Days With the Duerksens

Lining things up For the last couple of months, Caiden has been busy getting ready for the KU Engineering Expo with his ELP class.  From what I can tell, Caiden thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and we are thankful for teachers (and even some parents) who were willing to put in the extra time this project required! Last year, the kids did the Egg Drop Challenge but were unable to go compete due to a snowstorm.  The main goal of this year's challenge was to program a small robot to go from Point A to Point B in less than 4 seconds, all while avoiding obstacles.  Caiden's group named their robot "Robobird" and they decided to take a direct route to Point B instead of following a marked line with a light sensor. Last Friday was the big day, so they traveled up to Lawrence and made many trial runs before getting a fast time.  It sounds like the board they had at KU was not really up to par, so they had trouble with it veering to the right.  (I mean really,...

This is life at 35 for me - surrounded by 3 children and a zwieback with a candle in it! It came, it went, and now I'm 35!  I enjoyed a full and fun weekend with my family including a date with my husband to the McPherson Opera House!  I thoroughly enjoyed the time with just Chelan - it's a rare thing!  And - he experienced the Olive Garden for the first time with me.  Can you believe he's never been there?  I hadn't been there since college and the salad and breadsticks were still as good as I remembered them to be! On my actual birthday, we went to Kobe Steakhouse with my side of the family to celebrate my parents' birthdays, my sister's birthday, and mine.  We all have a birthday between Jan. 17 and Feb. 15!  I had intended to get a picture of the four of us together, but that didn't happen - maybe next year! When we arrived home, we found out that Chelan's parents had been in an accident.  We are so thankful for God's protection over the...

Nine days after the big snow, the girls and I played outside today!  Cambry is actually home from school - one of those strange low-grade fevers that keep her at home but leave me wondering why in the world she's home!  Since she basically felt fine, we went outside for some fresh air before naptime (for both of them)!  It was beautiful outside and we had fun! We gave the snowman a heart on his belly

The bitter cold, snowy weather is the perfect time to begin calving season, isn't it?  Last Sunday, the first two calves of the year were born and one more was added yesterday.  It's always fun to go out to the yard this time of year when Chelan and Duane are checking for new calves.  They can show up in the strangest of places, like on the other side of the creek.  Sometimes, the mothers know exactly what to do, and other times they have to be coaxed along a bit.  Luckily, the first three seem to have capable mothers - although one is a bit jumpy and kind of schizophrenic - jumping up and out of the pen yesterday! Thankfully, we're looking at warmer temperatures in the next few days and these calves can enjoy running around outside!  And we won't have to worry about newborn calves quite as much. This mother is super-protective and was not a fan of my camera! Calf #1 Calf #2 Trying to tag a rather strong calf! Could it be?  Working ...

This year, we had not two, but three sets of Valentines to think about - a first for this family!  Caiden went the easy route and bought Valentine cards this year.  Sports-themed, of course!  His sisters, however, wanted to make their own again.  And, I really enjoy helping them.  We found some cute ideas!  Cambry went with the glow sticks, and Delaney preferred the bunnies (made from her fingerprints).  It seemed to fit her since she seems to like everything bunny these days!  Delaney had her pre-school party today and she was so excited to open up her bag of treats at home!  We read through the cards and sorted out the candy after lunch - Valentine's Day was a big hit for her and we haven't even gotten to the actual day yet! Tomorrow - the main event - I'm in charge of Cambry's 2nd grade party at school.  She helped me get the craft ready today - "love bugs!"  I think they are super-cute and I hope the kids like them! Cr...

I'm into my third week of reading the Bible cover-to-cover.  Our church has embarked on this journey together - to read the Bible in 90 days!  I've tried reading the entire Bible before, but I've never made it past Deuteronomy.  Today, I made it to Judges!  This was just what I needed - accountability to the whole congregation, a Sunday class to discuss the readings each week, and a definite end date.  So far, so good!  It helps that it's winter, and that I have quiet afternoons to get the reading done.  It takes me about 30-35 minutes each day to read approx. 12 pages.  Some of the reading has been surprising, some of it a review, and some questions have been raised in my mind on certain days.  It is stretching me, I'm growing in my faith, and I will be happy and thankful to have reached this goal in about 74 days!

Call us crazy, but we decided to host Caiden's basketball team here for an end-of-season party.  That's 9 fourth-grade boys in one house - yikes!  We had pizza, pop, ice cream - all the really good stuff!  But we also played a few minute-to-win-it games in the basement.  It was loud!  But the organized chaos was a good change of pace from the run-around-the-house kind of chaos.  We played 3 games: Face the Cookie - start with a cookie on your forehead and try to get into your mouth without using your hands.  A couple of the boys were able to do it! Yank Me - This involved stacking 4 cups with index cards in between, then yanking the cards out to see if you could get one complete stack of cups.  It was hard with 4 cups, but 3 cups were quite well! Ping Pong Basket - try to bounce 6 ping pong balls into 6 cups - most of them were able to do this. Hopefully, they all had a good time.  That was definitely the goal! ...

I was trying to capture the sun dog - it's behind the windmill.  I heard there were 2, but I only saw this one! Poor cows!  I know they have fur, but really, 0 degrees is cold!  The girls were determined to catch snow on their tongues!

It seems like we get big snowstorms every February, so not surprisingly, a big one came just a few days after we turned the calendar!  I'm not sure how much snow we got, but it was at least 11 inches.  And now it's COLD.  We really haven't been outside much.  We seem to still be in the "get bundled up and then come in 5 minutes later" phase of life - at least the girls are!  So, besides choring, we're inside people right now.  I'm not worried - the temperature is not supposed to get above freezing for the next 7 days.  We'll have lots of time to play in the snow! Luckily, we had Valentines to work on and Caiden had a big diorama project for school.  He was supposed to make a scene about a famous Kansan.  He chose James Naismith, which seems to suit him!  Although Chelan is having a hard time with the KU aspect of Mr. Naismith's life.  Caiden literally spent all day yesterday on it, and got pretty good with a glue gun.  He met...

For the first time ever, I bought Kale at the grocery store.  I've been seeing more recipes for it lately and thought, "Why not?"  Tonight, I made kale chips.  I thought they were super yummy and Cambry did, too.  Super crunchy and salty - almost like the real deal!  In fact, I think I'll make them again.  Our healthy substitution, however,  was quickly followed by . . . Oreo Pie - yep, that's how we roll around here! In case you are interested, here's the recipe for the kale chips: 1.  Strip leaves from stems 2.  Tear into smaller pieces 3.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt 4.  Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

I've been asking Delaney to try writing her name for the last few weeks, and today she surprised me!  She can write her whole name all by herself - and only checked with me to make sure she had the correct letter next.  Wasn't she just learning how to crawl?

Caiden's basketball team ended their season today with a WIN!  That makes this season's record slightly better than last year's - by 1 game!  It has been fun to watch them learn, and they have come so far since the beginning of the season two months ago.  I'm looking forward to watching Caiden play in the years to come - he caught on to so much more this year.  I'm also so proud of Chelan for coaching these boys.  It had its challenges, but all in all, it was a positive experience for him.  And he was good at it!  In fact, he thinks he'll do it again next year.  I have to thank Dale Wiens for all of these photos! The coach at work!