Christmastime is Upon Us

Compared to most people, we don't really have many Christmas parties to attend this year.  Somewhat last minute, my extended Buursma side planned a party, but that's it as far as "extra" parties (aside from immediate families on Christmas Eve and Christmas).  We don't have any work parties since Joe's employer doesn't have one and mine doesn't either for some reason (ha, kidding, I don't have a job).  We only see my Buursma side once a year at the most, so it's always good to catch up.  I do however, occasionally now see my cousin's wife, Carissa, at school from time to time. They have a son that is also in the Mandarin class at ZCS, so Layla and Gavin now know him which is fun.  They think it's pretty cool at school to have so many cousins (2nd or 3rd or whatever they are) in the same class since there are so many sib sets in their class.  They were very excited to get to hang out with Jake outside of school!

 

Not sure why Greta has one finger up--probably b/c sometimes to make her smile I say, "where's the camera?".  Or she may still want people to think she's one since she enjoys being the baby :-).

 I copied Joe's family's Thanksgiving Day game of doing a "cake walk" as an easy and active way to distribute gifts to the kids.

 I seriously attempted like a dozen times to get a good pic of them smiling and Greta was the most cooperative.  Gibs and Layla claimed they were trying, but for some reason neither could manage to put on a "normal" smile.

 Layla and Gavin had their Jingle Jog today at school.  Since I am new to this whole elementary school thing, I had no idea what that was, but was told that parents could come.  ZCS I guess every year, has the kids run for a certain amount of time (I'm not really sure how long it was, Layla thought 11 minutes, but that may not be entirely accurate--somewhere close to that) through the gym and around the hall and then back through the gym, while being cheered on by parents/siblings/grandparents.  They collect money from sponsors and the money then goes to their sister school in the Philippines.  Parents and siblings are also welcome to run with them for some laps if they want to.  All the kids wear Christmas apparel for the jog.

Since all the kids had Christmas shirts on today, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for a picture and it turned out to be MUCH more successful than my attempt last Friday night!  Greta cracks me up recently with just how much she loves all things "pretty" as she says, especially wearing skirts.  I took this skirt off of her for lunch and supper so that she wouldn't spill on it (since she now thinks she's too big to sit in her booster or high chair) and as soon as she's done eating, she wants it right back on. 

 

Decking the Halls

I love this time of year!  I don't enjoy the cold weather it brings, but I don't start REALLY disliking it until about late January/early February.  So for now, the snow is pretty outside (although melting right now).  I love putting up our Christmas tree--it just gives a house such a warm and cozy feel to it.  It reminds me of feeding Greta in the night beside the glow of the Christmas tree...ah, how these two years have gone by so fast!  The kids were excited to put the tree up this year because of course they love the tree, but also because for a family gift this year, we got the Disney World monorail to go around it.  I think it's a pretty nice addition to our tree :-).  Many of the kids' ornaments are Disney too, so it's turning into a bit of a Disney themed tree :-).  Each year, the kids pick an ornament out (or I pick it if they are too little).  With my help, they pick something that represents what they were really into this year.  Last year Gibs got a panda one, Layla got a baking one and Greta got a cupcake.  This year, Layla chose an Aurora ornament, Gibs chose "Magic Mickey" (it's actually Sorcerer Mickey, he just calls him Magic Mickey), and Greta got Pooh b/c she loves that movie (and in Disney World, called him Pooh-ah when we met him, which we found cute). 

 

 

And one of the little girlies today...

 

Big Little Helper

Gibs was the special helper today in Threeschool so I got to go to school with him and help in the classroom.  I always find it interesting to see how my child acts in class, as well as how the other kids act.  Always an interesting day helping 3 year olds paint :-).

 

With his friends Luke and Crew...

 In the special helper chair next to Mrs. Walters...

A Few Disney Pics

Here are a few Photopass pics from our recent trip!

Girlies

Just a cute pic from today of the girls playing their games :-)

Happy Fall

It was so nice this year for the Pumpkin Parade!  The kids were a little hot in their outfits! 

 A few days later they had fall shirts on again, so I had them pose again.  It was cooler, but still nice.  While we were in Disney World this past week, we got SNOW already!  I sure hope we don't have snow from now until March!  That will make for a long winter!  I'd like fall weather to stick around for awhile yet!

Recent Garper Pic

I thought Greta and Harper were cute today in their animal print pants.  Greta is often in her jammies still when Harper comes, so she likes to try to coordinate her outfits with Harper's :-).

Kids

I thought it was cute the other day how he fell asleep.   A lot of times, he either tucks himself in his bed or falls asleep watching a movie.  This is him just crashing.  And I love that his little Kung Fu Panda is near him too--he LOVES him.

 I am not a fan of what comes after fall, but I do enjoy fall weather (when it actually feels like fall).  I'm getting a bit tired of our summer wardrobes, so I've enjoyed the recent cooler weather.  I often buy a lot of the kids' clothes on clearance at the end of each season, so it's fun to get their next season's clothes out since I normally don't remember what they have.   We went to a cousin's daughter's casual country wedding Saturday night and Layla thought the girls needed a picture together in their coordinating outfits. :-) 

And so to not leave Gibs out...

 As I was uploading these pics, I noticed this one of our family from Joe's work picnic.  It was a really HOT day in July so we are all a bit red and glistening, but overall, not too terrible for a quick family photo.  And it even looks like we kind of tried to coordinate:-).

 

Gibs' First Day of School

Gibs had his first day of Threeschool today!  I can't believe I have two kids in school already (well, sort of--he only goes one morning a week).  Today the parents came along so next week will be the true test of how he does on his own.  I think he will really love it. It's two hours of playing with other kids and different toys--what's not to like? :-)  And the kids in his class all seem so sweet.  I'm sure he'll have a great year with them.

Hi teacher, Mrs. Walters, seems very nice...

His teacher's assistant painted his hands to put on a paper that he'll get back when he graduates from 8th grade (I don't know if they put it into a book or something--I can't remember what his teacher said).  I don't like thinking about him being in 8th grade--that seems way too old!

 Proud mama...

Tumbling Time

Gibs started a class yesterday with his friend, Maddy, at Zeeland Rec called Motor Movement.  It's a class allows toddlers to run around, tumble and burn some energy off.  He seemed to like it.  He loves doing somersaults at home which I think he gets partly from copying Layla and partly because he incorporates into his Kung Fu he tries to do.  He's been obsessed with Kung Fu Panda lately and loves to act like Po:-).  Him and Maddy will have this class on Monday mornings until mid November.  We made a quick stop at the bakery after class, so I'm assuming that may become part of our Monday routine as well:-).  Maddy and Lincoln came over for a play date afterward and we said how weird it is now with Jonathan and Layla in school :-(.

Bus Rider

Layla started riding the bus to school last week!  The first day, she got on happily.  The next few days were not as good, however.  She cried each time when getting on which was so heartbreaking for me to see her ride away on the bus crying!  She told me though, that she settled down after a couple of minutes, so hopefully that's true:-).  Her bus driver has been so sweet to her and even cleared out the front seat for her when she was crying :-).  Each night before bed, she'd complain too that she didn't like riding the bus.  She started to love school last week, just didn't like the bus.  But now today, she got on fine and says it was fine.   So she apparently just takes a little time to adjust to new things.  She is loving school and has learned to count to 10 in Mandarin, sing the clean up song and has learned some colors and words like "hi", "bye" and other things.  Maybe she has learned more than that, but that is all we've really heard from her so far.  We are very glad to be doing the immersion program as we can already see how easy it is for a 5 year old to pick up another language.  I can't even repeat back to her things she says to me:-).

 

First day riding the bus...

 Even daddy went to the bus stop the first day...

 All smiles the first day...

Final House Pics...Only 2 Months Later

Since I posted building progress pictures along the way, I figured I should post final pictures of our house.  It's only taken me two months, ha!  I guess maybe I thought I'd have more done as far as decorating goes, but really, I haven't done much since we first moved in.  Eventually:-).

 

We are so happy with how everything turned out.  When you see your house on a print, you really hope it all turns out like you're picturing it as far as room sizes and such go.  And it really did.  Thankfully.  I really feel like the whole building process was pretty painless.  We had been warned about how much work it is and how stressful it can all be, but Baumann Builders made it all very simple and were very easy to work with.  Moving in was the hard part:-).  But we are now feeling very settled.  There is definitely some closets and such that I need to better organize, but that's what winter is for, right? :-) 

 

Half bath by back/garage door...

 The big kids were gone the other day, so I thought it would be a good time to finally take some pictures with only one kid taking toys out around the house.  Greta thought she should pose for the pics:-).  I love how she sees a camera and does her "cheese" face.  This is the back entrance.  The door on the left comes in from the garage and the other goes out to the size of our house where we'll (hopefully soon) put our swing set in for the kids and eventually (some day) a barn.  The laundry room is to the right (Greta's left).  The bench/chest on the left is where lockers are supposed to be...eventually:-).

 This is probably my least favorite room, only because laundry is pretty much my least favorite thing to do:-).  Our old laundry room was in our basement in our mechanical room, so it's great now having it so close the kitchen and I really love having a counter and a sink in it and cabinet storage. 

 I also really love having a desk in our kitchen now.  As there keeps getting  more to keep track of with school and activities and such, it's great having a place to help me try to keep it all straight!  It's also handy having my printer in my kitchen now too.  

Front entry... 

 Joe's mom found this bench and it couldn't be a more perfect fit!   Now I just need some hooks/shelf to put above it.

 Living room...

 

Dining with a door to our covered deck that we'd like to screen in...

Kitchen (obviously)...  

 This is the kids' sitting area between their rooms that clearly doesn't have a lot in it right now.  When they're older, we'd like to put desks up there for them.  For right now, it's where we keep their books (to the left there is a spot where there could be a built in cabinet that we have a big book shelf in now) and where they can play or watch tv.  The doors on the right that you can see are Greta's (the one that's open) and the game closet, and Gibs' is to the right, directly across from Greta's door.

 Layla's room...

 The kids' bathroom...

 Greta apparently wanted to look relaxed in her room...

 Greta's room...  

Gibs' room is clearly a little heavy on the buddies, but he loves them:-).  He also LOVES all his trucks and his trains.  He can play farm/trucks/trains for hours by himself.  Although this week with Layla being in school, every afternoon for rest time, he's been playing for awhile, and then tucking himself in bed for a nap which is funny because normally he only naps a few times a week now.



 I thought this old book that I found in a box of old books from my parents was a perfect decoration for Gibs' room since he loves Donald Duck and the colors of the book cover match his room perfectly:-).

I really need to work on our room.   The curtains I bought for our room, I ended up using in the living room since I couldn't find anything else I liked, and I have things to hang up, they're just setting on the floor:-).  Plus, Joe is very anti-hanging things on the wall, so things can only go up if I'm positive it's going to be there for the next 30 years, lol:-).

 

This is the play room on the main floor which has been great having a place to put all their toys and to (try) to keep them out of the living room.

Maybe we can close the doors some day when it's an office:-)...

 

So that's our house...we still definitely have things to do (especially outside!), but we are loving where we are now and it definitely feels like home.  When we sold our old house, we didn't know what our next house would be, so it's nice now for whole process to be done with and to be settled in our new house.  We are enjoying our country life :-).