Days With the Duerksens

Miss McGee put on another fabulous art fair last week.  She even got her high school art history students to make some carnival-like games for the kids - based on famous artists they researched.  It was quite an event.  She is quite a teacher, and art is easily my girls' favorite class because of her!  I'll let the pictures tell the story: Kindergarten penguins 4th grade monsters

Jr. High Track has been fun - at least for me!  I don't know if Caiden would classify it as fun, but I do know he enjoys the meets.  Practicing isn't his favorite, and we did find out the 400 M is not for him. I think he almost quit the week they made him run it at a meet - but it was good for him!  Aside from the 400, he's attempted high jump, he has run the 200 M dash, and he has found quite a niche in triple jump.  He even won that event at one of the meets!  His goal for the league track meet is to break 31 feet.

The end of the school year is fast-approaching, and with it, my quiet afternoons!  I have cherished these afternoons by myself - time to catch up on housework, yard work, VBS work, blog work - you get the idea!  Normally, I would tell myself that next school year, I'll have my afternoons back.  I can make it through summer and get caught up again next school year.  I can't say that now. A few weeks ago, I accepted a teaching position at our middle school.  I'll be teaching Language Arts to 6th and 7th graders.  Ironically, I never actually saw myself teaching at this level.  In fact, I was always slightly intimidated by middle schoolers.  But this year, I found myself working with those very kids. Every morning.  In language arts.  Just one hour a day.  But I found my fears waning.  I even came home one day and told Chelan, "If that ELA job ever comes open, I could see myself teaching that!" A few months later, and here we ar...

That's a lot of hedge posts! For most of February and March, Chelan, Caiden, and Grandpa worked at cleaning up trees on a piece of ground we bought.  There was a very long hedgerow that needed to be cut up, so after they were professionally pushed over, the chainsaws came out!  The goal was to cut as many large hedge posts as possible - 240 in all!  Some posts have been sold already, but there are plenty more available to sell! In the rush to get corn planted on that field in April, the remaining trees were pushed together into piles and burned.  It was a little tricky to find the right day for this as we had so many EXTREMELY WINDY days in March.  Remarkably, Chelan found a good day and most of the piles burned really well.  There are still a couple of piles out there, but the corn is planted around them. Before piles and fire  Supper was at the field that night: After fire It takes a lot of work to get a field ...

While working in the garden one day, Cambry had a vision for a new path leading up to the water tank.  I didn't give it much thought until she told Chelan about her idea and he got things set up for her vision to become a reality.  So there they all were - suddenly laying bricks for a new path in the garden!  She wanted flowers, too, lining either side of the path.  As soon as I brought some Marigolds home, she helped me plant them.  It has added some visual interest to our garden, for sure!  I think we will be relying on her creative visions as long as she is around to supply them!

Delaney and Cambry were busy teaching this morning!

We woke up Easter morning to a blanket of fresh snow - about 4 inches!  Finally, we had snow on the ground - we waited all winter for it.  Leave it to Kansas to provide it for us at the beginning of Spring.  It was the ultimate Easter surprise!  It says in Isaiah 1:18:  "Come now let us reason together," says the Lord.  "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow . . ." It didn't last long, though, and by late afternoon it was all gone! We celebrated with both sides of the family on Sunday, and apparently, none of the kids are too old yet to hunt for eggs and baskets!  At the Duerksen gathering, the cousins each hid one egg for each of the other cousins - which turned out great until Cambry couldn't remember where she hid Mace's egg. I think it was found eventually! just enough snow to hide one of Cambry's eggs in!  And on my side of the family, my mother and aunt finally came up with a color...