December 2025

 

Wrestling Noah into snow gear

new jersey

new sweatshirt

He did get other gifts

new shoes 

She loves soda

decorating cookies

teaching the girls mario kart

Nolbi is good at chess

homemade pizzas

Andrew drew this Hamilton pic for Stephen's bday

Dressed up for a wedding

Nate presented a nuclear conference

Christmas party for Nate's work

orchestra and band concerts

six seven day at Pine Creek

Christmas 2025

Christmas at the Creek with Dee

-Lexi and Stephen had their Christmas concerts

-We went to Lake Michigan College (in Benton Harbor) for a Christmas party for one of Nate's contractors

-Nate presented at a young nuclear professionals conference in Chicago and Stephen went along for the day. Stephen said Nate is the king of the nuclear nerds. After Nate's presentation they did some shopping downtown Chicago.

-Stephen went on his first middle school ski club. There were about 80 students on the bus and they hit a deer on the way home from Bittersweet. Thankfully there wasn't damage to the bus and they were able to finish the drive home. 

-Nate and I attended Jenna Pierce's wedding (daughter of Chad and Jodi)

-We had all of the dress up days at Pine Creek and at HC's middle school. The high schoolers didn't really participate in their dress up days.

-Caleb came home, he has 4 weeks off.

-Stephen auditioned for the MS play- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe-and he got the part of Tumnus! The show will be in March

-We had Nolbi, Ruth and Naomi spend the night. We made homemade pizzas, played some games, decorated cookies and watched a movie. They are so much easier to have over now that they are older! And Stephen and Lexi are so kind and playful with them. 

-On Christmas Eve our family had appetizers and there was a raucous game of Settlers of Catan. Julia's boyfriend, Aiden, turned 18 that day so she was at a surprise party for him. 

-On Christmas Day we had our church service, we opened gifts and had a nice meal. 

-Steph and her boys arrived in town on the 27th and stayed for a week at my parents' house. They had the norovirus the week they were in CO and then ended up with influenza the week they were here in Michigan. Nate and Lexi both got sick. At this moment, no one else has gotten it! 

-The older 4 kids all had plans with friends on NYE. Nate and Lexi were sick so we stayed home, watched a movie and went to bed before midnight- which was okay with us! 

November 2025

 

Charleston

Indoor trampoline park with cousins

Lots of football with Hez

Road trip!

Stephen picked this out for his party

Bowling

Bam had a fun set up for his party

13th birthday

Stephen's jazz band

Julia at Young Life camp

Stephen's play

Isaac's soccer team

Ruth's 7th birthday

Asa, Sam, John and Isaac

Isaac was on tv a couple of times

Thanksgiving family pic

-The brother of Isaac's friend attends U of M and got them some football tickets. Isaac had a great time.

-We celebrated Ruth's 7th birthday. And we celebrated Nolbi's 12th birthday as we couldn't get together in October

-Stephen's theater class put on their production, Peers and Prodigals

-Lexi participated in Holland Rec's 5th/6th volleyball

-Julia went on Young Life's fall retreat

-Isaac and Stephen played indoor soccer 

-Stephen plays the tenor sax and is in the middle school jazz band

-Stephen turned 13 years old! The second part of his party was at Bam. The boys had a pizza buffet, bowled, played some laser tag and played in the arcade. They then came to our house for cake and a couple of hours of video games. Stephen had Grant, Hunter, Jude, Graham, Patrick, Andrew, Gavin and Graham at his party. He received a lot of Fortnite vbucks, candy, and fidgets. Stephen enjoys acting, soccer, playing video games, watching football, playing poker and hanging with his friends. He is doing well at school, loves Jesus and is kind to others. We love you, Stephen! 

-Nate worked during Thanksgiving break and the rest of us road tripped to Charleston. It was a lot of driving, but thankfully we have a lot of drivers now! My parents were at Steph's house and we had a nice day of relaxing on Thanksgiving. On Friday we went to an indoor trampoline park as the temps were chilly and ate Raising Cane's for lunch, of course. We then walked thru a preserve out to the harbor and played at a huge playground with the cousins. We drove back on Saturday and hit terrible snow from Indianapolis all the way home. Caleb drove for those hours and did a great job. We missed Nate and Ben (deployed), but we are thankful for time with family! 

October 2025

 

Halloween

Visited U of M

Got some nice pics from the Holland Sentinel

Puppies and Pilates

Celebrating Dad's birthday

We went to Cardale's hoco game

Cardale came to Isaac's game

Inducted into the National Honor Society

The cabin Nate, Caleb and Isaac stayed at

Stephen and his friends (Cobra Kai)

Crystal Mountain

-We celebrated my Dad's birthday

-All the kids had glowing reports at parent teacher conferences

-Lexi continues her Mandarin tutoring with Lexus once/week

-Nate and I saw the show Water for Elephants 

-My school did a fundraiser for our new social emotional dog, Georgia. The fundraiser was Puppies and Pilates and Lexi was in love.

-Nate, Julia and Isaac went to a GVSU football game. GVSU is trying to woo Isaac, so they gave him some free tickets.

-For HC's fall break, Stephen and Lexi flew to Charleston by themselves. They had a connection in DC, which was the more nerve wracking part for me. It wasn't their favorite part of the trip either. Their airline escort was a very old woman who did not speak much English and who took them to a remote office in the airport to wait. Stephen asked if they could buy some food, so she did walk them to a restaurant. Lexi said she was scared the lady was going to kidnap them. I told her, well at least you knew you could outrun her?! They had a great time with Steph and her boys. My parents were already in Charleston, so they drove Stephen and Lexi back home. 

-Nate went up north with Caleb and Isaac for a long weekend. Nate's co-worker let them borrow his cabin. They enjoyed cooking on the blackstone, playing games, going for a hike and just relaxing. 

-Lexi went trick or treating with the neighbors and Stephen went with some friends. I gave our candy to the neighbors to pass out and Nate and I went out to eat with friends! 

September 2025

 

WO HOCO 2025

Happy 46th birthday!

Happy 21st birthday!

Medaled in her race

Having a drink with Caleb

Stephen on the MS soccer team

Varsity soccer banners

One of his massive throw ins

Lexi looking good

 Soccer Senior Night

-Lexi got bit by a dog on her face. Surprisingly it has not scared her off dogs. She does have a little scar that we are trying to get rid of.

-Sep and Oct were spent attending Isaac's soccer games, Stephen's soccer games, Lexi's xc meets and rec soccer games. Julia continued working at Tiptoes during the school year and is helping with Aprendiendo Juntos tutoring at our church. 

-We celebrated Caleb's 21st birthday! It was fun and a little mind blowing to get a drink with him. We are so impressed with Caleb. The third shoulder dislocation really changed the rest of his year. He went thru PT, worked part of the summer, had surgery and then moved back to school 1 week later. He did PT 3x/week for about 3 months and will be down to 2x/week for another 3 months. In the midst of all of that, he was doing his school thing and his on campus job. We are all hopeful that shoulder dislocations are no longer part of his future! Caleb is a good friend, strong in his faith, smart and hard working. We love you, Caleb!

-Stephen and Lexi went on the middle school yg retreat

-Stephen participated in a theater class at Central Wesleyan Church

-Nate is one year out from car-t and he is healthy!

-We celebrated Nate's 46th birthday. He was in the hospital on his birthday last year, so we are grateful he was home and cancer free this year. Nate is all in at the power plant and central to the re-start process. He puts in a lot of hours and effort and the plant will re-open in 2026. We are thankful for another year with Nate and we love him very much!

-HC and WO had their homecomings on the same weekend. Julia and Isaac went with their friends. Unfortunately I never got a pic of Isaac and his friends dressed up.