Another Great Season

Nathan, what a great baseball season you had once again. I am your biggest fan in everything you do. It's an honor to call you my son. You are kind and respectful, a hard worker, great sportsman (sportsmanship), full of integrity, fair-minded, and top notch athlete. Way to go, I love you!

Look Who's Coming to Breakfast 2009

The calendar has been marked in pen for 2/17/09, the debut of High School Musical 3 on dvd. All three of our kids LOVE this movie. So without them knowing, I planned a fun filled morning for today, inviting some of their friends over for breakfast in pjs with the intent of watching the movie during a carpet picnic all before school begins! Baylee, Nathan, and Owen were happily shocked as they walked down the stairs to see friends trickle in the home, one by one. It was priceless.
Someone not on the “guest list” arrived, thanks to the Talley family…Troy (a.k.a. Zac Efron, the main character of this toe tapping flick). He eventually became a dance partner for the girls. What a fun, fun, fun morning this was!
Thank you Andrew, Amanda, Kaydon, Sabrina, Colton, and Maggie for making this special surprise such a memorable one for our Kempiak Party of Five! You are great friends to us.


"The boys are back" (breakdancing)
"Can I have this dance?" (waltz)

Badge Collector

Today our Girl Scout troop family met at a local park to celebrate all the accomplishments of the girls’ for this school year thus far with an award ceremony. Each precious gal spoke in front of the families and came up to receive her badges. We are so proud of Baylee, today she was handed 21 new badges. Look at her precious smile, she’s so excited. It’s only been a year and a half in this vest with a year and a half left. We’ve already began sewing patches on the inside of her vest, making it weigh a lot. It’s a great “scrapbook” of her journey in Girl Scouts. I can’t imagine what it’ll look like after the next ceremony. One things for sure, it’ll look cool!

Nathan the Researcher

Nathan just finished his first written and oral report for kindergarten and did a fantastic job. He chose the Sea Lion to study, learning a lot along the way. His favorite facts to report on were:
♦Sea Lions can close their nostrils (unlike us).
♦They can hold their breath for up to five minutes (wow)!
♦They eat fish, squid, and even octopus!

Do you remember what your first animal report was on? Mine was the penguin several years after kindergarten!

A Serious Case of the Runs!

Hands down, Nathan’s favorite thing in the whole wide world is running! And he’s GREAT at it! Oh how I wish I could find a track and field league for this aged child, but no luck. So to honor his passion, we threw him a Track and Field 6 year old birthday party. Although his birthday is in November, things got pushed back, so almost three months later…here it is. I think it was worth the wait (and he agrees…thankfully)!

We asked his buddies to tie up their running shoes, put on some sports pants, and get ready for a serious case of the runs. We met at Greenfield Junior High’s track field, running many events for these world class athletes to have a speedy great time.


We began with sprints, finding each boy’s best score once they broke through the blue taped finish line then we held races in like-timed heats.

Next, we taught the boys how to shot put then long jump.

It was off to the hurdles (homemade by daddy) then around the track for a two team relay.












We ended in the stands to sing Nathan his birthday song, snacking on healthy treats, cake, and sports drinks. We had a fantastic time and honored that so many of his great buddies came to celebrate the wonderfulness of Nathan Gerald Kempiak!

Valentine Celebrations

Most of you know that I love family traditions and have many for every holiday as well as things we do on a day to day, week by week, or month by month basis. Valentines Day is no exception! During a family meeting we talked about which one to share on the blog this week/holiday and unanimously this one was voted on (which kind of surprised me). So here is one, of a handful of things we do around the Kempiak Party of Five's home sweet home for the month of February.

This is our REASON WHY I LOVE YOU jar. Every year I fill the jar with those ever so yummy Riesen candies. In addition to those chocolate sensations of taste bud delight, I put in little tags that specifically say “riesens/reasons” why I love our family. After dinner we sit together, each with a candy in our mouth, and we read a reason (or two or three). I love the way we dance together to start of our family meeting…our family song rocks! I love the way we sit down weekly to write thank you notes to those in need of one. I love our compliment plate nights each Sunday. Etc. Etc. Etc. It’s really a neat time where we define who we are as a family and what we are blessed with in big and little ways.


We’re also trying a few new things this Valentine season from making lollipops, making a Valentine tree, to ordering a heart shaped pizza. Nothing huge to report but lots of love surrounds us, for that I am eternally grateful.

Life is Sweet!

Life this time of year seems to revolve around Girl Scout cookie sales. Whether it be going door to door (like we began January 10th), picking up the cookies on Presidents’ Day then passing them out (February 16th), or booths starting up (February 20th through March 15th)…we truly are BUSY (ALL CAPS!).

I’ve never been one that embraces fundraisers but truly I’ve had a change of heart last year when Baylee became a Girl Scout and I see first hand the personal benefits it does for each individual. Baylee’s natural tendency is to be an observer and not initiate conversation with many, let alone a stranger, however when it comes to selling…she totally changes and grows in ways I’m not sure would be possible otherwise, at least not at this age. I’ve learned through the process that Baylee is a goal setter and a big dreamer. She gets her brain wrapped around doing her best; meeting new people, and helping others and nothing stops her…not aching feet, hour of day, many objections from potential buyers, or the rocking economy. She perseveres! And a beautiful thing we get to observe is her brothers coming along side her each step of the way, knocking on doors too and cheering her on!

So when you don’t hear from us for awhile…especially in the blogging world, don’t think I’m on strike or have lost interest in documenting our Party of Five’s happenings, it’ll just have to come when we have a chance to breathe.
Baylee’s goal she set for herself seems too high for the way the economy is this year but we’ll see. We’ve explained that to her but her response to us seems healthy. So…we’ll see come March 15th. In the meantime, if you are hungry for Thin Mints, Do Si Dos, Tagalongs, Samoas, Trefoils, Sugar Free Chocolate Chip, Lemon Chalet, or the new Dulce de Leche...just let us know. And if you want to be one who gives back, Baylee’s taking donations for the children (orphans you can say) at Sunshine Acres in Mesa. She’d like to get enough money donated to buy each kid there, their own box of Girl Scout cookies.

What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie?