2nd place winner...

of his work's Mustache contest. As Mike said, "Such a nice photo. Too bad I have a mustache."

Rainbarrel Advertisement...

Tommy should be in commercials. He didn't even pose for this, he just loves watering from the rainbarrel. What a salesman.

July Updates

This summer has been so busy, I almost don't know where to start! Tommy is definitely a toddler, and a bundle of fun and energy. A few firsts in the last month or so:

1) Tommy's first Twins Game! He was in no hurry to leave at the end.

2) Tommy's first McDonald's french fry... and he asked for more. So, he seems to have enjoyed it which makes me both happy and sad!

3) Tommy went underwater at swimming lessons, and didn't mind it.

4) Tommy's first Bavarian Blast (i.e. Heritagefest with a new name). He enjoyed all of it except the Narren and the big stuffed Goose, Gnomes and Mushrooms, and would have preferred the music be a bit quieter. I also learned something during that weekend in New Ulm - parades during naptime just aren't as much fun as they could be.

5) Tommy's 2nd Saints Game - with all the Larsen aunts and uncles and cousins. Tommy had a great time! He kept a close eye on Madonna, the big pink pig mascot and seemed to really like her. Then she got closer, so Mike and I decided to go have Tommy's picture taken with her. Tommy was terrified, just terrified. For the rest of the game, he kept repeating, "piggy bye-bye?". I must have said, "Yes, Piggy is bye-bye" about 50 times.

6) Lots of new words! Including everybody and umbrella. Tommy, what color is a bus? Lellow. Tommy, what color is a strawberry? Lellow. No Tommy, a strawberry is red. Tommy says "Lred". All colors start with an L. Adorable. And everything in the world is lellow. He seems to know what every animal I can think of can say (thank you daycare).

We've seen the Poynters a few times since they've moved to MN, and Tommy and Garrett are pretty cute to watch together. You'll recall this picture from last summer when they first met:

And now:

In other news, Tommy still loves to pretend to mow the lawn, and watch anyone else mow the lawn. Tommy loves to play with balls, chalk, go for walks and still loves ducks and Elmo. He's growing tall enough to reach doorknobs, and knows how they work. He's recently started to want to sit in the front seat of the car and pretend to drive. He insists on saying goodbye to his toys when he's done playing or getting out of the bathtub - he's so polite.

On the sad side, we found out that our daycare center is closing on Aug 15. We're crushed! Ask Tommy what his name is? The answer will be "Sheila", his favorite daycare teacher. So, we're on a hunt for a new wonderful daycare and accepting all advice and tips any of you may have. After touring 8+ centers in the area, I feel like an expert yet still don't know what to do.

Last but not least, we had a party to welcome the Poynters to Minnesota! Dave took so many wonderful pictures, but here are a few of my favorites.

Garrett

TommyRiley with Lauren and ConnorTommy and Maddie

Swimming Lessons

Tommy and Mike started swimming lessons a few weeks ago. Tommy seems to like it! Mostly he likes the balls and boats they get to play with, but Mike says he's getting the hang of it. My favorite part is when I walk up afterwards with a towel, and Tommy's teeth are chattering and he's shivering... yet he still is pointing to the pool, saying 'water' and 'ball'. What a trooper! Click on the picture to make it larger so you can see Tommy's happy little grin!

I missed May...

I know I missed May - oops. We were busy, and took plenty of cute pictures but the blogging just didn't keep up. But I'm making up for it! There are quite a few new posts tonight... and we'll see if I stop anytime soon. Some updates on Tommy - another fun item he learned at daycare: he never started saying no, he just skipped ahead to saying "No way". He's also started saying things like water, bubbles, mow, outside, baby, and Ernie. He knows many animal sounds, and most of his daycare teacher's names - especially Sheila and Hana. I love when he repeats what I say, however surprised I may be at the time. He loves to be outside and enjoys trying to drink from a regular cup. He's learned to give kisses, which melt my heart every time. I could go on and on... but check out the blogs below and I'll try to keep up with my blogging!

Minnesota's 150th Birthday

We celebrated by visiting the Capitol for the big Party! It was extra interesting because the Legislature was in Session that day, and we got to climb up to the roof to see the Golden Horses!

Who needs toys...

...when we have huge furniture boxes and Daddy's muddy boots! We also had a lot of mud in the backyard, but I didn't let him linger in that long enough to take a picture. We're in the midst of a landscaping project, and we'll post after-pictures when its done.

Katie graduates Daycare... and Cake!

Our niece Katie graduated from daycare this spring, with 4 other preschoolers, and the whole place partied. This meant that Tommy's room, the toddlers, got cake. 12 toddlers with cake - his teachers are saints, or crazy.

Katie is in the middle - Congrats Katie! We'll miss having you at daycare this fall.

Tommy mostly likes frosting. Other toddlers were cleaner, but many were much worse. Adorable.

Kansas City!

The Larsens visited the Rasks for Memorial Day Weekend this year. The drive was smooth, the weather was warm, and the company was fabulous! Tommy even warmed up to Zee (their dog) after a few days, and his new favorite word for many, many days was puppy. Sarah and I took the boys to Jiggle Jam one day, which was a huge festival filled with strollers, bubbles, corn dogs and diapers - and it was fun! The boys golfed, of course and there was a lot of commiserating as usual. Thanks to Kevin, Sarah, Tony and Zee for being such wonderful hosts! Here are some highlights. There is also a video of Tommy and Zee - go to the link at the right for "YouTube stuff from us" and look for Tommy Pets a Dog. Makes me laugh everytime.


Jiggle Jam was HOT, and Tommy didn't exactly acclimate quickly... but....





The huge area of fountains and screaming wet kids helped that alot! And I love this picture of Tommy's cute minnesota-hued belly, which matches my arm. Part of the reason the belly looks fair is because of all the sunscreen I slathered on!

Tony and Sarah

He does like gelato!

The planting of the Friendship Bush.

19 months already!

I can't believe my little baby boy is 19 months old today . I'm so proud of him, and so amazed by him everyday. I practically fall over with surprise when he tells me, "Mommy sit down". Or when he gets anxious and whiny at a stoplight as soon as it turns green because I didn't go yet. Or today, when he was sad and concerned at ECFE this morning because another little girl missed her mommy. He surprises me daily! Here are some of my favorite recent photos. My mom stayed with us last week because Tommy had a fever for a few days, and Tommy had a blast. I think the fever may have been on purpose to get Grandma up here. Grandpa came and stayed for a night too, and we got some cute photos.

You'll note here that he appears to be sitting on a Cabbage Patch Doll, and you are right. Tommy always backs up with books, and sits down on our laps to have us read to him. It's the cutest thing - so this day, he decided to back up onto Cabbage Patch's lap, and have her read to him. He also chose a John Hassler novel to read. He's a funny kid. My mom was laughing too hard to even take a picture!

Last weekend, we celebrated our nephew Max's 1st communion. We have so many great pictures - but here are my favorites. Tommy in a tie!

Light Sentence

Tommy is doing a good job stringing words together. We get the point when he says, "I sit down." He also likes to share success with, "I did it!" "What's that?" is an occasional question too. He even attaches "Momma" to the end of a sentence every now and again.

-Proud parent (but you knew that because this is a blog after all)

Easter in Minnesota...

You never know what Easter may bring, right? Here are some lovely pictures of us trying to enjoy our White Easter. Grandma H stayed with us most of Easter week because Tommy had strep (again), and he LOVED having Grandma here. We headed to NU for Easter, and it was much harder to get a picture of Tommy in his Easter outfit this year. He's much too busy. But here are some of my favorites from that week. Enjoy!

Not sure what he was doing, but he sure was cute doing it!

Proudly showing his artwork to Grandma

Holding still for a picture! Amazing!

Mini-Mike

Party shirt...

Children's Museum

Mike and I took Tommy to the Children's Museum last weekend. We weren't quite sure how it would go, but it was a hit. Mike and I enjoyed the Sesame Street exhibit more than Tommy did - I took his picture sitting on the steps from the show, and he kept looking at me with an odd face. As in "Why is Mommy so excited about this - they are just steps...". But Tommy did like the area where he could push buttons to hear different Sesame Street songs, and he was not shy about dancing to all of them! Tommy had a lot of fun in other parts of the museum, like toddler world and at the machine that had little balls going through it - no idea what you call it, but Tommy was very into it. We'll definitely go again!

Tommy wins! (and other cute pics)

Tommy is a busy bee lately! He loves his puzzles, books and chatting away about whatever he sees. Mike and I understand very little of it, but it still thrilling to hear. Tommy did get his first post-tubes ear infection which was a bad one. Because he has tubes, all of the fluid can drain out, but now that we've see how MUCH drains out, I can't imagine how uncomfortable he was before when all of that fluid was behind his eardrum. Poor guy! But he's a trooper and coming through it pretty well. Tommy had his 15 month appointment last week - and he's dropped to 40th percentile for weight, up to 60th percentile for height, and yes, his head is still topping the charts at 97th percentile! We had our first non-familyorfriend-babysitter last week that we actually had to pay. What an adjustment for me - I still see myself as the babysitter, not the mom hiring a babysitter, but all went well! Here are a few cute photos from the last week or so. Tommy and Daddy have a good time wrestling, and Tommy is clearly winning in this picture.

Tommy also likes to play with a puzzle with doors on it where he can hide pieces behind doors - and here is his "where is it?" face - I laughed so hard, which only encouraged him.

And, last but not least, doesn't everyone take a picture like this at some point? It's hard to resist. Tommy loves tubby time, but not hair washing time.

Christmas 2007

A very good Christmas after all. Sarah and I hosted the Larsen side on Saturday. That part was highligted by a good meal and a visit from Santa Claus. We spent Christmas eve and day in New Ulm. Merry Christmas.


Santa stopped by to see Ella, Katie, Tommy, Ricky and Max.

Not sure whose idea it was for this photo, but Santa Claus poses with Mike. Santa had to get back to the reindeer.

Speaking of reindeer.

A nice photo of Tommy and cousin Brianna.

Tommy and cousin Brent.