A new journey....a new blog!!

After much delay...I'm hopeful to get started on my blogging again!!

I still have a few postings to make to officially close out this blog, but since the title of it doesn't apply any longer, I thought I'd go ahead and start a new one.  I'm so far behind on getting the new one started, but I've got to start somewhere, right?!?!?  If you'd like to continue to follow us and start hearing again about what's happening in the ol' Thompson household (since it will probably be awhile before I get to post anything about our first 3 months in Houston), you can now find us at

http://www.4thompsonsintexas.blogspot.com/

My stories probably won't be as exciting in the new blog since they won't involve any luxurious tropical getaways, any monkey stories or any other crazy Malaysia experiences, but you will continue to hear and see what my 2 beautiful little boys are up to and how they continue to grow...way to quickly!!  And oh yeah, don't expect too much from the new site for the time being (it's as plain as plain can get for now), but I'll be lucky to just get something posted with a few pictures for now....while I still adjust to being a stay-at-home mom WITHOUT A NANNY!  With that said, my hope is to at least get 1 or 2 postings a week.....gone are the days when I was able to go back and write-up 15 different events in a 2 week period.  Guess time will tell.....

Cooper's 2nd Birthday celebrations begin....3 weeks early!

Well, we are booked for our flight to Texas!  And wouldn't you know it, we are flying out on my little one's actual birthday.  Andrew has a meeting he has to attend on the 10th so we will be flying out later that night....and in flight on Cooper's birthday!  Because of this we decided that we would have a little birthday celebration at home for him with some of his Malaysia friends...and since our friends are all traveling on vacation next week (the expat school is currently on a 2 week holiday)....and since we'll be packing up our house the following week, this was the only time we could schedule something for him!  So we had about 6 other kids over yesterday afternoon for alot of running around, lots of playing and LOTS of screaming!  The boys had a great time and Cooper LOVED having all the attention as well as being sung Happy Birthday to!

And don't feel too sorry for the little munchkin that will be on a 27 hour flight back to good ol' Texas on his birthday...he is definitely going to make out much better than if we were still living here!  He has already had one party and we have another one planned for celebrating at school with his little buddies in early May, not to mention he will have the never-ending birthday on the 11th since we will be making up the 13 hour time difference on our flight and Mommy plans to have a little birthday present for him to open up on the airplane(we take off on our 10th at 11:15pm and land in Texas on the 11th....27 hours later!), and BeBe and Boss already have birthday decorations for another party in Texas once we are settled!  So I don't think he is going to be scarred from this one bit....he'll probably be more spoiled by it than anything and expect the multiple parties in the future!  Not to mention, he'll never even remember his 2nd birthday - c'mon how many actually remember even their 3rd or 4th birthdays!?!?  So on with the celebrations....my baby is going to be 2 very soon!!!

Our serving table with a few appetizers

The kids' table

A birthday isn't complete without a few balloons!

Waiting for all our guests to arrive

Enjoying some yummy chicken nuggets and pizza

Coop and his new bud, Emily!  I never knew window crayons could be soo much fun (thanks BeBe, those have come in very handy!)

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday....I thought it was too adorable that he had his little arm around Micaela....already hitting on the older girls!

"I LOVE birthdays!"

Singing Happy Birthday

Blowing out the candle...YAY!

"Let me at a plate and a fork so I can have some of my cake!"

"Forget finding a chair to sit on, the floor will work just fine"

"Wow, that was some yummy cake"

Alex...Cooper's buddy who is 4 months younger but almost as tall and as heavy as E!

And here is a little video of singing Happy Birthday....this was Take #2 so Marte could get it on video for me to share with everyone!  I think he would have loved for us to sing it to him 10 more times...he LOVES blowing out candles!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Future Photographers

We went to KL this weekend to get a couple of more estimates on our cars that we are in the process of selling and for one last trip to Chinatown...and for one last stay in our "home-away-from-home" - The Ascot Hotel! Since we didn't have much else on the agenda we had an extra day that we used to take the boys to this indoor theme park at a mall called Times Square.  They had a fabulous time!  It was really great, it was a huge place - it even had an indoor roller coaster that Andrew and I rode while Marte watched the boys - and even better, it was inside away from the heat!  The boys got to ride a fun train that went through a couple of spooky tunnels, a merry-go-round (we rode about 6 times), this car ride that was on tracks and had some really annoying horns they LOVED to honk, a crazy bus that was a sort of ferris wheel (Cooper didn't care too much for this one!) and E got to ride a fun bumblebee ride that went up and down and also did the bumper cars (which Andrew was a little skeptical about letting him on since he thought he might get too scared, but it ended up being one of his favorites!).  The last 2 rides I mentioned had a 3ft height restricition so Cooper couldn't get on them just yet and this DID NOT make him happy one bit....thus the multiple merry-go-round rides!  And wouldn't you know, we finally visit this place after 3 years and I forgot to recharge my camera battery!  This is where the title of the post came from.....my 2 little photographers played with my camera all evening long the night before and exhausted the battery and I totally forgot to plug it in later that night.  I was able to get a few shots with the 10 minute charge I gave it before we left the hotel!  Oh well, we'll just have to remember this one on our own! 

We had a great visit, once again...and got a few more deals in Chinatown on our last visit - I had to get one more handbag, more sunglasses and a couple of wallets and Andrew ended up with a new watch, new sunglasses and a new tie!  And we couldn't leave without getting the latest season of Entourage, which by the way we have already finished watching...I love that show!

So like I said, I had a couple of little photographers this weekend who had a great time playing with Mom's camera!  Since I didn't get many pics of our time this weekend, I thought I'd post a few of the ones they took....

These were through the eyes of Evan James Thompson....

And now through the eyes of Cooper Price Thompson...at dinner!

NICE!

Is Daddy really smelling his dinner....what is it with the Thompson boys always smelling things?!?  Nice catch, Coop!

 And one of Mommy, of course!

And here are a few that I managed to get with my remaining battery..

 Some hotel playgym fun time

 Our favorite Ascot Hotel thing to do...feed the ducks and fish

 Waiting for the indoor theme park to open

 Daddy and Evan on our first ride

 And then one of Coop and Marte in the jeep in front of us.....and then no more camera!  Bummer!  The boys had such a great time, wish I'd been able to capture more of it!

Evan's 1st REAL picture!

So for the longest time the most we would get out of E in terms of a picture were squares, circles, lines, triangles or just letters....this weekend for the first time (or at least that I've seen at home, maybe he's done more at school that I haven't seen yet) he drew his 1st "real" picture!  I was totally impressed once again! Daddy had brought him back some Ben10 crayons while we were out shopping during their naps, so A told him to draw the Ben10 guy that was on the cover and this is what we got....

Notice the 2 sets of hair....the first time he drew it too far above the head so he had to try again!  He drew the right arm first and I was so impressed that he put 5 fingers on him, but must have just been luck because the left arm got about 8 fingers!

I'm so loving this age, he is becoming so creative...with his pictures and his storytelling....as well as his VERY detailed descriptions of his everyday doings!  He's almost deveolped a sort of stutter with his "uh, uh, uh, uh...then ..uh, uh, uh...then" - although I think it is just his mind moving alot faster than his words, but I do see him organizing his thoughts a bit more lately before he talks so I'm guessing it will pass soon enough! In any case, he is an adorable little boy with ALOT to say!  I shouldn't dare say it, but I do think we might be getting towards the backend of those terrible 3's now! Just in time to get ready for my little Coop to hit the terrible 2's, which by the way we started seeing signs of about 6 months ago! Oh the joys of little boys!

Off to work we go...

After 3 years, we finally made it out to see Daddy's office!  We've been out to the plant before, but we never actually went in to see his office.  Well, today was Melaka Day and it was a holiday so no one was supposed to be in the office, so we thought it the perfect opportunity (no people to disturb) to finally see where Daddy has been spending all his days the last 3 years (and well since we will be leaving soon, we weren't going to have many more opportunities)!  He had to go in to print out some moving stuff, so we decided to tag along.  When we arrived, we were surprised to find 5 or 6 of his co-workers actually working on their day off, so we got to meet a few of them!  The boys had a great time playing in Daddy's office - first coloring and then marking and erasing everything on his dry-erase board.  I got a couple of great pictures of both of them in his hardhat!  Then once all the newness wore off and they were out of things to play with, I decided I would take both of them and venture around the rest of the complex and let Dad get done what he came to do.  We got a few pictures in the foyer and then ventured outside (since it wasn't too hot out yet!) for a few more!  We had a good visit and were really happy that we finally got a chance to see where it is that Daddy goes everyday!  Of course, we heard "Dada work" almost the entire way there and the entire way back from Cooper!  He is such the little yapper....wonder where he gets that from!?!?!?

The entrance to the Finance Dept

"Working with Daddy" 

Future ConocoPhillips hands... 

 

 help Bubba!

 Hanging onto one another

 Outside in the "smoking area" - or at least that is what is looked like!

 

 The Melaka Refinery

 The Melaka Tree

 Posing by the pretty purple flowers

 Now by the yellow flowers....can you tell they've had enough?!?!  I think at this point Evan even said "I AM looking at you!"

 Wait for us!  See the black hose in the background...Cooper was afraid of it because Evan told him it was a snake!  Here I thought he was my fearless one!

 Also known as "Jennifer's" - A's favorite lunch place!  Believe it or not, the boys and I have gone out and joined him for lunch here several times...it has some of the best Chinese food we've had since we've been here!  Of course, I never even thought about going back and checking out the kitchen or else I might never have gone back...nor did I ever think about using the "toilet" after what Andrew and E told me about it! Ahhh, the things we'll miss about Malaysia!

 Another of Andrew's favorites...Nasi Ayam "Chicken Rice"!  Unfortunately we never made it out join him here...maybe we'll have to in the next few weeks just so we can say we tried it!  Chicken Rice is one of all of our favorite dishes, we are definitely going to miss this dish when we get back to the states!

How to Train Your Dragon.... for Emily's 6th Birthday Party!!

E and I went to our 1st 3D movie together as part of Emily's birthday party.  My poor little Coop was just dying to go "Mama....go...mo mo!"  He cried and cried as we drove away!  I hated not being able to take him, but it was right in the middle of his naptime and I know he still doesn't have it in him to stay put for an entire hour and a half movie! Marte said he stopped crying soon after we left because Cecelia and Janet (our neighbors) came by to see him - that made me feel a bit better!  As for mine and E's afternoon, it was great.  We started out over at Ocean Palms for some birthday snacks, games and of course, some yummy cake!  Then we headed over to the movies for "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3D...Tania, myself....and 7 kids in tow!  Mike, her husband joined up with us as the movie was beginning.  Have you ever been to a movies with 7 kids, most of them under 7 years old.....CRAZY!!  One runs in one direction while the others run in a different direction...luckily it was a Monday afternoon so it wasn't as crowded in the mall as it usually is!!!  I felt a bit bad for the people directly in front and directly behind us (actually the entire theater at times!) because it's hard to get 7 kids to use their inside voices when they are itching for popcorn!  As for Evan, he did awesome!  I thought he was going to get annoyed with his glasses on his face the entire time, but he didn't once try to remove them.  He sat still the entire movie (even as some of the older girls began fidgeting after about an hour) and loved it.  It got a bit scary when the bigger dragon made his appearance at the end, but he didn't seem to be bothered by it!  After the movie...as if we hadn't had enough (E and I finished an entire box of popcorn together), Emily's mommy treated everyone to McD's!  Another chaotic moment as we tried to sit and eat (I was the only other mommy that went along, I'm not sure how she would have made it just by herself and Mike, it seemed like still too much for just 2 people), but the kids enjoyed themselves and it was a successful party....even better every kid made it back home to their respective parents!!!!  Evan was exhausted by the time we got home, that he gave Cooper the toys from McD's that he brought back for him and was then ready for bathtime/bedtime!  He was in his bed by 8pm and knocked out by 8:10!  I, too, was exhausted and just as ready for bedtime.....after cleaning up Cooper and Daddy's mess from playing in the evening!  Dad was on duty since Marte apparently got food poisoning and was in the bathroom the majority of the evening, so he said he had his hands full with little 'Mr. Trouble'.  I think he thought with just having one of them, it was going to be a piece of cake, but he said Cooper didn't stop talking for more than 1 minute the entire evening!  Guess Coop thought he had to get all of his bonding time in with his Daddy while he had him all to himself for one evening! It was another great day!!

Ready for some cake

Emily cutting into the cake

The party crew with Tania and Mike and her parents that are in from Belarus

READY for our movie!! Evan had to go and stand by Christina, the tallest (and oldest) one there as if he wasn't already the smallest....although still the youngest by over 1 1/2 years

Loved his first 3D experience and a good show by the way!

Bring on the Happy Meals!

Christina

My precious bug!

Emily, the birthday girl, and her uncle Pasha (Tania's 10 year old brother)

Margot

 Micaela