Days With the Duerksens

Big brothers are definitely good for some things . . . The Instruction The Pitch The Swing

Cambry turned 7 this past Sunday!  She had been counting the days for a while and was so excited when Sunday came.  No big party, but we did have grandparents, cousins, and an aunt and uncle over for homemade pizza (her request). I think the best way to describe Cambry at 7 is that she is a very carefree spirit - never in a hurry, always creating, thinking outside the box, sometimes unaware of what's going on around her!  :)  She loves to read, she loves turtles, she loves red and pink (the colors requested for her cupcakes), she loves to write stories.  We love you bunches, Cambry! Sisters! The cows had to be inspected before supper could begin! Reading with Grandpa Grandma gave Cambry some quilt blocks that they will sew together into a doll quilt. 

We have had one day of "summer" and it feels like we've done so much!   We went to the library first thing Friday morning because the kids had been cut off from the school library for a week.  They were actually counting down the days until they could go - Chelan wonders if this is normal!  We actually were part of a record-setting day - 62 patrons visited the library on Friday (that's small town living for you)!   Caiden has been busy mowing. We moved Cambry into Delaney's room (it will be a work in progress for a while). I sat down to give Cambry a little sewing lesson.  Admittedly, I'm probably the least qualified person to be doing this (I've sewed exactly 3 valances and 1 pillowcase in my adulthood), but one of the blogs I follow had a "Sewing with Kids" series.  The first lesson was to have her follow a maze and do a dot-to-dot with just the needle, no thread.  I figured I could handle that!  At least she can become familia

I have exactly 1 hour and 40 minutes of quiet left before the kids get home from school for the summer.  This note is waiting for them on the slab in front of the garage - I hope they see it!

This gal learned to ride a bike!  Nothing stops her from keeping up with the older two!

Cambry celebrated her 7th birthday at school yesterday since today is their last day!  Her real birthday is still 10 days away, but she's been counting down for a while!  The first graders came into the classroom all sweaty, red-faced, and tired-looking.  Apparently, there had been quite a game of "Star Wars" at p.e.!  Good thing Cambry chose ice cream for her birthday treat - birthday cake ice cream sandwiches to be exact.  Yumm-o! Her teacher always has the class list the good things about the birthday child while they eat their snack.  Cambry's friend, Riley, had traced around her on paper before p.e. and the list was written on it.  Such a nice idea.  I saw her face light up a couple of times as she listened to her classmates talk about her. We're looking forward to the real thing in a few days! Of course, Delaney tagged along.  She had just spotted someone she knew! Ms. Goering said she truly is not ready for this year to be over.  She has thoro

Last Friday, Chelan's dad reached a milestone - retirement day!  He had been working for Marion Die & Fixture for 28 years!  Previous to that, he worked at Hesston Corp. (known now as AGCO).  Our family joined him for a special lunch celebrating the occasion!  I think he enjoyed showing his grandchildren where he worked - it was such a big part of his everyday life for so long. Chelan's dad is hoping to get a lot accomplished around the farm during his retirement.  He may have retired from Marion Die & Fixture, but he definitely has not retired from farming.  These first three days have left him pretty worn-out by the time evening rolls around! Congratulations "Big Guy!"  (Chelan's nickname for him)  We're all proud of you! Retirement gift from the family - a model of a John Deere 4240 tractor - just like one of the tractors we have on our farm  Some parting words by Don - a co-worker for all 28 years

Since Caiden and Cambry have been going on field trips at school, I decided Delaney needed to have one to the Sedgwick Co. Zoo today!  She had never been there before and she was pretty excited.  The number one thing on her list to see?  Bunnies!  We never did find any, but that's okay.  She also wanted to see zebras, elephants, and giraffes.  We did find those! All in all, most of the animals were pretty boring today -- sleeping most of the time.  However, we decided to eat lunch by the chimpanzees because it was cool and quiet.  And because they are my favorite!  Wouldn't you know it?  As we ate, 3 chimps came and joined us (on the other side of the glass of course).  I could tell they had been looking at our food from a distance.  They finally got curious enough to come check us out, holding handfuls of some kind of pellets.  The "old guy" even knocked on the window as if telling us, "See what I brought?"  It was such a delightful lunch! It was ne

I got to go on Cambry's field trip last week.  It was a great trip because everything was so close to home.  They had just recently finished a unit on houses, so we visited the Goessel Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum (to see the immigrant house and the Schroeder barn).  Then, we went to Keven Hiebert's house to learn about life in a tepee.  After lunch and playing at a park, we went to the Kaufman Museum in North Newton to see a log cabin and another house. At all of these places, they were able to see how their homes now are so much different than those of long ago.  Those were some strong, hard-working people who lived back in the day!  I don't think I could have shared my home with farm animals in a barn or with 20 other families in an immigrant house. I think everyone had a good time, and as usual after a field trip, I was exhausted! The whole class listening to Keven Hiebert Keven Hiebert explaining some games that Native Americans might have pla