"Sheep Walking"

We went for a walk this afternoon and came across a flock of sheep moving into a new pasture. We started talking about how an angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields to tell them of Christ's birth. As we were walking, the sheep dogs warned us that we were getting too close. They started barking at us and as soon as we backed up one step they stopped. They were protecting their flock, just as Christ protects us!
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:8-12

Freezing Football Frenzy

The boys have been bundling up to go out and play football. They have been trying extra hard to catch the ball, because frozen footballs really hurt! We had a short snowfall last night after dinner. Crazy Fox and Digging Badger went out and ran a few plays by the light of the moon and Christmas lights.

Just Gourdous

We had several gourds left over from our garden and fall decorations so we turned them into bird feeders. (Thanks for the idea Velana!) First I cut them in half. Then the kids gutted them.We saved some seeds from our favorite varieties to plant in our garden next year. We added some wire perches and hangers. Then Little Lady filled them with birdseed. We hung them on our bare tree out front and waited for the birds to enjoy their feasts.

Chewy even enjoyed the left over pumpkins!

Power Time

We got the power hooked up to our shop! Yeah! It has been a long project, but the power company came out last week and hooked up the power. The kids were so excited to see the lift carry the man up to the top of the pole. No we just need to get it organized and we can do all sorts of fun projects out there!

Here's those shirts again.

I don't think I would be smiling if I was up there!

( I get that from my dad!)

Benjamin Franklin may have discovered electricity,

but it was the man who invented

the meter who made the money.

-Earl Wilson-

Day After Thanksgiving Hunt

The boys and the Zoo Keeper went pheasant hunting this morning. They went with a few other families from our church. They had a great time in the cold morning temperatures. They hiked around and ended up with three pheasants and one quail. They brought them home and cleaned them. We saved some of the beautiful tail feathers for fly tying. Who knows, this may have been the first year of a long running tradition.

Crazy Fox, The Zoo Keeper and Digging Badger.

Digging Badger and The Zoo Keeper skinning the bird.

Look at the birds of the air,

for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Matthew 6:26

Just a Little Cat Nap

Little Lady was playing in her room quietly in her cat costume this afternoon (a daily occurrence around here). I went in to check on her and this is what I found.

Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.
- Robert Fulghum -

Let Us Give Thanks!

Our family made a tree of thanks. We have so many things to be thankful for. Every night at dinner or whenever we thought of something that we are thankful for we wrote it on a leaf and added it to our tree of thanks. It was really neat to see out tree "blossom" with our blessings. It was a wonderful way for us to see all that we have to be grateful for.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalm 107:1

Our First Snowfall

This morning we woke up to a snow dusted yard! It was unexpected (maybe because we haven't watched the weather in a week), and beautiful. When Crazy Fox woke up I told him I wanted to show him something. When he saw the snow he said, "Is it December?!" Diggin Badger slept a little late this morning, but when he got up he wanted to get his snow clothes on and go make a snowman, but there was not quite enough snow for that.

Digging Badger absolutely lives for Winter!

He loves the snow and sledding and everything that goes with it!

Crazy Fox and Geebers the cat.

Little Lady has been wearing her snow boots since Grandma brought them in July. She has been ready and waiting for this day for six months!

Kindness is like snow - it beautifies everything it covers.

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Indians

The kids and I made corn husk dolls. It was so much fun! We had our corn stalks out on our porch by our pumpkins, so we pulled some off and soaked them for a while.

Then we rinsed them off and Crazy Fox dried them for us.

I helped Little Lady make hers, but the boys did theirs all by themselves. They wanted theirs to be boy indians, so we added a headband and cornhusk feather at the end. They played with them all day Friday. I could not believe it. Of course, the boy's Indians were from different tribes, so they were at war. The good news is they were both protecting the Indian princess!

One little, two little, three little Indians!

Barne'y Carrots

Digging Badger was out back clearing out the garden, cutting down the last few corn stalks and feeding Barney (our donkey) tomatoes that had frozen. Crazy Fox decided it looked like fun, so he joined in. Then of course, Little Ladye decided that if her boys were doing it, whatever it might be, she would do it too! They found some unharvested carrots and pulled them out of the ground too. You see, we learned a lot about gardening this year. I do remember planting carrot seeds one Spring as a girl, but I don't remember them sprouting or actually turning into carrots. So, in theory this was our first garden. Well, all of our carrot seeds had floated along the watering system we had and they all ended up all the very end of one row all clumped very very, did I say very, tightly together. They were really hard to pull out of the ground because once they started growing they were quite squished! They must have shrunk a bit since we haven't watered the garden in a month, so the kids were able to pull them out. So they fed them to Barney. Barney, by the way is a very happy donkey.

Aparrently these are the boys Favorite Shirt of the Week picks.

I'm pretty sure Crazy Fox was Hee-Haw-ing right along with Barney on this one.

And Little Lady, Barney's feeder of all things. Little Lady stands at the fence and talks to Barney and tells him stories while she feeds him whatever she can find. Grass, leaves, flowers, half of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, things like that.

Chief Grey Wolf

We are studying American Indians right now. I read about an Indian tribal meeting in the newspaper. I called the number and spoke with Chief Grey Wolf of the Metis tribe. He sounded so excited to have a new audience. He said the kids could drum and he would explain to us about all the things that their tribe does. So, we went with the Reeve family (they are studying American Indians too) and the kids did get to drum. We were expecting a more authentic tribal meeting but, the kids will never forget that drum.

They were listening to the beat . . . getting ready to join in.

Everybody walks to the beat of a different drum in this group!

Especially this someone!

Creative Kids

Well, as I have aquired the stomach bug that is floating around, the kids were on their own to entertain themselves this morning. Here is what they came up with.

The boys were building wonderful towers and forts and all sorts of exciting buildings with their blocks. Little Lady was quietly taking blocks that were off to the side and putting them into her pajamas. She was so proud of her new look!

Welcome to the Thompson Zoo Blog!

Our family has decided to create a blog so that we can share pictures and updates with all of you that feel so far away! We also thought it would be a great way for the kids to learn how to manage a site and upload pictures. Once I figure out how to do it I can teach the kids! We would love for you to check back and see what we've been up to. We would all love to hear your comments too! Hope you enjoy!

The Thompson Family