2012 Highlights

2012

Yes, my previous post stated that it's been a rough year. But throughout the trials, we have still managed to have a lot of UPS and a lot of JOY and LESSONS and LAUGHTER. Some of our highlights:

• We moved from Renton to Covington, Washington in February. We snagged a beautiful 3 bedroom rambler with a fully fenced yard and an awesome landlord. We couldn't be more pleased.

• We attended not one, but TWO family reunion's. Both the Thompson & the Flom reunions.

• Grandma came to visit us TWICE this year! She was able to be here for both kids birthdays and attend their birthday parties. We loved having her here and it was great to see her interact with the kids. Quite the difference in September from April. I think she was pleased :)

• I got to attend one of my oldest and dearest friends wedding. My childhood BFF, my fellow musketeer, and the love of her life sealed the deal. It was truly a great experience to get to be apart of something we'd dreamed up in our heads as little girls :)

• Mommy turned 25. Daddy turned 24. Chloe turned 5! & little Reesey boy has been apart of our family for 4 years, so he's at least 4 ;) Oh, and we're all alive. 

• Tristan Daniel took leaps and bounds this year. He turned 2 years old, began talking (and never stopping), singing and dancing, counting, and coloring. He made the big switch from the Toddler bed to Big Boy Bed (aka Twin bed). He traded his Lightning McQueen in for Thomas the Train, and most importantly he knows all the lyrics to Taylor Swifts new CD "Red". We're very proud parents :)

• Ryan Joseph LITERALLY took giant steps this year. He began walking and babbling, and sleeping through the night. He made the change from baby to toddler, mashed food to real food, rear facing to forward facing. This boy is quite the little monster. He's our mischevious one. If you don't know where Ryan is, you better go find him because he's most likely digging through your trash. It's a good thing he's the sweetest, cuddliest little mama's boy ever. We think we'll keep him around ;)

• We threw a fun Mickey Mouse themed birthday party for Tristan's 2nd birthday party including a bouncy house and lots of little friends. Ryan 1st birthday was celebrated with a Mustache Bash full of retro Coke bottles, mustaches, cotton candy & the best friends ever. 

• We purchased TWO cars this year. We FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY have a 2nd car. We traded our Jeep in for a 2006 Kia Spectra 5, and then purchased a 94 Honda Civic from one of my coworkers. We love it. Funny, that I think we both prefer to drive the 2door 94? 

• We celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary AND our 4th year of living and breathing amongst each other day in and day out. If you haven't heard it before, you should really hear the story about how we've basically been married since the day we met. Eric came over one night and never went home. And that's the way I like it :)

Whew! What a year :)

Ps. Keep looking out for our "About Me" page and if you haven't seen it, check out our new "This is the after party" page for a brief summary of our blog and the story behind it.

These kinds of things remind me that if only we keep on going, we will look back and be able to say that we got through it all.

Public Service Announcement- Thompson style

Our dear friends and family:

As many of you know, 2012 has been quite a challenging year for the Thompson family. Many of you are confused as to what is going on with us and why, etc. We understand the confusion and while we greatly appreciate all the love and support that has been offered, we ask that any questions or concerns be kept to a minimum while we navigate through this confusing and difficult time. We have decided that as confusing as this time is for us, it is even more confusing and also a bit frustrating to have to be answering everyone's questions and emails, when we don't really know the answers ourselves yet. We hope that our true friends and family understand that we know they are there, and that we will reach out when we feel necessary.

We understand that recent Facebook "announcements" have led to the confusion, and alerted many people of an issue even existing, and for that we apologize. We are still learning and growing up-- sometimes adults get their feelings hurt too :p We don't always react the best or handle things exactly the way they should be handled.

For now, we will be focusing on our family, and taking things day by day. Regardless of which way the road takes us, please know that we will always love and respect each other and the needs of our two boys will always be put first.

Thank you for understanding. We love each and every one of you and we appreciate the continued support.

Join us in 2013 for a fresh start, and a whole lot more blogging! (I PROMISE!!!!)

XOXO
Happy Holidays!!

Love,
the Thompson family

Bikes bikes bikes!

This past summer Tristan became obsessed with the word "Bike"-- I'm pretty sure that this is mostly in reference to motorcycles and dirt bikes because I am 100% brainwashing my child. Gotta start them early, ya know. 

We have been trying to get this kid to ride his bike all year.

 It was one of our family goals that we set (We have failed in most aspects of our goals-- more on that later). We felt strongly that Tristan would be able to achieve this by the end of the year. Unfortunately, Tristan's obsession with bikes has not helped him grow an extra inch or so. He has a really hard time reaching the pedals. We're also pretty sure that the "tricycle" situation is really pointless. Have you ever tried to pedal a tricycle? It can not get any harder. The wheels are plastic. I can barely do it. 

We'll be buying him a real bike with real tires in the spring. For now, he has fun pretending to ride, ie getting on and off the bike, checking the bike out, being pushed, and pushing the bike. 

This past summer:

This past week:

Isn't it crazy what a few months difference can make?! Hopefully this kid will grow a bit so he can reach the pedals better :)

Bye Bye Binky!!

So as many of you know, Tristan has been WELL KNOWN for his love of Binky. Aka lifeline.

In our previous ward, he was known as the "Mute Button" baby because of his Binky that said "Mute Button".

One day... I threw it in the trash.

And that was that. 

UHHHHHH--- MAZING.

We had a short cry on the 2nd day during naptime, but I read him a quick story and life was suddenly right again and off to sleep he went. 

Seriously? If I had known that it would be this easy, we wouldn't have fretted so much about getting rid of it. BUT I still would have used it. Everyone has their opinions on the pacifier. Mine? I never cared. I KNEW he wouldn't be walking across the stage at 18 to receive his diploma with it in his mouth-- SO WHAT if he ended up 4 years old with a pacifier in his mouth...really. I just didn't care. I let him have it because I value my sleep. And in the end, we won. 

Now, we'll just wait another year or so and hope for the best when it comes time for Ryan. 

ps.

THANK YOU GOD.

& also,

HALLELUJAH!

You know what's even better than being a superhero?

Being a brother :)

THIS is what my life is all about. This is what makes all the diaper changes, the teething, the food fights (LITERALLY--they love to throw food to each other from their chairs??), the middle of the night trips to the sink to refill their cups, the two year old tantrums, the one year old stage 5 clinger phase.... worth it.

I wouldn't give any of it up for the world!

Art School...like Mommy like Son?

We're just gonna come right out and admit that if I had to do summer school for "mommyhood" this past summer... I would not be moving on to the next grade. I received an F this summer. Part of me feels bad because I'm failing my children but the other part of me is so tired I feel pretty successful that I managed to keep them alive.

To kick off the fall with our kids, I thought I'd attempt to make it up to my children..so I enrolled Tristan in a little preschool art class put on by the Lake Wilderness community center. It cost me a whole 30 dollars. I really love cheap things. I highly recommend looking into things your community offers. They're usually short lived (i.e 4-6 weeks) so there's not too much commitment and super cheap.

Besides who doesn't love making messes you don't have to clean up?

Eric took Tristan to his 1st week because I had to work, so I got to go this past week. My little peanut LOVES his outdoors. I've mentioned before that he is becoming quite the escape artist when the front door opens. Needless to say, he had a blast...running up and down the hill and saying "tweee... tweee... tweee" (translation: TREE) as I tried to interest in him in picking bark off the tree so we could "impression" it. I ended up doing most of his "classwork" and then I started to worry that we were not getting off to a good start in our future schooling career together... I foresee myself staying up late to "help" finish projects.. :/

 

and of course...our finished projects.

WEEK 1 with Daddy:

WEEK 2 with Mommy:

The Housewife Life

My boss has been out of town so I've been covering her 9-5's for a few days. What a life, I tell ya. If I could work a M-F job with those hours, I don't care if you want me slangin pig's I'll do it.

The PROS:

• You can be a little risque' and stay up a bit late and still get to semi-sleep in and not need to take a nap in the middle of the day...
• Your husband can make you breakfast AND get your coffee started
• Your kids can be watched by other people...
• You can really feel like a normal person. 

It's so great. Did I also mention that your kids can be watched by other people? (HOLY DAYCARE, I WANT YOU IN MY LIFE).

So... I cannot tell a lie. I loved it and all... it was a dream come true. Except, after 4 days I felt like I was really neglecting my Pinterest boards, and all of my quality facebook/twitter stalking.

I really really missed my computer.

Me, in my natural element.

 I started to reminisce about the good ole' days of being a housewife, and I ached for it a tiny TINY bit. Like not enough for me to ever want to do it full time again..but just enough to want an entire day to play on my computer and pretend like I'm going to make sweet crafts and activities for my kids... and enough to want to make a list of all the things I do miss about being a "full time" stay-at-home mom.

1. Endless amounts of coffee. If my cup ran out... well, all I have to do is just stroll over to the kitchen and refill it. Slippers, robe and all.
2. Speaking of-- my slippers. I miss them.
3. Nobody tells me what to do. I'm in charge.
4. I can do anything I want, when I want. Because I'm the mom and I make the rules. If I don't want to go to story time...well then, we don't have to.
5. Sleeping in till 730am. Never thought I'd say that 730 was sleeping in...
6. Wardrobe freedom. I didn't have to shower unless I wanted to. And I didn't have to wash the same outfit over and over every day.
7. Friends! What are those? I was jk about this one ;)
8. Play dates. I'm going to tell you all a secret. They're not actually for the kids.
9. Shopping. I did a whole lot more shopping before I was too tired to even pick up milk on the way home.
10. Ok and last but not CERTAINLY NOT LEAST!... family time ;)

So there you have it. I don't really want to be a big kid. I just want to wear my pj's all day and call it good!