Snow!!

The boys were VERY excited to wake up to snow this morning. Joseph's first response was

"Now we can make snow angels!" and then he said "And we don't have to drive anywhere today!" (little did I know I forgot to turn in a video at the library and was informed later of a fine I accrued today!!) But it was worth the 50 cents to spend the day in our jammies!

We went outside and had some fun. This year both the boys have adequate snow clothes, so it took them a long time to want to come it, we were out there an hour! I got the side walks and driveway all shoveled while they played.

After they were worn down, we came inside for cookies and hot cocoa. The rest of the day we just kind of bummed around in our jammies and made cookies and watched Santa Claus is Coming to Town. A great day! Just wish Preston was here. :/

cookie makin' and booty shakin' kind of Sunday

It was one of those cold Sundays in December, where all you want to do is make cookies and shake your booty! And that is just what we did! It was a lot of fun. Preston is over in Singapore this week, so we are missing him like crazy, and wish he was here for the fun. Here is how we break it down in the Thomson house, Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

We spent another Thanksgiving here at home in Boise. I think it was the least stressful one yet! The cleaning and most of the set up was done the night before, and Preston had seasoned the Turkey the night before, so when we woke up on Thursday, we were lazy and laid back. Our guests this year were Chi Ming and Wendy, (Wenchi), Bill and Kim and then Jason came a little later. It was nice, and Preston did an amazing job on the Turkey and Potatoes. I will toot my own horn about the pies and the yams though. The pumpkin pie was made from scratch with a pumpkin from our own garden! Honorable mention goes to Rhodes Rolls and Stove Top Stuffing (still my favorite!!) ...and Bill and Kim for the veggies, Wendy for her Panda cup cakes, and Jason for the left over Pecan pie and whipped cream. It was all sooo good! I only have a couple of shots, I forgot to get the camera out during (or after) dinner. But it was fun and we hope everyone did too!

Preston and his sexy self basting the turkey...Let's just say we ate some pie before everyone came....Thurston has been kind of obsessed with Mixers, and when mine died, he took it in as his own. He wanted me to take a picture of him with his mixer. :)

The Life and Death of a Mixer

Back in the day when Preston and I got married, we received a hand mixer as a wedding present. I had one already from my days in single ladyhood, so we tried to take it back. I think we went to like 4 different stores and none of them carried it, so we kept it. About a year later I got that bad boy out and fell in love with it. I know it sounds silly, but when you love baking and cooking, a mixer is your best friend. I was very happy with it, but yes, I secretly coveted the Kitchen Aid Mixers... oh so pretty. Well, a couple of months ago, my little mixer was getting sick. She wasn't doing as well as she usually did, and one day, whilst mixing a batch of dough, she shuttered, sputtered and sparked. When I saw the black smoke rising, I knew it was time to part. Farewell my mixer, you were awesome. She even survived a nearly fatal melting accident when she was left on the stove. My sadness lasted about 2 minutes when I realized that Preston wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas... heehhee. Being the man he is, he was already planning on getting one for me, I just got it a month sooner! He did some research (as he always does) and found some sweet deals. In the end though, he found a secret treasure. I am now the proud owner of a Cuisinart Brushed Chrome 5.5 Quart Stand Mixer SM 55 BC. Oh yeah, she's a beauty. She has 800 watts of baking love power, nearly 2x the amount as the Kitchen Aid Pro, and we got her at a MUCH lower price! I look forward to many years of happiness....

Bling for my Cat

I'm not a crazy cat lady.

My Cat, Jazz came home the other day with out his collar... so he not only lost yet another collar, but his ID tags as well. So we have since ordered him new tags with a handful of back ups. I went to the store to get him a new collar and could not resist this one.

You see, Jazz is a Tuxedo cat, his name comes from his markings that make him look like he is wearing a tuxedo. So when I found a collar that had a bow tie, naturally I couldn't resist.

Doesn't he look fabulous!? And on top of that, Walmart had a super cool pet stocking for $5 loaded with cat toys and catnip. Looks like Santa will be good to Kitty too! ( I know, Lame.)

On another note, (as to not have a post JUST about Jazz), Joseph was on a waiting list, and he got into the Head Start Preschool program. He started yesterday and even gets to ride the bus! He was soooo excited and ready to go. I felt like I shouldn't have had to face this yet, he's not in kindergarten! I thought I was fine until the bus drove away and we turned to walk to the house and Thurston said "I miss Joseph!" Ahhhh... But he is having so much fun, and It's been fun having just Thurston and Mommy time, I think we needed it! Esp with the new baby coming soon. Which by the way only 13 weeks to go!!!! (uuuhhhhgggg..) Wahoo!!

Baby Shower

Last week started out pretty uneventful and I decided to take some time to relax... that lasted about a day. Tuesday night we found out that a little boy in our ward was involved in a tragic accident that took his life. It was really hard to think about and made me hold my boys that much tighter. After a long week his funeral was on Saturday and was really hard for everyone there. It is so sad when a little one is taken. My Baby shower was scheduled that day and we decided to keep it because we all needed a release, and I personally needed to be surrounded by people, and these ladies are always fun to be around. I'm so glad we had it because it was fun... AND my sisters Julie and Stacy were sneaky and decided to surprise me!! It was a surprise indeed, and with all that went on, it made me cry (in a good way). Here are some photos of the party. I was hooked up and got lots of cute stuff for Aleah, or as Preston put it "got a lot of accessories for my new doll". ;) I personally like this one because the dress is so cute, and it is covering my bloated face!

The rest of the weekend was great. Preston took charge and care of the boys while me and my sisters giggled and played. We discovered we were a little lame when we all fell asleep watching a movie. They stayed and went to church with me the next day. Thank you guys!! It was soo much fun! And a special THANK YOU to my wonderful neighbor Amber for hosting and putting all kinds of work into it, and Tricia and Samantha for all your work and food and for getting the ball rolling. I feel loved!

Here is a shot of me at 26 weeks. 14 to go!! (12 if history repeats itself!) My butt is having a race to see if it can keep up with the belly. See how proportionate it is?

....and here is a photo of my cat in the sink. And yes I did turn the faucet on him. And yes, I did get a video of it, but no, I did not post it because it takes too long to upload. Pretty funny.

Catching up on Halloween

Wow, little behind here! Halloween was a blast. We had our Halloween Carnival the Friday before and had a record # people show up... and I was surprised just how many people fit in my house! I lost count at 45 children and with the adults I could recall... 66 people!!! My house was left surprisingly clean! There are too many photos to upload and not enough patience for me to post them all here, but you can view them on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=40990&id=1360418656

Preston had gone to SLC to help his parents out with moving some stuff and they all got in really late Friday. Cousin Brent also came (who's at BSU) and the boys were super excited. I decided to treat everyone with Pumpkin Chocolate chip pancakes (they were awesome!) that morning.

We had a busy day moving and unloading some stuff at Uncle Brooks new place and then we visited him at St Al's (where he works) and Julie and I got to look around and see the maternity/ postpartum wing. We didn't get to see much because they are super tight on who they let in with all the sicknesses out there right now. We took the kids to Trunk or Treat and then around the neighborhood. I lasted a block or 2 then went back to hand out candy. Julie had her Witches costume and was greeting everyone with her signature cackle at the door. Then the Lundquists came over for some super yummy Chile and pumpkin pie. Here is our only shot of us, little sad it is out of focus. It was a fun Halloween and I'm glad we got to share it with some family!