Christmas Morning

The kids had a very merry Christmas. They must have been really good this year because they scored with Santa. Their toys have been packed for nearly a month so they were really excited to have toys and electronics to play with again.

On another note, I really need a good camera. The camera on my phone is just not cutting it anymore.

Christmas Eve

We made it out to Palm Desert last Saturday. We're so grateful that my mom and sister are willing to share their home with us for a couple of weeks.

On the 23rd we had an early Christmas Eve celebration with my mom, Gregg & fam, and Suzanne & fam. We had a great dinner and lesson by my mom. Then all of the grand kids got to open their Christmas pajamas.

The kids had fun playing at Grandma's house. We also went over to Aunt Suzanne's gymnastics school and had a lot of fun.

Moving...

We've been busy around here! Packing, cleaning, looking for homes, the kids school work, entertaining Claire, Cub Scouts, Soccer, Activity Days, our church callings, Dr. & Orthodontist appointments, the landlord doing walk throughs of our home, Christmas shopping.....well, you get the point.

We haven't had TV for over a week now and that wouldn't be so bad if every single toy wasn't packed, along with the computer, board games, the wii, and all but a couple of books. But, we're all hanging in there and we're managing to stay entertained.

We leave for my mom's on the 22nd. We'll stay with her for 2 weeks while the kids have their Christmas break at school. Robert will commute to work from there. After that we'll head to my in-law's house for a few weeks. During this time we hope to secure a place to live. We'll also try to live life as usual here in Oceanside as far as school, sports, and church go. Should be interesting.

We've looked all over Carlsbad and Oceanside and we're trying to weigh all of our options to decide what is best for us all around. It's a little stressful not knowing that we have a home to move in to at the end of all of this, but we've definitely been through tougher situations and the Lord always provides a way when the time is right, and like I told the kids, As long as we're all together things will always be okay."

Here's to another adventure together! Can't wait to find out the conclusion of this one. :)

San Diego Temple

The kids and I(and my church youth group) were able to go down the the San Diego temple over the weekend to see the lights and watch a singing performance. It was COLD...atleast by southern California standard. The kids and I were amazed by all of the beautiful lights and nativities. It's the first time the kids had walked on the temple grounds. It was really neat. Definetly worth seeing.

Last Time...I hope

I found this on Claire's floor the other morning. This is Claire's hair, her pajama pants, her sheet and parts of her stuffed animal. Atleast this time she didn't cut her bangs to the root!! (like the previous 2 times. ) She did this in the night while everyone else was sleeping.

I'm hoping this is her last hair cut for a while. I got a picture of the back. There are a lot of short little layers and the sides are short and uneven. The hair stlyist got it to look decent for now.

Above Average

Linda had her 8yr. physical last week. Her entire life she has been average in hieght and weight. This time she was about the same in weight at 54th percentile. But, Linda is getting taller and now is at the 60th percentile in height. This would explain her growing out of all of her clothes.

Also, Linda recieved the Student of the Month award in November. So, I think it's safe to say what we all already knew, Linda is above average! :)

On a side note, Linda attended her first Activity Days activity and had so much fun. It's great growing up.

Linda's Baptism Day

Her TWO white dresses. It was so sweet seeing them together and realizing how much my little girl has grown. The lady that made my wedding dress for me made Linda's blessing dress, using the same material that she made my wedding dress from. The baptism dress was made by my mother-in-law. She made it for me from the skirt of my wedding dress. I picked out a dress I liked and she was able to make it just like it. It was perfect and Linda looked beautiful. She actually wore this dress to be baptized in. We found another cute white dress for after. Why have one great dress when you can have two?! :)

She was baptized on Thanksgiving morning. It was nice to start the day being thankful for my sweet Linda and also for the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Robert.

Robert got really sick the day before the baptism. I prayed really hard that he would be well enough to baptize and confirm Linda. He felt terrible, but made it through!

We were so happy to have so many attend Linda's baptism on their Thanksgiving morning. We had family and also members of the ward there to support Linda in her special day. I gave a talk and so did her Aunt Suzanne. We had a lot of family members pitch in to help with the program. The spirit was so strong at her baptism and I could feel the love our Heavenly Father has for Linda and for all of His children.

 Grandpa and Linda's annual birthday picture.

Birthday Destination

For her birthday destination, Linda chose to go to the American Girl Store in Los Angeles so that she could pick out a doll. We headed to LA the day after Thanksgiving. We had no traffic there or back, a Thanksgiving miracle. :)

She had a great time going through the entire store checking everything out, from the doll hospital to the doll beauty shop and cafe.

She picked out the EMILY doll.

Afterwards we had some lunch and then did some shopping. Linda loves to shop! It was a nice day.

Linda's 8th Birthday

Linda's turned 8yrs. old on Thanksgiving day this year! So, we started the day off with her baptism, then a little party, followed by Thanksgiving dinner at Claim Jumper.
After Linda's baptism, we came home and had little birthday party. Linda picked out her favorite cake, red velvet. She was excited to get some clothes, and giftcards to Target and Olive Garden. It's hard to believe my little Linda is already 8!

Made My Day

On our way home from church last Sunday, Linda told me that I wasn't allowed to go in to my room for two hours. We got home and she locked herself in my room. When she came and got me to see what she had done I discovered that she had gone through all of the clean clothes that were scattered everywhere on my floor. There were seriously, mountains of clothes. I had been dreading going through all of them. It was the nicest thing. She is so sweet. It made my day.

Here is the note I found on my bed.

Change of Plans

So, we decided NOT to wait until the end of the school year to move. Our last day at this house will be December 31st. Where are we going? Umm, we don't know yet. We will either stay in Oceanside, but move in to a better middle school district, or we will move to Carlsbad.
Stay tuned....

Ward Halloween Festival

We had fun at our Ward Halloween Harvest Festival. In the first hour they had a chili cook off. Robert won under the category of, Must Have Seconds - Most Delicious.
The kids had fun at all of the carnival games they had. My youth group ran the cake walk and face painting. In all of the fun I did manage to get a couple pics of the kids in the costume parade.

Do you think Claire could be any happier??

Halloween Costumes 2012

Bruce wanted to be Santa Clause. In the end, we decided to go with a SoCal Santa look. Surfs up, Santa!

Linda is a queen, but we knew that already. I couldn't figure out what she was doing with her hands in this picture. She said she was making a heart. :) I guess that's what queens do.

Jane is a witch this year...and a pretty cute witch in my opinion.

Claire is my little pumpkin. She loves wearing her stem headband around the house.

I think they're a cute crew.

Cousins

Robert's parents live in the nearby town of Fallbrook. The family often gets together up there for dinner. Laura and her daughter were in town so all of the Thompsons that live close came over to Grandma and Grandpa's house. You never realize how many grandkids/cousins there are until you get a lot of them together. Here's a picture of the kids table. Keep in mind, that there are 8 cousins missing from this picture and 2 more cousins to be born in 2013. Our kids have a lot of fun when they get together to play with all of their cousins.

Last month or so...in pics

Bruce

Linda

Jane

Claire 

 

Family Update

First, the kids are really enjoying their new school. All of their fears were put to rest on their first day. They all have friends and good teachers and are happy. We are definitely the minority at the school, but in a way it's good because my kids do not go unnoticed, like at the last school.

Bruce- came home with a viola. They have a separate music class/teacher during school and each 4th and 5th grader gets a stringed instrument. It's fun, because he wouldn't have picked it himself, but he's really enjoying it and likes to practice. Soccer team undefeated. Getting his religious knot at pack mtg.

Linda- has 29friends....started at 32. :) Takes a once a week gymnastics class. She is excited for her birthday, baptism, and being able to start Activity Days next month!

Jane- Face is healing nicely. You can still tell she is bruised, but way better. Took her to an Orthopedic Dr. yesterday for her pinkie. They said her break is not yet healed but that's ok. The concern is that the break is touching her growth plate which could cause a deformity or lack of growth in her pinkie....if there is damage. Xray in 3 months to make sure growth plate is still open. Lost a tooth today, next one should be tonight or tomorrow. Signed up for soccer in Feb.

Claire - Finished up swimming. She loves days home alone. Did great in her first primary program and had her part all memorized. The kid is non stop action. She is so social. She LOVES her daddy. She says he is her best friend. Signed up for soccer in Feb.

I continue to be Young Women's President and Robert is teaching youth Sunday School. We've decided to give our landlord notice of our moving out, but the change in plans is that we'll be leaving at the end of the school year instead of Jan. 1st. This will let the kids finish out the school year with no more changes.

Thompson Drama

When I picked Jane up from school on Tuesday I found her nose and under her eye swollen and bruised. I found out later that she got kicked in the face by a girl on the monkey bars. It happened before school. Nobody from the school gave me a call to let me know she was injured. She had to go through the entire day of school with this injury, including PE. My poor baby Jane.

This was our last straw with this school. I knew I couldn't feel confident sending my children to school when I  didn't feel they were keeping them safe and communicating with me on serious matters like this one. I took Jane to the Dr. the next morning. Here's what it looked like on Day 2. These pictures don't really do it justice. It's much more colorful and awful in person.

I pulled all of the kids our of their current elementary school and put them in a school in our neighborhood. Bruce and Linda started the new school this morning. Jane is staying home to heal for one more day. She won't be doing recess or PE for a while until she is not so tender. Here's what Jane looks like today, Day 3 and a picture of the kids at their new school.

Bet you can guess the kinds of looks I've been getting when I'm out in public with Jane.
Linda was not looking forward to the new school, but when we got there she ended up being really excited. It was a new adventure and a new place to explore. Bruce played it cool. He headed out to morning recess trying to find some new friends. I'm anxious to hear how their day goes today.