Weekend Retreat at the Farm

The main reason we headed up north was that Lover was wanting to participate in the First Weekend of Pheasant Hunting. Here he is with my brother, Brent and Brent's Dogs and the three pheasants they gamed on Sunday. Saturday wasn't so successful for Lover, Brent and Chris (our brother-in-law). A lot of trudging in tall grass and mud was had by all....Paul was c/o some soreness Sat. night & last night.


Miss-O is pictured here getting in some Grandma Mehmen time. She loved to play with this tiny dolly and give her kisses over the weekend. She would smack and everything! She played and played and played. Grandma Mehmen says that Miss-O reminds her of a panda cub, rolling all over the place and a bit clumsy at times...I agree that's a perfect description of her! She rumbles and tumbles and usually gets up and does it again, little does she cry unless she's seriously hurt.

Here's C-man getting in some Grandpa Mehmen time. Those two teased each other all weekend long. C-man made sure he got in some four-wheeler rides and watched Daddy and Uncle Brent do target shooting at a barrel. He reassured me that he'd be safe, stayed his distance and wore earplugs......
Friday, Miss-O made sure she had her chance on the four-wheeler .....she was waiting at the door making vroom,vroom noises! She is definitely no fear kinda gal....it took C-man about 2 years to ride the 4-wheeler. It took her 11 months!

Last but not least is Miss-O's Big accomplishment at Grandma and Grandpa Mehmen's. She climbed on the rocking horse (that Grandpa made) all by herself. (little stinker) She was so proud of herself...Here's a picture of her smiling and showing how proud she is..............

It's always a nice retreat coming home to the farm. I get a taste of Mom's home-cooking...she made my favorite; meatloaf and scalloped potatoes....(comfort food to me) plus she made her chili (another favorite!)......The kids and I were able to meet my dear friend Jeanne (of 21 years) and her kids, Sat. and the four of them played so well together, while we played catch up......plus I was so excited to do 9 scrapbook pages this weekend....this is an accomplishment for me since I haven't scrapped since July.
The most important thing is there is no stress that follows me to the farm, it all vanishes...( I made certain not to correct my students' papers until I got home) it's a time to get a big breath of farm air, feel the warm love that's always present, get a tummy full of comfort food, rejuvenate and feel refreshed upon returning home.

Open House at Preschool

C-man's favorite color is red and on "Favorite Color Day" at preschool, he drew a red leaf...here he's showing us his artwork at Open House tonight.
Here are C-man's teachers: Michelle and Gail. He loves them so much and always lends out hugs to them whenever he sees them.

What we learned about C-man at Open House:

He uses good manners

He plays nice with others

His favorite friends are Abby, Deylin, and Cooper

His girlfriends are Abby, Cailin, and Baby -O

Many of his class-mates consider him a friend

He writes his name really well

He drew a cool picture of his family (the picture of himself was the biggest, he was holding me in one hand and T-dog in the other and then Miss-O and Daddy were at his legs.

He's eager to help with anything

He's a good listener

He's happy when he can spin webs

He's sad when he has to be a dino-bot

He likes to eat candy, donuts, cupcakes, and chinese buffet

He's able to put his coat on all by himself

He counts to 30 and with help can go up to 100 (actually we know this from home, not preschool)

He likes to play in the sandbox, autobots, cars and car ramps

He says his ABC's but gets L and M turned around (another thing we know from home, not preschool)
He likes to draw spider webs & roller coasters

When he drew a picture of himself, he drew himself as a mummy with red-spiky hair!

This was evidenced by his pictures that he drew and different projects that the kids have made since starting preschool last month. We're so happy that preschool is back into session, otherwise C-man is a bit bored without it. He absolutely loves it and is always excited to come home and tell us what happened for the day. Just the other day; "Gray Day" He was so thrilled to tell us that Black and white mixed together makes gray!!!!
Now for the manners and listening well.....he must do that better in a controlled environment...he has his days when he's a bit demanding of his parents and we need to have a "re-do" in which I give him a second chance to use his manners for a request. Sometimes he's so enthralled in his play that he doesn't listen the best.....But looking at this list, we learned a little about him and we are very proud of his development. Oh my goodness, he's getting to be too big! Where did my baby ever go?

Reminiscing....

I was just reminiscing about Halloween when I was a child and all the different characters that I dressed up as......I remember dressing up as Little Red Riding Hood, a Clown, I think I was Strawberry Shortcake and wore that plastic face mask with the rubber band behind the head and then the plastic outfit that matches...it was either Strawberry Shortcake or Raggedy Ann (can't remember)....maybe Jolyn, Paula or Mom could help me out with that one......
I was a bride...I was so excited to wear my mother's homecoming dress that went down to the floor (but was knee ht. for her)and had a veil and flowers, I was a cheerleader and wore Paula's outfit, I was a California Raisin, I was sick one Halloween and stayed home and watched Little House on the Prairie instead........
then in High school, my friends Jeanne, Erica and myself dressed up in masks and old people clothes and we went to a neighbor of Jeanne's and her boyfriend's parents place (at that time) we had sheets of paper that we gave them one said,"can we come in, can I have a drink of water, who are we?"...and we didn't say a word and spooked them out completely.....finally we took the masks off and they had a good giggle out of it.....thinking about that....we wouldn't be able to do that in today's world, someone would have called the police....
In Elementary school we had a grand parade and would walk around the hallways and show our costumes to the other classes and teachers and the highschoolers (our school contained K-12). I also remember going trick or treating around Plainfield and then meeting up at Grandma Mehmen's. She would have food for us to eat. All of us kids would count our candy and barter/trade our candy. I always liked to give out candy at Grandma Mehmen's and see all the other costumes and guess who they might be..usually all I had to do was look at the parents and know who the kids were.....that's small town life for ya....
Yep, the good ol' days.....Halloween as a child.....oooh and the black and orange wrapped taffy like candy were my favorite...they were peanut butter flavor and sometimes a bit of peanut butter chunk would be stuck in the middle of the taffy and would melt in my mouth....yum!
Yep, those were the good ol' days........Halloween as a child.

"Carving Out some Time for Pumpkin Fun"

Yesterday, C-man and I did some pumpkin carving. He was pumped about it and in the morning when he was with Grandma Roberts, he told everyone at the library and McDonald's that he was going home and carving pumpkins.
Here's some pictures of the end-product! It's a gooey mess, but somebody has to have fun doing it!!!! C-man actually got his hands slimy this year...in the past he always needed a spoon to get the gunk out.
Miss-O didn't get in on the action, she was taking her afternoon nap....it would have been fun to watch her feel the slime (probably good for textile learning) oh well, her time span would have been short and then she'd want to climb on the pumpkins or get into the dog dish/water, or just climb on something.......(that's her new thing now)
We really have to keep an eye on her or she's climbing on the container of books- to climb up to the end table- to get on the couch. Or she's climbing on their little folding chairs and standing on them......she climbed on her crib toy and was tapping at her pretty ceramic cross hanging on the wall. We decided to take the crib toys out. Mountain climbing/repelling might be an interest for her in the future, we'll have wait and see.

Carrol's Pumpkin Farm; Visit #4

Lover, Miss-o and C-man posing on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

Miss-O and C-man sitting on the pumpkins or at least attempting to get them to sit on them...........





C-man playing in the inner-tubes, "it's a tunnel"







Miss-O loving to bounce on the poor man's trampoline............







C-man riding in the wheelbarrow, going through the obstacle course.







My little farm animals....when miss-O saw the sheep, she said, "baaaa."

This is how tall they are this fall......it'll be fun to watch them grow and see how tall next fall........

Posing on the pumpkins, C-man said it was a bit bumpy to sit on.......

Here's the cow train, mommy got to ride on it too.....Miss-O just hummed the whole ride......when she first saw the cows she said, "mooo"

This has been an annual family tradition; hopping into the car and driving to Grinnell to Carrol's Pumpkin Farm. A fun time for the family. We feed the goats, play on the poor man trampoline (inflated tractor tire innertube that I used to jump on as a child), playing in the corn shed, swinging in the straw barn, wheelbarrow obstacle course, cow train, grandpa's barn and of course up in the barn loft was a magic show this year (top notch, may I add). Then usually at the end of the day, we hop on the hay-ride out to the pumpkin patch and find our pumpkins......this year was a bit muddy and chilly but we were able to bundle up and have some fun. Sipping on hot apple cider and hot chocolate also helped us stay warm this misty, chilly fall day.

The Wish

This is such cute thing that I couldn't give up the opportunity to share it......C-man and I were outside this afternoon, playing with the leaves and pine cones...C-man found a fuzzy dandelion and said, let's make a wish....and he said, "I wish, I wish that this day will last forever."

It made my heart melt.....He's usually all about bad guys and good guys and ninja's....and then something so sweet like this comes out......makes me so proud to call him my son............

Happy Anniversary!!

It all started when I had to transfer a pt. down to the ICU and there he was.....this cute RN and I was a bit nervous to give him report, but he was very cute and approachable. Well with the help of a co-worker, she was able to bring the two of us together. We were like little kids and all shy as could be at first and had to use our co-worker to mediate for us; until one day, Paul nerved up and asked me out on a date.....We met end of March and our date was middle of April....Still remember our first date, went to Java Joe's and watched Irish band play and then went and played pool. We were quite the pool sharks in those days......by August we were engaged. If you know the two of us we are quite indecisive people, but this was something we knew for sure about, and planned to marry the next October........
So here are some old pictures from our wedding four years ago.....can't believe how the time flies by....I'll never forget our wedding day, it went perfect in my eyes....celebrating our love in front of God, family and friends...........




So Happy Anniversary, my lover!
Thank you for all that you do, thanks for all that you give and all that you take. Thank you for the awesome memories and the obstacles that we have overcome in our marriage (any many more I'm sure) Thank you for making me feel at comfort and ease. Thank you for seeing and understanding me as my true self. You are my soul companion and lover for life and I love you!

Our marriage is a blessed sacrament in our church and I'll try my best to get you to heaven.............God Bless you my forever friend & forever husband.......

Love,

(me)

Check Out These Characters!

The Thompson's Annual Halloween Party 2007

Tammy and Little Miss-O

Ahoy thare me matey!

Boo-boo Thompson

C-man & Miss-O

Our little Mummy and Ladybug

Acting like a mummy!

Always the life of the party!!

Mother Nature, Ladybug, Pirate, and Mummy!

Hello! We just got back from our friend's Halloween Party. This year, we all got in the mood and dressed up! Must have been the spirit that C-man passed unto us!

An Indian Summer

This past Thursday, C-man, Miss O, and myself went to Howell's Pumpkin Patch with Aunt Angie, Cousin Teeny-tiny, and Grandma Roberts. Definitely a warm autumn day. We had so much fun. C-man loved all the fun activities to do; such as playing on the bales of hay, riding the pedal tractors, going through the maze, sliding down a bumpy slide, teeter-totter with Mommy, playing in the corn shed. Plus seeing all the animals; goats, turkeys, pigs, geese, etc. He really shocked us when he talked about going up in the barn loft and seeing all the plants hanging and petting the cat.....he remembered

that from the last time we visited the patch. He was only 2 years old!!! He has an awesome memory and totally shocks me at times!

Here 's Teeny-tiny and her Mommy....she loved being outdoors and watching the leaves rustle in the wind.......wait until next year...she'll really have some fun!

Here are the cousins, posing...Miss O laughed at the goats and bunnies, otherwise she had a good time hanging out in her stroller getting a snack and drinking some juice; watching the sights.




This is a fun picture...! C-man insisted that we pose in the "animal holes" So here's Grandma Roberts and C-man.....aren't they cute?





Last but not least is C-man feeding the goats....some of them were pretty
aggressive and wouldn't let the others eat, we made sure to feed the goat with the limp, we felt bad for him.....Miss-O fed the goats too, which she giggled about.....I was glad she fed the pellets to the goats and not herself!!

After our warm outing, we went to Baskin Robins for some ice-cream.......a perfect treat and ending to our fun day!