Thomas and his Friends

Just in case anyone doubts the love Tommy has for Thomas the Tank Engine, here are a few pictures of his track and all of his engines. I won't even admit how many hours of my life I wasted designing and assembling this track. :)

He probably plays with this at least 2 hours per day.

Here are a few of his engines. I found more after taking the picture and I'm sure that there are more hiding throughout the house. He knows the name of every single one of the engines and can tell you if one is missing. He can also usually remember who gave him which engines regardless of how long ago they gave it to him.

Christmas with the Batts Family

Christmas late afternoon/ evening was spent with Nathan's family. It is always fun to watch all of the little ones open their presents and this year was no exception! Tommy was nervous that he was going to have to open a doll (with 5 girl cousins there were lots of dolls!). After watching his cousin open one he turned to Nathan and Grandpa Batts and said, "I can't want one of those." He looked a little scared! Lucky for him, most of his gifts were more engines so he was a happy kid!

Showing off his newest engine.

Opening the signal for his train track.

Playing with his new toys!

Christmas Morning!

Opening stockings from Santa!

Tommy thought it was so fun that Santa ate the cookie we left out and drank the milk. He keeps asking if we could maybe leave some more out so that maybe Santa will come back.

More presents!

Playing with Elmo! He was so fun to open gifts with- he was so excited about each one that he opened, but you could definitely tell which ones were his favorites. It was a nice relaxing morning with just the three of us!

Christmas with the Plaisier Family

Christmas Eve was spent with Trisha's side of the family. We enjoyed a nice dinner together, church, and then Tommy's favorite part- gift opening. He was so excited about Christmas and loved every gift he opened. His absolute favorite was "Cranky" from Thomas the Train- he has been asking for it for a long time. It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed being with family!

The ribbon is hard!

Yet another present!

Oh!!! I love my new DVD!

Playing with Cranky after all of the presents were opened.

He spent a long time after presents playing with his new engines. When it was time to leave he carefully supervised the loading of the car to make sure that no one tried to take his new toys :)

Christmas with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa DeVries

Last night we celebrated Christmas with Great Grandma (Gi-Gi) and Great Grandpa (Ju-Ju). Tommy had a great time being center of attention! Here he is passing out the presents.

He got a Thomas the Train conductor hat which has already gotten lots of wear- he is very proud of his new hat!

He also received Billy the engine- we haven't seen much of him today- he's been busy with all of his new "stuff!"

He also received an elecric engine- here is he with all of his new stuff- Billy, Harold the helicopter, his hat, and the green engine. It's pretty much where he has been ever since he opened his presents!

Santa

A few days ago we headed to the mall to visit Santa! Tommy was a little nervous, but didn't cry- he was SO proud of himself afterwards!

Snowplow

The highlight of Tommy's Saturday was when Uncle Chris stopped by to plow our driveway and let Tommy ride in the truck. Tommy was very excited! He told us that it was fun, but they ran into a little trouble (Uncle Chris hit the curb!) He is still talking about getting to push the buttons. When they were finished, Tommy thought he needed to clean Uncle Chris' plow off for him and ran to get the broom. Tommy doesn't take a break from his need to clean!

Thanks Uncle Chris!! It was fun!

Raking with Daddy

Tommy "helped" daddy rake up a few leaves before we got too much more snow!

As you can tell, Tommy was a huge help!

Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving since I was a little girl, my family has made gingerbread houses. This year we all worked on one gingerbread village with Tommy. The village has two houses, a railroad track, a train, cars, and a tunnel. Tommy is very proud of his creation!

He only consumed a "small" amount of candy and frosting :)

I guess this is their idea of sharing! Tommy with Auntie Sarah.

Helping Grandma work on the tunnel.

Supervising Aunt Kristina and Uncle Dan.

The placement of the cars and engines was a big decision.

So proud of the final creation!!

Santa has been sighted in Kalamazoo!

The weather felt "winter-ish" for the first time today and so after breakfast the three of us headed downtown to check out the Kalamazoo Holiday Parade. Tommy wasn't too sure what to expect, but he enjoyed all of the floats, bands, and the candy being thrown into the crowds!

Watching the parade.

Uncle Chris and Ellie were at the parade too

Tommy's favorite was a toss up between the Mickey balloon and the little train that was driving in the parade.

I remember being a little girl watching this parade. When Santa came at the end it was SO exciting! Christmas is less than 7 weeks away- can you believe it?

Trick-or-Treat

We had a great Halloween! It was the first year that Tommy actually sort of "got" what was going on and it was so much fun! He's been anticipating the event all week and was thrilled that the day was finally here. We went to Trick-or-Trunk at church where he had a great time eating candy, decorating cookies, and running around the hay maize. Afterwards we made the rounds trick-or-treating at neighbors' and relatives' houses. When we tucked him into bed he asked if we could please do Halloween again tomorrow- I don't think he understood that it only comes once a year!

Here are some pictures of our little lion- enjoy!

Mackinac Island

This weekend we took a short family vacation to Mackinac Island. It was so much fun!! We spent the night in Mackinaw City and then woke up early the next morning to ride the ferry boat to the Island. Tommy was very excited to ride the boat, but not at all excited to wear his heavy coat for the first time this winter. After I put it on he was pouting and when I asked him what was wrong he answered, "I look like a big blue monster."

Mommy and Tommy on the ferry

Trying to sneak into the Grand Hotel. This was about as far as we got before we were stopped :)

Daddy and Tommy at breakfast.

We took the horse carriage ride tour around the island. Tommy LOVED the horses. These two were Sam and Doc and Tommy talked to them for our entire 10 minute stop. For those not familiar with Mackinac- it is a 6 square mile island north of Michigan's lower peninsula. There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island so everyone gets around either on bikes or by horse.

Tommy asked me to take his picture with the pumpkins in front of our hotel. He is getting really good at saying "cheese," but not very good at looking at the camera while saying it.

Tommy at Insect World looking at the butterflies.

When you pushed the different pictures on the wall it made different sounds. Tommy played with it for longer than we were actually looking at the butterflies.

Tommy loved all of the horses so much and kept asking to bring them home. He thought Cooper, our dog, would really like to see a horse :) We didn't purchase a real horse, but we did buy this small plastic one that Tommy named Robert. No clue where that name came from! He is incredibly proud of Robert and has been sleeping with him at night.

Mommy and Tommy on the beach. You can see the Mackinac Bridge in the background.

Ready for night-night in the hotel!

The next day we met up with my parents and Dan and Kristina at Arcadia Bluffs Golf Club. The boys played golf while us girls and Tommy drove around northern Michigan and did a little shopping. Here's Tommy and Papa playing on the practice green.

The golfers- look how pretty Lake Michigan is in the background. We had gorgeous weather!