Days With the Duerksens

Our little girl turned 5 last Thursday! She'll be going to Kindergarten in the fall. I can't believe it! At 5 years old, she likes to ride her bike, sing and make up songs, do "projects" in the house, and giggle - oh how we love her giggles! We celebrated with family on Thursday evening. This time, the cake turned out much better. She picked out strawberry cake with strawberry icing. This was a new flavor for me, but I think we all really enjoyed it! She got a new bike from us - not a bigger one, just a new one. I had actually backed over her other one a couple of times. The seat was a used one from a really old bike (stored in the chicken barn), and one of her pedals was half-missing. It was time! We love you, Cambry! 5 years ago! She was so happy while we were singing to her - I think she was singing, too! We had fun with the kitten - yes, our one kitten is alive and well! Cambry's new bike - she can really tear around on that thing!

Well, we've stopped the raccoons - for now! We finally figured out that it was getting into a teeny tiny gap in the windows. Those places are fixed, so until the raccoons figure out another way to get in, we have 2 lonely chickens!

Cambry was helping me make pumpkin muffins the other evening, and when she dumped the brown sugar into the bowl, she could hardly believe it held its "heart" shape!(She got heart-shaped measuring cups for Valentine's Day!) She said, "Mom, you have to take a picture!"

Who knew a 7-year-old boy and a 9-month old girl would be getting teeth at the same time??

Last week we had 15 chickens. Today, we have 4. I'm not sure what kind of raccoons we have around here, but they seem to have super powers! We thought we had the barn pretty secure for this batch, but now the raccoons have figured out some things. They can actually maneuver the latch on the small door to the outside and climb right in. That's after they climb over the 6 ft. gate to get inside the pen! So, we've put cinder blocks in front of that small door, Chelan repaired a small place in the wall that they pushed in, and last night, there was still a chicken caught! I think we're in a losing battle. Will the raccoons keep outsmarting us, or will we find a way to stop them?? To be continued . . .

Caiden finally caught a big catfish - 19 inches! I wish I could have been there to see it. It seems like I always miss the excitement! Chelan actually had to get in the water to grab it since the line broke!

Usually, Chelan and I have done a pretty good job of decorating cakes for the kids' birthdays. This time, however, was quite an adventure. This is what the cake was supposed to look like. This is what happened after putting 3 layers together. There were wooden skewers poked everywhere trying to keep the walls up, and Chelan even tried using string to keep it together. We basically gave up! Luckily, there was still one cake layer worth using . . . This is what we ended up with - a one layer cake, freckled with chocolate cake pieces! It was a good thing Cambry's birthday party ended up being small - there wouldn't have been enough cake to feed everyone otherwise! I have to say, it was still quite delicious! The pile of cake we dumped onto the plate was also very good!

Cambry's birthday is coming up this Thursday, but this past Saturday, she had a little birthday party at our house with some friends. The theme was "princess" and the girls had fun decorating princess crowns, dressing up in princess dresses, and eating a castle cake. This was Cambry's first real birthday party, and we were so glad that Rachel and Summer could come help her celebrate! Three Pretty Princesses! Cambry is decorating her crown Cambry really had fun opening up her presents. She got this Fancy Nancy doll from Rachel (Cambry loves the Fancy Nancy books), and some fun bracelets, necklaces, silly bands, and stickers from Summer.

On the 2nd last day of pre-school, Cambry got to go on her first real field trip. The pre-schoolers went to Kauffman Museum to see their prairie animal exhibit. She was so excited - it was all she could talk about for a couple of weeks! At the museum, they also got to see the Kansas Exhibit. This was really neat! There were large wooden alphabet cubes placed sporadically on the floor. There were pictures, words, and objects on each cube that went with the letter on it. The kids had fun finding the cube with their letter on it (the letter their name begins with). After the museum, they went to the park for a snack and some playtime. Cambry had a really great time, and I was glad I got to go with her! Touching a Bison fur I like this picture because the coyote is in the background, but sorry Amy, I know it's not the best one of you! :) C is for combine. Cambry got the perfect Kansas object to stand by!

So, school's out for the summer (already)! And, just like last year, it's off to a rainy start. I'm not complaining, though! The rain is such a blessing - I hope we get more, much more! Here is one thing we did the other day when it was cold and rainy. Cambry had fun for about 5 minutes, but Caiden really enjoyed reading in the tub!

We were "lucky" to be selected to keep the Nielsen TV Viewing Diary this week. I say "lucky," because it's sort of interesting to keep track of what we watch, but at the same time, it's kind of a hassle. However, it was an easy way to earn $30! Anyway, there are a few things I've noticed about our TV viewing: 1. We watch a LOT of PBS. And not just the morning kids' shows. Last night I watched "American Experience: The Freedom Riders." Fabulous! I am totally amazed at what the riders endured and that they refused to give up despite mobs attacking them, a bus set on fire, and many beatings. I love American history! 2. The only other things we watched on the regular channels this week were "Grey's Anatomy," "Survivor," and the local news. 3. I guess our diary is saying, "Regular network TV is mostly garbage these days!" Do there have to be dead bodies, violence, and sex on every show?? (I know, G...

9 years ago I was a teacher to 3rd graders. My very first class ever. They challenged me. I (hope) I challenged them. Last night, they graduated from high school. They are moving on to figure out their futures. Funny, I feel like I'm doing the same thing. Will I teach again? Full time? Part time? Do I want to teach again? What does God have planned for my future? I'm trying not to worry about it - I know I'm not supposed to. But, I do. For now, I'm a full-time mom. And, for now, that's where I want to be. Who knew that a graduation would bring all these feelings to the surface?! (picture coming - I hope I can find it -- when I taught 3rd grade, I didn't own a digital camera yet!)

This pretty much sums up what Delaney's into these days . . .

Mother's Day is always a special day, but this year it was even more special because we dedicated Delaney to the Lord at church. I love this tradition - every year on Mother's Day, the babies that have been born in our church that year are dedicated. It's saying that we will raise this child in a Christian home, teaching her the ways of Jesus, and preparing her to one day make the decision to live her life for Christ. The occasion is also a chance for the congregation to affirm that they, too, will help us on our parenting journey. This year there were 5 babies: 4 girls and 1 boy. Delaney was the oldest at 9 months. The youngest was just 3 weeks old. Needless to say, Delaney WANTED to be very busy on the stage and being held was not one of her priorities. Luckily, when Pastor Linda held her for her blessing, she was very enamored with the ceiling fans and all the people watching her. Unfortunately, we forgot to take her pacifier out during this. She really doesn...

Now that Delaney is mobile, I think she has finally found all the rooms in the house. Luckily, she's not that excited about stairs yet! The other day, she found the bathroom. This is her favorite new game to play with Cambry:

Wow! This evening was gorgeous! So, I took the camera outside. As I was walking to get the mail, I realized just how pretty the cows looked grazing in the pasture. So, I headed home, got the camera, and hiked uphill to the cows! The kids came with me. Not only do the cows look nice in the pasture, it also means that Chelan can sleep a little bit later in the morning before heading to work! There are no more chores to be done. After we admired the cows, the kids decided to tear down the big hill on their bikes. Oh, what fun to be a child! I LOVE evenings like this!

While Chelan was busy with projects this weekend and as I was busy in the garden, we may have put the kids in charge of Delaney every once in a while! But don't worry, one of us was always within eyesight. These were the instructions: 1. Try to keep her on the blanket 2. If she gets off the blanket, don't let her put anything in her mouth They do a pretty good job - sometimes! "hmmm, this looks like just the right size to put in my mouth!" I couldn't resist the hat - so cute (to me, anyway)!

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity! Chelan took the day off on Friday to stain and finish our new windows -- it was an extremely windy day, and with all of the windows out for most of the day, it was windy inside, too! The good part about this, however, was that there never was a potent smell (from the staining and varnishing). It took all day, but by 10:30 p.m. we were putting the windows back in and taking all the tape off. The next project was moving the big white fence from its current location (in front of our house) to its new location (the south side of our garden). Of course, this was a little harder than expected (all of these projects usually are)! Over the course of three days, this project was finished as well. I am still amazed at the vast amount of knowledge and skill Chelan has for this kind of work. Where I have no idea on how to begin, he already has a plan figured out for the whole process! Where I would say, "That's good enough," Chelan ...