Days With the Duerksens

Addi came over last night to help celebrate Cambry's birthday. I think she's Cambry's favorite (and only) girl cousin! In fact, I just asked Cambry about her and she responded, "She's not a cousin, she's beautiful!" When Addi comes over, she always finds the kittens first thing. This summer, we actually have 2 that are somewhat tame. I think Addi was in kitty heaven, and Cambry was somewhat happy to share!

Caiden's last day of school was May 18 -- although the weather is very "summery" outside, it feels like we've been waiting for summer to begin. The local pools aren't open yet, some schools just finished up today, and we've been running from appoinment to appointment. So, while we've been waiting, we pulled the slip 'n slide out from the garage -- what fun! Some things we love about summer so far: 1. Chocolate Monkeys for breakfast (choc. milk, banana, p.b., and ice blended together) 2. slip 'n slide 3. finding new produce in the garden 4. playing with our adorable 2 kittens 5. sleeping in (no, not the kids -- me!)

Another birthday has come and gone -- hard to believe we celebrated Cambry's 4th birthday yesterday! She was pretty oblivious to this fact all day, but Caiden kept reminding her. I think he was almost more excited about it than Cambry was. We did celebrate with grandparents, 1 aunt, and 1 cousin -- those who were around and lived close, anyway! Caiden gave her a pink, bouncy, outdoor ball first thing in the morning, so they had fun with that during the day. In the evening, we had daisy cupcakes and ice cream. Cambry decided she would rather open presents first than eat cake. So, we did! This year, she thoroughly enjoyed being sung to as opposed to last year when she burst into tears! She's growing up! I found this idea in one of my recipe books -- just slice marshmallows into 5 pieces using the kitchen shears, and they end up looking like daisies. I thought they turned out sort of cute! Playing with her new ring toss game Cambry's new doll -- she has kept Caiden an...

I haven't given an update for a while about the upcoming arrival of our baby in August, so I thought it was time. She should arrive somewhere around August 10! Chelan and I have finally decided on a name. We've been given LOTS of suggestions, all beginning with a "C." You'll just have to wait and see if we've chosen any of yours! A couple of weeks ago, we bought a mini-van, so we are officially members in that club now. And just yesterday, we moved Cambry into Caiden's room. They are very excited to share a room at this point -- we'll see how long that lasts! I cringe as I post this, but I figured I should post a pictue of my ever-expanding tummy for those of you who don't get to see me on a regular basis. I don't enjoy these pictures, but I figure later on I will appreciate them! This picture was taken last week, at about 27 weeks.

Yesterday was the last day of school for both Caiden and Cambry. Caiden enjoyed Play Day in the afternoon and Cambry's pre-school spent most of the morning at the park. This school year went by so fast -- I can't believe we have a 1st-grader on our hands! I've noticed them both growing up in different ways this year. For Caiden, it's been figuring out how letters and sounds go together to make words and getting better at adding and subtracting. And, he finally started writing his name with lower-case letters. He must be a good team player and helper in P.E. because yesterday he received the Good Sportsmanship award from his P.E. teacher, Mr. Biggs. I know he's only in Kdg., but it felt good to know that he has better sportsmanship at school than he does at home! :) Cambry has also grown up quite a bit this year. In September, she could never tell me what went on in pre-school or who the kids were. By yesterday, though, she was abuzz with what she did at the park, th...

Caiden enjoyed 5 weeks of soccer during April and May. He had never done any "organized" sport before, so this was very exciting for him. The Goessel Rec. Commission had a few Tabor College students spend an hour each week with different age groups. They would practice skills for the first 30 minutes and then scrimmage the last half hour. I really liked how they did this! On the last morning, the kids got to scrimmage parents -- Chelan even participated! Playing around with Kaleigh and Jacob or Timothy Yeah -- we scored! Caiden got a medal for participating and here he is with his "coaches."

The tooth fairy had to make a visit at our house last week! Caiden lost his first tooth after working on it for a couple of weeks. He wasn't going to bed until it came out, and lo and behold, he stood at the top of the stairs holding a teeny, tiny front tooth! Now for the next one -- he already has another loose tooth!

Last fall, Caiden snuck some wheat from somewhere on the farm and planted his own small crop at the sand pile! It's been fun to watch it grow this spring. He's very proud of it. In fact, just last week he got some milo from the big planter and planted a small crop of milo as well. We'll see if that comes up -- we haven't had much rain around here lately!