Thomas, Party of Four: January 2016

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Chilly Zoo Trip

Lest you think that Avery gets to have all the fun...

I try to take Ben to do something fun on my Fridays off. After getting a new annual zoo pass from Uncle Tom and Aunt Laurie for Christmas, we hit up the zoo one very chilly morning. I thought we would stick to the buildings. I should have realized that Ben would race through the buildings at break-neck speed. We had the place to ourselves and could have taken our time to look at all the exhibits but Ben was on a mission (what the mission was, I never found out).

Briefly pausing to see the lion fish

We still had fun, though. I love spending time with him one-on-one.

Party Circuit

Avery's been on a birthday party circuit the last couple weekends.

First up, a skating party.

Next up, a party for two of her good friends at Pinkitzel!

Ben was a little disgruntled that he didn't get to attend any parties that day, but was appeased when sister gave him her party favor.

The next day we were off to another party-this one Ben got to attend:)

Next weekend she got to celebrate another friend's birthday at the gym.

Fun times!

Goodbye 2015!

To finish out December, we mostly hung around the house and played with new gifts, watched movies, played games, and enjoyed a little dusting of snow.

Just a little bit of snow, but it was fun to get out in for a few minutes.

Before we all had to go back to work and school, we had a family fun day of bowling and arcade games at Main Event. We discovered that it's really cheap to take Ben to the arcade as he just runs from one machine to the next with little to no patience to actually stay and play a game. Not quite as cheap to take Rob to the arcade:)

We had a wonderful holiday season with lots of time spent together and with those we love. Avery was ready to get back to school, not so sure Rob and I could say the same!

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Christmas Morning!

It was a flurry of wrapping paper! Avery's gift from Santa was a sewing machine and Ben's gift was a crane truck. Ben also received a RC monster truck and Avery a Caboodle filled with bath products and some makeup. They also received some books (the new illustrated Harry Potter!) and puzzles, games, movies, clothes, and various other little items. It's pretty easy and fun to shop for them, as they don't really ask for much! Avery, rather, asked for approximately 76 items in the months leading up to Christmas, but none of them stuck or were remembered. She also wizened up and started asking to check the "stars" (reviews) of products online. That came in very handy when she found out the junky soda machine she saw advertised on YouTube only had 1 star...

After we opened gifts we got ready to head to Mimi and Papa's. I don't know where Ben was...likely somewhere nearby not willing to play my games.

After a delicious brunch these lucky kids got to open presents, yet again. Unbeknownst to us, Ben just started opening presents on his own so we scrambled to keep up with him.

We had a wonderful day and evening! It all went by so quickly, as it always does. It truly is amazing how we plan for a month, and it's all over in a day. That's why I *try* to celebrate with lots of activities throughout December. This was the first year Ben was really into opening gifts, and he got quite used to it. He thought they would just keep coming, so he was a bit disappointed when we told him there were no more gifts. Hopefully as they grow, they will realize all the aspects of the season and the importance of spending time with those that we love over simply unwrapping presents.