MN Thompson's

GO PURDUE!!! You show Obama and all the other doubters. He hate me.

The weather is still fighting to stay between 40 – 50. Warm enough for the kids to stop wearing jackets in the backyard (they’ve been out playing in their pajamas the last few mornings) and for the whole family to take a long bike ride today. Our Minnesota kids are tough. I was telling a co-worker about our vacation plans this summer (where the kids decided that they would rather go up north than to Disney World). Her response was great – she said we “managed to raise true Minnesota kids” – she’s absolutely right. All people in Minnesota want to do is go up north to their cabins – and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

Here are a few pictures from before the ice melted.

Christopher and I went ice fishing with the cub scouts. He was excited beforehand…and I’ll leave it at that. Here he is cleaning the bits of ice out of the hole so that your line wouldn’t get caught. The ice was close to 3′ thick.

Not sure who this old man is on the bucket.

The kids didn’t have school a few Friday’s ago so the YMCA had a “pirate day” theme. Megan wasn’t included in that yet she is the only one to give me her best pirate face in the picture. Yeah Megan!!! Thanks for not being too mature yet for daddy’s goofy requests.

Colleen and Megan had another dance show at the Mall of America. I think these shows rank right up there with ice fishing for Christopher.

After the show we got to play on the rides – wheeeeee.

I would like St. Patty’s day a lot better if the leprechauns wouldn’t color our milk green. Grrrrrrr.

Lucky Megan gets to play with mommy’s doll from childhood. The doll creeps me out and somehow Megan managed to get her hair and expression similar to the doll’s in this photo. Now they both are creeping me out.

Walk softly and carry a very big stick. Spring is here…maybe…

I just skimmed through the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Familes”. It’s similar to “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” but is geared for families. Not sure how truly accurate this is but there was a chart showing the top disciplinary problems according to public school teachers. Crazy how far the world has come (and not in a good way):

1940 – Talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise, running in the halls, cutting in line, dress code infractions, littering

1990 – Drug abuse, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery, assault

And I’m not letting Beth talk to mom anymore on the phone. Everything is fine when I talk to mom and dad, but when they talk people break their ankles, animals go blind, and the economy starts to hit way to close to home. You’re all in our thoughts and prayers.

Let’s just start by saying…Boiler Up! Drew Brees blowing away payton and the colts. Purdue beating iu in bloomington. Purdue beating michigan state in east lancing. Boiler Up!!!

Seems like things just keep getting busier. This past Saturday I started the day by running up 50 flights of stairs with a bunch of fire fighters to the top of the tallest building in Minneapolis. I did it under 11 minutes so I was happy with that. While I was doing that, Beth had the other three kids downtown before 7:00 a.m. to rehearse for a dance performance that night. The girls danced at the Timberwolves game (we watched the T-wolves win their 4th in a row for the first time this season) – they girls did a great job. I don’t know if they’re getting better or my standards are getting lower 🙂 (I’m positive it’s the former).

And Megan smiled during her performance this time…small steps…

Megan’s favorite part of the night…her cotton candy reward after the performance…

Here’s a link to a video of the entire performance (Per Beth: Megan is wearing white, pink and black – the first minute Megan is in it a lot. Colleen is wearing purple and black – minute ~3:17, ~3:40 and ~4:50 you can see Colleen up close).

Christopher also had a presentation at school – this is when his career as a drummer starts!

And then…Colleen and Beth spent all day Sunday afternoon (yes, Super Bowl Sunday – think a woman was in charge of setting that up?) at Girl Scout International Day. Here’s Colleen looking very International!

I feel like all I’ve done the past few days is shovel snow. Every time I get back inside I turn around and go shovel again. But I love snow. I love shoveling. I love watching it pile up and cover everything. Bring it! I spent 5+ hours at the fire station last night on standby just in case we had to get somewhere in a hurry. The most exciting call was that a roof partially caved in on a house that also had squatters in it. In Eden Prairie no way? And even if it was in Eden Prairie our dispatcher has to know you don’t say things like that over the air about Eden Prairie. Common.

And I’ve got some great news somewhat related to winter. We did it. There is a new Christmas light champ on the street. Our neighbors across the street have been winning this one for years. But this year we held out. I left it up to the kids and asked them if we should give in and take our lights down. They said no way. Actually, they said we should leave them up all year. So…on the 5th of February we were the undisputed last house on the street with our Christmas lights up. Do we have to call them President’s Day lights if we go another week or can we still call them Christmas lights? Who cares – we win, you lose, now you get a big bruise!

Ok…help me out with this one. Tonight at dinner I asked the kids where they wanted to go on vacation this year. I said they could go anywhere. They said “the Wisconsin Dells”. We can do that. They know we’re already doing that. Easy enough. Then they asked “the State Fair?”. But of course. Not really a vacation…but we can do that. They said “up north?”. Yep we can do that. So I said, anywhere, you name it, where do you want to go? I listed some places (Grand Canyon, Mexico, Disney World). They didn’t even pause and said “how about up north for a whole week?”. We said “no Disney World?”. Nope. No interest at all. They had their reasons. Up North for a whole week wins. So…the question is…if the kids could care less about Disney then do we force it? Will their childhood be any less fulfilling? Up North is great (I like it more every year) – in fact, we’d love to have any of you join us up there in the summer. I guess we revisit this later on…I tore out an article a while ago saying that most parents take their little kids to Disney for themselves, not for their kids (i.e., the memory of how you picture your kids at Disney is more rewarding to parents than the experience of Disney to the kids). Whaddaya think?

Today was the first day of school for Colleen and Christopher. They both said it went great. Colleen has been “so excited” for school to start for the past week, and she came home saying how great it was today. She was most impressed that you can get pizza EVERY day in the cafeteria and that there is a separate sub sandwich station. Ahhh, the perks of the new school she is attending. Christopher wasn’t quite as thrilled but he said it went well. He did say that he got confused when the teacher asked everyone who had been to the “thinking chair” before and he raised his hand (even though he has never been there before). I’m just glad he remembered to get off of the bus this year on the first day at our stop and that he didn’t forget his backpack again (although somehow he lost the card that you wear around your neck saying which bus you’re supposed to get on…hopefully that turns up tomorrow).

A note got sent home with Christopher saying there is a kid in his class with extreme peanut and other nut allergies. It said not to bring anything nut related and that if your child eats anything with nuts for breakfast at home that they have to wash really well before coming to school. It then said a list of approved snacks could be found on the back of that piece of paper. I found it funny that the back of the page was blank – given the tone of the letter that may have been intentional 😉

We went to the state fair twice again this year. Kristin, Tom, and Big A were up last weekend from KCMO. We had a great time and helped set the all time state fair attendance record – something like 1.8 million people attended this year. It was cold last weekend. How cold was it? Cold enough to get Beth to dress up like this!

We also went to the Mall of America with K & T and of course had to stop and visit Spongebob and Patrick.

How come no one has told us not to buy a pool? Even the sane people that I’ve asked haven’t said we’re crazy. I’m struggling with needing money some day verus spending now while I can still enjoy it. There’s plenty of time to save for college and weddings and who knows what else later on, right??? Give me your opinion – save it or spend it?

If you’re looking to get cheered up then you’re at the wrong spot.

#1. A plane crashed in Eden Prairie. It burst into flames on impact and killed both passengers (53 year old man and a 29 year old woman). This is a rare event to happen so close to home. I was working and didn’t respond to this incident.

#2. I found out the next day that the 29 year old woman who was killed was the wife of a co-worker. Although I had never met her, I work with her husband Gene on a weekly basis. I attended her funeral yesterday. I was proud to see over 20 other co-workers – and this was the longest processional I’ve ever been a part of. Given the circumstances, everything about the funeral and burial was beautiful. It was a Jewish service and I really liked the way they approached life and death. For instance, at the burial, we were all asked to help bury Irene (Rivka), and although it was work, it wasn’t to be rushed, so we were to use the back side of the shovel to lift 2-3 scoops of dirt each to put on the coffin. She had recently competed in a cross-country all-female airplane race and they had to write facts about themselves. They read all of her facts at the funeral – it was touching – especially #8 “I do not like time. It always goes too fast.”

#3. Colleen and Christopher have been coughing for just a week. That was their only symptom. Nothing else. Just a dry cough. So we brought them into the doctor this past Saturday…they both have pneumonia. We were shocked. I stayed home with Colleen today as the antibiotics seemed to make her worse, or she knew at this point she had a sympathy card to play that was guaranteed to work.

#4. My dad has turned into a tropical storm.

#5. We thought a mop ate our dog but then we found her again.

#6. Megan may have chickenpox. It’s the strangest thing – there are dots everywhere.

#7. Colleen’s ego can no longer fit in her bedroom so we need to build an addition. Colleen had her picture in the newspaper twice for safety camp (including once on the front page).

#8. We haven’t had time to pack yet for our upcoming weekend up north (Grand Marais). I can almost taste Sven and Ole’s “Uffda zah” pizza.

I’m sorry to spring this on you like this, and especially that you have to read about it on the Internet. Sit down mom…we have a new family member. Straight from China. Yes, it’s true! The kids have wanted this to happen for years. And they are so excited! In fact, they have been fighting over who gets to hold him since he arrived and have barely set him down. They are pretty good about taking turns, not being too rough, and playing with him. He is mostly quiet, really doesn’t eat all that much (yet?), but is incredibly active for his age (although, honestly, we’re not sure how old he is). Our lives haven’t been the same since he got here – and I doubt they ever will be again. I hope you’re as excited as we are…his name is Mario. He arrived on December 25. Maybe at some point we’ll be able to also bring his brother Luigi over from China. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

A day in the life of our kids now starts out in the morning with “Can I play nintendo?” and resumes as soon as they get home from school with “Can I play nintendo?”. On the positive side, it’s one more very powerful thing we as parents can hold over their heads and threaten to take away if they don’t start behaving…ahhh, the power to take away their only source of fun…this is what parenting is all about.

Megan, on the other hand, could care less about nintendo. She is too busy constantly reminding me that I was born first, I’m the oldest, and I’m going to die first. It sounds so much sweeter coming out of her mouth.

I was recently listening to a Prairie Home Companion CD and they played a poem called “The Lanyard” by Billy Collins. I thought it was great, especially with him reading it. I hope this link brightens your day…The Lanyard.

By 6:30 a.m. this morning I had already dropped a container of grapefruit juice, spilled milk on the table and floor, and ran out of shaving cream. Sometimes you just know it’s going to be one of those days. I hope Obama fairs better than I did.

Colleen did a project for one of her cousins where we had to take pictures in Minnesota of this flat paper doll named Stanlietta. Here’s one of the pics we took last week when the temperature got just a bit chilly (this is without the wind chill too!).

It was 13F on my drive in to work today and it felt like a heat wave. No lie – I had my sun roof down in my car the whole way to work – it felt great. Last night we got paged out for a house fire – we pulled all the trucks and went into action…turns out someone was burning their Christmas tree on the side of their house. Busted.

We had a great trip to Indiana last week – it was awesome to see everyone, and to meet baby Sarah. I always enjoy hanging out in the hotel on trips like this and getting a chance to catch up on things. It’s amazing that even though I lived in hotels for a lot of 6 years straight, I still love the feeling of checking in to my room and exploring. On the morning that we checked out, at about 5:30 a.m., I made a few trips to the car by myself. On the first trip I loaded up with a bunch of stuff and as I was getting off of the elevator I heard something crunch on the ground under my foot…but I didn’t think anything of it so I kept walking to the car. I noticed at the car that a bag of chocolate rice krispies was spilling. I looked behind me and saw a trail through the parking lot. I followed this trail of chocolate rice krispies into the hotel, all the way through the lobby, and into the elevator. It was awesome and totally cracked me up! I couldn’t have left a better trail of food if I had tried. The dude working in the lobby seemed happy about the mess because it gave him something to do 🙂

I sent a package to Katherine today – it may take a week to get there. The CD with photos from the trip is enclosed, but here are a few:

I still can’t believe Grandma brought this hat on the trip to wear at the wedding. How embarrassing!!!

I shared this picture as wallpaper with some of my co-workers. There are at least two others at work (besides me) who have this as their desktop on their computer now. It makes me feel at home to see the green shag throughout the office now 🙂