Summer is in full bloom.......

The happenings in the week of a BAD Blogger!

To start off the weekend, Madisyn's Dad arrived to visit her! Jay, Donna and Mason picked Madisyn up from school on Friday.....and they had a wonderful weekend in Indiana! It was hard for her to watch them leave....but we all had a great visit and they had a great time! She'll be seeing him again in no time...BECAUSE, school is almost out. This time will fly because of all the upcoming 8th grade end of year activities plus graduation and Holiday World class field trip! Then the day after school is out...Madisyn and I are headed on a road trip to Oklahoma!!! We are going to have so much fun!

Madisyn and Daddy

Madisyn, Jay, Donna, Mason

Well, it has been a LONG few weeks since I have blogged about anything! Life has a way of getting in the way sometimes! So....here are some updates from the past few weeks!

Kids....School....Track....Soccer.....Madisyns family visiting....Friends Visiting....My brother/sister in law and nieces visiting....our Grandfather is in the hospital! That is about it in a nutshell and must confess the Track/Soccer is what has kept us most busy. Most nights, one right after the other!

Madisyn has done great at her soccer games and even got to play "goalie" in her last game....she has never done that before and it was a great experience for her and I think she kinda liked it!!! Her team is still undefeated - GO CHOCOLATE TSNUAMIS!!

Track went very well for her the past few weeks, she placed in every single meet and qualified for City Districts that are to be held this week. I really am so proud of her, she has really pushed herself, AND..no passing out spells!

Our grandfather has been in the hospital on and off for over a month now, this time it is pretty bad. They transferred him to St. Mary's here in Evansville, from Mt. Carmel, IL. He's been there for I think almost 2 weeks this time and really having a hard time. It is painful to see him in so much pain....he is a very chatty, very much alive and full of life person, so to see him this way is heartbreaking. Please pray for him, Grandma and the entire family as we deal with this the best we can, no one likes to see a loved on in pain.

Brian, Christine and my beautiful nieces, Lia and Lilly came down this weekend. I didn't get to see them Saturday because I had a sore throat, didn't feel weel and slept the ENTIRE day on Saturday. YUCK. I did get to see them all on Sunday, as we went to the hospital together. The girls are growing so fast, I sure wish they lived closer to their Aunt Misty!!

Madisyn and Mason

Madisyn Soccer

Soccer

Lyza with an attitude....hmmm, imagine that!

More Attitude

Luka

Andon and Luka

Hmmm, think someone was mad??? LOL

Princess Mya

Mya and Misty

Yes....I let each of the kids take a pic! Luka didn't do to bad in this one!

Mya's shot of me!

Gabe's three kiddos: Luka, Anson and Mya

Yes....I do let them jump on the bed!!!

Anson

Track...and Kentucky!

Maddy Moo.....1st Track Meet! Go TMS!

• What a great weekend we had! Kathy, Lauren, Madisyn and I spent the weekend in Kentucky..at Lauren's soccer tournament for travel soccer! Way to go....second place, they were only beaten by a team from Canada! It was a lot of fun and the team did awesome!
  We ran into a bit of chaos when we showed up (Ummm, we left at 5:30 am, and for those of you that know me...I am NOT a morning person!!) Poor Kathy..I tried to stay awake but every time we would start a conversation she'd look over and I'd be zonked out! We all slept on the way there so she had no one but the radio to interact with! Got to the hotel and they had messed up her reservation and we had no room. It was the weekend for "thunder over Louisville" and the "Women of Joy" conference, so no hotels anywhere. I finally found us a Comfort Inn and Suites who would give me the military discount so that she didn't have to pay any more for the room than she had the first room (which they had already charged her for by the way....they had her check in and out on during the week on a previous night...so weird!). Anyway...when I finally found a room at a decent hotel, they gave us a large suite for the right price, but I went up to use the restroom and when I went in, someone elses stuff was in there. I told the lady at the front desk I did not have time to fix it then and there, but gave her my cell. She called me while we were on the field and said that there was a glitch in their computer system but the only room they had left was the presidential suite and since it was their mistake...we got the room for the same price, no upgrade! :-))) Hectic...but worth it! The suite was large enough for Maddy and Lauren to play volleyball in! We spent a lot of time in the pool, hot tub and on the swings outside!!! And of course a lot of time on the soccer fields, in the malls and cracking up!! Good for the soul and spirit!!
  
  Madisyn had her first track meet tonight and placed 1st in the long jump and second in the 100m sprint! GREAT job..... all the Thompkins gals and guys did a great job!! Congrats to all! Tomorrow night is a "free" night, but track meet and soccer game on Thurs! Should be a long, fun filled night! I also bought Lyza her first tiny soccerball....that has a strap that goes around her waist so she can kick it and not have to chase it (though at this age, I think that is most of the fun, chasing the ball), it is also a good practice ball for Madisyn!
  
  Blessings to all....until next time....
  

Madisyn and Lauren in 400 meter relay

Allison, Lauren, Madisyn and Jane

Alex looks a little out of place with all these girls, but I'm sure he was enjoying it!
Alex, Ashley, Cera, Malorie, Emmalee, Rhiannon, Lauren, Chelsea, Madisyn, Lacey, Kelsey

Madz's new #12 necklace :-)

Mama and Madz in KY

Looks like fun to me.....

Even more fun!

Lauren showing off some moves!

Madisyn and Lauren

"Big Dreams" - Madisyn

Everyone dreams of being rich, famous or having a mansion to live in. Everyone always wishes to have something someone else has. "Oh, I want that toy!", "Oh I want her shirt, I would look better in it anyways!" No teenager, child or adult can deny that wanting of something better. That's how every person is, whether you want to hear it or not. If all of us would just take our time and look around at what we have, we might not be so greedy, unthankful or wanting more and more. I had everything a child could ever want, but I don't want that anymore. I want to be a family, a daughter, a friend and mostly, someone that could reach out to someone in need. That's what I want now.....

~~ Madisyn Kleinfelter

Thank you once again, Madisyn for letting me share one of your short stories and insight through your eyes! What a perfect job you have done again to make us all "stop and wonder" ~ with Love ~ Mama

"Everyone's Welcome" by Madisyn

"Everyone's Welcome"

"Life- in comparison to a Garden"

~~~Madisyn Kleinfelter

Life is like a garden, it gets overgrown, ugly, takes hard work and becomes dead. The solution is to work at it, tend to it and nourish it. You need to weed it and take out all the bad and ugly things. You need to trim it so you can set limits and goals so that it does not get crazy! You need to plant flowers with bright colors to make it more exciting. You need different types of flowers and plants to make sure everything is different and beautiful in it's own way. You need dark deep soil to keep the plants grounded and rooted. You need an "Everyone's Welcome" sign to let everyone in. Whoever may come in and wreck your garden, welcome them in still. For they need to tend, work and noursh their garden too. Lastly, all you need in your garden is LOVE, for love is the only thing that will keep your garden alive.

This short story was written by my 13 yr old daughter, Madisyn. I have found her writing to be very interesting and enlightening, so I will be sharing some of her short stories over the next few days. This particular one jumped out at me due to the fact that we just planted several beautiful, very vibrant gerber daisys... which are my absolute favorite. The photos of the flowers we planted went perfectly with this short story so I decided to use this particular story with the photos I had just taken of the flowers and the daughter, that so very dearly touch my heart, soul and spirit! Thank you Madisyn for a story well written on your view of "tending to lives....and our gardens"! I love you!

Live...Laugh....Love

Life is short,
Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly,
Love truly,
Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile..