kids basketball

So, this past weekend we went to Dorothy's first basketball game. Keep in mind that she has had only one practice... We laughed so hard! She (and many other kids as well) sort of ran along with her team, sort of dribbled the ball the one time she got it, and just watched while skipping along most of the time. She had a great time, and got some good exercise, so it was worth it.

By the way, they have shorter hoops and a shorter court. They play four person teams for two minutes at at time before completely changing out the teams. It lasts one hour. Most kids are like Dorothy and don't know what they are doing, but some are good and can make quite a few baskets. The parents cheer and laugh and have a good time, too.

I think we have three more weeks of basketball, so we'll try to get some photos. Perhaps we will even get someone to take video of it for us! Aahh, teenage blackmail....

Playmobil

You may never have played with Playmobil toys as a child, or perhaps you were lucky enough to have the pirate ship set or Old West set. I have found these toys to be wonderful for children, as they promote imaginative play. Our collection started with the nativity set and now contains everything from baby Jesus to pirates to princesses to soldiers. The stories that come from this set are amazing, though, and wonderfully time-consuming! :-)

Some of the toys are expensive, but they always have "specials" that are under $5. Target carries a limited amount of playmobil, and has a few figures for $1.99. Sometimes one of these finds it's way into our "prize bucket." Often they fill our Christmas stockings (even Jim's!). They have made good last minute birthday gifts.

We have received the catalog at our house, and it is already worn out. Dorothy loves to look through it and dream of birthday presents! (She wants the mansion, which ends up being way too expensive for us!) James carries the 1.2.3 catalog to bed with him. (He is partial to the cars, trucks, and motocycles, although the animals are tempting, too.) By the way, his birthday is coming up soon...

Children's Stories

While going through various blogs, especially those belonging to family members (see links), I often feel as if my intellectual level has dropped. I feel stupid, in other words. While others are reading classic fiction books and other heavy tomes, I read the paper and kids books, and a novel when I get the time. I suppose being a mother has led me to this, and I really don't mind for now. It is interesting to revisit the classic children's books, and interesting to see what is new in that market. Dorothy is a voracious reader, and also loves to be read to. Her kindergarten teacher was astonished to hear we had read books such as Misty of Chicoteague and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to her before K5. When we have time now we are going through The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau.
As children we listened to stories on the radio, such as "Adventures in Odyssey." Our stations do not play these now, so we have invested in several sets of childrens stories on tape (we are without a cd player in the van). Right now the favorite is called "The Pond," and is quite funny. We have also listened to "Bible Heroes" vol. I & II, "Mr. Henry", and "Adventures in Odyssey".
If we had a cd player, we would listen to Andy's stories in the van. He has posted two episodes online at his blog, so take a peak! Look for "The Apple Chicken" and "The Five Gold Coins." Another family member wrote a story, as well, although Joel has not deigned to post it on his blog. Perhaps he thinks it would lower the intellectual tone. :-) When we read it to Dorothy awhile back she enjoyed it a lot. When will we see more?

Fine Arts

Earlier this year Dorothy entered three items into our school's fine arts contest, an apron in the sewing category, a clown bank in the craft category, and a history project on Biblical clothing. We finally got back her State competition results, and she has scored second place in both sewing and history porject. These will go on to compete in the regional competition next week. She is very excited about this! Hopefully by May we will know the results!

On another Dorothy note, she will be participating in our school's elementary basketball league this spring. They begin next week! This will be the first time she has participated in a group sport. It should be a lot of fun!

Springtime

We have burst forth into spring! It seemed as if everything bloomed last week Just in our yard we have seen the flowers of Daffodils, Forsythia, Astrilbes, even Tulips. The cherry blossom festival was last week in DC, and the color is still around.

Many of our summer perennial plants are coming up, too. I have seen the beginnings of our Bleeding Hearts, Asiatic Lilies, Yarrow, Lavendar, and Hostas. I added quite a few plants to the garden last year, and it will be interesting to see them come up again this year. One in particular did very well last year, and I had to split it in the fall. I hope it doesn't take over the garden!

Dorothy and I started working on the garden this weekend. She planted carrots and I planted one row of lettuce. I instructed her on the importance of staggering your plantings. Who wants to gorge on lettuce just because it is all ripe at once! Better to plant a row a week and continue to enjoy it throughout the early summertime. Dorothy is also planning on growing her favorite "sweet 100" cherry tomato again this summer, while I experiment with some sort of heirloom tomato. And, of course, what is a garden without zucchini?

This summer I am going to try to plant some perennial poppies. In our area they plant the annual version in the highway medians. They are beautiful! In looking through the garden catalogs I have found many gorgeous versions of the poppy, and I have to see what will be available this summer at the nursery.

When out working in the garden I wonder what it was like in Eden. If things are so beautiful even now, what was it like in the perfect garden? What will it be like in heaven? What beauty is in store for us? God is so great! Get out and enjoy what he has given to us!

Living up to their reputation?

In this weekend's paper I found the usual coupons... but while looking through them for useful ones, I ran across one from White Castle. In it you see someone's hand taking the last cheesburger (the frozen kind, since we don't have the actual restaurant here in the Baltimore area) from a plate, with the headline, "Spring Cleaning."

I won't be buying these here, I prefer mine fresh... and Jim doesn't care for them. However, it did get me to check out their website:

http://whitecastle.com