Briella is 6

 Briella has been excited for first grade for weeks and even though it was early, she was happy to head off to school Tuesday morning.  She came home telling me that her teacher was a nice lady and she thinks first grade will be fun.  Oh and she only has one naughty boy in her class this year . . .

We celebrated her 6th birthday with G & G P in town :)  I think Briella enjoyed the extra attention and excitement on her birthday.  Here is her purple sprinkle cake.  (Two cakes in 8 days is a bit much, but I'm off until March!!)  She brought party popcorn (with almond bark and sprinkles on it) for a birthday treat, she said everyone said thank you and they liked it, except A(the naughty boy)...

It is hard to imagine we have a 6 year old now!!  She is so happy to be 6, to have her own Polly Pockets and a watch!!  Briella is a blessing to our family, a great big sister and helper.  She loves her family and friends and is very thoughtful at times.  She loves her dolls (and now Pollys) and enjoys pushing Asher around in a stroller outside.  We enjoy listening to her read, watching her grow in kindness and understanding of God and His creation.

Easter/Spring Break/90th Birthday

 Here we are Easter morning in Kansas City.  We spent about 2.5 days in Kansas City.

 Monday we headed to Branson where the weather was not too delightful, but the kids wanted to swim.  We were able to swim at an indoor pool one day as well.

 The nice place we stayed had plenty of beds and tons of space. (Lots of clouds and rain, too)

 After 2.5 days in Branson we headed up to Hull, IA.  We visited my Grandma VM and celebrated Grandma M. 90th birthday!  Briella said "I have two really old grandmas."  (Note to Moms, I explained that the 'really old' grandmas we really her great-grandmas and the 'kind of old' ones are her garndmas ;))

It's About Time

 Our family on Christmas morning

 Gideon was pumped to get a couple of new hotwheels

 Asher resting on his new moose pillow

 Sunday we took family pictures of each family and I thought Asher looks so cute in this picture :)  I'm not sure what Uncle Dan was doing to make him laugh?!?!

 Postma Grandkids

 This shot totally cracks me up.  Asher is giggling and then there is Landon playing with his lips . . . taking pictures of lots of kids is always so fun :)

 Briella got this weaving kit and we made a potholder; so fun!

We decided to move the high chair out of the kitchen so we are all sitting by the table now!  It is nice and cozy with a family of five :)

Postma Boys

 One of Gideon's favorite activities is lining up his cars in random places around the house.  The other night he made a line along the back of the entire couch.  I am afraid this is feeding any anal tendencies he may have inherited . . . if one car gets bumped out of line he feels the need to straighten it before coming to eat or to go to the bathroom, etc.

 Mr. Mohawk seems to enjoy the punk look he's got going on . . . Stephan is pleased with his new buzzed cut, too.

Grandma and Aunt Kim were here recently, Asher had fun showing off for them :)

 

Craftiness

 I finally found some time to do some sewing projects on my 'new' sewing machine I am buying from my Mom.  I made Asher a little monster taggie, a mini version of Gideon's.  Asher promptly broke it in with some drool . . .

 I added his name to one of the legs for a personal touch . . . I'm not sure if it my lack of embroidery experience, or the difficulty of embroidering on the fleece, but it was hard to make neat letters! Must have been the fabric ;O

 Stephan built these doll bunk beds for Briella as a Christmas gift and I sewed some 'mattresses' and pillows to go with them.  She is pretty excited about her bed and there have been babies sleeping in it ever since!!  (In the background you can see our new glider rocker from Grandma VM, we love it!!)

 After a two week break, we are back to our preschool letters . . . we made ice cream for I last week.  Briella is getting better at writing her name and coloring and it is fun to see her learn!  She has progressed from scribbling in the vicinity of the shape with one color to using different colors on the picture and staying closer to the lines.  I didn't realize this slow progression, but I'm thankful she has made some progress, because I was starting to wonder if she was just a messy colorer.

Grandparents . . .

We always appreciate the time we spend with our parents and siblings, since most of them are out of state.  The kids had a blast playing with aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Gideon enjoyed the wrestling, cars, and throwing of balls.  Briella enjoyed the sitting on various laps, playing dress up, and extra books being read to her.

 The best gift opening this year was not any of the kids, it was my Mom  . . . when she saw we (as in the siblings) got her and Dad a Kindle Fire and a few books for their trip to Alaska in August.  priceless.

 Briella loves to visit Great Grandma Miersma and play with all her dolls.  While Grandma was holding Asher and Gideon was playing on the floor, Asher started giggling--it was so cute!

 Evidently our kids were the most excited to help Great Grandma VM open her gifts.  She didn't seem to mind ;)


I have to include this one because I'm sure Brynn wants to see how it turned out:

 Here is our section of the VM party crowd.  It was a fun party, even though I am sure we maxed out the capacity in that place.
Later in the night, Asher was cracking up while Great Grandma was holding him.  So fun to see him enjoying his big happy family :)

Our trip to Iowa also included seeing Stephan's parents and sister, but we missed getting pictures of them.  We had a wonderful time in Iowa, including our first ever Chili Bash at Casey's Bakery (highly recommended!!), the typical stop at the candy store, and lots of food, games, and books at G & G Buys' house!

20 hour Chicago trip

 Thursday night Stephan was talking to his dad . . . and asked if we'd be interested in coming to Chicago Friday to hang out with them.  They had meetings on Saturday, but would be arriving at 2:30 on Friday.  Stephan had the day off, so we decided to go for it.  
We met them at Vito and Nick's a major dive with delicious, unique pizza.  We tried the Italian shredded beef in the video.
Next we headed to Chick fil A for the best shakes EVER!  Peppermint chocolate chip--YUM!  Believe it or not we found a way to eat two shakes in our 20 hour stay :)
Grandpa and Grandma had lots of fun holding Asher and getting him to smile.  Briella and Gideon thought the pool was awesome.

 

Briella and Gideon got to open presents from G & G --so exciting!!

 

 Gideon was thrilled with his new truck, a car carrier, and a hot wheels track that attaches to the wall--his dad thinks it's very cool, too.
Miss Briella was SO happy to see her princess things and thinks her cute rug is cozy, too.

 It was fun to take a little trip and the kids LOVED it!!  I know Chicago has more to offer than pizza and shakes, but the family time was worth the trip!

Asher's Baptism

 We were blessed to have both sets of our parents at the baptism.

 Briella and Gideon really wanted in on the picture taking this morning when I was trying to get a few pictures of Asher in his baptism outfit.

 My mom made his outfit -- so special.