We packed the boys in the van and along with my dad, we headed to north western PA to spend Thanksgiving with almost everyone from my dad’s side of the family. It was the first time my aunts and grandmother had met Benny & Roman.

The food was fantastic and it was so wonderful for the entire gang to be together for a holiday. I was super excited to see my Aunt Peggy because she lives in Wyoming now so it’s not often she makes it out to the East Coast.

Aunt Karen & Uncle Dan… thank you so much for your hospitality and all the work you put into preparing all the good eats. It was much appreciated.

Owen was a big fan of desert. When my aunt was putting the pies out, Owen comes in the living room licking his finger saying…”YUMMMM… that pie is tasty.” So I go in the kitchen and their is the littlest circle in one of the pieces of pumpkin pie… just about the size of a 2 year old’s finger. Little bugger.

Benny really enjoyed his first Thanksgiving… he had some stuffing, peas, corn casserole and cranberry sauce. He loved it!

Owen and Alex had fun playing. They got to rough around in the snow and play with the new toys my aunts and gram got them. They shed a few tears over sharing, but what’s new with a 4 year old and 2 year old.

I took alot of photos… but these are some of my favorites from the day.

Mike and I with my dad, sister & her husband.

Benny seeing Aunt Jenny’s food and he tried to dive in!


Roman saying, “What, I’m not suppose to eat the napkin?”

Benny tired from his super turkey day feast while the GGM holds him.

The boys playing in the snow.


Benny and Mommy

My Aunt Peggy, Dad, Aunt Karen and Uncle Harry.

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I don’t even know where to start. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any better, it does. God has blessed me and my family in so many ways and we are very thankful for his many gifts.

I’m thankful for…

• My little family… Mike, Owen and Ben make every day brighter and give life meaning.
• Mike… he is such a great husband and father and does a fantastic job as a Stay-at-Home Dad. Not many men are cut out for that role, but he does it well and I hope in the years to come he is thankful for the wonderful opportunity he has to be with his children each and everyday (I know I’m jealous!).
• Benjamin… this year brought us our second beautiful baby boy and he’s such a joy. I was overwhelmed with the happiness Owen brought Mike and I and it’s hard to believe there was a feeling greater than that, but Benny Boo has made our family more complete and happier than ever.
• Our terrible toddler terror… Owen can make me want to pull my hair out at times, but his growing personality is so soft and dear. Like today when I came home from work and he said, “I’m so glad to see you Mama!” He melts my heart.
• Maxie … the best money we ever spent was this dog. She is the calm in this chaotic household. She’s gentle with the boys and she loves us unconditionally.
• Our family… our parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins… they are so supporting, thoughtful – gosh I could go on forever. They are just plain wonderful and we are so lucky to have such a loving support system.
• Our friends… both old and new… they bring comforting laughter and a helping hand when needed. Some people are lucky to have one good friend and Mike and I are fortunate to have a circle of several friends who we can depend on.

I could go on and on with the many things we are thankful for this year, but the above are the most important ones.

So this Thanksgiving, the Thomas Family hopes you find thanks in all the good in your life and have a very Happy Turkey Day!!

Oh – and what’s a post without a picture… here are two of our little sunshine this week in all his happy, smiling glory (too bad he is sick now). I would post some of Owen too, but as you all know, he’s not as loving of the camera as Benji.

Here are some more pictures that I took the other day of Alex, Roman, Owen and Maxie! =)

They aren’t perfect… it was kind of hectic and I didn’t have alot of space to work with. But, they are cute and it was more practice to get better as this hobby I call photography.

You might ask why is Benny naked in a reindeer hat and with Christmas ornaments? Well, because he’s cute and because I can.

For the longest time I’ve seen such cute holiday pictures like this with other babies who are around 6 months old and always wanted them of my own kids. So, today I told myself… so what… he’s big, and he is 9 months old, but he’s still my baby and I can’t help it I have a baby who turns 1 so close to Christmas. I’m going to try anyway.

I love how they turned out. These pictures make me just want to reach through the computer screen and squeeze his cheeks. I’m head over heels in love with my naked reindeer baby boy!

Here is another adorable shot of him in clothes.

And yes, I know he needs a hair cut. I’m just putting it off as long as I can because he’s my baby and I’m not ready just yet. I’ll probably break down before Christmas.

I also took pictures today of Owen, Roman and Alex (Maxie too) so look for those this week. Don’t worry… they are fully clothed.

I love baby gear. To the point where it’s almost an addiction (especially strollers). But the one baby gear item that I love the most and is my all time favorite has been our Fisher Price Papasan Swing. It was a god send with Owen, I then lent it to a friend for her daughter, now it’s back going through kid number 3 with Ben.

Ben loves it too. He’s always preferred the swing to his bouncy seat and even at 23 pounds and over 30 inches, this little man still adores his swing. It’s one of his favorite things. I’m going to feel bad for him because pretty soon we’re going to have to pack it up because he’ll be too big.

But, the swing won’t be done for good, it’s going back to my friend for her second daughter. Hopefully her new baby will like it as much as it’s last 3 little munchins.

Owen hasn’t been too fond of Ben since he was welcomed into our family. He’s very wishy washy and will only play, touch or be nice to Ben on his own terms.

Well, this morning, Mike found a “Brother Friendly Zone” in the house… the BATH TUB! He decided to give the boys a bath together and it was a big hit with Owen and Ben. Owen was very nice to his “baby brudder” and enjoyed the combined bath time. He even tried to wash Benny up. Looks like we’ll have to do this more often.

And of course, Maxie was sitting in the bathroom while this was going on and wanted to join the boys so we let her! God love this dog!

Tuesday I had off work! YEAH for being a state employee! We had a family day and went to the Whitaker Center’s Harsco Science Center/KidsPlace in downtown Harrisburg. WOW… what a great place for kids. The boys (and Mike and I) had a lot of fun.

There was a crawl area for babies Ben’s age, a pretend market, a stage, a big water table, a house that was “under construction” with building bricks and a slide, neat science type things… I could go on.

Owen loved it all, but Ben’s favorite was the water table. He was totally loving life and had a blast. He was splashing and playing so hard his face and hair were soaked. It was adorable. It was great to finally see him partake in one of our family days and not just sit in the stroller.

We had such a great time that we purchased a family membership so we can go back for free all year round. It will be WONDERFUL for Mike because now he will have a place to take the boys during the colder months since his park time is dwindling. There is plenty of room at KidsPlace and the Science Center for Owen and Ben to burn off some energy.

Here are some of the pictures I took… nothing fancy, but it captured the moment.

Look how happy (and wet) he was!


Crawling around the baby area.


Blowing a BIG bubble with Daddy.


Testing out the Ambulance.


Time to check out at the Market.

Daddy and his little guy.

Mike and I are blessed to have such wonderful Moms. Words can not express how much they mean to us. They are wonderful grandmother’s, thoughtful, caring, and still have our best interest at heart even though we are grown with our own family now. They always put their family first and will help in a pinch without a second thought.

Personally I don’t think I appreciated our mom’s as much as I should have until I became a Mom myself. I now know their unconditional love, and from Mike’s mom’s perspective, I now know what it is like to love your son and always want to be apart of his life, even after he has a wife. =)

Here are our Mom’s with Benny this past weekend when we took our family pictures. Our boys are so so lucky to have the best Mimi and Grammy ever!

And here is me and my mommy… I adore her. Although she makes me want to pull my hair out at times and I sometimes wonder what’s going on in that head of hers, she’s my best buddy. At 30, I still can’t make a major decision without talking to her first and we chat often because she gives good sound advice and I feel I do the same for her. I’m very fortunate to live so close to her so she can still be apart of my daily life.

What can I say… I owe a HUGE thanks to our family…Mike’s parents, my mom and Steve for this….

Yes, that is right…. a FAMILY picture! And not only did we get one, we got 2!! (I’m not posting the other just yet because I might use it for Christmas cards.)

I have wanted a nice family picture of us for the longest time and I finally have it! I got my camera all ready and the settings just right and passed it off to my father-in-law to snap away. Mike’s mom, my mom and Steve got the boys attention and actually got Owen to not melt down for at least 30 seconds on 2 different occasions! =) I’m one happy woman!

Here are two other pictures from our session at the park (More pictures from this mini photo shoot to come later this week!). Thanks again to our wonderful family for making my picture dream come true!

Me and my munchie moo!

Handsome Owie Pies!

I never thought in my early adult life I’d see either a minority or a woman on the way to the White House, but tomorrow, one of those two things will happen. Either Barack Obama will become our first African American President or Sarah Palin will be our first female Vice President.

While this election year has been quite overwhelming, and at times annoying, I’m excited to be part of history. Mike and I were torn if we should vote or not because we don’t 100% love either candidate, but we feel it’s important to vote, so we are. I’ll be at the polls on the way to work when they open at 7am, and he is going to pop Owen and Ben in the double stroller and vote in the mid morning. Our votes will probably cancel each other out because we don’t see eye to eye on politics, but luckily, politics isn’t a key ingredient to a happy marriage! =)

It will be interesting to see the events unfold tomorrow. And no matter who wins… I hope they can put this country back in the right direction.