Some Great Classics!

Rick and I have decided that, for the most part, Classic Movies are the way to go! So, here is a list of Classics that we love and recommend. All are either G, PG or NR (not rated--most old movies don't have the violence, sex, and language of modern day media, and back then they didn't use the rating system) --and a few great newer movies that are classics to us! P.S. Anything with Gregory Peck is fantastic!

FOR THE ADULTS:A Bridge Too Far --war, not for kids PG
Double Indemnity NR (murder mystery, but nothing evil)
***Lawrence of Arabia PG
North By Northwest NR
**White Christmas (music)
**Gentlemen's Agreement NR (Gregory Peck)
**Roman Holiday NR (Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea G
His Girl Friday NR
****The Scarlet and the Black (Gregory Peck--Great message!) NR
***To Kill A Mockingbird (Gregory Peck) NR
How Green Was My Valley NR
**Adam's Rib - funny! NR
Rebel Without A Cause (James Dean) NR or PG
*East of Eden (James Dean) NR
On the Waterfront (has fighting, not for kids, but good msg.) - NR
***Ben-Hur
Arsenic & Old Lace - funny! NR
*Khartoum NR
**The Elephant Man - Get some tissue! PG
Shenandoah NR
** The Miracle Worker (Abt. Helen Keller) NR or G
****The Great Escape (Not for kids, but very good, true story) - NR
*Grapes of Wrath NR

NEWER FILMS:Amadeus - PG
**The Lakehouse - PG
Warm Springs (About FDR) PG
Secondhand Lions PG
***Facing the Giants (Excellent message!) PG
The Color of Paradise (Get another tissue) PG
***Radio (One more tissue, again) PG
Miracle PG

FOR THE KIDS:
Fly Away Home PG
Willow PG
****The obvious: Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sound of Music
Oliver Twist (several versions, 1997 was good, but old versions are better for little kids)
**Black Beauty G
*The Black Stallion G
**Labrynth
*Where the Red Fern Grows G

The finished product. It is really soft, fuzzy and will go great with my mom's red winter coat. Yeah!!!!

Just to relax...

Here I am knitting with the help of a powdered chocolate container. I used it to put the ball of yarn in so it wouldn't roll around and unravel, and so the yard wouldn't twist and would stay taut. Pretty "caveman-ish", but it worked great. Nice outfit and hair, I know!
Here's my new hobby...knitting! Yep, I finally found something worth setting aside other important things for---so I can relax! This is the beginning of my second finished project, which took me about 4 days. My first was a lovely bookmark for McKay (with lots of mistakes and holes in it)! Hopefully someday I will be good enough at it to call it a talent. Not there quite yet, but I love it! Here I'm making a ball of yarn from a skein of yarn. My first time I did it all by hand and with McKay's help. It took me over an hour. But, with this "stick trick" I devised, it only took about 20 minutes and was very easy!

Tooth Fairy?

McKay finally lost his first tooth today. He yanked it out with a piece of floss, after days of prodding from his mom, who just couldn't stand to see him wiggle it and not pull it out! I'm so impatient. He asked me last week if the tooth fairy was real. Now Santa is one thing, and maybe even the easter bunny, but a fairy? I couldn't lie. So, he immediately hit me up for a whole dollar. I gently declined telling him that the tooth fairy isn't rich. I told him the truth and my conscience is clear! Aahhhh. :)

Hi ya ya ya, hi ya ya ya. We studied different indian tribes and made these lovely Indian hats for school last week. The boys insisted on putting the feathers on the front of their foreheads, instead of behind. But, they did a great job of decorating! My great, great, great, great (not sure exactly how many greats) grandpa was a full-blooded indian. I'd have to check our history to find out what tribe he came from. We figure that must be where McKay got his brown eyes from. Ha ha!

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!