Merry Christmas

From 2009_12_06

Go Kart 2.0

Well we were at it again. The first go kart had wheels from old bikes, and that one didn't last very long. the axles couldn't handle it. Well I saw these two wheel chairs on the side of the road being thrown away... and of course I didn't see trash I saw an opportunity. So here we are .. the updated version of the go kart. Thanks to Chuck coming over the next day we made some modifications that really help. It is totally push and gravity powered, however Caleb is always interested in some kind of motor being put on this thing (not now, but we'll see). The kids learned real fast about some simple steering principles. When you are going fast you don't have to turn as much. Caleb's friend Reed almost flipped it over on the very first run. Caleb almost hit a car and discovered that we need to work on our braking system a little bit.

It has been great fun.

Traveling Champ

Ethan participated in a neat project where we came home with "Traveling Champ" and we had to allow him to join our family on whatever adventures we were doing and then journal about in Champ's journal. It was neat to read to Ethan at bedtime the journal entries of his classmates who had Champ before us.

Thanksgiving

Lego League

This year at Lego League we really did good! I believe in the robot competition we came in 12th place! It was very exciting. I am very proud of the boys. They worked well as a team and were very encouraging to each other. We scored really well early on so it was fun watching the kids study the leader board seeing if we were going to end up in the top 10.

I was really proud of our robot and our team. Most of these other teams built these elaborate contraptions to get over or around some obstacles, our robot looked like a tractor with treads and we just rolled right over barriers. While practicing so many other kids from other teams would watch ours go over the barriers and they would ask "Can you do that?" - I was so proud of out team thinking outside the box.

Haunted House

Well inspired by a book I read and really enjoyed. We turned our garage into a Haunted House.

It was incredible. I had so much fun working with my friend Graham and the kids setting it up. My hope was that it would be a fun simple way of connecting with neighbors. We even had a little bucket out raising money for Heifer International and we collected almost $20 (I think we bought a flock of ducks - I don't remember right now).

I told the older kids we couldn't make it so scary that the little bitty trick or treaters would be scared. We made stuff like peeled grapes for eyes, slime for guts, cold noodles for brains and baby carrots for fingers... all ingredients for some gross experiment or something.
The kids in the neighborhood started giving tours to all the other kids who showed up. They would even wander down the street inviting people to come. At one point there was about 15-20 adults in my driveway with who knows how many kids running around in my garage. Everyone was talking and having fun. I was excited to meet some new people in our community and also just visit with neighbors.

I am now looking forward to next Halloween.

PawPaw and the Boys

It was grandparents day at Ethan's school and PawPaw got to come up. We had a great time. After school we went out to Lincoln parish park to grill burgers and explore the woods. We stayed too late (forgot that the park closes at dark). We almost were forced to camp out. We had to call the police to get the code to open the gate and at first it didn't work. It was a great adventure.

Get Whole Video

We did a sermon series at Trinity about healing. This is a parody making fun of all the ways the world says we can be made whole and feel complete.

This was really fun to make! I hope you enjoy.

Ethan Kindergarten

Ethan's Birthday

I am finally getting caught up on the blog.