Fun With the Elements

Brennan and Brayden were assigned to compose an element project for their chemistry class. Brennan's subject was nitrogen and Brayden's was sodium. They decided to have a little fun with it. Here are the results ...

Blowing up the Gingerbread

The boys had a splendid idea of blowing up the last Christmas gingerbread house.  They wanted to use TNT, but settled on leftover firecrackers.

All the supervisors surveying the situation.

Brodie ready to ignite.

Run away, run away...

                         Here is the action in motion... should've used the TNT.

Ava the Baker

 Ava was a terrific help in baking all the Christmas goodies!

Molly wishes all a Merry Christmas!

Thanks to our good friend Eugene for composing this flattering picture of our "lovely" ball of fluff.  Merry Christmas!!

Contact lens lesson

Ava and Brennan recently received contact lenses.  Here, they are getting pointers on the best way to put them in while visiting Jon's parents in Kansas.

Brayden and Jon at Hillsboro M.B. Church

Brayden had fun singing with his Dad while we were in Kansas visiting Jon's parents.  What a special time we had with family!

Hard work paid off!

 Anna and Brodie have been saving their money from work in hopes of buying a vehicle.  After a few years, they both were able to pay cash for their "rides".  Anna bought a 2013 Buick Encore in excellent condition and just loves it.  This car absolutely fits her personality.  Brodie, on the other hand, wanted something a bit more sporty.  He bought a 2006 Ford Mustang.  Since it is a manual transmission, he had to learn the new skill of driving with a stick shift (just when I thought I was done with driving lessons for a while).  He picked it up quickly and loves zipping up to ... but not above ;-) ... the speed limit.

Brayden's Virtual Recital

Since music recitals are taboo in these coronavirus times, Brayden was asked to record a few songs for a virtual recital.  Here they are...

What quarantine is like at our household according to Anna and Brayden ...

Congratulations on quintuplets!

For Brayden and Brennan's science, they had the opportunity to dissect a shark.  We were just about to wrap everything up when Brayden discovered the female shark was pregnant and had a bunch of little shark babies.  They were promptly delivered via C-section but didn't quite make it.

"Welcome" home ... keep the germs away!

After Jon's return from a 3-day trip, the boys were defending the house from any Coronavirus germs Dad may have brought home.  Brayden was staged in the garage, Brennan in the kitchen, and Brodie at the top of the stairs.

Christi and Brodie are giving me a heart attack!

Context:  Christi and Brodie have an unofficial competition about how close to the garage door they can park ... which drives me crazy :-)

So...I come home in the van with the kids to find the "teen car" parked QUITE close to the garage with the following note from Christi ...

I told Brodie that there is no way to humanly park any closer than this, so don't even try.  Of course, he sees this as the gauntlet being thrown down.

Anna's & Brayden's Miss Kansas Video for their cousin

Anna was asked by her cousin, Hannah, to create a custom video of her travels as Miss Kansas over the past year to play at the new Miss Kansas pageant, since Anna had been taking animation classes.  Anna had fun creating it and having Brayden sing in the background.  Enjoy!

The Old Testament in 10 minutes

Ava and her friend Emma presented the Old Testament in 10 minutes at school.

Christmas Recital

Each year around Christmas, the kids do a recital at a retirement home.  It is a delight to see how the residents' faces light up seeing and talking with the kids.  This year, only Brayden and Brennan gave me permission to post their videos.
The first one is "I Have Seen the Light" with Philip (the kids' music teacher), Brayden, and me singing.  How fun it is to sing with my son!  The second is of Brennan on the piano.  I love his little bow. 😊

Christmas Parody

Brayden composed a couple parodies for our small group church Christmas party last night.

Hooray - we finished reading & journaling the whole Bible!

We decided to start as a family reading and journaling each chapter in the Bible back in August 2013.  Having no idea how long it would take, we began in Matthew and finished the New Testament in October 2014.  Then we started with Genesis and finally finished the Old Testament today!
This is a picture taken right after reading and sharing Malachi 4.  

We then announced to the kids what special treat was planned for their accomplishment.  Here is the video of their reaction …

After this, we hopped in the van for a drive to 7-11 where they each ate a donut.  Even Molly (our dog) came along and was given a donut despite the fact that she did not read through the Bible with us.

Brayden's Political Parody

Brayden decided to compose a political parody, so I recorded him singing it. Please do not watch it if you are left-leaning - I did not filter any of his words :-)

Brodie the jumping bean

The heal click jump

The blindfold jump

This what goes on during the school day when there is a short break and no teacher is around. 😮

Our Family Presentation at Classical Conversations

It was our turn for the family presentation.  Last year, we did a parody on "A Few of My Favorite Things."  In keeping with the Sound of Music theme, we opted for a parody on "So Long, Farewell."  Brodie is devastated that this is our last one ;-)