For Sale

Well, it seems we're close to outgrowing our current house.  We are just fine and would continue to be just fine with our 1200 sq ft and 3 bedrooms, however, it sure would be nice to have a little more space and some room to play outside!  So, we've put our house on the market.  We'll see how it goes.  So far, it's been interesting with a two year old but it's going well.

We took a weekend, without Thomas (thanks Meme!), and got most of our house packed up.  All the extra toys are gone, all the extra clothes are gone, we are officially decluttered.  Mom has some extra storage space so we packed up a 14 foot UHaul truck and loaded it into mom's storage.  It is amazing to me how much STUFF we can acquire in such a relatively short amount of time.  The kicker is that most of the stuff belonged to one little boy, who shall remain nameless.

So, this...

...turned into this.

And, this.....

...turned into this.

And so on and so on throughout the rest of the house.  And now we're ready to do it all over again when we sell 2429 Appalachian and find our next home. :)

Trip to the Zoo

So, the day after my last post, we went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro, NC with Papa, Oopsy and Aunt Whitney.  We met bright and early in the morning off the highway and then made the rest of the trek to the zoo.  What a great day it was!  The weather was great and the animals were so cool to watch.  Thomas enjoyed running (or strolling) from exhibit to exhibit and often barely looked at the animals.  He did like the polar bears and the seals.

This is Thomas riding on the back of a monkey. (not real, of course!)

 

Thomas and Oopsy enjoyed watching the chimpanzees.  The cracks in the glass made Mama a little nervous, but all was well and there were no crazy monkey outbursts.

The walkers and the strollers.

We packed a picnic lunch and avoided the chaos in the dining area in the middle of the zoo.  Instead of people surrounding us, we had geese!

The bear keepers sent us a message loud and clear!

Here we are after a long day at the zoo.  After this picture we walked back through the park instead of taking the tram.  I was happy for the exercise and Thomas was happy for the nap.  Guess we wore him out!

Big Boy Footsteps

...That is what I hear coming down the hall these days.  It's no longer a pitter-patter.  It's a full-out run on those size 8.5's!  Things that bring Thomas running these days - the sound of the iced tea maker coming out of the cabinet (he helps fill it with ice and put the tea bags in, making sure to leave the tags out); filling up our Brita water pitcher (he helps "carry" it back to the fridge); any of his favorite shows on TV (Handy Manny, Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, Chuggington, etc.); running his bath.

We also seem to have a pretty polite child, which is nice.  He almost always says "please" and "thank you" and uses them correctly.  We even walked by a stranger on the sidewalk tonight and he said "excuse me" in the sweetest little tone.  The conversation we have most often around this household goes a little something like this:

Thomas: "Hi Daddy!"
Daddy: "Hi Thomas! How are you?"
Thomas: (through a wide grin) "Duhd" or for those of you that don't speak Toddler-ese, "Good"

We have this conversation over and over and over with anyone within earshot.  Daddy first, then Mommy, then grandparents if they're around, one by one.  He gets such a kick out of this simple little conversation.

Speaking of conversation, he really is starting to take off with the talking.  He regularly says two-word (or more) "sentences" and knows how to address the person he's talking to.  For instance, the other day, out of the blue, he said "Happy dayday Mama!"  That's how he says Happy Birthday, and no, it wasn't my birthday.  He'll also say things like, "please Daddy" and "Mama's car go home"...you get the picture.  So cute!

I'm starting to realize that discipline is really starting to become an issue so that is a hot topic in my life right now.  He is starting to enjoy a little more freedom, so listening to Mama and Daddy is becoming even more important.  I'm sitting here looking at a list of 8 books that have been recommended to me over the past couple of weeks.  I'm going to narrow them down and start reading!  I keep telling myself that it won't be an answer that works perfectly from the get go and never fails.  But, I sure do need more info and knowledge on the subject, from a few different points of view!  We'll see what I find out.

Here is Thomas with his friend Lilly at the park.

The weather has started to get warm and we've been spending a lot of time at the park lately.  We just tried a new park this week that was great and we even got to take a nice long walk around the lake with our friend Amanda and her dog, Cooper.  (By the way, we may just put a saddle on Cooper and bring him to Thomas' birthday party. That dog is huge and was a hit with the kids at the park.  He's such a sweet dog!)

The boys of OIB, enjoying some piano time.

We spent Easter weekend at Cherry Grove with the Williams'.  We enjoyed spending time with family and we even got to see Shawn's cousin Jo, her husband and their baby girl, Holly.  We were able to check out Ryan's new ice cream shop in Myrtle Beach and Thomas got a free scoop!  That's the benefit of having an uncle that owns an ice cream shop, I guess!!  We cooked out the last night and broke in Shawn's new cornhold boards.  Thanks mom!!

Thomas rode his first carousel while at Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach.

I think he was holding on pretty tight.

We're headed to the NC Zoo for the first time with Thomas tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share soon!  Hope everyone is having a lovely Spring so far!!