Our First Blue and Gold

The begging of the end has arrived! Dylan has begun his scouting career. He received his Bob Cat award at our Blue and Gold banquet a few weeks ago. Luckily he shared this big first as well as his baptism with his good buddy Ben...He has already mentined more than once how much he loves scouts and how he wishes every night was scouts. He also loves his den leader, Jane, who also gave the most wonderful talk at their baptism. He asks often to go say hi to her since we are kinda neighbors. And of course the best part of every Blue and Gold...the plethora of desert!One of my callings is part of the cub committee. I put together the center pieces. I will have to admit, they turned out rather cute but they took longer to make than I imagined!
Scouting here we come!

Dylan's Baptism

Dylan Connor Thompson, my first born child, was baptized Saturday, March 3rd. I was proud yet so humbled by this wonderful experience. I am amazed that the outstanding young man Dylan has become.

Dylan was baptized by his Dad, and both his Grandfathers were there to be whiteness and to stand in the circle when he received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We really are proud parents, can't you tell?Even Cami, Connor's sister came down from Cleveland to attend the baptism. All these wonderful people made this day even more special...

We of course had to enjoy the time we had with family in town. We ditched school and wen to the children's museum to make pizza...
And be pirates...
We went to Pullen Park to climb like monkeys...
And pretend to be part of the Swiss family Robinsons. Okay so we really road the carousel till we got sick (well, just Connor)...
And we sailed like captains...
And road like... well, just passengers...
My parents brought with them a lamp my grandfather brought home from Japan, I'm in love...
Of course we had to take advantage of Papa Steve's handy-man skills. Since Corbin is attached to Papa Steve's hip he became quite a good little helper. He put in two new electrical outlets, fixed our stair railing (once and for all), fixed a few drafty windows, re-caulked a shower... And Hung a swing from the deck...
And of course we played hard...
We love and miss you all already! Come back soon!

Father/Daughter Dance

Ashlyn's Elementary school had a Father/Daughter dance . Ashlyn was very excited to get all dolled up for her big date!
After dinner, dancing and a double date with a friend for desert they came home and showed me their new dance moves!

Bottles

I'm in love with my recent project...
Random clear vases/bottles/cups coated with desired color of paint. Quick and easy- my type of craft. Now I need to get motivated to start a few other neglected projects on my list.

A Moment

These are the moments I live for..The picture alone is more eloquent than any words I could put together.

4 is More

Every Little boy dreams of having a Disney Cars party! Corbin is no exception...

"Welcome to Radiator Springs"

Ramone's House of Body Art

I think they would have tattooed their whole bodies if I let them.

Bingo

we will hang on to this game for a rainy day!

Fillmore's Organic Fuel and Oil

Luigi's Casa Della Tires

We build out own leaning tower...

Ashlyn stacked the highest...We went down to the race track to help lightening McQueen. As his pit crew we had to pin the tires on lightening...

Flo's V8 Cafe for some goodies

It was terribly fun to entertain these guys! We had so much fun.

Corbin is now 4. Somehow 4 seems WAY older than 3 for some reason. Like it's official- he's big now. I love Corbin's hugs, they are the best! I have enjoyed watching him learn how to dribble an adult size basketball and write his name. He wants so badly to hang out with Dylan and his friends when they go to the creek or play football. Kamryn calls him "buddy" since she can't pronounce his name. She adores him. He is also one determined little man which can be good, but also it can be REALLY bad. I am sure as we learn to channel this tendency it will become a great strength. Love you buddy!

8 IS Great

I can't believe how fast 8 years has gone. I also can't remember what it was like without Dylan in my life. Sure, we endured some "difficult" years with Dylan when he was an infant/toddler, but now he is a pretty GREAT kid. I am so proud to watch him reap the rewards of his hard work. I am also amazed to watch him help his siblings struggle, he notices and then finds a unique and fun way to help them. I am so happy that I have such a great example for my other kids to follow!

Dylan requested a Skylander themed party. Sadly, they are too new for me to copy any party ideas off the internet. I also got really lazy with the cake as you can see, but I am not sorry.

Each guest created and original Skylander. They drew their pictures and wrote a bio for each one. This was pretty cool to see how creative these guys can be...

We then played "guess the Skylander." I didn't realized how much these kids knew about the characters!We did what all Skylanders do... we search for "things." We had a two team "Treasure and Eternal Sources Quest" (aka scavenger hunt.) This was one serious game!

Presents were a hit of course! Thanks everyone! Thankfully, only one present was Skylanders...Since the boys were literally bouncing off each other, as if I had pumped them all full of sugar or something, we had to head outside. Of course, Dylan put together a game of football...Happy Birthday My not so little man!

30

I turned 30 last week. I was more worried about it 6 months ago. The sad part- when I drastically cut my hair one of my biggest worries was turning 30 with such a horrible hair do! Let's just say I got over that one. In one sense I was excited to turn 30. Totting around four kids, being twenty and some change made heads turn. 30 sounds so much more mature and worthy of four kids. I am also hoping my "older" friends will not feel such a big age gap between us anymore - wink, wink!

Luckily, MLK landed the day before giving Connor a big fat day off of work to celebrate ME. Breakfast in bed with cinnamon rolls and all (Ashlyn and I practically ate the entire pan.) Jane, one of my idols, had us over for dinner. What I didn't know was that it was a decoy. Connor planned a surprise party with some of our favorite families. He also had worked long and hard creating a movie about me. A slideshow of pictures from birth to the present as well as interviews with all the kids about how they felt about me. I can say that he did a great job- there were only a few pictures that I cringed at as we all watched the video.

Success? I say so! Corbin had cake for dinner, my house was filled with people I love and Connor didn't have seminary the next day (meaning, I got to actually hang out with him after the kids went to bed.)

But the celebration doesn't end there...dinner made by my bestie with a bunch of other super amazing gals!

Thanks for making my 30th super amazing everyone!

Photo mania

I have some budding photographers at my house...
carpet...

Kamryn who goes everywhere with her sunglasses...

corbin took a picture of his own black eye...

I am pretty cute...




Connor drooling over his parent's neighbor's yard..

We have an awesome diaper bag, don't you think...

These are a select few. I deleted hundreds last night. As you can see most of them are from the backseat of the car.

I am sure you are all enjoying Connor's postings. I am sorry I have been a little lazy/busy lately, so it was good to have him bridge my gap. The kids and I have been having so much fun lately since they have been tracked out. More to come.