well…i finally got my Etsy Shop full again.
it's open!
let's go shopping.
email me if you have any questions at cdduerksen @ yahoo .com
without the spaces of course.
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sean has grown up much too much this year. he had another birthday.
i miss my happy chunky baby that would giggle non-stop.
he had a party with 3 friends and 3 of his siblings.
he had it all planned out and helped prepare everything.
sean is meticulous and a thinker/planner.
 175 water balloons.
 rainbow cupcakes.
 balloons.
 water guns and launchers.
 the lego center.
 pizza, hawaiian punch and watermelon.
  the bonzai falls…thanks again russ and jen.
annie shouted something like "this is AWESOME!!" or "YAHOO i LoVe tHIS!" every single time.
 jumping from the trampoline into the pool.
 a water balloon fight.
 and opening presents.
sean said to me in the middle of the craziness…"this is the best party of my whole life!"
just what i wanted to hear.
{{smiles}}
 goofballs.
on his actual birthday we kept him happy too.
 donut breakfast.
 a movie.
when we got there i found out it was 3D so it cost more…i said "you are so lucky it's your birthday mr."
 he picked what we had for dinner…and ate with a glass plate.
ice cream cake from dairy queen…his choice…he always wants to be different.
opened presents after cake.
(two of things i gave him… out of four…he already had. UGH! everything looks the same to me!)
nine.
can't really believe it.
his hugs bring me a feeling that i don't have with anyone else.
love that kid.
feel free to e-mail me back if you’d like. beckydoesdye@hotmail.com Hi. My name is Becky. My mom is Carolyn. She has been so excited about the people stopping by to see her sunflowers. She made me type your link in and look up the pictures…I haven’t made it out to see them yet…but they are gorgeous. She just thought it was the best that you came by that day. She is telling everyone about it. Stop by again the next time you are that way. You should check her garden out at the house too. She has a lovely garden. take care. Becky Now that is what SUMMER BIRTHDAYS are all about!!!! Happy Birthday Sean!!! Can I copy that exact party for my birthday next month? Is 31 too old for water balloons and Legos? 🙂 Mine is turning nine on Sunday. I have been reading your blog for such a long time and now to think that we were pregnant the same year, same months (June and July were extremely hot that year I remember)… weird huh!?! Or maybe I am… HA! LOVE this post. Our oldest is turning five in a few weeks, so of course, I’m planning and rethinking everything. I suddenly realized looking at your pictures and reading the captions, the ONLY thing I should be planning are things that bring him pure joy and happiness. Thanks for the wake-up call. xoxo Dang you! Now I want cupcakes and cinnabons. 🙂 That LOOKS like the best birthday party ever. I envy people with middle of the summer birthdays who get to have fun outdoor parties. End of Feb birthdays would only be fun in Hawaii. I beter work on moving there. I think it’s reason enough. What a nice big brother for letting his little sisters hang out too. Umm, is he available to plan my next Birthday Party?? 🙂 What a fun day. Your summer is looking like so much fun! Ahhh! Naughty Nine – I hope he has a fun year!!! The photos make me yearn for summer… yearn!!! What great party plans! Everything just looks like so much fun. I’m wanting one of those rainbow cupcakes right now. 🙂 Happy days – looks like its a superb birthday for sean 😀 Looks like a wonderful 9th birthday. Happy birthday to your guy. well a great big happy birthday to your son! so cute, so fun, you are the best mom. Love it, love it all. What fun!!! Happy Birthday to him! so……are you going to share the rainbow cupcake recipe on your sidebar?? 🙂 I have a little boy with a birthday on the 14th. He turned 3. Can I make him stay that age forever? They grow up too fast! It looks like you had a wonderful birthday party for Sean! Its fun to see what type of parties I might have coming to me in the future 🙂 Oh my gosh, the picture of all the kids with their waterguns–PRICELESS! That’ll be a favorite of all of theirs for years to come. I have one like that with my brother, sister, and the neighbor kids all lined up on a couch. I just love that photograph. Good job with the party! I have a quick question…Did you put all six colors of the colored cake batter in each cupcake and if so how much of each? I have made the cake but never thought of doing cupcakes and I like the idea of cupcakes. how did you frost your cupcakes and make them look so pretty?? did you pipe the frosting?? super post! love all the pictures, so colorful!! what a lucky boy! I love all of your pictures, they’re so inspiring!! I can’t wait until my little girl is old enough to help me plan her birthday parties =) that’s so sweet. Perfect. Summer. Birthday. He sounds like such a great kid and it’s even better when they appreciate everything so much like that. My oldest turns 7 in two weeks – where the heck does the time go?! Looks like he had a great day. Love the rainbow cupcakes. You did a great job! your cupcakes look beautiful and the party is simple, colorful, and spectacular Summer birthdays are so much fun! Great pictures! We just had a birthday party for my 12 yr old daughter. We did treasure hunt and camp out. I wanted to follow the teams around the neighborhood on the treasure hunt with my camera but it was just me, so … wow everything looks so delicious and colorful and fun and i wanna be a 9 year old guy at that party. i want to go see ice age, and i’d pay extra for the 3-D!! how fun! he looks so much like Craig in that last pic. You are such a fun mom! (Or you look like you are!) What a great party without breaking the bank! The pictures are GREAT! i can’t imagine my life without my little boy! at first i couldn’t imagine what i was going to do with one… now i just feel so lucky to have both a boy and a girl! great party and i love the lego station! I love the LEGO center! What a party!!!! I’m just curious…I LOVE the lego center idea….but with all the other fun water activities…I’m just guessing the legos got overlooked a little??? I love it that Sean helped with all the planning 🙂 He’s a cutie!! And sounds like a keeper 🙂 What a great photo diary of your family! I feel the same way about my family and can’t believe how fast time flies! oh, sweet sean. happy birthday again. adorable. those rainbow cupcakes look like so much fun! my oldest is named sean and he is also a very meticulous thinker/organizer (at 2!). looks like a super fun day!! Those “Surprise” 3D movies are a tough pill to swallow! Same thing happened to me last month. Argh. I love ice cream cake too and it was always what I picked growing up! 🙂 The ideas for a birthday are great too! Thank you for sharing your son’s special day! Made me smile! Oh by the way, I did a shout out on you today! I really do enjoy your blog! Looking at these pictures was quite a treat. I love the “goofball” picture. I am a third grade teacher and this age group is so fun! Thanks for sharing your family with us…they are beautiful! What a fun party! And…it looked like the gift he was opening was Mancala. 🙂 Our kiddos have loved that game for years and were just playing it again yesterday! What a sweet message to end the post with. Love to see a pic of you, too! Happy Birthday to Sean! Looks like an awesome time. My oldest turns 12 next week. And she’s already entered the grrr stage. The goofball photo was my favorite! That definitely looked like tons of fun and you did good obviously. The lego center was very cool. I love this blog…it’s definitely one of the coolest ones I frequent (stalk in a good way!) daily! What did he pick for his birthday dinner? Love this post!! What a beautiful day for you all!! The cupcakes were really nice and I love the lego center:) Don’t our babies grow up waaaay to fast??? Have a wonderful day. my nine year old will be ten in august and i wish you were here, or for that matter, sean seems like he might be just the man for me. Hi, my name is Cara and I started reading your blog about a week ago (had to go back and read everyone!) – I enjoy it so much!! I’ve got a little boy (2) and a girl (6) and live in Kommetjie (it’s a little village close to Cape Town, South Africa). I really enjoy your creativity – I love to make stuff but always have an excuse why not to make something – normally the kids is my excuse!! Our 3 week winter holidays is ending on Monday and then I’m going to start making stuff. Thanks for the inspiration. Looks like fun! Happy Birthday~ What a lucky boy – lots of brownie points for Mum & Dad! That lego centre is a fantastic idea. What a happy, happy day for your precious boy (and for you too). Well done Mumma. Meredith xo. Looks like a perfect day!! (And is it just me, or does he look just like your hubby??) happy birthday — what a cutie, and the day seemed like a blast! OH, so happy! What a great birthday! Great job making memories!! i love the lego center! nice touch 🙂
it was time to cool off.
      this was a great way to beat the heat.
the funniest part of these pictures was just as we got our changed into our swimsuits….
another family showed up.
a very large man and his two children.
his kids would NOT keep their clothes on…
and the MAN was walking through all the sprinklers…IN HIS CLOTHES!
fully dressed in pants, shirt and even his socks!
so in every photo i had to walk around making sure the big soaking wet man wasn't in my shot…
or his naked kids.
not quite as pretty now is it?
how refreshing…. Hi Meg awhile ago you told me what photo site you used to change your pictures sizes, etc. Since then I had a computer crash and lost everything. Can you remind me of the site you use? thanks I love splash parks! The last one where your son is reaching the bucket makes me a little sad (and excited). It seems like it will be forever before any of my boys would be able to reach one of those buckets, but I know that day will be here before I know it. Your kids seem so fun… So FUN! What neat pictures of water! do you have an etsy account? I love all of the crafts you make and want to buy everything for my own home- I am crafty at all… these are great. we went to the water park just like this the other day, and my boys wouldn’t even get close. they are so silly! love your sunflowers at the top! gorgeous! woooooo hoooooo… WHAT fun! Well…I’da loved to at least see the man in his clothes…and I flashed back to my visit to Garden City, Kansas…long about 1976???or so…they claimed to have the largest outdoor cement pool, lol. How ironic that here in the Northwest we’re wearing sweatshirts and drinking hot tea. nice visual…thanks! your pictures would have done just fine. So, I have an email ready to send you, but for the life of me I can’t find a way to contact you other than leaving a comment. 🙁 It’s funny and everything. What do I doooo?! :0/ Great photos. Too funny about the wet man and the naked kids. must be kansas! Love the pics and I am IN LOVE WITH YOUR NEW HEADER! cool sunflowers. I’m wondering if any of the kids that were naked were boys?if they were that’s freaky grosssssss! Hi Meg, I kinda wanted to see the man in full clothes all wet..lol We are here in CA. My husband and I just spent the weekend driving from Santa Barbara to Monterey. We went to Solvang, a Danish village that was so cool. Even your wonderful photographs could not capture the beauty of this drive. It is breathtaking! I can look at your photos and see all the places where you were. We are going to go down to Santa Monica tonight. We are staying in Oxnard. Was the cold weather just crazy. jackets in July is not normal for Alabama. But, it sure is nice for a little while. THAT IS SO WEIRD! I LOVE the new header! I was so right about your skills and those sunflowers in Kansas!!! They are so happy and refreshing to look at! Good job! 😉 I bought my son the same floral swim trunks this year…!!! Yea for WM! you always have the best shots. Love the floral swim trunks and the polka-dots! LOVE THE NEW HEADER!!!!! 🙂 Awesome picture! be thankful the man was not naked. It could always be worse! looks like fun! and i love your sunflowers! Now I’m curious… socks but no shoes? Great pictures! Love the peace sign tattoo on the hand, very cute and cool! That looks like an AWESOME park!! I can’t believe there weren’t more people there on such a hot day! Maybe the large wet man and his naked kids scared everyone away! My mental picture is not pretty and it would probably deter me from staying 😉 Thanks for sharing! Oh, that is so funny. Yes, I would love to see a picture of the man in his clothes. How old were the kids? I hope they were somewhat small. Otherwise that is just weird! Was the man chasing the kids or just cooling off in his clothes? You must show us at least one! I too want to know is this in Newton, Hesston, Halstead….please tell. Looks like so much fun! I’d love to take my kids it would be a fun alternative to the pool. Also are you planning to make more pillows? I found your blog after you closed your etsy shop and am still drooling over the cute things you made. Awesome pics! haha…that is fantastic! your pics ARE still pretty though 🙂 What fun pictures!! At least the man kept his clothes on otherwise your kids would have beem ruined for life:) It’s official, I’ve decided I want to live where you do. I love the shots you take of your town, I love that you get to walk to do things (like go get ice cream or anything else for that matter), and I LOVE the small town homeyness of it all! I never thought I would really miss living in a small town, but the more I read your blog and see the awesome pictures you post of where you live, the more I want to move there! my daughter has that polka dot suit – wouldn’t it be fun to have pictures of kids in the same clothes from all over the country? Oh My Goodness! HAHAHA, oh yeah – post it – we wanna see …. 🙂 Come on Meg… I know you got ’em in at least one picture… please show us! It hasn’t been such nice weather around here (cloudy + rain) . But we tried the shaving cream fun today. My boys LOVED it! Thanks for the idea! Is this in Hesston? I bet the poor people living across the street enjoyed THAT show. At least the man kept his clothes ON. 😉 i never showed these pictures from annie's last day of preschool. so much fun….
      annie's preschool has been located in an assisted living facility.
they visited the "grandma & grandpas" often and knew many of their names.
(especially the ones who gave out candy)
many of residents were outside during this party time watching or helping hold the parachute.
the kids gave goodbye backrubs and hugs.
it's so sweet to watch.
next year the preschool will be back at the church..only a 2 block walk for us.
that will be pretty great also.
     i printed this out for annie and she hung it on her bulletin board. :)
   oh how we miss preschool.
This looks very familiar, our kiddos also attended this preschool. Ms. Kristin is a familar face at church. I linked to you from The Macs and check in often for the great photos and another family living life in Kansas. Your daughter is the cutest, most precious little girl ever. I am missing preschool too. I mentioned before that I found Annie’s preschool blog by accident last month. I’m also a preschool teacher, and love her ideas! Her photos are beautiful, just like yours. She has a way of capturing each detail. I can see why you love her. Hi Meg. it looks like a fun and imaginitive preschool…i’m jealous. would love to know where annie’s teacher got her dinosaur t-shirt……love it. I LOVE the idea of combining an assisted living facility with a pre-school. What a blessing that must be in the lives of the older people and a great lesson in respect for the elderly in the kids. I live in CA and wonder if there is anything like that out here?! My favorite is Annie’s mismatched socks–especially the rainbow one. And maybe I’m biased, but I think she’s the cutest kid in her class. She has such pretty eyes. I love the idea of a preschool within or near an assisted living home. I WANT one of those parachute thingys! It looks like fun! how great I love the rainbow aprons My girls preschool years were such wonderful times. Two are in college and one is in High School now. So it has been a while. Really cherish these tender years. They fly by so quickly. I love the beautiful pictures you post in your blog. I am a very visual person and this is one thing that draws me to your site. (and of course Waffle!!) those kids kids are cute! SO cool! I teach preschool so I examined the pictures for ideas! I love that the teacher is sitting on a table to read the story! I love that there are so many bright colors! I love the parachute (use mine often!)! SO cool!!! No wonder she misses it! We miss pre-school too. How cool that it was at an assisted-living place. A 2 block walk will be great too. GUSH!!!! annies preschool teacher has a very cool blog as well!!! I have been watching your blog for some time now and decided I should actually comment. I love your eye for color; it brightens my day. And a preschool in a nursing home is such a sweet idea; it looks like such a blessing to all involved. Preschoolers are so much fun! I love that the school was within the assisted living facility. We took our kids to trick-or-treat at one a few years ago. Such a gift for them…..to see, feel, hear young people. It warmed my heart to be able to share my joy with them and bring them back to their earlier years. oh!!!! i miss it too…especially seeing these. I am loving this post so much! My daughter starts Preschool in the fall and it made me so excited for her! Beautiful pictures – and her teachers look like so much fun! The grins in all of the pictures speak volumes:) i love where it was located! what a great idea and so wonderful for the elderly too. as a teacher, i’m loving that table thing she’s sitting on during storytime 🙂 very eye level for the kids! That looks like a FUN preschool! Great pictures, I bet Annie misses Pre-School too! Love the teachers bright color aprons! I saw MY Megan’s preschool teacher several years ago and I started crying. MY Megan is now 23 years old! I learned so much from her teacher and I remember so much about that year. sniff…sniff…….. awww. preschool was the best. What lovely photos… especially all the colour!! Parachutes were the BEST. I miss preschool as well. Great photos. I remember the big parachute thingy in school, it was so much fun. Beautiful pictures! my kids were saying they were bored. i told them to get their swimsuits on and finish their lunch.
“why?!” “what are we doing?!” ‘”where are we going?!” “it’s too cold to swim!”
i answered “just do it”
 i sprayed it all over our patio table and called them outside.
they were in disbelief.
that they could play IN it…and get it on them.
i said “yes. use it all. go crazy”
they did.
     then a fight broke out…like we knew it would.
       i highly recommend this activity to you.
i ended up giving them all 9 cans i’d bought.
i said many many times “don’t get it in your eyes!”
i thought my kids would like it but they LOVED it.
they had
the.
BEST.
time.
i hosed them down when they were finished.
turned on the sprinklers to clean the yard.
sprayed down the patio.
done.
$11 well spent.
these girls were full of smiles.  and they had amazingly beautiful eyes!
  even the baby.
  jody…i love your hair.
i meant to tell you and i didn't.
it's shiny and beautiful…i love it.
 i love the cuddling on daddy's head.
  so pretty.
they were sweet as sugar.
thank you for spending some time with me chad and jody.
Oh how exciting! I was just relaxing reading your blog and realized who this family was!!! I went to Bethel College with Chad and Jody and haven’t seen them since we graduated 9 years ago! Thanks for sharing your great pictures…what a beautiful family they have. I’ve recently just started reading your blog and I LOVE it. You crack me up. You are inspiration to all Moms to enjoy every second with their kids…and to let them be kids! Wow! I love their hair and eyes! Their oldest child looks like a little lady. OH MY GOODNESS!!! THEY ARE GORGEOUS! I have always admired a gal who can match the moxie of a dress with polka dots, and bows. Oh they are too sweet as sugar! Great shots- Hi! I have a “finalist” award to give you for the Social Luxe Lounge Blogluxe Awards. I can’t find your email, so please email me and I’ll shoot you one over! Congrats!! Look at those eyelashes! sooooooooooo cute! what an absolutely beautiful family!! ah-stinkin-dorable!! Beautiful family and photos. lovely family…wish you lived close to photo. mine! I read your porch re-do; very nice! It made me think again of your third floor area above Lauren’s room…what did you decide to do with that?? What a beautiful family! They are one of my favorite families! Great pictures, Meg. As always. And you’re right, she does have awesome hair. Hate that about her. 🙂
you can still eat it if you don't close your springform pan correctly
and you dump it into your oven.
it just won't look as pretty.
but it tastes just as yummy.
Made this tonight and it’s half gone in just a few short hours! LOVE, LOVE IT!! As Allie would say ” Mom, put that one on the favorite list!” I just went blueberry picking and need a venue for all these blueberries. Thanks for your timely post. Hi Meg! yummmmmm yummmmmmmmm looks deilsous Okay…I’ve been baking this exact recipe for years (though we just use a 9″ square pan) and got it from my mom, who’s been baking it for years. We lived outside of Chicago in the 70’s and early 80’s…do you know which paper it was published in? Love your blog… Hey Meg, oh yummy!!! Must.buy.more.blueberries. setting the butter out now… Okay I will. My mom used to make this all of the time when I was growing up! I think I need to introduce this family favorite to my family! Thanks for the reminder of a forgotten recipe! 🙂 Yummy!Low fat of coarse? I know what I’m doing tomorrow! Thanks for the yummy idea. I took this to the Klaassen’s & Kleiber’s this weekend. It was yummy! yum. blueberry buckle is a family favorite! This looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try the recipe. This weekend I was looking back at old posts and admiring your aprons that you made at Christmas (maybe in Dec 07). Did you ever post a tutorial or the pattern for that? Or could you tell us what pattern you use to make your aprons? Okay. It seems like baked blueberry treats recipes are everywhere today… it must be a sign! I think this weekend will involve several pints of blueberries and my oven!! mmmm… similar to what I made yesterday! Looks lovely. I’ve been meaning to try making a buckle – and have a bunch of blueberries that need to be used. make it easy for me…just send it to me! yum..need to try that sometime. but in the meantime I was just coming to your recipe section because I couldn’t remember what all was to go in the chicken enchiladas…which is what we’re having for dinner tonight! so good! Oh man…if it weren’t for the fact that I am on my “I need to fit into my wedding dress” diet, I would make this for sure. Looks delicious! |
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Vera - I want that red pillow SO bad!! We’re taking our Monterey Peninsula vacation this month AND have all the expenses of attending my brother’s wedding there, so my pillow budget right now is… zero. Hope you have some items left (or new ones) next month!!!
emily :] - i wish i read my comments before i posted them so they made sense.
emily :] - so i would totally loveeee (& order) a peace sign shirt if they were happen to be in a big girl size 😉
Elisa - Looks like you are going to be doing a lot of shipping 🙂 So cool!
Sandy Coppertone - Any pictures of the Cora Paige playground? How’s that progressing?
Jill J - Oh my gosh! I so wish I had little girls to dress up! I love the number tees; adorable!
danyele - great…another place where i can spend lots of time oogling the products on etsy and buying them and then getting in trouble from hubs! jk…yeah!!!
Christa - So sad that it looks like you don’t ship to Canada… You’d make exceptions for people who really like you though right????
Christa
alyssa - the gum ball tee is adorable. very creative!
Erin - My husband will hate you for that. I just bought a pillow from ya! Adorbale!
Jenn Thomas - I think London needs a gumball shirt
Patti - yay! yipee! whoo hoo! hooray! you rock!…truly.
Aubrey - Wow, you’re SO SO SO talented. I was surprised you only had one page of stuff, until I realized you’ve already sold 7!! Go Meg!
amy - love it all.
bought a couple F-U-N things.
def. sending you an email request for a gumball tee. my 5 year old squealed when she saw it!
still love the sunflower pic from last summer.
great new header!
adrienne - just took a look…. all cute, way cute stuff! i always love those whimsical flowers. polka dot rainbow, A-dorable!
Kelly O. - yay! Absolutely LOVE the gumball shirt!
you. are. so. cool.
adrienneK - omg omg OMG the bubblegum shirt is awesome …too bad i deleted my pay pal account 🙁
Wendy - Meg, I just love all of your stuff. You have an eye for color and pattern. Just coming to your blog every morning makes the day seem that much brighter. 🙂
Chele - Beautiful stuff lady! I love all the bags, well because I love bags and those are very creative!! 🙂
Anna - LOVE your stuff!!!
Ana - beautiful stuff! you are so talented!
misty - wow i want EVERYTHING!! if only I had a money tree in my backyard ha ha
pve - just stop it, now.
I am sick, you blow my socks off.
pve
Anya - Wow you have been busy, it all looks great.
Do you ever ship overseas?