Changes...

I got the 7 year itch to paint. In December it will be 7 years that we have been in our house.

Mom, Get Me Some Candy!

We had a fun Halloween this year. The kids all dressed up in a costume, which hasn't happend before! We had a great party at our friends house on Friday. The quote of the night was from Ty. As I am walking up a driveway with Lindsey, Ty yells from the road "Hey Mom, get me some candy!"

Lindsey had a fun class party. Here she was playing Halloween Twister.

For some reason we ended up with a ton of pumpkins this year between class trips, grandmas and a family trip the green house. Jake and Lindsey carved the majority of them.

Art Prize

We took the kids to ArtPrize last weekend. It was fun to see all the people downtown. We saw a few of the art pieces by the river and the BOB. Our favorites were the glass tidal wave and the table and chairs on the bridge. On Sunday Jake and I went back to see the airplane launch. 100,000 paper airplanes were launched off the top of some of the buildings. It was quite a site. We also saw the balloon display below. That was one of our favorite pieces.

Here Jake is standing in front of a bunch of plastic container all squished together. The display had to be 10' tall. It was huge. The point of the display was "what if this all came back to us?"
A great reminder to be concscience of what we consume and throw away.

ArtPrize was an incredible opportunity for all. How cool it was in Grand Rapids, MI!

Happy Birthday Lindsey

Happy Belated birthday to my favorite girl! Lindsey turned 5 on Sept. 17. We started a new birthday tradition of eating cake for breakfast! It was great!

I am proud of Lindsey. She is a smart girl with a determined personality. Here is top 5 for turning 5:
1. Has a beautiful smile
2. Is a great little and big sister
3. Has a wonderful imagination
4. Keeps us on our toes
5. Is a tom boy, but is also a girlie girl. Love it!

Lindsey's favorite things at age 5:

o still into babies, but also getting into Barbies

o loves to ride her scooter and bike and does both like a pro

o is starting to do her own hair. She now combs her own hair and also likes to play with mine

o loves being in charge

o still likes to change her clothes and is picky about what she wears, but it is getting easier!

o Loves school

o enjoys finding and playing with frogs with the boys

Happy b-day Louie. We love you!

Finally

18 weeks ago we got 14 chickens. This is something that Jake has been wanting and planning for a long time. We converted the dog kennel into a delux chicken coop. We are talking luxery as far as chicken standards go! Finally, after of months of waiting we got our first egg! It was even a double yoke. Jake cooked it up for breakfast that morning.

Jake woke up bright and early this morning (6am) and went back out to the coop hoping to find another egg. He was very disappointed that there wasn't another egg. I tried to explain that it will take a while before the chickens lay eggs regularly. I said they need to learn how and practice, just like when a baby learns how to walk. Babies take a couple steps and fall, etc. His comment, "The chickens already know how to walk!"

Really?

Really, now how am I supposed to measure this? Is this the price I pay for buying the cheaper butter sticks?

Vacation

We have had a great summer so far. We just got back from camping in Holland for 10 days. We couldn't have asked for better weather! What a difference a year makes with Ty! He was so easy this year. The big disappointment of the year was that you can no longer run down the big sand dune. In fact, you can't even touch the sand on the dune any more. In the picture above the kids are standing on the deck at the top of the dune. There are steps all the way up. It makes for easier climbing, but you miss the fun run down. I told Jake that he can tell his kids that he remembers the day when you could run down the dune!

Every year the kids do a talent show. This is Jake's hat for his act.

Crazy hair girl! She did let Barb braid her hair almost every day! That is big for Lindsey!

All the DeJong grand kids showing off their shirts that they painted. Even the high school boys participated.

Poor kids didn't get his nap a couple of days. He played hard at the beach and then fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the campsite.

Jake loved the kayak! He figured it out right away and was off.

we spent 4th of July at home and experienced the very impressive Alto area fireworks. It was a panoramic view of fireworks all around us!

He's 7!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE! He had a great birthday with parties going on for a week. Above is a picture of the cake that he decorated. We did our first Chuck E Cheese run as a family. He got his $5 piece of candy with the tickets he accumulated.

We came across a great deal on a dirt bike and decided to go for it. Jake was completely surprised! He reaction was priceless! No worries he will not be on the road, only on the paths around our yard.

This cool bike is called a Green Machine. It's a big kids big wheel. It already has provided lots of entertainment for the whole neighborhood! Thank Mullers for this fun present!

7 years ago we welcomed our first baby into this world. I loved being pregnant. I had a great experience at the hospital giving birth. We had tons of support from our family and friends. It is a challenge being a parent, but what a gift it is. Jake is a very respectful kid that has a kind heart. He loves playing with his friends. He still asks as many questions today as he did 5 years ago when he started talking. I love that he still wants to sit on my lap once in a while. He is a good big brother. Jake is also a hard worker. There is nothing better for him then when we give him a job to do. He has 13 chickens that he and Ted take care of. We make him stay in bed until 7am, otherwise he would be up and at it around 6am. He loves to hunt and shoot his BB gun.

Happy Birthday Jake! We love you are are so proud of you! You are a gift to us and have a very special place in our family.

100!

Ted's Grandma turned 100 this past weekend. She still lives on her own in the house that they moved into over 50 years ago when they came to the US. She has raised 7 children. She has 23 grandchildren and 55 great grandchildren. Grandma volunteered at the nursing home every week up until last year.

Grandma was a mid wife in the Netherlands. One of the things I will never forget about her is when I went to visit her just after I had Jake (pic above with Jake in striped outfit). I went there with Teds mom and sisters so she could meet Jake. He was just a week or two old. While we were there I needed to nurse him. I was trying to be discrete about it with Jake being my first. I was trying to keep the blanket over my shoulder while trying to unhook my bra and balancing Jake on my lap. You remember how that was with your first... Grandma thought I was having trouble so she grabbed my boob and the back of Jake's head and stuck him on there! "Like this" she said.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

There was a nice article on her in the Advance.

http://www.mlive.com/grandvalleyadvance/index.ssf/2009/05/hudsonville_womans_long_life_c.html

Center of Attention

Many of our dinner times revolve around Ty with us trying to get him to do something or us responding to something that he is doing. I love his laugh. This also shows the "abuse" he gets from his siblings.

Happy Birthday Ty!

My baby turned 2! The time has flown by. Ty is the happiest kid around. He is quickly developing those qualities that a lot of youngest kids have - funny, center of attention, tender hearted. He is talking a lot, putting words together. He loves to read books. His favorite spot is on your lap with a book. Ty loves hockey and any sport that has a ball associated with it! He does a good job keeping up with the big kids. He is always on the floor wrestling with Jake or Lindsey. I love this age! Ty is a gift to all of us. Mom and Dad love you Ty-guy!

Just Kiddin'

This is for documentation sake....

A couple weeks before Christmas, Lindsey and I were driving down the road. I handed her a little package and told her to open it to see my new bracelet. She opens it up and puts the bracelet on and is holding it out to admire it and she says "It's beautiful! This will look really nice with your new watch!" Then she pauses and says "Oh, I sorry. I not say that." She gets all quite and puts her head down. Her thumb goes in her mouth and then I hear her mumbling "Jake told me not to say that, it's a secret". I could see her mentally beating herself up over spoiling my Christmas surprise. A couple seconds later she pipes up and says "I just kiddin' ".

Once again I was wanting that instant recorder!

Birthday Party for Jesus.