The many expressions of Tom-Tom...

These are some of his regular faces...he's so kissable! Finally, at 2 years old, he is starting to speak more. He says a Tommy-version of purple, ball, bath, wet, car, truck, cow, phone, doggie, Daddy work. More, but I just can't think of them at this late hour!

The wheat grass is GROWING!

The kids have had a ball checking the growth progress of the grass each day! They love showing guests the egg tree they created, too.

TERRIBLE (Yummy!) Kiddo Snack

Leave it to us to post a sugary, unhealthy snack option! It is Peep Smores. You just microwave the Peeps and chocolate slightly until sufficiently gooey and top with the graham cracker. We read this idea on Marty's friend's amazing CREATE website and had to try it. We incorporated it into our post egg dying fun and enjoyed it so much we made them again when our family friends, the McBrides, came over for a full day of fun in the snow and, of course, more egg dying! With these friends we tried the newest egg dying gimick...Tie Dye eggs...way more fun to just dippy, dippy in the regular old egg dye! The nine kids did enjoy eating most of their creations which grosses Charlie out. He hates hard boiled eggs, especially ones with all kinds of colors leaking from the shells!

Easter preparations

We had a great time today planting the wheat grass seeds my Aunt Laurie gave us as gifts this past weekend. SO fun! We found inexpensive Easter buckets to use for our plantings, and the kids had a ball filling them with soil and plenty of wheat grass seeds! We also had a great time coloring eggs. Fletcher was the champion egg yolk blower. He certainly loved poking the two holes in either end of the eggs and getting the yolks out for us. Yay, for Fletcher! Tommy also enjoyed the dippey, dippey the eggs in the dye! He was our champion wiper-upper of all drips as well! Yay, for our little boy helpers!

Thank you, Cousin William!

The kids are having a ball with the tub toys their cousin gave them! They've had both blue and red baths, as well as a mixed purple one, so far. They really like spelling with the letters and finding "their" numbers. Tommy is so funny with how we taught him to show people he was two. Since he wasn't mastering the typical "two" sign (like the peace sign), we have him hold up both left and right pointer fingers beside each other and say, "Two!" when we ask him how old he is. Someone laughed at us and said, "Guys, he's not eleven!" Oh, well. It is stinkin' cute when he does it!

Happy St. Patties' Day 2010

Charlie turned 16 years old in Christ on St. Patrick's Day! Wha-who!

We followed in the Thompson tradition of dying everything green, and Paris was my most enthusiastic helper squeezing plenty of green food dye into our pancake batter and biscuits! We also created a centerpiece for our table from all things green. The kids had so much fun collecting and arranging the green items to decorate the table!

Two Year Old Tommy

Tommy train, Tee Tom, Tom-Tom...is loving Star Wars play toys just like his big brother! He also loves horsey rides like his sisters! Thank You, God, for siblings!

Celebrating Purim, Sunday, Feb.28th

This year we celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim. What fun! I first learned of the holiday last year during a women's Bible study of the book of Esther. The ladies celebrated together last year, and we had so much fun that I promised myself to teach the kids about Purim and celebrate the holiday with them this year. We had a blast preparing "Haman's Pockets" (a tasty, triangular cookie filled with preserves). The cookie is supposed to resemble Haman's three cornered hat.

One of the key components of Purim is a feast with friends so we had a family over for Sunday afternoon supper. We prepared gifts of food to give away as well. We were able to share a few prepared gift baskets of the cookies we'd made, fruits, candies, and hot cocoa and teas. Surprising our friends with, "Happy Purim!" was fun for the kids because, of course, not many had even heard of the holiday. The funny thing about the Purim celebration is that there is lots of noise, dressing-up, and singing. We played the traditional Purim music during our baking session and giggled trying to sing along with the songs that were foreign to us. During the feast, we all taped Haman's name to the bottom of our foot and each person tries to stamp out the name of Haman. The Jewish people chant that cursed is the name of Haman and blessed be the name of Mordecai. Mordecai is Esther's adoptive father (her cousin who raised young, orphaned Esther). He influenced her to save her people from annihilation when Haman craftily plotted how to wipe out the entire Jewish nation.

Part of the celebration is to read "the whole Megillah," the whole book of Esther, sometimes on two separate occasions reading the complete book. One fun component is for all the listeners to loudly crack noisemakers called gragers, although we used Tommy's wooden instrument set, and to stomp their feet every time the name Haman is mentioned in the book of Esther. In case you haven't read Esther recently, Haman's name is mentioned ALOT!! The kids got a kick out of trying to "blot out" his name with their feet and their instruments! What a ruckus! Fun! Fun! I highly recommend incorporating this celebration into any family's holiday repetoire...I praise God for Esther's faith, her humility to seek God through fasting and prayer, and her willingness to risk her life for the sake of her people. May God continue to grant His children great faith and perseverance. May we continue to seek Him even as Esther so willingly did.

Tom-Tom turns two!

We all had so much fun celebrating Tommy's second birthday! The morning started with a "trail" of new blocks leading from his bedroom down the stairs to the dining table where towers were built for him around his birthday spot. The big kids loved showing him all the fun to be had with his new block set, and Fletcher was super excited about helping him open his gifts of Little People from our family. Chocolate chip banana pancakes are a birthday treat that everyone looks forward to on bday mornings. Well, maybe not Charles. He's into blueberry only! The rest of us also enjoy coconut with our chocolate chip or the standard banana nut variety, too! ANY fruit in our pancakes is just great with us...we've all become Popsy proteges. :)

Grandpa and his "mini-me" offspring at Daniel's Park

Tom-Tom dying to go in the water!!

Family Photo taken by Grandpa

More Pictures from the South Platte River (3/6/10)