Ron's Entry

Good News, Bad News

First the bad news. Well, it's not bad, just disappointing. Although Danielle did a stellar job practicing and auditioning for the school play, she did not get a speaking part. I think the really disappointing part was receiving a letter indicating she got a part in the play, receiving a script, and then opening the letter to see that she had a non-speaking part. I suppose that's better than getting the "you did NOT make it" letter, but not by much. (Danielle said the capitalized NOT added insult to injury for those who didn't make it.) She really was amazing when she practiced, so I am really surprised she didn't get a part. The teacher who is directing the play told me that 77 kids auditioned for 24 parts! That's a lot of competition. She said she stretched the parts to 39 so she could include kids like Danielle who really deserved to be there. That was a little consolation to Danielle, who is really, really disappointed. Ron thought maybe it would help to whack some softballs, so he took her to the batting cages after dinner. Hopefully she will come back feeling a little more settled. It sucks that things didn't turn out the way we hoped or thought they should, but I couldn't be prouder of her for all the effort she put into doing her very best.

Now for some good news. Ron entered a beautiful pen contest on one of his pen turners forums. A panel of judges picked the top ten pens from all the entries and then posted those 10 for the community to vote on. His pen was picked for the top 10! Voting will last until 3/5. Although there is a small prize, I think the bigger honor is to have your peers think your work stands out. It has to be very validating. I know I am always impressed with the beautiful artwork Ron creates from a chunk of acrylic or block of wood. I'm glad he can get a little recognition for it! I will try to add a couple pictures of his pen later tonight.

A Great Ending!

Well, I have to say it was a pretty great weekend, and I really can't take any credit for that. It was wonderful to have our first snow day in almost 2 years on Friday! Who doesn't love a bonus day off?! It was fun to watch Danielle's team play & win their tournament game yesterday, and it was fun to attend the free throw contest with her yesterday afternoon. Danielle went to a birthday slumber party last night, so it was just the three of us. We went out for dinner and then stayed up watching a movie we wouldn't let Tyler watch if Danielle was home. That was fun. Then Danielle's basketball team played an amazing game today and beat the undefeated regular season champs. That was a lot of fun! This was the only team that beat us (twice), so it was that much sweeter to beat them during the tournment. Although we held the lead pretty much the entire game, it was a very close game. Both sides played hard. Danielle did great! She made several rebounds and did an especially good job playing defense. The other team has a girl that is a super star. She really is amazing to watch considering she's just a 4th grader. Danielle was the only one who could set a pick on her. Although the other girl was bigger, Danielle held her own and slowed her down a few times, allowing our team to score. It's really neat to see the plays the girls have been working on all season come together at just the right times. It was a great ending to a great season.

I'm looking forward to a great week, too. Tomorrow is date night. Ron and Danielle are going to a college women's basketball game. Tyler and I are going to...Taco Bell! (Jealous?!) Danielle has auditions for the school play on Tuesday. (Please pray for her to do her best.) Both kids were invited to an ice skating birthday party this coming weekend. Ron will be leaving for Russia, so it will be nice to have something to look forward to. Spring break is on the horizon, and we are almost down to 3 months of school left.

Free Throw Contest

Danielle's basketball team won their game today, so they play for the championship tomorrow. I hope Danielle has a good time and enjoys her last game.

Danielle did a good job at the free throw contest today, but she didn't win. It looked like she had fun, though, and she got another medal for her trophy shelf!

The 2 girls on either side of Danielle are the same girls who also won the handwriting contest with her last month.

A Little More Practice

This is our last weekend for basketball. Danielle's team plays their first tournament game tomorrow morning. If they win, they'll play for the championship on Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow afternoon is a free throw contest. Each team gets to send a 3rd grade and a 4th grade winner to represent their team. Danielle was the third grade winner on her team. She is excited about getting to participate in the contest. Later today, despite the gray skies and chilly temperatures, she went out to practice her free throws. I love that no matter what she decides to do, she does it with all her heart. Once she commits, she's all in. That can be tough when she wants something she can't have or when we disagree about something, but overall, it's quite an admirable characteristic. I'm not in any hurry for her to grow up, but I am eager to see how this trait comes into play as she decides on a career and becomes an adult. She is such a neat kid. I know she will be an amazing adult.

Cookie Concert

Tonight was Tyler's 2nd band concert. They call it the cookie concert because every student brings a dozen cookies to share. After the concert, everyone eats cookies! Tonight's concert included grades 5, 6, & 7. It was interesting to hear the differences between the grades. It was even more interesting to see the physical differences between the grades! Something happens between 6th and 7th grades that makes them not look like little kids any more!! Yikes!!

Tyler did a great job! There were only 3 trumpets there tonight. There were several times when I could hear Tyler, and he sounded great every time! I was so proud of him! Thank you again to Aunt Nikki for giving Tyler a couple private lessons. I know those lessons helped his playing and his confidence level. There is one more concert this school year, and I can honestly say I'm looking forward to it.

Tyler wanted me to take this video for Aunt Nikki. He was practicing before the concert and he wanted her to hear it since she couldn't make it to the concert tonight.

Here are a couple pictures. Yes, he's wearing the same shirt, so I guess these pictures look pretty much like the Christmas concert pictures. Oh well. I'll try to find a different shirt for the last concert. :)

For the Birds

I took these at the park yesterday. I wish I had all these in my backyard! Sometimes a Carolina wren pays a visit, but it's not a frequent visitor. Ron is going to make me a log feeder like the one in the pictures. My main goal yesterday was to find a barred owl, but once again I didn't have any luck. He mocked me with a nice, loud call, but I still couldn't find him. The biting wind and cold did not help any!


Red-breasted nuthatch

Eastern bluebird

Carolina wrens

Our Day Off

We spent our day off school today getting a little fresh air at one of our local metroparks. We have the best metropark system!

One of our parks has a new nature center that we hadn't visited yet, so we stopped there before heading to a hiking trail. It was very well done! The kids were prepared to find it boring but were pleasantly surprised. So many hands-on displays, which were perfect for both kids and adults. It will be nice to visit this spring and summer when all the outside plants and grasses have grown in.

I didn't realize beaver were so big!

Those brown "rocks" in the distance are bison.

This says there are 6 species of salamanders in the park. Try as we might, we've only ever found 1.

After spending some time at the nature center, we drove down the road to one of the hiking trails. We went for a walk, got our feet muddy, poked some ice left along the bank of the river, climbed a tree, peeked in a nesting box or two, and finished up with a little fun on the playground. Before we headed out today, I told the kids I would give $20 to the first person to spot an owl in the woods. I figured my money was safe...and it was. We did hear a barred owl call twice while we were there, but we never saw him. Danielle found 64 cents on the ground, so her trip was profitable even without the owl. We had a very nice day out. I am counting down the days until spring break (22)!

We found this feather stuck on a branch. It is very soft and has a distinct color pattern. Wish we could figure out what left it. It's certainly different than the feathers our yard birds leave.

Photo Sundries

Another Valentine "Box"

Tyler's class had their party today. This is his valentine box. I love it!

You're an All-Star, Valentine!

Tomorrow is Danielle's valentine party, and that means Valentines and a homemade Valentine box. One of our neighbors has her girls use the same box every year but just touch it up. I think that's brilliant, but of course Danielle has to cater to her creative genius every year and last year's box is so...last year.

Danielle decided she wanted to make a robot box. This was all her own design and didn't look anything like Tyler's robot box from 2nd grade. Ron helped her put it all together. The valentines go in his mouth, and there is a door in the back of his head for the larger valentine goodies or to remove her haul when the party's over. I think it looks great (and just a little bit like E.T.).

Danielle wanted to make her own valentines this year, too, and she wanted them to be basketball related. Again, no pinterest patterns here - this was all Danielle's idea. She found some basketball shaped eggs in the Easter section at the party store, printed out a couple Valentine-appropriate sayings, and put those and a kiss in each basketball. She wrote her classmates' names on the eggs. I am impressed that she came up with this on her own. I think it's creative and unique, and it was inexpensive, too. She is excited about taking everything in tomorrow. (Unfortunately she didn't have any of these left for her cousins & grandparents.)

2 1/2 Birthdays

Ron's birthday was over a week ago. We enjoyed dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant and finished up our celebration at home with cake & presents. Tyler printed out and practiced "happy birthday" on his trumpet and played it for Ron. That was pretty neat. Danielle got Ron the book written by Will Robertson from Duck Dynasty. He's not one to make short work of a book, but he really enjoyed this one and whipped right through it. Although the kids really enjoy decorating a cake for Ron, he requested a bakery cake this year, so that's what he got.

Danielle teased him constantly about being 42, although this might indicate he's only 24!

To avoid a fire hazard, we lit some of the candles twice to reach 42.

Clara's 4th birthday was yesterday. She really is such a good, well behaved dog. Occasionally she'll get a tissue out of the trash and shred it or will bark at nothing when I let her out at 6:30am, but otherwise, she is the model canine. And she is very smart. She got a new squeaky toy with 6 "indestructible" squeakers. We were down to five by bedtime. She also enjoyed a dog biscuit and some ice cream. Our home would not be the same without our golden girl.

Yesterday was also Danielle's 1/2 birthday. She got to take a snack in for her class since her actual birthday is in the summer. She also got to pick our dinner last night, and it was a good excuse to make a pan of brownies. I can't believe she is going to be 10 this year. Double digits. When did that happen?!