Introducing...Baby Jack!

After exactly 9 long months, we were finally rewarded with another BOY!!! Jack Evan Thomas was born on April 17th at 5:08 pm. It was a fast and fabulous labor...Jack came out healthy and husky: 8 lbs, 10 oz. 21 in long. We are both doing GREAT!

We didn't know what we were having, so it was fun for all of us to find out if it was a boy or a girl. When the kids all came in, I turned Jack around and said, "It's a.........brother!!!" Amid the squeals from everyone, Clara said, "DANGIT!!!" But then she was the first to ask to hold him and she has been a little mother ever since.

Jack has been a very good eater and sleeper and the kids all love to hold him so we usally end up setting a timer for them all!

I delivered at Mckay Dee Hospital where I actually work on the Labor and Delivery unit, so my good friends were my nurses and it was such a fun day! Lots of excitement and a cute baby at the end!

We love Jack!

Easter...dresses, bunnies, eggs and CANDY!

We had a lovely Easter...complete with the lovely lady Clara modeling her new Easter dress made by Gramma Brenda...of course. Clara loves the camera and the camera loves her!
If we happen to have another girl (this week!!! Finally!) I just don't know how she could be any cuter than Clara!!!

A Thomas Family Easter dinner tradition is a little jello dish lovingly called "Bunnies in the Grass" Hence, the bunnies...in the grass!!! Thanks Grandma Susan for the fun recipe! I did tell Evan to take the picture of the bunnies in the grass, not of me with a small amount of bunnies in the background. Oh well!

Saturday night the kids dyed their eggs and had a great time. After they figured out they could dunk and redunk into different bowls to create different colors, they spent over an hour recoloring all of the eggs they had already colored! Some turned out mud brown, but boy they had fun!

And finally the EASTER EGG HUNT!!! I spent an hour filling a ton of plastic easter eggs with candy and coins and after dinner I sent Evan out to hide them all. He came back pretty fast and as we were getting ready to corral the kids out the door, I noticed two empty egg cartons by the door. Then I got it...Evan had hidden the colored eggs from the fridge for the kids to find!!!

I laughed and laughed and he just looked at me until I called him on it! He just assumed we were looking for Easter eggs and didn't realize I had a bag of candy filled eggs ready to hide! I kept laughing as he took the REAL Easter eggs out and hid them, and then I laughed some more as the kids would pick up an egg, shake it to make sure it was plastic and had candy and coins in it, and promptly throw it back on the ground if was hard boiled! What a fun hunt!

Of course the kids compare their candy stash and coin count and we all got another laugh when Henry ended up with almost twice the amount of money as the other three. He was the main one who shook the eggs to see if they rattled. Guess it paid off! Anyway, we had a great Easter. It's always fun to watch the kids...that's the best part!

Happy St. Patricks Day!!!

We have a very naughty Leprechaun that sneaks into our house on St. Patty's day...every year the kids try to set a trap to catch him, and every year he foils them!!! This year, it was Ned, a tricky little leprechaun that snuck in and walked all over our kitchen...
Aside from leaving footprints all over the kitchen, he turned the milk and applesauce green in the fridge, turned all the couches upside down, made a tower out of the kitchen chairs, drew mustaches on the kids' pictures, and poured all the cereal boxes out on the kitchen table. He also snuck down into the kids' rooms and painted their noses green...Ethan even had a green mustache!!! The only nice thing he did was leave a green dollar bill and a pack of green gum for everyone! NAUGHTY NED!!! (The kids love it though!)

Bennett and Ethan were in chess club again and have been enjoying a few tournaments here and there. At the last one, Ethan got a 2nd place trophy in his division and Bennett got 4th place!!! Way to go nerdy nerds!!! (BTW, I still can't beat Ethan!)