Update on Thomas

So, keeping up with a blog has not been my number 1 priority, but I know I need to for us to go back and look at later if nothing else.  I have decided I will do a post with fun and random things and pictures of each of us from March until now, which is the beginning of October.  This is not totally in order, but I'll do my best to record some fun memories for my children.  We'll start with Thomas.

Thomas used to like to put several pairs of socks on at a time.  This time he got carried away and I think he put on 8 pairs of socks.  Once they got so tight his feet started hurting and that's when he cut back a little.  I think this first started when he wanted to be an ice skater during the Olympics and he would skate around the couch.  On a side note we also used to use the couch as a bobsled and all pretend to push and then jump on.

Last year we did a co-op preschool with three other families who all had boys the same age as Thomas.  We met on Wednesday and Friday for two hours in the morning.  It was fun and the boys enjoyed it.  We picked different themes each week and taught basic literacy and math within those themes.  This week I was doing Jack and the Beanstalk.  I put out big footprints while they were playing outside and told them the giant had been there, then they measured the footprints with blocks.

The kids' cousins had these fun light sabers made from fun noodles.  I thought they were better than swords since they didn't hurt and so we made them for FHE even though they know nothing about Star Wars.

Our annual trip to Wye Mountain for the daffodil festival.  Thomas was carrying around his bunch of flowers while running through the clumps of flowers.

More preschool.  This time you can see all the boys, James Hart, Max Madsen,and Dawson Miller.  They were matching up halves of eggs.  One half had dots and the other had the number.

Balance bike and astronaut costume, need I say more?

The night of the lunar eclipse David woke Thomas up to see the eclipse with him.  Thomas had slept in his astronaut jammies, complete with backpack.

Fathers and Sons outing.  We always have pizza on Friday and so David thought it would be a good idea to make little ones ahead of time and cook them on the fire.  They looked great!  (However, David and the boys report that they were typical of campfire food - burned on the bottom and raw in the middle.)

We took a field trip to the U.S.S. Razorback submarine for Preschool.  I didn't get to go in the submarine, but stayed out with the little ones.  Thomas is here with his friend Asher McMurry, who was not in our group, but went with us anyway.

Thomas and An'mere celebrating their birthday together, 5 and 85.

Thomas was wearing his doggy costume the whole time he opened presents.  Among other things he got a sleeping bag, a tape measure, a new double stomp rocket, and rain boots.  The doggy costume was not new.

Here he is trying out his new stomp rocket, as well as the boots.  We had our neighbors, the Stites family, over to help celebrate his birthday with us.  Justin is in this picture.

A hug for the birthday boy!

David's family has a tradition of taking a picture with dad by the door each birthday.  Here are father and son on birthday number 5!

They made the dinosaur hats at the library, but then Thomas wanted to make dinosaur gloves to go with them.  This was one of their favorite library crafts.  Thomas loves to do crafts.  We do them several times a week at least.

Now this is how you eat a watermelon!

Shortly after his birthday, Thomas learned to ride a regular pedal bike.  It was easy after the balance bike.  Very easy, in fact.  David made a trip up the block with him and another trip down, and then he was on his own.  We highly recommend balance bikes.

This is Thomas's awesome volcano.  I think the lava flows got even longer after the picture.  We had made an erupting one the day before, but this was one he didn't want to ruin.

This summer they had the first annual cardboard boat races at Lake Willastein here in Maumelle.  Thomas wanted to make his own when we came home.  His was not big enough to float in, of course.

On our way out to Utah this summer we went to Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah.  They had a whole wall with dinosaur bones still in it and Thomas got to touch one!

We also went to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point with our friends Harold and Stephanie.  Here is Thomas under a huge dinosaur.

As part of the Stewart family reunion we went to the Museum of Curiosity also at Thanksgiving Point.  Thomas got to ride on a zipline outside.

We got to go swimming in the Great Salt Lake.  Our plan wasn't actually to swim, but Thomas and Heidi decided to go for it.  The sand was really soft and the water felt nice.

Thomas liked the T on the mountain in Tooele.  You could see it from Grandma and Grandpa Stewart's house.  This is supposed to be a picture of Thomas and the T, but the T came out very small, so if you don't know where to look, you won't see it.  We had a fun visit to Utah.  We got to see lots of relatives and friends.

When we got back we started homeschooling.  Thomas wanted to start almost the day we got back, but I told him we had to at least wait until Daddy started working.  So...we started the day that Daddy started working.  The first thing that we really wanted to study was sloths.  I have a more in-depth blog about the sloths and homeschooling in general on our homeschooling blog here.

We like to do science experiments.  Here we are seeing how we can get the biggest explosion that lasts the longest with vinegar and baking soda.  Adding dish soap to the vinegar does the trick.

The next thing we really wanted to study was peregrine falcons (inspired by a story he had listened to).  I blogged about that here.

We also studied insects in preparation for the Insect Festival we went to at the University of Arkansas with the Tarnaskys.  They quickly decided the praying mantis was their favorite insect and got to see a few at the festival.

What Thomas loves to do more than anything is listen to audio books.  We usually get them through the Overdrive app through the library.  His very favorite is the Boxcar Children, but he also loves The Magic Tree House books.  He takes the Kindle everywhere, listening to books almost non-stop.  He often listens to several chapter books in one day.  This is such a perfect picture of Thomas.

Thomas is a fun boy that has a natural affinity for wanting to know about everything.