Snow White
The Cowboy
Playing Games
While attempting to clean my house this morning, I had to stop for play time. Kohen woke up and we played a bit in her room. However, I know if she could talk she would tell her brother and sister to leave her alone and let her play with her toys!!
Got 'Em
Am I cute or what??
and last,but not least would someone take these dang boots off me!!!
Yep, that is what my kids were this morning when I went in to make my picture selections. I was so stressed,embarrassed, and not to mention they were making me a nervous wreck around all of Terri's portraits. When I come out the next time to make our selections, I will so be leaving them with my Mom!! The kids got a big time disappointment lecture in the car! After that crazy episode, I then decided I would early vote. Do I just like torturing myself or what??? I think the kids knew they better not push my buttons while I was voting because they did not say a peep. As we were leaving the polls Kaden happily announced that his Mommy voted for the next President of The United States. I thought that was cute and I'm glad that I'm setting a good example for my kiddos. So, if this Mommy to 3 wild monkeys can make it to the polls to vote so can you. NO EXCUSES ALLOWED. GET OUT TO THE POLLS AND VOTE!!!!!
I openly admit that I'm a Teri Mason fanatic and I subscribe to her blog. Her photography is amazing and I loved looking at all of her blog entries and planning our next family photo opt. I was most delighted when I got home this evening and saw that our proofs were up from our weekend session. I totally dig our new family portrait and OMG, that picture of Kohen is just too adorable!!! I'm heading out tomorrow to see all of our proofs and I can not wait!! I know that I will have a hard time making my selections since they are probably all amazing. So, it looks like I will be relocating our old family portraits upstairs in order to make room for our new family portraits. Thanks again Teri for creating these timeless portraits for us!! See, I'm an addict now and I'm already looking forward to another session!!
Today Kohen is 5 months old!! Happy birthday sweet baby girl. It is so hard to believe that my sweet baby is already 5 months old!! The time is just going by so fast!! Kohen has now perfected rolling. She can roll back to front and front to back. She is completely mesmerized by her brother and sister. She is very verbal and she loves to "talk." She has been quiet the fuss bucket for the last few days and I very much believe that she is on the verge of getting teeth. Kohen is also a spitting/raspberry blowing Llama. It is too cute and we all get a kick out of seeing her do this. I think she really likes being the center of attention. Well, I'm off to bake cupcakes so we can have a mini party for Kohen. The kids love singing happy birthday to her and I love having a reason to bake and eat cupcakes.
On Saturday the kids, Ken, and I all headed out to visit Teri Mason again for our new family photos and Christmas cards. The kids or I guess I should say mainly Kaden and Kensley were being pretty stinky. Ken and I were getting a little irritated with them, but I knew that I really had no need to stress because Teri is fast on the trigger and I know she got some prefect shots. I can not wait to go back next Tuesday for my viewing session. Of course, once I see our pics, I will share with the all of you!! Teri is a phenomenal photographer and if you are in need of a photographer you should definitely check her out. She did my maternity, family, and Kohen's newborn photographs earlier this year. Her work is priceless and timeless!! I know that Ken and I will be using Teri as our family photographer for years to come. Eventually I want to do beach photographs so maybe that is what we will plan for our next family portrait. Can you guys tell that I'm obsessed with pictures??? Anyway, go check her site Teri Mason and Blog out!!
On Thursday, I was planning on attending with Kohen The She Etc. Spa's 4th annual wine and cheese/book launch for Queen's Don't Toot, a little girl's etiquette book written by Spa owner Sandra Dronet and her daughter Shawn Trotter. I wanted to get signed copies for both of the girls. K&K were living it up a Nanu and Papu's and I figured it would be easy enough to hop in and out with just Kohen. Well, my dear husband worked from home on Thurday so I ended up talking him into going with Kohen and I. We had a lot of fun and got to enjoy some wine and cheese and I got the girls their signed books. I also think I gave Ken a few ideas for Christmas for me:-) Hint, hint....a day at the spa for Mommy would be a very nice gift!! Afterwards, Ken and I headed over to Dos Salas for someMexican food and drinks. Kohen was such a breeze and she did not fuss at all. Having only one kiddo with us was super easy and Ken and I actually felt like we got a mini date night in.
Loved,loved,loved our pumpkin patch pictures taken by Mary Barnett!! They all turned out so cute and I really had a hard time picking my favs out. Here are the proofs that I ended up selecting. How cute are these?? I ended up ordering pics 1,3,5,and7. 
These are going to look so cute with all of my fall decor. I now need to go and buy frames so that I can frame them when they come in next week!! Boy, it is a picture taking/spending week because on Saturday, we are going to go visit Terri Mason again. We are getting new family pictures made along with our Christmas cards. I'm super excited about those as well!!
I am potty proud!! Today Kensley wore big girl undies all day and she only had 2 accidents. Once was while Mommy was on the phone so I'll take the hit on that one and the other one happened while she was busy playing. I think today went really well. I really hope we are on the road to eventually becoming potty trained. She was such a big girl wearing her undies to Kaden's Kung Fu lesson. However, I just hate public bathrooms and of course she wanted to take everything off to go tee-tee. So, I cleaned and covered the seat and she tinkled tinkled in the potty. I did put her in a diaper for bed so we will see if she wakes up dry again tomorrow. I hope day 2 goes as well as day 1 went. Fingers and toes crossed.
Just wanted to quickly thank you for the Halloween package. The kids love getting mail and they were so excited that the package was for them yesterday. The candy was a big hit with K&K and Kohen will look super duper cute in her Pumpkin bib. Thanks again for the sweet package and for making their day!! Love you and hope to see you soon.
I am so DONE with Kensley being in diapers. She goes through her moods where there are days when she has interests in the potty and then there are those days that she could probably wear a diaper forever. Then there are those Mommy days when it seems like we always have something going on and I just do not feel like the hassle. The past couple of mornings she has woken up dry and today she was dry again so I said off with the diaper. She peed on the potty and then we put her princess underwear on. Today I am staying at home until we go to Kung Fu and I'm dedicating today to the potty. We will see how it goes. Courtney and I were talking yesterday and we just wish there was a magic button we could push and out little ones would automatically be potty trained. How great would that be???
Today I set out to find the kids their Halloween costumes and I am happy to announce that I accomplished my mission. I threw out all of my ideas for coordinating outfits and I just let the kids be kids and I let them pick out their costumes. Here is what they picked out.
Yes, indeed it has been a busy day at the Thompson household!! After our photo shoot we went straight to Kung Fu. Kaden passed his testing tonight and he got a new belt!! Ken and I were so proud of him and that is an understatement. Okay, so we were the dorky parents giving each other high 5's with tears of joy in our eyes and snapping pictures like tourists because we were so proud of him. Okay, maybe Ken did not have tears, but I did. After Kaden got his new belt he gave his old one to Kensley. Ken and I were totally blown away because it is usally a cold day in your know where when Kaden actually gives something to his sister, lol. WTG Kaden!! We are so proud of you!!
Okay guys, there you have it. This post concludes my blog-a-thon!! The kids were sleeping and I had some me time and figured I would just get it all out!! Hope I did not bore you to tears wtih my rambling. Now, I'm off to do something other than blogging!!
Today I took the kids to have their pictures taken in a local pumpkin patch with local photographer, Mary Barnett
I can not wait until our viewing session. I know she got a ton of great shots and I can not wait to see them on Thursday. Kohen fell asleep during the session and we took some pics of her sleeping in the hay and I know they are going to be priceless!! Well, that is at least what I am going to tell Ken because he is going to make me get a job with my photography obsession!! Oh well, I'll just blame this one on Courtney, since she told me about this photo opt. She took her little hams there last week to have their pictures made and I know Mary got some great ones of them.
Here are some amateur pics of took of the kids today. I was warming them up so that they would be all smiles for Mary.
It is funny how I feel like we live in the country now that we have moved. Trust me, by all means we do not live in the country, but I guess the reason why it feels that way is because there are not restaurants on every corner and I have to drive more than 5 minutes to get somewhere. However, I really had to question if we lived in the country or not when Ken showed me these pictures of a roadrunner that he took on our fence today. This thing was huge and it really could eat a small child,lol. I once again asked, are you sure we do not live in the country???
Today Kohen finally rolled over and it was not by accident!!! Houston, we've got a ROLLER!!! Kohen has finally hit her rolling milestone at 4.5 months. Oh my goodness, it is crazy to think that our baby girl is going to be 5 months on the 26th of this month!!
Roll baby roll!!! We are so proud of your Kohen!!!
After I mowed the backyard yesterday this is what I found.....
Maybe one day..cough, cough, I guess I should say one year, we like to be able to put in a pool. Until then, it looks like Kaden will just have to dream and be content with the kiddie pool.
This weekend was a breath of fresh air and just what we needed after the rough week we had last week. Diana and her crew came to visit us and we had so much fun. The Davis crew arrived around noon on Saturday and the whole crew was in overdrive until they left yesterday afternoon. Diana and I had a chance to catch up while the kids played like crazy. After lunch on Saturday we headed to The Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to visit their pumpkin patch. The kids got to stuff a scarecrow, went on a hay ride, jump into a hay stack and etc. It was crazy hot, but the kids had a great time. Here are some pics.
Jumping in haystack
I think Diana had more fun stuffing the scarecrow than the kids did:-)
Hay maze
Lil Pumpkin Kowie
Since we were in Elgin, we had to stop at the Southside Market to pick up some famous Elgin smoked sausage. We then returned home for some grilling and football. All I can say is yum-o and Hook 'Em Horns!! Since the kids were not too interested in football, we carved some Jack-o-lanterns in a girls vs. boys style. Nolan and Kaden went for the scary jack-o-lantern, while Kensley and Leslie went for Happy Jack. The kids then proceeded to play and party past bed time. Finally, we all crashed out for bed.
Just wanted to give fair warning that I'm about to have a blog-a-ton,lol. There are several events that are blog worthy so I just wanted to give you all a heads up!!
Here are a few events that are coming up that I wanted to mention.
This Friday and Saturday my MOPS group is hosting a craft fair that should be lots of fun. It will be at the Church of the Nazarene. This is also the church that Ken and I have been attending the past few Sundays. The show will be from 11-6 on Friday and 11-4 on Saturday. New this year is a FREE Kids Carnival Saturday only! It will have moonwalks, cotton candy, cakewalk and more...
Come bring your friends for shopping and lots of fun! Ken and I plan on heading there after our photo shoot on Saturday. Hope to see you there.
Also another fun event happening in November is The Babes in Toyland Market and Style show, sponsored by the Round Rock Women's Chaparral group,which is a philanthropic organization serving the Williamson County area through grants, scholarships and community service projects. The event will take place Sunday November 9th at the Dell Diamond. They will have shopping from 12-7. The YMCA will then host a FUN! fashion/style show at 7:00 benefiting their Strong Kids Campaign. The tickets for shopping and style show are $40.00 and will only be presold. There are only a limited number of tickets for both shopping and the style show due to the limited number of seats at the show. They are also going to have a Santa there with a local photographer taking pictures, so bring your kiddos out early! No waiting in line at the mall!!!!! Tickets can be purchased on-line or feel free to contact Courtney to make arrangements for a pick up/delivery. Hope to see you there!! Here's the website if you want to purchase tickets on-line http://www.rrchaps.org/
Today we closed another chapter in our life and it officially SUCKED!! I think I pretty much sat around and cried all day because I knew that today would be the last day that I would have with Hendrix. Last night my parents came to Kaden's Kung Fu and they took K&K home with them so that they would not be around today since today would be a hard and emotional day. I was so glad that Kohen and I just got to hang out and spent time with Hendog. Today while I was eating lunch he showed interest in my lasagna so I gave him some and he ate it up. I then said what the heck and gave him a plate full. He ate until he was full. That was the 1st time in a about 2 days that he actually ate something. His little belly was full and it made he happy to actually see him eat. After that we just hung out on the couch and I just loved on him as much as I could. Ken came home around 3 today and we headed to the Vet. He sat in my lap the entire way there and I could just not hold back the tears. Ken and I were both a mess by the time we got to Koy's Animal Clinic. Dr. Koy and his staff were great and they made it as pain free as they possibly could for us. Dr. Koy said that he commended us for doing what we were doing and that if it were his pet he would do the same thing. He said that normally he would not wave the white surrender flag, but in this case the outlook was just too grim. If we prolonged his life he would just keep suffering and only get worse. Ken and I just could not do that to Hendrix. I had some comfort in hearing what Dr. Koy said, but gosh it hurt like hell. Ken and I both held him while they gave him the injection and he went peacefully. I am glad that we were there with him and that he was not alone. I have some peace and closure knowing that he is now resting peacefully and is no longer in any pain. Hendrix was truly a man's best friend and he will be missed greatly. It was so weird coming home and Hendrix not greeting us at the door. Our house and my heart feels so empty. I know in time it will get better, but gosh this just sucks!! Ken and I did decide on doing an individual cremation and in the spring we plan a tree with Gat and Hen's ashes in honor of their memory. Last but not least, I want to thank all of our our friends/family for calling, emailing, blog commenting, and etc to check on us. That really meant a lot to Ken and I. Having all of your love and support today really helped us find comfort.
Today I had a follow up appt with a specialist on Hendrix and the news was pretty devastating. Hendrix indeed does have chronic heart valve disease, but that's not the kicker. When the Dr. was doing the ultrasound on his heart she happened to notice a mass on his liver. She came back out and discussed and then she wanted to do an abdominal scan. I agreed and basically all of Hendrix's internal organs have masses on them. I just broke down. The kids were totally acting up, the Dr wanted to know if I wanted the masses biopsied and etc. I was just at a loss for words. We discussed and the prognosis included Lymphoma and other mestastic cancer along with his valve disease. If we did go for treatments it would include chemotherapy,oral medication, and cbc's on a weekly basis and I just can not handle that along with the financial burden. I love Hendrix with all my heart, but I just can not watch him suffer. He stopped eating again today and I just have a heavy heart. All of the masses have developed within a years time. Last year he had x-rays and scans done when he ran away and we thought that he had gotten run over. All of those scans came back fine. So, whatever has taken over his body has been fast and furious. I had no indications that anything was wrong with him until our move and all the time I thought the problems he was having were stress related from moving. Tomorrow I will speak with our family veterinarian and make arrangements on doing something that I never ever thought that I would have to do. I do not want him to suffer. I'm totally torn and I'm having an ethical battle in my head, but I just want him to be at peace if that makes sense. I'm just so sad because Hendrix was my 1st baby. I remember the day I brought him home. I was in college and Diana was my roommate at the time. I remember telling her...surprise, I bought a dog today and the rest was history. Hendrix is a little over 11yrs old and I'm thankful for all the good years I've had with him. There will never be another Hendrix. Actually, the Thompson household is going to be pet free for sometime because this is just too hard. We lost our cat earlier this year and now our dog. Yep, I'm done for sometime now.
The kids are back to normal now. Not sure what that was all about, but by the afternoon they were bouncing off the walls and never threw up again. Like a friend of my mentioned, that's kids for you!! So the kids are all better now, but Hendrix is not. He was acting very sluggish today and the labs came back with some elevated levels and he has stopped eating again. He would not touch his food today. Tomorrow afternoon, I have a follow up and we will see if we can get some more information as to what is going on with him and to what extent.
It's going to be a long day. K&K both woke up complaining of their tummies hurting. I just figured it was because they were hungry because they did not eat dinner very well last night. I was over in the kitchen making breakfast when I heard the lovely sound of puke hitting the couch. Thanks goodness for leather,lol. Yep, that was little Lu Lu barfing. I got Kensley all cleaned up and settled down on the couch and then talked to Courtney. We were supposed to meet up at Jungle Java today, but we had to cancel. Pretty much as soon as I got off the phone Kaden said he needed to throw up. I ran him over to the trash can and he immediately started barfing. Just when I thought he was done and he looked up at me and then puked all over the kitchen floor. Needless to say, I have some major disinfecting that needs to take place. Righ now both kiddos are watching cartoons on the couch and I'm feeding Kohen, hence my chance to blog:-) It appears that today is going to be a long day.
First, I'll start off by saying that Kaden's leg is doing much better. The reaction site stopped growing and started shrinking. It is just slightly red now and nowhere near as bad as last years reaction. So, the good news is it looks like we will not have to go to the Pedi tomorrow for a follow up. Yeah!!
Today Ken and I loaded up the kids after lunch and we headed to Zilker Park for the Dinoland exhibit. If you have a dino lover in your family this is a must see!! We had a great time and there were so many things for the kids to do and see. At first Kensley was a little scared and kept asking if the Dino's were real, but by the end of the exhibit she was roaring like a T-Rex. Here are pics from our outing today:
Let me tell you, Leslie aka Leslie Lu knows how to party. Kensley was in heaven at Leslie's 4th birthday party. The girls all had so much fun and I had a blast watching them. Kensley was all smiles. She played so hard that she crashed out within 5 minutes of being in the car and slept the entire way home!! Thanks so much for inviting us Leslie. We had a blast and can not wait to see you guys again!!
For my MOPS group I needed a family photo for our directory and I did not want to use our last professional family photo because I was pregnant with Kohen. So, I figured a pic of us all decked out in our burnt orange for game day would be perfect. Do you know how hard it is to get all 3 kids to smile at the same time....well, let me tell you it is impossible!! This is about as good as it is going to get. Did the Longhorn rock on Saturday or what??? Hook 'Em horns!!
It appears that once again Kaden has had an allergic reaction to one of his vaccinations. This happened last yr and his leg swelled up and he had a huge mark that kept growing and growing. We ended up seeing the Pedi several times last yr to make sure that he was not getting cellitius. The mark ended up being the size of a football and took several months before it finally faded away. Last year it was the leg where he received the DTP and flu shot and the Pedi said there had been several reported cases of allergic reactions to the DTP in 4yr olds with the CDC and that's what we figured Kaden was reacting to. Well on Thursday of this week he had his booster chicken pox shot and a flu shot and guess what.... The injection site puffed up, is extremely red, hot to the touch, and is growing in size. It started off about the size of a quarter and now it is golf ball size. I traced it with a marker last night and the redness has grown outside the tracing. I'm going to call the Pedi this am just so they can mark it in his file. It's hot to the touch and Kaden says it itchy just like last time. Since this is the 2nd time this has happened, I am now thinking he might have an allergic reaction to the flu vaccination since this is the same type of reaction he had last year....weird. Prior to last year he has never had any type of allergic reactions to any of his vaccinations.
Yesterday and today I had well checks for the kiddos and our dog. Kaden and Kensley's were both yesterday and I swear that I needed a stiff drink after their appt. My Mom went with me, but I was breaking out in a sweat by the time we left. Both of the kids are doing great and Kaden is now 25% for weight and height (38lbs and 42" tall) and Kensley is finally up from the 5% to the 10% in weight and around the 50% for height (25lbs and 35" tall) So, the kids are healthy and doing great, but boy getting their shots was a PITA!!! Kensley only had to get the flu shot. She went 1st and was screaming her head off and then Kaden went next and was already pitching a fit before he even got his shots. He needed a chicken pox booster and the flu. It took the nurse, my Mom, and myself to hold him down. He is now done with all of his vacinations. From here on out he will just get his yearly flu. Kaden was a fighter yesterday. He screamed the entire way out of the Pedi saying he hated shots and hated going to the Pedi and on and on and on. As soon as we got in the car he had already forgotten all about it. After that appt went jetted on home to pick up Hendrix and went to the vet. Hendog has not gone well with the move and he has lost a ton of weight, not wanting to eat, acting really weird, and started throwing up this week so I figured I better make an appt since it appears to maybe not be stressed related. Poor Hendog is down to 14lbs. He normally is around 18-20 lbs. The Doc found that Hendrix has a significant heart mummer that has developed since his last year's well check and the Dr seems to think Hendrix has a bacterial infection in his heart, aka Endocardoitis with all of the symptons Hendrix has been exhibiting. We will know more when we get the lab results on Monday. Right now Hendog is on antibiotics and an anti nausea medication several times a day and on special food. He is doing better at keeping his food down and has perked up some, but not a ton. The Vet may want to refer us to a Cardiologist based on the lab results. We will know more when we get the CBC results back and see where we go from there. So, there's Hendrix's not so good well check report.
Today, I had Kohen's well check and she is the happiest baby on the block. She had an awesome well check and it was so nice to just have some 1:1 time with Kohen. My Mom watched K&K so I did not have to drag them back to the pedi. Kohen is hitting all of her 4 month mile stones, well that is except for rolling. She can spin in a circle, but not roll over yet. The Pedi said it would probably happen any day now so she is not worried about it. Kohen is now weighs 14.2.5lbs and is 25 inches long. She's my long and lean gal. She is in the 75% for both height and weight. The Pedi told me I did not have to start cereal or solids until 6 months and I'm totally fine with that. I started Kaden on solids at 6 months and Kensley at 9 months so I'm in no hurry. Kohen did have to get 5 vaccines today:-( However, she did really great. The 1st one she didn't even realize what happened, the 2nd one she puckered up, and then the rest was history. As soon as it was over I picked her up, nursed her, gave her some Tylenol, and then she was all smiles again. She fell asleep on the way home and is still napping. I hope she is not in too much pain when she wakes up. Last time she had a hard time with her shots. There you have it....the Thompson's well check-a-thon!!
Gosh, are you kidding me....4 years has already gone by??? Wow, that was super duper fast!! I still remember when I got the call from your Mommy and Daddy that you had been born. I jetted off from work and ran to the hospital. I was so super excited to meet you and Kaden was so super excited that he had a new friend. Hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday and we can not wait to see you this weekend at your party!! We love you!!!
This morning Kensley had a dental appointment/check up and she did wonderful. She sat so still while they cleaned and polished her teeth. She got an A+ report card from the dentist. I was so surprised that she did so well. The dentist told her she had beautiful princess teeth. Needless to say, she loved hearing that and could not wait until we met up with Daddy for lunch to tell him all about her princess teeth. Today Sleeping Beauty is being released from the Disney vault, so I guess I will have to reward my "Princess" with a princess movie for super appointment.
I know this post is worthless without pics, but camera battery is dead. Somewhere my camera bag is packed up with my battery charger and I am going nuts not being able to take pics. Maybe this weekend when we tackle the garage it will show up. Kohen is napping in her crib for the 1st time!! This past weekend Ken got her crib assembled and we started working on her room. Her room is coming together and it looks soo cute. She looks so sweet sleeping in her crib. Soon as I'm able to locate my charger and get my camera charged, I will post pics.
Hey Sister,
Enjoy your last birthday in your twenties:-) Next year girlie you will be joining me in the 30-something club, hee hee. Hope you have a wonderful day and we are looking forward to joining you for your birthday dinner tomorrow night. I love you!! Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday Auntie Chur-Chur!!! We love you!!
Hugs and Kisses
Kaden,Kensley,and Kohen
Well, that is party like kid rock stars,lol. Our weekend was packed with parties yesterday. We left the house yesterday at 10 am and did not get home until 10pm last night. We were gone all day, we did 3 parties in 1 day!! The kids had so much fun, but were offically exhausted as well as Ken and I. However, we somehow manged to get out of bed, get dressed, and headed to church this morning and the rest of the day was history. Not sure where the day went, but it flew by!!! I should be going to bed right now, but I'm trying to catch up on house work and trying to unpack the last few boxes.
