Good Things Come in Threes

Halloween Pictures, Finally

2009-11-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

I'm finally getting around to posting a few pictures from Halloween. I have been so busy lately that I have had no time whatsoever to download pictures onto our computer.

Halloween has come and gone. Katie decided she wanted to be a cheerleader for Halloween. We found a High School Musical cheerleader costume for her which was even better than being just an average cheerleader. Katie thought it would be a good idea if our dog Lacy dressed up for Halloween as well. We found Lacy a Razorback cheerleader outfit which matched perfectly with Katie's costume. Jeremy was not happy.

The day before Halloween we took Katie, Rachel, and Lacy trick or treating on the square in Fayetteville. All of them were dressed up as cheerleaders. They were so cute. Lacy was a really big hit because that was homecoming weekend and there were plenty of hog fans out trick or treating. So many people commented on the cute dog in the razorback cheerleader costume. Jeremy was still not happy, and slightly humiliated to be walking a dog with clothes on.

Here are some pictures of Katie and Lacy.

Now that Halloween is over we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it. I can't wait.

Florida Trip

2009-10-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

We took a quick family vacation a couple of weeks ago to Destin, Florida. I have been so bad lately about updating this blog that I'm finally getting around to downloading our pictures from the trip. Jeremy and I had decided back during the summer that we wanted to go to an away Razorback game sometime this year so we decided that since Katie had never been to the beach that we'd go to the Florida game.

We left Tuesday night about 6:30 p.m. and drove all night to Destin, Florida where we spent two days on the beach. The drive was not bad at all. I started out driving and drove until about 3:30 in the morning which is the time I get up on a normal workday while Jeremy slept. We had made it all the way to Birmingham, Alabama by that time. Just a note of caution.....never, ever, ever stop in Birmingam in the middle of the night for gas or to go to the bathroom. We had to stop for gas though and we stopped in the middle of the ghetto. I was praying the whole time that we woulnd't be shot and decided then that we weren't stopping in Birmingham on our way home no matter what time of day it was. I didn't end up going to the bathroom in the middle of the hood. I made Jeremy pull over on the interstate after we were out of Birmingham. He ended up driving the rest of the way to Destin. We made it there by 8:30 in the morning and we were able to check into our hotel that morning.

Here are some pictures from our trip. Katie had a blast building sand castles with Jeremy. I don't know how many they built but I think she had more fun destroying them than actually building them.
The water was so nice, and the weather was perfect.

Katie buried in the sand.

View from our hotel.

We had an awesome time at the beach just relaxing and laying in the sun. It was a much needed short vacation. We ate some great seafood while we were there too.

On Friday, we headed to Orlando to see one of our best friends from high school. Him and his wife are both doctors in Orlando, and we had so much catching up with them. Saturday, we headed to Gainesville for the football game. It was so much fun. We got harrassed on the way to the stadium. Katie didn't appreciate all the gator chomping that was directed towards us. She couldn't figure out why everyone was being so mean to us. Even though we lost the football game we still had a blast.

Tour de Cure

2009-10-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

Today Jeremy and I did something we've never done before together, we ran the Tour de Cure, which is a half marathon. Jeremy is not an avid runner like I am. In fact he really hates it. He finds it extremely boring and would much rather be doing anything other than running. He used to act like he enjoyed running with me. Of course he pretended to like running when we were in high school and had first started dating. I could get him to go on 4 or 5 mile runs with me all the time. However, after 12 years of marriage that is no longer the case. But one day he over heard me telling some people that I really didn't think he could run a half marathon. Being the man he is he spouted off that of course he could. So I told him to prove it.

Well, today he did. He ran the entire 13 miles without stopping, and I was very proud of him. I was especially proud of the fact that he didn't have to stop and find a tree to hide behind so he could go to the bathroom. I knew he could do it, and I really enjoyed having someone to run with me. I'm a little disappointed though that during his short training period that he didn't fall in love with running. I doubt he will ever run a marathon with me, and he probably won't run another race period. So I will continue to have to train for my next marathon by myself. But at least I got to run one race in my lifetime with my sweet husband. Thanks for making my day sweetie.

Here's a picture of him before the race. You can see he can barely contain his excitement. I think he's secretly hoping and praying that the urge to go to the bathroom doesn't hit in the middle of the race. I, on the other hand, was jacked up and ready to go.

I had to post a few pictures of Katie and Lacy in this blog as well. We're all decked out in our razorback gear today and we're getting ready to watch the Hogs play tonight. Even Lacy has joined in the Razorback spirit.

Yes, our dog does have a Razorback cheerleading uniform on. Isn't she precious? Katie and I love to dress Lacy up just to make Jeremy mad. He hates seeing dogs wearing clothes. Katie always laughs when we dress Lacy up. She says, "Mommy, daddy is going to look at Lacy and shake his head and say poor Lacy what have they done to you now? I'm so sorry that they are putting you through this." She's always right because that is exactly what he does.

And, last but not least, I couldn't help myself but I had to take a picture of our tickets to the Razorback game in Florida. We are leaving in a little over a week for a quick trip to Florida and are so excited. I know our chances of winning against Tebow and the Gators are slim but we still love our hogs.

My First Grader

2009-08-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially over. Katie had her first day of school today. She is a big first grader. I can't believe it. Where has all the time gone? It seems like just yesterday I was taking her to work with me when she was a just a baby. Now I'm taking her to school. She was a little nervous about her first day but extremely excited as well. She talked nonstop on the way home about everything that had happened. She felt so "big" to actually have homework. She told me that she loved having homework. I will have to remember that a few years from now when she's complaining about all the home work she has.

My Big 1st Grader

Vacation

2009-08-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

It seems like it has been forever since I have updated our blog. Summer is almost over, and it seems like it only just began. Katie starts school in two weeks....unbelievable. Where has all the time gone? We have been spending most of our summer hanging out at the pool and going to the park. We did head down to San Angelo, TX a couple of weeks ago to visit my sister and her family. Katie had a blast playing with all her cousins. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Aaron, Katie & Josh

Katie and the boys.

On our way back home from San Angelo, TX we stopped off at my grandparent's house in south Arkansas for a visit. The kids had a blast playing outside on the bales of hay and in the garden. Here is a picture of the kids with the "scarecrow", Joe. I personally think Joe looks more like Jason from "Nightmare on Elm Street". Jeremy and my brother-in-law, Matt, invented a game called "hay tag" that the kids absolutely had a blast playing. They played tag while jumping from one hay bale to another. If you were tagged you were "it" or if you fell off the hay bales you were automatically "it". What could possibly go wrong with this game?

Jeremy after falling flat on his butt during "hay tag".

Katie leaping from one hay bale to another.

Other than a bunch of scratches and a few bug bites no one was seriuosly injured. Thank God.

AND I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN....

2009-07-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

As many may have guessed, the Annual Thompson/Langham Fireworks Extravaganza was not included in the Obama Spendulus Plan. Due to lack of funding we had to reduce the sparkler bomb size to a mere 330 sparklers, tightly wound together with duct tape. It still turned out pretty good. Enjoy the show.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

2009-06-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Jeremy I just want you to know how much Katie and I love and appreciate all that you do for us. We are so proud of all that you have accomplished at work, and we know that God has so much more in store for you. Thanks for a being a wonderful father and husband. We love you so much. We hope you have had a wonderful Father's Day weekend.

Leaky Windows

2009-06-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know I am terrified of heights. I hate them. I refuse to ride on ferris wheels because I cannot stand being stuck at the top of the ferris wheel while other passengers are being let off the ride. I love to hike in the mountains but will not get close to the edge and peer over the side of a cliff because I get dizzy, nervous, heart palpitations, sick to my stomach, feel like I'm going to puke, begin hyperventilating etc.... So there is no way in the world I would do what my husband did today.

We have been needing to recaulk our windows because some of them have been leaking due to the heavy rain we've been getting. We have a two story family room in our house that has a ton of windows in it. These are the ones that needed to be recaulked. See the picture below.

Jeremy had to get on a ladder 20-30 feet off the very unlevel ground in order to fix the windows. It's bad when your husband has to find a rock to stick under one of the legs of the ladder in order to try to get the ladder level. Did I mention that he really hates getting on this ladder?

I was outside keeping an eye on him while he was working. He was muttering things like, "This ladder is going to be the death of me"....."I'm about to crap my pants"....."Please make sure all the pictures you are taking are in black and white so no one can see the urine that is running down my leg right now"....."I hate doing this". Needless to say I was very entertained.

Notice the tongue sticking out of his mouth. He's extremely focused right here and trying to keep his balance 30 feet in the air.

And of course, he has to show off his manliness.

Lacy and Maggie

He's still out there right now working away and hasn't fallen off yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully he's got everything fixed so we won't have anymore leaky windows.

Katie: The Snake Hunter

2009-05-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend Jeremy, Katie and I went on our first camping trip together. We have been wanting to go camping for the past several weeks but the rain has kept us from being able to go. Since the weather man was calling for a beautiful weekend we decided we'd head to Lake Fort Smith to go camping. We had an absolutely amazing time. I would highly recommend going camping there. They have an awesome playground area for kids and a swimming pool that has waterslides and a special area designated for toddlers. And their bathrooms were so clean--which is one of the reasons I loved the place.

Saturday, morning after we made omelettes for breakfast we headed out to go hiking. We hiked for almost two hours without any complaints from Katie or our new puppy, Lacy. They both were real troopers and kept up with us the whole time. I think we hiked about 4 miles with Katie leading the way most of the time.

We were really looking forward to seeing the waterfall that was on the Ozark Highland Trail....unfortunately the waterfall was pretty much nonexistent. See the picture below and you'll know what I mean.

The highlight of the hiking trip was when Katie found this green snake on the trail. Jeremy had to move it out of our way before we could continue our hike. Katie was a little sad that she wasn't able to play with it. The child has a little bit of a fascination with snakes.

After we got home from camping while we were unpacking she came across another slithery creature in our front yard.

This time her daddy let her play with it. She's much braver than I am. When I was a little girl you could not have paid me to play with a snake. She's started calling herself a "snake hunter."

Tooth Fairy

2009-05-25T06:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past several months my child has pleaded with God and begged Him to let her lose a tooth. I'm not sure why it's such a big deal but she has been chomping at the bit to be able to say that she has lost a tooth. I think she may be the only child in her class at school who hasn't lost a tooth yet. Well.....she finally got her wish last night. You would have thought the child had won a trip to Disney World. It was like Christmas morning in our house last night. She screamed, she squealed, I think she may have even jumped up and down she was so excited to finally be able to say she lost her first tooth.

Jeremy pulled her tooth without letting her know that was what he was doing. He acted like he was just playing with some dental floss and seeing how loose her tooth was. As Katie said her prayers last night she did pray that her daddy wouldn't try to trick her anymore because that just wasn't very nice. I think she forgave him though because now she can proudly display the gap in her mouth. I'm sure everyone she comes in contact with over the next few weeks will be told the story of how she lost her first tooth.

Katie quickly forgave the tooth fairy for taking her tooth when she realized that she had left her $5.

Mother's Day Weekend Extravaganza

2009-05-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

The mother's day weekend extravaganza officially began on Friday afternoon. Friday night Jeremy and I dropped Katie off at church for free child care and were finally able to go on a bike ride together since it wasn't raining. We had so much fun riding the trails around Lake Fayetteville. We rode our bikes for about an hour and half, and after we were through we headed to Maggie Moo's for some much needed ice cream.

Saturday morning I got up and went running and then we headed to Katie's last soccer game of the season. After her game Jeremy took me to Mellow Mushroom--my absolute favorite pizza place where we ate lunch. That evening since the rain had stopped we headed to the park for a picnic to let Katie practice riding her bike.

Things got even better on Sunday. Katie gave me this wonderful picture that she had drawn of me at school. I absolutely love the blue mascara and the blue lipstick. I'm not sure why I have brown hair or why I look like I'm wearing clown makeup. I also happen to love the fact that my shoulders are the size of a freaking football player. After church on Sunday, we headed down to Alma to pick up a new puppy. Jeremy knows Katie and I have been wanting another dog for awhile now so he caved in and got us this beautiful Australian Shepherd puppy. Katie is absolutly in love with her, and so am I.

I love you sweetie, and thanks for making me feel so special this weekend. Oh, and thanks for the new Blackberry as well. Here are some pictures of Katie and Lacy.

Soccer

2009-05-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Katie's spring soccer season is finally over. She has been playing soccer for the past two years, and it's amazing at how much she has improved. I love to watch her dribble the ball across the field, and kick it with all her might. She gets so excited when she scores a goal, and she always looks at me in the stands to make sure that I've seen her kick the ball in the net. She's quite a little athlete. In one game alone the child scored a total of 15 goals (this was the game her team beat the other team by 41 points). I cannot tell you how proud Jeremy was of her after that game. I'm so proud of her and of the fact that she always tries her best and never gives up. I think her team finished the season 3-3. Here are a few pictures of her at her soccer games. None of them are actually of her playing soccer--I'm really not sure what she's doing, but they make me smile.

Dance Recital

2009-04-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

Katie's dance recital was last night, and I am so glad that it's over and done. Last week was a crazy week in the Thompson household. Katie not only had soccer practice Monday night and her children's choir party on Wednesday but she also had dance rehearsal for 2 hours Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night. Well, last night was the big event and she danced beautifully.

One of the wonderful ministries of our church is the Circle of Praise dance group. Katie has taken ballet and tap at church for the past 3 years. I never have to worry about what type of music she's dancing to or what type of dances she may be learning. The teachers that she has have taught her that she can use dance as a way to worship Jesus. Here are some of the pictures from the dance recital.

Jeremy wasn't able to make it to the dance rectial because his grandfather passed away on Wednesday morning. Before the recital Katie told me that she was going to be dancing for Jesus and for great granddad. I'm sure God let him look down from heaven to see his great granddaughter dance.

Squirrels Are Proud of Their Nuts

2009-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

We have two squirrels that live in one of the trees right outside of our family room. They are constantly chasing each other from tree to tree. I think the male squirrel is looking for a little tail. After all, it is springtime.

These two squirrels are the only two squirrels that we have ever seen eat hanging upside down. I think the male squirrel is just trying to impress her with his nuts.

The male squirrel proudly displaying his "tenders".

Easter Pictures

2009-04-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures from Easter.

Dyeing Easter Eggs.....

I'm not even going to comment on this one.

Katie in one of the services leading up to Easter. One of her dance teachers asked her to be one of the children dancing in the streets.

Resurrection Cookies

2009-04-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Katie and I decided to take Angela's challenge and come up with something special to do for Easter. We have dyed Easter eggs for the past several years, and this year I decided to do something a little different with Katie. I wanted it to be something special where we could talk about the Easter story as we worked together on a project. So, we decided to make some Resurrection cookies.

First I had Katie beat some pecans with a wooden spoon. We talked about how Jesus was arrested and beaten by the soldiers.
Here Katie is smelling the vinegar. The vinegar represents what Jesus was given to drink as he was dying on the cross.

Next, we added some egg whites to the vinegar. The eggs represnt life, and we talked about how Jesus gave His life for us.

I then sprinkled some salt into Katie's hand and let her taste it. She didn't think it tasted very good. But the salt represents the salty tears that were shed by Jesus' followers.

We then added a cup of sugar to our unappetizing concoction. We talked about how the sweetest part of the whole story is that Jesus loved us so much that He died on the cross for our sins.

Here Katie is beating all of the ingredients together. We then talked about how the color white represents purity, and that Jesus forgives us of all our sins and washes us white as snow.

Next, we added the pecans.

We dropped the "cookies" onto a cookie sheet. Each mound represents the tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

We then sealed the "tomb".

The next morning this is what we had.....

We broke the cookies open, and they were hollow inside. We talked about how Jesus' body was placed in the tomb, but 3 days later he rose from the dead. The cookies represent the empty tomb.

Thanks for the challenge Angela. Katie, Jeremy and I had fun making our resurrection cookies. It was a good learning/teaching experience for Katie. The cookies are edible, but I wouldn't want to eat more than a couple of bites of one. They are pretty sweet.

A Special Thanks

2009-04-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

I just want to say thank you to all my family and friends who prayed for me on Sunday. I couldn't have run the marathon without your prayers--especially with the weather conditions the way they were. I give all the glory and honor to God. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I could run the marathon as fast as I did.

There were several times I cried out to Jesus to help me make it. The wind was so strong and it was so chilly. I hit the "wall" at mile 21, and if I wasn't as determined as I am I may very well have started walking. But I kept on going....by mile 23 I knew I was going to make it....and at mile 25 I got my second wind and flew up Dickson and back up onto the square. When I turned that corner on the square and saw the clock ticking at 3:52 I nearly lost it. I had no idea how long I had been running. I didn't check my time throughout the race because I didn't want to get discouraged if I wasn't doing as well as I thought I should be. I flew the rest of the way to the finish line. It was one of the most exhilirating experiences of my life. And, yes there is such a thing as a runner's "high." Unless you love to run there's no way to describe the feeling of euphoria that I felt after the race was over. It's indescribable.

Thank you to Jill, my girl, who showed up about halfway through the race to help cheer me on. She even brought me Starburst jellybeans--which I absolutely LOVE. And Jeremy and Katie were absolutely amazing throughout the race. I think I've made them proud. On Sunday after we got home Katie came up to me and gave me a big hug and said, "Mommy, I'm so proud of you. You were awesome today." I'm hoping someday we may be able to run a race together.

I don't know when the next race will be, but I'm certain I will do another marathon. Are there any runners out there who want to join me?????

KICKIN' BOOTIE AND TAKIN' NAMES

2009-04-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Greetings from a special guest blooger. The pleasure is all yours.

For those of you who know my wife, you already understand that she likes to run. When I say "likes to run," I don't mean just taking a nice leisurely jog on a sunny day, I mean crazy-long-death-march-type distance running that any normal person would classify as insane. She is quite infatuated with it. Thanks to some other freaks at her office, she became interested in marathons several years ago. 2 years ago, she ran the Hogeye half marathon and did quite well. Last year, she planned to run the full Hogeye marathon but ended up getting injured and couldn't run the race. So, most of 2009 she's been training for the Hogeye marathon in the spring.

Well, today was the big day. A perfect day for a nice run in hilly Fayetteville: cloudy, 40 degrees, 25 mph wind gusts, and a 7:30 AM starting time. Why on earth don't more people have running outdoors as a hobby? To give you an idea of how jacked up Michelle was about the race, she peed a total of 6 times in the hour and a half before the race. 5 of these times were in actual restroom facilities - trust me, you don't want to hear any details about the 6th...

Katie and I were there at the start of the race to see Michelle off on her journey. As soon as she ran past us, we elbowed our way past a few of the marthon stragglers and hurried to the car. There were 2 main reasons for this: (1) it was freaking cold out there and only a full retard would be taking part in anything that required them to be outdoors and (2) Katie and I were headed to the donut shop. You know what they say, "If you can't beat them, join...." no, that doesn't apply. Anyway, I was hungry.

Several pounds of dough later, Katie and I drove to our first predetermined "cheer and refueling" location. My wonderful wife had been kind enough to tell me exact locations on the route to meet her with exact snacks. I had a list of snacks with corresponding locations marked on a map. Outstanding.

Now, I knew that during Michelle's training she had averaged about 10 minute miles, so I planned to meet her a little early at the 9 mile mark (or, as I like to call it, "Nav Point Alpha"). Well, Michelle was really getting after it and we ended up driving past her on our way to Nav Point Alpha. ABORT MISSION!! ABORT MISSION!! One illegal U-turn, several disgruntled marathon runners, and many single-finger salutes later, Katie and I popped green smoke at Nav-Point-Delta, our back-up rendezvous point for the first cheering and refueling operation.

After this initial mishap, Katie and I got our act together and completed several more cheering and refueling operations along the route.

Here are a few recon photos from the successful mission:

Michelle about to insult this dude's manhood when she passes him.

Michelle getting after it.

Michelle about to cross the finish line.

Did I mention the race was in Fayetteville?

Today, Michelle ran the Hogeye Marathon (26.2 miles) in 3 hours, 53 minutes, and 7 seconds. For all of you non-engineers who can't do the math in your head, she was running each mile in an average of 8.9 minutes. This really is an impressive pace and a terrific time. She finished 2nd overall among the women in her first ever marathon.

Baby, you're awesome and I'm so proud of you. Congratulations on the completion of one of your dreams. You didn't just finish a marathon or just run a marathon, you were kickin' bootie and takin' names. I love you and thank you for not making me run it with you.

Tomorrow's The Big Day

2009-04-04T04:18:00.001-07:00

Race day.....tomorrow....7:30 a.m. Weather right now is looking like it's going to be somewhere between 35 to 45 degrees with gusty winds. The temperature is okay.....wind gusts, not so good. I'm praying for God to calm those winds until after I'm done running the marathon. He's done it before, and I know He can do it again if He wants to.

I'm nervous, excited, and ready to get going. I've got my ipod loaded, and my running shoes ready. The only thing I have left to do is pack some snacks to have Jeremy and Katie hand off to me at various points through the race so I can keep my energy up.

I can't believe the race is tomorrow. It's finally crept up on me. I was devastated last year when I wasn't able to run the marathon after I injured my IT band. But I must say I was partly to blame for that. It started bothering me about 2 miles into a 16 mile run. Did I listen to my body and stop.....NO. Me, having that OCD personality that I do, I ran the entire 16 miles in excruciating pain which resulted in me having to make several trips to the chiropractor and my wonderful sports massage therapist. And I couldn't run for about 6 weeks....not good. So, I was a lot more careful training this time around. I have suffered through major chafing of various areas of my body, losing a toenail to runner's toe, sore feet and back pain at times but other than that it's been a pretty easy time of training.

We'll see if the training has paid off tomorrow. I couldn't have done it without Jeremy and Katie's support. They've cheered me on and encouraged me the whole time. My wonderful husband has given me so many foot rubs and back rubs in the last two months. Hopefully, tomorrow he'll make it to the finish line in time to see me accomplish one of my dreams. When I ran the half marathon I ran it a lot faster than expected. He didn't make it to the finish line until about 10 minutes after I'd crossed. I hope he's there this time.....I love you, sweetie.

Spring Break

2009-03-27T17:10:00.001-07:00

Katie's spring break was this week, and Jeremy and I took Monday off of work to spend the day with her. We headed over to Tulsa and were planning on spending the day at the zoo. But the weather didn't cooperate at all. It was so cloudy and windy that Jeremy thought I would be competely miserable being outside in the "cold". So, we headed to the aquarium instead, and I still froze to death. Four hours in a building.....freezing.....I was pretty miserable. We had a lot of fun there even though it took me a good couple of hours to thaw out once we got back in the car. Poor Jeremy and Katie were practically breaking out in a sweat I had the heater cranked up so high. Katie had fun feeding the turtles carrots.

Katie and a huge alligator garr.

Katie checking out the otters and the beavers. It stunk pretty bad, and she held her nose the entire time we were in there.

Wednesday, Jeremy left for Denver to go to some meetings. Katie and I seriously thought about going with him but didn't want to be stuck in a hotel all day long by ourselves, so we headed down to southern Arkansas to visit my grandparents for a couple of days. While we enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather, Jeremy was stuck in Denver in a huge snow storm. I'm kind of sad we didn't go with him because at least Katie could have built a snowman. Instead, she played in the flower beds and the chicken coop. Katie and I are both ready for Jeremy to come home. He should be home tomorrow, weather permitting.

She's her father's child. What more can I say.

Katie was a little nervous gathering the chicken eggs. She never took her eyes off the chickens.

Katie and great-mamaw.

Katie turns 6!!!!!

2009-03-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe our little girl is 6 years old today. My how the time has flown by. As I was driving to the gym this morning I was thinking about how our lives changed 6 years ago when she was born. She has brought so much joy into our lives. I love being her mother and know that I am a better person because of her. I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished in the little time that she's been with us. I know God is going to use her to do great and mighty things. Katie, keep on loving Jesus with all your heart and know that your dad and I love you and believe in you.

Birthday Girl

Jeremy bought this Indiana Jones game for her. I think he may have bought it more for himself than he did for her though.

Katie's Birthday Party

2009-03-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Katie turns 6 next week and we had her birthday party at our house today. We had 9 little girls over for the High School Musical festivities. Who knew how loud little girls could be??? Who knew how excited they could get over the littlest thing? And when one of them starts squealing they all join in. The sheer volume they create will drive you to the medicine cabinet for some ibuprofen. At one point during the party Jeremy looked at me and said, "Girls are so weird." I was like what are you talking about. He said, "Look at them. These five are playing "High School Musical Sing It", and those five over there are just sitting around and doing nothing but talking." I guess he thought it odd that they weren't doing anything. Katie had a blast though and that's all that matters. Here are some pictures from the festivities.

We played pin the tiara on Sharpay at the party, which was a hit by the way. I told Jeremy that Katie resembles Fival from "An American Tail" in this picture. She's too cute.

Here are all 10 little girls.

Jeremy took the girls on a scavenger hunt at the party. Here are some of the girls reaction after Jeremy read them their next clue....."Go to where there is lots of water. The clue is hidden in a very dark place. Be sure you don't wake the bear." The girls reactions were prescious. Katie is in shock knowing the clue is in the cave. Avery looks very stoic, and poor Hannah looks absolutely terrified of finding a bear asleep in the cave.

Jeremy leading the girls to the cave.

Before every clue Jeremy had the girls say, "Mr. Jeremy is super cool and super awesome." By the time he was on the third or fourth clue they began yelling without any prompting from him.

The girls finally found the treasure. Jeremy had rigged up a fake snake in the treasure box to pop out when they lifted the lid. He didn't quite get the reaction he was hoping for.

The girls singing "We're All In This Together" at the top of their lungs.

I think they all had a blast. We're exhausted but it was a fabulous party.

23 Down

2009-03-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know I'm crazy but I did it this morning. 23 mile run with wind gusts of 20 mph. I absolutely HATE running when there are wind gusts. There is nothing like running on one side of the road and being pushed to the other side of the road because the wind is so strong. And you are absolutely exhausted after the run. It's like you are at war with the wind the entire time you are running. It takes so much more energy out of you when you are having to fight against the wind. I HATE it!!!!! But at least the wind was warm this morning. I have run in 20 degree weather with wind of gusts of 20 mph---not fun!!!!

I have three more weekends after this weekend before race weekend. I just pray my knees and my hips hold up until I've run this marathon. I'm so close to accomplishing this goal of my mine that I don't want anything to stand in my way of running the race.

Hogeye here I come!!!!

What a Week

2009-02-21T14:54:00.000-08:00

This week was probably one of the worst weeks I have ever had at work. Not only did our president sign a ridiculous stimulus package which did absolutely nothing for the stock market except make it go down even further, but we went through a MAJOR computer conversion at work. This lovely new system that I now have to work with is a piece of crap. So, I'm having to learn a completely new way of doing my job which is taking three times as long on the new system as it did on the old system. And to top it off clients are calling in nonstop worried about their portfolios and I'm trying to help them yet can't find what I'm looking for. As I'm trying to learn how to navigate this new system I'm having to help my boss who hates change even more than I do. And when he gets frustrated he swears constantly. He is so negative about the market right now and everything that is going on in the economy that it's really hard to stay positive at work. By Thursday I'd had it with him. Have you ever yelled at your boss????? Well, I did and I'm not sorry for doing it either. I went into his office first thing Thursday morning trying to help him with something all the while he is cussing and saying things about my Jesus that I just couldn't tolerate. I turned to him and said very loudly...."Stop it. Stop it right now. I cannot handle you talking like that anymore, and I can't handle your negativity. It's bringing me down and I'm taking all this negativity home with me, and I can't do it anymore." To which he responded by apologizing profusely. And I must say he has behaved much better since I yelled at him. I think he felt so guilty about how he was making me feel that he told me to go buy a new pair of running shoes and bring him the receipt. Not only did he buy me a new pair of running shoes but he gave me a gift card to the movies. Maybe I should yell at him more often. I can deal with people swearing. I don't like it but I can deal with it. What I cannot stand is when people use my Savior's name inappropriately. It makes my skin crawl.

During all this chaos at work, my sweet husband left town for two days. I wasn't able to run Thursday and Friday morning and release all this stress and tension that had been building. For me not running for two days in a row is like not being able to breathe. Katie missed Jeremy tremendously and went into a little bit of a depression for a couple of days. She's such a daddy's girl at times. He finally came back home on Friday, and life is normal again.

A little update on Katie......her show and tell assignment from school this week was to write and draw a picture of what she would do if she were president. When Jeremy asked her what she would did without even thinking about it she said....."I would work heartily for the Lord." Here's a picture of her homework assignment. She's drawn a picture of herself with her Bible telling people about Jesus. I pray she continues to grow closer to Him as each day passes.

Longest Run to Date

2009-02-15T04:05:00.001-08:00

I started my Valentine's Day morning off with my longest run ever. 20 miles......in 30 degree weather.....am I insane or what? It was cold but I've run in colder conditions and I've run with wind gusts of 20-30 miles per hour so the 30 degree temperature didn't bother me to bad. It was a great run, truly exhilirating. Yes, I am a bit demented but I love to run. It's my time with God when no one is around to interrupt me. It's my time to think and clear my head. Jeremy does think I'm a little strange since I enjoy running so much, butut he is being so supportive of me as I'm training for my marathon. Yesterday, Jeremy and Katie met me about 2 hours and 15 minutes into my run to refill my water bottles and to bring me a snack so I could keep my energy level up. I passed off my empty water bottles to them and they filled them up and drove ahead of me to hand them off to me so I didn't have to stop running. After they had made sure I was watered up and powered up with my dried fruit I noticed that they were standing on the side of the road up ahead of me holding a sign that said, "Go Mommy Go" and cheering for me. For anyone who runs long distances you know that towards the end of the run having people cheer you on is so important. It helps you make it through those last few difficult miles. So, thanks to them I was able to make it through without stopping. 20 miles.....3 hours 18 minutes. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Let There Be Light

2009-02-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

We finally got power back at our house after being without power for 7 days. I cannot tell you how excited I was to be able to sleep in my own bed last night. I literally crashed around 7:30 and slept like a baby. Even though Katie was a little upset that she wasn't going to have another slumber party with Rachel I think she was kind of glad to be back in her own bed as well. Katie and I pray together every morning on the way to school, and this morning she thanked God for our electricity and prayed that we would keep it.

What else can go wrong......

2009-02-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

We still don't have power. We're going on 5 days with no power and I'm about to have a major meltdown. I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed. I want to be able to cook dinner in my own home and just be able to live my normal life. So, today after church I decided to go on a long run in order to let off a little steam. About 3 miles into my 15 mile run I was attacked by a very large dog. I saw this dog come charging at me out of the corner of my eye and he nearly knocked me over. He ended up scratching my legs a little bit and he bit my arm.....I started squealing like a girl. I didn't know what else to do. I thought what else can go wrong Lord????? How much more are you going to throw at me????? Thankfully the owners of the dog were outside cleaning up their yard and were able to get the dog off of me. A poor lady who was driving by stopped her car and rolled down her window to make sure I was okay. I can only imagine the story she had to tell when she got home. But I kept on running despite being attacked. I think that's what God wants us to do when we are facing tough times in life. Keep on going and trust in Him to help us make it through. I needed His help to complete my run because I felt like quitting after I got bit. But I didn't stop, and He helped me make it through.

Ice Storm & Still No Power

2009-01-31T11:28:00.001-08:00

We have been without power since Wednesday due to the ice storm that swept through Northwest Arkansas. I'm really quite surprised that we made it until Wednesday morning without losing power since we live in the middle of the woods. On Tuesday, Katie went to work with me since she didn't have school. We ended up leaving my office at about 2:00 because we lost power at work. We stopped by Jeremy's office and picked him up and all ended up driving home together. It's a good thing we did because about a half a mile before we got to our house we had to get out of our car and walk the rest of the way home. There was a huge tree that had fallen over and was blocking the road. You should have seen the three of us walking home in the ice. We tried to stay in the middle of the road so none of us were hit by the falling tree branches that were breaking all around us. Jeremy ended up going back up to the car with his chain saw and clearing a path. All three of us ended up sleeping in our bed Tuesday night. I didn't want Katie sleeping in her room by herself since we have so many trees around our house. We heard tree branches breaking and falling all night long. It sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone, and it literally looks like a bomb has been dropped over Northwest Arkansas.

We lost power on Wednesday morning and have been staying with the Langhams at night--thank God they have power. Our friendship has been pressed while staying at their house, mostly because Jill continually makes a point of reminding us of what an inconvenience we are to them (Jeremy wrote that sentence). We finally got power back at my office late Thursday afternoon, so I was able to go back to work on Friday.

It just saddens me to look around and see all these trees that are completely destroyed. The peach orchard that is near our house looks terrible. Katie has been praying for the peach trees because she absolutely loves peaches. I pray that we get our electricity back soon. We've been told maybe by Sunday.....I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Here are some pictures taken near our house.

Trip to VA

2009-01-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted something new--life has just been a little crazy lately. We took a whirlwind trip to Virginia last weekend to see Jeremy's granddad who is very sick. We were so blessed to have such a good visit with him. He is such a remarkable man, and I'm so lucky that he played such a vital role in Jeremy's life. I know he has helped shape Jeremy into the man that he is today. He truly has been in a blessing in our lives, and we were so blessed to be able to spend a few days with him. Here are some pictures from our visit. Jeremy and his granddad.
Katie and great granddad.

Katie and great grandma.

Katie with grandma and great granddad.

Katie and crazy grandpa.

Like Father, Like Daughter

2009-01-03T10:58:00.001-08:00

It's one thing for Katie to be the spitting image of her father, but another thing for her to be spouting off his political viewpoints at the tender age of 5. Check out her prayer journal entry below....apparently, she has been spending way too much time alone with her dad. He promises he hasn't spoken to her about this since before the election.

Happy New Year!!!!!

2009-01-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when most people makes some sort of New Year's resolution that most people end up breaking within the first few weeks of the new year. I'm not one that is big on making New Year's resolutions but this year Jeremy and I decided to make some resolutions as a family. We actually did fill out the "1 thing" form from church, and we are hoping to stick to some of the resolutions that we have made. My personal goal this year is to run the Hogeye Marathon. I ran the half marathon two years ago, and started training for the actual marathon last year but ran into some major problems with my knee that kept me from being able to run the race. So this year I'm praying I'm going to be able to accomplish this dream of mine. Jeremy, on the other hand, has a personal goal of not running the marathon with me--I think he's just scared that I'd beat him. When we asked Katie what she'd like to accomplish this year she said she'd like to build a snowman. So, we're hoping God will give us enough snow in the next couple of months for us to be able to help her build a snowman.

Proof that we actually did make some resolutions this year.

Something that I started doing last year which has been a real blessing in my life is to keep a prayer journal. Jeremy has decided that he's going to start one this year. This morning I went to get my prayer journal for the new year and Katie asked me if she could have one as well. I explained to her that I wrote prayers/letters in my journal to God, and she said that she wanted to write letters to God everyday too. So, I found her an extra joural that I had and she has started the journaling process as well. Here's a picture of her first letter to God.
We're asking God to do something pretty big things in our lives this year. We're expecting and believing that God is going to give us a miracle and sell our house for us. It's going to take something supernatural in order for this to happen but we believe that nothing is impossible with God. So, whoever reads this blog please continue to pray that God will give us our miracle this year.

Christmas Week

2008-12-28T12:01:00.000-08:00

We started off our Christmas week with a couple days at Michelle's grandparents' farm. The kids had a great time climbing on farm equipment and hay bales, playing in the dirt and doing anything else outside that we would let them do.

Katie, Josh, Jacob and Aaron on the tractor (not running).

Mamaw showing Katie how to hit a golf ball. Luckily, she didn't hit her 1 1/2 year old grandson standing 10 feet in front of her.

Katie and Aaron after a round of golf.

About 20 people showed up for the holiday gathering in south Arkansas. It was almost like there was nothing else going on down there... We exchanged gifts - Matt was shocked at the bag of socks that great-mamaw gave him. I think he secretly was hoping for a High School Musical CD (he's a huge fan)--but unfortunately, he received the same gift all the men in the family receive every year.....a package of socks.

Here are a few family pictures we took during Christmas.

Katie, Jacob, and Josh with Great Papaw and Great Mamaw.

Aaron, Josh, Katie & Jacob with Papaw and Mamaw.

Josh, Katie & Aaron

Aaron, Katie, Jacob & Josh

A couple of days before Christmas I found this card Katie had made under our Christmas tree next to her piggy bank. The card says:

To: God From: Katie

Merry Christmas, Jesus!

Here's a picture of her gift to Jesus. Yes, it is a piggy bank, and there is money in it. She gets an allowance every week, and we make her take 10% of it to church, and the rest she either gets to put in her own piggy bank or this black piggy bank which is her China piggy bank. We got this idea for her to have a "special" piggy bank after she told me that she wanted to give some of her money to her Mamaw and Papaw so they could use it to tell the kids in China about Jesus. She decides every week whether she wants to put money into it or not, but we put the piggy bank under the tree this year so she could give it to her Mamaw and Papaw since they were able to spend Christmas with us. Much to our surprise, she had put over $20 in the China piggy bank since this summer.

Christmas morning was a little chaotic at the Thompson household. My sister and her family, as well as my parents were here to spend the holidays with us. We told the kids that they were not allowed out of their room until 7:00 a.m. After a quick breakfast we went downstairs to open gifts. The kids were ecstatic at the Nintendo DS's that Mamaw and Papaw had bought for them.

Here's a picture of them later that night all curled up in me and Jeremy's bed playing with their new favorite toy.

They also had a blast playing the High School Music game that Katie got from her Grandma.

Aaron, Katie & Josh really got into singing and dancing to all of the High School Musical songs. Even Jeremy and Uncle Matt got into the wildcat spirit by singing a duet together (FYI - Jeremy had to tell Matt several times to quit gazing deeply into his eyes). Unfortunately, I was forbidden from taking any pictures.

HOLY PANCAKE!!!

2008-12-13T10:58:00.001-08:00

Every now and then the Creator of the universe decides to bestow blessings upon some of his closest followers by branding his holy image onto food. We've all heard of Jesus' face showing up on pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc., but few of us are actually holy enough to have experienced this special touch of God ourselves. Your wait is over. While making pancakes for Michelle and Katie this morning, a holy light shined down on me and the voices of an angelic host echoed in my ear. Take a deep breath. Below, you will see photographic evidence of God's divine favor on my life.

What am I to do with this unexpected blessing from above? Bidding starts at $5,000. Amen.

Christmas Lights

2008-12-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

Jeremy finally got our Christmas lights up this past weekend. This is the one thing I think he hates doing more than anything when it comes to getting the house decorated for Christmas. But he puts the lights up without complaining too much because he knows Katie and I love them. As you can see from the picture below he's super excited about the task at hand.

And of course he has to pose for the camera while he's working--he wanted me to take this picture of him. You would think he'd be a little more careful about maintaining his balance since he's about 30 feet up in the air, but no.

What a stud--or at least he think's he's one.

Sweetie, thanks for putting all the Christmas lights up they look great. And thank you for not falling off the roof of the house and breaking your neck while posing for these pictures.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-11-30T15:51:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love Thanksgiving and everything about it. I love planning the meal, going out and buying all the groceries, cooking, and spending the day pigging out on way too much food. This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Langhams--we've been doing this for the past several years, and we always have a lot of fun together. After we have gorged ourselves, Jill and I always spend the afternoon poring over ads and getting our game plan ready for Black Friday shopping. Yes, we are some of the crazy people who get up and are waiting in line for the stores to open up at 4 am. This year was no different, and we found some really good deals. On Saturday Jeremy went golfing with some friends while Katie and I stayed home. We spent the day wrapping Christmas presents, listening to music, coloring, and baking. Katie loves to help in the kitchen so we decided we'd bake some pumpkin bread. It always takes twice as long to get anything done when she's helping (and I do have to pray for patience beforehand) but we have a lot of fun together. She's my little Martha Stewart. Here are some pictures of my little chef.

She's so goofy.

While the bread was baking we headed downstairs to color and watch Camp Rock. Katie all of a sudden started screaming, "Mommy, Mommy, Maggie has an animal in her mouth." This didn't really surprise me since we live out of town. Maggie has been known to drag dead carcuses of animals into the yard. And it's not uncommon for us to see deer, foxes, beavers, armadillos, skunks, snakes, etc.... So Katie and I put our shoes on and went outside to investigate. This is what Maggie had killed.

Katie was fascinated with this very fat field mouse that Maggie had caught. She wasn't quite as interested in it as she was in the snake that she spotted while I was picking blackberries this summer. The "very large worm" that Katie spotted while I was picking blackberries turned out to be this snake she's holding in the picture below.

Yes, it is alive.

The weekend ended with snow on Sunday. Katie absolutely loves snow, and we couldn't pass up this opportunity to take even more pictures. On the way to church as we were listening to Christmas carols and Katie says in a loud voice, "Thank you so much for the snow God." I'm so glad that she is thankful for the little things in life, and is so willing to verbalize how grateful she is to our God.

Our little Indian--Running Fox

2008-11-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

All the kindergarten classes at Shiloh were in charge of chapel this past Thursday. It was the Thanksgiving chapel so they were all decked out as little Indians. As you can see from the pictures below Katie had a blast being up on stage and singing all of her Thanksgiving songs. They were all able to choose their own Indian names, and Katie chose "Running Fox"--much to my delight. Hopefully, she'll take after me when she gets older and love running as much as I do. Maybe then I'll finally have someone to go running with me since Jeremy won't run with me. The last time we ran together I ran him into the ground. He had to stop after a couple of miles. So I guess I don't blame him for not wanting to be embarrassed by a girl--especially his own wife. He will deny this ever happened but I have proof--my mother-in-law was there. Jeremy and I are glad the powwow is over because we have had to listen to these songs over and over and over again for the past few weeks. Here are some pictures from the big show.

Katie and Belle.

Busy Little Bees

2008-11-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again where Jeremy starts cutting and chopping wood for the winter. He spent about 4 hours working outside on Sunday afternoon, and Katie was right there beside him the whole time working away. Katie loves to help in anyway she can when we are doing different projects around the house, and she is such a hard worker. She rarely complains and has such a good attitude. She comes by her hard work ethic naturally. It's in her genes. Last week she was working outside with Jeremy gathering some little sticks for kindling. She told him, "Daddy, we need to salvage as many sticks as we can for our fires." She's only 5 and she's using the word salvage. The amazing thing is that she even used it correctly. Here are some pictures from a few days ago.

Katie stacked all of this wood by herself.

Katie's Sleepover

2008-11-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

Rachel and Porter came over last night to spend the night so Mike and Jill could have an evening to themselves. We all had a lot of fun. I got to listen to Katie educate Rachel on prison--don't ask me why they were discussing this. But according to Katie, "Prison is like a place that really bad people go to for like a 100 weeks. I actually have never been there but it's really bad." It's amazing the things they talk about. At least she wasn't trying to educate Rachel on Obama and everything he stands for. She asked me the other day if I knew that Obama was trying to steal everybody's money and that he was going to give our money to whoever he wanted to. I just looked at her and then it dawned on me that she had just gone somewhere with her dad. I can only imagine what he said to her about Obama. Anyway, before I had a chance to respond she said, "Mommy, I've got a great idea....why don't we give all our money to Jesus then Obama can't take it away from us." She has such a generous heart.

Here are some pictures from the sleepover.

Porter enjoying his dinner.

Katie and Rachel enjoying their bubble bath.

The girls were so excited that they got to use Katie's High School Musical bubble bath--thanks grandma.

They had a fab-u-lous time!!!!!

Porter even got into the wildcat spirit in the tub.

Katie and Rachel thought it would be fun to wake Jeremy up at 6:15 in the morning.

A Day in the life of.......

2008-11-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

I was so depressed last night over this financial crisis, I called Lifeline.
Got a freakin' call center in Pakistan . I told them I was suicidal. They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck.

Anyone who works in the financial industry right now can totally relate to this.

HOW RUDE!!!!

2008-11-11T17:47:00.000-08:00

Why is it that people in today's society are just plain rude? Are we so insensitive about how what we say affects other people or do we just not care at all how our words affect others? Case in point.....today I got a phone call from a client who was ranting and raving about some letter he received in the mail from our home office. As I was trying to talk to Mr. X (who was speaking to me in a very condescending manner), he said "Listen here sweetheart....." Mind you, I do not mind being called sweetheart by some people--I have several older clients who do refer to me at times as sweetheart. I am not what I would consider an extreme feminist and do not feel insulted when being called sweetheart. However, it was the way Mr. X said "listen here sweetheart" that got to me. It was very condescending and degrading. I don't know what came over me but in a very professional and I must say, dignified manner. I said, "Please do not refer to me as sweetheart." This is so out of character for me when dealing with clients. Normally, I just take whatever they throw at me. And right now with the way the stock market is reacting to our economic crisis they can throw some pretty ugly stuff my way. Mr. X's response to me was, "Well, what should I call you then...A**hole?" Mr. X then proceeded to laugh. He thought this was pretty funny. I didn't and my response was "That's not going to work either. What can I do for you, Mr. X?" Somebody must have been praying for me at that exact moment because God gave me the grace and dignity to deal with Mr. X. Although, I probably will not be talking to him again anytime soon--thank you Jesus. After, relaying this conversation to my boss he proceeded to call Mr. X and told him to move his account elsewhere. You rock Boss man!!!!! But here's the question: why do people feel that it's totally acceptable to talk down to other people? Why are we so rude to each other?

2008-11-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

Another black eye......this is what Jeremy looked like when he came home from work yesterday. You might think that I would be concerned about what might have happened to him. Did he get beat up for voicing his opinion on how he really feels about Obama or Houston Nutt? That might have made for a more interesting story. But alas, it was another basketball injury. Black eyes in our household are very common, and they are always a result of him playing basketball. I no longer feel sorry for him. I just laugh and make fun of him for a few days, and joke about the fact that I beat him up. Katie, on the other hand, is the more sympathetic one. She cried when Jeremy walked in the door because she was so worried about what had happened to him. Unfortunately, she didn't believe his story about him getting in a fight with a bear on the way home from work.

Here's another picture of a black eye he got while playing basketball earlier this year. It's a good thing that he's really good at basketball (and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband) because otherwise it'd be pretty pathetic to walk around looking like this for a week.

October

2008-11-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

We have finally succumbed to the peer presure to blog. Since we don't have a ton of time on our hands, don't expect much. Our (and by "our", I mean "Michelle's") goal is to post at least once a week so our friends and family can know what's going on in our lives. We've posted a few pictures of things we've done in the last month. The day at Devil's Den was pretty fun. The only downside to the trip was that Katie wasn't really in the mood to do all of the hiking. She had just finished a 1 hour 3 on 3 soccer game and only 2 of her team members showed up. It was still a good time, though - she's a trooper. She takes after her mother (I am writing this under duress...). We've also been to the Razorback home football games this fall. Katie is an avid hog fan as you can see from the photos of her at the U of A. Those were taken on the day of the Ole Miss game, the same day of Nutt-bag's return to Fayetteville. Katie and Michelle spent about an hour and a half walking around campus taking pictures while I did my best to educate Ole Miss fans on what they had to look forward to. (3rd and long?? Off-Tackle!!) I'm not sure why the girls wanted to distance themselves from me... Even though the refs robbed us of a storybook ending, it was a pretty fun day.