MLK weekend fun!

We spent the long weekend with Josh's family in Gainesville. Since there was still some snow on the ground and the threat of more winter weather we waited until Saturday morning to head that way. We decided we would meet just north of Atlanta, catch the MARTA and spend the afternoon at the aquarium. We ended up meeting at Chick fil a for a quick (well, as quick as possible with 12 people-6 under the age of 6) lunch! It was a good way to start our visit...Yum! After CFA we headed to the MARTA station to grab a train downtown! I don't know if we are brave or crazy or just plain stupid but it was an adventure taking all of those kids on the train! They actually did really well (everybody held a hand and no one was lost) and were so excited about the journey! We joked that we could have just ridden the train downtown and back and skipped the aquarium....the kids had that much fun!

Waiting for the train! This is all of the kids except for Jack with Josh and Matt and Becca.

At the aquarium!!!!

Touching shrimp! Yuck!

Emma driving a shrimp boat!

Annie pretending to be a fish!

Checking out some HUGE crabs! Can you see those legs on the left?!?!

Crawling through the tunnel to check out the penguins!
Everybody wanted a turn!

Uncle Matt and Laynee

Riding the moving sidewalk through the big tank!

After the aquarium we headed to Josh's parents house for a relaxing rest of the weekend! We had lots of fun just playing outside and enjoying the little bit of remaining snow! We even had a weenie and smore roast on Sunday night! :)

Jack and I at Grandma and Grandpa's

Bundled up!

Gracie's gloves!

Gracie wanted that bike Emma was riding....she' s about to knock Emma's block off! Don't worry...she was disciplined immediately (well, as soon as I finished taking her picture!)

Josh's dad is a hospital chaplain and he had recently written an article for the hospital newsletter/magazine. They asked for a picture of him with all of his grandkids. This was our first (of many) try to get a picture!

No luck!

At least the last few have all of the kids in them! Not the best but pretty true to life with so many kiddos!

Sunday best!

A few pictures of my sweet boy all dressed up in his Sunday best! Of course his sisters raced in and took their church clothes off before I could snap their picture-@ least Jack is still cooperative for now! I'm sure that will all change soon! :)




Doesn't he look sweet in that little Feltman bubble and sweater? Adorable! It's one of my favorite outfits and I think it's even sweeter because both of my little brothers wore it and now Jack gets to! SO sweet!

Another Christmas and New Years Eve!

This year all of Josh's Mom's family got together to celebrate Christmas on New Year's Eve. We all met at Becca and Matt's house in Jacksonville for lunch and little family fun! Becca and Matt and Walker and Laynee were there of course, along with Josh's parents, Angie, Dave and Cary and Kate and Jason and our crew! We had a great time hanging out and just visiting...we don't get to see each other too much so we try to squeeze a lot of visiting into whatever time we have! (Kate and Jason actually live in the same town we do so we are actually getting to see a little more of them....we've been having them over for dinner on Thursday nights for the last several weeks. It's really become a fun new tradition!)
For lunch we had one of mine and Josh's VERY favorites......Chuck's BBQ (Chuck's and Jim Bob's are our go to Auburn eats!) thanks to Angie and Dave! It was SO good! I don't know why everybody doesn't love up some good ole mustard BBQ! We also had some homemade brusnwick stew and some good desserts (brownies, chocolate chip pie and some crazy colored cupcakes for the kiddos! After lunch we opened a few more presents and then the kids played outside in the yard until it was time to go! It was so nice to get together and just hang out....we really should do it more often!

Emma and Gracie and those cupcakes! I have never seen so much food coloring in icing! YIKES!

Annie and Walker eating their cupcakes!

Opening our present from Angie and Dave!

The kids all got new AUBURN t-shirts! YAY! Thanks Angie and Dave!
Emma had to put hers on right away!

Showing off her new shirt! LOVE it!

Trying to get a picture of all of the grandkids all decked out in their new shirts! Orange for the Thompsons and blue for the Grogans! Notice the happy faces all around-HA! Annie and Walker were mad because Emma was holding Laynee!

Too funny! Now it's Emma's turn to be mad! And poor Annie T.....still stuck with Jack! :)

After leaving Becca and Matt's we headed to Chattanooga to spend NYE and a few more days. My Grandma from Indiana was in town and of course we wanted the chance to visit with her. We got there around dinner time and really just hung out! The kids were exhausted but somehow managed to stay up until after 10:00....what were we thinking?!?!? We finally got them settled and in bed and then Josh, Grandma, Matthew and I watched a little bit of Dick Clark's NYE and saw in 2011 and then made a beeline for the bed! Daniel of course was too cool to be home on NYE and mom and dad didn't even make it to midnight...lame! :) Oh well, you can tell what an exciting night we had! :) We spent the weekend in Chattanooga just visiting-it was nice! I am especially glad we got to see MM because he is spending the semester in LONDON! That lucky duck! I know he is far away when he's in DC but this is like super far away...um, not even on the same continent!
I DID have my camera in Chattanooga but for some reason I took no pictures....I do that when I get busy! Oh well, maybe I'll do better next time! :)

EXCITED!

Today has been kind of an exciting day! From the outside looking in it would appear to be a pretty normal day and in a lot of ways it was.....the girls and I played a few games this morning, painted our finger and toenails, napped and met some friends at the park to enjoy the awesome weather! BUT in a lot of ways today was so much more! Today was a day where my thoughts and expectations for 2011 were changed in big and small ways. Josh and I have been thinking and planning and dreaming a little; looking into some opportunities for our future. Some things we are looking at seem very feasible and some things seems SO far-fetched that in some ways it's silly to even think about them BUT think about them we are! No, our hopes are not pinned on them but how awesome would it be if they worked out....it could only be a God thing (and if these things don't work out we're convinced that would be a God thing too)! We've decided that we want to be right in the middle of wherever God wants us to be. That every opportunity we're given.....every job, every relationship, every encounter we have this year (and from now on) be smack in the middle of his plan for this family. We have already experienced so much of his blessing and provision (and our share of rough times too) but this year we are looking for all kinds of reasons to give him glory! We know that he can and expect that he will do great things for us and through us in 2011!

The LORD has done great things for us and we are filled with JOY!
Psalm 126:3

Look what I made....

um, are those THE cutest outfits EVER or what?!?!? I have been seeing these little ruffle pants on kids everywhere and they are just adorable. I've looked at some outfits in stores and online but it just makes me crazy to think about paying for THREE of them! YIKES! Plus, I didn't see any that I just loved! My sister in law told me that she had bought some etsy patterns and loved them-that they were easy (um, that's the only kind I can do!) so I decided to check some out! I found the ruffle pants pattern and the apron dress pattern and decided to give them a try! Josh's mom helped me make the first outfit (I could never have figured out it out without her) and then I made the other two pretty much on my own! I am SO happy with how they turned out! Now that I know how easy they are I am itching to get some more fabric and make another set!

At least she's honest....

I'm taking a break from the holiday wrap ups (there are so many even I'm getting sick of them) to recap a little real life here at the Thompson house! One thing is for sure...it's never boring!
This particular gem of a story stars our youngest girlie....and she is a MESS! The other morning the little kids and I were home playing (lucky annie was already at school-although come to think of it since this is a gross story she probably would have liked to be here to experience the excitement. I wonder why five year olds like gross stuff?) when I walked into the hall bathroom to get something. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was stepping because I wasn't expecting to find anything in my way. Well, as soon as I stepped onto the tile my slippers got soggy-yuck! Yep, you can guess where this story's headed. I looked down and the entire bathroom floor was covered in water. I'm no dummy so it didn't take me too long to figure out that the toilet had overflowed-YUCK! but what I couldn't figure out was why. I didn't notice anyone playing around the potty or in the bathroom at all for that matter. I called the girls and when they came I gave them the third degree about what happened. This is the point in the story where Emma usually bursts into tears and confesses to any and all misdeeds she's been involved in or at the very least vehemently denies any wrongdoing but on this particular day all she said was a casual "It was Gracie." I looked over at Gracie and ask if if she had put something in the toilet (fearing the worst) and she said "yes, a napkin." Oh, is that all! Well, at least it wasn't anything that did any lasting damage AND (for now at least) at least she's honest! I think I'll be keeping all of the bathroom doors shut from now on just in case! :)

Home again, home again jiggity jig!

After having a fun (and travel) filled Christmas we headed home! We got to town on Tuesday night and it just so happened that Daniel was wrestling in Birmingham on Tuesday and Wednesday so Mom and Matthew stopped by to spend the night with us! Since we had been out of town we had no food so Josh and Matthew ran out and picked up a pizza and we settled in to enjoy a night at home with our visitors! :)

Annie and Matthew checking out something on the computer before heading off to bed! We are so glad Matthew came to see us before heading to London for the semester (lucky duck!)

Like I said, Daniel was wrestling in Birmingham so on Wednesday morning Mom and Matthew and I got up and headed to a local high school to cheer him on! (Yep, Josh is awesome like that to take the girls to the science museum so I Jack and I could watch Daniel!)

Uncle Daniel and Jack (both sporting their McCallie duds)!

Checking out the brackets and talking to dad after his match. Daniel had to wrestle a kid who has been a friend of his since they were really little. It made us all a nervous wreck but he won! YAY!

What a fun day at the wrestling tournament! :)

A Christmas tradition.....

While we were at Josh's parents house we decided to do something I've always wanted to do (ok, not always but for as long as I've known about it) but have never really gotten around to doing....we went to ride THE PINK PIG!!!! My mom and aunt rode the pink pig as kids and I think Josh's mom did too....how I missed out on this experience I'm not really sure but this year we decided to remedy that! I showed the girls a picture of the Pink Pig online and they were so excited to get a chance to ride it themselves! So a few days after Christmas we loaded up all of the kiddos and headed to Lenox to take our turn on the Pink Pig!
When we got to the mall it was CROWDED! Seriously, super crowded! We decided to grab a quick bite at Chick fil a (although let me tell you there is nothing quick about feeding 6 kiddos and 6 adults especially in a SUPER busy SUPER crowded mall) before getting our tickets! After eating, we headed upstairs to Macy's to buy our tickets and get ready for our ride! We decided that only the four biggest kiddos would ride and that the dads would ride with them...those lucky ducks!

Getting our tickets! YAY!

Annie T's got her ticket to ride!

Three girls with their tickets!

Annie and Emma sitting by the sign while we waited in line.

All of the riders! :)

Priscilla

Uncle Matt and Laynee waiting in line....I think Laynee was disappointed that she didn't get to ride!

Gracie with her ticket....almost there!

The rules.....I love number 7. It says Please do not ride if you are afraid of Happy Pigs, pork or pork products! HA!!

Almost there!

The original Rich's Pink Pig!

The front.

A and E in the VERY back!

I LOVE this pic! I think it's hilarious because you can't see Gracie (she was there, I promise) and Josh looks so excited to be riding the Pink Pig! HA!!

Told you she was there! (I made them switch places so I could get a pic where you could actually see Gracie!)

Matt and Walker and Josh and Gracie

Josh's mom said she thought the Pink Pig might be a once in a lifetime experience...something she could check off her list but I don't know....I think it might just be a Thompson family traditions!! :)