I'm an aunt again!!!

Just a quick post to tell everyone that my younger sister had her 5th baby, another boy, this morning!!!  I don't have pics yet, but I'm sure he's as cute as his siblings are.  He's a small kid (6 lb. 2 oz. i think) and 19 inches long.  I can't wait to see him!  It is a little sad to realize that he's the last baby coming into my family from the Thompson side.  (Not sad enough to have another one mind you.)  But it's also the beginning of another season for the Thompson clan.  I am so thankful for my family.  Welcome to the world Jacob Boss!!!

Happy Birthday Leigh Anne!!

 Scott was nice and got me this new camera for my birthday.  I love that it is smaller and easier to carry around than my older one.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but let's face it.  I never used those anyway.  Besides, anything I want to do to my pics can all be done on the computer anyway.  Thanks hon!

Girl's Camp Hijinx!

I am so blessed to belong to the ward I'm in.  The lady in the following pics was our YW pres. when I was first called to be the Beehive Advisor.  She was released from that calling just a few weeks before camp.  We were sad to lose her because she did such a great job, but we gained a great bishop, her husband.  She and I had some real fun up at camp.  She is so funny and just as mischievous as I am.  We were usually up late laughing and disturbing the sleeping campers.  Then on the last day, Jenny and our new bishop and one of his counsellors came up to spend the night at camp.  Jenny, Liz (the one in the pics) and I were up pretty late that last night, you guessed it, laughing.  These pics are from dinner that night.  Liz was trying to hit a certain person with leftover fruit salad.  When she couldn't even come close, our bishop (her husband) felt the need to show her the finer points on flicking fruit with a spoon.  He promptly hit the desired target and Liz, being a good student, followed suit.  Man, I love my ward!!

More Girl's Camp

The Mighty Mormon Power Rangers

                       

Contraband hairdryers!!!

Morning peace...

Girl's Camp

So I had the opportunity to serve as a tent mom up at Girl's Camp this year.  It was definitely an interesting experience.  We had a lot of fun.  Kenna was in my tent group which was fun.  It is always neat to see your kids in another light and experience how other kids see them.  She is growing up so quickly.  I am amazed at what a great young lady she is becoming.  I have NO idea how I was blessed with a daughter so good.  These are some pics of the girls in our ward who were able to go.  Also a pic of my hero- Jenny Cauble- our fearless Young Women president and one of my closest friends who took pity on a poor tent mom who hasn't been camping since her last campout with her ward (17 years ago!!) and led the way to camp and set to setting camp up even though she wasn't staying.  I love you Jenny!!!

P.S.  That's Kenna coming down a zip line!

We have sprinklers!!!

Scott decided to put sprinklers in the week before we left for Arizona.  He and Chris worked nonstop to get them in.  Chris worked hard while Scott was at work digging ditches by hand.  He made a good chunk of change for it too!!  The end result is really great and low maintenance.  Pics of the end will follow.  We are all set to sod this month!  Yay!

Chris turns 11

Chris turned 11 on June 27!  I can't believe how fast he's growing.  He is such a cool kid (just ask his friends) and is so much fun to be around.  He has a great sense of humor and puts everyone in stitches.  Unfortunately, along with growing up they become harder to shop for.  My family had already gotten him Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii which had been my idea.  Lucky for me, a book he wanted came out the day after his birthday.  So he was excited when he saw that Kenna had bought that for him (with her own money) and the rest of us got him and ipod shuffle.  He was pretty glad to get that.  We are so lucky to have him in our family and we love him a lot.  

A little bit of catching up...

So I am just a little bit behind!!  I know, understatement of the year.  But the rest of the summer was crazy.  In July we went to Arizona to see Scott's family.  It was the Greco family reunion and we celebrated his grandma's 100th birthday!  I don't have any pics of those yet.  My camera was being wierd so I'm waiting on CD's from my sisters-in-law!  (hint, hint)  Anyhoo...  My sister Liese and her family came out to see us.  I can't really remember when exactly.  But we had a great time and had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking and laughing.  I can't speak for my sisters, but those are my 3 favorite things to do with my family!  The most surprising thing was that my dog, Hershey, just LOVES Liese!  This dog doesn't love anyone like he loved Liese.  He actually ignored me and looked to see what Liese wanted him to do a few times.  Of course, he was promptly thrown outside because of it.  

Kitchen pics...

Lots of people have asked to see pics of our house and all the work Scott has done.  
He has been working so hard on this kitchen.  It looks really great.  My favorite part of these pics are that it's clean.  It doesn't normally look this clean and streamlined.  Way more cluttered.  Oh well. That's life.  You can also see our new chandelier that was picked out after months of arguing, storming out of the store in a fight, etc.  I wanted something different.  This is what Scott wanted.  He won.  He was right.  (just don't tell him I said that)

Max's graduation...

This was probably my favorite program of the year.  Not that the others weren't great, but there is something about watching the Kindergarteners perform that just tugs at my heart.  Max also loves to sing.  He's always singing and dancing around the house and it is one of my favorite things about him.  So there I am, watching the program and suddenly they announce the solos for the song, 'You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby' and he's one of them!  Not once did he mention to me that he had a solo!  So after his solo I couldn't keep myself from doing a big, loud 'Woohoo!'.  No big deal except for the parents of the kid who sang after Max because you couldn't hear her because of my mouth.  Oh well.  He sang so well I couldn't contain myself!!  He had a big year.  He started out in all day Kindergarten with one teacher (Mrs. Saenze) then 2 weeks later he was put into half day Kindergarten with Mrs. Markland.  Then around November his teacher had surgery and was out for 3-4 months and he had 2 subs (Mrs. Andries and someone else).  Then Mrs. Andries ended up teaching the rest of the year while Mrs. Markland helped the kids who were behind.  He managed so well.  I never realized how flexible he can be- with other people, not me.  It was a great year and a fantastic first school experience for him.  We are so blessed to live in the boundaries of this great school.  The teachers and staff really love the kids and it shows.

Kenna's 6th grade graduation...

Ok.  So the first pic is blurry.  I didn't realize that until it was too late.  Oh well.  Anyhow, the 6th grade teachers prepared a great program to commemorate the year.  One of the teachers made a slide show of the year's activities and then they presented all of the kids with certificates.  I can't believe she is already in Middle School.  These other pics are of her and her teacher- yes, the teacher- and her friends Halle, Mary, and Kira.  They always say that time goes so fast, and I realized it.  But this has really snuck up on me.  She is getting so grown up and mature.  She is such a good- natured kid and has such a big, loving heart.  I know, how did I end up with her?!  She is a leader when she needs to be and a follower when it's right.  She doesn't compromise her standards or beliefs for anything or anyone.  I don't know where she got it, but I hope she stays this way always.  

More catchup...

Chris had a 5th grade performance.  It was on the Constitution.  He was one of the few kids who had a speaking and a singing part.  He did really well.  I love this time of the school year when everyone has performances to do!

Catching up...

Point Bonita Trip

This is Kenna with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge behind her.  Scott took this pic on the 6th grade trip to Point Bonita.  It's a sleepaway camp run by the YMCA across the bridge from San Francisco.  They had so much fun hiking, checking out the local wildlife and jumping over the waves at the beach.  They even got to stop at the Golden Gate Bridge on their way home.  They had a great time.  They sure squeezed in as much activity into 2 days as possible.  Chris is really looking forward to going next year.  

Hooray for Kenna!!!

We are so proud of Kenna!  She brought home a rather sad assessment from her math class a week or two ago (and got in big trouble for it too).  She got 68%- not a passing grade- and was missing 5 out of 5  assignments.  Her math teacher let the kids take the assessments home to correct and told them to find any of the assignments they were missing to bring in (apparently, none of the kids did very well).  So Kenna found all 5 assignments (in her folder where they were supposed to be) and corrected the paper's mistakes.  Well, her new score was 98% with 5 out of 5 assignments turned in!  The other paper she is holding is a skills check she had to do for the same math class and she aced it!!  100%!!  She was so happy.  She usually just throws her assignments away after they are graded, but she specifically held on to these to show Scott.  She is really trying to improve her work and study habits and I am so proud of the progress she's made in just a couple of weeks.  Way to go Kenna!!!!!

The ugliest bathroom in the world!

I don't know why I am sharing these frightening pics with you, but we have posted pics of how things look after the projects get finished.  So I thought you might be interested in how something looks before.  This project (unfortunately) is pretty low on the list because it's actually a very functional bathroom, so we'll attack the one that doesn't work at all first.  I keep checking HGTV to see if the show Save My Bathroom is looking for any new projects.  The shower (I actually call it the coffin) is 29 inches by 28 inches and the shower head is only 5 feet 3 inches high.  So Scott can't use it at all, and even I (at 5 feet 4 inches) get sprayed in the face when showering.  It is perfect for the kids.  The light fixture is something out of the Middle Ages, and I don't even want to speculate what they were thinking when they were paintin the wall.  (maybe leaves, maybe feathers?  But scary no matter what)  But when we're done with it, it will work for anyone.  More pics to come....

(I don't know why the shower pic posted sideways.  But rest assured, it really does run vertically.)

Okay, okay...

I know I haven't posted for a while.  I'm sorry.  I've had plenty of time and plenty to post about (as you can tell).  I just haven't felt like it.  Oh well.  This should keep you happy for a while.  I'll try to be better.  I guess we'll have to see...

Anyhoo... It was Spring Break last week.  We had a good time.  Kenna got to do some fun things with a friend who has a mom who's WAY more fun than me.  So the boys got stuck with boring old mom.  But they got to have some friends sleep over and we went swimming.  On Friday, it was Scott's day off so we drove out to Boomtown to let the kids play in the fun center.  It has a 9 hole mini golf and some rides and a bunch of arcade games.  The kids had fun.  There is a brand new Cabella's out there so we went there after.  The kids enjoyed looking at all of the animals and fish.  Cameron made one round about the safari grouping and exclaimed, 'Look, Kenna!  Another lion!'  Kenna and I about fell over laughing because it was actually the same lion he had seen his first time around.  

Seeing all of the animals sparked a conversation with Kenna about hunting and overpopulation (of animal and humans).  She has such a tender heart.  I am so impressed by her and her burgeoning maturity.  I hope she stays that way forever.