UPDATE:

It has been a very busy couple of months -

 

Here's a quick recap!

 

 

August - All 3 boys started school - Chris (10th), Shawn (8th) and Isaac (Pre-K)

 

 (Life in an apartment - not so bad at this point)

 

September -

(Chris) - Marching Band Season - Lots of time spent on a bleacher watching the band practice, play and perform.

(Shawn) - Cross Country - I will never understand people who like to run

(Isaac) - LOVING Preschool - Spelling and Beginning to write words

 

Shared the news with family and friends that we are expecting family member number 6

 

October -

(Chris) - More marching band! 

(Shawn) - Break from Cross Country - prepping for BBall

(Isaac) - Swimming like a champ!  

      

Still living in the apartment! 

 

November -

(Chris) - Marching Band State Champs!  Pneumonia, Turned 16, got his license, started Wrestling

(Shawn) - Played Basketball

(Isaac) - Just going with the flow!

 

BIG news - We moved into our new house November 14!

BIG BIG news - We found out that Baby T is a GIRL! 

 

December - Has Flown By!

(Chris) - First long solo drive - to Elkhart - 1 trip in the ditch - all okay - parents slightly traumatized!

also - wrestling 1st place JV and is on Varsity as the position allows - in the 132 weight class

(Shawn) - Played Basketball, helped out a bunch in the new house

(Isaac) - Loving the Christmas spirit - Did the Christmas program at church

 

Chad and I - are just holding on!  It has been a busy Crazy couple of months.  Our marriage and our family survived 5 months in a 2 bedroom apartment.  We love our new house and all the space - it is very overwhelming to figure out where to put everything! 

 

Hoping to be better about blogging in 2014.  Lots of exciting things going on.... My niece should be here early January!!!  I cannot wait to be an auntie!  Baby Willow will be a little (or a lot) spoiled! 

 

Our baby girl will be here sometime around April 10th

Isaac will turn 5!

We will go to Kindergarten round up - (mixed emotions here!)

 

We have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season - My Christmas cards are late going out.... oops!  so here are a couple Christmas pictures to hold you through ~

 

Love ~

The Thomsons 



 

Easter at Church

 

I love Easter Sunday!

 

Isaac is really building a strong group of friends in his Sunday School Class. 

He enjoys music (I hear the teacher is great! - hehehe!), loves the lesson, the playtime with kids his own age, he does crafts and games, and they finish with snack time.

 

Here's a few pictures of our morning at church.

 

Isaac and Zoey are good buddies!

They are pretty cute together!

 A little egg hunting

We got some candy but also some bracelets with the meaning of the colors on it.

Isaac loves the bracelets! 

(Side note - Last year was Isaac's first year doing the hunt.  Easter Sunday was his first Sunday in Sunday School!)

 Here's the 3 and 4 year old group - minus about 7 - 10 kids. 

Our mission is to regrow the Sunday School program.  Starting from the littlest and working up as they grow.  This is by far the biggest group.  The 3's has about 9 - 10 kids, the 4's is usually about 7 - 8 kids and the Kindergarten class has about 4.  It is fun to see the little friendships blooming.  I have known these mom's since our babes were little.  Crazy how quickly the time flies. 

 

 

Happy Easter -

He is Risen - He is Risen Indeed Alleluia!

 

 



Happy Halloween

 The boys - Chris didn't want to dress up this year.

But Chad did....

 He's a REPLACEMENT REF!  

Guessing his call was a bad one...

Replacement Ref Copy "Cat"

He'll be so sad to not get to wear "make-up" on his face!

Trick-Or-Treating at the Stough's house

The Family on Halloween.

Cat in the Hat Part 1

Cat in the Hat - Inspired by Grandma and Grandpa's hat

 On Sunday - We got to do afternoon trick or treating at the outdoor mall with our friends Z and Malachi. 

Batman, Cat in the Hat and the Princess saved the day!

 We also took a hayrack ride - around the mall.... on benches.  No hay to be found....

 We even found Isaac's Halloween Family.... the Big Cat and Thing 1 and Thing 2..... 

He Loved It!

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Carving 2012

Isaac and I carved a pumpkin after work on Tuesday. 

He wanted a star for the top so we traced it and cut it.

 Then he pulled the lid off.

 and showed me the guts!

Next was the scooping part. 

He wasn't too worried at first....

 But man did he get grossed out when it got on his hands.

 So we went back to scooping with a spoon.

Love this.... Checking out the seed on his hand

See my Jack-O-Lantern!

4th of July 2012

We had a great visit to Clear Lake over the 4th of July.

First we went to the pool in Mason City. 

There was a FMR (Fecal Matter Release) so we had to leave before I got any pictures. 

I think Grandma enjoyed the pool the most though! 

After not such great naps, we headed down to the park for a concert (and yummy gyros - Thanks Dad!)

Isaac loved the music, and danced himself to exhaustion. 

Chilling for a minute with Grandma.

Showing her all his moves.
Pretty sure he was shaking his bum in this one. 

Moving his moves over to Grandpa.

 The morning of the 4th, we went for a 2 mile-ish walk.... a.k.a. almost died due to the humidity. 

I was drenched and exhausted when we got back.  

We got ready for the parade next. 

The morning of the 4th at the parade.

After lunch and a 3 hour nap, Grandma and Grandpa busted out the cool factor. 

They got the slip n' slide (see background) and this giant ball. 

It was  a total hit. 

Look closely under the Toy Story 3 in the clear part... See Isaac? 

Annie's friend from college (well, now I can call her my friend too b/c she is great!) came over with her boys. 

They were just about the same ages as Isaac and Noah so the group doubled to 4 boys and they wore 

each other out!

Pretty cute dude!

 This is Isaac's new buddy - Syrus

Loving the inside of that ball

Peek-a-boo

Later in the afternoon, after all the fun in the sun, the kids were playing inside.
Isaac met/played with Lilly, my cousin's little girl.

She was fascinated by him.

He was showing her how his Roo - bot (aka robot) works. 

Our best attempt at a picture together.  HAHA... She looks scared to death! 

 After dinner, we headed down to the carnival (which we had successfully avoided up until this point!) 

Loves the motorcycles! 

First time in the Ferris Wheel.
This is the ride that never ends.... or so we thought! 

We ended the night and our visit with the fireworks.
At first, Isaac was not so interested, then he thought they were great
 and then he was so over it..... all by about 10:10.... We spent the next 20 minutes changing spots and moving around.

As always, I love spending time with my family.  We missed the boys and Daddy (he had to play military all week so no vacation for him).  I am blessed to have such a great family and now we have a new set of friends too.  Hopefully they will all come visit us soon!

Christmas.... In February

Last weekend, we travelled to Clear Lake for Christmas (finally!)

We always have so much fun.... I almost forget to take any pictures at all, but here are a few from my camera from this visit.

Opening gifts

Wearing undies on our heads....
That's part of everyone's Christmas celebration right?

Strutting around in Aprons

Mom had an idea.

She wouldn't share.

It was a blast ... from the past.....

and the big kids (Chris and Shawn) whined about not being able to do it.

They were worried about not being "good" at it

because they usually use blades.

We went Skating...

ALL OF US!



LOVE LOVE LOVE

Family time!!!

So glad we got to meet Noah (Woody's Son)

So thankful for perfectly timed winter weather

Thankful for my family and our time we spend together!