I don't know if

Caleb enjoyed our visit to Cabelas or not?

Birthday week for Caleb & Karis

We celebrated Caleb's & Karis' birthdays tonight and had some fun!

Happy birthday!!!

 Karis had a bit of trouble with her last candle.

She finally got it!

I love to watch Karis' expressions when opening gifts.

Hmmm.  What is it?

I think it was his favorite gift.....

Ahh, he got a pair of socks returned that he left at a friend's house.
Caleb actually got a very fun toy this year. I'll try to take some pictures soon!

Joel's smiling passengers

Joanna and Caleb got to go up with Joel on one of his latest flights. 

They had a lot of fun.

Santorum Rally

We went to a Rick Santorum rally today!

Here's Joanna and her friends waiting for it to start.

Caleb and his friend with their signs.

Both Caleb and Joanna got his signature. Joel shook his hand and wished him well.

He posed with Joanna and friends for this cool picture. The more we learn about him and hear what he has to say, the more we like him. 

He's definitely not your run-of-the-mill politician. His almost 45-minute speech included quotes from Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and the Declaration of Independence -- as well as a few rather disturbing quotes from Barack Obama. (All extemporaneous with no notes, teleprompters or, as our kids confirm, non-words like "um....uh.") After the speech, he and his wife stayed and greeted everyone present who wanted to meet him.

Check out this YouTube video for a cool pro-Santorum song:

Scott's "First First Flight"

Congratulations to my brother, Scott who flew the new Citation Ten prototype on its first flight today. As this was the first time Scott flew a new prototype that had never flown before, it was his "first first flight."

 Joel came home and picked up Caleb so they could go and watch the airplane take off.

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed it and was proud of his Uncle!

 The first flight was a success.

They want a snow day real bad!

They tried to go play in the little dusting we got.

Carving Time

Basket making

The kids got to make some baskets with our homeschool group.  They weren't too hard, but they had to work at it.  Thanks Mrs. S!!

4-wheeler

Caleb enjoying a ride on a 4-wheeler with friends.

The thesaurus can be fun

Joel piqued Caleb's curiosity with a thesaurus game tonight. Caleb

came up with a sentence and then found alternate words for that

sentence in the thesaurus. He found that the end result can be quite funny.

The original sentence:
The old man drank his juice.

The post thesaurus sentence:
The ancient human quaffed his liquor.

Putt-Putt Boats

We made some putt-putt boats while studying the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine. They were fun to make and we loved the putt-putt sound they make.


We were expecting a successful launch at a friend's neighborhood lake.  However, we didn't take into account the sprinklers going off and the wind! 

 We tried again in our bathtub and they worked!

Here's a video to hear the cool sound they make.


Go to www.sciencetoymaker.org if you are interested in making your own.  He's got great directions.

Botany Lesson

Eliana and Caleb are working on some leaf classification.

 We got a few different types of leaves and identified them by category.  They identified them by their arrangement, venation, shape and margin.

Flying along

 

Caleb got to go on a flight with dad.  He took lots of pictures and one of himself too!

1st day at camp!

Joanna and Caleb are both at camp this week.

   

Looks like they are going to have a great time!  

Here they are with some friends - Caleb is on the far left and Joanna on the far right.

Awana Awards Night

Kids had a great Awana year!  They all learned a lot of verses and finished their books. 

Solar Power

Another solar powered "vehicle"

Lovin'

Caleb loves his little sister.

Continental Army Putt-Putt

As you can see from the pictures below, we've got the 18th century on the brain.
After visiting Yorktown, they did a little putt-putt but got distracted and had to load their "muskets"!

I bet you they're good shots too! (Dad was scared taking the picture!)

Back To School Special

Caleb's thoughts of the sign!

Studying With Tom

Studying with Thomas Jefferson

He wrote some good stuff.