Blog Tag... You're It!

Hey blogging world! It's my turn-- the "chain letter" has come my way via Angela of mom-e-moirs... thanks Angela! LOL! :-)

The rules: Link to your tagger and post these 3 rules on your blog.1. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.2. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.3. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Ok, I'll give it a whirl:

1. I started tap dancing and jazz dance at the age of 3 and continued until I hit Junior High and sports. I even placed at local contests!

2. I think about having a third child A LOT!

3. I love taking the kids to Starbucks on the weekends or during vacations. Something about sitting there enjoying the sights, sounds, and tastes with the kids just makes a morning perfect.

4. I have a habit of hitting the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings when it is going on. I usually like to buy a fresh bouquet of flowers but feel strange if we don't make it down to Friendship Square to experience the culture and local prodcuts.

5. I love to put on kids music and dance with my kids. We'll often have "dance offs" at our house and I really love it! I also love to belt out the tunes while the music is playing, thinking I can sing just as good as those musicians, when in all reality, I can't!

6. I love to work on the computer... I think I get it from my dad. I love searching for great deals, cute stuff, etc. I try to do it when the kids are napping, or at night... or whenever! Doing it with a cup of 'joe is even better!

7. I'm like Angela, I can't pay for something full price unless it's absolutely needed. I refuse to buy something full price and then 2 weeks later see that it's half off. It's irritating. I love to Ebay as well... that's also addicting!

I'm not to the point of having seven blogging friends yet... so I'm not tagging anyone yet... but I will one day!

Haircuts - the clean up!

It was clean up mode for the Thompson kids today. First of all, I'm the type of person that enjoys having her son's hair short. Hayden's was getting way too long for me, but I wanted to get a cut close to his birthday... I'm cheap, I know. Anyway, it was also Kennedy's turn to get her hair cut today. She had 3 inches cut off!!! This kid's hair is going to be like her mom's - THICK! It's so soft right now, I hope she doesn't lose that! Here are some of their pictures, all cleaned up!

A New Camera, finally!

Well, it was due time. We finally bought a new camera. This is the first official picture I took on it... before I even read the instructions! Looking forward to taking many more wonderful shots with my new tool! It's going to be a hoot! Especially if these two continue to pose like they do!

Hey Mom!!! Guess what?!

Well, hoping the kids would sleep in this morning, no luck. Kennedy walked in around 6:20, and Hayden was sleeping with me (had walked in at some point in the evening.) Bryan was sleeping downstairs to the heat of the house - poor guy - he's looking forward to AC weather again. Anyway, I picked Hayden up, put him back into his bed, hoping he'd go back to sleep. Well, not 2 minutes later, he comes running in, "Hey mom! Guess what?! I lost my other tooth!!!" Wow! What a moment! He was so proud of himself. He told me the story of how it happened: "It just fell out, right into my hand. I was pushing on it with my tongue (it was able to go horizontal) We'll have to give it to the tooth fairy." So, here's a picture... my son, with two lost teeth, and one adult tooth coming in. It's early, and I'm off to go fix my cup of joe!

SNOW BOUND!

I hope this baby works in the spring....

Super Bowl, Sledding and a Snow Penguin

Well, what a day last Sunday was... the Super Bowl was a fantastic game and Gram brought over two new sleds for the kids to use since ours bit the dust.

They successfully made a good run down our front yard and into a snow bank that the snow plows left for us to deal with. We also built a snow penguin since mommy's snowman making capabilities aren't the greatest! Currently, it's snowing and we're supposed to get 3-5 more tonight. Will it ever end!?

Snow Day #4!

It was definitely hard to believe this morning when I got the phone call at 5:40 - no school. I had already showered, gotten dressed, and was about ready to put my face on when it happened. I answered like always, "You are kidding me!" Nope, no kidding going on this morning. We've got a lot of snow! It was drifitng out in the county all last night and it would be tough for the buses to get through. We're supposed to get more tomorrow night through Thursday - could we be looking at snow day #5? Wow, I am not sure. Right now, we aren't extending our school year but are making up yesterday and today on some curriculum work days we had scheduled. Whew! Here's some pictures from our deck and it really shows how much snow we do have! Baby, it's cold outside!!!

Bundling up....

Rumor has it we are supposed to get 6-9 inches tonight of snow! WOW! Will it ever end? So, I made sure to run all of my grocery errands last night (one of my alltime dreaded activities!) But, now, I am done for the weekend and we can lounge in our jammies all weekend long, play in the snow and get WELL! I only worked 1.5 days out of 4 last week due to sick kiddos. Bryan is sick now and I'm taking any sort of medication that will prevent me from becoming ILL! I'll post a picture as soon as my family is up and I can move around a little more. Right now "the tooth fairy" aka - Kennedy - and I are watching cartoons while she's doning her new dressup outfit from Gram K! Again, pics will be posted later...

The First Tooth....

I was walking down to Hayden's KPlus room one afternoon just to check in to say hi to him. I do that on occassion, not much, I don't want to be one of those "hover moms!" Anyway, I walk in, and one of his classmates comes up to me who, I can already tell, will wear the pants in her family! She's too funny! Anyway, she comes right up to me and announces to me that Hayden lost his tooth! Disappointed that I found out from this little loud mouth, I looked at Hayden and sure enough, dangling in his hand was a "tooth" necklace that McDonald School gives to those kids who lose their tooth at school. They are very handy, in this parent's opinion! Anyway, he was very excited that he lost his tooth and he and Daddy put his tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy to come and grab it. She visited, left a couple of dollars and took the tooth! Hayden loved it! He's already getting his adult tooth and his second tooth is loose and will probably be out by the time he turns 6!

SNOW DAY!!!!!!

Well, lo and behold... another snow storm hit the Palouse and I got the early morning phone call that school for Moscow was canceled. Unfortunately, I had just gotten out of the shower and made my coffee... but not to fret - I was happy that I got to just hang out at home with the kids and relax. Especially since they both have been fighting strep throat- poor things. I took this picture right from our front window.... our neighborhood is so nice and it is absolutely beautiful with the snow on the trees. We've gotten lucky the last two big snowfalls, our neighbor has come over and snowblowed us out! Yahoo! Wonder what my luck is for a Snow Day #3???

Alotta Snow!!!!

We were dumped on with a huge snowfall a few days ago so the kids and I took advantage of it and went out to shovel. The first thing Kennedy did was lay down in the snow and make snow angels, pictured here. It was cold, but we had fun! I am hoping we get more snow as it is so pretty when it is lightly falling (or falling heavily for that matter!)

Top Five Holiday Events for Christmas '07

1. The joy of the kids' faces when they open up their packages. I realize that it's not all about me anymore when it comes to Christmas. In fact, I could care less as to what I get. I'm so involved as to what the kids get and want to make sure that they enjoy every last moment, it's really rewarding seeing the joy on their faces.

2. Gift Wrapping! As much as that sounds strange, I truly enjoy to wrap gifts, and when it's Christmas time I wrap so many that it is so much fun to do! I also volunteer to wrap at the Hospice booth. My mom and I have been doing that since they helped my Grandpa Goose when he had terminal cancer... so it's been about 10 years now. This year, I even scheduled 2 nights for my co-workers to wrap, and they had so much fun, I'll schedule up a couple nights again next year and make it a tradition for McDonald School to do each year!

3. Our Annual Thompson Tree Hunt. Oh yes, we go out into the woods to find just the "perfect" tree. It's a hoot to get out there, bundle up, and try to find just the right one. Some years we are lucky, others we aren't. But, we are being environmentally friendly by recycling our tree each year after we are through with it and it's a great tradition to have with our family.

4. Spending time with family and friends. Need I say more?

5. Vacation. Again, more needed to be said here?

Grandpa Dave's Gift.....

A couple of weeks ago, my dad, (AKA - Grandpa Dave) sent an ENORMOUS package to our doorstep. Well, lo and behold, the reason it was so large was because there was a fairly good sized gift in there to Hayden. He waited patiently to open it, asking politely here and there if he can open it (days before Christmas I might add!) Then the moment arrived finally this morning when he could open it - it was the first one he grabbed after all of his Santa stuff was done! A remote control car was a big hit with him... he and Daddy put it together this morning with the batteries getting "juiced" up as we speak. Merry Christmas, everyone.

Disney On Ice

Wow, how could I forget to blog the ever-lovin', Disney on Ice weekend? Mom, the kids and I trekked up to Spokane to stay with one of my best friends, Jamie, and her two kids (her hubby was out of town). Anyway, the 7 of us went to Disney on Ice "Princess Wishes." It was so great! All of the kids enjoyed it, as well as the three of us adults. I think Hayden and Anders' favorite part was the dragon from Sleeping Beauty! Hayden sat back finally in his seat when it came out and was breathing real fire! Anyway, one of these days, we'll have to head to the real Disneyland, but for now, seeing Mickey and Minnie on ice was just as good for a 2 and 5 year old.

"Oh Christmas Tree..."

On Sunday we made our trek into the woods to find our beautiful (hopefully not a Charlie Brown) Christmas tree. The weather was wonderful and held off snowing until we were driving home. With all of the new regulations that the Potlatch Corp. put on going onto their land, we had to find a new spot to find just the right tree. Unfortunately, it was straight up a steep hill! I felt as though I was mountain climbing! LOL! Anyway, after trudging up the road, only to have to go back to get the chainsaw, I finally came back and started my climb. I made it all the way to the top where Hayden had found the PERFECT tree - Charlie Brown style. Oh boy, what does a mother do??? I mean, I do have my limits as far as the tree goes. So, Bryan and I started talking to him about finding a tree for his own room. That didn't cut it. (No pun intended). Not sure how it worked, but I had actually found a tree on my way up the hill... now I just needed to find it. Not sure if it was the exact one, but we cut it anyway. After all three trees were cut, we headed back down, built a campfire and roasted hot dogs. It was yet another successful Thompson Tree Hunt!

"We're off to find a Christmas Tree...."

and let's just hope we find one! Yep, that's right, the annual Thompson Tree hunt will be taking place this weekend. My parents and I had started this tradition with the Barnes' family, who are like my second family, and Bryan and I restarted the tradition years ago. I always expect to find one like you find in a tree farm, so I get a little picky... but we truly do find a beautiful tree and it's so fun to tromp around in the woods trying to find just the right one!

This year should be interesting as I'm not thinking there will be any snow on the ground due to the rain we had earlier this week. I'm hoping to have the tree up and decorated all by Wednesday of next week. The house is looking pretty with all of the decorations. I've got to admit I'm fairly impressed with my talents in decorating the outside. Bry's old sled is leaning up against our entryway... that thing has got to be at least 30 years old! Anyway, I'll post a picture of our adventure and let everyone know how we did.

Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving came and went all too quickly. Luckily, I managed to not burn the turkey and all of my fixings came together nicely. Ok, with a couple exceptions.... I forgot to cook the asparagus and my gravy turned out to be like pudding....Oh well! What can ya do? Just smile and eat...

It was a relaxing day by all. Cards were played, movies were watched as well as football. The next day I ventured out into the craziness of the shopping frenzy. I could not believe the line at Walmart when I got there at 5. These people are insane. I must be one of them since I went there to shop as well, but I wasn't standing outside in the freezing cold for at least an hour... so that's gotta say something. I found some good deals and took care of business. Now I need to figure out what I have left to buy!

Fall Favorites

It's this time of year that it's so nice to start cuddling up in cozy, oversized sweaters and your favorite pair of jeans. The weather here in Moscow this year has been quite pleasant. I haven't had to whip out the winter jacket just yet. I think it's coming though! I thought I'd list a few of my "Fall Favorites."

1. Vanilla Chai lattes with a shot of espresso - yummy!
2. Did I mention oversized sweaters?
3. Cuddling up with your kids with a blanket, hot chocolate, and a good book!
4. Fall colors
5. It's getting closer to the shortest day of the year - which means they'll start getting longer! YEAH!
6. I finally find time to do those midnight scraps!
7. Holidays
8. Bry's home from his hunting weekends!
9. Have I mentioned sweaters?
10. I can't leave out slippers and sweats... I sometimes don't get out of them all weekend long!

Power Rangers to the Rescue!

Halloween this year in Moscow was fantastic! It was a clear night, there was no wind and it was actually decent weather. After taking Hayden and Kennedy trick-or-treating to Hayden's KPlus teacher's house and our day care lady's house, we headed home to take on the neighborhood!

The kids were gung ho to go house to house. Kennedy said every time we were finished with one house, "I want to still go trick-or-treating!" I also saw signs of me in her from my college days. She saw a group of people and started chanting, "We're going to a party! Party! Party!" Great. She better know that she can't get away with those, her father and I know all of the "white lies!"

Hayden was great as well. He was so into his costume, and was so cute helping his sister. Daddy adn I had to carry little blue around for a while, but for the most part, the Thompson's hit the neighborhood and carried back a sack full of candy for both kids! The best part of all, there seemed to be more children out in the neighborhood this year. It was friendly and fun... we even went to a neighborhood haunted house - it was perfect!

Oh Boy!

Ok, seriously. One would think that after 7 weeks of surgery, we'd be over the hump. I go downstairs yesterday morning to go let Chloe out for her morning "duty." I find that she was favoring her leg more than ever, not even putting any weight on it. Crap. I panic, go about and feed her, let her out and then directly call the vet. Let me just say this, she had never favored it before the surgery or after the surgery like she was doing yesterday. It was terrible. After finally being squeezed in down at PAWS, the vet took some fluid out of her knee (easily, I might add) and thinks it could be one of three things: An infection is in there, she's allergic to the steel posts they put in her knee during the surgery, or the whole thing has gone bad. Great....

Options one and two are great, I guess, but I'd rather not option three. Even option two isn't the greatest. I'm getting tired of having this "third child" in all honesty. Plus, I feel so bad that she and her brother are still separated when they were born together and the only time they've been apart is when we have to take either one to the vet... which is like an hour, not seven weeks~ More to come when I find out more.

A Chloe Update

Well... it's been 5.5 weeks now since Chloe had her surgery. That means 5.5 weeks of keeping she and Bubba separated, 5.5 weeks of keeping her downstairs with the baby gates up and 5.5 weeks of keeping her as mellow as possible. (That's hard work if you know how labs are!) Anyway, Chloe is doing quite well, and the healing is going slowly but surely. I'm sure that in a few weeks, we'll be able to reintroduce she and Bubba. Yet, with Chloe's shaved hind end, we'll probably have to keep them inside since it's going to be too cold for her bare behind! If she doesn't stop licking at one of her wounds, she'll be seeing one of those giant lampshades in the near future!

Red Barn Farms

Sunday was a beautiful fall day here on the Palouse. A local farm was having an "Octoberfest" celebration. I packed up the kids and headed out to Colton, WA. We had a fabulous time, picking pumpkins, getting faces painted and jumping in the air castle! It was a perfect outing. Hayden and Kennedy enjoyed the castle the most while I tried to get them to pose for a few pictures here and there. Luckily, they posed for a few shots among the pumpkins and against this beautiful little barn. Fall here on the Palouse is gorgeous. It is definitely a time where the kids know that Halloween is right around the corner!

Kinderbear.....

Hayden was so excited as he was walking through the doors at McDonald Elementary where he attends KPlus after his morning at Lena Whitmore. Why? He got to take home KINDERBEAR! This bear travels from house to house and spend time with each child. Today we are taking Kinderbear to the Vandal game and hope to take a pic of him with Joe Vandal. We'll see. I'll post that picture as soon as it's taken. Anyhow, Hayden's been taking care of Kinderbear and we are excited to report of his adventures with the Thompson's. Kinderbear and Hayden have been playing all morning. I'm about to pull out the "GAK" that they made in KPlus, but Kinderbear will have to watch from a distance as I can't afford for any to get on him! How devastating would that be?! Kinderbear and the kids are definitely having a good time this weekend!

I-D-A-H-O

Fall is in the air and you definitely know it by heading to the football games on the weekend! Yesterday mom and I took the kids to a tailgate party (is that appropriate to do?) for about 1/2 an hour before the game started. It felt good to walk through the crowd, see all of the Vandal Fans and wonder... how can they do this for every football game? But, I guess back in my college days, I'd be doing it weekend after weekend with my friends to cheer on those Vandals. Anyway, we were all dressed in our Vandal gear and cheered on the Vandals, unfortunately they lost. We also took in the volleyball game. Kennedy is terribly frightened of Joe Vandal! She'd cower into either mom or I and cover her eyes if he came near!!! It was pretty funny. We also had to coax Hayden so that we could get a pic of he and Joe. My kids are now thinking that they are pretty funny by saying, "I-D-A-H-O, Idaho, Idaho, Go! Go! Go (insert word!) Usually the word is chocolate, hair, rocks, whatever. Knowing that mom is cringing that they are defacing the fight song!!! It is pretty funny, to say the least. I think I've heard them say this at least 50 times and they are still gut rolling at themselves. Looking forward to Homecoming where friends seem to always gather together and cheer on the UI with whatever spirit they have. I'll have to make sure the kids know the song a bit better by then rather than cheering on chocolate or rocks!

UI Football Games....

There is just something about going into the Dome, wearing your black and gold. It's nice to have the community come together to yell your hearts out for the Vandals. Mom and I took the kids to the first home football game of the season today. We were all sporting our UI gear, and mom bought little megaphones for the kids to use that were even Vandal memorabilia. Kennedy was getting into the fight song, throwing her fist into the air and yelling each time the band played. Hayden was done by about half time, wanting to go home and play. We made it through to the end of the game, to see that first victory of the season. It felt good to win. BSU lost today, so here's hoping we'll start seeing more W's, and they'll start seeing more L's. GO VANDALS!