't really have any photos to show for it.....earlier in the month we went to the Suamico fire station, the annual open house, for fire safety week. We were in Sheboygan the next day and we went with Papa and Deb to the Black River open house. The flight for life was there. That was pretty neat. Brennan is in a phase where load noises bother him. From the pictures you'll see what I mean.

It was pretty chilly this day, I'm glad the diaper bag had a few things that we could put on Quinn

rollin'

2010-10-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

So we sort of feel like we've been slacking on the parental front. The other day I was looking at Brennan's baby book, and when he was 14 wks, he had rolled over, and at 15 wks he had rolled both directions. And Quinn....well the other day we put her on her tummy, and she got carpet marks on her face from not being able to hold her head up.....So we're trying to give her a little more tummy time. And then this happened on Saturday night! It was a little anti-climactic....when Brennan rolled over we were so excited, I'm sure there were fireworks etc. And with Quinn...Adam and I high-fived, I got the camera and we asked her to do it again, and sure enough she did.

Who ever said life with two was easy, well I think they were lying. It's hard, but still good.

gymnastics

2010-10-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where he learned how to do these but it's pretty neat.

Quinn

2010-09-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

My grandma had wanted to see some video of Quinn. So here is what she has neen up to. She likes to hang out in the chair, sometimes the legs are going wild.

Happy 60th Birthday Baby George

2010-09-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Brennan's favorite buddy had a special day, he turned 6o years old this month. One of the bookstores in town had a party for him today, so we went to help celebrate. (He calls him Baby George instead of Curious George.)

He waited patiently, sporting his George t-shirt and he brought his Baby George buddy (he's in the pile of animals that are for purchase that our child was playing with and yes, we did not buy any of them). He wanted to play with everything in the store, which was hard for him. He's used to the library where he can play with everything, and here everything is for purchase, but he held it together nicely. When the party started, the owner started reading books and singing songs. Brennan staying in the background with us, not wanting to participate. But as soon as Baby George came around the corner.....

He was front and center waving and trying to get Baby George's attention. He was showing the big George his little animal George. It was pretty cute.

And it's not a party without cake....

Happy Birthday Baby George.

vacation

2010-09-09T13:29:00.001-07:00

Labor Day weekend was our vacation for the summer, and it was a nice one. We stayed at my dads house, but he was gone for the first few days- still on his honeymoon- so it was like a house swap, nothing to do but relax and the country is so peaceful, I love sitting on the deck.
Saturday we went to the county fair, I don't ever recall a fair that was so chilly that I had to wear a winter hat, but at least we weren't roasting like usual.
Here was a car that he liked...

and one that he didn't....

playing in the yard, soccer and flying kites and walking the nature paths.

Monday and Tuesday we headed to Milwaukee to stay at our friends, the Dunns' The dads went to the Brewer game Monday and Tuesday was the zoo. We had behind the scene tour tickets. So we got to see the sleeping quarters and where the trains sleep and had a tour guide for the inside scoop. Here are Brennan and Hayden, he is a year older, but they are buds.

the sleeping quarters, under the exhibits

more vacation

2010-09-09T13:15:00.001-07:00

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? I see some people looking at me...this guy was my favorite. As soon as we walked up to the exhibit, he walked toward us.

here we are watching the bear, watch us

the kids had fun feeding the goats, but the goats knew who hadthe food, and kept bothering the dads.

one of the many exhibits he climbed on

buddies...

peacock

2010-09-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

walking like a peacock.

getting big

2010-09-02T12:20:00.001-07:00

the kids are getting big!
Growning up my brother was big into model rockets, he felt like reliving the glory days, and we shot a few off. The first one scared Brennan, so he's preparing for the second one. He has been picking me flowers lately, here is one of them.

Quinn is getting so big- 11wks tomorrow, and that means only one more week of my maternity leave and then back to the work world....
She likes to smile and coo. She's getting better with her nook, and sleeps well at night, I'm OK with her not sleeping through the night, she goes down at 7ish and wakes at 3ish. So depending on your perspective, that is a good portion of the night, but I'll need to feed her before I go to work, so waking at 3 will be a good time.

Wow, she looks so LONG here. She's relaxing with Suzie- my brothers girlfriend, this was her first time meeting Quinn.

goofing around at Grandma Pat's house.

Blue Harbor

2010-09-02T12:12:00.001-07:00

Dad and Deb stayed at Blue Harbor Resort after the party on Saturday night. We all needed something to do on Saturday morning before the wedding, and dad managed to get some free waterpark passes. It was very intimidating for Brennan at first- everything is very BIG, but he warmed up shortly.
There were 2 kiddie slides, the water was warmer and shallower, Brennan really liked this area. And it is only for little guys, as Adam soon found out, after putting Brennan on the slide, he slide down right behind him, and got in trouble by the lifeguard....

checking out the boat....a siren goes off, and next thing you know there are 1000 gallons of water being dumped out of this boat from a height. Brennan didn't get any closer than this.

That's my brother Joe, middle body, testing it out.

wedding

2010-09-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

My dad got married over the weekend, to Deb deLeon. I am happy for them, I wish them a long and happy life together.

He looks like a deer in headlights, but this looks much better than the night before at the rehersal. As you can see from the photo below, he wanted nothing to do with walking down the isle with the other grandkids, and headed the other direction. But at the wedding he did good, and held it together for the most part during the ceremony. Dad and Deb were cool with him walking behind the pastor while he gave the sermon and even cool when he dropped his rather large truck on the ground during the vows (at least that was a reality check- that kept me from crying during the vows- the truck being dropped) but Brennan was outshined by the guy that forgot to turn off his cell phone...

heading the other direction during the rehersal, the other 2 grandkids are Carter and Audrey, they are Deb's middle daughters kids- Melissa.

The happy couple, they are at Disneyworld right now for their honeymoon. I'm sure they are having a blast.

party time. Chix nuggets and chocolate milk. yum yum. our food was good too, chix, beef, pototoes, veggies and really good cake.

more back floats

2010-08-23T19:13:00.000-07:00

Adam wanted me to post one more swim video. The back floats are awesome (quoted from Adam)

photos

2010-08-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a few random photos. The summer is almost over, as is my maternity leave (3 weeks left). The other day Adam commented 'where did the summer go?!' I said, we had a baby.....

Playing at the YMCA in the pool. We like to come every Sunday after church. Brennan took lessons 2x a week for 9 weeks, and he will take more again starting the second week of Sept, but only one day during the week.

He got a tattoo from the library. I volunteered there for the 2nd summer. I help kids record their reading for the Summer Reading program. For 2 hours a week on Saturdays, it's nice to have some quiet time and help someone out. When I put this tattoo on him, the hardest part for him was to hold still for the minute that I had to keep the towel on his hand. It was pure torture for him. You'd have thought I was hurting him or something.

More tattoos. Here he is 'working at the desk' in the drop off day care at the YMCA. They have stamps for the kids in the drawer, and he was loading up on them, as well as dragging his fingers over the red ink pad...

Can't leave Quinn out. She's doing fine, growing and growing. She had her 2 month check last week, is 11.5 lbs. Not sleeping through the night, but I guess that's relatively speaking.... if I'd go to bed when she does, we'd both get at about 8 hrs of sleep during the night. The last few nights she'll eat at 6:30, in bed by 7, and sleep until 2:30. But when do I go to bed...9 or 10.

Looks like she has a black eye, her right eye, but that's not the case. We were on a walk and the mosquitoes got her. She looks better today.

masterpiece

2010-08-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

He loves the abcs. He enjoys playing in the tub with the letters, and wants to show me his masterpiece each time if I'm not in the bathroom with him. He'll tell me to go get the camera. And lately he likes looking at the back of the camera, at the video or photo, and calls that 'looking at the front side.'

more swimming

2010-08-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

The last post was about swimming, and here is another one. I needed to post this though, because his swimming has taken off. He was jumping alone, and very horizontal in the water, using his arms and legs at the same time. Great job!

Swim clips

2010-08-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of Tues swim lessons for the summer. We are also taking lessons on Thurs. The first clip is of a blast off. You push off on your front or back and (try to) continue floating. With the intro of the blast off, he is way more comfortable on his back. The next clip is of jumping. I was trying to get him to do more tricks, but he just wanted to spin.

swim

2010-08-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

fresh photos

2010-08-08T14:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some fresh photos of the kids.

Brennan likes the alphabet; singing it, looking at books with letters and playing with his letters in the tub. Here is his masterpiece!

Quinn relaxing with dad. Some of the newborn things are so cute, I'm having a hard time giving this one up, so I let her feet stick out the bottom.

Life is rough being 6 weeks old.....

Playing under the baby einstein. Whenever it comes out, Brennan always has to jump under it. And he usually has a big truck that he wants to drive under it too. I'm glad that he loves his baby sister, but sometimes he's just not as gentle as we'd like him to be.

We met up with my friend Jackie. It's always fun to see people that don't have kids hold kids- they tend to want to give them back as soon as they make a peep. (I will not deny it, I too was one of those people that wouldn't touch a baby, and had to give it back right away)

update

2010-07-25T04:01:00.000-07:00

Things are fine over here in Green Bay. Nothing new to report. I look at the different blogs on a regular basis, I just don't take the time to blog, or our life really just isn't that interesting currently, so why bother post. And I haven't been taking photos as often as I should, so I really don't have any good ones of Quinn. But here are a few.

Bath time, July 23 (she has had other baths, this wasn't her first....again, just forgetting the camera)

Grandma Linda was visiting recently, and we got hooked on storytime at the library. Brennan really likes Ms Sue and likes to be in the front for the stories. He's hit or miss on whether or not he wants to participate in the songs and craft.

He finally held his baby sister. Quinn was about a month old. This was taken on July 17. We didn't push him, each day he gets more excited about her. And finally he said he wanted to hold her, so pull out the camera.

She is slowly taking to the swing, and vibrating chair and pacifier. All of which were golden for Brennan. But we keep trying.

Beach time. July 11.

piggies with gg

2010-07-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

We were down visiting with the Nawikas family the other weekend. Joe was in Milwaukee for a very short weekend for a wedding and wanted to see the baby. So he squeezed in a quick visit.

He's famous!

2010-06-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the month we went to the Breakfast on the Farm event. There was a photojournalist guy of sorts taking photos. And he snapped a few of us while Brennan was exploring. Take a look at his blog.

www.roadtohere.com

scroll to the bottom of the page and there is a link to Sunday Best, Breakfast on the Farm. Click on the link and then there is a photo of Brennan. If you click on the photo, there is another photo of us.

Baby Quinn

2010-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Quinn Thomas was born on Friday, June 18 at 7:38am. She was 6 lbs 15 oz and 19.5 in.

My YMCA family is great! They posted this nice board to let the members know how we were doing. We made our first visit to the Y today for Brennan's swim lesson.

Adam loves any excuse for nap time...

She had a full head of hair, just like Brennan and just like I did.

The happy family.

Goldfish

2010-06-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Today was his very first swim lesson without a parent. The class that he is in- is called Goldfish, for kids 2 1/2 to 3 yrs. He is a little shy of the start age, but we have some pull around the Y. He had a small breakdown at the beginning, he wanted to keep his sandals on, but within being out of my arms for 2 seconds he was fine.

At the end of class, having a recharge snack of animal crackers and milk before heading back into the daycare.

On the black line, headed off to the parents. He looks mighty cold!

Getting ready to throw a buddy into the pool and enter the safe way.

Here is the small breakdown from the start of class. Next week is going to be a much bigger class. There were 4 swimmers today, I think there will be 9 next week, with 3 teachers.

The baby is coming....

2010-06-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Not right this second.... we (the DR and Adam and I) decided that if I don't go on my own by Thursday evening, June 17, I'll be on my way to the hospital to be induced. So we'll have a new member to the family on either Thurs evening or Friday, at the latest.

feeding the giraffe

2010-06-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Memorial weekend, swimming, messing around the house, the parade, and the zoo. There will not be many weekends that are just the 3 of us, the due date is fast approaching, June 19

Milk- doesn't always do a body good...

2010-05-30T13:34:00.000-07:00

How many dishcloths does it take to clean up a gallon of milk?? 19....

If the milk wasn't seeping under the breakfast bar and the other cupboards, maybe I would have taken a picture of the moment.... But probably not. I can laugh now, but I really was not happy at the moment.

In other instances, Brennan has helped carry the milk in from car, and dropped it, but it has never exploded. And today it did.

At least the store is willing to give me another gallon of milk. That's honestly what I was more worried about (after I stopped the milk from seeping under the counters) was that I had just bought this milk, and now I was out $3...not the fact that mopping the floor was not on the Sunday agenda.

hippopotamus

2010-05-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Some of the words these kids say are so darn cute. The funny word that he has, is what he is calling the toy hippopotamus.

Dairy McQueen

2010-05-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, this video will show off the new summer do that Brennan is sporting. We wanted to go short, but found out the hard way, that it's not as easy as it may seem to be to buzz a two year olds head. But I wanted to show off how cute he is when he talks about Dairy Queen. As you may or maynot know, CARS, is his favorite movie. Last week, we had to spend some time at the laundry mat- thanks to the dog forgetting to go outside, but on my bed instead. I didn't think he'd (Brennan) would last too long in the mat, so we headed across the street to Dairy Queen, but he has decided to call it Dairy McQueen. Another priceless moment.

Off to the Hostible!

2010-05-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we went to the matunity unit at the hospital for a sibling class. Only time will tell if it was beneficial for Brennan or not, but for the past week, we've been getting him excited about going to the hospital. It's been so darn cute to see him get exited about going to the class and what he was going to learn... Where are we going on Saturday? The the hostiable! And what are we going to learn about? The baby sister or baby brother! (and of course the cute part is the way he says it, in his little 2 year old voice mispronouncing it)

It's fun to stay at the YMCA

2010-05-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

He got this bus from the head boss at the West Side Y. He calls it Bret's bus. It's one of his favorites.

broken puter....

2010-04-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

We've had a broken computer for the last few weeks, and have since bought a new one, and it takes some effort to actually get the thing up and running; the actual computer and rearranging the house since we are losing the 'office' to make room for the baby. So here are a few photos on what has been happening in our life.

Brennan got a bike seat for his birthday, and has been looking at the box in the garage and asking to go on a bike ride lately. So this past weekend, we got it going. He loves to go for rides, and I think Adam is enjoying himself too.

Easter was fun. Brennan understood what was happening at the egg hunts and actually played with the plastic eggs around our house for about a week afterwards. Here he is at Aunt Pat's house.

He loves to go to Papas house. As soon as we were out of the car, he was running. (I'm not sure how to rotate this photo, so just rotate your head, sorry....) but you can see the pure joy on his face. We had a fun egg hunt at Papas house too, he cut a new trail through one of the pine groves of trees, and the eggs were on the trail in the trees.

Egg hunt at the YMCA. The hunt was outside, you just had to run and get eggs in the field, had we known there would be spotted eggs for bigger prizes, we would have searched around. And inside the building there were fun activities such as a petting zoo, crafts, play equipment, cookies etc.

He wasn't feeling good for a weekend in March, and I took the Monday off. He loves stickers, and these were some not-so-sticky ones, so I didn't stop the fun he was having.

Tegan and Sara

2010-03-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

For Adam's birthday, we went to a show in Milwaukee. The band was Tegan and Sara, a band that we have liked for some time now. We had a good time, and Adam was very happy, he said 3 of the best bands- the 2 openers, Holly Miranda and Steel Train, were the best openers he's heard. (We spent the night at our friends' Heather and Brian's. Brennan had a slumper party with their boys and had really good time.)

Happy Birthday to you!

2010-03-25T03:21:00.000-07:00

Working as a team

2010-03-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

working on his game

2010-03-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

I know, you don't have to rub it it...it won't take much and he'll have a better score than his father and I.

Time to sing

2010-03-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

I am forwarning you, we are not the greatest singers....I don't think he knew what to make of the singing and everyone standing around him.

candles

2010-03-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

Blowing out the candles.

Swings

2010-02-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

He had a better time on the playground than on the sledding hill that afternoon.

Sledding

2010-02-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

With the first trip down the hill, Adam and I got the smart parent award for the day. Number 1, I didn't realize the hill was as big as it was....and number 2 looking down, we only noticed the one main jump that the kids were using.....needless to say there were lots of hidden pot holes that Brennan and Adam hit on the first trip down. Brennan was all excited, but as soon as they hit those holes, all you could hear was 'MaMa.' We did make a few more runs down, starting midway down the hill, on a flat spot.

ABCs again

2010-02-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

Here we are again with the ABCs.

ABCs

2010-01-24T13:49:00.000-08:00

He's been getting good at reciting his ABCs. This was taken on Jan 14, and he's gotten much better since then, but you get the idea.

Swimming again

2010-01-24T13:42:00.000-08:00

Here's the swimming video that I promised last week, I would remember to take today while we went swimming.

Jumping

2010-01-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

His version of jumping, it's more like falling into the water.

Swimming

2010-01-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

He really enjoys going swimming. As part of our Sundays, we go after church and play at the Y and go down the waterslide, then have lunch at the Y and then he zonks out for a nap. But he's been fighting the flotation device, and only wants to be held by mom or dad, until today! He was swimming on his own! Once they figure out what the flotation will do for them, they are GONE! (and of course, I've been carring around my camera in my purse for weeks, and I took it out last night- next week we'll get some video).

It's a girl

2010-01-10T11:45:00.001-08:00

I'm a little jealous of some of the family. Warm weather, Disney trips, and cruises.....maybe with your help, I can convince Adam, that a trip to a warm weather destination would be fun....

A trip probably isn't in our future for the next little bit, but we have exciting news too, we are having another baby and SHE is due around the middle/end of June. The original due date was the 11th, after the first ultrasound, the date was pushed back to the 19th, and I was 10 days late with Brennan, so it'll probably be closer the end of June.

Now for the prep....nursery, names, and potty training a 2 year old.

Sledding

2009-12-31T17:42:00.000-08:00

So we got a sled and warm winter clothes for Christmas from Papa. And we tried them out the day after Christmas. We all had a great time. (I realize there a lot of videos, but they capture what our holiday was like, and it was hard to narrow it down, so there are like 7)

Faceplant

2009-12-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

This one just makes me laugh.

Mr. Patience

2009-12-31T14:37:00.000-08:00

I'm sure the packaging won't get any easier to open as he grows older, but he was very patient as he waited for his dad to untangle his shiny new firetruck.

Christmas Eve at Deb's house

2009-12-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

Brennan didn't really 'get' Christmas like I was hoping he would this year. He knew there were gifts and a Santa, but he didn't stick around very long with the gifts to open them, etc. This video was probably the best gift opening of the holiday by him. We are at Deb's house, my dads fiance. We had a wonderful meal (shrimp and eggrolls), then opened some gifts and played on the Wii.

Christmas Eve Bowling

2009-12-31T14:21:00.000-08:00

Bowling in the afternoon on Christmas Eve has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Brennan enjoyed himself, and liked cheering for everyone- strike or gutter ball!

Christmas Cookies

2009-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

As many folks, I enjoy making Christmas cookies. The weekend before xmas, Friday was the dough making, Saturday was the baking and Sunday was the frosting. We hoped to get all the cookies put away and kitchen cleaned up before he woke up from his nap, but no luck. We were trying to get it on video, him saying 'gingermanman' but no luck there either. So he's here just being cute.

3 minutes after a Christmas cookie

2009-12-31T13:56:00.000-08:00

He doesn't eat many sweets. But here is what happened shortly after the one cookie. (sorry for the noise, but the circles were funny)

Baseball

2009-12-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

So we had the 6th largest storm in Green Bay history come through town on Tuesday and all of Wednesday, we got like 16". I like to thinken my YMCA as very similar to the postal service, we get through and our doors are always open. I can't say that I agree with the policy, but if they tell me I have to be there, I am. But.....I got a snow day yesterday! So Brennan and I played around the house for the day. We played in the basement, and made cookies and then he took a nice nap and I took care of presents and cards. We didn't play outside though, the snowpants and boots are xmas presents and they happen to be in Sheboygan. We'll get outside for the next blizzard.

I must say, it was a long day, I don't know if I was more exausted from him or the fact that I was on my feet all day. But I'm sure the snowdays will get better.

Raspberries

2009-12-10T14:08:00.000-08:00

It's fun the give the little guy raspberries, and to hear him giggle. And one day, out of the blue he gave me one. Quick grab the camera....

Merry Christmas

2009-12-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

dancing

2009-12-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

He has got some fancy footwork. He likes to dance at the Kids Korner. They do some fun interactive songs, two of his favorites are Bear Hunt and Body Rock. I'm not real sure what they look like. I bring my camera with me each day, incase they flag in to watch one of them. But when you ask him what he did in Kids Korner, 'Bear Hunt' is the first thing he says, each day.

playing with the tree

2009-12-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here are a few videos to catch you up on us. I probably should not have shown him how these ornaments work, because now the tree is a very hands on tree. (I think he would have been in the tree anyways....but they were my favorite ornaments growing up, so why not play with them).

Dragon

2009-11-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

For Halloween, he was a dragon. A costume that my mom made for me and my brother when we were kids (he was also using a 30 year old pumpkin bucket that finally needs to be fixed).

It was a typical Wisconsin Halloween- COLD. So we were not planning to go out for two reasons, #1 it was COLD, and #2 he stills gets shy around strangers, so it would"ve been me at the door reminding him...ok now say trick or treat etc.... but some kids came to our door and said there was a firetruck in our neighborhood handing out candy. He loves trucks. So we bundled up, with the costume over the top of the jacket and hat, and headed out. We visited the truck and stopped at a five houses on the way home, one being his babysitters house, Lily, and her mom Jenny, who is with him each day at the day care at the Y.

He was enjoying himself, and by the last 3 houses that we stopped at, when I asked him at the door before it was opened, 'Ok, now what do we say? He had given up the 'trick or treat' and went straight for the 'please.' Manners count....right?

Games with Dad

2009-11-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun game that Adam and Brennan were playing. By the end, he was enjoying making dad do all the work.

Marching Band

2009-11-02T13:40:00.001-08:00

He hasn't become too fond of this trick, yet. We can only hope it stays that way :)

One Bear

2009-10-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

At the moment, this is his favorite book. (it's a long video, almost 2 mins, and he wouldn't be without the bink- so hopefully you can understand him).

Turkey

2009-10-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

We visited a pumpkin patch over the weekend. It was a little chilly, but we still had fun.

No more monkeys on the bed

2009-09-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

The other afternoon, there was lots of giggling coming from his room. When I opened the door, this is what I found. He was so excited, and the giggles and snorting were great.

ABCs

2009-09-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

Brennan is a walking, talking machine (or monster, depends on the day, and my mood I guess) but he is copying everything you say. One day he was saying something that sounded like 'now I know.' We didn't know what he was talking about, he just kept repeating that phrase, so Adam was adding all kinds of randoms to the end.....now I know how to throw the ball, now I know to pet the puppy gentle, blah blah. Well come to figure it out, he is saying part of the ABCs. So when we sing to him, he'll throw in a few letters and then parts of the end verse. When the camera comes out, he's never as good, but you get the idea, and it's still cute anyways.

Choo Choo

2009-09-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

This past week we took a family vacation. We didn't go very far, but just took some time off work and made some day trips etc. We went down to the Milwaukee Zoo. Brennan's favorite part was the trip. And other cute thing he does, when he tells you what a train says.

Hello

2009-09-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

He says 'Hello' pretty cute.

A few more of Uni

2009-08-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more good photos of camp.

Lately he's been cooperating with the camera. He gives me these 'cheesie' grins while saying CHEESE!

Camp Uni

2009-08-28T15:16:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we went camping at Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya, the Green Bay YMCA resident camp in Suring, WI, about an hour northwest from home. The weather was chilly in the mornings, but the sun came out in the afternoons. We stayed in a 20 person cabin, just the 3 of us. We were ready to cook our meals over the fire, but no need, we were invited to join the St Norbert College RA's that were also at camp for a retreat for the meals in the mess hall. Gotta love that camp food, and Brennan and Murphy enjoyed all the attention they each got from the students.

One of the many hikes we went on. Camp is located in the Nicolet Forest. On one of the hikes I was noticing tracks. 'Oh look at the deer tracks....and then a few steps away- do you think those are dog tracks?......' Adam responded with, 'where are the people tracks then?.....' so we took a few more steps and then I said let turn around and do our hiking on the camp property.' Not like there couldn't be large wild animals on camp property, but then the staff might have a better chance of finding us if we had not returned.

We went on a paddle boat and canoe ride. I wish we could have gone swimming and played in the sand though.

At least I got to go swimming! I am offically part of the Polar Bear Club, I even have a patch. The water was nice, the air was the killer.

He likes his slides. He's getting more comfortable with going down on his butt and back, but he sits down about a foot from the top of the slide and shimmies over or we give him a little tug. It was pretty chilly this morning- if you hadn't noticed the color of his hands.

This is what one looks like after a long weekend at camp. He'll have a blast when he's here on his own.