Christmas Part Deux

Today we got to see Megan for the first time since April!  The DeYoungs spent the summer in Zambia working on an adoption (which sadly did not go through).  Peter and the girls returned in time for the school year to start, but Megan stayed in Zambia for another month.  She came home to San Antonio in October and the whole fam made it up to Holland for Christmas (on New Year's Eve :).

Adeline took this picture :)

We had a fun time opening gifts together and spending quality time with everyone.  The time went by way too quickly, but not so quickly that we didn't manage to get our family photo with everyone in it out on the deck.  The crazy part?  Someone said, "Wow!  Look at that sunset!" and within minutes we were all outside, the timer was set and the picture was taken!

 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Phase 1

This was an interesting year for Christmas!  The week before Christmas Adeline became very ill and stayed that way for quite some time.  We're not sure if she got the croup (it had been going around) or just a bad respiratory flu, but she was scary sick :(.  In the meantime Evelyn wouldn't leave her sick sister's side (hence the picture below) and she got sick too :(.

Nevertheless I took the girls over to Amma's house the week of Christmas as Alan was flying to California to spend some time with his grandpa who was dying.  After a couple more sick days at Amma's we were finally able to go outside and enjoy some winter fun on the frozen pond.

On Christmas Eve I drove to the airport to pick Alan up.  On the way I received word from his mom that Alan's grandpa has passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus.  Although sad we were very grateful that Alan was able to spend his grandpa's final days with him.

We awoke Christmas morning with all the family together again.  The girls had helped to put presents sent from Grandmother & Pa under the tree.  We had our requisite pictures in front of the tree with the girls in their Christmas jammies.  Overall we had a fun time, and are looking forward to Christmas Part Deux with the rest of the whole family together next week!

Coloring with Daddy

Lighting the Advent Wreath

Today we lit the third candle of the Advent wreath in church.  Adeline memorized her very own part to recite before the church.  She was a little surprised at how loud her voice was in the microphone, but with a little encouragement from Mom & Dad she recovered and recited her part perfectly.  After the service we had a chance to snap some pictures for the Christmas card.

Christmas Crafts

Today we did a Christmas craft!  I pulled out a large sheet of posterboard and some green paint and the girls put their hand prints all over it (Mommy helped a little too).

After getting all cleaned up...

We put our magnet on our new Advent calendar.

While the girls snoozed I cut out the painted posterboard into the shape of a tree and added a star at the top.  When they woke up they put the finishing touches on with stickers.

 Adeline took the picture of it hanging on our wall :).

Memorization Sunday

Today was Memorization Sunday at our church.  Adeline and I had been working on The Lord's Prayer for a few weeks and practicing saying it on the stage at church.  Today she recited it beautifully with the microphone all by herself.  She also recited two memory verses she had memorized with her 2's and 3's class.  We're so proud of you, Adeline!

Halloween!

Today was a very fun day :).

This morning was a Youth Sunday at church so Alan was preaching. Today also happened to be Reformation Sunday, so he preached on Romans 1:17 and the Righteousness of God. It was good - of course :).

We almost always celebrate a sermon Sunday by going out to lunch. Today we hit the Lyon Cantina and boy was it delish! It's a little chaotic eating out with two little ones, but they did just fine and we all left with full tummies.

Tonight was a High School Youth Group night but instead of regular YG they had a Halloween party at the home of a couple of volunteer leaders. The girls and I tagged along and had a lot of fun. I took the girls - three high school gals came along - out trick-or-treating for what I would call their real first time. I took Adeline out last year, but it was really late and we only went to a couple of houses and mostly only so she could wear her kitty costume. So this year I count as the first official year :). Adeline was a Princess Kitty. She was originally just going to be a regular kitty (like last year - what she wanted!), then two days ago she decided she wanted to be a Princess Kitty with a tutu and a wand (she kept calling it "wine" - we had to explain she was going to carry a WAND, not wine). The only tutu she owns is attached to an adorable little pink bathing suit Amma bought her for her birthday this year. Brilliant Mommy that I am, I made it work! It was cold out, so Adeline wore some tights, then her bathing suit only pulled up to her waist with the tutu sticking out (if it went all the way over her shoulders potty breaks would have been a nightmare!), then her black pants. On the top I had her wear a sweater underneath her black long-sleeve t-shirt. The kitty tail clipped onto the back and her kitty ears headband went in her hair. The wand is a whole story by itself, because we couldn't find one in the stores. But, once again brilliant Mommy that I am ;-), I turned one straw, 5 glitter pipe cleaners and a piece of pink glitter foam paper into the perfect kitty princess wand with a star at the top (the star at the top was a BIG DEAL!). Adeline loved it and it's all she talked about for two days!

Evelyn reprised her role as a pumpkin wearing the adorable little pumpkin jacket Aunt Laura made when Adeline was a baby. Adeline was a pumpkin once and Evelyn a pumpkin twice. I have no doubt this little pumpkin jacket will be like the Hicks Family skunk costume that just wouldn't die :D. My great grandkids will be wearing this one day with pride!

I was boring and didn't go as anything. Alan, on the other hand, decided to go as Facebook at the last minute. So I cut up a small cardboard box, cut a hole in the front and bent the sides. I stuck blue construction paper on it, wrote BOOK on one of the bent sides and again on the front below the hole (for Alan's face). On the other bent side I stuck a strip of white construction paper with lines on it to look like pages. I stuck the whole thing on a dowel rod from my old Pampered Chef Stoneware Holder and voila! A Facebook costume was produced in less than 20 minutes ;-).

We all had a great time at the party mixing and mingling. Evelyn, after watching her sister and other kids, really got the hang of the trick-or-treating thing. She'd shove her little pumpkin bucket up there with all the rest and make some sort of sound that could be interpreted as "Trick or Treat!" Adeline was very good at saying it, too, and then saying "Thank You." I was very proud of my little girls - polite trick-or-treaters :). We finished the night with a dance party in the garage (to wear out the girls :), a bath (we had a fire going in the driveway at the party so we were all super smokey) and now they are snoozing peacefully.

And with that I sign off and head to bed myself. 'Night all! :)

Return to the Blogosphere

I know - alert the media! Meredith is blogging! I don't really have a ton to say - really absolutely nothing to say... But a friend at church mentioned to me this morning that she happened to come across my blog and I realized there really isn't anything here about our current life. I have tons of pictures from the last 4 months of our lives sitting around on the computer and the camera, but it's just too overwhelming for me to go through the process of uploading them to the computer and then posting them here. For some reason it's just a very daunting task to me. It might have to do with the two kids constantly running around. Or the fact that we don't have a desk or any real workspace. Or maybe it's that by the end of the day when the kids are finally asleep I don't want to do anything but watch a movie and completely turn off my brain, exhausted from the events of the day. Or it could be that I'm spending my time editing a thesis project or planning for the next Wednesday night meal for 60+ people at church. Or sometimes I really just don't have anything to say. Or when I do have something to say it's easier to put in a "sound bite" on Facebook instead of posting it in a blog.

But I'm beginning to regret (which I knew would happen) not keeping up here. Because when it comes to creating family photo albums and updating the girls' baby books, I end up having to scroll through months of Facebook posts, and it really would be much simpler if I had just blogged about it instead! I know I've said this before, and recently too, but I think I'm going to try (again) to just post little updates on the blog rather than beating myself up over not posting pictures. When I look back on the blog posts that I really took the time to do I'm so glad I did, but I just can't keep up at that pace!

So here we go (again!). I'm attempting to return to the blogosphere and praying I don't burn up on re-entry!

Timeline of recent events:

July 4-10: The girls and I went to Cincinnati to hang out with the Wrights while Alan went to Kentucky with some students and dads to do some missions work.

July 14-20: The whole fam traveled to California for Beckie and Aaron's second wedding. It was a miserable time getting there - stuck in the Detroit airport for 38 hours, no thanks to Delta! - but we ended up having a nice time.

July 21-28: The girls and I ended up staying in California another week so we could be around to celebrate my Grandma Jo's 80th birthday with lots of family we don't often get to see. It was a great time of relaxation and actually felt like a real vacation! The only thing missing was Daddy!

August 15: Alan and I celebrated 7 years of marriage with a little date night. We had dinner at PF Chang's and then went to see the movie "Inception". It was nice :).

September 2-7: Adeline and I went to Texas to hang out with the cousins while Peter worked a ton and Megan remained in Zambia. We had a great time bowling, going to see "Despicable Me" and doing other fun stuff together. Evelyn stayed home with Daddy and they took a little trip over to Holland this weekend for the annual Oil Can League Fantasy Football Draft.

September 9-11: The whole fam headed to Holland this weekend so Papa could see all of us before heading back to CA.

September 8: Tonight was the kickoff for something called "Refuel Wednesday" at our church. I have taken on the coordination of the meal on this evening where we feed what has turned out to be an average of 60+ people each week. It is quite the task but it has been pretty fun. I'm sort of changing the face of this ministry to our congregation and so far it is going quite well. Even the girls have done really well with Mommy often needing to be at church for a couple of hours before evening activities for cooking and prep. They usually play and watch Veggie Tales :). The rest of September has just been a process of getting back into the groove of things, mostly ministry-wise. Alan's fall ministries with his students have started back up with monthly events to plan as well. The girls and I attend a Bible Study on Wednesday mornings which has been fun to get back into. Wednesday has become "Church All Day" Day! :)

October 14-16: This weekend we had originally planned to meet the Wrights halfway between their house and ours, but instead we invited ourselves over ;-). They graciously accepted our invasion and we enjoyed one another's company again, as we always do. It's fun to see the kids grow up and play together. And Johanna & I and Alan & Nathan never run out of things to talk about :). We went to the zoo on Friday - one of our favorite things to do when we visit Cincinnati. We bought a group picture when we went so maybe one day I'll scan it into the computer and post it here (but don't hold your breath... ;-). A very fun weekend and way too short!

October 21-23: Happy Birthday to me! And what a wonderful birthday it was. Alan and I left the kids with Amma and Papa overnight and stayed at an adorable B&B in South Haven (Martha's Vineyard B&B - we stayed in the Dartmouth Room if you want to check it out! :). If you're ever looking for something over that way I highly recommend this beautiful little spot. We thoroughly enjoyed our time together there and took advantage of all the amenities in a short period of time! The innkeepers are delightful folks and I truly hope we can go back again someday. The girls had a great time with Amma and Papa and we all spent one more day together before heading home. On Saturday the 23rd, Adeline got her hair cut. Her first real hair cut. Miss Jane chopped off a pretty good chunk of hair (that now sits in a plastic baggie in my dresser drawer). She looks adorable, but I had a hard time for about a day. All is well, though. She's a growing little girl :).

That brings us to today and the close of the International Festival at our church. Tonight we had a fun little potluck and heard stories from the field from some of our church's missionaries who are now retired. Tomorrow's Monday and the start of another week. What will it hold?

:)

First Haircut!

Miss Jane cut Adeline's hair today.  She had a mini cut/trim last spring but I don't really count it as her first haircut.  This was the first time we saw inches fall to the floor, and Adeline did a very good job following Miss Jane's instructions and staying very still.  Goodbye curls! :{

30th Birthday Getaway

For my 30th birthday we thought it would be fun to get away for a night.  So we left the girls with my parents and enjoyed about 24 hours of kids-free bliss! (Not that we don't love our children or anything, but every parent needs some adult time :)

Alan and I went to a little Bed and Breakfast called Martha's Vineyard in South Haven, Michigan ~ about 30 minutes south of where my parents live.  We stopped to have dinner at Outback Steakhouse on the way.  Not too creative of a meal, but it was reliable at least.  I don't like to be surprised.

Anywho, we had a lovely time.  We were greeted in our room by rose petals on the bed, a spread of chocolate covered strawberries with sparkling grape juice and a pair of souvenir wine glasses.  Our room was complete with a large jacuzzi tub and fireplace.  It was delightful.

The next day we walked around the little town a bit.  It was brief, but we had a lovely time.  Happy Birthday to me! :)

Cincinnati Visit

We had a wonderful little visit down to Cincinnati this weekend to visit our dear friends, the Wrights.  We originally planned to meet halfway on Friday, the 15th, but at the last minute we asked if we could just come down and stay for the weekend and we were so glad it worked out.

On Friday we went to the zoo and had a fun time.  It was nice to go before it got too cold outside.  Other than that we just had a nice time visiting with one another and enjoying a visit.

William's birthday was the 3rd so we brought him a little gift - a dinosaur.  He absolutely loved it.

These kiddoes, although 7 months apart, are about the same size!

Bonfire!

Alan is out of town this weekend on a leaders' retreat, but the girls and I went to the Jarvi-Robinson bonfire and had a wonderful time with friends.  The girls played in the grass, met some horses, took their first hayride (Mommy's first hayride, too), ate caramel apples and watched a raging bonfire.  What a great time.  Can't wait for next year's!

Watching the horses from a "safe distance" :)

Breaking up the hay for the hay ride!

Covered in hay!

Putting hay on Steve Houtman's head!

Adeline putting hay on her own head!

Caramel apple with sprinkles goodness!