Thompson Family

Anna on her new tricycle from Mimi and Grandpa Duff.

Ellie on her new bike. We had to watch Ellie because she thought that it was everyone else's job to watch out for her jump out of the way while she rode around the Family Room.

Grandpa Duff got Ellie something that made her so happy - her own golf clubs! She was so excited that now she could golf like, "Daddy, Grandpa Duff, and Grandpa Dick!" Ben and I had to laugh because this year Ellie got a soccer ball from us, golf clubs from Mimi and Grandpa Duff, and a basketball from Grandma Candy and Grandpa Dick!

Ellie as Mary and Jordan as Joseph

Our Belliston Nativity!

Our little Angel!

Merry Christmas!

Ellie all ready to go to church.

My little sweetheart!

I love you Anna!

Ben as Joseph and Ellie as Mary.

...and here comes Grandpa Santa (it is so cute how much the grandkids LOVE this!)

Ellie asked Grandpa Santa for a bike - I reallyl hope that she gets it!!

...and Anna asks for a candy cane....again!

The girls were so excited when Santa came. Santa had the grandkids shake Rudolph's Bells while we all sang "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer."

Anna asked for the same thing everytime, "a candycane!"

Ellie asked Santa for a, "dinosaur and a new bike."

The girls were so excited when we got to Utah for Christmas and it was snowing! The next morning Ellie came down and woke me up at 3:00 am and said, "mom I can't sleep I'm too excited!" I walked her back up to bed and on the way she stopped and looked out the front window for several minutes. One thing that I have learned from Ellie and Anna is the simple things can make us so happy!

These are Ellie's school teachers - Miss Carol, Ellie, and Miss Kathy

This explains the day in one little picture! The girls were so excited and happy all day!

Ellie got a new dinosaur and soccer ball for Christmas! Ben made Ellie cry one time while playing soccer because he forgot that he was playing with 4 year old and got a little competitive! Anna got a little rocking chair for Christmas. The girls also got a little table and chairs. Ben was wondering if it was really for the girls or for me! But the girls love it and spend a lot of time reading at playing on it!

Anna was very exhausted after a fun day!

This was "Christmas Eve" in New Orleans - December 11th! The girls were so excited. We made a gingerbread house for Santa and left him some cookies. The girls thought that it was so funny that Santa left one of the cookies with a bite in it! This year the girls got robes instead of Christmas pajamas. They wear them every night after tubby time!

Ellie and Anna - Happy Thanksgiving

It took me a very long time to get used to the idea of having Thanksgiving with just our little family. But, once I did it really turned out quite wonderful. My mom laughed when I told her everything that I was making, but how do you have Thanksgiving without potatoes or stuffing? So, yes we ended up having plenty of leftovers but Ben did great job at eating constantly for the week after Thanksgiving. The girls were so sweet on Thanksgiving and to our surprise they sat at the kitchen table for an hour and 15 mintues eating and talking. It will always be one of my favorite memories! However, I do think that everyone should have to make one Thanksgiving dinner on their own so that they can have a new appreciation for their mothers!

This is at Ellie's Thanksgiving Program. She was so proud of herself because she painted her vest and made her little headband. She also made a little Tom Tom drum. She did such a great job singing and followed her music teacher just perfect!

Here is Ellie with the children in her class.

After Hurricane Katrina we had paint peeling off of our house. So we got it painted this fall when we came back. It was so nice to get our house back together again after a very crazy year!

We were lucky enough to be in Utah the week before Hallowen so we wore our costumes to Mimi and Grandpa Duff's. They always have a special little Halloween treat which the girls love!

We were also in Utah for Grandma Candy's Halloween Party which is always lots of fun.

This is a picture that we took back in New Orleans on Halloween night. This was our first year of door to door trick-or-treating. The girls loved it. There are very few kids who go trick or treating here so the people were always so excited to see our girls standing there when they opened the door. We only had to go to 10 houses because everyone would give them handfuls of candy!