February 2022

 

Slightly warmer day, hike to the beach

We bought each other the same card!

These two yahoos...

Hamilton!

Third grade sled races

-Caleb visited Calvin in January. Nate took him to Trinity for an overnight visit with some friends. Caleb also visited GVSU and Valparaiso this month. 

-The 3rd graders made sleds out of cardboard and duct tape. They had to design a sled they thought would make it down the hill fastest while also not falling apart. Stephen's team did fairly well. Their sled wasn't the fastest, but it didn't fall apart!

-Nate arranged a Hamilton date night. This was our second time seeing it and the musical is amazing.

-Caleb went on Providence's youth group retreat.

-Isaac fell playing PE basketball and had a small buckle fracture on his arm. He had to wear a cast for about 6 weeks, so that put an end to his rec basketball season. Caleb had to do physical therapy for his shoulder twice a week until mid April. 

-Stephen started a Holland Rec Improv acting class

-Stacy accepted a full-time job at West Ottawa Public Schools. The position is Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBIS) Specialist. It's essentially a social work-y job where I'm helping kids with behavior struggles at school. 

-The father of our good friend, Rebecca Peterson, died from covid. Stacy and a couple kids made a weekend trip to Sheboygan for the funeral and we also got to visit with Grandma in Wheaton. 

-Julia helped on the makeup team for the school play-The Wizard of Oz. 

January 2022

Band pictures

They chose to sit in the same room together..

A couple Bittersweet skiing trips

43rd Birthday

Mayan ruins

I got to be the co-pilot

Belize

-Nate visited Dr. Batts, his oncologist and was told as he is 5 years out from his stem cell transplant, he does not need to do any more PET scans. He will go in yearly for bloodwork. Yay!

-Nate coached Isaac's 7th/8th Holland Rec basketball team. 

-Stacy finished her internship at Fennville Public Schools

-Reuben was in MI for a farming conference and visited us for a night. It was good to catch up with him

-We celebrated Stacy's 43rd birthday

-The older boys went on a couple school ski club nights at Bittersweet. Nate took the younger two kids a couple of times as well.

-Isaac went on Providence church's Middle School retreat

-Nate and Stacy went to Belize for 5 days with Carl and Karin Gabrielse. It was a 20th anniversary celebration. We did a day trip to see Mayan ruins and then floating on tubes in an underground cave-creepy. We spent a morning exploring the local town. We did some kayaking/paddle boarding on the ocean and relaxing by the pool. We were required to do a covid test to re-enter the states and Nate tested positive! So the 3 of us flew home while he stayed behind, that was a little scary. Thankfully he did not have any symptoms and he got to stay in a unit right on the beach and use the paddleboards. If only we could all have symptom free covid in paradise with no responsibilities-ha! Nate tested negative after 5 days and was able to fly home.

-While Nate was stuck in Belize, Stacy got a phone call from Bittersweet that Caleb had fallen and I needed to meet them at the ER out there. Caleb had fallen and dislocated his shoulder. Thankfully they gave him some good pain meds so he didn't feel them putting the shoulder back, but it was difficult for Stacy to have to watch. Thankfully they got the shoulder in the first time and he was good to go.