All I Want For Chirstmas.....

IS A KING SIZE BED!!!!!!!!!!

I would actually love this whole room, but I would settle for just the king size mattress. With two kids constantly getting in our bed all night....this would be my dream world. I hope it can fit down the chimney.

"I love Santa"

This is the first year that Mason actually asked to see Santa. Probably because I told him the only way he can tell Santa what he wants is to sit on his lap! He couldn't even wait his turn. He tried to cut in line. Good thing it was only a 3 minute wait!! He was so excited, he started telling him what him wanted while he was still in line. Reese on the other hand...well at least she didn't cry. She is such a mama's girl right now that I was happy that she just sat there and didn't scream. I actually love this picture(especially Reese's cheeks). The last two years I didn't even take him to get his picture taken at the mall because he had been terrified of him at our ward Christmas parties. I think that fear is over with! What a huge difference between 2 and 3 years years old!!

Our house

Here is our gingerbread house. I am so not creative so my Mom picked up a prepackaged kit. Even with that, it was hard for me to like it when we were finished. I wanted it to look JUST like the box...and obviously it didn't! Mason had fun eating the candy. After we took this picture he covered the roof with red hots. PERFECT!

The Tree

We attempted to squeeze as much as we possible could into our day on Saturday. We did have time to cut a Christmas tree and even decorate it!
Mason is saying exactly what you think he is saying..."Look, a plane!!!" Perfect timing!!

Mason wanted a really little tree. We talked him into this one. Actually we just started cutting it and told him once we start to cut we have to take it home with us. It started snowing when we were walking back to the car. What a great way to end the adventure!

Reese loves to look at the lights on the tree. She also loves her Weebles! Seriously, she could play with them all day!!

It was actually a pretty stressful day for me (and I'm sure only me). With Mason's first soccer class, tree and haircuts, I was glad to see the day come to an end. And to get a picture like this, I would do it all again next year!

Wish list (plus a little song)...

I thought some of you (grandparents and great grandparents mainly) would like to see Mason saying what he would like for Christmas. He talks about it all the time...I'm sure Santa will get it for him. Derek had fun editing this video! Please excuse his mismatched clothes and the mess...



This is what he wants. Yes, I'm sure it will be big and in our way. It's the only thing he's been asking for so I guess we just don't care!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a nice Thanksgiving this year. We stayed home and my Mom made a great turkey! My brother Graham and his wife and their 4 children came, along with Derek's Dad and brother (his mom was back east visiting her family). It was acutally very quiet and relaxing. Derek played football that morning at the elementary school next to the church. He was gone for 3 hours. Mason enjoyed watching the parade on TV, playing with his Grandpa Chip, Uncle Ryan and his cousins. Nolan even let him play Mario on his Nintendo DS...he was in heaven! Reese stayed busy doing what she does best...laying around! Good thing she's super cute!

I think the only things Mason ate all day were tomatoes and potato chips. He's not much of a turkey dinner fan...more for us I suppose!


Reese and her cousin Murphy tried to play together. Murphy is 5 weeks older then her and about 3 months more advanced! I love watching him cruise around, he is such a doll!
She's doing better about sitting by herself, although I have to stay close.

1/2 year old!

I can't believe my little angel is 6 months already! So cliche, but boy does time fly!! She had her check up yesterday and she's growing like a weed. She weighs 17lbs and is 26 1/2 inches long! That's 3 pounds in 2 months! She's not quite rolling over from back to belly or crawling, but this time around It doesn't seem to bother me. She has been eating baby food for a couple weeks now and absolutely loves peaches! I'm trying to give her new food too, but she cries if I put anything but peaches in her mouth. She also loves playing with her brother. He can make her laugh like no one else can. It's a joy to see them interact.

I always thought Reese and Mason looked alike, until I found this picture of Mason at 6 months. They definitely have their own looks. I'm thinking they have similar mouths but that might be about it! Needless to say, they are both EQUALLY adorable!

Carnation 5K!

I ran my very first 5K today! It felt so great! My sister, brother and sister-in-law also ran it. I finished the run in 30:48. That's pretty good for me considering I can do that on the treadmill and I haven't run outdoors in years. I thought for sure I would run it slower. I ran with my sister the whole time and even got close to my brother near the end! It was wet and muddy, but it really didn't seem to bother us. Maybe next year we'll try for the the 10K.....?

Trick or Treat

We took Mason out last night around the neighborhood. Last year we made it to about 5 houses and this year we did about 20! Reese made it around the cul da sac. Grandma watched her while Derek and I took Mason around to more houses! The first few houses he tried to open the door after he rang the door bell. Then he would walk into their houses after they opened the door. We worked on that the whole night! He is such a trusting kid! Kind of scary!! Derek and I enjoyed watching our little man be soooo big!
We don't have many pictures of our whole family together. I'm usually the picture taker. Grandma took this one for us!
We were almost home when Mason said "hold you daddy" meaning "hold ME daddy".
Eyeing the loot. He didn't get much, but it was plenty for him. He's actually really picky when it comes to candy. He likes, M&M's, tootsie rolls and suckers. The rest will sit in the bucket. It's soooooo hard to be on a diet and be around all that candy. I've had to have a few pieces and had to count the points (weight watchers). On a side note...I'm down 35 lbs since August 6th when I started dieting! It is the hardest thing in the world but so worth it. Only about 40 more to go...ugh.
These are Reese's tired eyes (and chubby cheeks). This is how we all felt by the end of the night. We had a great Halloween! I can't wait for next year, I can't believe baby Reesie will be almost 18 months old!

Sox Win!

As many of you know, Derek is a huge Red Sox fan. Since birth actually. I think it would be hard to grow up in New England and not be a Sox fan. So we were ecstatic last night when they won the World Series. He is in Red Sox heaven. We also realized that both of our kids were born the years the Red Sox won the World Series. So....if we have a baby next year, you'll know why. Oh man, I gave myself an anxiety attack just thinking about that.These are the clothes Derek would put on before each game. He started when they were down in the Cleavland series 3 games to 1. They brought them luck (so he thought). So he wore them 7 games in a row (they won all of them). With out washing them. Gross.

This is Mason throwing a tantrum because I wouldn't let him have my Diet Coke.

chatter box

Reese loves to talk. This is what I wake up to at 3am. I'll have to admit, I would much rather hear this than screaming (but I'd really like to hear nothing). Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch?

Okay, so we we weren't able to go to a pumpkin patch this year....so we opted for the not so traditional pumpkin patch. We went to Safeway. There were about 20 pumpkins left and they were all pretty ugly. We got just an ugly one. Mason loves it. We will carve it Monday night for Family Home Evening.

Trunk or Treat

We went to our ward's "trunk or treat" at the church last night. The kids dress up in their costumes and go around to everyone's car to get candy! Mason absolutely loved it. He couldn't believe people were giving him candy. While he was walking around to the cars, he stopped, looked at his dad and said "I love Halloween". Smart boy. We'll also take him trick or treating on Halloween night around the neighborhood. As you can see, Mason was a dragon (although most people thought he was a dinosaur or a monster), and Reese was a mermaid. We think they are pretty cute!

Goodbye Elder Thompson

Last week, my baby brother left on his mission to Hamburg Germany. Well, actually he is in the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo Utah for two months to learn the language and learn how to teach the gospel. Then he will go to Germany in December. Alec will be there for two years and can call home on Christmas day and Mothers day. He also can send weekly letters. We said our goodbye's here and that was REALLY hard for me. It was much harder this time than when my two older brothers went on their missions when I was in junior high. We will miss him so much, but we know he is doing the Lord's work. We are so proud of him and his example to our children. My parents took these pictures right before they said goodbye to him.

Rice cereal

Reese had her first encounter with rice cereal a couple weeks ago. I'm curious if any baby really likes that stuff, because both of my kids weren't impressed. Now I have a HUGE box of it that will end up in the trash. Good thing it was only a dollar!

Bad, bad people

Yesterday our house was broken into while I was running errands. I drove into our driveway and saw the front door had been kicked open and knew something bad had happened. I called Derek and then 911 (staying in my car). An officer was there in 5 minutes and he had me go to the 7-11 down the street until he checked the place out with another officer. Derek got there soon after that. My mom was able to come pick up the kids before I went back. Then we assessed our loss. New plasma TV, XBOX 360, PSP, games and other little electronics. They didn't touch our check books or bills. The crazy thing is, I had put our lap top on top of the fridge that morning because Mason kept trying to play with it. I have never done that before and apparently he didn't see it up there! What a blessing, to lose personal information and ALL my kids pictures would have been devastating. He also didn't open up one of the drawers to see our new digital camera! It sucks having your stuff stolen, but the worst feeling is being violated. We have renters insurance so we know we'll get our stuff back, but I have this sick feeling inside all the time now. I wish it would go away already!! We were moving out anyway this week, so I decided to just pack up last night and get all the important stuff out. I never thought this would happen to us. Even a locked, dead bolted door won't keep bad people from doing bad things!

The Party!

Mason's party was Saturday night - he and the rest of kids had a lot of fun! A little stressful for me, but it was worth it. We started with pizza (his favorite food). We then played a game and even had a pinata! I put way too much candy in it for how many kids were there, but they didn't mind! Mason scored with the gifts...he is very spoiled! As you can see by the pictures, Mason chose a "Thomas" party. Kinda nerdy, but he insisted. I even got a Thomas cake (thanks to Albertson's). We were so glad his friends and family could come and celebrate his 3rd birthday!