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SEVEN

sean turned seven this weekend!
he had begun counting the days to his birthday back in april.
it finally came!
the family party was a camp-out in the backyard.

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we cooked hot dogs over the fire.
ate dinner outside. went swimming awhile.
opened presents.

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all legos and a transformers t-shirt.
then it was time for s’mores….mmmmm.
i found chocolate and strawberry flavored marshmallows this week!
they looked yummy so we tried it.
no one cared for the pink but the chocolate ones were awesome!
the pink ones were so pretty though. i wanted to put them in a little bag and tie a ribbon around it and give it as a gift. they are so cute!
s’mores were yummier with chocolate flavored marshmallows.

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daddy got to sleep in the tent with the kids.
lucky daddy.
someone had to stay inside with annie 🙂
i had to make the cake too.
in the morning sean had a little party with 3 friends.

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we keep our parties very simple.
no plans.
just play with a group of friends.
eat cake…open presents..play some more.
that’s all they need.
and no goodie bags.
who started this craziness?!! and why did we all go with it?!! the presents go to the birthday boy not the guests. just like at a wedding…why are there now favors for the guests? the reception is to celebrate the couple! i guess it’s to say thank you but can’t you just SAY thank you and BE thankful? when did that become not enough? (i am aware that i sound like a crabby old lady)
i haven’t always been this way but with 5 kids there is no way i could do those big expensive parties.
i never went to any big parties like kids today get.
and i thought birthday parties were the best!
the coolest party i went to was roxi’s party at the skating rink in jr. high.
i just like to keep it simple.
and my kids are very happy with this system and that’s what works for us.
i am not against those who give goodie bags…it’s just not my thing.
everyone else can have the big parties and their kids can go home from our parties confused why they didn’t get a goodie bag…i am okay with that. ha ha

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we waited till the afternoon to give him his big present from nana and grandma & grandpa.
we made him close his eyes adn then we set it in front of him.
he opened his eyes and smiled and said “i thought it’d be a bike”
very calm.
he looks so big.
and then one more shot of sean on his big day…
he is very into the pirates of the caribbean lego’s. the ship in the back with the black sails is the one he built saturday morning by himself. the ship with the white sails is scott’s but sean built it for him after scott got frustrated 5 minutes into it.
his brain is made for legos.

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(sean does own shirts…he just didn’t have one this day. that’s summer for ya!)
happy birthday buddy.

Aimee - Ok, so with my 4 kids I started out with a big party every 4 years. Well, as kids were added and things change we celebrate small. Yes, the whole giving a gift because you are thanking them for the gift is crazy.

traci - I also agree 100% on parties!! We do simple also (cake, icecream, sometimes $5 pizza, decorations and we just started doing a birthday chair). My niece had a big, huge, party several yrs ago at age 5 with little carnival games all over the backyard, a clown and a couple blow up things you jump in. My thought was, if this is what she gets at FIVE how will they ever top this in a few yrs and not go completely broke..lol
Love your blog and have NO idea what you expect your blogging fans to do while you are on vacation????? ENJOY yourself!!!

Alison Love - i completely agree about birthdays. my kids only get a big party w/friends for #5, 8, 12, and 16. That means that w/the 4 of them we usually don’t double up on big parties.
looks like everyone enjoyed the campout–great idea.

Mom - I love the bike you picked out for us. Looks like Sean got everything he wanted for his big day.

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smartie pants

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check her out!
she brought me this paper…working on menu maybe?

SPOGID = spaghetti
LSNYA = lasagna
SOAP = soup

i said “well miss smartie pants…what are you going to do in kindergarten if you already know everything?!”
she was beaming with pride.
she should be.

kristin - wow…where did she go to preschool?
hee hee hee.
seriously, not my doing. how fun to see.

traci - How cool…just the fact that she enjoys writing and TRIES to spell things correctly is a VERY GOOD SIGN!! My kids used to do the same thing… they would also just throw out letters randomly at age 3-4 and wanted to know what they had spelled..lol… that was my chance to let them know about each word needing a vowel. Thats the teacher in me 🙂
LOVE YOUR BLOG!!!

amy - she definitely should be proud of herself! a month before kindergarten… very impressive! yea, talby!

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hang time

scott was feeling brave.
he moved the little basketball goal to the trampoline and then jumped off the trampoline to slam dunk it.
i was sure he would get hurt.
but he didn’t.
he was having so much fun.
i brought out the camera.
i laid down in the grass to take some pics.

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after seeing that scott could do it….sean wanted to try.
and then talby too.

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silly kids.

after i was through with pictures i stayed on the grass and just chilled.
i had a magazine and a drink.
i was good.
talby thought it was funny so she took my picture.

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i took this quick one to show how helpful my kiddos are.
to remind myself of this.
they do so much for annie.
she is always there needing a lift…a push…a hand…and they do it.
i don’t want to forget or overlook that.
sweetness.

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traci - I have a quiestion…in all the pictures of you on here you always seemed slightly dressed up for just hanging with your kids. I never see you in a t-shirt and jeans…always nice blousy tops and even a skirt on the 4th of july. Do you just enjoy dressing up? I know I love doing more than a tshirt and jeans when out running around but when at home I am SUPER casual…heck,I stay n pj bottoms and top for a day on many occassions..lol
Just curious…LOVE YOUR BLOG

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hot fun in the summertime

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this one is exhausting.
she is so cute but so terribly tiring.
she screams all day long.
i ask her if she is hungry she says yes.
then i say “do you want…..pb&j (or anything in the entire fridge)”
and she screams “NO!!!!!”
it doesn’t matter what it is.
i feel like i am going a bit crazy a little at a time each day.

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softball is over for lauren.
she had a good time playing. it’s bittersweet for the season to end. i am happy to have the chaos of the games over but just when the teams start to get what they are doing and they are improving…..end of season.
she sure loves to play. catcher isn’t her favorite but at least you get to play on every pitch. there’s no spacing out when you are catcher.

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look at this skinny guy.
when did he get so lean?
he loves getting all his ball gear on for games.
he played hard last night.
and i got to watch by myself for almost 10 minutes before the kids came back from the park saying how thirsty and bored they were.
ridiculous.

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i love that pool.
i dislike going to the city pool with my crew very much.
it’s not the pool that’s the problem it’s me.
i don’t like to get wet.
i prefer not to get in the water unless i have to.
at the city pool i have to get in with them because of their ages.
then the other 150 kids in the 3 foot area splash me and i just don’t enjoy it.
am i princess or what?
ha ha ha
but i love this pool.
and they do too.
and i have been in it….once.

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and one more funny one from the ball game last night.
she was climbing into my chair from hers.

Sherri - Tell Lauren she needs to play 3rd, it is a Duerksen tradition!!! 🙂

Carrie - Love the lips in pic 1-

kristin - have i ever told you just how beautiful i think lauren is? wow…i look at her and can hardly imagine having naomi that old…

traci - Woo hoo more fun pictures…when you have more than 3 kids you are bound to have at least one that is HIGH maintenance and makes you wanna growl. I have found with just 3 kids I dont ask what they want for a meal…I just fix and serve. LOVE YOUR BLOG

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ideas????

we are leaving for vacation in a week.
we have made 10 -12 hour car rides since the beginning of our marriage a few times a year every year.
granted the crew has gotten bigger and bigger but we have done this at least 20 times.
this year…this trip…my husband is getting nervous about how it will go.
he’s dreading it.

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probably because of the oldest and youngest daughters.
neither one make for good traveling.
our 12 year old makes herself a little tent by shoving her blanket into the air vent on the ceiling of the suburban…and puts in her headphones and pretends she isn’t with us. that’s not bad but if you so much as touch her “tent” she flips out and and a punch comes from beneath the tent…always hitting the unsuspecting sibling in the face which results in a scream and then sobbing. she yells over her headphones from beneath the tent “he started it!” and that happens several times each trip.

then our youngest has declared she runs the family. she will not let anyone in the car pick the music but her. so we are all subjected to the backyardigans and dora for as long as she wants. if the movie is not one she wants she screams and screams. we have tried all we can to make this habit stop but nothing works. so all the kids have had to listen and watch much more dora than anyone should ever have to in their lifetime. the bubbles do help but even that gets her mad sometimes too. i can’t expect her to enjoy the 10 hours in the car but none of the others ever acted like she did. so we feel unsure about how to handle this one.

i say all this in a plea for help. there are so many of you reading this…can you please give me some ideas of anything i can try to make the trip go a bit smoother. craig suggested breaking it down into hours. but i don’t really know what to do each hour…games? prizes? any ideas would probably be better than what i have which is nothing.
thanks.

Leah - Last summer my family drove from Seattle, WA to Orlando FL. We drove down the CA coast to LA, then across the south. We took 3 weeks to do this, which really helped. My kids were 10,6,2. Not driving too much is the best thing you can do. We only drove about 5-6 hours at a time. Stopping at hotels, letting the kids swim and get out their “wiggles”. That’s what we call it when they start going nuts in the car. We also had tons of tourist-y stops we made. I gave each of the older girls $50 in one dollar bills at the start of the trip. Each time they fought or got out of control, they had to pay me $1. Or more if it was a really bad offense. If I caught them doing something especially good, I would sometimes give them $1. Their goal was to have as much money as possible by the end of the trip, because I was going to match whatever they had then for them to spend or save as they wished. It worked really well, and they would “warn” each other when voices started getting raised, and things would quiet down pretty fast. One daughter only was down about $10 by the end, and the middle daughter was actually up! At the end of our trip, I was so glad it was over, but now I look back of it so fondly. The best time we’ve ever had!

kristin - by the way, my assumption is that our trip will be BAD so that it can only get better from what i think…i think you are already doing that…may patience be yours…that and relief when you get there…

kristin - we’re about to do the same thing…not eager for it…pipe cleaners, masking tape, and getting to choose candy at the next gas station if they are gentle and friendly are my only plans…

traci - breaking the trip up will definately make life easier. I would also either let your little one have a headset with her own music that she can listen to for days or if that isnt an option then tell her she has one hour (or whatever time limit you want) of “her” music then the next child has their time for “their” music choice. This may sound crazy but I have used a timer for this and other kid related things MANY times and for some reason setting the timer really works …when the timer goes off its time for someone else to choose the music. As for the tent issue I would tell your 12 yr. old they are welcome to have the tent but the first time they “flip out” and hit someone thru the tent it goes away. I always tell my kids they have ONE what I call a “fair warning” …after that the priviledge of the tent would cease to happen.
A 12 yr. old is certainly able to contemplate this and make a right choice…they probably will have to challenge it to see if you really mean it but once you hold to it they will realize.
If you have a tv in your van I would also make the same rule for the tv that is made with the music. If they cant agree on a movie then they have their “time” to pick a movie and then the next child has “their time”.
Games are ALWAYS fun (we play several). The alphabet game, seeing how many different state license plates we can get, getting truckers to honk, etc…..
We also make sure our kids (we have 3) have their backpacks full of their fav. stuff. I would just set some simple “rules” on compromise and sharing before the trip…set out the rules ahead of time and let them know due to lack of space their will be ONE chance and that is it…Ok, do I sound like a bossy mom and X teacher? lol
Hope you get lots of good ideas!

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goofballs

conversations tonight at bedtime.

Talby: “Mom..who do you love the most of all?”

Me : “well…i love all of you guys and daddy…and god.”

T: do you love god the most?
M: Yes..because he made me and all of us. and he gave me you so i love him even more for that.
T: He made us?
M: Yes…he made us all different and he loves us.
T: If he didn’t make us he’d say….hmmm this is kind of boring. i wish someone was here.
M: Ha ha ha …yes that’s true.
T: Unless he wanted to go bowling. He could open the key by himself…and go in…and he’d say where is everyone?
M: Really?
T: but he couldn’t bowl without his bowling shoes.
M: kiss. goodnight talbers.

then with sean.

S: Mom…i would hate to sleep in water.
M: me too. you couldn’t…you have to give up eventually.
S: yeah…and drown and then die.
(isn’t this a nice goodnight story?)
M: yes. we can’t breathe in water.
S: Mom..what if you had to swim in the ocean all night long and couldn’t sleep and then in the morning you got out of the water and you had to go world’s of fun and after the first roller coaster ride you said OHHHHHH my stomach hurts i need some cotton candy!!….wait…do they have cotton candy there?
M: yes. okay goodnight bud.

what a couple of goofballs!

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what kind of mom would i be if i didn’t let my kids have ice cream sundaes for lunch once in awhile?
they caught me at a weak moment.
it’s kind of healthy…strawberries and bananas?
and i didn’t have to share my smoothie with anyone.

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we got a call on sunday evening that our dear friends (far right) from utah were only 30 minutes away for the evening. we were busy till 9:15 but then we drove over there to see them. it was of course way too short. but what a beautiful way to spend the evening. i was just so happy to be sitting there. i miss them so much! we laughed about everything but we spent a long time laughing about The Office. We all love that show so we were cracking up! i love you guys! come back soon. someday we will visit…in the family truckster with all our goofy kids…i bet you can’t wait.

traci - You sound like a VERY FUN mom…I struggle over icecream for lunch but HEY… what can it hurt? If they are hungry an hour later…big deal..right?
their is a reason why their is saying…Kids say the darndest things…lol

kristin - VERY sweet conversations with the kids…i wish i recorded more of those…and ice cream has protein…and we LOVE the office…in fact, i smile just thinking about it…thanks. : )

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