HE'S DONE!!!!!

Sorry it's been so long folks. But life has been busy. On May 11th James finally graduated from college with an Associates Degree Nursing (RN). On May 24th he took his State Board Exams in Sioux Falls, SD and passed. So he now has his RN license. He will be in the process of getting a job as an RN. James has worked so incredibly hard this past year, going to school full time and working as much as possible in between to support our family of 5. The Lord has blessed us so greatly through this whole process and we know that we could not have gotten through this year with out Him by our sides. We just continue to seek his guidence as to where to go from here. James has been considering letting go of his "side" job as an autopsy assistant. We will see what happens there. But now our time is spent on "catch-up" stuff. The stuff that has been put on hold while James has been in school. It's been wonderful to have him home more often.

Evan's 1 year appointment!

Evan had his one year appointment yesterday. He is now 23# 15 oz and 30 inches long. The Dr. said he is healthy. Poor little guy had to get three shots and blood drawn to check hemoglobin and lead levels. We were at the clinic for an hour and James was in school so it was just me and the three boys. They all behaved really well though.

Evan turns 1!!

Evan turned one year old on March 17th. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. He is able to stand for long periods of time but has not yet started to walk. I doubt it will be too much longer though. He has six teeth now. He loves to play with his two big brothers and they do very well playing with him. He is smart and makes the cutest faces, especially when he thinks you found something he did funny. He will try to recreate what he did. He is very good at mimicing other people. Douglas likes to see what he can get him to repeat. He adds a lot of fun to our family. I will have to add an entry after his doctors appt. with his current weight/height and such. His birthday lands on St. Patricks Day so for his cake we had a Leprachaun on it. Also, my aunt makes an individual chocolate cake for the first birthdays with "sticky" frosting on it. Well, when Douglas and Phillip had theirs on their first birthdays, they just dug right in, for Evan it was not so. He put his hand in the frosting and instead of eating it, he got upset because it was sticking to his hand. He tried to shake off the frosting onto the floor. After a little while I dug a little hole in the middle of the cake so he could see the cake beneath. After that he starting eating out of that hole and enjoyed himself. He got pretty messy.

Starting of the cake

At the finish of the cake :)

The two older boys missed their naps due to the party and this doesn't affect Douglas too much but Phillip was a different matter. Here is a picture of him within 15 minutes of everyone leaving. It was kind of funny, he had asked me to go downstairs to get his Spongebob blanket and when I got back he was passed out on the living room floor. And he was difficult to wake up for supper.

Our Getaway!!

During James' spring break from school, we decided to take a few days to destress and reconnect. We went up to Duluth for a couple of days and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast there called The Ellery House. We had a wonderful time taking walks, spending time in Canal Park, looking at the shops downtown, but mostly just spending some alone time together. We even went to the Tweed Art Museum located at the college campus. My mom took the three boys for us which was wonderful. They had an awesome time with grandma and even Evan, whom we were worried about leaving, did amazingly well. Now we are starting to plan our family vacation camping trip. It will be Evan's first time camping so it could be interesting but we are looking forward to it.

Phillip turned 3! :)

Our little boy turned 3 years old on Jan. 31st. (sniff, sniff) Boy how the time flies by. It is fun watching him grow and learn. He is really in to singing and can catch on to songs easily. We think he may end up being like his daddy in that respect. He is such a joy.

Sesame Street Live

My mom called me on Monday Jan 22nd to ask me if we were available on Thursday the 25th. She had scored some tickets for Sesame Street Live and wanted to take the boys (and me). Wonderfully enough, we were able to go. We met my mom at my sisters and went to the show. It was kept a complete surprise to the boys until we got in the Target Center and Douglas saw a sign and guessed why we were there. We had "suite" seats. (private balcony room). The boys had an awesome time! (and me and mom did too) They enjoy their time with grandma.

Our other "children"

I have not mentioned these two before but these are our other kids. This is Gizmo and Putter. Putter is the one with more of a black nose and fluffier. We have had Gizmo for 4 years and have had him since he was 8 weeks old. Putter we have had for just over a year and she was 6 months old when we adopted her from the humane society. We don't get them laying together too often so it was a surprise to be able to get a picture of them together.

Chrismas Eve and Day

Our little Santa Claus'

(during their bath on Christmas Eve)

Last Christmas (2005), the boys both received new blankets from grandma and grandpa T., Douglas got spiderman and Phillip got Spongebob. This year they both received matching flannel sheets to go with their blankets from Grandma so we went out and bought matching comforters to go with them also. They sure do like their "new" beds.

The boys both got new spiderman backpacks that have the wheels and are pullable. They have enjoyed pulling them around the house and we even used them as suitcases for them when we went up north to visit.This was Douglas' big gift for Christmas this year. He got a new bike. It was much needed. The one he had was getting too small and we are hoping to teach him to ride this summer. But the weather on Christmas day was so nice that the boys were able to go out and ride their bikes.

Evan

Well, Evan is now almost 9 1/2 months old. And he has had quite a month and a half. In that amount of time, the little guys has gotten 4 teeth, started crawling and started pulling himself to standing on furniture. I think he really enjoys being able to keep up with his big brothers a little bit better.

Some cute photos

This is a cute picture of Evan "kissing" his big brother. They get along so good. Douglas loves to play with and entertain Evan. And the second picture, I wasn't home so I don't know what is wrong with Phillip but I thought he looked cute, even upset.

Holidaze Parade

On Nov. 18th we enjoyed a night out. We went to a chili supper and ran into some friends of ours and then went to the annual Holidaze parade downtown. It was a nice evening for the parade and the kids got to enjoy it with some of their friends too. (Our friends that we ran into have three kids also.) And they are around the same ages as ours. It was fun. There is actually a photo of me and the boys, that rarely happens. (I am usually the one behind the camera:) )

Thoms' family year in review 2006

This year we were unable to take our normal yearly camping/family vacation. But we were able to do some small things together. In late February we took a spontaneous trip to the cities to see the children's museum. The boys (Douglas and Phillip) really enjoyed that.
In July we went to Sioux Falls, SD to the Jazzfest 2006. It was a hot weekend and the boys thought the music was kind-of loud. We would like to try it again sometime but maybe without the children.
On June 10th we started to remove our siding on our house. When all is said and done we replaced siding and windows on our house and went from a 4'x 6' deck to a 12'x 12' with 4'x 4' platform and stairs. For the first two weeks of the project we had help from family and some friends but that wasn't enough time to complete the project. James and I finished it ourselves. The outside was completed by the end of August but there is still work to be done on the inside.(trim work around the windows) It was a long project but very rewarding. We are extremely happy with how it turned out and we completed it early enough to enjoy a couple of meals out on our new deck.

BEFORE

AFTER

And in September we went to the Minnesota Science Museum and toured the Body Worlds exibit and the three boys even sat through a 45 minute omnitheatre movie on the human body. It has been awhile since either James or I have been there. It was a nice family getaway.

James and Pamela

We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary this past July and also 11 years of being together.
James has been keeping busy with school and work. In Jan. we got a call about a week before spring semester started and were told that they had an opening in the transition courses (two classes that james needed before starting the RN program). So James took those on for spring semester along with some generals classes. He was also told that he was 2nd runner up to start the RN program in the fall of 06'. We found out a few weeks later that he was accepted into the RN program. So he started the program in Aug. He will graduate in May with his RN. (about a year earlier then we thought it would all get done) He is also still doing his on-call autopsy assistant position. In July we attended his 10 year class reunion, that was nice to see some of the people he graduated with but also hard to believe that it has already been 10 years.
Pamela is keeping busy with the 3 active little boys. She was able to get away in February to attend a friends baby shower. With all of the house projects this past summer she also got to learn how to do siding and put together a deck. It was nice to get away from the everyday stuff of being a mom and wife. She has been working with Douglas to teach him to read, that is one of her bigger goals, he seems to be a very good learner so that makes things easier.

Douglas James

Douglas turned 5 on Sept. 3rd. In May we had him tested for early entrance into kindergarten and found out that he could have started this year but after some discussion we decided to wait to send him until next year. On March 11th a wonderful thing happened to Douglas, He asked Jesus into his heart. And there are times when he says that he misses Jesus and wonders when He will come back. In August we went to family fun day at the Kandiyohi County Fair, they had a kids pedal tractor pull, Douglas participated and got 3rd place for his age group and he even received a trophy. At the end of Sept. he started his first round of swimming lessons, he enjoyed it and can't wait to do it again. (hopefully this spring) He really likes to draw and paint. I don't know how many pieces of paper he goes through in a day. He is such a big help with his brothers and it is hard to believe he is 5 years old already :( It goes too fast.

Phillip Isaac

Phillip turned 2 years old in January of this year. We gave him a radio flyer tricycle for his birthday which he mastered and loves to ride. He also got to drive Douglas' motorized tractor. He enjoys playing with cars, building with blocks and singing. He seems to like playing by hisself but he also likes to play with Douglas when it suits him to do so. He is such a little man and he does many adorable things. We feel he is growing up faster then we care for him to, but what can you do?

Evan William

We welcomed Evan William into the world on March 17, 2006 @ 4:20a.m. He weighed 6#11 1/2 oz and was 19 inches long. He has grown fast. He was dedicated to the Lord on Mother's Day. He is now almost crawling (7 1/2 months old) He enjoys watching his brothers play and he really enjoys it when they talk and pay attention to him. He is now working on keeping up with them. He is an incredible joy to us and our home.

Just getting started!

Hello friends and family! This is where you can find out about what is going on in our lives, (if it is of interest to you). Once I get started I hope to post updates periodically. Enjoy!