Jillian doesn’t each much of anything. She is not a fan of meat, but this girl loves herself some carbs, especially pizza. If you ask her what she wants for dinner, 8 times out of 10 she’ll say pizza.

Well, on St. Patrick’s Day, Mike was cooking something we knew she wouldn’t eat, so he got Jilly her own Boboli pizza to make. She had so much fun cooking her favorite food with her Daddy. Pizza is his favorite food too. Be still their pizza lovin’ hearts.

Back in February, Benny lost his first tooth! He was so excited that he “pulled it out all by himself”. I was happy I didn’t have another kid with 4 front teeth like Owen when his bottom teeth first came loose and the permanent were already there behind the baby teeth.

Then a week later he lost his second bottom tooth. He got $5 from the tooth fairy for his first tooth and his logic was that it should be $10 for the second, $15 for the third, $20 for the fourth, etc. Not quite buddy. The tooth fairy has lots of kids to leave money for. Look for singles the from here on out! Still no sign of the replacements, but I love his toothless smile. It’s hard to even tell because his teeth are so small. Another first for Benny in the books!

The 2014 Blue Devil Basketball season has come to an end. I loved it. It was such an enjoyable season from start to end for the whole family and the best league we’ve participated in with one of the kids. They didn’t win a game, but the kids improved so much. Mike had a great group of boys. He really did. And the parents all thought he did a wonderful job as coach and I will have to agree with them – he was fantastic. So proud of him, Owen and all the boys on the team. We all look forward to the 2015 hoops season.

Two weeks ago we decided it was time to take the front off Jillian’s crib and turn it into a toddler bed. It went well. She didn’t try to get out of bed and snuggled right in with her blankies.

But the second morning we found her sleeping with her blankies on her bedroom floor and the third morning Mike found her like this (she is sleeping).

Mike and I looked at each other and realized that the big girl bed could not wait until she was 3. She needed one now. She’s just too big for that little mattress. So, I got to hunting online for the best bed option and big girl bedding. It was ordered and yesterday, just like that, our last baby got her big girl bed.

We went with a daybed to maximize the space in her room so she can still play and so we could keep her room layout and decor exactly the same. I love blue and pink bedrooms but always see them with blue walls and pink bedding. I did not want to paint her room again so I took a chance with this bedding from Pottery Barn Kids and did the opposite – pink walls, blue bedding. It’s perfect. It looks better in person. It’s girly and matches her personality perfectly.

And she likes it. I saw the light on in her room last night when Mike was putting her to bed and saw this… him reading her The Sleep Book. <3

And today I didn’t hear here and went to see where she was. She shut her door and put herself to sleep for her nap. 🙂

No more cribs in the Thomas house. And I’m not sad. I thought I would be. Maybe it just hasn’t hit me yet or maybe I’m just so darn happy with the big girl bed transformation I can’t be sad.

The Saturday after Ben’s birthday, it was time to get our party hats back on for Owen’s 8th. It was a busy but FUN, really fun, day. First we had Owen’s basketball game. Then we came back to the house. We all ate a yummy lunch then Owen opened his presents. He really was happy about his watch and Percy Jackson books from Mimi. And both boys opened up gifts from Aunt Jenny & Uncle Phil. Aunt Jenny’s Minecraft shirts were a big hit, but Uncle Phil’s Nerf guns cascaded into a HUGE Nerf gun battle between the 4 young boys (Alex, Owen, Ben & Roman) and the 3 big boys (PeePaw Park, Mike and Uncle Phil). Oh my gosh they had so much fun. Darts flying everywhere. Laughs and silly screams coming from all corners of the house. It was great. PeePaw even had enough energy left to take Jillian on a piggy back ride.

Next up was one of the kids favorite cold weather activities – bowling. Owen’s actually really good. And we even gave the little kids their first turn at pushing the ball down the lane.

And if all that wasn’t enough, after bowling, Mike and the 4 boys headed off to the Digiplex to see the Lego Movie.

Very good birthday for our O-man. He did all the things he loves with the people who mean so much to him. That is what birthdays are all about.

We put both the babies in Jenny’s van while Mike had our van to take the boys to the movies. I took this opportunity to snatch what could be the last picture of the “babies” with their binkies and blankies. They are growing up too fast.

Oh and for fun… here is Owen on his first birthday next to the blow up cake and here he is 6 days before his 8th next to the same cake. In fact, I have taken pictures of both boys next to this cake every year. He’s SOOOOOO tall. 55 inches to be exact. I’m 64-65 inches. In like 2 years he will be as tall as me.
JAW DROPPING TO THE FLOOR. How can my first baby be this big already.