Snow Day

This has been the coldest week we've had around here since 2009! We took full advantage of the "snow day" today and kept busy with indoor and outdoor activities!

The boys were so excited to use the finger paints they got for Christmas. The fun only lasted a few minutes, but they loved being able to use their hands to paint!

Joshua has been asking to go outside the past couple of days. It has been SO cold, like single digits cold, the last few days, so I haven't let him go outside. Today is a bit warmer, so we decided to take full advantage of the snow while Luke was napping.

We shoveled, attempted to make a snowman, wrote his name on the fence, made a Mommy and a baby snow angel:),"snowboarded" and used our fun paint marker in the snow.

Even though going outside in the cold isn't my favorite thing to do, I will treasure these memories as these boys are growing up WAY too fast!

Jester's Court

Our nieces had their 2nd birthday party at a great new place in Grand Rapids called Jester's Court. It is an awesome, clean:), place for the kiddos to run around, climb and bounce! Jordan, Julie and I and all the kiddos made the trip down there for a morning. The kids LOVED it! They all had so much fun and it was so nice to be able to let them get their energy out which isn't normally that easy in the Winter months!

 I could barely get this boy to stay still for a picture. He was running the whole time!

 Luke and Myles went down this slide over and over and over.....

 They weren't supposed to move the blocks out of the play area. After being asked by a worker to bring the blocks back, this was Luke's response. Myles was trying his hardest to get him to comply.

After realizing Luke wasn't going to budge, Myles decided to try and pull Luke all the way back to the play area. Too funny!

Joshua and Josi were trying to come up with the funniest/craziest ways to go down the slides. They were too funny, giggling the whole time down!

 This little man kept his Mama on her toes. She was up and down almost every slide with him and he was constantly wanting to be on the go. He was so cute how he would try and keep up with the bigger kids!

Critter Barn Fun

We headed to the Critter Barn for their annual live Nativity with Julie and the kids. We arrived  at the start of one of the  "live nativity showings." Luke was mad because he could see people, through the door, playing with animals. He didn't want to watch the show. Once we went into the "stable," the boys liked watching the story and Joshua was pretty interested in their baby Jesus. He asked a million questions about him on the way home.

The boys loved sitting in the bunny coop and holding the baby bunnies. Joshua was a bit unsure at first, but warmed up once I sat down in the hay and let the bunnies climb all over me.  The things you do as a mom:)!

Luke loved yelling "cock-a-doodle-doo" to the roosters. He thought it was SO funny. I am sure the roosters were thrilled. We finished the day in the "cat room." I am not a cat lover....at all. Luke's allergies and cough were full blown, so I guess I'll never have to worry about having a cat around the house:)!

Dutch Boys

Truthfully, I think this blog post should be titled, "Little Stinkers." After having a great day with the boys, a rare one where both were in pleasant moods the entire day, Luke decided to wake up on the wrong side of the toddler bed:)!  We had already planned to go get pictures taken as though we were two weeks away from the festival, there were very few tulips left, so we decided to attempt it despite his foul mood.

We met the Mulder family at Window on the Waterfront and gave our best attempt at getting some pictures of the five kiddos. The boys would have preferred to run around the entire time, but we wrangled them in for a few photo opportunities. Luke wanted nothing to do with it and threw several fits throughout. After becoming exhausted and giving up hopes of a nice pictures, Luke would start smiling and sitting nicely for a picture. As soon as the other kids would come for the picture, he would run away, or pout. It became quite humorous and frustrating at the same time!

Still, we did manage to catch a couple of cute ones.  I mean, look at Joshua and Johanna.  Does it get any cuter than that? I think that some of these pictures could define "kissing cousins."

Kissing Cousins

Hard to get mad at this cute face!

Take #842

They are quite the crew:)!

Luke running away from the pictures

Deciding he wanted to pose nicely...for a second or two.

My Favorite Little Men

Critter Barn

On Saturday April 7, we headed out to the Critter Barn with Julie and the kids.  The kids loved seeing all the animals and watching the "running of the sheep." Luke loved petting the bunnies and was so upset when we had to leave them. Joshua thought it was hilarious that there was a goat named "Joshua." He was quite proud that he was the only one who had a goat named after him:)!

After an hour or so of seeing the animals, watching pig tricks, and feeding the crazy looking goats, we went to the park in Drenthe and let the kids play for a long time. It was a beautiful day and they loved every minute of it!

Easter 2012

Easter morning is such a special day and this year was no exception. We started the morning off with “Easter baskets” (aka a few random toys) and then ate a quick breakfast. You both loved your new toys and were so eager to play with them. After taking a little time to check them all out, we headed to church a bit early as I had to coordinate nursery for both services. Luke lucked out in nursery because both Mommy and Daddy stayed with him! Joshua went to little lambs where he was taught that Jesus died on a cross, not on a truck as he had previously thought:)! Daddy and the boys headed to Grandma and Grandpa Kuipers’s house for Sunday dinner while I stayed in nursery during the second service. As soon as I arrived, we had a wonderful Easter feast. The food was great!

As soon as dinner was over, Daddy and Jason took the kids for a walk while the Easter Bunnies (AKA Mommy and Aunt Brenda) hid the eggs. Grandma did such a great job with the eggs and filled them with all sorts of fun things. Joshua's favorite was probably the Pop Rocks egg and Luke loved the egg stuffed with gummy bears (Mommy did too:))!

The Easter bunny also got you both a very cool water gun and you loved playing with it with Eli. 

All in all it was a wonderful day filled with the promise of a Savior, beautiful weather and fun fellowship with family!