Days With the Duerksens

Our old, cracked, moldy shower is gone, and in its place is a shiny new one.  However, a lot of other work is being done around the new shower, so it hasn't been showered in yet!  We're getting closer though - mudding the walls is finished and the floor around it is finished.  We just have to make a curtain rod, find a shower curtain long enough, paint the walls, and do some caulking.  Yep - not much left to do at all . . .  Seriously, though, I'm so grateful for all the work Chelan is doing to get the bathroom up and going again!

You just need a hula hoop and a microphone!

We live 20 minutes from Marion Reservoir, and the kids have never been there!  That was the realization I had just last week.  So, we took advantage of a beautiful day with no school and went!  I was mainly on the lookout for Bald Eagles - and we actually saw some!  We also saw Pelicans (I had no idea we have Pelicans in KS), lots of ducks, geese, and even seagulls (which I think are migrating through).  We made our way to every cove around the lake. Thank goodness for Caiden's friend, Timothy.  He spotted two of the Eagles that we would have missed!  My camera doesn't take the best pictures from far away, but I did snap a few. skipping rocks is always fun! Pelicans in flight Those beaks! Then it was home for a birthday supper and cake - Cambry helped me make and decorate my chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - it was sooooo gooooood!  Bring on 37!

To celebrate my birthday and my mom's birthday, we met at the bowling alley in McPherson on Sunday night.  It's always so much fun to watch the kids.  Delaney scored pretty well using a ramp. And Cambry even got a couple of strikes without using a bumper!!  She was so excited and we were, too! I'm not sure how the scored all ended up, but bowling is always fun, regardless of the scores. Then it was off to Freddy's for ice cream, of course! Fun with Freddy!

Chelan and I took off for Manhattan Saturday afternoon - no plans, no agenda!  We stayed at the Bluemont Hotel (directly across from Aggieville and the K-State campus).  It's fairly new, and very nice!  Our room was so big, I kept thinking we needed the whole family there to fill it up (but those thoughts generally left as quickly as they popped up)! After we checked in, we ate supper at CocoBolo's - across the street.  Good Tex-Mex menu and lots to choose from.  Getting donuts at Varsity Donuts was the only "must" on my list.  These are not breakfast donuts, they are definitely dessert donuts.  It was fun to take them back to our room to snack on while we watched a movie and "Friends" reruns (they were showing all the best ones)!   Can you tell which one is mine and which is Chelan's?   The "Honeymooner" and the "Babydoll" Let's just get a close-up of mine! We also stopped at the Dusty Bookshelf, a used bookstore...

I was blessed with multiple valentines from the girls this year. They seemed to pop up everywhere!  I love their caring hearts and the way they think of others so often! Cambry made one of these for all of us at school - a folded paper heart with an owl tucked inside!  Her friend Riley helped her with the heart. My heart-shaped pizza for them:

Delaney seems to have hit some sort of gymnastics phase - she wants to do it everywhere, all the time!  She and Cambry watch Youtube videos, and then try what they watched.  Cambry has been acting as her coach - coming up with workouts and challenges.  It's quite impressive, really - Delaney is not afraid to try anything!  I just hope no one gets hurt!  I keep telling Delaney she needs to be in a gymnastics class so she can learn to do everything correctly and not get hurt.  We'll see!  She has currently moved on to one-handed cartwheels (although I don't have pictures of those). the "gym" she made for herself downstairs working on arm and ab strength, I guess - I sure can't hold myself up like that!  

While Caiden was at a Super Bowl party, these girls were busy in his room: Delaney, Elyse, Alyssa, Emily, Amily, Jenna