Days With the Duerksens

The girls were playing on their own yesterday afternoon while I was busy with things - the norm around here!  When I looked to see what they were doing, I saw creativity in action!  Cambry rigged up a little basketball goal and they took turns shooting at it.  It was such a delight to watch, and proof that I don't need to entertain them every minute of every day!  They manage to do that quite well on their own - some of the time!

A couple of weeks ago, we watched my dad get presented with a plaque for 30 years of officiating basketball in the state of Kansas.  He was introduced just before the start of the 3A boys' state championship game.  He didn't do the 30 years all at once -- he took a long break while Vanessa and I were growing up.  But 10 years ago, he got back into it.  It has been a good outlet for him during the winter months when he can't work outside as much. And, he has enjoyed it! He's one of those people who didn't care what others thought about the calls he made -- always confident when he blew the whistle.  Those are definitely qualities I did NOT inherit from him!  :) I'm proud of him for sticking with it - to reach his goal of 30 years!  Even this year, he injured his knee, but still got around to reffing a few more games before the end of the season to finish his years out. Way to go, Dad!

We surprised Caiden with a BB gun for his birthday.  For the record, I'm not sure I'm really on board with this, but he is 10 - he's growing up.  He's been enjoying shooting at targets and at glass jars for now.  He's picked it up quickly and it's given him something new to do outside as the weather warms up.  We also gave him a little mp3 player.  Our track record with giving electronics as gifts isn't very good, but so far, this one is working quite well!  He has a whopping 4 songs on it at this point, but he's enjoying every second of them! Lessons Getting closer! A little bedtime music?

Chelan and I have officially been parents for one decade!  Caiden turned 10 this past Tuesday, and we can hardly believe that ten years have passed.  During the day, we watched some movies from when Caiden was a baby.  Boy, did we take videos of him -- lllloooonnnnggg segments of him just lying on his back, for example!  Caiden lost interest quickly, but the girls could have watched all day.  I heard them say several times, "Caiden, you were a funny baby!" Ten years ago, Chelan and I brought Caiden home from the hospital and wondered what we had done!  The first 7 weeks were a difficult adjustment for us, to say the least.  Ten years later, we're still learning: We're learning to spend time with him when he needs us to and to leave him alone when he needs us to.  We're playing more basketball and football than ever, but we're also showing him ways to practice on his own.  We're learning patience when bad choices are made, but rejoicing wh...

I didn't know if they would come up, but slowly my tomatoes and peppers are peeking through the soil.  In fact, all but 2 or 3 have come up and they are growing!  For a while, it seemed like every hour a new seedling would be poking through.  Now, the trick will be to keep them alive until I can get them outside in a few weeks!

With March Madness approaching and state high school basketball tournaments coming up, this post is dedicated to the movie  Hoosiers . Caiden and I watched  Hoosiers  this week - a movie we've been meaning to introduce him to all winter!  He was home sick and I wasn't too busy, so I joined him in the living room and relived one of my favorite movies of all time.  I am a total  Hoosiers  geek!  It is one of the few movies I remember watching in a movie theater (I was in grade school).   I bought the soundtrack (on tape) and when we bought the video, I watched it nearly every weekend during my jr. high years.  I had the whole thing memorized!  On Wednesday when I watched it with Caiden, I got chills all over again when Jimmy made that final shot!  Such a fantastic movie - and Caiden liked it, too! And since I am such a  Hoosiers  geek, I went online today to learn more about the real team that this movie is based on...

In an effort to speed up the arrival of spring, I put these winter decorations away today . . . I am no longer celebrating the season. I also planted tomato seeds today because we invested in a grow light this winter - I'm calling it my birthday gift!  Since this is my first attempt, tomatoes and peppers seemed to be a great place to start.  I hate using styrofoam cups, but we're utilizing some that we just couldn't throw away after they were used one time for a game at church.  At least we'll get one more use out of them.  If all goes well, I'll start broccoli and cabbage seeds for fall a little later this summer.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the progress of these little plants - I hope there IS progress! The first group - more to come when I find the rest of the pans!