Thursday, April 26, 2012

Spring Activities

 Isaac's black eye, almost healed. Wish I took a picture when it looked really bad.
 Caleb's school did a musical, he's in the white hat
 Here's the little sailor in his classroom
 Enjoying the Meijer Gardens Butterfly Exhibit
 This big one was in a box
 Trying to take a picture of the butterfly above the orchid
Doing a butterfly art project


Last week Caleb's school did a musical called Lost.  It was really well done.  It was fun to see Caleb singing the songs so animatedly.  And of course there is always one preschooler who steals the show.  This little boy was singing super loud and very dramatic on stage.  I always think of my sister when she was in kindergarten. :)  Nate was able to go into work late that night which was a blessing.  My parents came out for the performance too which Caleb appreciated. 

Isaac got a nasty black eye a couple weeks ago.  He and Julia were twirling on the kitchen floor in their socks.  Isaac fell and didn't catch himself, so his face got the full impact.  What made this story even better is that our foster care licenser came out a few days later for our annual review.  Gotta love explaining to a social worker how your kid got a black eye.  Because of course anytime someone asked Isaac how he hurt his eye he got embarrassed and mumbled something.  Doesn't look suspicious at all. :) 

Isaac's preschool took a field trip to Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids for the butterfly exhibit.  Isaac enjoyed watching the butterflies float around.  Julia wasn't that into it.  The class then did an art project.  Only this "art project" is really a school lesson meant for older kids.  It was way too long and involved for pre-schoolers.  The lady was trying to bring it down a level, but didn't really work.  I'd like to take the kids back to Meijer Gardens when it is warmer.  There is a really neat children's area outside. 

Julia loves listening to words that adults say and then repeating them.  The other day she kept saying "caramel machiatto."  At first I thought I misunderstood her and then I wondered where she heard it from because I don't drink coffee.  She learned it from a nursery worker at church.  She also likes to say "chai latta."  It's supposed to be chai latte, but I think she likes the sound of chai latta better.  I sometimes despair that my kids eat only a small variety of foods.  But then I remind myself that they do eat some unique things.  Like dried seaweed, cinnamon almonds, bulgogi/bibimbap, and salmon.  The salmon really impresses me.  All three of them like salmon.  I don't think I would have touched salmon as a kid.  Of course none of my kids like potatoes.  Go figure. 

Some exciting news for us is that we are moving to Holland!  We found a house and will close on May 10.  We probably won't move to Holland until the end of the summer.  We'll put our current home on the market soon.  Our realtor said it could take a year to sell, so pray that it sells quickly!  We decided living in Holland better met our family goals/priorities.  Christian education is a priority for us and we are impressed with Holland Christian schools.  And our new house is only blocks away.  The 30 minute drive to Caleb's current Christian school is getting burdensome and I can't imagine doing it for the next 10 years, especially once extra-curriculars start.  Foster care/adoption is also important to us so we want to be closer to the Bethany office in Holland.  And I would like to work at Bethany someday.  So we are excited and sad about this move.  Caleb is warming up to the idea, it helps that his siblings will be in the same school as him next year.  All 3 kids on the same break schedules, heavenly! We're sad to leave our friends here, but excited to live closer to family and friends that live in Holland.  Nate will have a long commute to work, about 40 minutes.  But, there is no perfect scenario and we'd rather he commute to work than the kids commute to school.  Please pray for all of us as we prepare for this new chapter!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Easter


Watching Tyler play in the Calvin baseball game

Caleb got a foul ball

Dad and my cousin Travis


Caleb and Aunt Karen feeding the calves


He carried the milk over, but didn't want to hold the bottle for the calf
Hanging out with Cardale

Look at those pretty eggs


Searching for Easter eggs


Grandpa did a good job hiding them

For Easter weekend the kids and I went to my parent's house. Nate is busy working the outage. On Friday morning I drove to see my friend, Janna Slot. Olivia Huisman was there too with her kids. The kids had fun playing and we had fun catching up. Saturday morning Cardale came over and we decorated eggs and went to the park. That afternoon we went to Kalamazoo to watch my cousin's baseball game. Tyler plays for Calvin. My aunt and uncle from California were there and it was great to see them. After the game we went to my uncle's sister's farm- Bos and Laura DeJong- for a cookout. The kids thought the farm was awesome! They loved the big trampoline, the tree swing, seeing chicks and feeding calves. And they liked playing with the DeJong kids and my cousins Tyler and Travis. Sunday morning we went to my parent's church. It warmed my heart to hear Caleb singing, "Up from the grave He arose." After church we did an egg hunt and my cousin Scott joined us for lunch.

It was a great weekend full of good times with family and friends. We pray you had a blessed Easter!

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Post-Florida

I haven't taken any pictures since Florida, kind of funny. We've been busy with the routines of life. Caleb is on spring break this week. Isaac has spring break next week. However he ended up being off this week too! He was sick on Monday and then his school was cancelled for the rest of the week because of sickness throughout the school. So Isaac gets 2 weeks of spring break. Last weekend I took the kids to visit my grandparents in Wheaton. The weather was pleasant so we visited Cosley zoo and Northside park. My grandparents are watching my uncle's dogs- Jake and Charlie. My kids did so well with them. It wasn't that many years ago that Caleb was terrified of dogs. Charlie seemed to enjoy Julia's attention and let her follow him around. I enjoyed catching up with my grandparents and we exhausted them sufficiently!

The other day the kids were fighting about who was first. Nate asked, "do you know what God says about being first?" He then told them about the last being first and the first being last. A couple minutes later Isaac asked me, "Mommy, who did God pick to be second?" Ha! We have a picture of Pinocchio from Disney World and Isaac keeps calling him "pokey-okey"- not on purpose, it's cute. Isaac has his black lung sickness. He gets a cold and then coughs so hard he pukes, multiple nights in a row. I know colds are just part of being human, but I HATE the cough. I feel so bad for him when he is coughing that hard and can't sleep well. It also wakes up everyone else. And I feel completely useless when my kids get hurt. Caleb got some nasty splinters at the park. I wasn't too stressed because Nate was home and he is the master at getting splinters out. But, he wasn't home! I had to tackle the splinters myself and I got nowhere. Finally Nate took over and was able to get them out. Nate says I don't do splinters well because I can't stand inflicting pain on my child and listening to them wail. That is the truth. I'd rather hold them while they wail then be the one causing them to wail.

Nate started his outage hours. He is working night shift this time, yea 6 weeks of night shift! Actually it's kind of nice because he can pick up Isaac from school in the afternoon and help out with our soccer practices. Our first practice is tomorrow. I'm nervous again.

For Easter weekend Nate will be working and I will head to my parent's house. We'll get to see Cardale which is always fun. We pray you have a blessed Easter!