Did you see what I saw?

My first black Friday shopping experience was a success! We started Thursday around 11pm and I was home by 5:30am. Although there was only one item I really wanted, I ended up getting almost all of the girls Christmas. (Thanks, Amber for waiting and grabbing that Leapster for me) I had a lot of fun with two of my favorite people, we laughed, shopped and laughed even more. Love you girls - LOL!

When I got home, I locked all the stuff in my closet so that Alex could see it and then we were going to put away. To set up the following story, I had just told Lillie on THanksgiving that if she peeked at any of her toys, and I found out, they were going to be taken back to the store.

I was cleaning the bathroom on Saturday and Lillie comes running in and says, "Mom, Gracie's in the closet looking at what you bought!" I rushed in and said, what did you see? Her reply was simple, "Just my vacuum cleaner." The rest of the items were in bags, so I am pretty sure that is all she saw.

I told her that I was going to have to take the toy back. She just cried and cried. I explained that when you peek at stuff you know you aren't supposed to see, then that is what happens. I also said, that if she wanted a vacuum cleaner now, that she would have to ask Santa, because Mom and Dad weren't getting her one.

I was disappointed, not in her since she is only 3 - but that I had to tell her that and she cried. The closet was locked, but just didn't get pulled shut all the way and that is why she was able to get in. :(

Sunday morning, I was getting ready to put Gracie in the shower and she looks at me and says very sweetly, "Mommy, I am sorry I saw my vacuum cleaner yesterday. Did you and Daddy take it back to the store already?" Mommy, "No, Dad will on Monday." Gracie, very sadly, "Mommy, I didn't know I wasn't supposed to see it, I won't peek again."

Sunday afternoon, she came to me with a piece of paper and asked how to write vacuum cleaner. I wrote on one page, and she copied it to her letter. She then gave it to me and said that is her letter to Santa. Very cute!

I am not really going to take it back, and she will still get it, but not from us. She will get it from Santa. However, I am curious as to what you all would do in this case. She is only 3 and I don't believe that she went into my closet just to find the toys, but at the same time she also knew she was not to go in there. How would you handle this? :)

Yes we did

It is before Thanksgiving, and we have our tree up! With the all that is going on in the next week, today felt like the best day to do it.




The girls were so cute while decorating. The tree is definitely not professionally done, but it is done with love (I know cheesy). We don't have a lot of decorations, but enough to enjoy putting them up. I still have to do the lights outside and a few inside.

I have quite a bit of Christmas shopping done, and have paid for very little. We earned a $25 gift card for participating in a survey when we were in Disney last May. With that I was able to purchase 2 presents each for just over $2 out of pocket. Using a Sony gift card we found, from like 2 years ago, we were able to pick up a movie for the girls for free! I have $70 in amazon gift cards just from searching the web (I would have had over $100 but spent part of them for travel games when we went to Disney). I plan on using that to purchase some things for the girls too. This past Tuesday I went to Radio Shack and found Lillie's big present from Santa - Nintendo DS Lite on clearance, saving me $40.

I have never had this many items bought before Christmas and actually it feels really good. I am thinking that I need to start my shopping earlier. I may shop Black Friday, but I am still undecided on that. This would be my first year to shop then, and I am not sure I am ready to take that plunge. lol

Bits and Pieces

It seems like it has been a long time since I have last posted. I think many times - "Oh, I should post that" but unfortunately I don't. :( Hopefully, I don't get too random, but here goes a little update.

Lillie had her first JBQ (Junior Bible Quiz) meet this past Saturday. Her team got 4th place. She has worked hard on the questions, but she was not quick enough to the buzzer. I will say the ride there and back was entertaining as we rode with one of her best friends, Josiah. I love listening to their conversations. Too cute!

School is still going great. She has learned many things and floors me with how quickly she picks up new subjects. I love seeing her excitement as she accomplishes new things. Her favorite subject is science - which has always been my favorite too. ;) She is able to read short sentences and is really good at sounding out words, as long as she is in the right mood. There are days, that are harder than others, but overall I am loving homeschooling her.

Gracie has picked up so much through watching her sister. I have been working a little with her about recognizing numbers and letters. Although I think that Lillie has taught her most of what she knows. Lillie, not only is a good student, but a good teacher! Both of the girls love the website www.starfall.com and I would recommend it to anyone with little ones. It is a fun way to work on letters. It is a fun treat for the girls once in awhile.

We have gone trick-or-treating. Lillie was pretty little cowgirl and Gracie was Jessie from Toy Story.




We are getting ready to put up our Christmas decorations this week. The girls can hardly wait for that. Who am I fooling, I can't wait either! One thing I am excited about is all the really good deals I have gotten so far for the girls. I have several presents already purchased and have spent less than $10. YAY! Maybe I will post later this week about those.

You have probably have had enough to read of my life, so toodles until next time! :)

Super-Dork

I am going to disclose a story to you, not because it tells how awesome I am, but because it shows how God uses everyday life to teach my children (and me) lessons.

Yesterday I decided to fix my rearview mirror with super glue. As I was working, the girls kept coming to the door and distracting me and at some point I got some glue on my fingers which so happen to touch my eyelashes. Yes, I glued my eyelashes together! (feel free to laugh, I am)

Thankfully it was only about 1/4 inch section and I could still open my eye enough to see out of it. I grabbed the package and ran inside, immediately washed my eye with water, but they were still stuck. I read the warning:

I was pretty much in a panic, because I was not going to go to the ER because I glued my eye shut! I called my mom, who said after speaking to my cousin, a RN, to use Vaseline (which I was already) and that should help, otherwise I may have to very carefully trim my eyelashes. So I worked even more diligently because who wants to cut their eyelashes. My mom said she would come over and see if she could help as I was working with only one eye. After several minutes it came loose and I could see again. After calling my mom back and telling her not to come, I got the rest of the glue off (which included several eyelashes) and have no damage to my eye other than a little puffiness.

During all of this Gracie had come into the bathroom with some anointing oil and prayed for me (I honestly didn't realize it because I was too focused on getting my eye opened). She told me afterwards she prayed because she didn't want my to be like this - then she squinted and I told her thanks.

Alex got home from work and I started to tell him about it, to which he did what every good husband would do and laughed. Then he asked how I got it opened. Before I could answer, a very excited Gracie said, "I prayed for mommy and God heard me and made her eye open all the way!"

Now, I am not wanting to glue anything else shut to allow God to teach a lesson, but if thru it all my 3 year old learns that her prays are answered, then I will be an instrument for God.

Playing Opossum

Thought I would share a funny story from this morning.

About 4am Alex and I woke up to the dog barking like crazy. Alex got up to go see what was going on and he found two little eyes peering from behind two old sections of fence that was propped up on the existing fence. So, of course we knew unless that thing left our fence the dog would continue barking causing us to not get anymore sleep nor anyone else in the surrounding houses. Alex got the bebe gun out and shot at it a couple of times, it moved and since it was dark he assumed it left the yard.

However, a few minutes later Tallie started barking again. This time I got up to see what was going on. Alex took a flashlight and broom out to knock over the fence and make sure it was either dead or gone. I laughed as he ran for his life, just in case whatever it was came after him. Well, it was a opossum (but not dead yet, Ryan), a big opossum! Alex told me to watch it as he changed out the bebes for pellets. Of course, I did watch......from a far off distance! He came back out and just in time to watch it start going down our fence line, around the back fence and then towards the house on the other side of the yard. Tallie of course barking and trying to catch it.

At the point it turned towards the house, I ran in because opossums are feisty creatures, I am not wanting to get too close to it. Alex shot at it and then it went under our porch (I know, ugh!). Tallie continued to chase it all the way into her doghouse!!!!! Alex had to shoot it a couple of more times and finally finish it off with a shovel. It was tough thing!!

Anyways, I am sure we were a sight for anyone watching us and because Alex had to go to work, all he did was throw it over our fence so the dog wouldn't play with it. He will take care of it when he gets home.

I am thinking that it may make a great present for my little brother who is quite fond of the rat-like creatures. Better yet, does anyone want to come over for dinner tonight? ;o)

Hearing from God

We have been having revival services at my church (www.crosst.org) for awhile now, and it sparked this conversation with Lillie:

Lillie: You need to have someone pray for you.

Mom: Why

Lillie: So you will hear God talk to you.

Mom: He does talk to me thru His word (Bible), when I pray, thru our pastors, in many different ways... When you pray, ask God to speak to you, it may not be in a voice you hear, but you will know that it is from God.

Lillie: I can pray, but I can't read.

Then she went back to playing with her sister so I let it go. Later today while I was praying:

Lillie: What are you praying for? For me to hear from God?

Mom: Yes. Lillie, you know you can go to the alter and the Pastor will pray for you too.

Lillie: I can?!? Okay, but I don't know if I will.

I don't think I can express how excited I am about my five year old wanting to hear from God.

School Time

I am still here! It has been awhile since my last post, and I thought I would give a brief update of what is going on at the Thompson house.

We have officially started homeschooling! Lillie is doing great, and I am amazed at the fact that I am teaching her. I have seen much improvement on her writing and recognition of vowel sounds over the past several weeks and it is exciting. The other day a commercial came on for "teach your baby to read" (or something like that) and Lillie goes, "Mommy, I want you to teach me to read." Don't get me wrong there are hard days, where it seems impossible to keep her attention, but the benefit of homeschooling..........I can take as many breaks as need to keep my sanity and her attention. I am proud of her and all she has accomplished so far.

Gracie and homeschooling is another story. :) She is actually doing pretty good at adjusting, but still wants to have input on sissy's work and have her own "school" too. I do have several worksheets and activities we do together while Lillie is in class. There are also subjects that both can do together, such as science and social studies. Gracie is picking up at recognizing more letters and numbers and tries very hard to write them. She is having class too, but at a more toned down level and she is more free to go play and stuff in her room.

We have been going outside a lot the past couple of weeks and enjoying this beautiful weather and planning on visiting the Indy zoo here really soon. Thanks to a coupon from facebook, we are getting to go fairly inexpensively. Yay for coupons!!! :)