MN Thompson's

How do you like our stream and Iris in this picture?

Hopefully that is all Raja sees too when she looks over this area. Look closer. I caught Mrs. Duck today doing exactly what I told her not to do…sitting on eggs. I’m excited to see little duckings (in less than 28 days) but I’m not so sure that she picked the best spot. She is well hidden, but does she intend to have a dozen little duckies following her around in our pond. Yikes!

On the bright side, I get to continue to say “MR Ducks” – do you remember this one from when you were a kid?

MR Ducks
MR Not
OSAR
CM Wangs?
LIB! MR Ducks

Megan helped me fill the hot tub this weekend. It started leaking over the winter so I drained it (and got to fill every single jet with antifreeze on a zero-degree day several months ago) – what fun! I love these pajamas she’s wearing, and what a devilish grin she has, huh?

Schooner Days came and went this weekend. This is the fair at Round Lake that comes every year for Beth’s birthday. Actually, Beth and I found out we’ve been saying it wrong all these years. Good thing we have the kids to correct us – it is actually “scooter” days. Silly us. Here they are absolutely petrified of this high-speed helicopter ride!!!

This is Colleen’s last week of school. 1.5 days left. Monday they went to the zoo. Beth felt bad for the other two kids so she took them to the zoo on the same day (I’m not sure if they saw Colleen while they were there or not). Here they are with some big rat thing that likes to dig holes.

The other thing I did last Sunday was go to the memorial service for the fire fighter’s wife that died. I’ve never been to anything like this service. If anyone says even a tenth of the nice things about me that they said about her then I’ve lived a good life. There must have been over 400 people there and they had great music and wonderful speakers that said amazing things about Karen. It was inspiring. We should all live life to its fullest. No time to waste – get going!

Am I writing more about the ducks than my kids? Is that so wrong? The ducks are here all the time now – I had a talk yesterday with mama duck about not laying eggs anywhere near here. She gave me a look like she understood. I’ve read “Click Clack Moo” many times – I know how to communicate with ducks! We were working in the yard this afternoon when we could hear quacking in the air, rapidly getting closer. This is typical for ducks – graceful they are not. Geese fly in gracefully and ever so gently touch down when they land. Ducks always look out of control as they land, wobbling all over the place and even land on their sides sometimes (how can you not laugh watching them try to land!). So…back to the story…we could hear quacking in the air and Mr. Duck came in for a crazy landing, but there was still a ton of quacking behind me. Momma duck came walking/waddling over our hill, with non-stop angry quacking, waddled within 2 feet of me and headed straight for the pond (I’ve never understood why ducks walk so much instead of flying – they walk everywhere!). Oh yah…back to the story. Momma duck wouldn’t shut up…quack, quack, quack, quack…and I see a hawk swooping down low over our yard. Yikes…the hawk circled once more…and then left. Momma duck hid out under a bush the entire afternoon and I saw her limping a bit later and kept lifting and dropping one of her wings…so I’m not sure what happened with the hawk over the hill before she made it to safety. Ok…enough with the ducks…except…explain how this dude balances (notice his cool bracelet – the girl across the street says that’s because he’s somebody’s pet)…

Yesterday I biked 30 miles in the morning for MS and then coached both kids in soccer. The weather was great for the bike ride but then rained (very hard at times) non-stop all afternoon for soccer. Colleen’s was first and we stopped early because of the weather, so we went home, which left me just enough time to change into dry clothes and head out the door for Christopher’s first game ever. The younger kids had a great time (and whined a lot less than the older kids), but the parents on the sidelines were miserable once the wind kicked in too. We played two quarters and called it quits. Christopher did great – only one hand ball 🙂 He typically would stop about 5 feet from the ball and kick his legs as if controlling one of the players who could actually reach the ball. Once he perfects these phantom kicks hopefully we can get him a bit closer to the action 🙂

Colleen and Christopher have been collecting leaves, pinecones, etc from the yard all week for a Mother’s Day present. They stored these “presents” on top of their swingset. Here they are this morning in their pajamas getting their buckets down

Note: In a span of 2 seconds later in the day, Megan swiped her arm across the table with these buckets and completely dumped all of Colleen and Christopher’s hard work on the ground. Yes, she knows what she’s doing. Her other great quote from this week was when we saw a puppy on a walk and she said “when Raja dies I want to get a dog like that one”.

My new favorite hobby is yelling at the squirrel why simultaneously trying to snap a picture of him falling. This one’s not bad…

Not sure if I should apologize for writing so much…the last thing I will include is a movie (more for the sound than anything). Tonight a train went through the backyard that only goes through about once a year. I think they load it with executives, get them drunk, and let them go crazy with the whistle (ok, I made up the last two parts of that, but who knows?!?!?). It was going backwards this time, so the whistle and smoke are coming from the caboose???

Whooo whooooooo

Hey mom – HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Colleen had a Mother’s Tea today at school. The kids all sang some songs and got to have some snacks with their moms. Colleen had been telling me all week that they were going to sing a “rap” song to their moms. She was very excited to do it today.

Earlier this week I heard a loud splash in the pond and then saw two Wood Ducks out there. I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen this type of duck in our pond (the mallards are the ones that hang out all day and now are sleeping by the pond all night too). I just hope mommy mallard doesn’t decide to lay some eggs nearby. Raja walks within 4 feet of the ducks without pouncing on them, but I’m not so sure that she could ignore eggs. I knew the Wood Ducks would fly away as soon as they saw me so I could only take one quick picture that isn’t that great – here it is: