Look What I Did Today

Nesting has set in and I have found several websites via my friends blogs that have some great ideas for things to make that are simple and fun. I have this sudden urge to sew. Today I made a seat belt cover for Landan because he doesn't wear the seatbelt properly because it hurts his neck.
I got the tutorial from makeitandloveit.blogspot.com. There is a button on the right side of my blog. Here is the link http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/05/seat-belt-covers.html

Thanksgiving (Very late)

We spent Thanksgiving in Houston with my family. My parents came back from Saudi Arabia where they live now tovisit so we went and spent some time with them and the rest of my family. Almost everyone was there (we missed you Mike and Ashlyn).

Cousins on the couch (We try to do this everytime they get together but it's difficult becuase they won't all sit still)

From left: Hailey, Norah, Gavin, Nathan, Landan, Kenny, James

These two sat very nicely together and read a book. They were the least wiggly of all of them.

Baby James the Pilgrim

Nathan the Turkey

It was beautiful weather so the big kids spent most of their time outside. We all went out one day.

Even the big boys got to play.

The babies loved the trampoline.

Gavin got his first haircut. He hated it. He cried and screamed the whole time. Luckily his hair grows slowly. We may be waiting awhile until we try it again.

Before

During

After

So handsome

Making Carmel Apples

Festival of Lights in Galveston

BYU beat Utah!!!! Go Cougars!

Halloween (Very Very Late)

Well, I'm finally ready to catch up on some of my blogging. We'll start with Halloween. We had a very busy halloween. First, the week before, we went down to San Antonio to spend the weekend with my brother and his family. We went to a farm the first night. Landan loved doing all the activities.

He slid down the big tube slide.

Played on the hay bales

And jumped on the "corn popper".

Then at night he raced ducks with Uncle David...

And he shot the corn cannon with Daddy. Gavin spent most of the time in the backpack with Daddy becuase he was too little to do anything.

Then there was a tractor ride.
Gavin wasn't too small for this.

Finally it was time to go in the corn maze. There were 2 phases but we only got through the 1st phase because Norah was sick and she started to cough really bad. Poor baby.

David, Katherine, Norah, Jessica, Caden, Kevin, Gavin, and Landan

The next day we spent at Sea World. It was a lot of fun. They decorate it really cool and there's all kinds of fun shows to see.

Halloween weekend we spent in Houston at my sister's house. The menfolk took the boys to an air show which they really liked and the women stayed home with the babies. We made pumpkin cupcakes while they were gone. It was kind of nice to just be home with the babies.

When they got back we had a dinner of "lumberjack fingers" and "amputee punch"

Yummy!

Then everyone got dressed in their costumes for trick or treating.

Landan was a vampire.

Gavin was Darth Vader.(leftover from when landan was little)

Hailey was a lady bug.

Even Jonny and Kenny participated. They were Thing 1 and Thing 2 (the later years). It was great. Here are Ken, Gavin, Hailey, Jonny, Kenny, Nathan, and Landan.

It was a great trip.

Christmas Letter

I decided to do a Christmas letter on my blog this year because I didn't get our Christmas pictures done this year and I was so busy I didn't get cards sent out. Plus most of the people I would send them to read my blog anyway. So, sorry to be lame this year. Here goes...

The Family- We spent a lot of time visiting family this year. We had season passes to Sea World and frequented that a lot. My brother moved to San Antonio in May so we were able to see him and his wife and daughter a lot. In June we got to go to Iowa and visit Kevin's family which is always nice since we don't see them very often. The boys got to play wiht their cousins, make homemade ice cream, swim in their pool, and Landan helped Grandma make cookies for a soup kitchen. It was a lot of fun. We also went to Houston several times to spend time with my parents before they moved to Saudi Arabia. We spent Halloween in Houston with my brothers and sister and Thanksgiving there as well because my parents came back to visit. We love spending time with family.

Kevin- He is still working for Valleycrest as a Landscape Estimator and Bidder. He spent most of the beginning of the year battling weeds in our yard that like to creep up underneath our fence from the drainage easement. We had a beautiful lawn until about Sept. when things got really bad again. The battle will begin again in Feb. He also spent lots of time building shelves and putting up ceiling fans and doing other things around the house that I asked him to do. He's quite the handyman.

Marissa- I am still working full time as a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care. I also work as a full time mom juggling therapy, school, soccer, gymnastics, and two very active little boys. I spent most of the beginning of the year coordinating Gavin's 1st birthday party and Landan's first kids party for his 5th birthday. I am now pregnant with our 3rd child which kept me pretty sick for about 3 months starting in Sept. I'm feeing great now and excited to get ready for our little girl due in May.

Landan- He has been a very busy boy this year. We were able to officially diagnose him with Sensory Processing Disorder in Feb and he has been in Occupational Therapy ever since to help him learn to function normally in school and to cope with the disorder. He's doing so much better but still has trouble a lot. At least now we have a cause for his behavior and can respond appropriately. Somehow during the year he changed from a little boy to a big boy. He started soccer in Sept. He liked it at first but by the end he was done with it. He also started gymnastics in Sept and is loving it. He's getting pretty good at doing his skills and working on them at home. Kindergarten started in Aug. and that has been a huge roller coaster ride. He's doing well academically but we've had some pretty big behavior and focusing problems. I am trying to work with the school to help him do better but his disorder isn't very well known so it's been difficult to get anything accomplished. Hopefully next year will be better. He's got some friends but no one that stands out in particular. His favorite thing to do now is to play Wii, jump on the trampoline, and go to gymnastics. He's so sweet and sensitive. I love hearing how he thinks and reasons things through. He's such a deep kid in many ways. He's excited about having a new baby next year. He can't wait to be the big brother of a boy and a girl.


Gavin- What can I say, Gavin is hilarious. He is such a happy little boy. And a very busy one. He turned 1 in May and has been walking soon after. By 14 months he was running and climbing on anything he could. I still call him my little monkey becuase he is always moving and climbing and he loves to flip and do somersaults. He still doesn't climb out of his crib thank goodness but he is obsessed with Landan's bed so we'll be getting him one soon. He's definately a mover and when he was evaluated at 15 mo. they put him at 24 mo. for physical development. In Aug. he started speech therapy because he wasn't using any words yet and he's come a long way. He says about 20 words without promting and he can sign about 5 words. Most of the words he says can only be understood by Kevin or me or his babysitter. He's still difficult to understand but he's getting there. He's such a ham and loves to show off. His favorite thing to do is play chase where you chase him around the island in the kitchen and then jump out and scare him. He loves peekaboo and singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". He gets into everything he can and I spend most of my day taking things away from him that he knows he's not supposed to have. I'm not sure when he changed from a baby to a little boy but he's so much fun. I'm a little worried about the new baby though because he is a big mamma's boy. He doesn't like it when I hug Kevin or Landan or anyone else. But he's starting to bond more with Daddy, especially since I've been so sick so I think it will be ok. We love having him around, he brings so much laughter to our house.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and many blessing for the new year.

Love,
Kevin, Marissa, Landan, Gavin, and baby girl

What'll it be? (the search for the next little Thompson)

So I'm sure you're all wondering what the next little Thompson will be. I was dying to know myself.



I couldn't decide exactly which image to put up to advertise the results of the ultrasound today so I put two different ones up. So don't get all confused, we are not having twins.



In fact, it was difficult just to see the gender of the one we do have because it was curled up in a ball with head on chest and knees locked together.



We couldn't tell for awhile if there was something there or not. Finally, the doctor came in and did some extra measurements that the tech couldn't get because the baby was low in my pelvis and wouldn't move enough t0 see everything.



He confirmed it for us. It's healthy by the way. Measuring a little small but they decided to keep the same due date of May 11. But that's no surprise. I have small babies.



And for those of you who have actually read this whole post and are anxiously awaiting the verdict, here it is...

That's right. We're having a girl. We are so excited. I was so psyched up for a boy I didn't believe the tech and made her confirm it 4 times. Then I made the doctor confirm it again. By the end I was sure. She moved her legs just enough to make sure there were no extra parts.

Landan's first words were, "Ah man. I wanted 3 boys because boys are cool." But then as we were at Carter's (my favorite baby store) picking out the right outfit to make the announcement, Landan spent about 10 minutes going around the store telling me how cute the new baby would look in this outfit or that outfit. It was adorable. I must admit, he picked some really cute stuff.

So get ready Cindy. I'll be a constant customer in your store from now on. And Cassie, you'll have to teach me how to make those cute bows and tell me where you got the headband from again. And Mom, we'll have to talk blessing dresses.

(Stay tuned...ultrasound pics to follow.)