For love of Irene.......

Ok, ok, I will finally add some text to these pictures. We got a LOT of rain on Saturday. Was raining at 7am when I woke up and did not stop (no kidding, not even any breaks or slowing down) until about 9pm. You'd think the lake would be at my back door, but it barely came up a foot. Lost electiricity for 3 days. NOW we have a generator. And it won't run everything. NO AC. And some things have to take turns. Can't run everything at once. Like the well pump and the water heater. Well, nothing and the water heater. If you want hot water, you must do without everything until it heats up. But, let me just say this. If you are going to have a storm. There are several things you MUST have. A generator. WATER.....lots of water. (Feeling fresh and clean can go a long way to improving attitudes--mine especially.) Paper products...plates, bowls, cups, and utensils. I remembered everything but the cups. Hey, I'm not perfect. Cereal bars. Did I say water? Soup.....well, if you have a way to heat it up. Diet Coke and chocolate.....almost as important as water. Those flashlights that are rechargable are fantastic! And you will be just fine. Good to have a strong laptop battery and lots of movies. We watched Nim's Island by the candlelight. That was fun. We had some good family time while we watched the storm pass by.

We were very lucky. No damage to our house or property. There is one picture here of our driveway littered with leaves and sticks. A pine tree fell from the neighbor's driveway, but, really it was small. Several trees down in our neighborhood. It was just amazing to see these HUGE trees completely uprooted. Crazy! But we are thankful that we only had to be inconvenienced. Feeling bad for all those who have had to endure far worse.

.....

...eh hem....take 4

Last one, I promise....

Pollypal
Are you having cake?

New Shoes

Haven't even bought "real" school shoes yet and, already, I'm broke! Ethan has fancy new football cleats. Even made me take a picture of the bottom. And if you are a cleat connossieur, you'd know that those cleats can be removed and replaced because he will be working so hard, they WILL get worn out. AND he swears, his feet will not grow for another 3 years.

John, also, proud of the fact that his cleats (not sure if that's what they are called on golf shoes) can be replaced needed a picture of the bottom for dad to oo and ah over since he is in Germany and can't see the shoes face to sole. (Now that was funny. Admit it.)

Here is what I can guarantee you. At the end of the season, Ethan's shoes will look used. Very used. John's will still look brand new. Not because they won't be used. And I guess Ethan is at a disadvantage because he is in a dirtier sport. John just doesn't seem to get anything dirty. It always makes me sad giving John's shoes away. Even though he has worn them every day and his foot has grown, the old shoes still look brand new. He is a very organized and tidy boy. His room used to be pin perfect clean. Not so much anymore, but it's still organized.....John style.

Poor Emily's flip flops broke while we were in town so she had to have something new. She was not very happy. A little uncomfortable being barefoot in the store. The boys did a good job cheering her up and giving her piggy back rides. Way to go fellas! Good brothers! And we had to have a picture of the bottom of her new flip flops just for good measure. (Although we had take it off her foot to get that shot after 50 gazillion blurry photos. Silly girl can't be still!)

Look at that swing...

Woohoo! John made the golf team. We are so proud and excited for him. There are 15 students on the team and they have to claw their way to the top 4 to have their scores counted. He was the underdog to start with so there is no telling how far he will go. Way to go John! You're awesome! Perseverance and hard work! That's what you're all about!

Thompsonisms, take 3

OK, OK, I know you are getting sick of them by now, but I feel like I have to put them in so I can come back and read this years from now and have a good laugh. I don't want to forget.

Pancakes, I want some

We get to pack the swimming suits

Shiny things

Nice hair, chair, mare, lair (....anything that rhymes with air)

That should just about wrap it up.....for now.

World's Dumbest Presents.......

World's Dumbest Exterminators.......

John, Ethan, and Dakota decided to "exterminate" the bees. Well, before I get ahead of myself.....we have an underground nest of bees on the left side of our house. We have tried covering the hole to encourage them to move away, but it didn't work. So, the boys decided today was the day to send the bees packin'. Dakota, lead dumbest exterminator peed on the nest (boys!!????). Smart Move! John and Ethan then tried to flood the nest with the water hose. John got stung 7 times, Ethan 2 times, and Dakota one time. It's been an eventful day! It was quite a site seeing them run in the door and through the house. Bees 1, "exterminators" 0.

El Thompson Restaurante

Dinner was terribly fun tonight. The boys decided they were going to make quesadillas. Dakota is the guy in the middle. He is practically a Thompson. They even fried their own chips and didn't burn the house down. Emily was the entertainment. She was a standup comedian (she had one good joke). And Ethan said (in response to Emily's very bad jokes) "What smells rotten and puts people to sleep?" And without missing a beat Emily said "John's farts". That's our graceful, petite, little Emily for ya. We could NOT stop laughing. It was SO funny!

So, here is Emily's one good joke---Emily--Do you think you will remember my name tomorrow? Me--sure. Emily--Do you think you will remember my name in two days?.....next week?.......next month?.....Me--sure, sure, sure. Emily--knock knock. Me--Who's there? Emily--see, you forgot it already. It really was funny.

Kathy Jo Thompson, RN, BSN, MSN, FNP-BC

I PASSED my certifcation exam!! Woohoo!! I am a Family Nurse Practitioner! And I have 13 letters I can add behind my name. (Wonder if that's bad luck??--Nahhhh!) That was a HARD test!

AND I got flowers!! My sweet parents in Oregon sent me flowers! I never get flowers. What a treat! They smell so good and I keep them in the fridge at night so they will last as long as possible.

AND my mom gave me shopping. Can't wait to go and have a day out at the mall. AND John has mailed me chocolates from Germany. REALLY looking forward to that.

With all this special attention maybe I will just go BACK to school.....no. Nope. I am done! And I think my family would disown me.

It is good to be loved! I am a lucky girl.

Thompsonisms, take 2

Some I forgot....Emily helped me remember.....

I love you, I love you, I love you ( you have to say it like Buddy the Elf)

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

Can I offer you a cup full of shut up?

Whatnot

Shut up, no you shut up, no you shut up, no you shut up

Congratulations, the world's best cup of coffee (seeing a trend here?)

Have you seen these toilets, they're ginormous (what family doesn't say this over and over?)

Put that in your bubble gum wrapper and chew it

I had these rolling through my head last night so I had to get 'em down before I forgot them and I had one on the tip of my brain but it left me before I could get it typed out. So, look out for Thompsonisms Take 3.

Thompsonisms

Penske

Open minded, cooperative, and decisive

Custa, custa, custa

Tree

Workouse, ow's ya mum (or fill in the blank)

Workouse

Outback, I hear they have really good steaks

Dufenschmirtz Evil Incorporated (you have to sing it, and some people may know this one)

The things we say in our family that only we really know about. I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them all right now (I'll add them when I think of them). They're fun. They make us giggle. It's good to be a Thompson.

Grumpy Gusses

Nobody wants to go back to school shopping. These were the only pictures I got out of them. They wanted new clothes but they wanted to me magically know what they would like and what would fit and they get to stay home. Hmmmm........nope.....if I'm going to fight the back to school crowds we are going to go suffer together. Family time at its finest. But, I gotta say....once we got there and got started, they were open minded, cooperative, and decisive. Three words that we all say together every time we go shopping. It's something that they will lagugh about when they gather together for holidays as adults. Do you remember when mom said.....every time we went shopping. Good times.

Just when you thought she couldn't get any cuter....

Glad we had the eye appointment in the summer so she will have to really get used to them before school starts. Thank goodness for good insurance.

We have had such a boring summer. I feel like preparing to take my certification exam has ruined everyone's summer. I have a test date, but I cannot tell anyone or I will surely fail. I don't really believe that BUT no one else tells their test date so if I do, I am surely inviting bad karma, right? Everyone will know when I pass though. I have all sorts of medical tidbits running through my head. I have a gazillion flash cards that I read all the time. I can't go to sleep at night for going through them mentally. And I am driving John nuts. I am whining all the time about how stupid I am and then when we are in bed at night and he is TRYING to watch TV I am sitting beside him mumbling through my flash cards. HE will need a vacation when I pass. He has been a full time breadwinner, cheerleader, and psychologist while I have been preparing. The wait is almost over......IF I pass (there's the whining--didn't want anyone to feel left out).