donkey basketball 2010

last night was the return of donkey basketball to our school.  last year's event was the first and was such a hit, the tradition continues on.  this year's competition consisted of four teams:  the pre-grammar/grammar school teachers (pink), the logic school teachers (blue), the rhetoric school teachers (blue and white stripes), and the physics class comprised of students (green).

john was the mvp from last year's game so the expectations were riding high!  we even invited some friends from church to cheer him on!  we watched the physics team lose to the rhetoric school in the first game.

next up was the blue team versus the pink team.  we made posters cheering on the blue team.  don't laugh at my loose, artistic interpretation of a donkey!

they introduced each member of the blue team.  these were the first four players to start the first game.

these action shots are a little blurry but they are full of action!  i was surprised at how scrappy some of these teachers were! john is right in the middle of this picture with the red helmet on.

here's a picture of john making a shot.  he made all 3 shots of the first game, which led his team to victory!  before the last 2 games were played, there was an intermission in which the kids at the game had the opportunity to ride a donkey down the court.

the last two games decided which place each team earned.  the first game was between the pink and the green teams, and the pink prevailed.  we were cheering for the pink team in this game because they represented burrito's school.  and the final game was between the blue team and the striped team and the blue team WON!!!  we were so proud of john!  i guess i was so busy cheering on the team that i didn't get any pictures of the final game.  i've heard that there is some embarrasing footage of my wild screaming at the game, oh dear!  i get a little passionate at these things! 

but i did remember to take a picture of the final score!

so hooray for another year of donkey basketball!  we loved every second of it and were glad to share it with friends!

thoughts of homeschool

noodle and i have been busy this week, hence not much blogging.  i am on a homeschool kick right now (this hits me multiple times a year) where i try to turn everything into a learning experience.  and this is why homeschool is just a kick for now....it's so exhausting!  how do you homeschool moms do it!?!?

but we've been loving it and have started making plans for rutherford school this summer.  so one morning this past week while i was ironing, noodle asked to use my camera to take some pictures.  he had been working and playing hard so i thought this would be a fun treat for him, and he's pretty smart about technological things and knows how to work the camera.

here's his self portrait:

and here are some words he wrote on the magna doodle.  the first line was just letters as he thought of them, and then i asked him to look around the room and think of some words to spell.  i offered help when needed.  i was just happy that he thought this was so fun!

so for all my homeschool friends, what would you suggest we do (curriculum, books to read, etc.) for rutherford school this summer?

Spring Break 2010 Randomness Part 2

now that we have entered back into reality and out of spring break glory, i now sort of have the time to share about the rest of our spring break.

what else did we do?

we, well maybe i should say john, removed all the nasty moldy bushes on the side of the house that we've hated since the day we moved in almost 3 years ago.  he assures me the st. augustine grass will grow in before i know it.  we'll see but i'm just glad to see those bushes go!  hooray!

here's an after picture:

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if you know me, then you know i LOVE to rearrange.  my husband, not so much.  and our bedroom furniture is way too beastly for me to scooch around the room on my own.  and probably not something wise to do 2 months out of having abdominal surgery.  so i finally talked him into helping and guess what....he loves it!  i love it when that happens!

here's a before pic.  our bed was by the door and the dresser was between the windows.

and here's a couple of after pics.  we really like the bed by the windows and based on the placing of the electrical outlets, we think this arrangement is what was probably originally intended.

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it snowed.  yep, that's right.  70 degrees one day, snow the next, and then upper 60's the next.  and i wonder why we're sick all the time.  but i still love you texas.
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i was excited to try out the new aldi grocery store.  they had these in philly when john lived there for seminary and i am one that loves low prices.  TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT!  i was seriously so upset over my whole experience there i had to fight a bad attitude the rest of the afternoon.  now part of my bad experience was my fault and i recognize that.  we went on a saturday afternoon and they had only been open for 4 days.  everyone else thought it would be a good idea to check them out too.  so here's the skinny if you haven't checked them out yet:  you have to insert a quarter into the shopping basket to use it and you retrieve your quarter when you return it to the shopping basket corral.  weird and annoying.  if you have a problem returning the cart already then i don't think a QUARTER is enough motivation for you to change.  they only carry their store brands on everything.  there are only 5 aisles to the whole store.  they don't carry every grocery item you might need...just the basics.  you have to purchase the grocery bags to put your food into after you check out.  and you have to bag your groceries yourself after you've paid for them up at the front of the store along with the hordes of people doing the same thing.  just not the best thing to have to do if you have more than one kid.  and they don't take checks or credit cards.  i had NO CLUE about any of this before going there and after waiting in line for 20 minutes to check out and then to find out these things TOTALLY rubbed me the wrong way.  and their prices were not that low.  i never thought i would hear myself say this (or see myself type this) but i like walmart better!  just my 2 cents.
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we seriously thought about moving and buying a foreclosure.  there is an appealing grant program offered right now that we heard about on the news.  am i crazy for even considering it?
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i got a new orange purse.  orange is my favorite color right now.  for everything.

spring break 2010...part 1

spring break is here and we are taking full advantage of this time together.  the boys and i sat down together over the weekend to make a list of some of the fun things we could do this week.  i had the goal and intent of doing things that would be cheap but make lasting memories.  and memories we've already made!

we flew kites on a beautiful sunday afternoon.  the boys had never done this before and were totally obsessed about doing it.  and when i say totally obsessed i am not kidding...like these were the first words out of their mouths in the morning.  it wasn't the windiest of days but we flew kites and the obsession has passed.

sometimes it took 3 of us to get it up in the air!  and the kite the boys both picked out...a bakugan kite.  we own several bakugans, and i still don't exactly understand what they are but the boys love them.  if you know and understand bakugans, please clue me in!

we have a few favorite thrift shops we like to frequent and we always pass this park that has this huge climbing apparatus that looks like a spider web.  well, let me just show you:

we've never had time to stop before but we thought we would today.  the boys loved the spider web but were quickly drawn to the little creek just behind the playground.  burrito was down to the creek before i could even get over there to stop him and noodle was about to do the same until he realized how steep the descent was.  so john went over and helped him down to cross the creek on some little rocks.  once noodle made it to the rocks, john let go of his hand to cross the rocks on his own.  before i could get the words out to tell john to keep holding noodle's hand, what i knew would happen did:  he lost his footing and fell into the creek.  and in typical noodle fashion, he froze.  it was like he couldn't move.  john quickly scooped him up but the damage had been done.  the wailing ensued and we quickly scooted out of there.  poor noodle, he just can't stand being dirty.  we felt bad for him but couldn't help but laugh!

and burrito embarked on yet another new adventure today...riding his bike without training wheels!  he was so excited and learned how to do it in less than 5 minutes.  i was amazed.  these pictures show john helping some, and i think i must have been so in shock to see burrito ride without assistance that i forgot to actually get a picture of that!  my baby is growing up and i don't like it!

we can't wait for more spring break fun!  i love making these memories for our family.

MOLA

spring break actually started yesterday for burrito so we took full advantage of the day off from school by visiting the newest attraction at our zoo, the museum of living art, or MOLA for short. 

we've watched this being built for months and months and it did not disappoint!  this place is amazing, and we enjoyed all of the exhibits for over an hour.  the boys were amazed by this tank of water that included a saltwater crocodile and a big turtle.

can you find the swimming croc in this picture below?

here's the big saltwater crocodile swimming just above their heads.  i think this is such a cool picture!

and here's one of the big turtles.  i remember the old aquarium exhibit at the zoo when i was a kid, and it was always my favorite part.

if you know me, you know that i am a sucker for anything sentimental.  therefore, i just had to take a picture of the doors going into MOLA...they reused the old snake door handles from the old herpetarium!

we watched this little turtle eat a tomato out of his salad breakfast.

this is a picture of just part of the outside of MOLA that includes other endangered species, including these little red birdies.

i tried to get over my OCD germaphobia and let the boys listen to these little phones that would tell you all you needed to know about various reptiles and amphibians.  all i could think of were all the little bacteria and germs crawling all over those phones!  am i hopeless???

after our visit to MOLA, we set out to see the rest of the zoo.  all of the elephants were out so the boys were excited to see all of them in action (though there's only 1 in this photo!).

every boy that visits the zoo inevitably ends up all over these pretend termite mounds, my 2 boys included!

here are the boys in front of our picture tree (now a stump) at the zoo.  if you don't remember the picture tree story from earlier posts, have no fear, i have plans to do a little "picture tree over the years" post tomorrow!

they're showing me their age in this picture :)

and of course we concluded our 3.5 hour adventure with a ride on the train, complete with our very own longhorn sighting.

oh how i love you my sweet little zoo.  thank you for all the memories from my childhood and now with my very own kids!

it's spring!

you know it's been a long time since you've enjoyed the outside weather when bubbles are the most fascinating thing to your 5 and 4 year old boys!  they have rediscovered the simple pleasures of life!

and here is the best shot of them with their new haircuts.  getting 2 boys who haven't been outside to play for any extended period of time to stand still long enough for a decent picture is no simple task!

we are loving this weather but poor noodle's allergies/asthma is a bit out of control thanks to the lovely spring weather and winds.  pray for him please!  we are so over the cold weather, the rain and all the sickness that has plagued our household.  bring on spring!

i started reading beth moore's newest book, So Long Insecurity yesterday, and it is stepping, or maybe i should say stomping, on my toes.  i've spoken here of the anxiety that i struggle with and after reading just the first 2 chapters, i am wondering if my anxiety stems from insecurity.

here are just a few things that were underlined in my book from today's reading:

"the question is whether or not our insecurities are substantial enough to hurt, limit, or even distract us from profound effectiveness or fulfillment of purpose."

"i'd rather press through the discomfort of staring at my weaknesses than live in denial and bondage."

"i not only lack security, i also lack faith.  i don't just doubt myself, i also doubt God about myself.  you entertain the lie that you know yourself better than God knows you and that you've somehow successfully hidden something from His omniscient eye.  this could be the only explanation for why He bothers with you."

"insecurity's best cover is perfectionism."

"loss of favor and approval and harmony is excruciating to people with insecurity."

(all of the italicized statements are direct quotes from beth moore.  i just want to keep a journal of all the statements that speak to my heart.)

if any of those statements hit home for you, i would highly recommend this book.  i've only read the first 2 chapters, and my mind is already spinning.  i'm intentionally going slow in reading it...just one chapter a day...so that i can sufficiently chew on the information presented and pray through those struggles that hit home for me.  i think this is going to be very good!

and i also loved this from psalm 112 today:

verse 1:  Praise the Lord.  Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.

verse 7-8:  He will have no fear of bad news;  his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.  His heart is secure, he will have no fear.