Balch Family Blog

Camden graduated from Preschool today. He was such a great boy during the program. It is so hard to believe he will be going on to Kindergarten this fall. How can it be? The kids were all so well behaved! They sang a couple songs and performed using rhythm sticks to one song. They read a story aloud with their teacher and then got their certificates. It was such a JOY to watch him today.

Congratulations Camden! We love you!

You can find pictures from today here.

When Dad and Betty were here over Christmas we went to Goldfield Ghost Town. It was a nice cold day and the train broke down on us. We watched a gun fight, visited a reptile exhibit, and ate lunch there.

Mark got a call on Friday morning from Jeff (the other PT in his office) saying that he would work on Saturday and Mark could have it off. We were so excited that we started planning how to spend the day. Goldfield came to mind. Mark had to work when we visited with my dad, so it was all new for him.

We had a great day! It was a little warm at times, but nice when a breeze blew by. We went on the train ride and successfully made all the way! We explored around the back side of the town (D&B we did not go down the back side with you guys). Camden even wanted to go on the mine tour. We were so proud of the boys! They did so well. They handled the cramped (fake) elevator and even when the guide blew out the candle to show how dark it was in there only Carsten made a little fuss. We were a little bummed that the gunfighters were done for the season. The stage coach rides were also closed. It is understandable with the heat of the summer right around the corner!

After Goldfield, we decided to drive the 10 miles up the road to Canyon Lake. It was quite a curvy road. The lake was beautiful! We will definitely plan a day trip to swim and have a picnic out there soon. On the way home Camden was reading a brochure and the combination of the sun, heat, curvy road and reading he got a little car sick. Poor guy. Both boys slept the whole way home and for 2 1/2 hours at home. We were all wiped out but had a great family day!

Here are some more pictures from our adventuresome day!

The day that doesn’t always go as smoothly as it should according to Hallmark cards. Don’t get me wrong, my day has been fine so far. My sweet husband and boys gave me a card this morning and Mark has been helping get things ready for tonight’s dinner. Camden has told me numerous times Happy Mother’s Day and I love you, but he is still being quite a brat! He is in this echo phase and not listening phase and questioning phase…oh yeah, it’s called being 4!

Anyway, to all the mom’s out there, may you have a great Mother’s Day and enjoy the moments you can!

I love you mom and wish we could be together today. Thank you for all you have done for me!

Last Saturday I wasn’t out of bed for more then 10 min. So I decided to make up for it this morning. Mark had to work this morning so the boys and I went for a walk. We took the camera and took pictures of many different things. Camden really enjoys playing photographer! As we walked by the park we noticed the sprinklers were on, so I let the boys play in the water. They had a blast!

When we got back to the house I noticed a plant was looking shabby so I tried to trim it. Then I noticed that we had some weeds so I pulled those. Our big tree in the front is dropping these little things all over our yard, so I plugged in Mark’s Blower/Vac and vacuumed them up. Then I decided our driveway needed a hose down. The boys played in the car and water and helped by sweeping the driveway.

The boys got dirty enough to need a quick bath. They ate lunch and then Carsten went to bed. In the afternoon we went to see trains and do some shopping. The trains were a huge hit with both the boys! Afterwards we went to GolfSmith and then to the Chandler Mall. We had dinner at Kona Grill. They have the best Macadamia Nut Chicken ever! So yummy! After a short walk in the mall Carsten started to scream his head off so back to the car we went! Carsten was asleep in the car before we got home!

All in all a great day!

You can view the pictures in our gallery by clicking here.

I have a lot to catch everyone up on! I will start with the most recent. I had to take Carsten to urgent care on Friday evening when he spiked a fever of 105.9º. That was way too high for my comfort. We got there and he was checked out and found to have strep throat. Poor guy! The doctor also said it sounds like his croup may be back. We haven’t heard any seal barking coughs lately so we don’t think so. He is doing better now, but still not 100%.

On Friday morning I took Carsten for a hearing test. I have had concerns about his hearing for about 7 months now. He did really well and he is hearing speech sounds within normal limits. He did not respond to the pure tones well, but the doctor said when they are this young they are not interesting enough to warrant attention. We will recheck his hearing in 4 months to see how he does then.

A week ago Tuesday I had an SLP and an Early Interventionist come out to evaluate him. For the past 7 months I have been concerned about his speech, or lack there of. After his evaluation, he does qualify for speech therapy and is on the waiting list. As his mom, and an SLP, I know what I should be doing and we do so much language bombardment but sometimes they learn more from people other than their moms. So we will see how that comes out.

Camden is doing great! He really enjoyed the last unit they did at school. It was all about space. They made the moon and Saturn and the very first day he told me about how we don’t have 9 planets anymore. That Pluto is not really a planet it is an “ice ball.” It is really exciting to see him learn! Kindergarten is going to be very big adventure!

Yesterday, our family went to the Phoenix Zoo. Mark’s dad works for Boeing and every year they have a family day. In the past it has always been on the Boeing Plant Site. They get inflatables and have it catered. The last 2 years they have had carnival games to play. We always got our picture taken with an Apache Longbow Helicopter. They did it a little different this year. We all went to the zoo. There were jump-houses and yummy food like previous years, but that was it. We were able to walk around the zoo and ride the train too. It was nice, but the zoo had a least two other large groups there and it was open to the public. It was packed! I think the boys liked playing in the tree house and splash park more then the animals. I think the consensus was that we all preferred the events at Boeing more than the zoo day.

Here are a couple of pictures from the zoo.

Camden is showing a lot of interest in words, what the beginning sound is, and he is even picking out words within words. Today on our drive home he was asking me a lot of questions, as he usually does on our drives. We drove by a group of homes in the process of being stuccoed. He was asking me how it works and I explained that the workers put on the stucco and it hardens and becomes really strong. He said to me, “So it just sticks to that stuff (chicken wire and Styrofoam).” I answered, “Yes.” Then a few seconds later he starts giggling and says, “So when the stuff sticks on the wall it becomes STUCK (pause) O.” He was laughing so hard and I just started to crack up as well. It was very cute!

Easter is almost as commercialized as Christmas, but we feel it is important that our children know about the sad days before Easter and how Jesus had to suffer for our sins. That is why we do a Resurrection Egg Hunt each year. The eggs contain items that illustrate the week before Jesus rose from the tomb. They are really a good way to teach children. This past Wednesday we had 3 friends over to do the hunt with us. The kids just love it each year! I taught in the church nursery this morning and used them as my lesson. Below is a picture of the boys with their friends after the hunt and before the story.

This Easter we kept the kids out of church. Camden’s allergies were awful the later part of the week and he began wheezing on Saturday. We didn’t want to risk him catching any nasty bugs. We had an egg hunt when Mark got home from church. The candy in the eggs even melted. I am sure that wouldn’t happen in Kenosha, with the foot of snow they just got!

Mark’s parents came over later and we enjoyed a nice dinner, another egg hunt, playing with Grandpa’s N-Scale electric train, and making homemade ice cream. The boys went to bed early to get ready to return to our normal schedule next week.

Here are the boys on Easter.

Egg Hunt in the backyard. The weather was beautiful!

A few weeks ago I was watching an episode of Supernanny. I don’t watch it often anymore because it seems that she does a lot of the same things with each family. On this particular evening, she was going to help the parents break their son of pacifiers. She talked about the Paci Fairy. The little boy went and gathered all of his pacies and put them into a large envelope marked To The Paci Fairy. Then they mailed it. That night he went to bed without pacies an no fuss. In the morning he awoke to find an envelope with his name and feathers, and streamers and glitter. Inside the envelope were little plastic animals. I decided to give it a try. We changed a couple of things. We placed the envelope full of pacies under our big tree. We came inside and ate 2 M&Ms. Then went back outside. There was a package for Carsten and inside were plastic animals. Carsten got to put them in the box were we used to keep pacies, and before bed he picked out two to take with him. He went to sleep without any problems. Today at nap time we did the same thing. It worked great! We are now DONE with pacies! Hooray!

We celebrated Carsten’s second birthday at a local park on Saturday. We had a great time. The weather was so nice. The kids got to jump in the bounce house, fly kites and take a ride on the train. Carsten was a little grumpy to begin with, but we think he was just hungry. After some cake he was in a terrific mood.

Tomorrow is his true birthday and we will celebrate with pizza, leftover cake and presents from Mom, Dad, and Camden. He is taking cupcakes to his babysitters house too.

There a 3 pages of pictures in our gallery, but here are a few of my favorites:

The Cake

Mommy and the Birthday Boy

Jumping in the bounce house

Ready to ride on the train!

Fun day, but exhausting!