January fun

This picture makes me smile
Opening my awesome present
The creation- Reese's peanut butter cup cake

The kids just liked the candy pieces

Caleb going up with Grandma J
Isaac and Nate on the chair lift


Caleb's got it down


I had my birthday this week! I am now 33 years old. No deep thoughts about turning 33. I told Nate I wanted a Reese's peanut butter cup cake for my birthday and offered to ask a friend to make it for me. But, he is the best husband ever and made it himself. The cake was so good. I wish it wasn't gone already. The kids had fun picking out gifts for me. Caleb chose a Taste of Home Baking cookbook and Isaac picked out a travel mug. Julia gave me an App Store gift card. Yep, Nate gave me an iPad. I was surprised! It is a really amazing and fun piece of technology. The kids are enjoying it too. It will be nice to have a way to check email, etc when we travel.

We were able to get some ski passes thru Nate's company this year. Yesterday Nate took the boys skiing for the first time. And they loved it! They both caught on fairly quick and didn't want to stop. Nate used a harness for Isaac. So he skied behind Isaac and could pull on the straps to help guide him and keep him upright. Isaac hasn't mastered the "snowplow" technique so he would just point his skis down the hill and go- really fast. It reminds me of my brother Tim when he was younger. He just flew down the hills and usually ran into the hay bales at the bottom. My Mom went skiing as well and had fun. We're hoping to take the boys again this winter.

Julia isn't old enough to ski so we had a girls afternoon. We went to a Korean (Lunar) New Year celebration in Holland. There was a Korean dance group that performed about 6 traditional Korean dances. The dancers wore hanboks and played jangos which are traditional Korean drums. The performance reminded me alot of our trip to Korea. Can't wait to go back someday!


Fan Dance, women are wearing hanboks

After the dancers there was a Tae Kwon Do demonstration. I did not realize Tae Kwon Do is Korean. Julia enjoyed hearing them yell, "hi-ya!" She asked when she could do that?

At the end of the event we had sushi rolls and rice cake. The rice cake is okay, Koreans are not known for their desserts. :) Now Americans, we excel at sugary non-healthy desserts!

The celebration was really well attended. I'm glad for an opportunity for Julia to be in a place where there are other Asians. Julia commented on how pretty one of the girls was. That made me happy. Sometimes transracially adopted kids see themselves as "white" and see white as the standard of beauty. I want Julia to understand that Asians, particularly Koreans, are beautiful and she doesn't need to wish away her looks. We attended the celebration with Lisa Klamer and her girls. Afterwards we went to their house for supper. Julia is beginning to enjoy playing with other girls, especially if they are a year or two older. Overall it was a great weekend and we are thankful for the opportunities God has given us!

Wheaton Christmas

Opening presents with the Jongsma extended family
With Tim and Jenny's new dog, Reesie
Getting ready to eat our snow day creation
Maple syrup candy made in snow
Look out it's Spider-Man!

A couple weekends ago we celebrated Christmas with the Jongsma extended family. We travelled to my grandparents house in Wheaton. It was a short day trip, but we all had fun seeing everyone. I love my family!

The boys had a snow day on Friday. I looked on the web for snow day activities and learned about maple syrup candy. Just like they made in Little House on the Prairie- call me Ma Ingalls. You boil maple syrup for a couple minutes and then pour it over snow. The syrup hardens and then you eat it. I might have cooked the syrup too long because mine hardened super fast, but the kids still thought it tasted good. Actually, Caleb didn't want to try it, but the other two liked it! The kids also built a fort under the kitchen table. And we are going thru crazy amounts of hot chocolate. They want hot chocolate after every outside excursion and I can't say no. We took the kids sledding this weekend- yes, we finally got snow! Julia had no fear, which isn't that surprising. The boys had their own sleds and could have gone for hours.

Julia is completely potty-trained now! She is wearing underwear at night as well and sleeping in a toddler bed, how did she get so big? We are trying to help Isaac with his "l's and r's." His speech is so cute that I don't want him to lose it yet though. We can tell his teacher has been working with the class on their "l's."

Christmas Presents

Rudy the guinea pig
New Year's Eve
The boys like to build "playgrounds" for Rudy
Guinea pig habitat- Nate built him a stand for the cage, he secretly likes Rudy
Isaac wanted a picture of his crazy hair
Caleb loved going down the slides, just not the really big, dark ones
The kids thought these bunkbeds were awesome
Arcade games

There was a dance party at night. Isaac and Julia had some moves.
Caleb preferred to sit and watch the dancing with Dad.
Moose pulling an Amish buggy?
Grandma DeMaster made this dress
Everyone needs a rooster picture

For Christmas this year we gave the kids a guinea pig and a family trip to a waterpark. We didn't want to buy more toys since they get toys from other family members and they don't play with half the toys they have! We spent one night at Splash Universe in Shipshewana, IN. The waterpark isn't as big as the ones at WI Dells, but it was great for two days. We spent as much time in the water as the kids could handle. The kids didn't want to go on the really big slides with us. I don't blame them. The ride is pitch black, even freaked me out a little. We spent some time in the arcade, eating ice cream, dancing, and sleeping in cool bunkbeds. Or not sleeping as the case may be. I always try to psych myself up for Julia not sleeping well, but it's still really hard. I loved the hotel breakfast because they had chai tea! Sometimes I am easy to please and I was desperate for caffeine. The kids made it til a little after lunch then we had to head home, they were exhausted. All three of them took naps in the car.

Our guinea pig, Rudy, is fitting in nicely. We narrowly averted a huge crisis. On the day we promised to get a guinea pig, the pet stores were all out. We were trying to prep the kids to wait a few more days, but at the last minute a pet store got a shipment of guinea pigs. Relief all around. At first I was nervous the kids picked out a sickly guinea pig, but he has since perked up and seems fine. He likes eating lettuce from the kids and sits quietly in our laps to be petted. He's also making cute squeaking noises. Julia has squeezed him too hard a couple times, so she has to be watched closely.

On New Year's Eve day some new friends invited us over. We went for a walk along the sand dunes (the weather was really warm) and went back to their house for ollie bollen. Ollie bollen is a Dutch dessert, kind of like a doughnut that is made for the New Year. It was fun to do a Dutch tradition. We had an uneventful New Year's Eve. Nate had to work that night. The kids and I got party hats, ate pizza and watched a movie. The kids were in bed by 8:30 and I spent the rest of the night reading a book and was in bed before midnight. Crazy times in the DeMaster household!

For New Year's Day I had the boys fill out a page about themselves. (I found the idea on pinterest, I take no credit.) This is what Caleb said:
Age-7, Favorite Color-White, Favorite Food- pizza, Favorite activity- socker, Favorite book- Erth book
Greatest lesson learned in 2011- math, Hardest thing of the year- sleaping (he's been having alot of bad dreams), Favorite memory- camping, What I loved most about 2011- socker
In 2012 he wants to learn- math, get better at socker and his biggest goal is going to a waterpark.

Isaac said:
Age- 4, Favorite color- light blue, favorite food- cheese pizza, favorite activity- play outside, favorite book- Cat in the Hat
Greatest lesson learned in 2011- didn't have an answer, hardest thing of the year- starting school, favorite memory-playing in the snow, what I loved most about 2011- camping
In 2012 he wants to learn-hockey, get better at swinging, and his biggest goal is to learn how to ride a two-wheeler

I wanted to preserve this on the blog because I'm sure the papers will get lost!

Happy New Year everyone!