A sledding story...

The hill is big, Seth is small, but that doesn't stop him from carrying his own sled up the hill "all by myself." Seth is our independant child. He insists often that he can do things himself. One of these times happens when we are out sledding. Seth has as much fun zooming down as his brothers do. Then he climbs the hill, sometimes carrying a sled as big as he is, or pulling a sled bigger than him. He struggles, but he often succeeds and is offended if we offer to help him. The poor child tires himself out.

Well in recent sledding trips, Chad and Seth have worked out a system. Seth sits in the sled and pulls up the back of the sled while Chad pulls up the front.

Shhh, don't tell Seth that he is getting out of all the hard work!

Back at home...

After over two weeks in Wisconsin, we arrived back home on January 4th. On January 5th the boys had a chance to open a few presents that we had recieved from some friends at church.

Then we unloaded the Christmas presents from the car and the boys set to playing with their new toys in the toy room. Our toy room is overflowing with new toys! The boys recieved several sets of K-nex toys which Zeke is playing with here. They also recieved other building toys and a new set to add to their train box.

Scuba boys...

Spending 3 years in Hawaii, our boys learned a little about scuba gear (though they were a little too young to ever figure out how the mask and snorkel worked). Each year our church hands out those little candy canes full of M&Ms to all the kids at our annual church Christmas dinner. This is the second year that the boys have turned them into snorkels... Here is a picture of Seth as he is swimming through the house.

Snow Flakes...

There hasn't been much snow on the ground in Indiana yet... (I hear there is a possibility of a few inches tonight). The boys, however, are always getting out their scissors and cutting things out. Today I got them started on a project that is sure to leave more little clippings all over our house for months to come! We opened up a package of Coffee filters and the boys began folding and cutting.

JJ, in typical JJ fashion, was very careful and artistic.

This was one of his first attempts, and his favorite because it has little hearts in it. He also created several that he thought looked like flowers and butterflies!

Noah is rarely able to concentrate on anything without sticking his tongue out... Which is why this picture is so odd!

He was thrilled with his creations!

Zeke tried a variety of different techniques of cutting.

He was always excited to unfold the new snowflake!

Seth got really good at cutting out the center.

His snowflakes all had various size holes for him to look through!

Balancing Act

Science Central, our local kids museum, hosts Homeschool afternoons where they offer a science class for homeschooled children in the area. Today we headed out the door for Zeke's "The Math is Right" class. We got there a little early, so we grabbed one of their adventure back packs to learn a little bit about the physics of balancing.


The first explorer bag had two dolls and the boys had to balance them on their heads and feet. Then they were to discuss why they could or couldn't get the doll to stand up.

It was discovered that the doll with the heavier head would stand on her head and the doll with the heavier feet would stand on her feet.

The next bag gave them the task of balancing 10 nails on the head of a nail. After several unsuccessful attempts we looked at the answer and Zeke successfully balanced the nails by hooking them together.

When we returned to our table and pulled out our last bag, the task was to balance a popsicle stick on the end of their finger. The boys all immediately knew that this would not work and thought it was a silly request, but they tried it anyway. But of course this was not the end of the lesson. The next set of instructions were to create a set of counter weights to enable them to balance the popsicle stick on the end of their finger. After a few minutes of attaching pipecleaners and paperclips to their toothpicks they were all able to successfully balance their popsicle sticks.

Flag Football Season Ends

The season for flag football ended on a cold fall day. We were making up a game that was rained out earlier in the season. Between the blustery wind and the upper 40 degree temperatures there were a lot of cold boys and girls on the field.

JJ and Noah played first and kept a positive attitude throughout the game despite the cold temps. After the game they were awarded a participation medal!

Zeke played next and did his best. Cold fingers caused a dropped pass or two. He was also awarded a participation medal. He wanted to show off both of his medals (the other one is from baseball this summer).

Seth, of course, wanted his picture taken too! He can't wait to play football next year!

Michigan Trip

We had an opportunity to get away to the north for a couple days. Some friends of ours from church have a cottage on a lake in Southern Michigan and we started our trip there. The boys had a great time splashing in the water.

Zeke spent the day perfecting his use of the snorkel.

JJ spent the day searching for minnows, sea shells and other water treasures.

We all took a ride on the pontoon boat and spent some time combing the shoreline for turtles.

Thanks to Jack and Lois for a wonderful day in the sun!

From Coldwater we headed north to spend a day in Battle Creek. We had a great time playing in an indoor/ outdoor water playland called Full Blast (not a convenient place for a camera though so I have no pictures). After another day in the sun and water we headed home and finished our mini-vacation with a pizza and movie night in our living room!

Seth turns 3...

Tonight we celebrated Seth's 3rd Birthday. He will spend his actual Birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Breeden's house on Monday, August 4th. We did our usual family trip to Chuck E. Cheese, but included a few of the families of the guys in Chad's Greek class this time.

When asked what kind of a cake he wanted he said, "A football cake like Zeke."

Other friends at his party... The Hoem Family: Joe, Kristin, Max, Nigel, and Sophie; The Krebbs Family: Adrian, Dianna and Jacob; The Peters Family: Doug, Heather, Harvey and Katherine; The Gerdes Family: Chris, Dana, Cedric, Eliah, and Aleric; and Ben Shim.

At 3 years old Seth is speaking well, loves to sing, is potty trained, likes to color and then cut papers into tiny pieces, and enjoys playing sports with his brothers. He also has one missing front tooth and a capped front tooth from an accident on his bike. Here is his 2 1/2 year old picture...