You can get the idea of how fun it would be to go fishing for these bright sticks.
Justin went nuts having his own bath time with all the crazy lights!! He had this routine: Pick up light, say OHHHHH, throw light, which he did over and over again!!
We made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting for his cake which we shared with the YW in my ward since his Birthday was on Jan 26th the same day of our YW activity night.
Since Justin did just turn one I have been going through his room, checking on which clothes he could fit into soon and which he had completely grown out of . Here is Hayden refusing to believe me that he can't fit into these overall pants any more. And he didn't believe me until he put them on himself and was trying to pass them off as shorts just to prove his point. Seriously he looked so goofy especially after he gave me a few funny poses. That Hayden, he has to figure things out by himself or he will be in denial for a long time. I think he has a stubborn/determined part to his personality and like alot of things that can be both good and bad!! 
For his birthday we simply had a party with our own little family and the boys had a great time with it. I told Hayden to go find all the Spiderman toys and Spiderman cars and anything that he wanted to decorate the table with. He thought it was cool to decorate his chair.
His cake really was last minute. I barely had enough powdered sugar for my frosting recipe but ended up washing alot down the drain, who knows why that is I guess I didn't make as tall a cake this time. Hayden kept asking "What are you doing now? I don't know mom, that's not like Spiderman's head." Then when I outlined the eyes he said "Oh! There he is, yeah right there"
While I was finishing the cake Clayton was being sneaking and drawing up this poster to surprise Hayden with. His top secret place for coloring was in my coat closet siting on the floor with a little desk to color on. What a nice big brother!
Nathan came home and surprised the boys with, what else a McDonald's Happy meal. Honestly both boys love Wendy's better mainly because the hamburger (Jr bacon cheeseburger) comes with a tomato on it and they take it off and eat it first then the rest of the hamburger and also Wendy's has frosty's. But McDonald's is special to them because they go there all the time with Grandpa Ron and they usually have pretty cool toys. My boys know we don't always get happy meals and my deal with them is, we get a Happy meal for something special or if the toy happens to be really cool that they love, I mean really love because usually it's not and the boys are good about waiting until there is something worth buying a Happy meal for.
Hayden had fun opening presents, eating cake along with his fries and playing with the ever supreme Happy meal toy. Hayden loved all the calls he got and had fun saying "I'm four" to everyone. Also now that he is four, Hayden truely thinks that he is stronger and wants to take on Nathan at a long wrestling match which he tells me he is going to win!! Love the kid like crazy and am so glad he had a great special day.
Downtown New Orleans!! Clay was picked (by my push of hand) to be part of an music act on the streets of New Orleans. I thought he would have so much fun because lately he has been pretending to play guitar and be a rock star but I should have remembered that Clay and his personality is not a look at me, see what I am doing kind, but he was a good sport about it all, only admitting two hours later that it was "OK" and "Kind of fun ".
This guy was hilarious!! He was completely silver and making funny poses and moving at just the right time to spook people. There must have been a big group of them spread out throughout the streets because the golden guy was good too. The boys were mesmerized and got to say "Hi" to him. At Uncle Scott is enjoying his Cajun corn on the cob! I really loved the look of the Spanish railings all decorated with holiday decor.
A Big thanks to Diana and Steve for their generosity and such a good time. Steve recently had surgery on his foot and was in crutches but still took us downtown and showed us the great flee market where I found a new hat, wallet, and watch! Nate thinks flee markets are filled with a bunch of junk, but I had a blast. It's like treaure hunting, and thanks to him I found some treasures!!
Diana took the girls to visit the DESTERHAN PLANTATION. I enjoyed our tour guide who was dressed to kill (literally) in the Union civil war uniform. The covered porch was amazing and I learned alot on the old southern days and am astonished on the things that were constructed by hand and made so beautifully. The grounds had huge 200 year old trees that were would be excellent swinging trees.
Everyone couldn't get enough of the beautiful pool, equipped with a diving board and all. It also had a jacuzzi connected to it. Steve was great and had it all heated for us and after a good dinner it was great to get in the hot tub and soak for awhile, and gear up for some mad catch phrase games that lasted until 1 and 2 in the morning.
These boats were huge and Hayden was sure it was not going to fit under the bridge. A good perspective lesson for him as he watched it go under with no problems.
Diana took us the Storyland Park where the kids had alot of fun going around figuring out what story belong to each display. Their favorite was the dragon Slide that was really fast, which is way it was their favorite.
Fireworks are really big in Louisiana and Diana and Steve had their own that we were able to do in the driveway. Fireworks are always fun I have a blast every time we have them.
Clayton has such a good personality. And if he feels like he has done something wrong it really bothers him and he tries hard to make it right. He is sensitive on things like saying sorry for being sick and will try really hard to keep things in his belly and not throw up. I told him he never has to say sorry for being sick, it is something that just happens sometimes. He aware of each person in our family and tries to do little things to make someones day. He is the perfect person to call when Justin is having a little fit and needs some cheering up, works every time!
I love the really big snowflake. Made out off 6 12x12 papers and stapled like no other. Here a website that shows how you could make the big snowflake. So Easy. So Fun.
Thanksgiving day was gorgeous with tons of sunshine. My Aunt and Uncle have their own cabin near by and came for the big feast. Loved Aunt Tami's Chocolate Turtles and I had to go get seconds on my turkey just to go along with all the cranberry sauce I piled on that she made YUMMY!! Her kids are so great and such good helpers with everything, it was really good to see them all. I had fun making the little candy turkeys, a project I wanted to do with the kids and I think they had fun making them as well. Everyone had one on their plates as a tasty decor. You can never replace your mom's good cooking and that is for sure when it comes to my mom! She knows how to put on a feast all topped off with homemade rolls, pies, and that big fat Turkey! Thanks for all the hard work mom it was all so great!
We had family photos at the cabin. I didn't get a copy yet of the entire Thompson Clan but I'm sure I will soon enough. I had to post this one of our family just for the funny Pirate Pose Hayden decided to pull!! What a crazy kid! Grandpa Ron and Grandma Mindy bought new clothes for all the grand kids and fancy new cowboys boots too. Clayton and Hayden had tons of fun wearing them to church last week!
Look how gorgeous it was there!! We had just enough snow to enjoy some sledding on the meadow! The boys had a blast and thought it was fun going down so fast! They thought it was really funny when mom and dad went down together and had a mini snowball fight! Hayden loved going on the snowmobile with Grandpa Ron and said I was a pretty good at sledding, thanks Hayden.
We left early in the morning (Like 5 am) Saturday to go down to Provo to visit Nathan's Grandparents. It was so good to see them and just talk for awhile. Our flight was originally a non-stop flight to Chicago but the airline emailed informing us that we now had a lay over in Denver. Umm, no we purchased a nonstop flight it should be a nonstop flight! So upon me complaining during our baggage check we were then put back on a nonstop flight that arrived in Chicago 2 hours earlier! That's much better thank you very much! Sometime you just have to speak up a bit! The holiday season is upon us and we are trying to get it all done. Hope things are going well for each of you and your families and you are enjoying all the magic there is in the Christmas season!!
I got all of this for only $48.94 that includes taxes!! The diapers only would have cost close to that much! 
The breakdown of what I got:
2 Ocean Spray Cranberry Pomegranate Juice
3 Nestle Semi-Sweet chocolate chips
1 Jif Peanut Butter
1 Smuckers Jam
6 Progressive Soups
2 50FT rolls of wrapping paper
1 ACT TOTAL Mouthwash
2 Kleenex boxes
2 Cover Girl Lip Slicks
1 Maybelline lipstick
2 Rimmel blush
4 instant chocolate puddings
2 strawberry Jellos
4 packages of Huggies Diapers!!
Now this not even close to the deals I here about back in the west, but for Chicagoland its pretty good.
Again matching Items on sale + coupons + Walgreens coupons = me pretty giddy!
I am the accessory to Justin's Costume his Pirate Slave!! Every now and then I think his beak looks like a horn but I still like how it all turned out! His very First Halloween !!
Hayden is the Incredible HULK!! And something happened as soon as we put on his green face...He turned into the Hulk, seriously he thought that he had clearance to smashing everything and use his Hulk hands to do some punchin . That kid cracks me up!
Optimus Prime didn't last too long Trick-or-Treating. It's a little difficult to run to the next house with boxy tire legs. Clay would come to me after getting a treat from the candy bowls and say "Can you help me put this in my bag I can't reach?" Towards the end we had both legs off and one shoulder cap broke off! He loved the costume but I will remember to make sure he can be as mobile as possible next time we go trick-or-treating he he he
Everyone brought really good dishes to share and the kids had fun with their own party tables to eat on in the basement all to themselves. So glad everyone could come and have a good time. Melissa has a great camera that she used to get pictures of the party so we will have to see those later!! Hope everyone had as good of a time as I did!!
