We Can Spare the Time!

Baylee and Nathan got to pick “something” new to learn this summer. For Nathan, his pick was joining a bowling league with some of his buddies from church. Never before had he picked up a bowling ball nor understood any of the fundamentals, but that didn’t stop him from just jumping in and “taking care of business”. He’s having a blast each Thursday afternoon throwing (literally) that ball down the slick alley in hopes for a strike or spare (thank God for lane bumpers)! No matter their team’s score, Nathan, Benjamin, Daniel, Luke and Avery are a striking set of kids to play with.

Celebrate With Us!

News came tonight that’s making us celebrate! Dick Kempiak (Jon’s dad) is cancer free! It’s been a rollercoaster of announcements, I know. One day he has it, another it’s gone, another he has it again, etc. Dick’s 2nd surgery for (what he was told) Bladder Cancer was Monday June 9th. They removed the masses, filled his bladder with chemo therapy and then began making plans for his tuberculosis injections (the treatment plan he had “signed up for” instead of removing his bladder altogether). Well, he went to the doctor’s for the results they had run from the biopsies and much to Dick’s surprise (and relief), he was told that it wasn’t cancer after all! WOW! Thank you Jesus for allowing us to rely on you and to know nothing is out of your hands.

Oh the Places She'll Go!

Today I left the home at 6:30AM to catch a flight to Las Vegas to see firsthand, my niece Amanda graduate from high school! What pure dedication we all witnessed this school-year, watching her make a goal to graduate and working her tail off to do so. My niece for the entire year went to her traditional high school for her classes, then took night school to gain more credit hours and then also took some independent studies from home to earn credit hours as well. WOW, YOU GO GIRL! GIRL POWER!

Amanda’s graduation was at 3:00 at UNLV and I was filled with tears of pride, excitement, (and sadness) the whole time. Not only has my “little girl” grown up but I was also experiencing this without my brother John who literally talked about THIS DAY all the time!!!!!!!!!!!!! He had BIG plans for it!

The graduation ended, we had a party at her home hosted by her mom Lisa, and then it was off to the airport to catch a flight at midnight to head back home!

Amanda, oh the places you’ll go with that determination, perseverance, and smarts. I’ve never been more proud of you in my life. You are a phenomenal young lady and I pray for your future as you step out and experience your adult life now.

(Thank you Jon for your sacrifice of a lot of money to let me go as well as time away from work, for Shanna for taking care of Baylee’s whereabouts, and for Lisa for Nathan’s whereabouts for the day too).
(Amanda, Marissa, and Kaity (her closest girlfriends)
Lisa...a proud mom with Amanda!
Amanda and Josh (please pray for him)

Happy Birthday Papa D!

Today is Jon's dad's 78th birthday, Dick Kempiak. He’s a wonderful papa and dad and we are so thankful to God that he’s doing well and a huge part of our lives! All of our kids love telling everyone that they have a famous papa, the train engineer for the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park, AZ. They love him so much!

Dick’s amazing and has taught his son, Jon, many great things. Just to name a couple, I’d like to highlight…
1. Dick’s taught Jon to always save the first kiss for his wife when coming home (even when kids are running and hanging on you).
2. Dick’s taught Jon to be a hard worker, even when the “job” is less than desirable.

Happy birthday Papa D, we love you tremendously!

(Photo taken at our luau almost 2 years ago…Owen, Papa D, and Jon)

Neighborhood Flashlight Scavenger Hunt

Once the sky appeared black, our family meeting was over and we pulled the final activity out of the family fun box. It was my entry this time, finally! We grabbed our flashlights and our scavenger hunt list then went for a long walk in the neighborhood to search for the items listed. It was so energizing getting fresh air, exercise and entertainment all in one! It brought us together to enjoy the creation around us and have time to “talk” and hold hands.

We found all but one item. Here’s what we looked for:

-House with 4 windows in front
-Red car
-Gate in front of door
-House with at least 3 trees in front
-Yellow flowers
-A playset
-A car with a bumper sticker
-A car with a license plate from another state
-A leaf on the ground
-A street sign with at least 3 vowels in it (a, e, I, o, u)
-A bike not put away
-An address with our numbers it, in any order (1075)
-A home with a flag hanging
-A barking dog
-2 sewer holes

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Baylee and Daddy had a very special night that will last in both of their minds and hearts for a very long time. The Girl Scouts hosted a Daddy/Daughter dance at Trilogy's Country Club in Queen Creek. They had professional photography, a Hawaiian catered dinner, dancing with a d.j. at hand, and lots and lots and lots of F-U-N!

Jon treated Baylee like a princess by really focusing on “just her” as well as opening doors, pulling out chairs, etc. Because of his example, she knows very well how a man should treat a lady! They both began the date a few nights early when they went shopping to find Jon a matching shirt and tie to her borrowed dress (thank you Shealeigh). Then the “Date” began with the exchange of a corsage and boutonniere that matched their ensemble of pale pink.

Baylee loved how silly her daddy was on the dance floor when it was the daddy’s turn to do the limbo. Jon, of course, got the whole crowd into his turn as he gently demanded them to push the “bar” down quite a bit. The room exploded with cheers and high fives as he accomplished his mission. Baylee was grinning from ear to ear! Baylee and Daddy danced the night away with over 100 other couples, doing all styles (line dancing, chicken dance, the twist) and ending it with a slow dance of “Butterfly kisses” (which yes…got Jon and the other dad’s choked up!).

Jon’s already marking next year’s dance on his calendar. There wouldn’t be much that could keep him away from taking his beloved daughter out again.

(I’m sure many are curious how we got so many photos of the night. Well, I had “kitchen duty” which allowed me to sneak out to take a few pictures here and there. I’ll volunteer any time to be an observer of this date. I wonder if I can observe all of Baylee’s dates, up close and personal. LoL)







Killeen/Slease/Gilbert daughters and dads
Kempiak/Stumbaugh-Henkel/Weissman daughters and dads
Visintainer/Phillips daughters and dads
Talley/Brotman daughters and dads
Kristin, Baylee, Sabrina
Baylee and Mikelle

These are the great daddy's from our troop!

June 5th

Today would have been my brother’s 44th birthday. It’s a sad day. I’ve felt up in the air of what to do; how to celebrate, what traditions to create, and how to morn. Tonight the kids and I went to Cosmo’s dog park, just minutes from my home, a place he’d take my kids to every day! We had a quiet picnic (Mexican style since that was Johnny’s favorite) then sent off his homemade birthday cards to heaven with the help of some helium birthday balloons. He’s greatly missed. I wonder what birthdays are like in heaven.




Here's some photos from last year's 43rd birthday party at my house...

A Special Gift

I can just kick myself for not thinking things out today and asking the moms and dads to take a photo of our terrific Brownie troop 228 during our final ceremony. It seems like each time I take a “group photo” someone is missing and today it would not have been that way.

Anyway, Brownies “ended” today with our final ceremony. We’ll have socials over the summer but no troop meeting time. I have thoroughly enjoyed being the leader of these 18 precious girls and being a partner with my dearest, “oldest” friend since second grade, Lara Fink. Not only has it been a partnership with her as my co-leader, it’s also been a team effort with each precious family.

Today the troop presented Lara and I with lovely boxes created by my beloved friend April and with the keen photography skills of my sweet friend Kelly. It was filled with cards of appreciation as well as some gift cards. What a wonderful gift I will cherish forever!

This year we did so much…
Tour of Cerreta’s chocolate factory
Tour of Fry’s grocery store
Tour of Petco
Tour of Gilbert’s 911 dispatch center and police station
Tour of Gilbert’s fire station #1
Tour of Leap of Faith Dance Studio
Went to Rawhide Western Town
Went to see the Nutcracker
Went to see a play/musical Cookies
Went to a sing-along
Were in the Gilbert Day’s Parade (and won the Civic float award)
Collected toys for the toy pantry at a local Gilbert hospital
Collected 61 pairs of jeans for the “Save the Family” foundation (453 from the “neighborhood”)
Collected soda pop tops for the Ronald McDonald House (and still collecting)
Made homemade dog bones and blankets for a local dog shelter
Made cookbooks
Sold Fall products (candy/nuts)
Sold Girl Scout Cookies (4,956 boxes)
Had a backyard campout (in tents)
Had a movie night/ice cream social
Had a Halloween costume party
Had a New Year’s Eve party, counting down to sparkling cider to 12 o’clock NOON!
Earned many patches!
And much more…



Here are some photos of my troop.

Pancake Pals and the Last Day of School

This morning we had our Pancake Pals over for breakfast, a fun way to celebrate the last day of school. Aimee, Sabrina, and Baylee (we missed you Hannah) loved meeting up, eating, and having a little play time before heading to school. The rest of the siblings and moms didn’t mind either; we really are blessed with great friendships and wonderful eye to eye time for laughter and light-hearted conversation.

Mrs. Weissman drove the girls in her “fun mobile” to school…check out how they drove in style rocking out to High School Musical Two’s “All for One”!

(The summer that we wanted, Yeah, we finally got it!, Now's the time we get to share, Each day we'll be together, Now until forever, So everybody, everywhere, Let's take it to the beach, Take it together, Let's celebrate today 'cause there'll never be another, We're stronger this time,
been there for each other, Everything's just right, Everybody all for one,
A real summer has just begun!
Let's rock and roll and just let go,
feel the rhythm of the drums
We're gonna have fun in the sun
Now that all the hard work, work is done!
Everybody, one for all and all for one!
All for one, one!)






("Thanks for a great year Mrs. Runyon!")

Medical Update

Just this morning Nathan's doctor called with the biopsy results from the colonoscopy. Besides the tear in his rectum, Nathan has Colitis (not the ulcer type) and will begin medications this week. We really do not know anything about this so will be in research to learn what Nathan needs. We do know that the doctor’s are hoping he will eventually be able to be weaned from all medications during childhood.
~

My mom, Sally, is now home on her own and off oxygen. She's recovering as expected, slowly...but is recovering!
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Thanks for all of your prayers and concern. It's so neat how my friends check up on us asking how both of these medical issues are. I love you all!

Family Fun Night, Quiet Style!

Tonight’s Family Fun was very mellow, which was for us, a fun way to greet this soon-to-be hectic week! We spent almost 2 hours at the local Barnes and Nobel store reading books in the children’s area. Most of the time we read as a family with a pile of books just waiting to be opened that were carefully hand selected by the kiddos. And then at other times, each youngster would read on their own or pair up. I couldn’t believe how focused each of them were, even our 3 year old, Owen. I’d recommend this outing to everyone. It was so great!

We left with a new chapter book to add to our personal library, one for us to read as a family. Since we loved Kate Dicamillo’s, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, we grabbed another of her titles. So now, we get to begin The Tiger Rising. It’s a tale of 12-year-old Rob Horton who finds a caged tiger in the woods behind the Kentucky Star Motel where he lives with his dad. The tiger is so out of place in this setting, Rob views the vision as some sort of magic trick. Indeed, the tiger triggers all sorts of magic in Rob's life.

We’ll keep you posted on how the book is!

This is What 7 1/2 Looks Like!

Baylee’s 7 ½ now! How in the world can that be? Because of Baylee’s sweet sensitivity to her brother Nathan’s delay in celebrating his half birthday, Baylee thought it would be best if she did too. So today, we iced her half cake with strawberry frosting and placed 7 large and one “not so large” candle on top. It was well worth the wait she said!

Baylee’s special gift she unwrapped tonight…an Eye Spy computer game to help fill some of those summer free time hours.

Baylee’s scheming on what it is she wants to do 6 months from now when her 8th birthday officially comes (November 30th). Whatever it is, we know it’ll be great (and hopefully small…lol).

He's 5 1/2!

Because of Nathan’s colonoscopy/fasting/cleaning out process this past week, we had to set a family tradition aside of celebrating his half birthday until today! On the 28th of May, Nathan officially turned 5 ½! Wow! It’s hard to believe. We celebrated by having our traditional “half of a cake” (this year, lemon icing with rainbow sprinkle filled white cake). And of course, we had to put 5 larger candles and a smaller (half) candle onto the dessert for us to light, which led to (I’m sure you guessed it) a partial song as well. Since he showed great patience, we allowed Nathan to tell us when he wanted to begin the festivities a few days late. Nathan picked breakfast time. What a fun thing to do, have cake for breakfast, don’t you think? Because Nathan’s (and Baylee’s) ½ birthday fall at the start of summer, they each get a summer play toy, for Nathan that means a Superman kite. He can’t wait to use it. Come on wind, we’re waiting for you!