Thornton Mom

So the other day Maddison asked me, "When are you and Dad going to break up?" I was quite taken back and asked her, "Why do you think Mommy and Daddy are going to break up?" "Because Daddy has black hair and you have grey hair . . . you don't match." Yesterday morning she came down the stairs, looked at the Christmas tree and all the decorations and said, "Mom, Santa didn't come."

We got this link from John Derek's teacher.  It has each of his class members telling what they are thankful for.  I thought you would like to hear what John Derek has to say.  You can use the arrows and skip ahead to #12 to hear John D. http://voicethread.com/share/3726443/ He is a wonderful boy and I am so proud of him.  Just listening to what he is grateful for makes me realize what a special child he really is.  I look forward to his future.

Samantha was baptized on Saturday. I woke up early to study my scriptures.  I wanted to make sure that I felt the Spirit.  I was also concerned that I had not prepared Samantha enough for this experience.  I wondered if she was truly ready and prayed to know that I had done enough. A few minutes later Samantha came into my room.  She had woken before anyone else and sat next to me.  I had the idea to give her the Journal that we had gotten for her and ask her to put her feelings into the journal.  She was delighted and busily set out writing. When she was finished she left eager to wake her cousin Abby and get the day started.  I read her journal and was touched by how much she really did know.  How this was her decision and not mine.  A tender mercy of the Lord. After these quiet moments the day became busy as we got everything in place.  We were blessed to have Annelise here and she kept me realistic.  Derek...

Our Family on Halloween Cinderella (Maddison)   She loved going from house to house and getting the candy.  She kept wanting to stop and see what was in her bag.  Her favorite treat was a plastic ring.  The innocence of little ones. Captain America (John Derek)   He ran from house to house at top speed.  He couldn't wait to finish one house and move onto the next. Posing for the Camera Getting Ready for Halloween Cat Mama!! (Lexia) When I first put this costume on Maddison said, "WOW!!" "Mommy, you be my cat."   "Okay, meow." "Kneel down like this" getting on all fours. "No this cat is a mommy cat and mommy cat's don't crawl." "Yes they do." she said. "Well I have a baby so I can't crawl." "But babbies crawl.  Like this . . ." She crawled all over the floor and pretended to lick her paws. "Well this mommy doesn't crawl....

Derek loves to play basketball at Church on Tuesday nights.  He always comes home sore but happy.  Yesterday, as I was waiting for him to come home, I got a phone call from one of the brothers he plays with.  The brother said, "Derek is fine but he bumped his head.  It is not cut or bleeding and he does remember who you are."  Well I was relieved to hear that he still knew me but worried about how he was doing. From what I understand he was going up to block a shot when the shooter, Ron Henderson, accidently steped on his foot which sent him flying back onto his bottom then he bounced back up and landed on his head.  He blacked out for a few moments.  The brothers called Bro. Weber, a doctor from another ward, and talked to him on the phone.  Bishop brought Derek home and made sure I was aware of the instructions from the doctor.  That I should watch for nausia and wake him up every 2 hours and ask him questions.  That if he was ever ...

Tuesday I had to go into the doctors and go through at 3 hour test to see if I have Gestational Diabeties.  I did this once with Elizabeth, it is no fun but I was pretty sure it would come back negative. After my 3 hours and 3 draws of blood I asked if they would call me with the results.  The nurse said that I would only be called if the test came back positive for Diabeties.  Thursday after not sleeping well, having a 7:00 a.m. parent teacher conference and going grocery shopping and visiting teaching I came home to sleep and relax.  As I listenend to my messages I found that the doctors office had called to discuss my test results.  My heart sank.  I immediatly called the office which was closed for lunch. I called Derek and cried.  I called my mom, who was grocery shopping and all she heard was hysterical sobbing.  After everyone trying to calm me down and tell me that it was going to be okay I got online to see what having Gestational D...

We picked out our pumpkins yesterday.  I was all excited to take amazing photos only to find my camera dead.  I really need to get a second battery. So instead here is a cute picture of our pumpkins decorated for Halloween.  The pumpkin on the upper left is Elizabeth's witch.  It has its own broom and a white caldren.  Next to her is Maddie's baby pumpkin.  She did not want a big pumpkin and found the smallest one she could.  On the upper left is John Derek's Daddy Frankinstine pumpking and below his is Samantha's pumpkin.  It was fun to see them get so excited.  Grandma Dew sent them the faces to put on their pumpkins and I was amazed we didn't loose them before we went to the pumpkin patch. I love fall and Halloween.  It always brings back good memories.  My mom would always make these great elaborate costumes and we would dress up and feel like we really were the characters we were trying to be.  I am amazed at all the...

My kids have been tracked out since the beginning of October.  We had a good first week and then went up to the Lake House for General Conference.  What a wonderful General Conference we had.  I loved Pres. Monson's announcement on the age of missionaries.   What an exciting time to be alive and to see this army grow and go forth even stronger than it has before.  This was the first conference that I have been able to watch all 4 sessions without a lot of interuption from my children.  They actually all watched each of the sessions with us.  We of course had the incentive that after each speaker they got some candy. They also enjoyed taking turns giving candy to Granmommy, Grandaddy, and KoKo.  I was expecting them to watch one session but by Saturday afternoon we had to go out and get more candy.  They also loved playing Conference Bingo.  It was fun to hear John Derek say "Prayer, I heard them say prayer!"  Then put another...

John Derek and Maddie have become obsessed with watermelon this summer.  They love to help pick it out at the grocery store and also help me cut it up.  Here are some fun pictures of them and their joys of watermelon.

John Derek, Maddie, and I took a brief walk to the park for my morning exercise.  We played for a few minutes.  I pushed them on the swings and then they went on a "treasure hunt" for seed pods.  Oh the simple joys of children.  They found such delight finding a pod all by themselves. After coming home I said no TV and that today I was focusing on doing laundry and that they needed to go outside to play.  Well they did not want to go outside but instead wanted to "help me."  So Maddie pushed the wet clothes into the dryer and JD emptied the lint catcher.   I then said I needed to go upstairs to get more laundry.  They both disappeared (to avoid work I am sure.)  When I got upstairs Maddie was loading laundry into a laundry basket and JD was trying with all his might to pull the laundry bag out of the laundry cart.  It was so sweet of them.  We loaded 2 baskets.  I brought one down with the laundry bag and in a...

This has by far been the most difficult pregnancy and I am just getting into it. I have been very sick with constant nausea. I am reminded over and over that we all must have trials in our lives. I am trying to approach this pregnancy with "What am I supposed to learn?" and "How can this bring me closer to my Savior?" So I would like to talk about the tender mercies I have been given so far during this pregnancy. I have had an outpouring of kindness from friends and ward members. In one day I had 2 offers of dinner and someone wanting to take my kids 2 days a week so I could rest. I couldn't believe it. Monday I was really bad and after dropping JD off at school went to my mother-in-laws to rest. She took care of Maddie while I slept and then Maddie played sleeping with me and all her toys. She tucked us all into bed and fed us hot chocolate. My mother-in-law then made me and Maddie lunch as well as one for John D. Such a huge help when I don't have...

Today I had an ultrasound. My two desires for this ultrasound were 1st a heartbeat and second only having one baby. Well both wishes were granted. We have one healthy baby. I am only 7 weeks along so there wasn't much to see but it was still nice to know everything is going as it should. Derek is being wonderful. He is helping out wherever he can. The other evening I had a craving for croissants and chicken salad so he left at 9:30 p.m. and got me my cravings. Last night he did the dishes and let me rest. He really is the best husband ever.

We went to the bank today. As we pulled up to the drive through teller Elizabeth said, "Tell them you are going to have a baby." I rolled my eyes at her enthusiasm and went about my business. When our receipt came back there were 5 stickers in with the receipt. Elizabeth said, "They must have heard you." I laughed. Elizabeth then procceded to hand a sticker to everyone. With one left over she handed it to my belly and said, "This one is for the baby." I took the sticker and put it on my belly. Delighted Elizabeth exclaimed, "Baby's First Sticker!!"

The other day I was not feeling well. Morning sickness with me is more like an all day sickness. Derek was out of town and I hadn't yet told my children that I was expecting and Derek was out of town on business. At one point I burst into tears from pure exhaustion. Elizabeth immediatly took over the role of Mommy. Samantha put me on the couch turned on Monk, on of my favorite TV shows, and covered me with a blanket. John Derek and Maddie snuggled up to me and I went to sleep. Comforted by my wonderful children and feeling like everything would somehow be okay. That evening I was complaining to Derek on the phone about morning sickness and not wanting to go through this for a 5th time. He told me to look past right now and view how I will feel at 17 weeks. How I will feel so much better then and to not think about right now. I wasn't too sure of this idea. How could that help? As I went to bed I decided to watch Mormon Messages to help me not be so lonely with out my...

Yes, you read it correctly. The Thornton Family is expecting a new baby in Dec. 2012. We are very excited. Today we made the announcement to our 4 children and I am sure that each of you heard their screams of excitement. Maddison immediately told us that it was going to be a boy but then after a few minutes decided that we need one boy and one girl. John Derek would like the baby to be a boy so that he can have a brother. Samantha would like the baby to sleep in her room. Elizabeth would like the baby to have brown hair so that more kids in the family would look like her. Then the conversation turned to names. Here are some of their favorites: Elizabeth wants: Sarah, Eva, Evelyn, or Eve, and if it is a boy Phineas or Ferb Samantha wants: Sam or Ammon John Derek wants: Johnny Maddison wants: Cinderella and Johnny So here we go. Taking on a new adventure of 5 children with faith that we are following our Father in Heaven's desires for our family. In this last conference Pres. P...

Maddison discovered her eyebrows today. She was sitting on my lap and touching my face when she started to play with my eyebrows. She thought they were quite fascinating and started to laugh. She said, "You hair." Then pointing to her hair she said "Me no have hair." "Yes you do," I said, "those are called eyebrows and everyone has eyebrows." I then had her feel my eyebrows and then hers. "Me no want hair there," she said with a worrisome cry. I could tell she didn't realize that all people have eyebrows. So I had Samantha come show Maddie her eyebrows and then we went and looked in the mirror together. She laughed when she saw them. Then she realized that she had pizza all over her face and said, "No pizza on my face." So we washed it off and then went and played knowing that she has eyebrows and so does the rest of the world.

So here I start to attempt to blog. I thought I would start with cute things my kids are doing in the hopes that those loved ones who do not get to see them often can enjoy them growing up.