Meet Bryan Cassidy...my son in law to be

I stole pics from Kristen's Facebook. They'll probably not like this but hey, they'll forgive me. Bryan is a really nice young man and I am anxious to have him be part of our thompsonzoo. (He likes dogs too so he'll fit right in.) I can't do justice to a bio for him but I know he's a life long Edwardsville-ian, is a Cardinals fan, a Blue's fan, and a Kristen fan. All good traits. : )

Anyway, you know he loves Kristen because he was recently spotted by a friend walking down the road with Kristen carrying a fishing net. When asked what he was doing he replied, "Helping Kristen look for tadpoles". That's commitment. Only Kristen wants a frog as a pet. : ) And in the pics you'll notice he and Kristen get out a lot--why most of the pics are them taking pics of themselves with the phone camera. He keeps up with her.

He's also been seen walking or running with Charlie, the pug, so he's got a good heart. (Karen and I really like him) I think he's still trying to get used to the Thompson sense of humor but Kristen has oodles of it and he's not run away yet so I think he'll fit right in with us all.

So, Bryan Cassidy and Kristen. Kristen Cassidy to be...

Pipe Down

I should explain before you see this video that we have a family inside joke in which we constantly tell each other to pipe down. It's become a game to see how unexpected you can make a "pipe down" come for the recipient, or to use it in a creative way. For instance, Claire might say, "I would love a glass of chocolate milk right now," and I would reply, "Too bad you're getting a glass of pipe down instead."

Anyway, this is just Claire in one of her amped up moods, which she's pretty much in every time we sit down to dinner or to play a game. I don't know what to do with her. In case you can't understand it, her joke is that when her hair finally grows down to her feet, she's going to let her grandpa mow it with his lawnmower.

As The World Turns, in our family.

So...May is a big month. Lots happening...

1) I get my motorcycle license on the 5th. Cinco de mayo!

2) Karen does her first jewelry market the 8th.

3) Karen rules the roost on the 9th--Mother's Day.

4) Nathan graduates college on the 16th.

5) Kristen gets married to Bryan on the 22nd.

6) I take an extended nap the week of the 24th. Whew.

Yes, a lot is happening in the Thompson zoo. And we're excited about it all. We've always wanted a motorcycle (except for Karen)--a Harley. And Karen has always wanted to sell her jewelery (me too). We've always been a fan of Mother's Day (and Karen). We're thrilled to get Nathan off our books (budget-wise). And proud of him for graduating. We love Bryan (and Kristen) and are excited that our family is adding another. That they found each other (cool story). It's all good, albeit a busy busy month!

Watch your mailboxes. I think they're sending invitations. But as we go it's not a guarantee. : )

Only sad note: The dogs are a bit mad that they're not getting all the attention for the month. So if anyone wants to come dog sit let us know. Our little red barn is always open.

Cheers,

Stephen

HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!!!

Titus Doesn't Want To Go To Bed

This is the exchange between Titus and me where he argues that it's
morning time when it's really 8pm.

Michigan Easter

I thought I would post a few pictures from the Johnson-Buys Easter festivities, which included dyeing eggs, living room egg-hunting with Claire and a BBQ with friends, followed by a Kirsten-Claire fun day to kick off her spring break on Monday.

This one was a little tough to find.

She found it!

Homemade Easter egg collecting basket.

(You'll see Daniel's leg in the background... After far too many in the past,
I've vowed to keep photographs of Daniel in sweatpants off of the Internet)

Playing a little Track Ball at the BBQ

Some of our friends have really cute dogs.
(Note: If you have a dog or baby, Claire's all yours for the day)

She made custom drawings for several of our guests. This was my Easter monkey.

The next day, Claire and I had a girls day out. First, we hit up the library, where Claire picked up some books about spiders and a DVD of the 1975 classic "Escape to Witch Mountain."

After scarfing an entire pizza, she still found room for the sundae that came with her lunch.

We stopped at Target to pick up some new summer skirts, then popped over to the theater next door for a matinee of the new 3-D movie, "How to Train Your Dragon."

Still stuffed from lunch, we opted for Ring Pops for our movie snack.

Call us crazy...

Yup. We've added another. Only this time he's a big smash face. (We love ugly...)

He's a French Mastiff and we've named him Chumley, after the fat dufus on the reality show Pawn Stars. This guy sits on the bullies but they somehow are liking him/it. He drools a tad but only when it's time to eat. He's so funny... And he's just too big and clumsy to chase the cats. He runs in place on our hardwood floors--the cats know that and love to tease him. They know they can be far gone by the time he's even up and attempting to chase.

Now our only problem is not being noticed. Our community has an ordinance against more than 3 dogs in a house. Good thing we have a fenced yard and a neighbor who likes walking our dogs for us. We'll just say it's hers if asked.

Any takers for house sitting during our next vacation?