Thomas Family Blog
Created: Winter 2004 in WY
November 2007:
Turkey and Santa - what holiday is it?
Like the suburbs and cities that have merged to connect New York to D.C., Thanksgiving and Christmas are now one big, traffic jam of a holiday. We too have been sucked into this Hallmark scam. We found ourselves Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving and came across Santa in the mall. We haven't even carved the Turkey and the elves were lining up kids for photos. For goodness sake, our Halloween decorations are still in the yard!
Much like last year, getting the kids photo taken with Santa was a last minute, in the moment, "why not" decision. We inevitably ended up in line behind parents who spent hours that morning pulling on tights, shiny shoes and $100 dresses. We showed up in sweat pants, fleece and uncombed hair. We like to think it's more about the experience than the photo. That's our excuse anyway. We made one attempt to get them to smile and then quickly handed over our $15 bucks to stop them from crying. Last year Jack was missing a shoe and Red was sleeping. This year Santa was just okay.
By the way, if you have a printer/copier/scanner at home like we do, you can stick it to the man by buying the cheapest Santa photo package and simply scanning it in.
October 2007:
Three funerals and a baby
We don't mean to make light of the loss that we, and our families and friends, have experienced these past few weeks. It has been a very sad month and we're all still grieving.
We suddenly lost our cousin who is an uncle to the boys (Jack's godfather). A life long friend passed away in CO without warning. And our son's only living Great Grandparent departed at age 92. None were expected.
But the arrival of baby boy Doshi, our new nephew, was a welcome change.
Deven Thomas Doshi joined the world early this morning, Oct. 26th, in Pittsburgh.
Check out photos at http://www.babydoshi.com.
September 2007:
Cheerios make the world a better place for you & me
The boy's are walking, going to Phillies games, eating Cheerios and life is good. We have not eaten in a restaurant with the guys since they outgrew their infant car seats at 6 months old. You can count, it's been almost 8 months!
After a morning of playing at Valley Forge Park we decided it was time to try eating out again. We took the fellas to Five Guys for a burger. It was fantastic. Not only because the burgers and fries were so good, but because Jack and Red were happy in their cruddy restaurant high chairs eating cheerios off of the greasy table. We had a blast and felt our freedom to roam wherever we please returning.
Click here to download a 4 minute video of the boys walking and talking.
Click here for another video from last week if you want to see what a difference 7 days can make when kids are learning new things.
The videos will download to your desktop for free when you click on the link and enter the code at the top of the screen. You do not need to sign-up.
- Top 3:
Volver | The Departed | The Prestige
Other favorites:
10 Items or Less |Whale Rider | The Illustionist | Breach | Stranger than Fiction | Casino Royale | Happy Endings
Favorites if you love Philly:
Invincible | Rocky Balboa
July 2007:
Contained Chaos
That is our theme for this month.
We took the boys to their first baseball game out in Pittsburgh. Stuart works for Heinz and got us all tickets for the luxury box - close to dead center over home plate. PNC is a great park, if not the best. The boys had a great time tearing apart the suite. This was a great way to see a game with 10 month old boys. Here are some photos.
Since the weather prevented our swimming plans on the 4th of July, we spent the day moving furniture and converting our office into a playroom. We now have a room with four walls and a door that the boys can destroy. It's already a huge improvement for the sanity of the Thomas household.
June 2007:
It's a boy
Aunt Becky and Uncle Sunil are having a boy in early November.
May 2007:
Campaign for Spain
Click here and vote for kvthomas!
tin bird choir
Remember our friends who made the super cool holiday music? They've recorded new songs and taken their act on the road. We saw them recently at Chaplin's and they were amazing. We're very proud of them. Check them out on Myspace and on their site. Enjoy!
Red and Jack will have a new cousin
Yeehaw. Aunt Becky and Uncle Sunil are pregnant with the boy's very first, 1st cousin. We are all very excited. Baby Doshi is due to arrive in November. We think it's a girl - care to place a bet?
April 2007:
Kristin named as CEO
It's true. I am putting my career on hold to become an AHP (at home parent).
I will finish working at the end of May to tackle the role of CEO, project manager, driver, disciplinarian, tutor, facilities manager, nanny, maid, nurse, accountant and counselor - all without a salary, raises, sick days or lunch breaks. Being a Mom is the most challenging job I've ever had and the most important. The reward of raising my own children and the time spent with them is priceless.
I still plan to dabble in some contract, part-time work from home and am looking forward to having the time to explore my creative side. I am 33 years old. Taking a few years off from my career does not mean it is dead. I have 30+ more years to work and could start a whole new career or two in that time. A larger house, a better car, a vacation home - these things can wait. Nothing is as important to us as raising our children. We're lucky to have the option to do so. After all, I will never get these years back. "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."
Bryan would like to note that I may be CEO, but Jack and Red elected him President. ;-)
Easter
Our trip to South Carolina to visit Grandma, Grandpa and Great Grandpa was a blast. The kids slept in the car; we rode bikes, took walks, visited the beach and had picnics. Besides a flat tire upon arrival, and chilly weather, the trip was a success. We survived the 12-hour drive in 11 hours flat!
March 2007:
Schedule!?!?
We're not really "schedule" people. Now that we've got kids we're all about it. When the boys were newborns they would sleep anywhere. Those glorious days have passed and our new curfew is 7 pm, which means no more parties at friend's houses or late dinners out. We didn't want to be "those" people who are lame and can't hang out b/c of their kids. We are "those" people, and we're okay with that. Their happiness is our happiness and regular naps, meals and bedtimes are a treasure we hold dear. We're doomed to live in a planned housing community and own a minivan. It's just a matter of time.
As Bryan says, "Lather, rinse, repeat."
Jackson and Redford make their debut on YouTube!
Check out a couple of their short clips
Let's Skype
We have been using Skype to video conference with friends and family from across the country. If you have a web cam hooked up to your computer, download Skype for free and we can chat live. The boys love it. Let us know if you are interested.
This morning over coffee we were reminiscing about all of the places we've visited and decided to list the ones with the coolest names. So here it is:
- Bumpass Hell | Poi pu | The Lost Coast | Death Valley | Bad Water Basin | Castle Crags | Russian River | Kings Canyon | Casa Ik | Dos Ojos Cenote | The Salton Sea | Hawk Canyon | Jackson Hole | Big Sky | Moonlight Basin | Lake Wallenpauapck | Cinque Terre | Gubbio
February 2007:
On President's Day we took a drive out to Angelina's Italian Kitchen in Pottstown to eat what Philadelphia Magazine claims is the second best pork sandwich in the greater Philly area. We loaded the kids in the car to help us out with this adventure.
The place is tiny. They say it seats 24, but it feels like 10. Very cozy. The sandwich was good, but what was even better were the people. When our sandwiches were served, 88-year-old Angelina who was sitting in the corner said, "Give me the baby." And we handed over Redford. Then her daughter offered to hold Jack while we ate. As we were eating her grandsons now famous sandwich we listened to family tales told by her son-in-law. It was a riot. This family is more than just nice. By the time we left we felt like we were one of them.
And to top it off, on our way out Angelina handed us a scarf that she had been knitting as a gift.
We loved Angelina's and plan to go back for dinner sometime soon.
_________________________________
We are addicted to Netflix.
We've always watched a lot of movies, but this past year we watched A LOT of movies. Pregnancy bed rest, the physical demands of twin boys, living in PA, whatever the reason, we watched 90 movies in the span of 12 months. Ninety!
That's over 7 movies a month. If each movie averages 2 hours, that's almost 8 full days of nothing else but watching movies. That's a lot of calories not burned. It's like we held our very own, week-long film festival in our living room.
Because we are such movie connoisseurs we decided to sort through the list of 90 to come up with our favorites. If you are looking for a good movie to watch you might find these lists useful. Or not.
These are in no particular order.
- Our shared favorites:
Nacho Libre | Little Miss Sunshine | Broken Flowers | Brokeback Mountain
Bryan's favorites:
Syriana | LOUDQuietLOUD: A film about the Pixies | Thank You for Smoking | Brick | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | The Squid and the Whale
Kristin's favorites:
An Inconvenient Truth | Wordplay | Who Killed the Electric Car? | Cinema Paradiso | Transamerica | The Constant Gardner | Jesus Camp
January 2007:
We recently watched Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth and were inspired to take action. Many of you received new light bulbs from us for Christmas. And now Wal-Mart, a store we all love to hate, is taking action too. Good for them! Read about it in the New York Times. Energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs can change the world.
May we also suggest Who Killed the Electic Car as another must see movie.
December 2006:
Happy holidays. We're lucky to have creative, talented friends and wanted to share a special surprise that they made. Click here to listen. 'Tis the Season.
_________________________________November 2006:
Our trip to Pittsburgh over Thanksgiving was a success. The boys were very good during the 5 hour ride. We even managed to change diapers and feed them while parked in the car. Our car was MUCH cleaner than the inside of the turnpike rest stop on a holiday weekend. Nasty.
We got to catch up with a lot of family and friends. The Doshis had a great Turkey meal as usual, Becky and Sunil threw a nice bash at their new place, and the Paulsons hosted the Franklin crew for the 2nd annual party.
We'll be spending the boys first Christmas in Philly.
October 2006:
Happy Halloween! This year we decided to count the kids and ended the night with 75 trick-or-treaters.
_________________________________We got out of the house twice for our 3rd wedding anniversary. Wednesday night to Royal India (our favorite local place) and Saturday night for dinner at Brigid's and a visit to the haunted house at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly. Thank you to the grandparents for babysitting.
_________________________________September 2006:
Our four-organ transplant friend made the local news again last night. They did a follow-up story on CBS to showcase how well she is doing. Congrats Steph!
Steph truly needs financial help, the cost of her transplant surgery exceeded $500,000. There are many expenses she and her husband Nate will encounter that are not covered by insurance – things most don’t even consider. Further, following surgery, the cost of anti-rejection medications cost over $25,000 monthly. Stephanie will likely exceed her health insurance’s lifetime limit, given all of her previous health expenses.
If you'd like to help by making a donation please check out her site.
Our friend Jen's best friend Jamie just beat back leukemia for the second time. She's still recovering from a bone marrow transplant, but, thanks to the amazing work of dozens of doctors and thousands of researchers before them, she's doing great.
Jamie has formed a walking team for this year's Light the Night Walk, the annual fundraising drive for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Our friends Jen and Dan are both walking across the Brooklyn Bridge Oct. 5 and trying to raise some cash. If you could take a moment and visit their donation website, we'd really appreciate it.
The Rocky Balboa statue has been returned to the Art Museum steps. Does anyone else think it's a little strange that Philadelphians (self included) think of Rocky as a real person and not the actor Sylvestor Stalone? The statue was a movie prop made for Rocky 3. Art? No. Inspirational Pop Icon? Yes. After so many years with the Eagles and Phillies as the underdogs I guess we need to cling to something that gives us hope, even if it was just a movie. Hopefully those who run up the steps like Rocky end up buying more tickets to go inside to see actual art.
"I was nobody. But that don't matter either, you know? 'Cause I was thinkin', it really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed, and if I can go that distance, you see, and that bell rings and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood."
August 2006:
Redford and Jackson are home! They came home on Sunday the 27th after 19 days in the NICU.
_________________________________THE BOYS ARRIVED ON AUGUST 8TH!!! Check them out...
_________________________________Remember how we said that the brick patio was the last big project? Well then Dad/Greg arrived on Monday and started to work on our wish list, which were to be projects for the next few years. Now we have doors to our attic bedroom, electric outside, a laundry tub installed, an icemaker installed, and our faucet upstairs is fixed. Wow!
_________________________________Becky and Sunil are moving back to Pittsburgh and started a blog.
_________________________________July 2006:
Bryan finished the brick patio, the Grandmoms hosted a baby shower for us on the 23rd and we are in the final stretch of pregnancy.
_________________________________Bryan started our last BIG home project - brick patio. Once the boys arrive all projects will cease and desist for a while.
_________________________________June 2006:
Check out the boys. At 28 weeks old they each weigh almost 3 pounds.
_________________________________May 2006:
Happy Mother's Day. We spent the day registering at Babies R Us for Frick and Frack. Check out photos of our Moms when they were expecting.
_________________________________5/2/06 - SAN FRANCISCO - The Padres were in a perfect situation to challenge Barry Bonds: a three-run lead in the eighth inning with nobody on base. Giants fans got what they came to see, and now Bonds is two home runs from tying the Babe.
5/4/06 - MILWAUKEE - Barry Bonds' pursuit of the Babe might have to wait until Philadelphia. Bonds wasn't in the starting lineup for the San Francisco Giants' game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday.
Check out pics from Friday night's game with Dave D and crew.
_________________________________April 2006:
STEPH GOT HER ORGANS!!! Please click here. Steph also made the local news a few months ago.
_________________________________March 2006:
Check out our new page, Doublemints, dedicated to the twins. See menu above. You knew this was coming.
_________________________________CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS FROM ITALY AND THE OLYMPICS
_________________________________February 2006:
We're getting ready for our 9 day trip through Italy. We'll be staying at a Piedmont winery in Vignale, a costal, family olive farm in Levanto near Cinque Terre, and a B&B in the town centre of Cortona.
_________________________________
Bryan couldn't make it to the Super Bowl so the Super Bowl came to Bryan.
Check out Bryan with Jerome Bettis "The Bus" in Torino.
The Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl!!!
Video of the celebration from Stuart and Mala
January 2006:
Photos from the Philadelphia 76ers game.
Things to be thankful for from 2005:
Skiing in Jackson Hole and Big Sky, Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore, I-80, Miller Park and Citizens Bank Park, snorkeling in Florida, visiting South Carolina & D.C., living with the Volpes, finding new jobs and our first house in PA, moving twice, being closer to family, camping in MD, becoming new godparents, Lake Wallenpaupack and Cape Cod, our first cat, "down the shore", Grandpa turned 90, Yuengling Lager, and the Rolling Stones.
We are headed to Italy for the winter Olympics this February. Bryan will be working for NBC again. We'll be taking some time afterwards to explore the Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre), Umbria and Tuscany.
December 2005:
An intersting fact..."The Philly market has two-and-a-half times the number of Fortune 500 companies as California. It is a powerful market, the fourth-largest in population behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The region is home to 80 colleges and universities, including five medical schools, and a number of life-science companies that employ close to 500,000 people.
We counted. King of Prussia has at least 17 chain restaurants in the mall or on the perimeter. This does not include fast food like McDonald’s or even Auntie Ann’s Pretzels. This includes TGI Friday’s, Bennigan’s, Cheesecake Factory, etc. We thought the Tampa, FL area was bad, but KOP might be worse. Granted it is the largest mall of retail space in the country and it’s pretty nice as far as malls go. But people are waiting in line for micro waved food covered in bacon bits and croutons. When we bought our house in Malvern several people commented that it was a nice location, because it’s not far from the mall. We didn’t necessarily see this as a selling point. Last night we ate at Champs and guess what? It was pretty good. We’re now one of those people.
;-)
November 2005:
Study Reveals Pittsburgh Unprepared For Full-Scale Zombie Attack
October 2005:
Mrs. Henry is finally here!
What Olympic sport is won by getting your team's stone closest to the house, is known as 'chess on ice', and was popularized by the Scots back in 1638? CURLING of course! We're taking curling lessons this October. No joke.
The Philadelphia Curling Club was established in 1957 and is the only curling facility in Pennsylvania.
Sweet Virginia is for Stones lovers!
_____________________________September 2005:
_____________________________August 2005:
We are moved into our house and love it.
We found out that the house was built around the same time that the town was established in 1889. It was built by the railroad for the engineers and their families to live in. There are several other brick railroad houses on our block too. Malvern is at the end of the "Main Line."
June 2005:
We bought a house in the town of Malvern, PA!
25 miles from downtown Philly, 2 blocks from train station, walking distance to pub and restaurants, and central to all corporate giants. Malvern hosts the longest running memorial day parade in the country (136 years). If any of you remember the church where we got married you've been to Malvern. Our house is a one-hundred-year-old brick twin in town with plenty of space for visitors. We move in at the end of July. Next: dog, cat and furniture.
_____________________________
April 2005:
We have arrived in PA!
We are very happy to be back east. We're pretty busy buying a house, a second car and starting new jobs, but we can't wait to catch up with everyone living in the eastern time zone.
_____________________________
March 2005:
We are moving home to Pennsyltucky!
Our life in Wyoming is coming to an end. It was short, but sweet and we will really miss it here. In April we will be moving home to PA where we will be closer to family. Skiing will never be the same. But Philly is calling our name. Stay tuned...
_____________________________
October 2004:
We moved to Wyoming!
Why? Why not!
Almost five years after moving to the Golden State we packed up our things, left San Francisco behind, and headed east. But before we made the big move we took one last west coast road trip to see some of the most amazing volcanic sites that this country has to offer. After exploring volcanoes, and waiting for Mount St. Helens to blow, we returned to San Fran to pack. Ten friends, a 24' truck, I-80 eastbound, many casinos and two days later we landed in Jackson Hole, WY.
After a few days of hotel living and getting a feel for the area, we moved into a great condo that has a guest bedroom with your name on it. Since October 12th, 2004 we've been happy to call Wyoming home. Bryan has started working as a barrel racing rodeo clown and Kristin is selling spiked hot chocolate to tourists. Just kidding of course. Bryan is teaching ski school and conducting research for the Grassroots team at RCM. Kristin is working in Human Resources for Spring Creek Ranch, a luxury resort set atop a 7,000 foot butte with a fantastic view. We're having a great time and we are very happy that we made this move. Whether you ski or not, Jackson Hole is an amazing place and we'd be ecstatic if you came to visit us.
Take a look around our new website. Our brother-in-law, Sunil, helped us to get this site started. You can see pictures from Jackson Hole and some of our recent adventures, and even send us email.