Big 4.0. Party

Can't believe it's been so many years! I am truly blessed to be surrounded by those I love and admire. Kevin was amazing at keeping the party a secret, as was Brooke, Shannah, Michelle and Mom. It was so fun to see Norm and Allyson White, Grant and Susan Boice, Terry and Cindy Knight and Mom and Dad Johnson. Thank you all for making my day so special! I really couldn't have planned a more perfect birthday for myself. And thank you again for the AMAZING European chocolate/fruit cakes. Still craving them...

Royle, Kevin and Norm White... great to see old friends!

The Thompson Girls at my big 40 surprise party! It was so much fun, and I was genuinely surprised, with all my favorite people at a beautiful location on the water and amazing weather. From left to right, Michelle, Mazzy, Grandma Bonnie, Colleen with Lily J., Brooke with Sarah J. in front, Bethany J., and Shannah.

Finally, Camping slide show!

Here are just a sample of our pictures from our super fun camping trip to Yosemite, CA. It was beautiful weather, and the campsite was up out of the valley in the mountains, so it was cool and gorgeous. We all had a memorable time, spending quality time with cousins Ryan, Cameron and Kevin, Aunt Audrey and Uncle KC, and Grandma Suzy and Grandpa Royle. So sorry we missed Darren and Courtney and young cousins by just a few hours! We left covered in CA dirt but with a new love for the land and people!

We love Daddy, he loves me!

Happy Father's day to our Super Dad, Kevin!

Can you believe the amazing personality traits that have been handed down from Dad to our little ones? Poor Lily takes after me, but the others obviously take after their adoring father. Why be normal when it's so much fun to NOT be!

What we like about Dad:
He's funny. Aaron
Daddy is poky. Lily
He takes me on Daddy Daughter dates. Sarah
He lets me... oh, never mind. He's my Dad. Bethany

So you have it: he's a fabulous father, and hopefully he'll stay that way forever. I couldn't ask for a better companion to raise our children. You still make me laugh sweetie, and I love doing it together!

The World Cup!

We are so proud of Kevin and his competing in the World Cup Karate tournament. He just found out about this event in Tampa less than one week before, but he did it anyway, and ended up placing in each event he competed in. Last year, the event was held in Argentina, so to have it in our "back yard" in Florida was quite an opportunity.

He is happiest with his silver medal in sparring!!! In the photo, he is standing next to the grand master Thompson (middle), and then far right is one of Kevin's teachers, Sensei Curtis. We didn't get to see Kevin compete, but were so proud of him. Considering he's only been doing this for about 2.5 years, he's well on his way to his goal of black belt!

How many years??

Kevin and I celebrated our 17th anniversary at the beginning of June, and I honestly can't believe it's been that long. I remember my parents being married that long, and they seemed so old, and we're still so young! At least we think we are.

Kevin gave me a very unique card this year: an announcement on a restaurant billboard flashing his love for me all day. What killed me was that I literally drove past this sign about 6 times, and never once noticed it! A little distracted, I think. I was just thinking about what I would do for him to show him my love...! I thought it was very sweet and I loved that he put so much thought into our day! We had a wonderful anniversary, and I can't wait for the next 17 years! I love you, Kevin!!

More pictures!

Here are some pictures of our spring break trip to Disneyworld with Grandma Suzy and Grandpa Royle, and the Father-Son campout.

Happy Easter to Everyone!

We had a very nice, overall relaxing Easter weekend. Kevin's parents were with us the week before, and we were sorry to see them leave, after just one week, before Easter, but they had to get back to CA for drs. appointments. We ended up spending most of Friday and Saturday preparing for the big day, making sugar cookies and lots of icing, blowing out and dying eggs by the dozens, and creating a Easter egg tree out of discarded limbs from a neighbor's yard. Whew! I made up for doing nothing by doing it ALL in two days! I decided that Easter should be the next biggest holiday next to Christmas, and how come it's not? It should maybe be even the Biggest celebration of all. But the watered down/commercialized version of Easter just doesn't appeal to me, so instead I do very little to prepare, and regret it. I wanted to make sure my younger kids really knew what Easter was about. When one night I asked Sarah if she knew what Christ had to do with Easter, and she told me that He loved the Easter bunny and liked to give us gifts, I knew I hadn't done enough! Ah!! So, I made it my mission to clarify this before Sunday!! My kids watched and read about the Resurrection so much that one night Sarah told me "Mom, that church video was too violent for me. I'm not ready for this yet." Oops. I guess a 5 yr. old shouldn't be forced to watch the "Lamb of God" (I did fast-forward through most of the graphic details, but apparently it was still too much. Bad Mom mistake #1326.)

Now we can't forget the Father-Son campout for Aaron and Kevin squeezed into this weekend too. And Kevin spent most of Saturday continuing to fix our sprinkler system (it's been close to a month long project now!). Poor man was wiped out after getting very little sleep while camping. Not sleep deprived for the usual camping reasons, but because their camp was nearby a gator-infested lake during mating season... Youtube "alligator mating sounds" if you're curious. Agonizing! And apparently there were Howler monkeys in the wilderness as well. Or at least that is what the 10 yr. old campers think! Poor boys. The girls and I baked, watched "Beauty and the Beast," ate M&Ms and popcorn, and painted our nails. And of course, slept great!

Spring is Here!

We can't seem to get enough of being outside right now. The weather has been picture perfect, cool evenings and warm, pleasantly dry days. Our yard has been bursting with color and scents, and I wish I could somehow bottle it all. Here are a few pictures of our outside adventures. First is Bethany and Kevin moving a huge ficus tree stump (about 400 lbs) from the front to the back yard - not for the faint of heart! The other is Sarah and Lily being silly in their flower fort. Then Aaron working in his school "purple garden" which turned out really nice.

Our New Baby Boy!

It seems like we have many friends and family who either had a baby recently or are expecting, so we have felt a little left out. We decided we needed to add to our growing family... so we adopted a big, beautiful baby... well, a "tween" perhaps would better describe our new addition. We named him Okie, which is a family name. He's from a family up north, but we've been told that he'll grow just great in our yard here in Florida. His stats are: 1400 lbs, 27 feet tall, diameter about 9". We think he's beautiful, and hope to spend many years with him in the shade, climbing and bird watching. (He is the tree, not the tractor!)

To My "Scrapin' Prince Charming"

This is Lily's picture of Daddy (she's growling for some reason). We thought it was amazingly good, considering she's only 2, but since it was on the Magnadoodle, we had to take a picture of it. Great portrait of a great man!



I just need to publicly thank my amazing husband Kevin for being the man I always dreamed would sweep me off my feet.

Let me just put it this way: my sweet man taught a SCRAPBOOKING class for a group of ladies at church a few nights ago, even though I had been asked to do this! I was lamenting a month ago that there was no way I could do this for so many women, and I didn't know anything current, especially DIGITAL scrapbooking! Kevin then sat down at the computer and in less than 10 minutes showed me how he could crank out a fabulous, artistic and fun page using PowerPoint! I was definitely overwhelmed at this point... so he very graciously and unselfishly volunteered to HELP me teach!!

Now, I ask you, how many men would do this? The only one that comes to mind is my father-in-law, who Kevin is like in many ways. Needless to say, I had only 4 women (2 of which actually worked on their own books) show up for the "traditional" scrapbooking class while Kevin had nearly 15 women in attendance. And of course, he was a hit! A born teacher, he is great at explaining to even the slowest of learners (I give him practice!) complicated concepts. So the ladies thanked ME for recruiting him... If they only knew!

Oh, and by the way, I now have curtains up in my bedroom!! It took nearly 6 years, but it's done, and I love my husband even more each time I look at my windows. Thank you sweetie!!!

Aaron had his 10th birthday on Jan. 16, and I must admit, I can't believe he's 10. He'll be forever 5... then again, Sarah is 5 now, so I guess everyone else ages, but me! He had a "disco bowling" party which was very fun and easy to do. He received lots of Bakugon items, and a new Webelos uniform, which he loves. Thank you all for your gifts and cards. We have such thoughtful family and friends.

Winter play in CA, Jan. 2009

Initiative!

Well, Sarah took matters into her own hands after she asked if I could "get her bangs out of her face." My options were a barrette, hairspray or headband. But since I didn't put out for any of these, as I was preoccupied on the computer, she announced she was ready to go play at her friends' with a big smile... and butchered bangs! Ah! She's threatened many times that she wanted to "cut them all off" but this time she kept her word! This picture is actually the "corrected" version: when she showed me her handiwork, only half of the bangs were missing.

Christmas Eating...

Our neighbor brought over a giant gingerbread house for the kids. They loved it! Tis the season to eat! This was Aaron's 3rd candy house in about 10 days! The above picture is of Mazzy Thompson and Lily eating at Uncle Terry and Aunt Cindy's house Christmas Eve! They both loved the "unlimited" (unsupervised) cookies and fudge!

Christmas envy!

We had "Christmas" on Dec. 14 at our home since we were leaving for almost 3 weeks over December and January. Talk about needing to be prepared! It made Nov. a very busy month! BTW, Kevin is holding pillowcases...

Bethany dances and Sarah smiles!

This is Bethany after her school dance performance in December. She was so good, and we had no idea what she had been doing, since her dance class was a daily PE class. Sarah and her best friend Amanda (on left) went to the big night as part of Sarah's birthday celebration. We went out to dinner afterwards, and had a very fun "girl's night."