Nothin' like a good snuggle!

Some precious moments with the boys. Mommy and Emerson, Daddy and Brahm--Just enjoying some cuddly time together.

Snow Fun!

McKay and Brahm could play in the snow for hours, regardless of how freezing cold they are. Here they are in the back yard and on the trampoline. One of the kids' favorite snow activities is to take their little shovels and clean off the trampoline and then jump/slide around on it while it's wet and slippery.

Brahm!

Have you ever seen such a pout? But he has the cutest dimpley smile, too! Here he was playing "run away from mom--and when you get caught you'll be tickled!" He was just giggling and giggling for about 20 minutes. It was super fun and made us all laugh.

School fun...

Here we learned about all the different kinds of snowflakes and how they form, and made some valentines for the holiday.

Domesticated Boy!

Emerson wanted to make his own scarf, so I cut 2 pieces of this lovely yellow material and he sewed them together and cut slits in the ends. He did it himself and now he wants to make one for McKay. Who ever knew my boys would want to be so domestic??

A Sweet Moment!

Mom and Brahm just cuddling on the couch. Brahm doesn't usually let me hold him still for long, but he just layed on my chest for an hour and then drifted off to sleep. It was sweet!

McKay and Emerson and I spent 2 hours playing outside in the snow and collecting wood for our fireplace. Yep, we build our own fires here at the Thompson Ranch! It's been fun, although our house kinda smells like a campground! :)

Be a Detective!!

Can you figure out what animal tracks these are? You and/or your kids can help us crack this mystery of what animal is living in our back yard. McKay and Emerson went on a detective hunt to follow these tracks. Some animal has been leaving a brand new set of tracks (the top ones) in the snow, leading all the way from our front yard, through our back yard, and out into the forest every day. If you are right, you win....the animal. If we can catch it! Plus, for a bonus I'll see if the kids will draw a picture of the animal for you. Get to work and unlock the mystery....

Sweet Brahm

Just takin' a bath....for the 2nd time today, due to some very "messy" diapers.

An Icey Wonderland!

It has rained on and off for weeks now, much to our disappointment. But, this morning we woke up to this beautiful icey world! It's finally cold enough to freeze all the water and it did so right on every blade of grass, all the branches and buds in the trees, and even our trampoline net. It's frozen stiff. I took 48 pictures and still wanted to take more!

Friends!!

We had some of our very best friends come to visit us this week. Derek & Brittany Weaver and Nate & Sandrine Steed. We all lived in Lansing, Michigan and have all since moved. We were honestly sad when they left. After having our wonderful friends and family come to visit we felt very humbled and grateful for the people we've been blessed to have in our lives. We also got updates & cards from some of our friends and family over the holidays, which we put on our fridge and mantle to enjoy. Thank you and hopefully we'll actually get our updates out in February, as we hope to do. Happy New Year!!

Family!!

A few days after Christmas 3 of Rick's sisters (Peg, Marianne & Lucy) and Peg's husband Josh and son Jonas, came to visit us for 3 days. It was so much fun!! We really missed them when they left and hope Marianne has a wonderful time on her mission when she leaves this year. We also found out that Peggy is expecting again. Congratulations!!

Here the boys were challenged to spin the different sized discs on a spinning metal wheel. It was very hard, but they had a great time trying. Also, McKay learned here about kinetic energy by pedaling to spin this giant wheel. Once he got it spinning it continued for a long time. They also got to watch a giant hot air balloon rise and fall, a robot made of metal tinkering pieces and simple wires talk and move, played some instruments, learn how the body digests food, see what parts of the brain control what parts of our bodies, etc. McKay told us it was one of the best days of his life. It really was great!

Detroit Science Center

Here we all are at the Detroit Science Center. It is HUGE and fantastic! It's 4 stories high and has everything "science" imagineable. We watched a Christmas laser show, which even Brahm loved, and here are Rick and the boys playing with K'Nex, which they spent about 45 minutes doing. Hmm...looks like we may have a perfect future birthday present here.

Bling Bling!

Santa got these bling bling giant glasses for one of the kids' stockings. I think he should have given them to Rick instead because he was really enjoying them, as you can clearly see!

More of Christmas!

Here's Emerson with his new toys. The medal around the boys necks are from marathons Grandpa Thompson has run. Each of the boys got one and it was very exciting for them. They prize them and have each picked a special place to keep their medals safe.

Christmas Morning

McKay with all his new Christmas loot! He really likes this "stretchy rainbow inside out ball" on his head. He woke us at 5:40 am hoping to wake everyone and open gifts. He proposed a deal: "I'll give you guys half an hour, and at 6:10 if Emerson's not already awake, we'll wake him up and go down to open gifts." We were too tired to fight, so every minute for the next half hour McKay, who was now laying in bed with us, reminded us that it had been one more minute. Great deal, eh?