Days With the Duerksens

How could 13 years have flown by so fast?  How can we possibly have a teenager in this house?  It's true - it happened!  Caiden celebrated his 13th birthday with both family and friends this year.  And while gifts from Mom and Dad were less than par, his party with friends hopefully made up for that! Caiden, as you enter your teenage years, we are mindful of the fact that we have very limited time left with you here at home.  May these upcoming years be full of joy, many memories made, opportunities taken, and difficult challenges met with optimism.  We know it won't all be easy, but we are here for you every step of the way! Being only 2 days apart in age, these two sometimes act more like brothers than cousins! My beautiful 16-year old niece!  Love the background!   Caiden knew right away that he wanted to go to a trampoline park for his birthday.  Nate, Jacob, and Timothy were able to celebrate with him - they jumped for 2 ...

Caiden's mentor, Weston, took him along to a K-State basketball game at the beginning of March.  While K-State won the game, I think Caiden's highlight was when Weston took him to the football complex to show him around.  They couldn't go everywhere, but the locker room was part of the tour.  Thanks, Weston, for taking him and for the pics!

These are the kind of notes I get these days:

My sister and I took Mom down to Oklahoma for her birthday in February.  The reason?  To shop and eat at the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile.  Our aunt and cousins traveled down with us - it made for a lovely girls' day!  We did have to wait for a few hours to eat, but we enjoyed ourselves and there was plenty to see in the meantime. Ree's (the Pioneer Woman) whole family happened to be there that day, so we enjoyed keeping our eyes open for them!  It was also fun to see and hear how they restored the old building into the Mercantile. Happy Birthday Mom! Cousins! The boys entertained those of us in line Sisters! "photo-stalking!"  :) The Pioneer Wman's daughter - we finally got her attention so Mom could have a proper picture The Pioneer Woman herself!  We didn't meet her - there was a long line, of course!  

February was a busy month at school - here it is in pictures! I got to spend some time in Delaney's class at the beginning of February to celebrate her half-birthday. Daisy cupcakes were her request! Just a few days later, I got to help with her Valentine's Day party.  Unfortunately, my camera died partway through the the party... After that, the girls had their "spring" music program.  They sang some pretty fun songs, and the girls knew them well - we heard them for a month leading up to the program! Delaney is somewhere in the middle-ish - in a white shirt!