Saturday, March 29, 2008

Carson's Baptism

We were back in Iowa for Palm Sunday to celebrate the baptism of our nephew and godson Carson James Thomas. We also got to spend some quality time with Brian and Katie as well as Opa and Oma. Jayne and Jerry came out Sat night to play a little. We also had a bunch of Thomases and Fuersts come out for the main event on Sunday.

This is how our kids entertain themselves in the airport. This was actually taken in Chicago which wasn't our original layover. We were supposed to go to Saint Louis but our plane was going to be 3 or 4 hours late into Denver so they routed us through Chicago which put us into Cedar Rapids, IA at 10pm instead of 9pm.
Airport trouble makers

This is Bryce in his PJs in Opa and Oma's front window.
Bryce in the window

Sydney loves to play dress up at Opa and Oma's house.
Sydney dress up

This is us with our nephew Carson. You might not be able to see it, but that is a Green Bay Packers symbol on my shirt.
Our nephew Carson

I brought along Settlers of Catan and Brian and I put in many games. We tried starting one with the girls but couldn't keep them interested long enough to finish. It's actually an awesome game if you haven't tried it.
Nerds playing Settlers

The Thomas cousins sitting on the couch. I don't know what Bryce thought was so funny but at least he was smiling!
The Thomas cousins

Sydney and Grandma Jayne got some playtime on Sat night. The more I look at Sydney's smile the more I'm freaked out.
Jayne and Sydney

More game playing but this time it was Citidels. No one told Brian we were taking a picture, that's just his normal game playing face.
Playing Citadels

Finally a picture of Brian without a goofy face. Aren't the new parents so cute!
Brian and Katie

Here is the happy family after the baptism. Carson actually did great during the actual event. I (Jason) was holding him the whole time and he didn't even cry when I leaned him forward for the baptism. Then I got to parade him around the church for everyone to look at him. What can I say ... I'm the Godfather.
Baptism photo

Sydney got to hold Carson briefly after church was over. You can barely see Melissa's blue sweater in the background ready to grab Carson if Sydney suddenly decided she was done holding him.
Sydney holding Carson

This is a classic shot of us trying to control our kids for a picture. They were both mad for unknown reasons and they certainly did not want to take a picture.
Our crazy kids

Amazingly, we managed to calm them down long enough for this shot which turned out pretty good.
Baptism photo

Here are the god parents and uncle and aunt of Carson.
Carson and the god parents

Brian and Bryce enjoyed a little round of WWF in the basement. I can't remember if the ballon survived the impact but Bryce did anyway.
Brian and Bryce

This is what Bryce did basically non-stop while he was at Opa and Oma's house. Matchbox cars and more matchbox cars. It was fun to see all that stuff again that we used to play with.
Bryce playing

Sydney mainly played with the little people stuff and did dress up with whoever she could rope into it.
Sydney playing

We finally decided to get a picture of Opa and Oma with the grandkids right when Carson was feeling grumpy. Oh well, if you don't look close enough you can convince yourself that he is smiling, not crying.
Opa and Oma and the grandkids

Katie and Carson sporting one of his classic toothless grins.
Katie and Carson

The Thomas cousins sitting together long enough for a decent picture! Yeah!
The Thomas cousins

Brian had Carson doing all kinds of crazy moves and Sydney thought the whole thing was hillarious. This was at the Cedar Rapids airport. We ended up saying goodbye, making everyone cry, going through security, until we reached our gate and they said "Who wants to be bumped because we're overbooked?" I said sure and they gave us two $200 vouchers and let us fly out anytime we wanted the next day. I would have paid them to stay an extra day ... suckers!
Playing at the airport

Opa and Oma saying goodbye to Sydney and Bryce at the Cedar Rapids Airport. This was before the crying that took place between Oma and Sydney. Then we had about another hour of "I miss Oma" from Sydney. I think this was our second attempt at leaving because our first attempt was thwarted by fog in Cedar Rapids and bad weather all across the midwest. Luckily American put us on a direct flight to Denver on United so we totally lucked out.
Opa and Oma at the airport

Melissa and Sydney on the plane.
Sydney and Melissa on the plane

Bryce and I on the plane. He was pretty excited by the carmel corn on his tray.
Jason and Bryce on the plane

Last picture of us on the bus to the long term parking place where we left our car. I only posted this one because I think Bryce looks so funny. He was totally wiped out and he's got the best blank stare going. He pretty much feel asleep instantly once I started the car.
Taking the bus home

Friday, March 28, 2008

March happenings

So once again I find myself in the position of not posting for an entire month. Where did March go?! No excuses except laziness I suppose so here is the month in review (with pictures).

This was actually from February but it's a cool picture of a monster truck so I had to include it.
TNMT Monster Truck
Sydney and Bryce with the Monster Truck

Sydney had swimming lessons once a month and while she is making progress, she's still not really swimming on her own. We're trying to prepare for this summer so she's signed up for more lessons in April!
Swimmer Sydney
Sydney the Fish

The Moffits came out to visit at the end of February and we had a lot of fun hosting them at our house (even though Jason wasn't nice enough to let me win ping pong on my own table).
Dinner with the Moffits
Here I'm playing a high stakes game of Sequence with the kids.
Sequence with the Moffits
Bed time with everyone ready on the top bunk of Sydney's bed. Then it was off to separate beds for everyone.
Jaden, Jacob, Bryce, Sydney

This is sort of a random picture of Bryce doing his car lineup. He likes to take all his cars out and line them up all over the place. He's very neat about it (Melissa) and gets completely absorbed doing it (Jason).
Bryce car lineup

A classic bath time picture which they'll both hate to see a few years from now. I can't wait to put pictures like this in a slideshow when they graduate from high school.
Bath Time

We recently went to the Denver Science Museum and toured the Gold exhibit which was all about ... wait for it ... Gold! I found it quite interesting but it wasn't really for kids. So we then headed to the kids part of the museum which they really enjoyed. Here's a pictures of Bryce trying to get soaked making bubbles.
Denver Science Museum

This is Sydney and Bryce babysitting Ethan which is our friends the Meltons. Sydney loved reading them both books although Ethan and Bryce seemed to enjoy staring and laughing at each other better.
Bryce, Ethan, & Sydney
Sydney also gave Ethan a bottle. Babysitting for friends is a breeze when you have your 4 year old do all the work! Just kidding Meltons!
Sydney feeding Ethan