Balch Family Blog

The boys each got their hair cut today. Camden went with a traditional cut and Carsten went a little wild….Mohawk! That was his choice!
The boys were making Strong Faces

From the side.

Our church hosted “Picnic on the Corner” last night. There was hotdogs, popcorn, cotton candy, games, inflatables and a fireworks show. We had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of our evening.

Camden’s kindergarten class had a Promotion Performance yesterday. They sang songs and recited a poem. Each student was recognized individually by their teacher. Camden did great! He didn’t sing a whole lot but he stood up on stage just smiling bright! I am so proud of him. At 1:35 pm tomorrow he will officially be a 1st grade student. Where does the time go? I cried this evening as I signed his behavior chart for the last time this year. Wow!

Today the students had fun with Water Day that was hosted by The Gilbert Fire Department. A little funny story that his teacher told me: Camden went into the small bathroom in the class to change out of his suit. After getting undressed, he realized he had forgotten his clothes, so he walked out into the classroom to grab them…STARK NAKED! One of the teachers saw him and quickly put a towel around him. He wasn’t even phased by it. Shows we don’t have a lot of modesty around our house. It was a good time to learn a lesson about nudity in public! 😉

Here are a few pictures of him yesterday. The teachers had the shirts made for the students.

The back of his T-Shirt that all of the kids signed!

At the performance, with arms around his classmates while they sang.

We got a 10′ x 30″ above ground pool to use this summer. Last year we used a hard play pool. It was cramped then and the boys are a year older. We set it up this afternoon and then went for a swim. It feels so nice to be typing with cool skin and damp hair. Here are a few pictures of our first swim.

…was a rough week. On Monday Camden was sent home from school sick. I wasn’t feeling well either. Then on Tues (my birthday) Mark was sick and I wasn’t great either. Went back to work Wed and everyone seem to return to health. On Thursday afternoon Bailey quit eating. That evening she had great difficulty standing and needed our help. After a phone call with Mark’s sister, Andrea, we knew she would need to see the vet on Friday. After taking the boys to the dentist Friday at 7:30 (Carsten no cavities, Camden has a couple) I took Bailey to her first vet. There they did blood work and determined that she was very sick, critical in fact. After an abdominal xray showed a possible mass we went to a referral hospital to have an ultrasound done. I spoke to Andrea again and we discussed the benefits to surgery and if there were multiple organs involved the unlikelihood of improvement. The ultrasound confirmed she had a mass on her spleen that was bleeding internally. It also identified several masses in her liver. After that I took Bailey home. Mark picked up Camden from school and we all hung out with Bailey and said our goodbyes. Bailey got to eat a Klondike Ice Cream Bar. She loved it! She was put to sleep on Friday May 8th at 5:00 pm. She was such a great dog and a very special part of our family for the last 12 years.


Friday was also Mark’s Dad’s birthday. We were supposed to go out to dinner, but weren’t feeling up to it. His parents came to our house and we ate some pizza. On Saturday I was still very sad. We went out to breakfast and tried to do some normal activities. Saturday afternoon we took the boys and Mark’s parents to the Diamondbacks game. We celebrated both birthday and Mother’s Day. Then on Sunday, after church we went down to Casa Grande and met my mom and Ken and had a yummy lunch at Olive Garden. Sunday afternoon was spent doing laundry and hanging around at the house.

Last night Mark took me out to celebrate my birthday. We ate dinner and Ra and enjoyed a variety of sushi and appetizers. It was yummy! The music was very loud giving it more of a bar like atmosphere over a restaurant. Then we went and saw Charley’s Aunt at the Hale Center Theater. It was very funny! We laughed aloud many times. The show was a gift from Mark’s parents who also watched the boys for us overnight.

Today, Mark and I ran some errands without the boys including getting a pedicure for me! Nice little treat! It was a nice way to start the weekend!