Xmas Part II

Christmas helpers get distracted easily

Thomas enjoys a gift from his Godmother


Time to eat, all this play makes me hungry.

Trust me, Santa, I have been real good.

More fun as we get to it from the frosty confines of greater metropolitan u know where....

Merry Ho Ho

One big happy family 2009 Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow's headline-"Gift bag bigger than Thomas sends Santa to the Chiropractor"

Sharing the love with Shelby.

6 more months then I get to use this!
Good thing I have lots of books!

Santa's helper surprises Christopher at work(by not getting the carts out of the parking lot!)

So hopefully everyone had a great holiday and were surrounded by the blessings of family.

Thomas got many neat toys to grow into since he seems to get/and enjoy the ones for ages 3 and up! He also got to eat lots of junk food and someone, a few aunts I think, kept him on the soda train for the last week, yippee for burpy kids and messy diapers! It was good to get another Xmas under our belt, Thomas really enjoyed seeing everyone, playing with the dogs and checking out meticulously each and every gift. Thomas still hasn't gotten the whole part about ripping through the wrapping paper with wild abandon, maybe next year.

In Loving Memory of Timothy Thomas Laufenberg

On Dec. 13 2009, Thomas lost his Uncle Timmy. My beloved wife tells it best below.

It is with GREAT sadness that I share the news that my beloved little brother, Timmy (My "Budda Man") was killed in a truck accident early Sunday Morning, here in Katy, Texas. He turned 18 in July. He died instantly when the truck he was in, hit a tree and burst into flames, all three kids were killed. It came as a shock and we are still trying to deal with the event. This is still a fairly small town and all the local high school students are grieving along with us. We finally received word today that his body will be released to the Neptune Society and we can plan a service. As of tonight, we do not have a day or time for the memorial service, but we are meeting with our Pastor in the morning. The local news picked up on the story and information (and sadly) video can be located online. My older brother Tim (Yes, I have two brothers named Tim) created a page on Facebook: "RIP Tim Laufenberg" if you are interesting in reading ALL the amazing things Timmy's friends have had to say. News reporters came to the house today and interviewd my Dad. He did very well and held it together. Timmy was on several bowling teams and the teams gathered tonight at the bowling alley, in his memory. They also signed one of Tim's bowling balls to give to Mom & Dad. In lieu of flowers or cards, please make any donations to Cystic Fibrosis in honor of Timmy: http://www.cff.org/ Cystic Fibrosis Foundation USASFA, INC PO Box 1618 Gresham, Or 97030-0519 I am ever so grateful that Dave, Thomas and I moved to Katy and have had this amazing last year with Timmy and feel blessed that our entire family could gather moments after the news was shared with my Mom. There are no words to console us, but knowing family & friends are praying for us, help. Timmy will be remembered for his smile, laughter and quick wit, bowling a 299, stinking out a room, eating mustard flavored pretzels and making my son Thomas laugh. He always told me he loved me (followed with a kiss) even when he was with his friends. Thomas Liam will grow up hearing stories and seeing pictures of his Uncle Timmy, as many as I can share, daily. My heart aches as I think about each day without him - NOT at the family dinner table, NOT running around the swimming pool, NOT leaving his many pairs of shoes by the front door, NOT being home on time, and NOT BEING WITH US!!! It still feels like a dream and I wish I could pray it all away. So many questions linger for me. I took an old sweatshirt of Budda's and have in hanging in our bedroom. For now, my questions will have to wait. Timmy came to us as a surprise one day as a foster child needing a home. Without telling us, my Dad took the call, went to the hospital and brought home a very sick baby. Within minutes we all fell in love with Timothy Thomas and nurtured him to health - by his 3rd birthday he was an official Laufenberg and brought us JOY every single day. I love you my sweet Budda Man and I know that you are sitting in God's lap, smiling and breathing easy. ALL my love and admiration, xoxoxoxoxoxox TC Dave and Thomas love you too!!

Snow day!

Woo hoo!...It snowed here for the first time since December of last year. Earliest snow ever for SE Texas....Thomas had never seen snow while we were in Alaska so this was new and required caution initially. He still doesn't really know what to make of it, but knows it is cold and wet and he didn't like falling over in it. Then again it wasn't like we had toddler snow clothes on hand for the one snow event we get a year here.

We did dress him up not once, not twice, but three times and take him out as different relatives arrived and wanted to experience it with him. I had forgotten from my time with the Anchorage School District how much work that was getting a toddler geared up for wet cold snow! The first step, as you see above, is finding the right footwear.(or in this case, the closest thing to "right"). Getting the jacket on was another story but this is about snow, not dressing toddlers.

Here he is being offered his first snowball.

He was so unsure about it I couldn't get him to even try eating it even after watching me eat some (and this little guy doesn't like missing meals any more than his dad). But as you can see he was a willing participant from the standpoint of casual observer...maybe next year's snow day will be a snowman and snowball fight..and some proper gloves!

Outdoors in Fall

Okay so Thomas is getting more independent, more mobile, and he is also getting his wits about him. So why not hit the outdoors a bit more often, meet the neighborhood kids, and just enjoy the cooler weather. It is good to get around his peers you know, adults can be soooo boring to a kid I have heard.

We are taking him out in the afternoon to play in the yard with balls(his favorite) and his new trike. I admit it is a bit advanced for him but it keeps him occupied and the neighborhood kids , who do fit on it, well they love it. And you know how he is about anything with wheels...
He likes to be around the kids, is really good about sharing and right now is just observing how they interact. Gotta keep an eye on him of course, he is only 17 months and on a whim could take off down the sidewalk. Here he is checking out a lineup of toys while the girls borrow his trike again...

It is good for an afternoon activity right before dinner/bath/then bed time since the kids are out of school and parents are getting home too. One day I came home from the store and let Thomas play while I unloaded(Grandma was here) and before I knew it there were four moms, easily a dozen kids and two dads in the street in front of our house passing footballs, riding bikes and trikes and big wheels, collecting acorns (for school?), tossing toys and even playing on a portable slide. C'est la Vie! It was a good time and we enjoy our neighbors.

I know my A B C 's from going to the park!

Thanksgiving Part 1

How to make a Thanksgiving card.

Well it is important with impetuous, curious toddlers that other needs are met before submitting their cooperation in the task of creating any type of homemade card(translation: well fed and distracted). For this event, it went down immediately after dinner, so he was fed and reasonably sedate. So we got his tray cleared and stripped the clothes, which is standard after post-dining procedure as a bath is imminent.

For this card, we required a handprint of one color for the turkey's body and four fingers of separate colors for the feathers. But how do you do that in one sitting....paint the hand and all four fingers first?...yeah right!

As you can see the toddler is focused on the task(good man, that). Unfortunately what this image does not show is that once we went to put a different color on the 1st finger-into the mouth went the hand. It is not good for a toddler to realize what he thought was chocolate is really paint! So what are parents to do....A distraction was necessary.

As you can see there is now a sucker sticking in my young son's mouth...the only Dum-Dum sucker in the house(you know, like they get at the doctors to stop the crying). So time is limited, we have to move fast.

Opting instead to do it one finger at a time, one color at a time we kept it cleaner however we fast ran out of sucker(see above). Already the little man is thinking about where this wet finger should go besides the nice little card in front of him...

With a little cooperation from an off camera dad and a lot of dickering and fuss, it can be done if you plan it right! Yeah, good job Mommy and Tommy!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

EVERY DAY IS A GIFT

Thanksgiving week

Here we go! It wasn't a day after Halloween and the retailers were getting a jump on the Holidays with their Christmas decorations going up. The weeks leading up to the holidays are brisk and Thomas has grown equally as fast before our eyes. TC said today that Thomas became a "little man" overnight. He has grown considerably and it is hard to remember what it was like when he was an infant (see our earliest posts if you forgot too). Words of all sorts and sounds are falling from his lips daily, but "ball" and "balloon" have been the popular ones lately, with "uh-oh" being up there in a close second place.

Here's a big uh-oh...his feet don't reach the pedals yet, but he enjoys getting pushed around on this latest find..still learning how to stay on it without sliding off one side or the other. Balance is still kinda a challenge to our little one...

Speaking of balance, I don't know how this got started, but one day the kids from the entire street ended up playing in our drive with theirs and Thomas' toys...Though he did this on his own, he hasn't tried this stunt below again. It was a few second photo opp. by mom while dad is off camera(see my shadow) close by to prevent boo-boos..

Personality is really showing and we catch him dancing and clapping hands more often now when there's music playing. He is always grinning and giggly and definitely still just as mischievous. During his latest visit from GiGi he picked up this table for laying tracks and playing trains and cars, and of course as excited as Uncle Chris was that GiGi could get this, Thomas had to claim it for his own throne! We have since discouraged this since it makes it hard for Christopher to enjoy it too(sort of).