Days With the Duerksens

Tonight I fixed my favorite summer meal: watermelon and crullers! It is pure salty/sweet goodness. Chelan enjoys it, but he can't call it a meal. So, he also gets a sandwich. There is always a dilemma about how to eat this meal. According to Chelan, the cruller is salty and the watermelon is sweet - no need to change anything, they complement each other. I, on the other hand, enjoy jam on my cruller and salt on my watermelon. The debate continues . . .

It's SO HOT -- Here are my 3 shirtless wonders! Cambry seems to take her shirt off at some point each day (she's surrounded by so many boys it just doesn't phase her), and Delaney's only outfit this week is her diaper (unless we're going somewhere). Our thermometer read 107 degrees today - with no rain or cooler temps in sight. I suppose not wearing shirts means a little less laundry to do!

This hot, dry, windy weather is good for one thing . . .

Yesterday was so nice outside, I decided to do quite a bit with some of our garden stuff! We dug most of our potatoes (red, white, and yellow), I found more beautiful zucchini hiding under giant leaves, picked a few cucumbers, and I cut down most of the dill. The dill I am really excited about - I've never grown dill and I'm always having to hunt some down when I'm ready to make pickles. This year, I will have plenty. The problem is, I don't have very many cucumbers. That dill may be frozen for years and years! Lots and lots of dill! Here are our potatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini Let the zucchini baking begin! These muffins are my Grandma Epp's recipe - Caiden especially loves them! (sorry it's sideways)

About 2 weeks ago, 3 kittens and a mama cat were dropped off here by someone who didn't want them at their house anymore. Yeah for us! We, of course, were down to 1 mama and 1 kitten. Unfortunately, one of the new kittens was found dead one morning after a raccoon attack (who, by the way, finally did the rest of our chickens in also -- I'm telling you, the raccoons around here are savage beasts)! Anyway, after that attack, we moved the other 2 kittens closer to our house. The kids are having a ball playing with them on the deck! Even Delaney can't wait to get outside to play! This is "Leap" (Caiden took this picture, and Leap is is favorite) This is "Midnight" (Caiden also took this picture) Delaney obviously thinks these kittens are her toys! You can just read this kitten's thoughts, can't you?

Delaney continues to amaze us at 10 1/2 months old! In fact, just today, she took 2 steps all on her own! And, just today, she began standing by herself all the time. She was even clapping while she carefully balanced herself! Right now she's really into: clapping smiling waving bye-bye walking behind her walker crawling exploring the bathroom (everything in the bathroom). She is one determined little girl! This is how Delaney likes to crawl outside - she's figured out that her knees feel better if she's not crawling on them! We call it her bear crawl.

When I thought of Father's Day today, for some reason, I thought of these pictures. Maybe it's the way he's looking at each one of them - his first looks at each new baby. His face says everything - "I'm your dad, you belong to me, Will I know what to do?, I can't believe I'm your dad, I love you . . ." Our children are incredibly lucky to call Chelan their dad! First Time Dad with Caiden (2004) With Cambry (2006) Third Time Around with Delaney (2010)

. . . Hello, new one! Well, new to us. My friends have known for over a year that I've been keeping the dryer door shut with duct tape and that it takes FOREVER to dry a load. So, when they saw one at a garage sale last weekend, they let me know - good friends! I know what you're thinking. "You got a dryer at a garage sale?" Well, let me tell you - it looks brand new to me -and I got it for only $50! It is a marked improvement over our other one (which, by the way, had been used to store dog food in before we had it)! I used the new one today - and it works fabulously! Maybe since we got such a good deal on this dryer, we can look for a brand new washer . . . Old Dryer New Dryer (without the tape)

When Cambry said, "Mom, look at me" . . .

Thanks to Family Fun Magazine (does anyone know how I make that a link?), I made banana pops this afternoon. I'm trying to convince Chelan that they will be a good breakfast, and I'm trying to convince the kids that they will be good! I might be the only one who likes them, but that's okay. More for me! We froze 1/2 bananas with sticks in them, melted chocolate and a little bit of oil, dipped the frozen bananas in the chocolate, then rolled them in granola, Cheerios, coconut, and peanuts. The toppings could really be whatever you want them to be. I can't wait to wake up tomorrow! The magazine's version Our version!

Harvest started for us on Saturday afternoon. We had one field ready to cut, so we all ventured out there in several waves. Caiden went early in the afternoon. His cousins arrived shortly after, and Cambry, Delaney and I made it out there by early evening. Delaney rode in the combine with me for one binful - this, of course, is her first wheat harvest. She was quite the busy bee going from my lap, to the floor, to my lap again. With the DRY spring we had, we weren't anticipating much of a harvest. This field surprised us by averaging around 40 bushels/acre! Not bad when Chelan was expecting 20! We'll see what the rest of the fields bring later this week! Delaney and Dad - Delaney's first wheat harvest! The boys accidentally left the little door at the back of the trailer open and spilled some wheat. This was Cale's and Caiden's creative solution for scooping it all up. Caiden would scoop it into his cap, and then hand it to Cale who would dump it into the...

When I received a call last fall about filling a VBS director spot for this summer, I reluctantly said "yes." Part of me felt like I had "been there, done that." But, I also knew that putting the VBS week together had been very fulfilling in the past. So, I did it - with lots of help from Amy and Vickie (we all worked pretty well together - very important in a job like this). This year, we set out to bring the bamboo forest into our church - pandas and all! All week the kids learned just how much God loves them! In fact, the theme was: "PandaMania - Where God is Wild About You!" What a fantastic message - especially for kids who may not have heard those words before. Although it was an exhausting week, I'm so glad I said "yes"! Lots of singing (with actions) at our program this morning. Cambry and even Caiden got into the actions - so fun to watch!

I came outside the other day to find this . . . She was quite proud of herself, and I was quite surprised. This kind of thing isn't usually her style!

Delaney's latest skill! Sometimes the pears are just too slippery to get with her hands . . .