Whirlwind trip to Iowa

It is hard to believe it has been 2 weeks since we were in Iowa . . . the calendar tells me it has been that long.  Stephan drove a charter bus filled with kids from area youth groups and some sponsors to Dordt for the RYS convention.  Gideon and I rode along (Briella rode with my parents the same day).  Gideon kept saying "My daddy's bus" and "BIG bus"--he loved being on the bus.  
Most of the days we were there were too hot to really be outside, but Thursday they predicted rain and clouds, so we went to the Boyden splash pad.  Thankfully it was free, since the picture below shows about how wet Briella wanted to get.  Gideon was more daring and got his suit and head wet . . .

Gideon loves to see motorcycles when we are out and about.  In fact on the bus he told Stephan to go fast when a motorcycle passed us.  My dad was going to give Gideon a little ride on his Harley, but once he started the beast Gideon started shaking his head and covering his ears.  Then Gideon declared he didn't like Grandpa's motorcycle because it was noisy.  Grandma convinced him to sit on it for a picture, and he was a bit hesitant for even this.  Maybe next summer?!?!

One reason we love to visit Iowa is to see Great-Grandmas.  We went to Rock Valley to visit Stephan's Grandma M and to Sioux Center to see my Grandma VM.  Both Grandma's had candy and that's about all it takes to make friends with Briella and Gideon.  What a blessing it is to visit them!

 My best friend from high school is back in the states after 4 years in Germany and was with her parents in Sioux Center, so we were excited to catch up for a few hours!  (I know it isn't a profile, but that's 34 weeks . . .)

Friday afternoon we hit the road again with both kiddos . . . Gideon enjoyed a little nap, but Briella was  little excited to learn that busses don't have seat belts, people can stand while we move, and there were a lot of kids to watch . . .  We enjoyed the time we could spend at my parents and Stephan enjoyed the time at convention.  We were thankful to arrive back in MI safely and sleep in our own beds again!! 

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We spent a week in Iowa for Thanksgiving and as always there were lots of books to be read, repeatedly.

Briella prefers GrandmaB's bath toys to our own and I couldn't resist those cheeks ;)
We made popcorn, the first time for our kids. It was very interesting and they even clapped when it started filling the bowl!

Pam's wedding --Tyler's Lacrosse Game

Our handsome Gideon . . . looking very serious. I think he is wondering why I put the effort into putting his suit back on just for a picture. I tried to explain that the wedding day was a blur and we didn't get any pictures of just him and hardly any of the family and I dont know if he will fit into it on Sunday since he is growing like a weed!!!


Pam is married!!! I'm only posting this because Pam looks so great and Jen and Mindy, too. I should not be so vain that I don't want a picture of me 2.5 weeks post postpartum on the internet. So I'll get over it and post it anyway . . .
The beautiful bride and her brothers . . . and her husband :) Notice how Nate and Ryan don't really smile, Daniel has a smirk, not really a smile, and Tyler is faking it and thinking the photographer is annoying (actually they are probably all thinking that!) Saturday we went to Tyler's lacrosse game at Dordt, he scored, they won and we had fun!! I've never watched lacrosse before, but it wasn't too hard to catch on. It is a team sport with little 'traditions' like raising your sticks in a huddle, doing a "RA RA" cheer for the other team, fans, and ref at the end of the game, and riding a stick horse in your undies the first time you score. Interesting !?!?!?

Thanksgiving Update

Briella did quite well in the van, she was happier when I was in the seat next to her or when she had a snack in each hand.

She learned how to use the remote while at my parent's house. She also found the buttons on the TV and really cracked herself up with these new skills.

One of the highlights of mom's new kitchen is a special cupboard that has a shelf to pull out with her mixer mounted on it. Very handy. Anyway, while the mixer was being used the cupboard was free (well, mostly, Briella just emptied out a few things left) and found a little place to play!

Thanksgiving

We have made it back from Iowa, but our computer died while we were away :( I am at my sisters and decided to do a quick update. I couldn't handle another day without checking my email, blog, bank account, library due dates, etc. . . .
On the trip to IA we stopped at a friends house outside of Des Moines, it was wonderful to get a night of sleep and to break up the trip. It was great to catch up with Brenda and meet her fiance, too!! We got to see lots of people in IA, but not everyone . . . it always goes by so fast! It was wonderful to have Thanksgiving with my mom's family, there were almost 60 of us at Grandpa and Grandma's and enough food for at least 20 more. We also had fun seeing mom and dad's new house in Hull, even though I was forced to take home my 'junk' that I had left stored at their house from highschool and college. I felt old realizing that after my freshman year at Dordt my friends and I wrote real letters since email wasn't a big thing yet--strange. I even found the bathroom log that my roomies and I kept sophmore year. It is just like it sounds, a pad of paper kept near the toilet so you can log the days happenings or thoughts while . . . yeah you can figure it out. It was so funny to skim through the funny things we wrote.
We travelled home on Monday and had really nice weather until we passed Chicago. We had seen a few cars in the ditches along the way, but after Chicago we saw huge flashing lights and a helicopter landed on the interestate, followed by miles of back up. After that we saw several fresh accidents and Stephan slowed down. The trip took a little longer due to the weather, but we were happy to be safely home and sleeping in our own bed!!
Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Due Date Change

My due date has officially changed to March 14 . . . I am still over half way and feeling very good!
Recently I was trying to download our pictures from the camera to order prints so that I can attempt to catch up on scrapbooking before March . . . but the computer could not read the disc in the camera or the disc in the printer. SO, I was very frustrated and panicky, but we found free software on line that recovered our pictures for us! YEAH! I was so happy that we didn't lose months worth of pictures. Now I have 100's of pictures to put into scrapbooks, but at least I don't have 100's of memories with not printed proof :)
We are planning to head to Iowa for Thanksgiving with the Buys side of the family. Since MI has already seen some snow, we are hoping for clear roads while travelling!! I'm also hoping my parents will have their Internet working by then so that I can update from there with a couple of pictures.

Pathetic, I know

So, when I finally started my blog I wasn't going to be one of those who never update, but if you look at the dates of my posts, I have become that. Oh well, I said I'd never live in GR and I do, quite happily too :)
So, we went to Iowa, my sister and me and 4 kids under 5. Actually it wasn't too bad in the van for 12.5 hours. We got there just in time to see our youngest brother play 20 minutes of soccer (they lost in the last seconds of overtime, sad). We also stopped by the local gas station that serves as the coffee spot for the locals . . . for Grandpa's birthday coffee. My mom and sisters brought coffee cakes and lots of people stopped by, it was neat. Grandpa's picture and a little "Happy Birthday" note and invite were posted at the main intersection in town. That's how they do things in small town Iowa, I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up in the paper :) Then Sat. night we had 60+ people for pizza at Grandpa and Grandma's house.
Happy 92nd Birthday Grandpa! Grandpa is a devout Christian and has a healthy happy heart after all these year. I love it that he got married at age 30, still had 7 kids, 33 grand kids, and now 35? great grandkids (I got married at 28). He has had white hair as long as I can remember, not grayish white, pure white, as if it was dyed with bleach. He also has a Santa belly and uses suspenders to keep up his pants. He always smiles, loves to see his family and comment "Look at all the trouble I started." I can't imagine being 92 years old, but if I reach 92 I hope that I am still able to drive, enjoy church, spend time with family, see 4 generations in one packed house, and be a testimony to those around me, just like Grandpa!
They trip back was more memorable than the trip there . . . we took a wrong turn and with 4 kids we were too distracted to notice and lost 1.5 hours?!? yuck. that's enough to get ya mad. Then we got stopped by a flagger that had one top tooth and several parts of bottom teeth. He chit chatted with us and after 7 minutes we got to move on. Shortly after that we stopped for a gas, potty break. Then about an hour down the road I realized I didn't know where my cell phone was. UH-OH. While I was driving my sister looked through all my bags before suggesting we call it with her phone, it didn't ring :( So I realized that my sister with her 3 was able to get all of them pottied and changed without any issues, but I (with one child) couldn't keep track of my cell phone. So my lovely husband found the number of the gas station and they found my phone (in the bathroom --eewww) and will send it to us. I'm still waiting for the phone to arrive, any ideas on disinfecting a phone?!?!?
Briella finally cut her first teeth, the bottom 2 are poking through. I realized this the day I realized I hadn't wiped her nose in 13 minutes. I'm not convinced the two were related, but I've heard runny noses and teeth go together. She is still as happy as ever :) I know I need to post pictures. I really will take the time to do that soon, really!