Volleyball and Wildflowers in the Woods

There isn't volleyball in the woods, just wildflowers. Kind of a catchy title for a beautiful spring day!! Let's start with volleyball. Jordan's team at church won the tournament today!!! It was a great game. The team has improved SO much over the course of a couple months. I think they won because of team work. The kids cheered each other on, even when they made mistakes. They also worked to set up the ball for each other. It took the entire team to win, and they did a wonderful job. I tried to get a team picture when they were awarded their trophies, but my camera didn't work correctly. I think it was too dark, and I was standing too far away :( Maybe someone else got the team pic, and can share. Anyway, here is the picture I got of Jordan after the awards ceremony. He is so proud of his team. I really like the Christian fellowship they've had together. He's developed a lot of new friendships.


After we got home from volleyball, I went for a short hike in the woods behind the house. There were some wildflowers blooming!!! It's nice to see the first signs of spring. I saw spring beauty (pink) and false rue anenome (white) that were just starting to bloom. The daffodils that I planted two years ago are coming up. There is red trillium that has set buds already (aka toadshade)! The larkspur and trout lily are just starting to come up, but don't have buds on them yet. In a few weeks, it'll look like a carpet of white and pink down in the woods. It's my favorite time of the year.

There was a baptismal service at church today, and afterwards Emma mentioned that she'd like to be baptized soon. I questioned her, and I think she really understands the reasoning behind baptism. She has already asked Jesus to be her Savior, and wants to be a witness to others. She actually answered my questions by quoting Bible verses, which she seems to understand well. I told her I can go with her and she can talk with the pastor about this. I'm so encouraged about her testimony, especially given the fact that she's so young.


I think I'll end today's entry with a picture of Smokey and Buttons. They were laying on my bed cleaning each other. How CUTE!! Jordan noticed this and wanted a picture. I'm glad they like each other so much.

Band Concert

The footage from this concert is actually from March 5th, but I just haven't had time to blog. It has just been so busy. This is Jordan's 7th grade band performing at the Spring Band Concert. You can see Jordan's head just below the conductor's left arm. Jordan has his music stand raised a little high. It's hard to see the trumpet players because they are in the 2nd row.

It's also hard to concentrate at the moment. Rich is making 'peep frog' noises on a comb, while he and Jordan talk about hair. They can't decide whether or not to part Jordan's hair on the side. It sounds like a giant frog and 2 arguing hair stylists are in the room. And Jordan's socks are disappearing (I don't know HOW that topic slipped in the middle of the hair discussion). Maybe bigfoot took the socks. They would probably fit.

Back to the concert. As I was filming this with my camera, the batteries went dead. Right in the middle of filming. And somebody took my backup batteries out of the camera case. So due to technical difficulties and a battery thief, I only got the first few minutes of the concert. After listening though, I don't think it's really a problem. You'll see what I mean. I thought they were very good for a typical 7th grade band. They have REALLY improved since last year. Enjoy!!

Three Rivers District Showcase

This afternoon we went to the Three Rivers District Showcase at Taylor High School. The kids had artwork on display, and we got to see Emma perform the library song with the 2nd graders!!! This is the song that we usually sing when I volunteer at the school library on Fridays. Emma did such a great job (cutie pie alert)! She is standing on the far right side.

After her show, we saw the various art displays from each grade. Jenna drew a wonderful white polar bear with a blue background. I think her pic demonstrated the use of contrasting colors in artwork. It's great how her polar bear has a huge smile on it's furry face!

Next we have Jordan standing next to his picture of leaves, a star, and other various freeform shapes. You can see his initials on the upper left hand of the picture. I really like his use of earth tones.

Josh's art project was to draw a city skyline. He couldn't really stand next to his picture, since it was hanging a little low. I guess "a little low" is an understatement. It was actually halfway on the floor. Poor Josh was pretty upset about it. He thought the art teacher didn't like his picture because he hadn't drawn stars in the sky like the other kids, so she put it on the floor. We talked a little, and I pointed out that the paper banner on which that row of pictures were hung looked as if it had only slipped down a little bit. Besides, you usually don't see stars at night when looking at a city skyline anyway. It's just too light outside. His picture was just more realistic than the rest of them!!

He wasn't convinced, so we talked about the "worse case scenerio", namely, that his teacher didn't like his picture and put it on the bottom of the banner to drag on the floor (which I seriously doubt). I also talked to him about letting one person decide the quality of his artwork. There are so many talented artists that have had their artwork rejected at one point or another. But rejection doesn't define the worth of a piece of art. He "got" this concept, and decided to go with my opinion of his picture (which I am going to hang in a prominent area when we get it back).

The boys are tired from their Hobo Campout with the boy scouts this weekend. They camped in cardboard boxes for 2 nights at the Miami Whitewater Forest campground (with warm sleeping bags, at least). I hope nobody gets sick. They get some kind of polar bear merit badge for winter camping. I'm sorry, but can that possibly be worth it? LOL

Jordan's team won at volleyball this afternoon too. It was a fun family day together!

P.S. My sewing machine is fixed!!! Rich helped me take it apart and there was a screw loose in the bottom of the machine. I think it had gotten caught in one of the really important moving parts. We figured out where it was supposed to go, oiled the machine and put it back together. That machine is almost 15 years old!!