Okay, so I decided that it was time to return to those bygone days (about 2 months ago) where I actually get out of bed at the hiddeous hour of 5:30 am and get the kids up and ready to go so that we can read scriptures as a family in the morning. I have been trying to do this for a couple of weeks now, but it just wasn't happening. Soooooo I made plans with a girlfriend to take the kids out to where I ride horses and do some service. I figured that since I had someone outside of the house counting on me to show up I might actually follow through - isn't that terrible? As bad as it sounds, it worked today! We were up and dressed by 6:15 and even got some scriptures read. Go Family!!!!
We headed out to the horses. It was funny - Josh wanted to know where we were going and Robert, not very thrilled muttered "We're going to pick up horse poop." After that, everytime I paused or stopped along the way Josh would yell out "Are we picking up horse poop Mommy?" (you have to imagine an adorable little toddler who enunciates every syllable ... horse pooopppp) Several people at the gas station loved that! It was a good experience. Robert stuck it out and managed to keep up with Dani and I as we cleaned two round pens in the hour we had before playgroup. The younger kids ran around with Dani's girls and just enjoyed themselves. Ben was a bit put out when I wouldn't let him in the pen with us and the horse (can we say speed bump?), but he got over it when Josh showed him that he could scale the fence.
After our work, we raced back to join our friends for a playgroup swimming party. It was a blast! Ben has really gotten the hang of swimming with his little life vest - he goes everywhere and is very impatient with walls or anything else that gets in his way. Every once in a while he will overbalance and end up with his head under water, but he is getting pretty good at righting himself and just moving on ... once today he even remembered not to breath under the water and so didn't have to cough up the lungful of water that usually comes with getting dunked. In a new breakthrough, Josh (who has been terrified of the water) decided that he could swim. Once he decided that he could do it - he was everywhere! He doesn't have the same trouble with overbalancing that poor Ben does. In fact, he gets around pretty darn fast! Both boys wanted to go down the slide, but I told them they had to jump off the edge first so that they could see what happened when their heads went under water and that ended that. I'm sure that they will be jumping in very soon. Ginny, on the other hand, decided that she was done floating. She is just ready to swim. She kept trying to climb out of her little ring. She managed to get her head under the water several times - each time she would pull back very surprised and splutter and just try again. I was at a bit of a loss as to what she was trying to accomplish because she didn't want to just stay in my arms either - onery little snot. She is beyond independent ... not sure where THAT came from. :-)
I was hoping to add pictures, but my friend Krissy hasn't sent them to me yet (hint hint)
Thompson Circus
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Back to Life
Well things have almost returned to normal this week. Robert is home and we have resumed our pre-summer routine ... almost. Here are some memorable moments this week:Ginny's nap time dilema ... I tried to stretch out her morning so that she took a longer nap in the afternoon. She had a great time all morning - and made it about two bites into lunch. From the looks of it, bite number three came after she actually zonked!
Fun outside with the hose ... our little pool hasn't lasted as long as I would have liked so I let the kids play with the hose one afternoon. The experiment has not been repeated because only the one holding the hose had any real fun ... and Ginny wasn't interested in any thing but the dog food. Poor Boggart!
Dinnertime with Daddy ... Ginny has decided not to eat in her high chair anymore. Daddy isn't used to watching her so very closely. This is the result of an upended bowl of Corn Pops ... compliments of the little diva.
Saturday was a Relief Society retreat where I got got to go hang out with the ladies. It was great, but there were these "homemade" facials for everyone to try out. As pictured here with my friend Krissy (who went with the safer honey/avacado) I decided to try the one made of crushed
tomatoes (1) because it said it was for oily skin which is what I have always had and (2) because no one else had tried that one yet. The fun part came when I tried to wash it off and my skin stayed as red as if I still had it on. I apparently hadn't gotten enough attention just by putting the silly thing on in the first place ... I had people telling me how awful I looked for the rest of the event. My "blush" faded by the end of the event - which was great. I even got to swim in the the pool ... without kids!
tomatoes (1) because it said it was for oily skin which is what I have always had and (2) because no one else had tried that one yet. The fun part came when I tried to wash it off and my skin stayed as red as if I still had it on. I apparently hadn't gotten enough attention just by putting the silly thing on in the first place ... I had people telling me how awful I looked for the rest of the event. My "blush" faded by the end of the event - which was great. I even got to swim in the the pool ... without kids!Buzz Boys ... all of my boys are way overdue for haircuts. I decided to just do it myself this morning. I could open my own wig shop just from the hair I cut from Robert - Josh is bringing up a close second. I think my little fuzz-balls are adorable!
Monday, August 4, 2008
On Road Trips
Okay, so we are back from our semi-annual marathon across the dessert. Byron and I have decided that we are just getting too old for this. We managed to leave for Utah by 8pm on Thursday night (that was two hours better than in June!). I had some weird allergic reaction happening in my eyes - which felt like they had both been bruised, AND I got the Hobbit to listen to on the trip (one of my favorite stories) and the narrator put me to sleep almost immediately. Still, we made it by breakfast time (thanks for the bacon Brian) to the Slagle Mansion. Byron and I have decided that if we actually get this house we are trying to buy that we will call it the Thompson Love Shack ... TMI?
Byron spent Friday helping my father tile my brother's new house, and I drug around with Brandy - literally since I was so hopped up on allergy medicine that I doubt I was coherent even half of the time. There was supposed to be a family temple trip Friday night, but I managed to leave my recommend at home so Byron and I had kid duty ... at the mansion ... with real TV ... We actually watched HGTV to find remodelling tips. If we don't get this house, I am definitely going to cry - we have had more fun planning this than I can remember. Another "age" note, Brian and my sister Cyndi made to one of the midnight bookstore parties for Stephenie Meyer's newest book, Breaking Dawn. Brian had the coolest "Edward" costume ready. He even managed to get his hands on a few pairs of colored contacts to turn our eyes yellow. He was going to take my all of us "girls" with him as his "coven" (yes, we are just that weird). Unfortunately, Brandy was still getting things ready for Saturday and I just couldn't do it (tired, sick, eyes, etc.) ... and for those of you who know how I feel about getting to plan dress up, that is saying something. Bummer!!!!
Saturday we attempted family pictures at a nearby park. It was 102 in the shade! We could have stayed home for that! My kids definitely do not do pictures well. My cousin, Nathan, was the brave photographer and I cannot wait to see if/how they turn out. He had a great idea to have individual families walk toward him across a bridge for family shots. Of course, in my family's case, it was a run ... hope the bridge was long enough Nathan! After that, we went over to watch little Spencer get baptized. It was great ... a couple of fun parts include Nick forgetting a dry shirt (good thing everyone lives pretty darn close to a church in Utah). Also, during one of the confirmation prayers (not Spencer's thank goodness), someone's kid (thankfully not mine) pulled the fire alarm. The father giving the prayer was a pretty good sport about it. As he finished, he looked up and said "No one told me about the 5-minute prayer limit!" Still, a great day for Spencer. We all then made our way back to the Mansion (notice the capital?) for a great lunch. I am sooooo glad that Brandy has such a large house AND that she is such a good sport about messes. There were so many people it would have been horrible anywhere else. As it was, it was fun to visit (and I got to start on the new Stephenie Meyer novel too) and the kids just went riot. There is a toy room to die for downstairs and the coolest playground equipment out back. Josh and Ben were in 7th heaven. We headed back to the church after lunch for Brooke's baptism at which no one pulled a fire alarm, but Brian got to dunk Brooke twice (I think he planned it so as to have a better story than Spencer's fire alarm). All in all, it was a great day. I loved the warm fuzzy feeling when I saw all of the worthy priesthoodholders from our families place their hands upon those children's heads to bless them ... I am so grateful for a worth priesthood holder in my life, I just can't tell you!
We left that evening - about 6pm - and headed back across the dessert. My eyes were still not working well, so poor Byron drove the entire way. We made it home, without incident (although Byron still cannot remember actually driving through Primm which is rather scary) at about 4am. We even made it through church!
Byron spent Friday helping my father tile my brother's new house, and I drug around with Brandy - literally since I was so hopped up on allergy medicine that I doubt I was coherent even half of the time. There was supposed to be a family temple trip Friday night, but I managed to leave my recommend at home so Byron and I had kid duty ... at the mansion ... with real TV ... We actually watched HGTV to find remodelling tips. If we don't get this house, I am definitely going to cry - we have had more fun planning this than I can remember. Another "age" note, Brian and my sister Cyndi made to one of the midnight bookstore parties for Stephenie Meyer's newest book, Breaking Dawn. Brian had the coolest "Edward" costume ready. He even managed to get his hands on a few pairs of colored contacts to turn our eyes yellow. He was going to take my all of us "girls" with him as his "coven" (yes, we are just that weird). Unfortunately, Brandy was still getting things ready for Saturday and I just couldn't do it (tired, sick, eyes, etc.) ... and for those of you who know how I feel about getting to plan dress up, that is saying something. Bummer!!!!
Saturday we attempted family pictures at a nearby park. It was 102 in the shade! We could have stayed home for that! My kids definitely do not do pictures well. My cousin, Nathan, was the brave photographer and I cannot wait to see if/how they turn out. He had a great idea to have individual families walk toward him across a bridge for family shots. Of course, in my family's case, it was a run ... hope the bridge was long enough Nathan! After that, we went over to watch little Spencer get baptized. It was great ... a couple of fun parts include Nick forgetting a dry shirt (good thing everyone lives pretty darn close to a church in Utah). Also, during one of the confirmation prayers (not Spencer's thank goodness), someone's kid (thankfully not mine) pulled the fire alarm. The father giving the prayer was a pretty good sport about it. As he finished, he looked up and said "No one told me about the 5-minute prayer limit!" Still, a great day for Spencer. We all then made our way back to the Mansion (notice the capital?) for a great lunch. I am sooooo glad that Brandy has such a large house AND that she is such a good sport about messes. There were so many people it would have been horrible anywhere else. As it was, it was fun to visit (and I got to start on the new Stephenie Meyer novel too) and the kids just went riot. There is a toy room to die for downstairs and the coolest playground equipment out back. Josh and Ben were in 7th heaven. We headed back to the church after lunch for Brooke's baptism at which no one pulled a fire alarm, but Brian got to dunk Brooke twice (I think he planned it so as to have a better story than Spencer's fire alarm). All in all, it was a great day. I loved the warm fuzzy feeling when I saw all of the worthy priesthoodholders from our families place their hands upon those children's heads to bless them ... I am so grateful for a worth priesthood holder in my life, I just can't tell you!
We left that evening - about 6pm - and headed back across the dessert. My eyes were still not working well, so poor Byron drove the entire way. We made it home, without incident (although Byron still cannot remember actually driving through Primm which is rather scary) at about 4am. We even made it through church!
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