Matthew Gets Mushy

Mary turns 30 today and I would like a chance to tell all of you the obvious...Mary is an amazing person, mom, wife and friend. Here are my favorite attributes of Mary:

• She is in private exactly who she is in public (polite, loving, gentle, etc.)
• She is the most amazing mom in the world. It always touches me how happy she is to see the boys in the morning even after Titus has woke up at least 4 times throughout the night. The boys never seem to be a nuisance to her. The boys are so well behaved and taken care of. She really is the best mom!
• She is a hard worker all the time. I actually respect this attribute and hate it at the same time. Do you know how much pressure it is to live with someone that works hard ALL THE TIME?!
• In seven years of marriage and eight years of dating prior to that, she has NEVER raised her voice at me or said anything mean spirited. That's not easy to do with anyone...especially me.
• And my favorite quality of Mary is that she loves God more than anything. I know she is instilling in our boys the characteristics of God by modeling it for them everyday.

Mary is my best friend and I just wanted you to know how great she is. She has impacted my life in more ways than she could ever know and I really didn't deserve to get her. I always tell her that I tricked her.

Happy Birthday Mary!

Matt

Happy Birthday to Mary

It's hard to believe, but baby face here is thirty years old today. Mary's going to be one of those Dick Clark types who never seems to age. We're all going to be freaked out when she's in her 50s and looking like she just got out of college. Happy Birthday Mary!

Guess Who?

We have another challenge. By the way, Grandma would like to point out that nobody guessed on the last round. And I would like to point out that this is probably because it was OBVIOUSLY EMILY. Having said that, the next one is a bit more of a challenge, and it also happens to feature my great grandfather Thompson, which always brings good memories.

So, guess who:

Beyond Cute

Sarah Blankenhorn, Ladies and Gentlemen

I have to be honest, I never thought I would see the day that Sarah answered the Thompson Questionnaire. I've been hounding her for months, such was my desire to complete the set of my cousins. So I'm pleased to finally present Sarah Blankenhorn:

SARAH



Describe your hairstyle in two words or less.
victoria beckham

What is your favorite song?
I don't know, I have lots...

What is the last thing that totally blew your mind.
Moving in with the b/f and then finding out that one of my closest friends is pregnant...I'm going to be an aunt (well, not by blood)!!!

How's your love life?
Absolutely wonderful
If there's one dessert you could eat until it hurts, what would it be?
Um, I eat every dessert till it hurts...you can't waist all that good stuff

When is your bedtime?
Whenever I get off work...so usually like 1 but lately I'm turning into old balls--like 10:30

Einstein said: "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin. What else does a man need to be happy?" Customize this quote to fit yourself.
A pair of sweats, a cup of coffee, a bowl of fruit, and a pair of running shoes,(and maybe some Coach, Express, Forever21, heels, and a big rock on the finger). What else does a girl need to be happy?

What is your most under appreciated attribute?
My generosity and willingness to give another person the shirt off my back...but it's ok, I enjoy helping other people.

What is your pet's name?
Benny is my cat and Moose is my adopted black lab

How much can you bench press?
What do you mean bench press? HA! Yeah right...I don't need pecks.

Quick, how old are Betty and Leroy Thompson?
I'm not answering that...I will get in trouble...what, aren't they in like their late 30's?

And what are they really doing with all that free time?
Great, make me feel like a horrible granddaughter...I don't know.

Will you announce your candidacy this year?
Probably not, I'm not going to join that conversation--I don't like debates, I will just vote when it's time to vote...peace out!

And... We're Back

Yesterday was the first day since the blog began (not counting weekends) that there was no post. And I bet some of you had a heart attack because of it. Do you see what I've done to you? The ways I've spoiled you?

The reason for this is that I was a moving machine. For about 4 days straight now Kirsten and I have been moving and uninstalling and reinstalling all of Kirst and I's possessions as we've moved from our old house to our new house (big ups to Chris, who helped me with the big truck load Saturday). And can I just say, the new house rules! It's even better and bigger than I realized. But there is a price to pay for all this moving and my body is on fire. The good news is that it will all be over soon. One or two more strong days of this and we should be totally moved in.

So today I asked Claire to deliver a message to the Thompson family. As you can see, my efforts to tickle the silly out of her have been in vain. I'll just have to keep trying.

Grandma Phyllis's Funnies

Friday night Sepporah and Cole want to go for a walk. Sepporah takes Cole's scooter and he takes his tricycle.
Off we go. Sepporah is so athletic that, for it to be fun for her, it has to be fast! So she is zooming ahead of us which puzzles Cole. He questions me about does she know the rules. (Cole is all about rules). I think she knows the rules, but he hollers out, "Porrah, you can't cross the alley without an adult." Then he looks up at me and points his little chubby finger and says, "You're an adult, right?" I said, "Yes, Cole I am an adult."

After we get back, it is time for Cole to go to bed and Sepporah knows we are taking off to go to my house. Sepporah and I have the custom of she gets to do my make up and hair before we go to bed.

Sepporah says to me in front of Cole, "Now we can go do our hair." Cole doesn't know what that means but he is sure he is getting ready to miss out on something. I knew he was thinking and getting ready to ask, so I say, "Cole, doing each other's hair is something girls do." He says, "Oh." He thinks a minute and points up at me again and says, "You're a girl, right?" "Yes Cole, I am a girl, Sepporah is a girl, and you are a boy."

"Oh." he says.

Later that night, after Sepporah has done my make up and hair, she wants me to model. She wants to pick out the outfit for me to wear. She scoots a chair over to my closet, starts looking through the clothes and finally says, "Grandma, you sure have a lot of ugly clothes." She found one top she liked and got it out.
But she was frustrated with my skirt selection (Sepporah loves dresses and skirts and if you notice is always wearing one) She asks me, "Don't you have any skirt that twirls?" I think and remember that I have a peasant skirt. I get it out and her eyes get big and she says, "That's it...now you will be beautiful."

Child Labor

So Kirsten came up with a new idea for her knitting shop, La Femme Monkita, the other day: kid belts. And since we happened to have a model on hand who works for peanuts (actually for GoGurts), Kirsten decided to have a little photo sesh.

See for yourself. The belt concepts were pure Kirsten, but the sass is all Claire:

CLICK HERE

Update on Trish

Trish sits down with Thompson Madness to give us an update.

On Jack (who has been sick):

We just got back from the vet – he is a whopping 9 lbs. (prednisone induced) they drew his blood so we will see! He is the king of the house and doesn’t let you forget it! We are going to Mexico next week and RS will be the caregiver. It’s like running a nursing home for a dog. You have to mush up his food since he has no front teeth, and give him his pills and make sure the chux are down in case he cannot make it outside. But he still brings great joy. And that face, he is still quite the chick magnet. When Mark is in town, he and Jack go to Starbucks every morning. They know them by name. If I am, around forget it. It’s the gorgeous round eyes just like a baby. They gush all over him.

On her job:

I have no life - I work long days. I like the mental stimulation, yet I hate sitting behind a computer. Sometimes I think bed pans aren’t so bad after all. At least you get to get up and move around. I’m just putting in time for the nest egg thing and the joy of blessing my kids now and then.

On decorating:

I am currently re-decorating the interior of our main church campus. It’s a BIG job and the pay is ugh…well there is no pay. I had two women call me just this week but I have no time. The hardest part is making up my mind – I could work with any color scheme and have a great time. I am proposing a radically different look from what they have had, we will see what they decide. It is my fun! When this project is done it will be time for CHRISTMAS TREES!

I wanted to add a new tree this year. Sarah got me started with some pink goodies! I am thinking pink, pink, pink. I need Grandma Thompson’s silver Christmas tree!

On Germany:

Ah land that I love. Due to a new computer system being implemented at work, there is a black out period for time off at work and it happens to be during the time of the Germany outreach. Germany wanted the outreach to be in the fall this year vs. summer. That, and the fact that our pastor resigned and the church is in flux we pulled out of the outreach (I am on the search committee). Mark is going over in November to discuss the relationship between Calvary and Leipzig going forward. We love the country and the people. The church there is running around 300 now. That is the equivalent of Saddleback church here.

On the house:

At this point I could give it away. I am ready for that condo or villa! The garden is more glorious than ever and that is my joy. When the market begins to recover we will transition (he says – I will believe it when I see it. Mark loves this house.)

Cole Doesn't Like It

From Grandma Phyllis:

This weekend Sepporah came to visit. On Friday night I promised Cole and Sepporah that I would take them to the park Saturday.

The time came and I realized Chris was gone__ playing ball with Matthew and I don't have Sepporah's booster seat.
I call Chris and he says since I am only going three blocks, I can just buckle Sepporah in a regular seat belt and I think the problem is solved.

Sepporah was not amused. She is used to riding in the car seat I have in my car, but I had Cole in it since he is three and she is five. She made her case very well....her mom puts her in a car seat, its the law, on and on.
I am driving the three blocks by this time. She is ranting the whole way and no explaining on my part made any sense to her. She concluded her remarks by making that exasperated sound we all make and she made it toward Cole.

Cole says, "Grandma, Sepporah is making tiger sounds at me and I don't like it."

Well Hey There!

Thompson Madness would like to take this opportunity to say "good morning" to Jessica.

Looks like somebody's ready for some egg in the hole.

Mark Reaches the Half-Century Mark

Happy Birthday to Mark, who is 50 today.

Richard Makes the Funny

I'll let Richard take us into the weekend with a truly – um – unique joke:

You know that kid who had sex with his high school teacher a few years ago?

I read online that he died today.

I read that he died from high fiving.

He was in a high fiving accident.

Scott Shares Some Pictures from Last Year's Thanksgiving

Grandpa Leroy's Asking the Questions Now!

Grandpa sent me a quiz of his own for his four children to answer about the vacations they used to take as children. Notice how Scott remembers nearly nothing which means he was either functionally retarded or extremely young. And Stephen doesn't fare much better, probably because he was drawing his butt off the whole time.

1. What was the last thing we did together before taking to the road?

Phyllis: You want us to say, "Prayed" but I'm thinking fighting over who was touching me because they weren't staying in their space in the Rambler.

Stephen: I dunno...

Trish: Wash the Car! No, wash the car then pray! No, pray then wash the car! I can’t remember, how about praying in the carwash?

Scott: car wash

2. What State were we in when someone said, "It sure is green out here in this desert?

Phyllis: Arizona

Stephen: Montana?

Trish: Hmm, who would that someone be? Let’s see, where are the badlands?

Scott: Ummm.

3. How did Steve manage to be in 4 States at one time?

Phyllis: Four Corners...where he talked to the Indian

Stephen: Four corners.

Trish: Why of course the four corners, and a twister like pose!

Scott: Utah, AZ, NM, Col-by standing in the square with hands and feet...

4. What did the World's Biggest Prairie Dog look like?

Phyllis: Cement...and we drove for miles and miles to find him. What a letdown. Gray cement.

Stephen: Big concrete gimmick.

Trish: Like one big hunk of cement laughing at us for being such suckers! (Little did he know what a chuckle we would get remembering! Or maybe he did know.)

Scott: Plastic [Thank you Scott, that will be all. Don't call us, we'll call you!]

5. What Old Creature did the kids ride without a saddle?

Phyllis: Tortoise (sp?)

Stephen: Giant turtle.

Trish: The GIANT Tortoise

Scott: Turtle-would never fly today

6. What was the name of the drug store that had road signs advertising "Free Ice Water?"

Phyllis: I have no recollection of the drug store.

Trish: Hmm, got me.

Scott: ? I was 6

Stephen: Wahl Drugs.

7. What historic event did we hear on radio in a North West State?

Stephen: dunno...

Trish: We get to sleep in a motel tonight?

Scott: Elvis croaked?

Phyllis: I heard of Bobby Kennedy's assassination.

8. How did we sleep 6 people in a station wagon on a stormy night?

Stephen: Tightly.

Phyllis: VERY VERY tightly...

Trish: Did we really sleep? I think the kids slept but I am not sure about mom and dad. Thank God for the Rambler and “pallets”!

Scott: Floors [Is Scott just saying random words at this point?]

9. How did we cook some meals on a picnic table in a park?

Phyllis: Either a tiny BQ grill or dad's cigarette lighter...

Stephen: Sterno.

Trish: Thermo heated pan

Scott: Portable stove with butane canisters [Well look who's awake!]

10. What did the kids get tired of seeing?


Stephen: Mountains

Scott: mountains

Trish: Mountains, Mountains, Mountains, Mountains, Mountains…….

Phyllis: MOUNTAINS!!!!

Phyllis adds:

You forgot to ask what we ate for breakfast every morning in the car.....WHITE POWDERED DONUTS and TANG!

You forgot to ask what was the most frequent backdrop in our family vacation pictures.....PRESIDENTS GRAVES.
We saw more graves and Presidents homes than anything.
There must be 20 pictures of us standing in front of tombstones/monuments. To this day I find them fascinating.

Here's the real question...see if Trish knows....

What sin did mom/grandma commit that she prayed Jesus wouldn't come back during?

Ballin'

I asked Grandma what she's doing with her free time these days. She sent me these:

Kirsten Turns 30 Today

The Devestatingly Handsome Samuel Scott Thompson

We're about to take it to the next level here at Thompson Madness - we're bringing the questionnaire up a generation, to my uncles and aunts. Those of you with keen observational skills will notice that Claire is the only remaining one of the great grandchildren who has yet to take the plunge. This is not an oversight and will be corrected within the week. But for now, we give you Samuel Scott Thompson, who is devastatingly handsome. Or nearly so. Or at least easy on the eyes, or, at the very least, not ugly. Maybe a better way to put it is that he's single.

SCOTT


Describe your hairstyle in two words or less.

3 on the sides, 4 on the top, square the back, no sideburns (cost cutters)

What is your favorite song?

Simple Man, self

Let me get this straight. You're listing one of your own songs as your favorite?

That's right

What is the last thing that totally blew your mind.

The aftermath of the storm the other night. It left a full rainbow. It was heaven-like

How's your love life?

I'm 43, rich, and good looking. Need I say more.

Please, don't. If there's one dessert you could eat until it hurts, what would it be?

Ice cream in a quart with a Kirsten-made cozy to keep the distance between by fingers

When is your bedtime?

11-11:30 PM waking up at 12 then 1 as the kids come in. Can't wait for school and the 10:00 PM curfew!

Einstein said: "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin. What else does a man need to be happy?" Customize this quote to fit yourself.

A motorcycle, a hot lady friend, a red bull, and a guitar. What else does a man need to be in the throes of a midlife crisis?

What is your most under appreciated attribute?

My humility

What is your pet's name?

BoBo

Named after the phrase for Bohemian Bourgeoisie coined by David Brookes in his scathing examination of the aesthetic upper middle class "BoBos in Paradise?"

No, I just thought BoBo sounded cute.

How much can you bench press?

Not as much as my nephew Ch--------- [Edited for good reason]

Quick, how old are Betty and Leroy Thompson?

75 and 77

And what are they really doing with all that free time?

Flowers, friends, senior discounts at Hardees

Will you announce your candidacy this year?

I already have a lifetime appointment as head of my house

Chris's Birthday

Just a reminder that Chris's birthday is tomorrow (Saturday). Happy 31st Cosmo!

From Grandma's Vault

A new Guess Who?

Steve, Karen and yet another Bulldog: Lily.

The Thompson socialite society:

Possibly the cutest picture ever:

Daddy's Getting Published

So, this isn't THAT big of a deal. It's more cool than anything. One of my favorite bands of all time is this group from England called Swervedriver. They're broken up now and there is hardly any press or in-depth literature on the making of their records, records which I have obsessed over. So I came up with an idea a few years ago to do an interview with their leader, and just ask him all the things I had wanted to know, and then publish it as an article (genius, right?). I pitched it to this recording magazine called Tape Op, also a big favorite of mine, and they said yes. Well, after conducting the interview in July of 2006, and submitting it in January of 2007, it's finally come out. And it looks great. I had a photographer friend of mine who lives in New York shoot the guy I interviewed and he did an amazing job. I'm really proud of this, and not just because I've got an article in a magazine, but because I've done a huge service to all the other fans of the band.

Check this out. It's a message board of people who are fans of the band. Remember, the group dissolved in 1998, so there are still people 10 years later finding things to talk about. These people are STARVED for new info, and I just dropped a huge juicy steak on their plate. If you look at the boards, you'll see some really nice things people are saying about the piece, as well as a scan of the article itself.

Click here for the message boards.

Car Shots

These three pics were sent to me by Matt and Kirsten. They are of cute children in cars.

Tyrus Design/Dan Loves Proofreading

Chris is still working out the bugs, but here's where his site is standing:

http://tyrusdesign.com/

Anybody who knows a small business that wants to be Chris's guinea pig, how about letting him know. The brother needs to get to work if he's going to hire me and get me out of my lousy contract jobs. And while I'm on that topic, I started a new contract job today, which is somehow even lousier than one I was at the two weeks previous, which was somehow even lousier than the one I was at before that. I'm sensing a theme here...

If you guys have anything for the blog you better send it, because I'm grouchy and if you leave the blog all to me this week it's going to be a real downer.

Daniel

Finally!

I'm sure many of you have noticed a quiet new voice popping up in the comments sections of Thompson Madness recently. That would be Kristen, my sweetheart cousin, whom I will always remember as being one of the cutest toddlers in the history of the world. All I can say is, some things never change. She's just as cute, just as sweet as an adult.

I was finally able to get her to answer the Thompson Questionnaire, but had to track her down in between visits to the pet store and typing out texts on her sidekick. It was worth the effort.

KRISTEN

Describe your hairstyle in two words or less.

always changing

What is your favorite song?

when the lights go down by journey

What is the last thing that totally blew your mind.

gas prices of course!

How's your love life?

complicated

If there's one dessert you could eat until it hurts, what would it be?

carmel popcorn

When is your bedtime?

depends on the day...usually like 11

Einstein said: "A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin. What else does a man need to be happy?" Customize this quote to fit yourself.

my family, my dogs, and my sidekick. What else does a girl need to be happy?

What is your most under appreciated attribute?

this is for my mom and dad... my willingness to adopt every animal that needs a home haha.. they get so mad...

What is your pet's name?

oliver and charlie

How much can you bench press?

oh, not even the bar !

Quick, how old are Betty and Leroy Thompson?

they gotta be in there late 40s right?

And what are they really doing with all that free time?

playing scrabble for sure.

Will you announce your candidacy this year?

ha! i dont know anything about politics, so...no probly not:)

Happy Birthday to Me

It's true, today I, the oldest Thompson grandkid, turn 32. And I took today off work, not to relax, but to work on a story I have due for a paper. That's the nature of my life, never a free second. So I've got to get cracking on that.

Here's something I posted the other day on my personal blog that involves Claire. She's pretty hilarious in the way she can be so cold to me sometimes. Oh, she got me an electric screwdriver for my birthday. Her idea.

Have a good weekend everybody.

-

I really messed up this morning. I know this because of the way I was shouted at by my very disappointed 5-year-old daughter.

Ordinarily, part of Claire's pre-bedtime ritual involves picking and laying out the next day's outfit (which can go one of several ways depending on how contrary she's feeling), but last night the evening kind of got away from us all and she went to bed late without doing this. So when I woke her up this morning I said, "Are you cool with picking out your clothes and getting dressed on your own or should I help." She hadn't opened her eyes yet and just mumbled, "I'll do it" before rolling away from me onto her side and trying to delay waking.

A little bit later I was cleaning up around the house and trying to get ready to leave. I grabbed some things in the living room that needed to go into Claire's closet and when I walked through the open door to her room (she hasn't reached the stage of wanting it closed yet) she was instantly apoplectic. "Daddy!" she yelled-growled in a Exorcist voice. "You weren't supposed to come in yet! Ughhh!"

See, what happened was that I ruined the effect of the surprise. She's been dressing herself for a while, but it's still cute to me when she does and we share a "Ta-da" moment when she emerges from the bedroom fully outfitted and blinged out in toy jewelry. I guess in this instance, the stakes were even higher since she was not only dressing herself but selecting the outfit without any adult consultation - and I just had to go ruin the moment. Because I am a bad father.

"I'm sorry!" I barked back. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to come in." I scampered out of the room in a hurry and she slammed the door shut behind me.

After about 10 minutes I was ready to go and Claire had yet to emerge. Her door was still shut and I saw light under the door and heard bustling and singing inside. I knocked on her door and cracked it and said, "Claire, we really need to get g--"

"Daddy! I'm not ready yet!" She shouted, scaring me into hurriedly shut the door. In that instant between opening and closing the door I could see that she had completely changed outfits, which I guess was her way of getting some of her power back, as well as the element of surprise. Oh no, I thought, now that I've seen her new outfit before the unveiling she's going to want to to have another wardrobe change again - I know it.

Yeah, she did.

"I'm not sure which outfit I like the best," I said as we drove to her daycare. "The first, second or third... it's a tough call."

"Guess which one I think is the best?" she asked, grinning.

"Gee, I don't know. Number three?" I answered.

"Yep."