Tommy's School Christmas Program

Tommy had his school program on December 7 at night.  It was a cute little program and we had fun watching our little "star!"  He always takes his performance very seriously and sings all of the words and does all of the motions.  I am enjoying it all that I can, knowing that it won't be long before he is too cool for things like this :) 

 Tommy with his class and the afternoon class.  He is in the middle row on the far left.

 Mommy with Tommy after the performance.  Tommy was blessed to have quite the following- Mommy, Daddy, Henry, Aunt Kristina, Papa and Nonnie, Grandma and Grandpa, and Gigi and Juju were all there to watch!

 Tommy with his great grandparents.

 Aunt Kristina with the performer!

Papa and Tommy

Thanksgiving

Wow!  I am behind!  We've been so busy celebrating and preparing for Christmas that I haven't caught up with my blog!  Oops!

For Thanksgiving we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa DeVries' house.  There were over 20 of us there so it was a full house!  It was fun to see everyone and remember all of the many blessings God has given us.

 Ella (10 months) and Henry (14 months) were so funny together!  They just looked at each other and then stole each other's toys :)

 Henry's second Thanksgiving, but the first where he could actually enjoy some of the delicious food!

Grandpa always organizes the "tarp game" after Thanksgiving dinner which involves LOTS of goodies and prizes for everyone!  This year my cousin, Victoria, was the manager and Tommy was the assistant manager.  He took his position very seriously and reported several suspected cheating incidents to Grandpa. 

That night, Tommy and I joined my family and some of their friends for a game of bowling.  Tommy did really well with the bumpers up!  He had a great time and as we drove out of the bowling ally he told me that the only thing that would make the day better would be if he could have some McDonalds.  So off to McDonalds we went and Tommy declared it the "most fun day ever."  He is at such a great age!



Fourteen Months

I was going to stop doing these each month after he turned one, but after skipping a month I found that I sort of missed it.  Maybe I'll stop in a few months, but for now it's a nice reminder of where he was at each stage.  Besides, he's the second child and I'll need to look back at this if I ever get around to his baby book :)

 Henry Christopher- 14 Months Old

 At 14 months Henry weighs 26lbs, 3oz.  He is a fun baby with a definite temper.  He knows what he wants and will scream until he gets it!  He loves church nursery and playing with toy hammers.  He will eat almost anything for his daddy and almost nothing for his mommy :)  His favorite foods are pancakes, waffles, raisins, green beans, and peas.  He has an enormous sweet tooth and will dive for any sweets- especially cake.  He hates socks and shoes- they rarely last more than 10 seconds on his feet.  He loves to pretend to call da-da on the phone and will listen intently to Nathan if he does get a chance to talk to him on the phone.

He can stand without support, but doesn't do it often.  I've seen him do it for up to about 30 seconds without falling.  He is starting to get the hang of walking behind his push toy, but can't take more than a few steps before it slips too far ahead of him.  He crawls extremely fast and cruises around furniture.  He can point to his head and sometimes to his belly if asked.  He has 10 teeth- 5 on top and 5 on the bottom.  He says uh-oh, ma-ma, da-da, all done, what's that (wasat), cookie, and woof-woof (for any animal at all).  He waves bye-bye especially when he feels we should be done talking to someone :)  He has mostly given up his morning nap, but still needs a little snooze in the car and naps for about 3 hours in the afternoon.  He sleeps for 12 hours at night.

Catching Up

November has been a busy month so far!!  We've been enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, celebrating birthdays, and going on field trips.  Here are some pictures of the last week...

 Henry in the wagon during our walk to the park last week.

 Tommy had a roller skating field trip with his class.  It was so cute to see so many 4 year olds learn to skate!  Tommy was pretty proud of himself by the end of it!

 Tommy on skates- watch out world!  My phone doesn't take the best action shots, but it does give you an idea of how fast his arms were moving trying to keep him upright!

 Jumping in the leaves!!  Tommy loved it- Henry wasn't too sure what was going on.

 Henry just sat in one spot and watched Tommy jump.

 Tommy was goofing around one night and made me take his picture and promise to put it on the computer because people would think it was funny :)

 We celebrated Nonnie Debbie's birthday with dinner, cake and presents!  Tommy loves parties!!  (We also celebrated Uncle Chris Batts' a few days later, but I didn't take any pictures.)

 Joking around with Daddy and Papa

 We checked out the Kalamazoo Christmas Parade.  We didn't last too long since both boys wanted Daddy to hold them!  Henry was mesmorized by the whole thing and loved the marching bands.

 Brothers in their matching jammies!

Nonnie bought Tommy a new hat and he loves it- it has hardly come off of his head for the past 48 hours. 

Henry's First Haircut

On Saturday, Henry had his first haircut.  Nathan's been fighting for a cut since mid-summer, but I kept pushing it off wanting to keep him a little baby as long as possible.  However, even I had to admit that it was getting long :) 

Here are some before shots:

We took him to see Chrissy who also cuts Tommy's hair.  She was wonderful!  Her patience was tested as he was extremely wiggly, but it was worth it in the end.  He didn't cry the entire time, but wanted to comb his own hair with the comb he was holding and really wanted to see the scissors as she cut.  

After:

I think that it makes him look so much older!  I do love how it makes his little cheeks stand out and his big brown eyes are much more noticible.  I only shed a few tears and now I am slowly getting used to his new look :)

Halloween

What a great Halloween!  We had such a fun weekend.  Nathan got home on Friday afternoon after traveling all week for work and Tommy immediately put him to work carving pumpkins :)  Saturday was trick or trunk at church and on Sunday we did a little trick or treating around the neighborhood.  Tommy loved all of it and is already planning his costume for next year.  Henry had fun watching everyone and was busy just taking it all in.  He loved the candy we let him eat and was sticky by the end of the night!  It was a spook-tacular time!

 Nathan the carver and Henry the observer

 Tommy was really into his pumpkin this year!

Henry with his pumpkin

 Tommy with the finished pumpkins!

 Tommy and Henry- the Tigers

Henry- Halloween 2010 

Tommy- Halloween 2010

Tommy, Henry, and Papa at Trick or Trunk.  Tommy loved Papa's costume and has decided that he will be a gorilla next year :) 

Uncle Trevor, Tommy, Henry, and Aunt Sarah

Nathan and I were bats (get it?- the Batts) :) 

Grandpa Batts was dressed as Shrek- Tommy couldn't figure out who it was for awhile!  Tommy with both grandpas at trick or trunk.

Raisin Thief

Henry LOVES raisins.  He would eat them all day long if I would let him.  He snuck into the pantry on Friday morning and managed to get ahold of the raisins and get them open.  He was so proud of himself and his snack!



Halloween Zoo

On Friday the boys and I traveled down to Fort Wayne, Indiana to catch up with my good friend, Kristy, and her daughter, Ashley.  We had a wonderful time seeing each other again and the kids loved the Halloween zoo.  It was a great afternoon!

The boys wore their costumes the entire day.  I think Tommy had his on from 7:30am until 9pm.  Here they are ready for lunch!

 Adorable Ashley and Tommy.  Tommy keeps talking about his new friend- Ashley the butterfly :)

 They had punch cards for the kids to make sure they got to each candy station.  Tommy was really into making sure that he got all 10 punches.

 Tommy and Ashley running through the maze.

 Tommy the Tiger



 Henry the Tiger

 I think this picture of Henry is SO funny.  I have no idea what he was looking at.

Henry was pretty happy with his candy haul :) 

Henry only napped for 10 minutes the entire day and it was in the car right after we left the zoo.  He was tired the next day!