Need to get this post out with recent pics ahead of whatever I end up posting next week. No plans for next week’s entry yet but I’m sure I’ll have something to say. Absolutely thinking of everyone this week and sending warm thoughts out east.
It’s been a busy month. But first…exciting times in the Thompson household. We finally used up all of the staples that I think we bought in college. Amazingly, some of our spices have outlasted those staples 🙂 Who’s hungry now??? We also won another Who’s-Got-Their-Christmas-Lights-Turned-On-The-Longest-In-Our-Neighborhood contest – it’s hardly even a competition any more but the kids still have fun not letting me turn them off until we are clearly the champs!!!
This month was full of band performances, singing concerts, dances, snow ball fights, a pancake breakfast, Make-A-Wish wishes (finished one and have two others going), ski trip (yep, all about me again), CERT membership (me – yahoo – I passed my final exam 🙂 ), and funding for Beth (yahoo! way to go baby!).
Colleen has sure kept us busy this month! She did her duet performance with her friend Alexi again. They brought home a High Gold trophy (woohoo!), and also her entire group won Platinum (woot woot!). For those of you ignorant to dance scoring, it basically follows the periodic table of elements so next year they are hoping to get High Rhenium or maybe even Tungsten if they work extra hard. Her trophy has a bowl on top this year so we’ve been sipping champagne out of it all month while we bask in the glory. This past weekend was another dance for Colleen at the Mall of America. We made a day of it while at the mall and ate, rode rides, shopped, and built a bear for Megan (Fluffy is the green dude in Viking’s attire wearing rollerskates). The night before that Colleen had a band concert. Can you find her in the picture? Here’s your hint – if you can find her friend Julianna then Colleen is easy to find. Julianna is standing up in yellow and waving in one of the pics…and Colleen’s head is right in her armpit – how convenient. You’re on your own if you’re trying to find her in the zoomed out picture showing everybody – good luck (but it’s definitely possible). This is actually a pretty good concert – it is amazing how much better the kids get with each grade.
I think I included maybe 1 or 2 pictures of Christopher and then the rest are all of Megan. Mr. Christopher has been busy with finishing up basketball & kung fu, and working on scout stuff. Tonight we had a den meeting at the nature center. We got to walk in the woods (this morning it was -9F with the wind chill) but we only saw animal tracks since it was so cold. The kids still had fun spying nests in trees and trying to figure out what animals created what tracks. We got to play on the icy lake (just last week it had open water when it warmed up) – and Megan came with us tonight so she was making snow angels on the lake too 🙂 The nature center is awesome – filled with animal skins, skulls, shells, bones, and all sorts of live critters including snakes, fish, turtles, bunny, lizards, etc. The boys loved it!
Megan has been in to everything this month! She can spend hours stacking bottles and cups and glue sticks. She loves balancing them all over the place and setting them up in patterns. We should really look into one of those cup stacking games for her, huh? She also had a crazy hair day (and apparently crazy bug eye day too). Her new food love is artichokes. She ate two whole artichokes practically by herself repeatedly this past month. I can’t remember ever having eaten or seen artichokes my whole life up until now. But what foods aren’t good when dipped in small bites in gobs of drawn butter 🙂 And check out Megan with her new elephant humidifier. She bought it with her own money. Just like Christopher buying a fan for his room. I’m glad when they buy practical things for themselves without complaining but it still cracks me up when they buy things like that. Megan loves the humidifier – and I must say it is by far the coolest humidifier we’ve ever had – so cool to have the vapor come out of a trunk! I don’t think I had ever participated in the building of a bear at Build-A-Bear. Fun stuff and the kids love it.
Check out the picture of the indentation in the snow. Can you figure out what that is? When I was in Vail skiing one night we were in the hottub and throwing snow balls at trees. The trees had some sort of force field going on that night and were able to deflect most every snow ball. So then we see a squirrel run up the corner of the house outside of my bedroom (he obviously had been watching us miss trees all night so knew he was safe). My buddy scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at the squirrel. Amazingly (since he hadn’t hit a tree all night) he nailed the squirrel. I can still picture it falling in slow motion with all of its limbs flailing the whole way down. It landed right in the snow and left that hole with the outline of all of its limbs – too funny!
Ok…enough for now…got a heavy weekend ahead of us. Sending prayers and love and good thoughts to everyone. Take care – talk to you soon.
Spring may be here on the calendar, but outside it still looks and feels like winter. I’m not complaining though. In fact I’m getting to like it. The day after we had 10″ of snow this week I had a delivery over in Peterborugh. The snow on the trees was beautiful. Going past the old Temple ski area brought back good memories memories. They don’t ski there anymore. I’ve had deliveries in Lawrence, MA recently also. Maybe your young Spanish students could ride along with me sometime and help with interpretation. One of my driving buddies told me it’s really fun in the summertime when the streets are filled with people. I’m glad they pay their C.O.D. bill by check rather than cash. It’s not an area where I would want to be carrying much cash. I’m enjoying my job. I consider it to be my therapy, although it does give me time to think about things. Keeping the oldies station on the radio helps in that regard.
Yes, I know this month has been difficult for all of us as we remember Katherine. It’s just so hard to fathom and accept. As I think back to a year ago I try to recall any signs she might have given that her emotional state was so serious. Erik and we were concerned, but when we asked her she would say she was feeling better. Somehow we thought that as long as someone was with her when Erik traveled that she would be safe. I’m thankful for the three months we spent going down to stay with her and the girls when Erik traveled. If only she would have reached out to family, friends or professional help. Maybe she did to us and we just weren’t aware or sensitive to how serious things were. I guess that will always be a mystery that we struggle with. All of our family has been foremost in my thoughts and prayers recently as well. As that poem says we all must smile, love and go on.
Still using staples from college? Maybe that runs in the Thompson family. If you are looking to replenish your supply, when you come to Rochester in April we will load your car up with well-aged supplies. Some items in the freezer will probably go back to the 90s.
Enjoyed all the pictures. MY PCP encourages me to stretch. Just looking at Colleens dance poses though makes my back ache. Maybe she can help me learn some new stretching exercises. Congratulations to Colleen for doing so well in her dance routine. I’m afraid my award would be at the mercury level or lower. When grandma sees Megan’s elephant humidifier I’m sure she is going to want one. I wonder if buying practical gifts (for themselves) is another weird Thompson trait. It’s not all bad if it is. It’s good that they use their money for things they can use rather than trinkets they might grow tired of right away. Is that a big washing machine that Christopher is inside of? Looks like it could be. Whatever it is, it looks like he is having fun. I’m glad you said what that one snow picture was. Makes me wonder if people are still putting squirrel catapalt videos on YouTube. I’ll have to take a look and maybe I can get some ideas to build one myself.
Better close. It’s time for mom to be home. She’s at a women’s retreat at the church. I want to walk Casey before she gets here. We are going out shopping for something to add to our little gem (grandchildren) pictures on the wall in the hallway. Will talk to you soon. Take care. All of you are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this weekend and next week. You are right we must all focus on good thoughts and do our best to keep the not so good ones from entering our minds. Our love to all and thanks for the update.