Days With the Duerksens

Here are some random pictures from what we've been up to in February: Delaney celebrated her 1/2 birthday at pre-school on February 10.  Somehow, none of our kids have birthdays during regular school days.  Caiden's always falls during Spring Break, Cambry's is just a few days after school is out, and Delaney's is just before school starts. Artist at work: One of the shows we like to watch is "The Goldberg's."  It takes us down memory lane every week - back to the 80's.  After we watched the episode about "New Kids on the Block," I remembered that I had some of their songs recorded on one of my mixed tapes (also featured a Goldberg's episode).  Sure enough, "Hangin' Tough" is right there on side 1.  We put it in my old tape player, but it didn't last long - the player doesn't work anymore.  Caiden kept asking how to find a different song.  I introduced him to the "fast forward" and "rewind...

Over the weekend, Cambry and Delaney got it in their heads to put on an art show.  They had been painting at the easel, so I guess they wanted to put their work on display.  They were busy setting up chairs, instructing me on what kind of snacks they wanted to offer, getting Kool-Aid ready, and figuring out how to display their paintings.  They even made a Valentine for each guest (which happened to be us and my parents.  It was fun to see their imaginations at work and that they actually followed through with it!  

Kansas Day is quite a production for the third graders at our school.  That meant Cambry had a project to work on at school that she loved!  She and her partner worked together to make a board about Kansas.  They included famous Kansans, landmarks, Kansas symbols, and Kansas history. They were also invited to bring things from home to place in front of the board.  Right away, Cambry wanted to take zwieback.  This led to some good discussions on what that had to do with Kansas (zwieback are made from flour, which comes from wheat that we farm, which the Mennonites brought over from Russia, which happens to be our cultural heritage).  I know she didn't spout out those details to people who came to see her board, but at least we got that little lesson in at home!  And, she actually helped me make some to share with people who came by. It was fun to see what Cambry and her classmates had been up to in the classroom!  Happy Kansas Day! ...

Another basketball season has come and gone for Caiden and Chelan (the coach).  It's been a new team each year, and Caiden had high hopes of winning 3 games this year.  Why three?  The first year they won 1 game, The second year they won 2 games, so naturally, they should have won 3 games this year!  Alas, it wasn't meant to be.  They ended the year 0-7. There was lots of good learning happening, however - including how to play with teammates who have never played before, learning how to shoot better on a 10' goal, slowing down when you have a lay-up opportunity, figuring how to navigate a full-court press, etc.  While they didn't win any games this year, there was major improvement from the first game to the last.  And that was great to see! warming up - of course, shooting 3's - even though that is frowned upon by his mother.