Balch Family Blog

School has been going well. We had a couple rough days but now things seem to be getting better. I drop Camden off at the curb to the school and that seems so much better for our separation.

Carsten has been doing great in speech and we are already talking about dismissal! Yeah! He loves going to Ms. Angela’s on Mon and Wed

We went to Pine about 2 weeks ago and had a blast. It rained a lot while we were there. We enjoyed the 72º weather and watching the rain on the porch. The boys collected bugs and checked them out using Camden’s microscope.

Mark and I are looking into going a gym. We have been trying out Mountainside Fitness. We like it so far. Costco has a great deal on membership there so we might go with that!

Camden started the first grade this week. Mon he was in a good mood and really seemed excited to go. Tuesday he was really upset and just wanted to come home. Today he had a great drop off and an awesome day. We love his teacher. She is very sweet and she is willing to help make this a great year for Camden!

Here are a few pictures:

I felt the need to post on my blog. It seems that everything goes on Facebook, and most the readers of my blog are my friends there too. So, that being said, please excuse any duplicate info.

Our summer has been great! No big vacations but lots of family fun! We enjoyed the 4th of July in the cooler weather and small town of Payson, AZ. That was fun and the best (and longest) fireworks show I have ever seen. We have done tons of swimming, and Camden has graduated to no floaties to swim. Carsten moves all around the pool in his floater suit and is very independent! We have gone to a few movies, played at Rolly Pollies, and hung out with our cousins. Camden has really enjoyed some of the science experiments we have done. Carsten has participated in a few of them as well. The cornstarch goo was an all around hit, while the volcano experiment was a slight disappointment. Carsten continues to potty train. He is really good about pee but the other is a challenge! Carsten’s speech has greatly improved and he speaks using more sophisticated words each week. It always catches me off guard and then makes me chuckle! The boys enjoy playing with each other most of the time and have really become good pals.

Mark has been working like crazy to cover everyone’s vacation at work. I have been working a lot too. We have our normal summer screenings and evaluations but this year we focused on hiring district speech therapists! That was a huge challenge and I have gone in about once or twice each week to work.

Camden is about to start first grade. We are very excited and nervous! This weekend we will do back to school shopping and get in a visit with my mom. Carsten will continue to go to Ms. Angela’s house 2 days a week. Then next year he will be in preschool.

Our house is being painted next week, so we are in destruction mode. It is amazing how much stuff we have on the walls! Wow! I can’t wait for the walls to be clean and not WHITE! We have lived here 7 1/2 years and haven’t painted much beyond our bedrooms. It is an exciting change!

until we have a 6 year old in our house! Camden will be six tomorrow. It is so hard to believe he is that old. We will probably take him out for the breakfast of his choice and then in the afternoon Gran, Granpa, Aunt Andrea and Uncle Mike will come over for pizza, chicken nuggets, and cake (guess who chose the menu) and then presents! Should be a fun day for him!

This past Friday we went to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix with Carrie, Lauren, Nathan, Carrie’s friends, and my friend Wendi and her son Denver. We had a blast! The boys said their favorite part was The Market, where they could shop for food, stock shelves and run a register. They had many other fun activities. Here are a few pictures from our day:

The boys are catching scarves from the WOOSH machine.

The boys shopping in the market.

A giant musical instrument in the Texture Cafe.

On Saturday we made a quick day trip to visit my mom. We hadn’t seen her since Mother’s Day and our calendars were not lining up anytime soon. So on a whim we decided to drive down and SURPRISE her. We parked down the street from the yard sale that she and her friends were having. We walked up and when she saw the boys and then us, she smiled and jumped and gave the boys the biggest hugs! It made my week to see my mom and have a little part in making her happy. What joy! We spent the day helping with the yard sale and then Steph (mom’s friend) invited us to swim and BBQ some hamburgers. It was so much fun! Here are a couple pictures from that visit:

Carsten and Gamma Tucson

Me, Mom and the Boys

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.