Another 364 days...

til Christmas. So sad. I have to admit. I'm one of those over the top people who start their shopping in January. I just have to get it if I see a good deal! We all had a very Merry Christmas. It was so nice to just be home and enjoy. Santa even called Hayden and Kennedy on Christmas Eve to chat with them. Hayden was so surprised, it was delightful! Santa must have been asking Hayden if his room was clean, because while talking to the jolly guy, he was picking up the last odds and ends that remained from his cousins visiting.... pretty funny. Anyway, our Christmas was magical, and was spent with family and some friends who were snowed in from getting to California! It's about time for me to start shopping for Christmas '09!

A Purple Ballerina

Well, lo and behold, I think Kennedy inherited my ability/desire to dress up. (Remembering those Alpha Phi skits...) Anyhow, here I was sitting at the kitchen counter when Kennedy says, "Hey, look at me, I'm a purple ballerina!" Hence, mommy grabbed the camera and took this shot... oh, the memories!

Hayden's Concert

Hayden's concert was last night - and it was magical. Lena Whitmore Elementary (aka - my alma mater!) puts on a wonderful show. Students in 1st through 6th grade performed a variety of songs and did a fantastic job! It was so neat to see and Hayden was definitely into singing - um, he must get that from me! Anyway, he's in the top row, you can't miss him! Happy Holidays!

"All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"

Last night, I was at the mall, volunteering for the Hospice of the Palouse wrapping booth when I got a call from home. Now, usually when I'm off on my own, it's a call to clarify what the homework was that was supposed to be done, where something is, you know the routine. Well, this time it was Hayden....

"Mom, I've got something to tell you."

"What is it, buddy?"

"It's a surprise."

"What? Tell me."

"I LOST MY TOOTH!!!!!!!!!!"

"Oh my goodness, did you do it all by yourself?"

"Yep!"

As I sit there on the phone elating my surprise and happiness to my son, my face was a bit of sadness. How can this be?! My baby boy can't grow up just yet. The big space in his mouth proves me wrong... he's off to getting those bigger teeth, to (YIKES) puberty, and the list goes on. For now, I'm just enjoying the moments and enjoying his very sweet toothless grin. The tooth fairy sure likes to leave her fairy dust in Hayden's room this month!

Reflections....

I saw Hayden yesterday sitting there with our cat Spunky, quietly looking out at the snowfall. It was priceless. I had to snap this shot and show it. He was sitting there and petting Spunky, watching the snow and just looked peaceful. What a mommy moment!

"I lost a tooth! I lost a tooth!"

This morning, after finding the Tooth Fairy's dust and 2 whole dollars... (I swear we feed him, by the way!)
He and Dad - mission accomplished!

Gram (my mom) called at the perfect time... he told her the good news!

Can you hear Hayden singing, "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth?" Last night he lost his front tooth - finally! Yahoo! I got it all on video and it was hysterical. Funny to the point that I was shaking while video taping. While trying to wiggle it out with Daddy, he said, "Ooooh, this baby's gonna come out!" It was the funniest thing watching. He and daddy wiggled and jiggled it and Hayden finally popped out the little guy. As he was running down the hall to rinse out his mouth and take a look at his newly achieved hole in his smile, he was yelling, "I lost a tooth! I lost a tooth!" The tooth fairy left her mark last night leaving silver fairy dust all the way to Hayden's pillow!

Kennedy's Christmas Concert.....

...was a big hit! She was absolutely adorable, if I do say so myself. She was so excited in her new little dress... I kept having to readjust her headband because she kept twirling and twirling and it kept slipping and slipping! Comedy.

They sang, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Three Little Monkies Swinging on a Tree." Kennedy's voice was heard by all as she was singing at the top of her lungs! She also waved to me a couple of times during the performance. It was quite the sight! We are very proud of this little one and are thankful for the joy both she and her brother bring to our family!

Looking Back.....

I can't believe how fast the time flies. This picture was taken just 3 years ago - I believe it was on Thanksgiving. Little Miss K was just toddling around, and Mr. H was finishing up his potty training. This picture still reflects their relationship they have today, and for that, I am grateful. I'm also so thankful for my wonderful friends and family. This is a time to be thankful, and I am so grateful and appreciative to those who are always there for me.....

The season is over....

Sadly enough, the Vandals are done with their home fb games for 2008. It's always such a fun day to go grab your vandal gear and head to the Dome with your spirit in tow. We gave it a good run the first half against our rival, BSU (who do we hate?!) with the score being 10-17. Well, it went downhill from there... but at least we scored the first touchdown! There's always next year...

Flag Football Finale

Hayden - our little quarterback! He's on the far left ready to hand off.
The Race Cars

Well, the flag football season has finally come to a close - whew! It was fun to see them running after flags, chasing one another down. Fortunately, for all those involved, the weather got warmer through the season rather than cooler. Here are a couple of pictures that tops off the season. Go Race Cars!!!

A Haunted Halloween... :-)

The two kitties - Kennedy and Maile (a good friend of ours)

Iron Man and the two cats.

Show 'em the muscles!

Trick or treating at Gram's house...

Whatever happened to people just going around their neighborhoods to do some good ol', down - to - earth trick-or-treating? Sure, it rained earlier in the day here in Moscow, but around 5:45 - it was beautiful! I wore a mere rain jacket out to take the kiddos trick-or-treating. Well, along with a pair of cozy socks and my slippers, I was good to go and stayed warm all evening! H and K had a great time going from door-to-door around the neighborhood. We saw many kids out, but not as much as there could have been. I've never been the person to take the kids to the mall - what fun is that - but I can understand had it been chilly and rainy outside. It wasn't. It was a nice evening on the Palouse and our Iron Man and kitty had a fantastic time!

Carving Pumpkins....

Kennedy, taking a break from digging out the guts!

Hayden has figured it out that he can make funny faces in photos. Great.

T Ok, this one is a bit better... he looks like he's doing an Elvis impersonation!

Diggin out his pumpkin! (Should I admit that my son doesn't really enjoy getting his hands messy in that goop?!)

Kennedy enjoyed it MUCH better!

Well, we came, we saw, we conquered our HUGE pumpkins last night. The Thompson's managed to carve out 4 of the 7 pumpkins we have. Hayden, of course, wants all 7 to be carved, but I'm putting my foot down and telling him the other three are for decoration after Halloween! It took us forever to clean out those guts/seeds/ickies and then carve them. But, it was fun! Here are a few pictures of our carving chaos....

More shots of Homecoming 2008

GO VANDALS!!!!

Hayden, Trevin and Sam - best buddies...

Little Miss Kennedy - new haircut and all!

Just now downloading some of my own shots from the Homecoming parade. Word on the street is that it was the biggest Homecoming parade in years on both the attendance side as well as the entries. (Not sure why as the Vandals are NOT doing well this year!) Anyway, like I said earlier, it was a huge win for the Vandals and a beautiful day to boot!

UI Homecoming 2008

Little Miss Kennedy with her new haircut... why she's sticking her tongue out, I have no idea!
Hayden with his best buddies Sam and Trevin. GO VANDALS! (And, yes, they are all the same age - my son is just a giant!)

At the homecoming parade from l - r, Olivia (Sam's 4 year old sister) Sam's eyes, Kennedy, and Acacia (Trevin's 5 year old niece) Yep, a niece that is one year younger than he is, it's his older sister's daughter.

The whole crew waiting for the parade to start!

Well, UI HOMECOMING 2008 was a success with both the football team and volleyball team. It was a sweet victory in the Dome for those mighty vandals and it was quite a game! The Thompson kids were all decked out in their Vandal garb and ready to cheer on the silver and gold! It was a beautiful day on the palouse, so beautiful I'm not sure I'm ready for the white stuff just yet. Kennedy had just gotten her hair cut the day before, we cut about 3 inches off! Needless to say, the last two mornings I haven't had to take a brush to her hair - YIPPEEE!!! (Can you see me doing the happy dance?!)

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!

Hayden, pay attention... I think you need to block!

At least he's listening to the coach...um, I'm pretty sure that's a second grader he is standing next to (Hayden is in the back with the black and white pants on with black sleeves)...So my child is going to be tall!!!

Hayden's in the grey hoodie...I think he's ready.


Fall is in the air as well as the coole crispness that at times makes you think you are in Alaska. Sitting out to watch your son play flag football, is pretty priceless. Now I have to admit, I had my doubts about him playing flag football. I mean, here I have been the past 6 years of his life telling him to be nice, don't push, keep your hands to yourself, yadda, yadda, yadda. Now, those rules don't apply for football and we're cheering him on to get the guys flags, block him, GET HIM!!! Oh boy, am I going to be one of those moms?!

It's pure comedy to watch as these kids are learning the game. Hayden comes out with a smile as he's bouncing on his tip toes. He imitiates the NFL and college games while watching them on TV. Last night, we had a practice and he couldn't quite get the running routine down. So maybe he won't be a running back? Oh well. He enjoys it and that's what matters. But, I've got to brag, once he got the running thing down, he caught the ball, first time - WOO HOO!!!!! That's my boy.

A pumpkin picking day at Greenbluff...

Hayden's had to have weighed over 25 lbs - I think he switched to a different pumpkin!
Kennedy wanted a small one... go figure, she knew she had to carry it! :-)
At least I'm looking at the camera.
One final shot of the day, on our way to eat lunch at Red Robin!

For years I've heard about how great of a place Greenbluff Orchards is to go pick pumpkins, fresh fruit, whatever. Finally, yesterday, mom and I took the kids on the long jaunt to find those perfect pumpkins. First of all, we printed the map so that we wouldn't get lost. I had the bright idea of going through Rockford, which worked fine and dandy til I took the wrong turn and headed towards Sullivan rather than Argonne. (When will I finally know those streets in the Valley?) Anyhow, once we got on Argonne, it was smooth sailing and we finally hit Walter's. It was very busy and full of activities. Not only were there hundreds of pumpkins you could pick from, you could also go and pick your own apples if you wanted. We were going to, but after being there for a good couple of hours, we decided against it. From the pumpkin picking to the pony rides to the hay maze (I forgot I was allergic to hay until I started having a hard time breathing in there - lol!) and even the wiggle worm tractor ride, it was a great day! We bought over 50 lbs of pumpkins!!! The kids picked their perfect ones.

APHI 80th a success....

Off to the social at Prichard Art Gallery

A sign was made for us at the Club...

Me and Pilch---Love this girl!

Pledge Class of '92 at the dinner...

The 80th Anniversary celebration of Beta Zeta was a hit. Thankfully, it mostly went off without a hitch. I'm not exactly sure if the Vandal Trolley showed up, but other than that, it was pretty good. From the social, to the dinner and everything in between, APHI's from Idaho had a blast. I had too much of a blast and was a bit under the weather on Saturday, but other than that, all went well! Here are a few pictures from the memorable event!

Tap dance begins....

Big brother Hayden took this picture.

Her TAP SHOES!
Dancing with the ribbon sticks...

Kennedy started to actually "tap" last week. She LOVES it! This class is made of 3-4 year old girls. There are only 3 girls enrolled in the class (two girls actually listen while one other random is off doing her own thing and not getting disciplined by her mother.) Thankfully, this last class, the instructor finally said something to the mom, to basically take her home since she's distracting from the class - woo hoo!!! The girl was driving me nuts!

Anyway, Kennedy loves her tap shoes and enjoys dancing with her instuctor, Shelley. It's so great to watch her get creative!