Slacking. . .

Sorry for the delay in posting.  It has been a long couple of days and then I took a day computer free to relax and recoup from friends visiting.

Since the last blog we have done Sesame Place for the Hip Hop Harry concert, the park with friends, several days of school, dance class and finally yard sale-ing.

Can I say I LOVE yard sales?  Not only do I love yard sales but I LOVE town-wide yard sales.

Twice a year, the town right next to us holds a town-wide yard sale.  You pay ten dollars to post your yard sale and the money raised is donated to charity.  For the ten dollars you get listed on a map that shoppers can pick up at city hall, the fire station and a few other key locations throughout town.  Then from 9-4 you navigate through the insanely crowded streets of small town Metuchen looking for bargains.  It is insane, crazy, packed, even dangerous but oh so much fun!

Normally we are just looking for any great deals but this year we were on a mission.  First up - crazy garage sale lady (that is how she is listed in our Garmin).  She is the lady at the end of a dead end street whose daughter is exactly one year (in sizes) ahead of Chloe and always gives us amazing deals on clothes for her.  She even saves them in bags for us so we get first pick.  After scoring lots of nice warm sleepy pajamas and a few small other things for ten dollars, we are off to look for pants for Belle.  While we have a slew of clothes for Belle from Chloe, we realized that unfortunately everything for this age is for warm weather - I think we have two pairs of pants.  Found a huge sale of baby clothes - slightly on the pricier side so I couldn't go crazy but I did find several pairs of pants, two "outfits" and two dresses - one of which you will see in Christmas pictures for only a DOLLAR!  YAY!

Struck out on finding an outdoor playhouse for a friend from Chloe's dance class but found a hidden treasure when I stopped to buy pink lemonade for Becca and Chloe from a foursome of tweens who decided to take advantage of all these thrifty deal seekers.  Cups of pink lemonade in hand and two dollars shorter (had to tip the great servers!), I peeked at the deals their moms were offering and found six plastic horses.  Chloe is OBSESSED with horses right now but they are freaking expensive in the stores and I am not willing to pay twenty dollars for what might or might not be a phase.  I picked out the four I thought were in the best shape and handed over my three dollars (only wanted 2.20 but I had no change and they were being sold by the aforementioned tweens.  Something about the kids makes me lose all my bargaining abilities - Tip - if you want to make extra money at a garage sale, send your cute kids to collect the money - works EVERY time.). The mom felt bad and handed Chloe and Becca the other two since I had paid extra - it was nice all around.

Finally up on the list, swing by a yard sale on the corner who was selling a Graco swing for ten dollars. We already have a very nice Fisher Price swing that Belle loves but our crib room at church has none so when Jo saw this one for ten she thought we could get it and donate it to the church.  Belle will get a ton of use out of it and then they can have it for future babies.  Then home and officially time for naps for all of us!

Rebecca and Chloe hanging out
at 123 Sesame Street 

On a side note, Miss Belle has truly come into her own with cooing.  She has a new sound that sounds a bit like a rolling of an r mixed with a growl and a coo.  It is soo adorable.  So cute in fact that I made Belle sit in her bouncy seat while I let Mom watch her on Skype and talk to her.  For those of you who don't know what Skype is - it is basically a video phone through your computer.  For those of you who don't use it but have relatives far away I advise you to download and use it often. It is free if you have internet.  I swear by it.  I believe that it is one of the reasons that Chloe had none of the shyness issues with my mom when my mom would come visit after several months of being away. She had talked to her Nonnie several times a month (or week depending on the week) in between visits so she ran to mom like she had seen her the day before.  It rocks! Check it out - Skype!

Good night for now - off to head to bed - church in the morning, then the Count's Halloween Spooktacular event at Sesame Street and then packing for West Virginia for Chloe to visit and Belle to meet the family there!

Just because I can

So this is not really related to the girls but it was part of my awesome weekend and I just had to post.  I have been so torn by all the debates regarding the Mosque that is being built near Ground Zero.  While I feel for the people who lost people on 9/11 (and even those words don't sound right to be given the level of tragedy that the day was), I have felt the need to defend the rights of the people wishing and attempting to build this place of worship.

I fear that we are focusing on the wrong words in the sentence.  Just like we pronounce words wrong when we place the emphasis on the wrong syllable, I think that many are choosing to place emphasis on the world Muslim instead of terrorists.  I choose not to think of the individuals who orchestrated and participated in the tragedy of 9/11 as Muslims but rather as terrorists.  I feel that we are condemning an entire people based on their extremists.  However, as I feel so often in life, I do not feel eloquent enough to speak my mind appropriately without fear of insulting someone or not being able to debate as intelligently as I might.  So I sit by while I receive nasty email after nasty email in regards to this subject or ignore posts on Facebook (which I don't have anymore - yay!) or walk away from conversations after a few minutes because I do not feel that I can do it justice.  I watched horrified at news reports of the minister who wanted to burn the Quran (while yes I agree he has the right to do it, does not believe I think it is right) and I am even more mortified by the fact that this is supposedly a holy man who wants to do this.

So I walk into church Sunday morning waiting for the wonderful feeling I normally get from having finally found a place that feels like home and it arrives as it always does in the smiling faces of the reverends saying hello, the Sunday school teacher sharing a wink with Chloe or just a neighbor in the pew smiling and saying "Peace be with you.".    It was slightly interrupted as I had to rescue Belle from the crib room to feed her but afterwards I walked quietly in the room and caught the middle of Rev. Boyea's sermon.  I am so glad that I did and as soon as they post the link for it this week, I will add it to this post because he said so eloquently everything that I have been feeling in regards to this mosque.  He gently reminded us of Christianity's own violent past and of the violence so often seen in the Bible as well as individuals such as Timothy McVeigh who  were self-proclaimed Christians and terrorists.  We so often leave off the word Christian and focus on the word terrorist as we rightly should.  He asked if we would be so outraged if someone wanted to build a Christian church down the street from the location of the Oklahoma City bombing.  I don't place this on here to argue but rather to give an informed opinion from someone who says what I have wanted to in a much more eloquent way. . . so look for that link in a few days. . ..


Finally - completely off topic of the above. . .as Jody and I were listening to that sermon from the back of the room.  We were sitting behind an elderly couple (at least late 70's if not 80's).  After a few moments, the gentleman put his arm across the back of the pew and rubbed his wife's back for the entire sermon - just a gentle touch that most people wouldn't have even noticed but as if to say after all of these years, he still loves her enough to just want to touch her.  It almost brought tears to my eyes - I hope after 50 years together, Jody and I still love each other that much!

Have a great day all and I will post that link ASAP.

**9-25 - Still no link yet but I will keep checking - it is definitely worth a listen.

Impromptu Trip to NYC

So I said it would be a few days before I could post again but we had the most amazing weekend that I just had to post!  Our friends were going into the city for the weekend and wondered if we could meet them in Central Park.  We haven't been in for quite awhile and I don't think Chloe even remembers that last time we went let along Central Park so we decided to make a day of it.

After dance class in the morning, we loaded up the girls and headed off to the train.  After wandering through Penn Station in search of a bathroom (note to self, make note of the bathrooms in the future now that we have a potty trained toddler!), we hopped on the subway to Columbus Circle.  We leisurely walked to a pretty area of Central Park and had lunch on a rock.

One of the ONLY photos you will ever see of me LOL

We then headed to the giant playground in the background that kept distracting Chloe from eating . . ."But Mommy, it has TWO slides and FIVE swings!!!!" LOL.

Chloe had a blast in the giant sandbox with jungle gyms, slides, swing, etc

On our way to the carousel, Chloe was joined by Aidan and more fun ensued via the horses, the swings and then rock climbing in Central Park (for those of you who have never been - they have some AWESOME rocks to climb).

Cute right? 

Chloe wanting to climb the steepest part! 

Having conquered the "mountain",
she ran on top so excited!

Then it was time for Aidan's nap so we headed out of Central Park to meet up with some other friends from Florida.  One of our sorority sisters surprised her fiancée with a trip to her old stomping grounds and we got to meet up with them.  (BTW - Miriam if you are reading this -we think she rocks! Congrats and can't wait for the wedding in June!)  After a long but nice walk from Central Park to Times Square and back up to 52 Street, we ate at a ridiculously expensive TGI Fridays (albeit a good one!).

Jenn and Miriam with Belle

I think Belle is officially in love with Miriam because she held her the entire walk facing out so that she got  to see all the sights and people of New York!

By the time dinner was over and we walked back to Penn Station (mind you our feet are killing us by this point but the day was so beautiful that we just could not stand to be stuck in the subway after the first ride), it was almost nine oclock - way past Miss Chloe's bedtime (esp with no nap) but she was an angel.  I think she too just got how awesome a day it had been!

Typical NY/NJ people were incredibly rude on the train leaving us to all stand since we made it on the train at the very last minute (courtesy of a broken elevator to our platform that meant carrying a double stroller down stairs at Penn) but even they couldn't ruin our mood from a wonderful day.

I hope to have so many more of them!!!  As soon as I upload pics, I will update from our trip to Sesame Place with Rebecca and Chris where Chloe and Rebecca got to see Hip Hop Harry in concert.

The Zoo and Aidan comes to visit

So it will probably be a few days between posts.  Dear friends from Florida have come up to visit with Chloe's first boyfriend Aidan.

Since the last post, Chloe has had her first visit to the Turtleback Zoo (any friends or family in the NJ/NY area should definitely check it out - it ROCKS!).   Train rides, llamas, pony rides and a bird aviary made for a fun afternoon with her buddy Emily from dance class.  The bird aviary was def. my favorite as we  got Popsicle sticks with bird seed on them and parakeets would sit on our hands and sticks to get to the seeds. Chloe, however, was not a fan!

Mommy trying to show Chloe how not to be scared!

Then the fun began as Aidan, Mel and Christie arrived in NJ for their annual friendly visit.  A calm Thursday (minus an hour of craziness as Aidan, Chloe and Rebecca played together!) was spent at home recovering from the travel and then it was off to the farm for unlimited pony rides, hay pyramids, corn kingdoms and tractor rides.  Time to show those city folk how us country folk roll - LOL!!!

Chloe and Aidan conquer the hay pyramid!

Chloe and Aidan on their wagon rides pulled by a tractor around the farm

Chloe LOVED the moon bounce!

After the farm and quick naps, the kids went on a walk looking for acorns, deer and lightning bugs (1 out of 3 - not so good but they enjoyed it!)

That is about all for now . . .dance class, another trip to the zoo and something else (not sure what yet) are still in the works for the Llera-Cohn family heads back to South Florida so I will probably catch up with you all in a few days!!  Oh and just so you don't think she has been forgotten - Miss Belle has done her usual and slept through all of our adventures :) Have a great couple of days and much love to all!!

First Day of School

Chloe outside school

So it was a successful day with not a single tear shed by either Chloe, Mommy or Momma!  Chloe arrived at school early with her Jessie backpack and proceeded to make friends with Michael and Jolene.  After numerous pictures later, her teachers arrived and Chloe started to walk into class. Michael proceeded to cry and my little charmer asked Michael if he would hold her hand and walk in with her.  Michael (clearly a genius if he already recognizing what a catch our Chloe is LOL) says ok, grabs her hand, says goodbye to his mom and heads in.  Chloe gets her nametag and a hug from her teacher Mrs Eggert and is directed to a table to play with playdoh.  Michael is directed to the same table but a seat away from Chloe, crying commences until Michael is moved next to Chloe.

The other children continue to look at their parents for re-assurances that all is ok but my girl could care less about Jody and I since she has toys and a new friend.  When the teachers usher us out with the spelling of the word L-E-A-V-E, many tears commence but again, we get not so much as a second look!

We head out to the car, drive home and watch the clock anxiously until it is time to head back out to pick her up.  After arriving half an hour early (oops!), we follow the other parents into the hallway and wait our turn to tell our child's name to the teacher.  Chloe greets us with a gigantic smile and hands us her picture of a "sun" that has the words "My First School Picture" across the top.  Then she tells us about her day of playing dress up, in the kitchen and with new friends.  We arrive home and it is naptime!

I look through her backpack for any instructions or notes in her folder and am immediately hit with Chloe's first school fundraiser.  It is official - my kid is in school, fundraisers and all!

Enjoy the pics!

Chloe under her classroom sign with her apple above her

Chloe's buddy Michael is sitting next to her playing with play-doh

Momma with Chloe outside the Yellow Room 

Had to add one of Belle who just wanted to go home LOL 

Pirates, Zhu-Zhus & Animals Oh My!

Today was a crazy busy day.  Had to drop off forms for Chloe's school (I almost cried outside the building thinking of my big girl starting her first day of school) and then was off to Chloe's eye doctor appointment.

First off let me say that for any of the NJ crowd who is reading this - University Children's Eye Center is AMAZING!  Instead of the typical letter board (which of course most toddlers can't read to begin with), they have line drawings of fun shapes.  In addition, they flip off a light, flip a switch and a dancing/singing stuffed animal lights up in the distance to draw their attention.  It works SOO well and of course completely entertains them.  After an initial exam (during which I thought my kid was blind in one eye - she couldn't see ANYTHING with her bad eye), some eye drops and a second exam, we have officially confirmed that Chloe has strabismus (an eye turn sometimes called lazy eye but is really a wandering eye?!?!)

For the next six weeks (at least), we will have Chloe the pirate girl wearing an adhesive eye patch over her good eye in the hopes of strengthening her bad one.  After six weeks, we go back for a follow up where she might possibly get glasses to help continue to strengthen her eye.  At that appt., based on the findings we might have to continue with the eye patch (boo!), no longer wear the eye patch (yay!) or have more serious treatment (big BOO!).  We sign out and splurge on the fancy eye patches (hey if she has to wear the eye patch for two hours a day for a minimum of six weeks, who am I to say she can't have the stylish ones!).

Off to CVS we go because I am officially the worst mommy in the world and forgot sunglasses for my poor little kid whose eyes have been dilated to the extreme. While there, they are having a sale on Zhu Zhu pets (which trend we have managed to avoid thus far) and Jody decides to spoil Chloe with one as her reward for being so good at the doctor.  These things are crazy!  They make all kinds of different noises & move on their own (but keep them away from hair, as is warned in three different places).

After CVS, we head out to a farm with Chloe and two of her dance friends.  Unlimited pony rides, hay tunnels, bounce houses, tractor/hay rides, petting zoo and a climbable hay castle quickly had Chloe forgetting the pain of the eye drops and the drama of the eye doctor.  :)  (Thanks Emily and Rebecca for helping with that!)

Then home to eat dinner and play some more.  Becca came over so Chloe and Bec's Zhu Zhu's could have a playdate (LOL) and brought over the Zhu Zhu accessories.  They have this neat house that has different rooms - when the pet crawls through the tunnel leading to a room, it starts to play music or sounds that that reflect the room (ie dance music for a dance room, running water for a bathroom, etc).  For the Zhu Zhu virgin it was a neat thing to see!

Sorry no pics for today -we forgot our camera (mainly because we didn't intend to go to the farm that was just an added bonus)!  But our first ballet class of the year is up tomorrow as well as our first day of patching. Many pics to come! Have a great night all!

Well sh#%!

So now that my wonderful, adorable, precocious toddler has turned three and a half, she has truly started to mimic the adults in her life.  In Chloe's case that not only include Mommy and Momma but Gah (for those of you who don't know Gah is what Chloe calls my dad.  It started out because she couldn't say Grandpa and shortened it to Gah; however a couple of weeks ago when she attempted to say Grandpa, my dad nearly cried and said "No I'm Gah . . remember I'm Gah . . anyway I digress) and Greg as well.

Now, not to say I am perfect (although we all know I really am *snort*), I have cursed VERY FEW times in front of my girls.  I just kind of go into automatic mode around little kids, I have since I started coaching little kids and babysitting.  Jody is pretty decent but when she slips up . . .she really slips up.  The lovely two men in my life are not near as good.

Greg has apparently not learned his lessons with what toddlers will remember since he thought it was too funny to teach my toddler that we "Don't talk to boys with tattoos!".  When I pointed out to him that he had tattoos, Greg looks at me with a very serious look and just says "Exactly!"  LOL  A few weeks later, Chloe repeats back to us randomly in the car "Mommy, we don't talk to boys with tattoos!".  THANKS GREGORY!

So we are driving in our car on our way home from Chloe's doctor appointment yesterday when Chloe says "Mommies, is terrible a bad word . . .should I not say terrible . . ?"  Jody and I share a look of confusion and then tell her it means something bad but she is allowed to say it.  Chloe then says "Ok, so I can say terrible but I can't say sh&%?"  I share an appalled look with Jody and then tell her "No, you can't say that word, it is bad."  Chloe "Ok Mommy, so sh&% is a bad word. I can't say sh%&."  Jody bursts into laughter and I shoot her an evil look.  Now Chloe thinks it is funny and proceeds to continue to say "I can't say sh%& because it is a bad word!" giggle giggle giggle.   Thanks Jody!!!  What in the world do you say or do with that?!?!?

The reason we let our children live

After date night, we walked in to find
Chloe and Greg passed out together
HOW CUTE! 

So it has been a rough couple of days in the Thompson household.  Chloe has been quite the cranky individual, Belle might possibly be teething (the jury is still out!) and my lovely nephew/foster/son/little brother (what he actually is to us is up in the air, we just love him and he lives with us LOL) Greg got laid off and picked this week to re-start smoking and get a $40 tattoo.  Just when I am ready to snap and want to throttle Greg and Chloe (can't really want to throttle Belle - even at her worst, she is still in that too adorable stage!) they turn cute.  See pictures  :)

Belle grabbed the Winnie the Pooh blanket
that Jody laid next to her and snuggled it

So for this week they get to live! LOL  I think it must be programmed by God as their natural instinctive self-preservation to become super cute and adorable right after they show their worst.  Up next for the Thompson household - follow up x-rays for Chloe to determine if ballet and tap (which are scheduled to start on Saturday) are allowed on her ankle, eye doctor on Friday to determine if Chloe will be attending her first days of pre-school as Chloe or as Chloe the Pirate Girl (aka wearing a patch as part of her eye therapy) and then first day of pre-school on Monday.  I hope to join you again before then but if not, be prepared for a blog full of blubbering as my baby attends her first day of school on Monday!!!  Have a great night!

Hello my name is Nikki and I have been Facebook free for three days . . .

It is amazing how much you truly accomplish when you step away from an addiction LOL.  Seriously though, I have not been on Facebook (or rather Facebook games) for several days now.  Even though I have only been using Facebook on my iPod touch for quite awhile now (and usually while nursing), I have accomplished so much in the past days in my new Facebook free life.  I have finished two books, played with my kids, visited with friends, weeded the yard (and that is NO SMALL feat), washed the car, mowed the lawn and cleaned Chloe's outside toys.

Yesterday, however, I think I would have preferred to have been on FB.  Despite the drama of the previous week, we decided to brave the trek to my sister-in-law's house in Cornwall, NY (normally an hour and a half drive) with my iffy car for my beautiful niece's fourth birthday party.  WRONG decision.  Our GPS told us we should arrive by 2:15pm with the party starting at 2:30pm.  At about 2:00pm we were 7 miles from the exit, a little behind but not much.  At 3:30pm we were on the exit ramp . . . . . thank you labor day shoppers at an outlet mall!!!!  After finally arriving at the party at 4:00pm, Chloe ran to enjoy the birthday fun.  Although not her first ride on a horse, I think this is one of the first times she was as excited to ride the horse and hopefully will remember this time!

Chloe with the pony Hunter

So at 6 pm we headed home thinking the shoppers should have slowed down.  Wrong again!  Numerous calamities, traffic, potty breaks and one Belle feeding later, we arrived home at 10pm. We were however entertained on the ride home with Chloe's versions of knock knock jokes . . .Knock Knock . . . .Who's There . . . Cow go Moo . . .insert peals of giggles here. . . .Knock Knock. . . Who's There. . . .Cow Go Moo . . .. more giggles. . . Knock knock . . .you get the pattern?  Then Mommy says - Knock Knock . . .Chloe - "Who's There?" . . . .Mommy "No more. . . " Chloe "No more who" . . . .Mommy "No more Knock Knock Jokes!!!"  insert more giggles and then Chloe attempts to tell my joke!  We laughed the whole way home!

. . . Maybe you had to be there . . .

Oh well my outside work break is officially over so enjoy the pictures from the pony party and I will post soon!  If you want to see all the party pics (ie CHRISTINE LOL) go to

http://picasaweb.google.com/ChloeNThompson/ErinFourthBirthday#

The birthday girl Erin with one
of my other beautiful nieces Kristin 

Belle with yet another of my nieces Caitlin - isn't she a cutie!

Is this day over yet?

So it has been a fun twenty four hours in the Thompson household.  Yesterday evening, Chloe had her little buddy over to play.  As is with small toddlers, a loud crash was shortly followed by screaming.  I ran into Chloe's room to see Chloe crying and screaming on the ground while her friend hid in her cardboard castle.  I picked up Chloe, tried to calm her and friend simultaneously telling both it was only an accident and then carried my wailing child into the dining room to assess the injury.  Chloe's ankle had swollen to a quite a puffy size and had already begun to turn black and blue.  After a stint with her Rubber Ducky ice pack and rest, we decided it wasn't broken to allow her to stay and watch movies with her friend.  We planned on taking Chloe to her pediatrician this morning if all was not better.

Apparently, Chloe had other plans for us - after giving us a run for our money at bedtime, she finally fell asleep around 1:00am in our room.  She was transferred to her bed at 2 and we all went to bed expecting to be awakened two hours letter by Belle for her 4 am feeding.  We were awoken - but to yet another crash followed by more screaming.

Knocked out from the sedation for her cat-scan

Chloe had twisted around in her bed and promptly fallen out of the bed and hit her head on her foot stool normally located at her feet.  After some cuddles we told her she could sleep with Mommy and we began to get ready to sleep again.  While going to kiss Chloe on her forehead, Jody notice the giant knot on her forehead that upon further inspection, we decided it was off to the ER.

Several hours later, one sedation, one catscan and one ankle x-ray later, we left the hospital with instructions to keep Chloe awake and treat with tylenol for a headache and a baby ace bandage on her ankle with a bad sprain and possibility of something more (they think it may only be her growth plate but they saw something on the xray) and a follow up with her doctor in four days. Poor baby!

I have looked at the clock so many times today and have been shocked that it isn't midnight yet LOL.

Hard to see from this angle but the knot with the bruising

Oh well . . . we were supposed to head to NY for our niece Erin's fourth birthday tomorrow but I think we are definitely on a wait and see - between this long day and our car acting up I don't think we are quite ready to tempt fate again!  So far it is a labor day weekend to remember. . . 

Hope everyone else is having a good one!

Special Note for Family and Friends

BTW - for those of you who sent me messages and emails after my annoucement - thank you so much for your love and thoughts as well as just the amount of caring that you obviously have for my family and girls.  It is for you guys that I created this blog!!  I am truly blessed to have all of you in our lives!

The beginning

So having closed Facebook, I needed a method of updating my wonderful family and friends on Chloe and Belle.  I will post pictures and events here for you as they come along.  I apologize if I don't blog too often - this social networking trend never seemed to take off with me.

For any of you who are craving a Chloe or Belle fix - feel free to check out the following link and you can look at a ridiculous amount of pictures!

picasaweb.google.com/chloenthompson


Special note - seeing as this is MY blog about my family, please feel free to post comments as you wish but I reserve the right to delete any comments that I disagree with! :) Love to you all!