Christmas

We had a great Christmas!! I was a little sad that this would be our first Christmas away from home, but I was also excited to be able to stay home and not be running like crazy in the snowy Utah weather. This year Santa actually visited our house on Christmas eve instead of coming early since we weren't going to be gone. Brynlee was so excited, I wasn't sure if she would sleep all night.

Morning came and at about 7a.m. Gracen was the first to wake up. I got him a cup of milk and once he finished that we went downstairs to wake up Brynlee. When she walked out in the living room and saw that Santa left presents, her little face just lit up! Gracen kept grinning and pointing to the presents, he was ready to dig in!

Because we weren't traveling this year, Grandma's and Grandpa's all sent money for us to get the kids something with to put under the tree or gifts. It seemed like a lot of gifts so we decided to split it up and we just opened our family gifts first, then we got on the web cam with Grandma's and Grandpa's so they could see the kids open their gifts and to talk to them for a little bit. There were a few times that Brynlee got impatient while we were getting things set up and she just started ripping into the presents, even the ones that weren't hers!

Here are the 2 VERY SPOILED Thompson kids!!


This made me laugh! At first she was afraid of it, then she kept laughing at it when she finally put it on! Nate thinks she looks like a gypsy!

Brynlee didn't want the day to end, she made a special request to sleep in her princess castle!

We had a great Christmas!! It was so much fun to see how excited Brynlee and Gracen were about everything! We all had such an amazing day, and are especially grateful to our family and friends who were thinking of us and for the wonderful gifts that we received!

Christmas tradition...

One of our family Christmas traditions is to make an ornament for the Christmas tree. A few years ago we started the tradition by making a simple hand print ornament on Brynlee's first Christmas and have been doing it every year since! This year we made little snowmen. Nate cut them out and Brynlee helped paint them. I think they turned out really cute! One for Brynlee and Mommy, and one for Gracen and Daddy!

When Brynlee grows up...

she wants to be... "a ballerina, and when I'm done being a ballerina, I want to be a princess!" When we went to the doctor about a week ago, he asked Brynlee what she wants to be when she grows up, well the response was a princess. Then a couple of days later she decided that she wanted to be "twins" with her friend Lauren and be a ballerina. Now it has changed to both. It is fun to see her at this age with her friends, preschool, dance and at church.

We had playgroup at our house yesterday and she and Lauren were playing dress up. They were both princesses going to the ball. They both ran over to their friend Caleb and asked him if he wanted to be the King. He said "No, I am going to be a garbage man!" It was so funny, these kids just crack me up!

On Wednesday Brynlee had dance, it was the last class of the month so the blinds were open so the parents could watch. They also invited us in to do a mini recital, it was so cute and they did a great job! I got lucky because Brynlee was at the front of the line where I could see her really good! Here are the 2 dances they did for us...

(starring Brynlee and Lauren!)

A couple of months ago Brynlee learned how to write her name, she can write it perfectly forward and perfectly backwards! She is really enjoying writing and asks me how to spell lots of words all the time. She is growing way too fast!

Lunch with Santa

Nate is in his pediatrics rotation right now and the office he is with invited us to their Christmas lunch. They did it at a resort that had a "lunch with Santa" They had balloon animals, charicature drawings, and Santa came to see all the kids after we ate lunch. First his sleigh, pulled by all the reindeer landed on the roof, there were a couple of times I thought they were going to fall through the roof! It scared Brynlee, she just about jumped out of her seat and into my lap. About 5 minutes later Santa came in, the kids were all so excited!

I was shocked that Brynlee sat on his lap. She has always been afraid of the mall Santas and won't go near them. She was pretty nervous standing in line so we practiced what she was going to tell Santa that she wants for Christmas. When she got up there, she was pretty quiet but she actually told him that she wants a cash register and a barbie computer. She also told him she wasn't going to leave him any cookies when he asked what kind of cookies she was going to leave. Gracen didn't want to sit on his lap, he was more interested in the "ball" on the Christmas tree!

We were finally able to get them both up there, I am so excited for Christmas!

When the house is a little too quiet...

This morning while I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes, Brynlee was coloring, and I noticed that there was no noise. I asked Brynlee if she knew where Gracen was and she didn't know, so I went to see if he was in her bedroom. Sure enough, he was and I found the reason he was being so quiet...

He found a pancake in the GARBAGE, gross I know! Smashed it into the carpet and was sitting there playing with it. And Nate wonders why I complain about never being able to get anything done! Here's your proof!

Bargain shopper in training...

Brynlee has heard a lot of talk about the day after Thanksgiving sales over the past week. Yesterday I was clearing off the table and Brynlee climbed up on a chair to where she could see the ads on the end of the counter, she started looking at the one on top and said "Ohhh, look at this dolly, it's ONLY twenty dollars!" and she pointed at it(she couldn't really read it, she just made the price up, I think it was really $10). I was laughing so hard at her! I guess I didn't realize she was listening to me so much. I also have to laugh at her when she asks me for a coupon and uses it when she plays "store" and when I am looking through the weekly coupons she always asks, "Are there any good ones this week?"

Sad face

Maybe I am a mean mom, but I think it is so cute when Gracen is being all whiney and pulls out his sad face! I was out and Nate took this picture of Gracen after he sat in his drum and got stuck.He said he could have taken some better pictures, but the camera batteries died. Here are a few more, just so you get the full effect!

We were having a snack, he had been upset about something, but mostly over it. All I had to do was say "ohh" and give him a little sympathy and he would get going all over again. He'd start curling up his little lips and pull out his sad face, then seconds later he was fine.

He is just so cute, even when he is sad!

Here he is being happy, I really wasn't torturing him.

Playing in the Snow!

This morning we woke up to snow! I walked outside to to take Brynlee to school to also find that underneath the snow was a big sheet of ice. Got to love those midwest ice storms! Brynlee was so excited to get out her pink snowpants and princess snowboots and go out and play in it! This afternoon when the sun decided to show itself we bundled up and went out to play!

Gracen was a little top heavy in his coat and fell head first into the snow. When I heard him getting mad I looked over to see him bent at the waist with his head down on the ground, lucky for him he only got it on his hat and not his face!

This girl loves pink! She just ran around and played!

Very nice snow angel! She made lots of these!

I love this picture! Just look at those eyelashes!

Neither of them wanted to sit still for a picture, this is as good as it gets!

This picture is too cute! Heather and Kimberli joined us and Kimberli wasn't too sure of the snow and cold!

She's warming up to the idea as long as she can stay on the sidewalk! Gracen was having lots of issues with being top heavy, he's on his way down in this picture!

Yeah!! I finally got a smile out of her! She is looking very stylish in her snow outfit!

Mug Shot?

Nope...just Brynlee practicing her picture taking skills!

I was in the bathroom and heard the flash, I walked out and Brynlee was standing there holding the camera and said, "I took a picture of myself!" I waited for it to load, and this was what we got! Not too bad, at least she didn't cut her head off!

When I sat down to put it on the blog, she couldn't stop giggling about her picture and that everyone would see it! She is still giggling now, funny girl!

Trick or Treat?

We set out with some friends on Halloween night to take the kids out into the neighborhood behind our apartment to go trick or treating. As we walked down the street and into the neighborhood we were noticing that there weren't many kids out. We thought maybe we needed to get back into the neighborhood farther. We walked down another street and decided on a house to start at. We walked up, still no other trick or treaters in sight, and knocked. No answer, we were confused, it was Halloween after all! Earlier in the day we had even looked it up online to see what times and to be sure that we could go that night, we were wrong! We saw a couple going for a walk and Leanne walked over to them to ask about it and was told that the neighborhood did their trick or treating last Sunday the 26th. We were feeling a little tricked, but not too worry, the night still ended good. We just had to drive a couple miles into town and were able to have some great trick or treating success! I can only imagine what all the people from that neighborhood were thinking when they saw us walking around with our kids all dressed and ready to get some candy, ha ha!!

My beautiful Wendy, posing for the camera!

Peter Pan, dressed and ready to go! He even kept his hat on the whole time!

The whole gang!

Brynlee and Gracen loved it! Brynlee was so fun this year! I loved watching her get in to the whole thing from what to dress up as, to running up to houses and actually saying "trick or treat!"(she got tons of practice at preschool) Gracen enjoyed pulling candy out of bowls, as long as mom was right there with him! He loved being outside and really enjoyed his little pumpkin that he kept throwing around on the grass until it was time to go!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Gracen's birthday party

I just wanted to post a few pictures from Gracen's birthday party last Saturday. We celebrated with some friends and had a great time!

Happy Birthday!

Gracen's friends came to help celebrate!

(Josh is the little pumpkin hiding in the corner!)

Nate made this awesome airplane cake! It turned out great, Gracen really liked it!

Birthday Boy!!

I can't believe that this sweet little boy turned one today!! He is so much fun and has such a great personality!! We love him so much and are so happy that he joined our family!

A few things about my little man...

He has tons of energy! I like to call him my little monkey because he likes to climb on and in everything, he started climbing in Brynlee's toy pack and play about a month ago. When I first saw him in it I thought Brynlee picked him up and put him in. I took him out, put him

down, and he turned around and climbed right back in (and did a little celebration dance

once he got in)!

He LOVES his big sister! From the day he could crawl, he would follow her just about anywhere and try to play with her. He started walking when he was 9 1/2 months and now he can really keep up with her! They have so much fun chasing each other around, he just laughs and smiles instantly when he sees Brynlee!

If you ask him really nicely, he can tell you what an elephant(my favorite, watch the hands), a fish, and a cow says...

He can say 4 words other than mama and dada... ish (fish), wassat (what's that), hiiiee (hi, he exaggerates the ending a lot), and down. He loves to put on and take off hats, and he does a little dance to show off every time he puts one on! He likes to jump, he will randomly stop walking and just start bouncing. He tries hard and has actually had both feet off the ground a couple of times! He has such a sweet little face, and amazingly long eyelashes, I get comments about them all the time!

He loves to read. He goes to the bookshelf, grabs a book and brings it over to me, turns around and backs up to sit on my lap. It is the cutest thing ever! If I am not sitting down he walks over and grabs my legs and says "uh, uh, uh" until I listen to him and sit down and read!

He is such a good baby! He hardly ever cries, and smiles tons! He has a contagious laugh! He has no stranger anxiety, and will walk up and make friends with anyone and everyone!

(This is a few hours after he was born, isn't he sweet!)

Gracen, we love you so much! You are such a joy to be around! We hope you had an amazing 1st birthday, and want you to know that you are so loved! Thank you for sharing all your happiness and love with us!

Love Mom, Dad, and Brynlee

pumpkin patch

I LOVE this time of year!! I have been so excited to go out to the PUMPKIN PATCH with the kids and on Saturday we went with some friends to Honey Haven farm. It was such a fun place. The kids loved it, and even though it was a little chilly out we spent a few hours there.

Brynlee and Gracen loved the horse drawn wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch! Gracen

just couldn't stop watching the horses.

Gracen found the perfect pumpkin! He tried really hard to pick it up...just a bit too heavy!

Much better!!

Although, he is still grunting!

Brynlee found some, too!!

She is always happy to sit for a picture!

Gracen loved the pigs at the petting zoo!

Brynlee had fun swinging!

Poor Owen was malled by Brynlee. Here he is in the Thompson sandwich!!

We had a great time and can't wait to go again next year!!