What a Birthday

Have to get pictures of the sibling love moments
No words necessary
Opening gifts a day late

Yesterday was Nate's birthday and it did not turn out like he expected. We knew he had to work, but something broke at work so he had to work 15 hours. We had plans to go out to dinner with some friends, but we had to cancel. The kids were disappointed we didn't open gifts and sing to Nate on his birthday! We made up for it today though. I made white chocolate raspberry cheesecake for his birthday and the kids don't like it. Oh well! Nate will have to work more than expected this week, but hopefully it won't be too bad. I love Nate so much. He is a wonderful Christian, husband, father, provider, friend, Mr. Fix-It and he's only 32!

Seven Years Old

Excited to get a new scooter
The panda cake
How are there so many candles on that cake?
For dinner he requested pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage- he knows how to eat!

Happy Birthday Caleb! For the past week I have been calling him a 7 year old and he would emphatically say, "No, I am still 6." Now he is more than happy to be 7 and told me it might take awhile for me to get used to that number. :)

He brought a birthday treat to school today. I made 5 blue cupcakes topped with a toy bug and 5 pink cupcakes topped with a toy ring. (Nate helped me realize I don't need to make an extravagant birthday cake and an extravagant school birthday treat for the kids!) Caleb requested breakfast for dinner which always makes me happy too. I was a little surprised when he picked the panda cake. I thought he would go for something like a pirate ship or dinosaur cake. However, he enjoyed seeing pandas at the Atlanta zoo and he likes Kung Fu Panda (even though he hasn't seen the movie!). I must note that I cringe whenever the kids pick a cake that requires alot of red or black frosting- those colors are so hard to make! Caleb received a new scooter, flashlight and work gloves from us. He also received some toy army men and a Veggie Tales devotional book. I record their gifts here so I have gift ideas when our other children turn 7!

Tonight I considered making a comment to Caleb like, "Seven years ago I labored for 18 hours and was so excited to finally meet you." But, I was afraid that would bring lots of questions! Exactly when should kids start learning about how babies enter the world??

We thank God for the blessing of Caleb. He is a smart, athletic, compassionate and kind-hearted boy. It is a joy to watch him master new skills. I feel like we're embarking on a new life stage- the grade school years. We've changed his bedtime to 8 pm instead of 7:30 pm when the other kids go to bed. I kept insisting he needed to be in bed early because he gets up at 6:30 am, but he would just lie in bed awake until 8:30 every night. So now he gets to read with us on the couch before bed without any sibling interruptions- kind of nice. We also finally bunked the boys' beds. (Actually I wasn't so nervous about Caleb on the top bunk, I was nervous about Isaac crawling on the top bunk and falling out!) I'm sure we'll be making other changes as we realize Caleb is no longer a "little boy" but a regular "boy" now- nothing little about him! We pray for many more birthday celebrations with Caleb!

School

First Day of Preschool! I laugh at this picture b/c he'll stand like this and say, "look, I'm a pickle!"
Julia wanted to be in a school picture too
First day of 1st Grade! Still trying to work on natural smiles...
Cardale, Caleb, and Isaac riding bikes at the campground
The frog cupcakes Isaac is bringing to school for his birthday treat. They're supposed to be frog eyes peaking out of the water if you can't tell!
We actually did get a picture of Julia by herself!
The Jongsma family


This is our second week of school and things are going well. Caleb wasn't nervous at all about starting first grade. We felt a little bad that we made him ride carpool the first morning and didn't take him ourselves, but it didn't bother him. He has 10 kids in his class, 5 boys and 5 girls. I don't mind smaller class sizes. Unfortunately the little trouble-maker from last year is still in his class. I figure this is a good learning experience for Caleb b/c there will always be people trying to influence him in negative ways. Hopefully he can learn young to make the wise choice! Caleb was a little bummed to hear he would have homework every night, but it takes him about 5 minutes to complete it. He heard that 1st graders get to do science experiments and he is excited about that.

Isaac started preschool this year! He is going to a local preschool four afternoons a week. He wasn't sure if he was excited about school or not. The first couple of days he clung to my hand when I dropped him off and had that 'don't leave me!' look. However, he is now singing songs he has learned and talking about classroom jobs. Tomorrow he gets to bring his birthday treat which is very exciting for him.

Julia REALLY wants to go to school. She loves Isaac's classroom. On the first day she was ready to stay when Isaac wanted to head out the door with me. Julia often says, "I go to school when I'm big?" When Isaac is in school Julia takes a nap and my house is quiet for a couple hours- awesome!! We are potty-training Julia. It is much harder with the 3rd child. It is more difficult to stay home all the time and focus on potty-training. There are just more places we have to go. With the older two boys I did not use pull-ups. I was all about going cold turkey from diapers to underwear. Now, we use pull-ups for when we're going somewhere. Potty-training is still my least favorite parenting task. :)

Last weekend we went camping with Cardale's family. It was slightly rainy, but we all had a good time. The boys played hard the whole weekend. Cardale shows Nate and I more affection now and it just warms my heart. For the past 2 years we've tried to not "push" ourselves on him and let him interact with us according to his comfort level. Now he'll come up to me and snuggle on my lap and say, "I love you." Puts a big ol' smile on my face. Cardale has a little brother, Abe, who is 5 months old and such a cutie. Cardale is a great big brother. The boys are constantly asking when we will camp with Cardale again!

Tim's Wedding

What a good-looking family!

The kids were SO done with pictures by this point.

Adorable 4 year old

Handsome (almost) 7 year old. (We couldn't get Julia to pose for a picture by herself!)

We clean up well

I love this man!

A glimpse of what is was like trying to take the wedding pictures

Julia enjoyed the cupcake

My awesome sister and Mom.

I got to party in the limo while Nate drove the kids in the van

Dancing the night away

Isaac "danced" by pointing his fingers repeatedly. He was so exhausted.

My siblings- Tim, Jenny and Steph

The March That Wasn't

Most of you heard that I was going to a march in Washington DC last week. Well, the march didn't happen. It was cancelled because of impending hurricane Irene. I think the decision to cancel the march was a bit hasty. It was beautiful in DC the day the march was to take place and it didn't start raining there until the following evening. I found out the march was cancelled right after I arrived out there. I was quite upset and disappointed. The march is being rescheduled for November, but I highly doubt I can attend. The march is called Step Forward for Orphans. The purpose of the march is to raise public awareness about problems in international adoption. There are some policies that are delaying the adoption of children and making it more difficult for families to adopt internationally. Basically, children are being negatively affected- left to languish in orphanages. I hope the march will bring about some needed changes.

Even though I didn't get to march, I did get to spend time with my good friend, Deb. Deb and I went to high school together and have been friends since. We had a fun day in DC. We walked thru the Smithsonian American History museum. We then headed to Georgetown and did some shopping. After that we went to a free concert at the Kennedy Center. The concert featured a gospel group, an acapella-style group (Naturally 7), and Frederic Yonnet (jazz harmonica player). I don't get to concerts much and this one was alot of fun. Naturally 7 impressed me the most. The group members imitate instruments to make music. I've included a link to give you an idea of their music. http://www.students.ch/magazin/tv/318/Naturally-7-live-Jericho
Very fun.

After the concert we went to an Indian restaurant. Again, not something I do very often. Even though Deb and I seem to live very different lives, we enjoy spending time together and learning from each other. I thank God for the blessing of Christian friends!

Traverse City

Isaac had a hard time blowing his candle out
The kids helping me make lemonade
Mmm, cake
Enjoying the view
Don't fall over boys!
This dune was massive. Just in front of me is a huge drop-off. It takes people 1 hour to climb back up.
Birthday boy!
Getting ready to tackle the dune climb
Julia got a piggy-back ride. The boys were on their hands and knees.
The boys running down the dune- no major tumbles
A huge bear on the front of a store
Family picture at Sleeping Bear Dunes


Last week we went camping at Traverse City State Park. We had never been to Traverse City before- it is beautiful! The Grand Traverse Bay is so blue and calm. TC has alot of bike trails as well. We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes one day and had fun doing the dune climb. The kids had Junior Ranger activities to work on and at the end of our visit they received a Junior Ranger badge. Caleb asked me if getting a Junior Ranger badge meant he had to be a Ranger when he grew up, too cute. We spent time at the beach and just hanging around the campsite. The state park campground was ok. The sites were really close together and you had to walk across a bridge to get to the beach. The worst part of the campground was the noise! There were planes flying overhead often, a railroad track nearby, and lots of road noise. I don't think we'll use the campground again. I've heard Interlochen campground is nice and more peaceful.

Not much sleep happened while camping. In my head I expect this, but it doesn't make it any easier! Julia just struggles with sleeping in different places and she was a little sick. This trip was my first extended camping experience. Usually two nights is my max. We did four nights and it wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. :) Having a pop-up camper definitely makes a difference.

I would love to visit Traverse City again, either when the kids are older or just with Nate. Downtown TC is really cute and there are restaurants I want to try. I didn't get to browse many stores this trip. For some reason the kids just don't like doing that.

It is hard to believe summer is winding down. Only 2 more weeks til school!

Happy 4th Birthday!

Happy 4th Birthday Isaac! We're leaving soon to camp at Traverse City State Park so this will be short. Isaac wanted a poison dart frog cake. Technically this is a red-eyed tree frog, but we'll call it whatever he wants! We'll do cake and presents at the campsite. We are so proud of our 4 year old. He always wants to grow up faster, I think he's growing too fast! It's hard to believe he will be starting preschool in a couple weeks. Isaac is still a cuddler(sometimes), loves to be silly, has lots of questions about God and heaven, is really good at building things and enjoys helping Mom and Dad. We thank God for our little boy!