video from jayden's swim diploma

the parade before the test begins

the first test is treading water in long pants and long sleeves

camera operator error! jayden is so proud to earn his B swim diploma

one of the swim tests

Jayden's B (swim) diploma

jayden earned his B swim diploma last saturday

it wouldn't be a kid's photo without jillian throwing herself on the floor lately (she would rather be showing off her new walking skills than posing for a photo with her siblings!)

jayden during one of the swim diploma tests

for the B diploma - the kids must start out swimming in long pants and long shirts (for the A diploma - it was short sleeve shirts and shorts)

queen's day 2011

queen's day is the only day in holland that it is legal to have a garage sale ..... the garage sale takes place in the city center

showing off her new walking legs :)

decorating the bikes before riding into town

everybody wears orange on queen's day

it's hard to believe we celebrated our 2nd queen's day in holland!

5 Euros

with the leftover money everyone rode the bumper cars

helen chose the ferris wheel!

stereotypical american? hmmmm

jayden chose the strength game

graham chose to throw the ball at some cans

just before queen's day there was a carnival (Kermis) in town - we took the kids to the carnival and told them that they had 5 euros to spend... they could spend it on anything they wanted to .... but they could not spend more than 5 euros :)

our royal tea party

helen and jillian get dressed up for The Royal Wedding

my very own princess... dressed in high heels, a princess dress, and large floppy hat

well - this princess ran away before i could finish getting her dressed - at least she still has her hat on :)

ready for our own Royal Tea Party before The Royal Wedding begins

their pinkies are out :)

this hat is getting in the way of me eating my biscuit!

graham has the pinky finger perfected!

unlike our friends in the United States... we did not have to get up at 4:45am to watch The Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate on April 29th... we are actually 1 hour ahead of London ... we enjoyed watching the wedding vows over lunch!

wonder if jillian will remember watching The Royal Wedding?

the offspring of 2 nerds

note - go to the bottom of the post and read/view the pictures in reverse order

note - jillian peeking around the corner :)

jillian can now walk around while carrying random objects

what's inside a bubble? ... ross decides to bring out a balloon to further explain the experiment :)

bubble solution and straws that have been "flared" on the end to make bubbles

scientist ross takes part in the science experiment

jillian gets some private playing time with her toys with the other kids work on their science experiment

my proud walking jilly

scientist helen listens carefully for the chemical reaction

now to add baking soda to the oil sample

scientist jayden adds baking soda to the orange juice sample

scientist graham almost spilled the cup of milk sample as he adding the baking soda!

scientist helen adds baking soda to the lemon juice sample

writing down their hypothesis

nothing to do with the science experiment - but our scientist jillian is so proud of her new walking skill :)

we bought a book of chemistry experiements when we were on our home leave. last week when the kids were on their easter break from school - i decided to have them do a couple science experiments. i'm not sure who had more fun - the kids or the (nerdy) parents. guess that's what you get when 2 chemical engineers get a hold of a chemistry book :) as you can tell from the pictures - the kids really got into the experiments.