Happy New Year!

Not sure which color I like better! Connor is a typical boy, he empties any container no matter what it is and LOVES to make a mess for Mommy!

Christmas in Rockwood

Umm.. excuse me. I was playing with that!

I really liked Pops harmonica!

That tickles, An Am!
Daddy reading my new Pinocchio book...
Hmmm...whats in here?

Yesterday we made the trip to Rockwood to celebrate a late Christmas with the whole Thompson clan. ...And yes Connor got MORE presents! It was a great time, but a short trip. We went there and back in one day. Connor loved getting to see everybody, especially his cousin Kaitlyn! We are going to have our hands full as soon as Connor starts walking. They really aren't into sharing yet, and I thought we were going to have a fight on our hands over a cell phone! Ha! They were so cute together. I cant wait till this summer when they can play in the water and Grannie and Pops playhouse together! We also got to see Aunt Susie, Uncle Benny, Aunt Kim, Summer and Jordan, Matthew, Pam, and Kaitlyn (already mentioned), Nathan, An Am, and of course Grannie and Pops! We were so glad to get to see you guys. We had a great time! Hopefully we will all be able to get together real soon!

A few more birthday presents...

On the Thursday night before Christmas An Am and Pete came down to spend the night before they left for Pennsylvania the next morning. Since they didnt get to come to Connors party because Amanda had a virus, they brought his birthday gifts for him to open. Connor got an Tickle Me Elmo X-Treme and his very own rocking chair! Elmo has kept us laughing since. It is so amazing that they could engineer something like this. It has all of these secret combinations that you have to try to figure out to make him do something different. Connor isnt sure what to think about it just yet. He is scared of it, he just looks very seriously at Elmo and then at us. This goes back and forth until Elmo has finished laughing. It amazes me that he stands up no matter where he is at the end. I am not sure if this toy is really for children or for adults! Ha! The rocking chair is so cute. It is the perfect size for him and it folds up which is great for storage. As soon as we sat Connor in it he started rocking away like he had done it a million times before. See the video below...

Thanks An Am and Pete! I love my new toys!

Told ya so!

Since many of you didnt quite know I was into Taekwondo, I decided to post a picture to prove it to you! This was taken in June 2005 at the ITA Nationals in Birmingham. Our instructor Mr. Rodgers is on the far right. Brad stopped training when he got to his purple belt. I am still in the process of trying to talk him into taking it with me again! Of course, who would watch Connor then? I will post more pictures when I am wearing the black!!!

Snip, Snip...

Right before Christmas we decided it was about time for Connors hair to have a little trim. Brad was already scheduled for a haircut at our salon "Natural Oasis", so we decided to take Connor along to see if they could give Connor his first haircut. I wanted to at least wait until after his 1st birthday, but we have been thinking about this for some time. After seeing everyone elses blogs, I decided that the sucker would be the route to go. Connor loved it! He was in such deep concentration with the sucker that he didnt care that she was cutting! He looks so handsome now!

The Thompson Family Christmas "2007"

Santa came!I LOVE my bouncing zebra!



Mommy's favorite toy! Thanks An Am and Pete!Look at all the presents! Hurry up Mommy!


My "Big Boy" Truck!
Under Construction...
I got my very own laptop! This is actually a learning tool for 6 year olds, but because Connor likes to play on ours Pops thought he needed his own. Thank you so much!!!!

Christmas Dinner at Nonna and Grandy's
Uncle Ron gave Connor a lime and he was making some "faces"! He eventually caught on that we were laughing at him and he started doing it on his own to get a reaction. So cute!



I kept trying to play with Great Grandma's antique Santa and reindeer. Connor and Great Grandma on Christmas Day

I hope everyone had a GREAT one! We sure did! It flew by, which it always does but we enjoyed each and every minute of it. Brad and I took a week off of work hoping to feel rested and re energized but I am afraid that isn't the case this year. Even though we managed to stay at home (Nashville area) we still stayed very busy with the Christmas festivities. Here is a rundown of everything we did...

Thursday (Dec. 20)- I cleaned the house from top to bottom from Connor's party and to prepare for guests.

Friday (Dec. 21)- We spent the day having Connor's 12 month pictures made. The studio is an hour from our house, so needless to say it took all day. Plus... we had car issues! Carrie- we got majorly "grinched" this year, and only 4 days before Christmas! We got the car loaded down to leave and when we pulled out of the driveway my car started shaking and making a funny noise! I have officially started calling it the "Thompson Car Curse"! The "check engine soon light started flashing so we knew there was definitely something wrong. We called the Infiniti dealer and he said to have it towed because it wouldnt make it there. We went back home and switched into Brads truck and headed to have the pictures done being STRESSED the whole way!

That night when we got home, Brad took my car in to have them check it out...

Saturday (Dec. 22)- We slept in for the first time in a while and got the phone call from the service dept. We had a bad coil and spark plug that had to be replaced to make it drive able. Then there was a laundry list of things that needed to be replaced because it was showing major wear. Since my car has surpassed the 100,000 mile mark it was in need of some things. It all added up to a hefty amount, so after crying most of the morning and contemplating whether or not to keep my car or not we ended up doing some "new" car shopping the rest of the day! We ended up deciding to keep my car and make the repairs. This was a hard decision because this same thing happened to our last vehicle and it ended up needing more and more as time went by. We finally got rid of it. I just felt like this was happening all over again! Since our next car will probably be a mini van, we want to wait for a year or longer. Dont get me wrong the vans are nice, but I am still in my 20's and not very eager to become a van Mom just yet. Ha Ha!

Sunday (Dec. 23)- We went to church for a beautiful service and then it was on to my parents house to have our family Christmas with Mom, Dad, Brett, Uncle Ron, Aunt Linda, Ronnie and Ryan. Hillary was in Memphis with her Dad so we missed her. We had a beautiful dinner, opened gifts, and had a nice time visiting with each other. This was the first time I felt relaxed all week!

Monday (Christmas Eve)- I awoke very early (after sleeping 3 hours- Connor didnt sleep) and got ready to leave to go home and meet Brads parents, An Am, and Pete. We were about to leave and got a call that Amanda's plane was delayed from Pennsylvania (where Pete is from) and they were headed to our house. We told them that we would pick them up at the airport since it was on our way home anyway. We hung out at Mom and Dad's a little longer and it worked out good because we had time to exchange our gifts! We left to go to the airport and it was very interesting sitting in the cell phone parking area with a baby and a dog. Cooper wanted to bark at everyone who passed. We sat there for about 30, then decided we better check the boards because Amanda hadnt called yet and it was time for their plane to arrive. We drove up and the board said that their plane wasnt set to arrive for another 30 minutes. We decided that we had to go home because of Cooper and Connor both being in the car for such a long period of time. We got past Nashville and Amanda called saying she had landed. We went back to the airport and picked them up, then went home to meet Brads parents. When we got there it was lunch time so we loaded back in the car and went to lunch. After that we came home and relaxed for a few hours and watched the classic "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation". I about died when Brads Mom said she had never seen it! Then it was time for the Thompson tradition of having a ham breakfast on Christmas Eve. Very good! We all chipped in and had it prepared in no time! Present time was next! Of course the spotlight was on Connor but he was only interested in the paper and boxes of tissue paper. He got SO many cool and large gifts! Grannie and Pops gave him a Ford truck power wheel just like his Pops. He cant ride it until he is 2, but it will be ready for him. An Am gave him a play area made out of large plastic parts that snap together. It has a panel with toys on it also. I especially like this gift!! It is made by One Step Ahead for any of you other mothers that might want to check it out for your child! I highly recommend this when they become mobile! Brad says it is "baby jail", but whatever it might be Connor likes it!

Tuesday (Christmas Day)- We woke up to see what Santa had brought and left to go to my grandparents house for a Christmas breakfast (my tradition). We had a good time visiting with everyone and having a huge Christmas feast! I am still full thinking about it. Brad and I always wait till Christmas night to exchange our gifts to one another. This has become our tradition with each other every year. We put Connor to bed and it was just the two of us. Brad got a new golf bag that he has been wanting with some other golf things. I got a Chi (straightening iron), and some other small things. I saved one gift until last because Brad has kept me in suspense for most of the month. He called it my "big" present. Well, you can imagine my curiosity because he took it to the mall to get it wrapped and he came home with a beautifully wrapped shirt box! Well, it was indeed "big" and very "special"! It was my Taekwondo back patch with my name on it, the new chest patch, and ONE FULL YEAR of unlimited Taekwondo classes!!!! Can you say "shocked"! This is the first time in my life that I have ever been so surprised! As many of you know I have been talking about this since Connor was born. I have never pressed the issue because I knew it was something that we couldnt really afford and it is very time consuming. I am one test away from becoming a black belt, so it is going to take a lot of training to get ready for this. It will also take a lot of time and dedication for Brad also because he will have to keep Connor on those nights that I am there. As you can tell, I am so excited about this. Thank you sweetie for such an incredible gift!

As you can see we were very busy, however many great memories were made! Stay tuned for more pictures of the Thompson "extended" family Christmas this weekend. Now it is time for 2008!! Happy NEW YEAR everyone!!

Toys, toys, and MORE TOYS!!

My four wheeler "powerwheel" that Uncle Brett and Aunt Hillary (correction) got me!

My new Tonka truck from Grannie and Pops!

My soft furry rocking horse from Aunt Mary and Uncle Howard. I like to rub his ears!
Ok, Christmas isnt even here yet and we have so many toys in our living room that it looks like one of the aisles in Toys R Us when the kids have come through and pulled all of the toys down off the shelves! It is crazy and I know there isnt an end in sight any time soon. Hopefully we will find places for everything because it cant stay in our living room or I will lose it. Ha Ha! Thanks to everyone, Connor loves it all and we are very thankful to have something "new" to entertain him at night. I am amazed at how much he has changed in the past month. We put him on his new powerwheel and he actually knew how to get off of it by himself. I know it doesnt sound that impressive to many of you but I thought this was pretty good considering he doesnt even walk yet.

By the way, this will probably be my last post until after Christmas unless I cant make myself stay away. LOL! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!

Celebrating at Chuck E Cheese

At the bookstore...
"What's under here"?
There is too much going on over there to pose for a picture!
I am pretty sure he stayed frozen in this position for like 5 minutes.
Connor and his friend Caroline
Connor's first trip around the Merry Go Round!

On Tuesday (which was Connors official birthday) we decided that we wanted to do something special so we headed out to Chuck E Cheese! I was kind of excited about this since I have memories of the version when I grew up "Showbiz Pizza". I thought it would be very similar since they are pretty much the same concept. Well, we were pretty disappointed when we walked in and saw a tiny stage with a sitting mouse that hardly moved. The exciting thing was that they had 4 birthday parties going on, so we got to see the real Chuck E in person! Oh boy were we excited... Connor loved it even though he is still a little bit young for these things. He just stared and would dance along with the music. He was so cute! We invited some friends with kids too since we thought it might be more fun for us with some adults present! Ha! As you can see we had a great time, although it might be a little while until we return. LOL