Balch Family Blog

We went camping last weekend. Real camping, with a tent and sleeping bags. We cooked on a portable stove and over the fire pit, the boys peed in the woods. Thankfully, there were vault toilets that were clean for me! We went for some really nice walks and enjoyed our time together. It was really cold up there and the camp host told us it snowed the day before. I am so glad we did this and we had lots of fun. I see more camping in our future! Here are a few photos from the trip!

My Aunt Traci and Uncle Lee came out for a visit last weekend. My Aunt Karen renewed her wedding vows for her 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a camera to the wedding, but did get to take a few shots while they were here.

Here are all the pretty ladies!

Desi, Traci, Heather

We went to Goldfield Ghost Town!

I got to go on a quick little horseback ride before we went for a ride on the train.

Playing Monopoly the night before they left.

Since school started, things have been mellow around here. We have been completing homework, meeting with teachers and fitting fun in where we can.

That includes:

Building tall towers...

Dressing up in camouflage and blending in with the surroundings.

Making a satellite with crayons...

Giving Abbie a bath...

Making islands using play dough...

...and collecting pine cones in Pine.

Both boys have had a great first week. Carsten has Mrs. Roberts in Kindergarten, which he attends all day. Camden has Mrs. Denny for 3rd grade. Mrs. Denny looped up from 2nd grade last year. On the first day, Camden gave me a hug and walked back to the big kid’s playground with a friend. Carsten was having a great time on the playground and blew me a kiss good-bye. Besides being a bit tired the boys are having an awesome week!

Camden on the first day of third grade.

Carsten starting school in Kindergarten.

My sweet boys!

Carsten on the playground before school started.

At 2 am the other night, Carsten walked into our bedroom. He came to my side of the bed to wake me up. He said, “Mommy I had a bad story.” I said, “A bad story?”…(still trying to wake up) “Oh you mean a bad dream.” He confirmed that was what it was. Apparently, his bad “story” was about tornadoes.

I gave him some good snuggles and told him we were safe from tornadoes and tucked him into bed.

Too cute not to share! 🙂

Mark and I got to attend the Murder at Greystone Manor Murder Mystery Dinner Theater at our church this past weekend. We had a really great time. One of the things we really like about this church is that they have events for couples to enjoy in a nice environment. Here are a few photos from that night!

Camden celebrated his 8th birthday this past Monday and he did it with FUN! His birthday party was Saturday and he really enjoyed his Lego themed party complete with a Lego Class and Battletrax with 10 friends.

The Birthday Boy

Camden, Nathan and JC making modifications to the cars.

On Monday we milked all of his freebies! We got a dozen FREE Krispy Kremes then he had FREE lunch at Joe’s BBQ, followed by FREE dessert from Liberty Market. That evening mom and dad treated him to dinner and then he got a FREE Nutter Butter Fudgeslide.

Day 8: This was a pretty good day overall. Nathan came over to play and the boys got along well. We hung out at the house most of the day with the exception of a quick stop at Sam’s Club. All was going really well until Carsten fell asleep on my lap and woke up screaming. We couldn’t make him calm down and he said noting hurt but he couldn’t stop crying. This went on ALL night long. He would not take anymore pain medicine.

Carsten, Camden and Nathan playing on the top bunk.

Day 9: Today started early after a restless night of sleep so the boys could go with dad to the Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast at church. Once they arrived everything was good. Carsten seems to be feeling well today and he is in good spirits. I can tell his throat hurts to yawn and he speaks in a very high pitched voice. Adventures today include a trip to Bass Pro Shop for some free summer activities and Yodipity Frozen Yogurt. Carsten went to bed at 8:00 and we thought everything was going great. At 10:00 he woke up screaming. Mark and I tried to comfort him and have him take his medicine. The next we knew he coughed blood and then starting bleeding like crazy. The blood was running out of his mouth and I would try to wipe it off but it just kept coming. We called our neighbor to come stay with Camden and we took Carsten to the ER. The whole drive there, Carsten was vomiting the blood he had swallowed. Upon arrival at the ER they were quick to assess him. They started an IV, took blood to run labs, gave him morphine and zofran and monitored him. The bleeding stopped and once he got his IV fluids, his color returned. We were sent home a couple hours later. Carsten slept well the rest of the night.
Day 10: Morning came early after the ER visit last night. Carsten has been mellow this morning. He is tired and a little tentative to do too much. Dad and Camden spent Father’s Day Morning with Grandpa Balch playing golf. They had a good time. Mommy and Carsten relaxed at home. Later in the afternoon we went over to Gran and Grandpa’s house for a swim and dinner. Carsten did great. He fell asleep on the car ride home and slept all night without an incident.

Day 5: This has been a great day so far. Carsten seems to be doing really well. He had a frozen Gogurt for breakfast. He was still feeling good from the pain meds he had at 5:30 am so we decided to go see Megamind at the movie theater. He did great and even ate some popcorn with a blue Icee. We came home and while watching another movie we did a fun art project. Not sure if this is the calm before the storm the doctors and nurses were talking about. After taking a short nap, Carsten woke up crying and again asked for his medicine. He then told me that he doesn’t like having his tonsils out. I promised he won’t ever have to do it again. After about an hour of snuggles, he felt well enough to start talking…a lot. His voice is slightly higher pitched and he says he likes the way it makes him sound. He has also been playing a little around the house. He ate a bowl of pasta and Parmesan Cheese and ice cream for dessert. My prayer for him is that he will skip the set back days that everyone has told us about.

His Rainbow Art project. (That is chocolate pudding on his face)

He enjoyed a little coloring as well.

He was even feeling well enough to take some silly self-portraits!

Day 6: GREAT night of sleep. Carsten decided to take his medicine before bed and he slept straight through the night. He did whimper a bit around 5:30 this morning but otherwise did great. After getting up, he requested ramen noodles for breakfast. He took some pain medicine. We played a few board games and made a quick trip to the library to get some new books. His “Lunch of Champions” included an Icee, puff cheetos, and a sugared doughnut. We put together a puzzle in the afternoon and went to pick up Camden from church camp. We tried having him go to bed alone, but he needed his mommy. He night was fine until about 1:30 when he started to fuss and finally agreed to take his meds at 3:00 am.

He was proud of the puzzle we put together!

Very happy to be together again!

Day 7: Carsten slept until about 8 am and I could tell he was not feeling well when he woke up. I offered his medicine and he said no. Then, about 15 minutes later he was crying and asking for them. Once they kicked in, he was back to playing with his brother and arguing with his brother…just like before. He asked for his medicine once more in the evening and slept until about 12:30 am before needing more.

Here is proof of the first argument of the day.

Playing Club Penguin for a little while kept them both happy.

On June 10th, Carsten went in for a tonsilectomy/adenoidectomy surgery with Dr. Hobgood. We checked in at 6:30 am, and he was taken back as scheduled at 7:30 am. The surgery was completed in under 30 minutes and I was holding him in my arms as he woke up.
Day 1: This was a very easy day. Carsten seemed to have a little appetite and even got up to play toys with his brother. He ate Jello-o, pudding, ramen noodles, and an orange sherbet push-up pop. Our dear friend brought us a yummy dinner complete with watermelon Jell-o for Carsten. He rested on the couch for a while. He took pain medicine twice during the day and once in the middle of the night.

Day 2: The day of sleep. Carsten slept most of the day, and had almost nothing to drink and ate nothing. He woke once in the night and reluctantly took his pain medicine.
Day 3: Carsten was awake a bit more today. He was hoping to make it to his cousin Andrew’s birthday party, but it didn’t quite work out. He spent the day on the couch watching movies and snuggling with mom and dad. He had a rough night with lots of restless moments and crying out in pain. He refused to take any medicine.

Day 4: A promising breakfast of bacon and pancakes. It was great to see his appetite back a little. After dropping Camden off at church camp, Carsten and mommy shared snuggles on the couch while watching movie. The afternoon has had tears and more sleep. I wish I could just take his pain away. He asked for a bath and then fell asleep on the couch. He slept better than other nights, but at 5:30 am, he woke me up and took his medicine without a fuss.