Silver Dollar City

The last gift the kids opened Christmas morning.....a trip to Branson! They had no idea we were going. I had the van packed and ready to go on Christmas morning, when they opened an empty box that said "surprise we are going on vacation." We had a large breakfast and we all piled in the van and left. We spent a couple of days at Silver Dollar City. It was FREEZING but they still had a great time.

picture from Grandfather's Mansion

aka-the crooked house

The kids are actually standing upright

Christmas Break

After a week of extra school work, messy projects, and final exams at work, we can finally tuck away the books and enjoy a 2 week break. And guess what..... at our school (which is home) we can call our break a Christmas break! It is so nice to have the focus on Jesus during this season instead of calling Christmas a winter holiday or festival.

Here are some of our messy projects from the week...

Ryan and Carter were outside, bringing the trash cans back from the curb, when they noticed a mess of sap dripping from a cracked branch. It was a complete mess, dripping all over the side of our new fence and covering the ground. The only logical thing to do was remove the branch, or so we thought. After a few cuts, the branch started spraying sap like a water hose. The kids thought this was the coolest thing in the world. It sprayed for a good 5-10 minutes, and I mean gushing out. I have never seen anything like it before, and Jordan insisted on going outside to collect our sticky mess. All of this craziness turned into an impromptu lesson about plant vascular systems and the production of maple syrup.

Kaylee making chocolate covered pretzels for the neighbors.....

This is one of the wax and watercolor paintings we made this week. We added a picture of the four kids playing in the snow last February. Unfortunately, it was the last snow Macie ever played in.

Merry Christmas

Missouri Botanical Gardens

We spent the day at the Missouri Botanical Gardens to see the train exibit. The kids had a great time, and the 35 degree weather felt great compared to the cold and windy day we had Wednesday.

Frog

Jordan and Kaylee dissecting a frog for a science lesson. They had way too much fun!