Merry Christmas/ Happy 2010!

We had a wonderful Christmas, and cannot believe the break is winding to a close. It started off pretty busy and is ending up a little more quiet but every moment has been precious. There was cookie baking (and eating) time with family, time in prayer, times of laughter, times with friends, and times snuggling in our jammies. It was beautiful to see the kids understanding of the true meaning of Christmas this year. The Christmas story truly meant something to them as they participated (as sheep) in the Christmas Eve program at church. A couple of my favorite moments were watching the kids shop at Target, wrap, and give each other thoughtful darling gifts. The other moment was after Sophie received money from us to buy a toy for a child in the hospital she responded, "Oh good! I have been wanting to do that!". That is the meaning of Christmas to me.

We ended 2009 with a chilly hike and wonderful Mexican themed party with our friends the Bolt's. It was a blast, the perfect combination of fun, funny, and relaxing :) We welcome the adventure of 2010, a new decade. I read somewhere about finding a 'word for the year' something that will represent how you want to live this year. I am not being unique, by using a word I read someone else used..but I love it. My word for 2010 will be "Story". Every moment with my kiddos a beautiful story is unfolding, our story. I want to remember to Be Present (something I have been working on since my birthday), be an active participant in the story. I do not want to have the story going on around me, without me, I want to be involved, attentive, and loving it. I can't wait to see the story that will unfold in 2010 for our family.

Blessings!

Sophie is the sheep farthest to the left of the screen, Abby and Noah are the two farthest to the right of the screen. Enjoy!

My favorite family tradition

Every Sunday night we have 'family movie night'. It is by far my favorite time of the week. The very best part is when we push the sofa and love seat together, find the big down comforter and make a "nest". We all pile in and snuggle for the entire movie. It is amazing. Tonight we watched a 'censored' (by Tom...who knows the entire movie by heart) version of Tom's favorite Christmas movie 'Christmas Story'. Doesn't get any better than this.

Skipping ahead to Christmas!

I know, it's been too long! I have about 70 pictures to be sorted and lots more I could add from our wonderful Thanksgiving with all of my family. I'll get to that... But, for now, we had the kids first Christmas program at school tonight. It was amazing! Abby had a speaking part...in spanish! Sophie found out Monday that she would sing a duet. And Noah was part of a special song. It was precious, amazing, adorable! I think the best part was seeing my kids give each other fives/saying "great job" after each did their special part. I didn' t capture it on video, you can almost see it in the upper right corner of one of the videos...but not quite. Each time one returned they all gave each other 5. I could hear people around us saying, "They must be brothers and sisters". They love each other and they are each others biggest fans. Priceless.

Noah "S-A-N-T-A" (see the girls in the upper right corner)

Sophie's Duet :) (See Abby and Noah in the upper right corner)

Abby's finale in spanish! (you know where to look for the other two!)

Crazy Cousin Fun!!

We have had the most wonderful past 9 days! Martha and her family drove across the country and stayed with us! We packed every moment with fun, laughter, craziness, and adventures. It was (and is, we still have another week of fun to be had!) amazing to see our kids get reacquainted and fall in to an amazing friendship/love. It was so fun to pick up with my sister like we'd never been apart. Here are a few highlights from our time, with more to come (see Martha's blog too).

Gordie and Noah in the same jammies, purchased on opposite sides of the country!

Family Ice Skating!! Noah skated like a pro...too fast for his slow mom to keep up!

The girls loved their first time!

Dance Party USA!

Happy Halloween!

A fairytale Princess, a unicorn, and a lego :)






We had a wonderful Halloween weekend that started with a Fall Fun Night at the kids's school on Friday. They had a blast, and loved showing grandma and grandpa B. around their school! Saturday my parents came over and we had a relaxing fun day. At night we trick or treated around our neighborhood (farther than we've gone before!), visited our friends the Bolt's for pumpkin soup (labeled a tradition by the kids..our 2nd year) and ended the night by visiting my Aunt and Uncle (a ~10 year tradition). The kids say it was the best Halloween ever! They managed to crash quickly despite the crazy sugar high they were on! Tom and I even mustered the strength to go out to the bar for a couple of drinks after the kids were in bed (thanks to my parents for babysitting!). Today we enjoyed a traditional "sweatsuit Sunday" after church we put on sweats and relax. No laundry, no errands, only fun, relaxing family time. We also try to do a family hike each week, today we visited Kirk Park (between Holland and Grand Haven) for an amazing hike along Lake Michigan.
What fun!! Have a wonderful week!!

Fall!

We are loving fall!! School continues to go well for the kids! They love it, and they are doing very well according to their teacher at Parent-Teacher Conferences. I enjoyed attending their field trip to Post Family Farm earlier this month. Riding the bus with the kids was a riot! It was fun to put faces with names of their friends!
The girls finished up soccer today with a victory, and a goal scored by Sophie! Both of them learned so much and had a blast! Noah continues to love his 'football skills' class with Tom on Thursday nights. I was able to go watch once when the soccer practice was rained out! The kids have had such a wonderful cheering section this fall, Grandma and Grandpa Bonnema, Grandma and Grandpa Mosher, even Great-Grandpa Low made it to a game! It made the kids feel so special to have such fans!
We also enjoyed a wonderful weekend with my parents in town and another trip to Post Family Farm!
Today we were able to do something I have never done before..we picked concord grapes. It was amazing!! Beautiful, aromatic, and such fun. The kids were thrilled to use "snippers" to cut the grape clusters, and did a great job. In about 20 minutes we had picked 35 pounds. We look forward to making jam, pie, and juice tomorrow!
I hope you are all having a wonderful fall! Blessings!

(note: for some reason it won't let me upload the other 5 pictures I wanted to post!!)

Go State!! Go Tigers!!

We had a great weekend with so many wonderful moments!! The girls soccer game! MSU Victory!! The kids were able to spend time with my grandpa and my parents on Saturday night so Tom and I could go to the Tiger game. The Tigers lost, but came back ready to play and did win Sunday, so we are excited for the big game Tuesday! Sunday the kids went to a great camper show with my parents while Tom and I ran some errands. Sunday evening we had a wonderful birthday dinner for Joan and Steve! It was a busy, but fun filled weekend! Off to bed!! I'm chaperoning a field trip tomorrow!!!