new bed

Last fall, Ben told me we should do a raised bed next to the milk barn holding pen. I immediately said, "YES!" Usually, I'm the one who comes up with these ideas and drags him into the project. But this time he started it so he was much more inclined to make it happen. Last week we got on it. 

 The boards came from a cow shelter that bit the dust in a strong thunderstorm last spring. We cleaned them off, cut them down to size and slapped a couple coats of paint on them.

 Friday, an unseasonably warm day, I held the boards while Ben hammered the stakes in with the sledge.

 There was a chance for rain on Sunday, so we hustled to get the dirt in the bed before we had mud to deal with. Soooo...now we need to decide what we'll plant in this big new raised bed!

Ideas?

Visiting the Et Cetera Shop in Newton is a once (or twice) a week lunch time activity for me. The other day, I happened across a piece of 5+ yards of outdoor fabric. I loved the stripe and thought it would match the two cushions I already have for our patio. 

 So I bought it! And it matches...or at least coordinates! But I don't know what to do with it.

This happens to me all too often with fabric and the Et Cetera Shop. I buy it because I love it and then I have to work to figure out what to do with it. Got any ideas for me? At the least I can use for outdoor tablecloths. Otherwise....I'm just not sure.

A letter for Levi

Way back in November Levi wrote a letter to President Obama. It was a big deal to Levi on the day he wrote the letter and put it in the mailbox. But after that, he didn't mention it, ever. But then last week Levi got a big envelope in the mail from the White House. Right away he shouted, "It's a letter from President Obama!"

It was a super-big deal to him. The envelope had a photo of the President, and one of his dog, a coloring page, a garden activity page, a map of the White House and a form letter.

 Levi really liked the garden page. He got to put stickers of fruits and vegetables in their correct rows. He also wrote that his favorite vegetable is the carrot.

 I'm sure the White House gets tons of letters like the one Levi sent and it was really interesting to see what all we got in response. It certainly made Levi feel special when he got such a significant piece of mail and from the President no less.

After the rain

Saturday was a gloriously rainy day here. We loved the rain, but once it stopped we took advantage and got outside to play in the mud and puddles! 

 

 

We had such a good time, exploring, finding signs of spring, laughing, walking, falling, getting dirty and just spending time together.

Racing

The car races never seem to stop at our house these days. It all started when we bought them a Cars (like the movie) video game for Christmas. Ever since it's been all racing, all the time at our house.

After a while, we realized we needed a track. So out came the masking tape and within a few minutes we had a great loop running through the living room.

 Just the other day Noah expanded the track into our room, right beside where I sleep. Thankfully, the masking tape doesn't bother us at all.

 They even have a spot for pit stops where they make every single sound for changing tires and filling up the cars with fuel. There's usually a pretty good commentary going about who's winning, who's losing, which turn they're on, and so on. Most of that comes from the video game but some from the actual movie and some just gets made up.

 Vrrrroooom, vvvvvrrrrrroooooom, vroom!

k-STATE Basketball

The ultimate goal in high school basketball is to win a state championship, or more realistically to play in the state tournament. Well, it's kind of the same for the people that officiate high school basketball. The ultimate goal is to work games in a state tournament. Coaches make recommendations for officials based on if the officials did a good job during the regular season. Getting state games is an honor, showing that you earned the respect of the coaches and got recommended by them.

Yesterday, the boys and I traveled to Manhattan to watch Ben ref at the 2A State Basketball Tournament. Right next to Bramlage Coliseum is the K-State football stadium. The cranes doing constructions were huge! 

 But the boys were focused on seeing the big wildcat in the middle of the field. I ended up having to prop Levi up in the air above my head so he could see it. I felt like a Super Mom.

 Eventually, we decided it was time to go find Ben. He'd arrived ahead of us by a couple hours. Oh, but first they had to shake Mr. Bramlage's hands.

Ben, with permission from the guy in charge, took us in the back door. It still felt completely sneaky and like we were somewhere we shouldn't have been.

 Once inside, we found our friends Pat, Amy, Emily, Jake and Jenna. Pat was working games with Ben. It was so good for the boys to have other kids to play with!
We sat and watched the game that was being played, but soon enough the boys were asking for food. They had snacked in the car, but claimed to be hungry again. So up to the hospitality room we went! What a cool location! The boys were thrilled to get a good look at the stadium from up high.

 And the snacks were fantastic too.

 The kids lined up on this couch to get a better view

 of what was suddenly happening on the football field! They asked repeatedly if Weston (the Goessel grad who plays for K-State) was out there. None of us figured it out.

 And then back inside for more basketball!

 The kids watched some of the Moundridge vs. Inman game, but that was about the extent of the actual games that any of them watched.

 Noah and Jake had a good time playing together. Emily did a lot of reading and some walking around by herself, the perks of being the big kid in the group.

 Levi and Jenna played, too. Soon it was time for more snacks.

 And finally, Ben had his stripes on!

 Thank goodness for this open space near where we were sitting. The kids played tag for a very long time, allowing Amy and I to simply watch the game and walk around taking pictures.

There were moments when tag was too tiring and the boys stopped to watch the game.

 In the end, we were reduced to passing the time by taking silly pictures. The boys had been inside the gym for about 5 hours at this point and were still doing a great job of listening and cooperating.

 After a quiet and sleepy ride, we made it home at about 10pm. Not bad! I had feared we'd get home much later than that.

And with that, another basketball season ends. We made it. It certainly has gotten easier every year and for that I'm very thankful. I'm also thankful that Ben truly enjoys being a basketball official and that he can balance the joys and stresses of the game without getting wrapped up in the drama.