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!

Introducing Jill and Micah Parker

Tonight I witnessed the beautiful wedding ceremony of Jill and Micah, a very sweet young couple that is so in love. Jill was a former student of mine, a total sweetheart. Her family means the world to me, so much that we’ve stayed in touch since she and her sister Jackie’s fourth grade year with me. Now both are married and one is a mommy!

Jill and Micah’s ceremony was in Gilbert at Villa Siena, an absolute gorgeous place to celebrate any wedding with a Tuscan Villa theme (you have to look at the site). It’s the best place around with fountains, green gardens, cobblestoned walk paths and columns, and a roaring’ fireplace as a backdrop. I’d get married there in a heartbeat!

I got very emotional watching this union. It only seemed like yesterday when Jill was in my class. I watched thinking how close (2 years) Baylee is from being in 4th grade, which is the year I had Jill. From Jill being in my class to now standing up to get married…wow, it’s like a flash! How can time go so quickly? Also, watching Jill and Tom, her dad dance got me to thinking of my niece Amanda and how she won’t have her daddy to dance with at her wedding, nor walk her down the isle. Ugh…the tears were flowing!

Sadly, my camera was dropped early on, leaving me with one two snapshots of the day and a mangled lense. The one of them saying their vows is real blurry. It was a distance shot that I cropped to see them.

To Jill and Micah, I know you two are going to have a fantastic marriage. Between the love you have for one another and for the Lord’s marriage covenant, nothing can separate you. I love you Jill and can’t wait to grow in love with your hubby! I am sad to see you move so far away but am excited how close this will bring you to one another.

The Deal of the Summer (or one of them)

Today marked our first day for the Harkin's summer movie passes. It's quite the deal! Baylee, Nathan, Owen, and I head to the movies for 10 weeks each Friday morning for the total of only $7 per person (that’s 10 movies for $7)! Even if we see just a few of them, the money is worth it (and the fact that we get great air conditioning). Many of our friends (and cousins) join us too, which even makes it better.

This summer we get to see (although I’ll have to have my parenting filter on and decide which we’ll stay away from):
-The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything (Veggie Tales)
-TMNT
-Surf’s Up
-Shrek the 3rd
-Bee Movie
-Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
-Alvin and the Chipmunks
-Flushed Away
-Nancy Drew
-Wallace and Gromit

He's My Superhero!

Nathan at age 5 ½ endured a colonoscopy today, poor guy (in addition to the “cleaning out process” yesterday which included fasting for 43 hours!). He was a trooper through his fear and discomfort. I am so proud of him and in awe of how he handled it all. He’s my superhero, hands down! Results will come back next week from his biopsies, we’ll keep you posted. I’m glad this week is almost done! It’s been a long one! I guess you can say, we're all "pooped out!"

Nathan’s orange pal, Leo came along with him today at Desert Banner. I got him dressed for the occasion as you can see from the top photo. The doctors even let Leo in the room during the hour long procedure. Nathan's face was snuggled up close to Leo's while he was deep, under anesthesia. They both took a nap together, we like to say.

Hospital policy is that patience leave the hospital in a wheel chair. Nathan did not like that policy! To help him through it, Owen jumped on for the ride too. Nathan liked that a lot! Great idea, Curious Owen. You always find a way to make us smile.


What a special blessing! Nathan received this amazing balloon bouquet with special delivery from the teachers and staff of children’s ministry at church. Talk about putting a smile on my boy's face. WOW!

A Must Read!

This is a children's summer "must read" for those who love to read or listen to chapter books. Baylee received this as a gift from dear friends (Matthew/Michael...thanks guys!) and we will forever be grateful. It kept Baylee, Nathan, and even little Owen's total attention and begging me to keep reading each day as we'd make predictions of what would happen next. It was such a fun dramatic read aloud! We just ended it and I want to start it all over again!

It's a darling story of Edward, a china rabbit who has a "good life" but has no attitude of gratefulness. He's loved but doesn't "give" love back. Through this story, Edward's life is tossed up and down as he journeys to learn to love and find love, once again.

I've never read any of by Kate DiCamillo's books before, but now I am going to be sure to find more!

If anyone else has book suggestions, I'd love to hear them. We're about to hit summer vacation and we'll have time on our hands to dig into some great literature!

Science Fair

Tonight was Baylee's final Cottage Fair as a first grader and school-wide it was Science Fair. The students were so proud to show off their science boards which proudly displayed the hard work each kid did to explore the scientific process regarding their topic of study in their class. Baylee’s unit was “Bug Farm” so her question she surveyed was “Which bee job would you like to have, the worker bee, drone bee, or queen bee?” Of course she made a prediction then asked, tallied, and recorded. After collecting her data, she clearly wrote about her findings. It was very impressive! Baylee did marvelous job and she loved earning a blue ribbon! We are so very proud of our little scientist.

Daddy couldn’t get off of work tonight to go to the Science Fair, so we brought the Science Fair to him at Buca (Baylee’s idea and how could I have passed that up?). And boy did she get some special treatment there. Many of the other servers and customers at nearby tables wanted to see her work too, so she took them through the board, proudly showing them all. This girl was not without compliments tonight. She should be feeling mighty good about herself, rightfully so!

(Baylee and Kaelan)

Baylee and Aimee)

Baylee and Matthew)

(Baylee and Mrs. Runyon)