Days With the Duerksens

On Thursday, we celebrated Chelan's e 35th birthday. We didn't get to see him much, but we did enjoy some Angel Food Cake (his favorite) together for a few minutes before the kids had to go to bed. We got him a new K-State t-shirt since he had virtually no K-State apparrel -- funny for an alumnus, isn't it? Probably the best gift he received all day, though, was a little bit of rain from Mother Nature! We love you, Chelan! And yes, that is a #1 on his cake. It was the only candle we had, but we thought it could stand for #1 Dad!

Spring has been pretty fun this year. It might be all the warm weather we've been having, the beautiful flowering trees, getting our hands dirty in the garden again (I'm so thankful to be outside again), watching Caiden's "wheat field" grow (at the sandbox -- it really is wheat and it really is growing), or the new kittens the kids like to play with. Whatever it is, this has been one of the best springs I can remember! I wish I had more pictures to show for it -- may have to add some later! We only have 2 kittens in this batch. Caiden has named them Crystal and Ashes. Hope they stick around -- he's really having fun with them! Such a cute face -- I'm a sucker for kittens! My mom took this picture of Cambry at her house -- I love it! One of the pretty daffodils at our house

This last weekend was the Kansas MCC Sale -- yeah! We didn't go last year, so we made a point of attending this one! We managed to wait in the long line at "Feeding the Multitude," played in the kids' area, perused the quilts and other auction items, and of course, ate new year's cookies! The kids each brought $5 from their banks to spend in the Kids' Corner. I didn't even mind them coming home with more "stuff" because I know their money will be used to help lots of people through MCC. If you want more info. on the Kansas sale, go to: www.kansas.mccsale.org Our table at supper. I so wish I had a picture of the long line. Remarkably, it moves pretty fast. We sure enjoyed our verenika, cherry moos, zwieback, sausage, and pie. We even had room for new year's cookies later! Cambry had a blast on the obstacle course moonbounce! Playing mini golf at the Pride of Kansas building. Caiden would have stayed here all night! Next year, we hope

Well, we had our sonogram on Wednesday morning. Chelan and I still hadn't decided if we wanted to find out the gender, but we had her put the result in an envelope. After supper, we had Caiden open the envelope. Chelan helped him read what was on the picture -- "It's a girl!" So, Caiden and Cambry will have a new sister around August 17! We are excited for this news -- even Caiden and Cambry seem okay with it. They had been hoping for a brother! :) Everything from the sonogram looked normal. The tech. said she weighs about 1 pound at this point. They even moved my due date up a little over a week. That's one less hot week of summer to make it through!

We had such a great Easter weekend! Saturday evening, the kids enjoyed Grandma Duerksen's scavenger hunt. Cale, Mace, Caiden, and Cambry hunted all over their yard for clues. The end result? Kites for everyone -- and a great windy evening to fly them! We also celebrated Easter on my mom's side (the Epp's) at our house this year. I hadn't hosted a gathering this big before, but it was really fun to have everyone over. The weather was beautiful, and all the kids had fun finding their Easter eggs and baskets out in the yard. I've found that discussing Easter with Caiden and Cambry has prompted some questions about Heaven (from Caiden mostly): "Mom, is there lightning in Heaven?" "We don't have to be scared to die, right Mom?" I know there was one more, but I can't remember it right now. Easter was a wonderful opportunity to share with our children! Ready to embark on their scavenger hunt: Cale, Mace, Caiden, Cambry Cambry and Grandp