Friday, September 9, 2011
Thomas' first Clemson game
This past weekend, Thomas made it into his first Clemson game! Despite the blazing heat, he seemed to have a great time watching the activity on the field and making new friends while walking around in the stadium. He's a tiger fan!
Beach Vacation
After a great first birthday and first day of school, we all needed another vacation and what better place is there than the beach? We headed down to Cherry Grove with the Moore's despite the hurricane forecasted to make landfall a mere two days after our arrival. Thankfully, our South Carolina coast was spared and vacation was enjoyed by all! We spent several days on the beach where Thomas hunted out the best sea shells and sticks, cooled off in the water, and lounged in holes that Trey dug for him. On our last night there, we celebrated Chip's birthday with a trip to California Pizza Kitchen Game Zone, a restaurant similar to ChuckeCheese. Thomas, Chip, and Trey had a great time playing in the arcade, racking up tickets. When all was said and done, Thomas turned in his tickets for a set of golf clubs and a red race car, not too shabby!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Thomas' first day of school
Can you believe it? On August 22, 2011 Thomas had his first day of school. Ok, well it's not quite "school"...
Thomas started at Noah's Ark Preschool, going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. He is in a class with 6 other younger one year olds, very cute kids! His school days consist of music classes, spanish classes, playground time, art projects, and snack time - sounds like fun, right? The jury is still out. Thomas is slowly adjusting to this new activity but we seem to be making progress. Most recently, he reduced his crying time from the entire 3 hours to just 1 hour. I'm sure in the future he'll learn to love his school, we'll keep you updated!
Thomas started at Noah's Ark Preschool, going 3 days a week for 3 hours a day. He is in a class with 6 other younger one year olds, very cute kids! His school days consist of music classes, spanish classes, playground time, art projects, and snack time - sounds like fun, right? The jury is still out. Thomas is slowly adjusting to this new activity but we seem to be making progress. Most recently, he reduced his crying time from the entire 3 hours to just 1 hour. I'm sure in the future he'll learn to love his school, we'll keep you updated!
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| First day! |
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| Made himself right at home |
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| Playing with his new friends! |
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Our 1 year old
Oh how fast the year went by - Thomas is 1! It's so hard to believe, and admit, that Thomas is no longer a baby. It's also hard to believe the amount of loving, learning, and growing we've all done in the last year. The love Trey and I both feel for Thomas is so different from any other - it's difficult to describe but I think it's best to say that it is an absolutely pure, unconditional love. There are every day moments when this love hits me like a ton of bricks - like when Thomas walks out of room, and then peaks around the corner to see who's following him, or stops playing and lays his head on my lap for just a second, or giggles as we dance around the house. Those are the best!
Anyways, we celebrated this big birthday with a big birthday party. We invited family and friends to West Cambridge Park in Greenwood for some fun, food, and play. I decided to make Thomas' smash cake and the cupcakes for the guests myself, an interesting project. Starting about 3-4 weeks before the party, I was baking cakes and making icing to try and find the best cake recipe. Trey found the winner by simply googling "best birthday cake" (for anyone who is interested - http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake). It really was good, I thought! The day before the party Linda Ann and mom came up to help out with Thomas and preparing the food. Thank goodness they did - I really don't think I could have finished everything without their help. The party theme was little blue car, chosen to reflect Thomas' love for playing with cars. To honor this theme, party favors included car shaped sugar cookies and car shaped crayons (that I made!). In addition, Trey and I gave Thomas the famous little tykes Cozy Coupe for his birthday. We had it out at the park and I swear once Thomas saw it, there was no turning back - he just opened the door, climbed in, and waited for a ride. He spent the majority of the party either being pushed around in the car or pushing his friends around in the car. It was very entertaining. So, I think it's safe to say that Thomas and hopefully all of our guests had a great time. After the party, the family came back to Abbeville, watched Thomas (and Jack) open gifts, and then had a great dinner at Maria's.
Anyways, we celebrated this big birthday with a big birthday party. We invited family and friends to West Cambridge Park in Greenwood for some fun, food, and play. I decided to make Thomas' smash cake and the cupcakes for the guests myself, an interesting project. Starting about 3-4 weeks before the party, I was baking cakes and making icing to try and find the best cake recipe. Trey found the winner by simply googling "best birthday cake" (for anyone who is interested - http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/best-birthday-cake). It really was good, I thought! The day before the party Linda Ann and mom came up to help out with Thomas and preparing the food. Thank goodness they did - I really don't think I could have finished everything without their help. The party theme was little blue car, chosen to reflect Thomas' love for playing with cars. To honor this theme, party favors included car shaped sugar cookies and car shaped crayons (that I made!). In addition, Trey and I gave Thomas the famous little tykes Cozy Coupe for his birthday. We had it out at the park and I swear once Thomas saw it, there was no turning back - he just opened the door, climbed in, and waited for a ride. He spent the majority of the party either being pushed around in the car or pushing his friends around in the car. It was very entertaining. So, I think it's safe to say that Thomas and hopefully all of our guests had a great time. After the party, the family came back to Abbeville, watched Thomas (and Jack) open gifts, and then had a great dinner at Maria's.
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| birthday cake and cupcakes |
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| the party |
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| the cozy coupe! |
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| pushing william |
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| he likes what this bib says |
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| yum |
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| post party pic |
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| post party opening gifts with Olivia |
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| party favors - car cookies and crayons |
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thomas' tricks
Thomas is still up to his old trick of pushing large items around the house. This heavy container of Tide seems to be a favorite. It normally sits in the kitchen under his high chair, here it is in the living room! A few other new things include - feeding himself with a spoon, knocking on doors, and oh, he has 4 teeth now!
But the most exciting of his new tricks is walking! Yes, Thomas has finally, truly started walking, and has been since the second week in August. No more "cruising" or "taking steps", he is truly walking! It's certainly an amazing accomplishment for Thomas and has provided us with much entertainment. In just a short amount of time, he realized that he can go much faster if he holds hands with Trey or myself, but only one hand, so that he still has a free hand for picking up items along the way. He will really pull a hand away if you try to grab them both. He has also learned that he can "put on the brakes" and pull when we are walking with him to guide us in the direction he would like to go in. He definitely has a mind of his own and is not shy in sharing his ideas. Additional entertainment is just in watching him walk alone, especially down a hallway. He appears to be a drunken old man and while we do not laugh at him outwardly, it's quite amusing! Shortly after walking, came conquering stairs. I'm pretty sure his love of stairs began at Katie and Martin's house, but is now widespread to any stairs he can find. Can't take an eye off of him for one second if there are stairs around.
But the most exciting of his new tricks is walking! Yes, Thomas has finally, truly started walking, and has been since the second week in August. No more "cruising" or "taking steps", he is truly walking! It's certainly an amazing accomplishment for Thomas and has provided us with much entertainment. In just a short amount of time, he realized that he can go much faster if he holds hands with Trey or myself, but only one hand, so that he still has a free hand for picking up items along the way. He will really pull a hand away if you try to grab them both. He has also learned that he can "put on the brakes" and pull when we are walking with him to guide us in the direction he would like to go in. He definitely has a mind of his own and is not shy in sharing his ideas. Additional entertainment is just in watching him walk alone, especially down a hallway. He appears to be a drunken old man and while we do not laugh at him outwardly, it's quite amusing! Shortly after walking, came conquering stairs. I'm pretty sure his love of stairs began at Katie and Martin's house, but is now widespread to any stairs he can find. Can't take an eye off of him for one second if there are stairs around.
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| Notice the toilet paper holder - it's his new favorite toy |
New Hampshire vacation
This year our Gorney family vacation was a trip to the beautiful white mountains of New Hampshire. The Thomas family generously opened up their incredible mountain house to our entire family - we are so thankful to them! The trip started at the Charlotte airport where Dad recognized and eventually spoke with retired Steeler's football player, Rocky Bleier (this was after we watched him endure a pat down in security). We flew to Boston and headed towards the mountains by car, guided by Ang's trusty GPS. Well, that is until Dad demanded the GPS be turned off, then proceeded to take a wrong turn, pointing us straight back to Boston. The mistake delayed us only about 30 minutes or so, and from there it was smooth sailing. Thomas luckily slept through most of this ordeal. I must say, he is overall an excellent traveler!
This trip was actually an exciting time for Thomas. He had been on the brink of walking for a while but finally managed to take his first steps during the week! Early one morning, mom and I were sitting in the living room with him when he just stood up, let go of everything, and took 3 steps. It was amazing, and so hard to believe that he was actually starting to walk. A few days later he took a few more steps...he still seemed pretty content to crawl and therefore walked sparingly, as he could move around much faster on 4 limbs (and we all know how important speed is to Thomas!).
We spent the week tubing down the Pemigewasset River, hiking, relaxing in the hot tub, eating, and seeing the local sites. Our first family hike was up a Loon mountain ski slope. Thomas rode in his backpack, giving Trey a double workout. Somehow, the two of them still beat everyone else to the top! Once we all made it up, we ate lunch at a delicious cafe, checked out the views, and rode a gondola back down.
The next hike was a biggie - the famous Mt. Washington - a cold, wet, difficult hike straight up a 6288 ft mountain, well beyond the tree-line. Fortunately, we did not take the babies on this hike, but Mom, Dad, and Ang met us at the top with Thomas, Jack, and Olivia. Despite the 30 degree temperature and raging winds, Thomas preferred to be outside - he is truly an outdoor kind of kid. Unfortunately, due to terrible weather conditions, there was no view from the top of the mountain. This truly saddened me, as everyone, and I mean everyone, should really see that view once in their life.
Our third hike was at the Flume Gorge - a gorgeous park! We ended the week with a trip to Clark's Trading Post, well known for its bear shows and train rides. Thomas loved the train ride, even when the crazy "wolf man" appeared ranting about NH politics. The bear show was not quite as entertaining for him, although Trey and I enjoyed it! A great time was had by the whole family on this vacation - we'll have to do it again sometime!
This trip was actually an exciting time for Thomas. He had been on the brink of walking for a while but finally managed to take his first steps during the week! Early one morning, mom and I were sitting in the living room with him when he just stood up, let go of everything, and took 3 steps. It was amazing, and so hard to believe that he was actually starting to walk. A few days later he took a few more steps...he still seemed pretty content to crawl and therefore walked sparingly, as he could move around much faster on 4 limbs (and we all know how important speed is to Thomas!).
We spent the week tubing down the Pemigewasset River, hiking, relaxing in the hot tub, eating, and seeing the local sites. Our first family hike was up a Loon mountain ski slope. Thomas rode in his backpack, giving Trey a double workout. Somehow, the two of them still beat everyone else to the top! Once we all made it up, we ate lunch at a delicious cafe, checked out the views, and rode a gondola back down.
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| On top of Loon Mountain |
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| Mt Washington...only "1 mile" to go! |
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| Mt Washington...still only 1 mile to go |
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| Mt Washington...really only 1 mile to go! |
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| Flume Gorge |
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| Train ride, see the wolfman? |
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