Days With the Duerksens

The kids didn't have school yesterday, so we went with my sister, niece, and nephew to Wichita to go ice skating - a first for all of my kids!  Cambry took off right away, Caiden slowly got going, and Delaney and I made it exactly 3 laps!  I think Delaney's favorite part was watching some girls practice figure skating on the other rink. Afterwards, we took advantage of a beautiful afternoon and explored "The Keeper of the Plains." None of us had ever been there before and the kids had a lot of fun running around and climbing on the rocks (before we read the signs about NOT climbing them - oops)! All in all - a good way to spend an afternoon!

My sister turned 40 on Saturday, so I cooked up a little surprise for her.  Not a party - I didn't think I could swing that.  But, I got into contact with 40 people (family and friends) that have been a part of her life in the last 4 decades.  I asked them to write a short note or memory about my sister.  Then, on Saturday morning, the girls and I went over to her house and put the notes up on the wall.  She was surprised!  It felt good to do something for her and to keep it a surprise.  She is definitely worth it!

A couple of weeks ago, Cambry got to participate in the Goessel Cheer Clinic.  She was pretty excited about it and so were a lot of other girls - there were around 40 girls participating!  This is the first year in a LONG time that Goessel has had cheerleaders. They learned a cheer and a dance, both of which Cambry taught to Delaney.  We heard them over and over and over . . .  Last Friday night, the girls got to perform at halftime.  It was fun to see Cambry having fun with her friends.  And she did a pretty good job, too!

Last week I made it my goal to get organized - or at least start getting organized.  It all started when Chelan said we need to reorganize the file cabinet (2 of the drawers weren't even holding files, they were holding yearbooks, college textbooks, and the like).  In order to find a place for those things, I had to get busy in the storage room - if those books had to find a new home, I had to make a new home! I learned the hard way that cardboard boxes aren't the best solution for storage in a basement where mice sometimes run rampant.  So I bought tubs - 9 in all (on top of the 15 I have already).  I scooted things around, dumped A LOT, recycled plenty, made an Et Cetera Shop pile, an MCC Center pile, and rearranged the shelves a little bit.  And I am pleased to say we can now walk in our storage/laundry room without running into anything!  (And I found a home for those textbooks and yearbooks.) In the midst of reorganizing - I found some real gems fr...

As I was unloading pictures, I realized that the snow pictures flew right by me before Christmas.  We had a decent snow the week before Christmas - a good-packing, wet snow!  When Chelan got home from work one day, they got to work building a snowman - a team effort!

One of Delaney's gifts was a trip to Build-a-Bear - something she's been wanting for a long time.  Last week, we all ventured to Wichita to drop Chelan's parents off at the airport.  Then, we headed across town to Build-a-Bear Workshop. As we walked into the mall, Chelan and I realized we don't take the kids out much.  They were wide-eyed at all the activity, not to mention the escalators!  We had to ride an escalator up just so we could come back down!  It made me chuckle. Delaney enjoyed picking out a pink bear, stuffing it, giving it an air bath, and then picking out clothes.  It was fun to watch how many times she changed her mind about outfits!  In fact, I was having so much fun I forgot to take many pictures!  Cambry also had fun picking out new clothes for her bear with some of her Christmas money. Delaney and Pinkie Build-a-Bear Family is complete: Pinkie, Heartsy,and Drip Our next stop was Red Robin - so good!  I thi...