Hello From Exhaustion Central!

This week has been a perfect storm of fun and activity!

Grandma and Grandpa came from up north to visit for 4 days. Their visit coincided with Braden's first "real" debate tournament.

On Monday we relaxed around the house and enjoyed each other.

Tuesday and Thursday Braden and at least one parent drove an hour to the big city for the tournament. On Wednesday we ALL made the long trip. We left the house at 6:00 am each day, and arrived home between 9:00 and 11 pm, depending upon the day.

Each day was spent in one of the following ways:

1. Consuming coffee and reading.



2. Playing board or card games.



3. Watching teenagers argue.

M. loved judging debate and speech rounds. Loved it. As in, if there was a way for him to do this professionally, he would.

I was the one who originally signed up to judge, but M. took over. Which was fine with me. I really liked being able to chat with moms, and knit, and watch the occasional debate round.

Below is Braden and his partner. The round hadn't started yet; they were preparing.


Debaters are required to wear "professional attire" and all the young men wore suits. Everyone was so handsome!

116 students came to the tournament to debate. Each team participated in 6 rounds - four on day one and 2 on day two. The rounds get progressively harder or easier depending upon how you are doing.

In the end, Braden and his partner went 3-3. Not bad for their first year! Teams are ranked by their win/loss records, and also earn individual "speaker points" each round. Often times the "speaker points" are used as tie-breakers. They were right on the bubble and nearly broke to octafinals. There were a few other teams with 3-3 records that broke to octafinals because they had higher speaker points than Braden and his partner. This was encouraging, and got both boys excited about debating next year.

When not spending time at the debate tournament, there was a whole lotta' RockBand going on. The boys have formed a band called "Easily Distracted."



Colson surpised everyone this week by showing us he could play on the "Easy" level, and knew how to do the fingerings.

I just think this photo is adorable. Look how tiny he appears when holding a guitar!



We had a wonderful time last week, but I'm planning on sleeping in all week, just to catch up on my zzzzzzzzzzz's!

The Men in This House Would Agree With the Baby

Heard at My House

Braden: "Revenge is a dish best served cold. But even a cold dish needs preparation. Mwahahaha!"

How "Star Trek" Should Have Ended.

Colson wanted to post video of what he's learning in tap class so his grandmothers could see.

This first video is of the basic positions he's learned and something called the "Teddy Bear Dance."


The second video is of the line dance his class is learning. Every time they learn a new "step" it gets added to the dance, so it's not finished yet. But this is what he knows so far.

I wanted to turn on some music, like they do in his class. But he was very particular about dancing in silence. Colson worried you wouldn't be able to hear his taps if the music was too loud.

It's Yearbook Time!

Braden's homeschool group is readying the yearbook for 2009-2010. All the students in the high school class have been asked to submit photos from their extracurricular activities.

Here are a few of Braden's submissions:

Carrying the Olympic torch in the relay for the Vancouver games!





Supporting a friend in his time of need.




Debate





Out on the town with his pal, Jack. "Set up a perimeter!!"

(Har! Har! Har! Those two and their inside jokes...)




Crashing the White House State Dinner.

(Sorry 'bout that, Desiree. I hope you find a new job soon!)




We're Going to the Division Championship!!





At this summer's "Beer Summit"






On the red carpet at the Golden Globes.