Deep Thoughts By Graham Thompson

Graham: Mom, if we were ever to adopt a kid that was older than me I would be SO TICKED OFF!

Me: Don't worry. We aren't planning on adopting anyone any time soon.

Shh! Confidential...

Haven't blogged a lot lately. I have been spending all my free time on this. More pictures and explanation to come. :)

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving this year at my sister Sarah's house. It's been fun to get all the kids together. Reminds me of when I was young and would play with my cousins for hours while the adults visited. We played games, ate yummy food, and even braved the crowds and freezing temperatures for Black Friday. We actually thought it was funny what some people will do for a good deal. We missed you Ben and Sara, Andy, and James!

Deep Thoughts By Graham Thompson

While cooking dinner, Graham was sharing some of his thoughts with me:

"I was thinking. It would be awesome to go back in time to the time when Nephi and Alma lived. I could talk with them....but then again, they didn't speak our language. You know how Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon into our language. It would actually be a little awkward to be back in their day with them and I couldn't communicate with them."

Practice Pets

We found some fuzzy balls at Hobby Lobby that have animal stripes on them. Morgan bought them with her allowance. She has enjoyed playing with them and just shared a few with Graham and Carmen.

That's when Graham came up with a clever, yet crazy idea. He wanted to use the balls as "practice pets". He would take care of them day in and day out to prove that he is ready for a real pet. A turtle to be exact. I'm really not up for another pet (Harvey is enough), but I decided to play along. We picked out paper and made little cages for them. And they've been taking care of their little pets ever since. Last night Graham's male and female made a baby and this morning they got a bath before he left for school. I really have no doubt in my mind that Graham would be an awesome pet owner. I just don't think I am ready to be the co-owner of one.

Multi-Purpose

A good friend of ours gave us the old 1970's barbie house last year. A few weeks ago, she gave us the pool that goes with it. The girls have loved it, playing for long periods of time together. Well, they just learned that the pool pops out of the base that it sits in. They came up with this brilliant idea. Something to give Truman a ride in. And he loves it. The girls scoot him all over the house to different locations like Pony World (the bathroom), Book World (my room), and he even gets to serve a mission (different locations). He's served several missions so far. He just started flapping his arm up and down telling me "hello" as he rides past.

Singing in Secret

My heart grew two more sizes when I peaked on Carmen raking up some leaves in our front yard. She was working so hard all while singing at the top of her lungs. I couldn't make out what song it was and I wasn't about to ask. I know she would've stopped the second she knew I was listening. I did manage to snap a picture, though.

Just a Handful

It's a rarity for us to have Cheetos Puffs at our house. I picked them up at the store solely because they were on sale and thought the kids might like them in their lunches. Graham discovered them and this is how our conversation went:

Graham: Oh! We have Cheetos Puffs??!! Can I have some?
Me: Just a few. They're for lunches.
Graham: Like three?
Me: Just a handful.

A few minutes later I saw Graham standing there enjoying his handful. He had made a tower of Cheetos. All balancing perfectly in the palm of his hand.

Me: Hey!
Graham: What? You said a handful.

He got me. Reminds me of the times when my mom would bring home one bag of Cool Ranch Doritos from the grocery store. That bag didn't stand a chance in a house full of 8 kids. :) They would last 2 minutes flat. Maybe even less than that. They would be gone before the groceries were even put away. No joke.

Getting Big

Truman is growing up! We gave him his first haircut today. I was worried about how he would act, but he actually smiled and giggled at the vibration of the clippers. He's 8 months now and so fun. This is the time that we start to teach my kids a little sign language. It helps a bunch with communication. Today he did the sign "eat" to me and I was so proud. He's crawling like crazy, pulls himself up to things and even lets go to balance sometimes. We're working with his boundaries, especially when it comes to plugs and cords. He loves to dance and will rock and bounce to any beat he hears coming from our stereo. It's so fun to see his little fan club all scream and cheer for him when he makes his first appearance in the morning. He's got two little bottom teeth and one coming in on the top. I love this stage. Every minute of it.

Before his haircut:
After his haircut:

Pity Party

Seriously Harvey? Is it really that bad? Cheer up. You have a family full of kids that love you and you know it.

Thank You Neighbor

My neighbor has been cleaning out her garage and getting ready to remodel a room in her house...and we're reaping all the benefits.

Score #1:
She gave us some sweet outdoor toys, like a sponge puzzle hop scotch, sidewalk chalk, and plastic cups, plates, and utinsels. It has provided hours of entertainment for the kids. I am grateful for the pleasant weather. Graham has created a little restaurant and the girls are his customers.

Score #2:
We also scored two awesome book cases from said neighbor. I had just organized a room in our basement for all my crafts. I needed more shelves. Then they were offered to me. Saved me.

This will have to do...

I was so bad at remembering to take pictures of the kids in their costumes this year. My sister came with her kids and my brother to our ward trunk-or-treat and brought her camera, so I am waiting on her to give me some of the better pictures she took that night of the kids and their costumes. So this will have to do for now:

Graham was a wizard. I made his robe from a pattern that was made for teens, so I tweeked it a bit and it turned out okay. He loved it, so that's all that matters. He had fun yelling out funny spells like, "I'm going to use my magic to give you something tragic!!" Scary.
Carmen was Batgirl. There were a lot of batman costumes, but I kept reminding Carmen, her's was homemade and if she looked closely, she would realize that she's the only one with that exact costume. She really didn't care either way. She was happy with it. There were no masks allowed at school. It really makes the costume complete. Both Graham and Carmen's pictures were taken at the school parade. Morgan was little red riding hood. Super easy for me to make a cloak to go with a dress she already had and she loved it. It made it easy. And she was ecstatic to be able to put on some lipstick and blush to make the costume complete. This picture was taked right before we left for her Halloween party at preschool.

Then there's little Trumie. I went on a one-on-one date with Morgan to the Disney Store in the mall to look around. I found this Nemo costume on the clearance rack for $12. I was all over it. It was getting closer to Halloween and I was running out of time to make him something. He looked great in it and was content the whole time....as always.

So I would have to say it was a successful year for Halloween. After my race on Saturday we were able to head up to Pocatello for Cory's mission report. The kids loved spending their Halloween night up there. It was a first.

Clean Carpets

My bro-in-law Logan gave us an amazing deal to clean our much needed dirty carpets. He also did an amazing job! The kids felt so special that they each got their own pair of booties to wear around the house while we waiting for the carpets to dry. We did a lot of lounging that night, with only a few reminders to "get those booties back on their feet!" I'm anal, I know. Here's Morgan with her new doll she found that day at DI. We were trying to kill time before we had to pick up the kids and I didn't want to be in the house if I didn't have to be. Morgan was so excited to find this cute doll. You can flip her over and Belle is on the other side. Morgan's also got a dab of chocolate on her lip from making/taste testing these:

We killed more time hanging in the kitchen unwrapping caramels for these yummy carameled apples. Believe me, they look better than they tasted. I forgot to add enough water to my caramels while melting them, making them stiff and rock hard. Oops. It was fun while it lasted.
Carmen posing for the camera. After jammies were on, booties went back on as well. And speaking of booties.....
This is how Graham likes to chill at night. We keep trying to remind him that he's probably too old to just be in his undies, but he's comfy and needs reminded. He didn't know I was taking this picture and probably wouldn't be happy if he did. He was too busy drawing. :)

So that's that. Our carpets really look great. Thanks Logan! It's amazing how much of a difference it has made. I feel more motivated to clean up the rest of my house. Since then, I have rearranged my living room and bedroom following the tools I learned from Angela Ingo. She came to a Relief Society night and shared some great tips on how to make your home more cozy. You can check out her blog here.

Halloween Half Marathon

So the Halloween Half is complete and I must say, it has been the hardest half marathon that I have done so far. I think it was a combination of the 6 miles down a steep mountain road and that I beat my race time. By mile nine, I felt like I was done. It really beat me up. I am still really sore today (2 days later). Like I am limping around kind of sore. I think I can honestly say that every muscle in my body is hurts.
That being said, I had a blast doing it. Everyone was in costume. We were M&M's. I was the green one. The girl. So I had to make knee high boots and wear my skirt to match. There were some pretty fun costumes. My favorite was a guy that was Forrest Gump, you know, the running Forrest. He seriously looked like him to a T!
Despite all the pain I am in now, would I do it again?? Sure I will!

At the top of the mountain. From left to right: Sarah, Suzie, Cat, Me, and Colleen.
Sarah and I waiting to get on the bus in the early morning darkness.

At the finish! We lost two of our M's, but picked up two more. From left to right: Cami, Brittany, Colleen, Sarah, Me, and Amber.