Monday, July 04, 2011

Strawberry Picking

On Monday, June 20, the skies were overcast and it wasn't too hot so I packed up the kids and met my mom, Rebecca and Josh at the strawberry fields to pick berries. The kids did a great job, each picking at their own pace and we came home with a bursting flat of berries that were quickly eaten, made into pies, mashed and frozen. The kids had fun...Johanna the most fun of all I think!My almost 8 year old! (Notice Josh's red chin in the background)
My kids have always LOVED fruit and Johanna is no exception!

Henry did an awesome job picking the berries!
So did Abby, but she kept giving all the ones she picked to Grandma.
Josh liked to eat them too!
Jos LOVES her boots and wears them all the time!

Happy 1st Birthday, Luke!

Little Luke celebrated his first birthday on June 4 with a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed party. Rebecca did an awesome job throwing a great party for the little guy! We had such a great time celebrating Luke and what a sweet boy that he is!

Isn't this cake awesome?
The cute favor buckets that Rebecca put together.
Johanna and Joshua in their Hungry Caterpillar outfits. They are TROUBLE together! :)
This caterpillar was made out of 12 circles that had a picture of Luke at 1 month, 2 months, etc.

The birthday boy was loving his presents!
About ready to dig into the cake!

Monday, May 30, 2011

On to Kindergarten!

Henry finished Young Fives May 19 with a trip to Timbertown with his class and teachers. The weather looked iffy but ended up decent and the kids had a great time having lunch, playing, feeding the ducks and enjoying one last day together. He really had a great class this year with an amazing teacher and wonderful teacher assistant. Both Henry and I are slightly in mourning that his year is finished...he's glad to be on to Summer, but already misses his teachers and friends. He's also excited, but nervous to go to a new school next year.
Henry's Class this year (9 girls, 2 boys) :)
Ashley, Julia, Emma, Lee, Chloe, Baylee, Henry, Autumn Mae, Kayla, Yasmin and Elise
Henry and Johanna chillin' on the bench by the water. I had to watch Jos like crazy!

Henry's amazing teacher for the past two years, Mrs. Zwart. She's the best!
Mrs. Mulder, the teacher assistant for the past two years. She's great too!

Henry finished Young Fives May 19 with a trip to Timbertown with his class and teachers. The weather looked iffy but ended up decent and the kids had a great time having lunch, playing, feeding the ducks and enjoying one last day together. He really had a great class this year with an amazing teacher and wonderful teacher assistant. Both Henry and I are slightly in mourning that his year is finished...he's glad to be on to Summer, but already misses his teachers and friends. He's also excited, but nervous to go to a new school next year.

We are so happy with our decision to send him to Young Fives this year. We have no regrets and think that this year was a good growing, maturing and learning year for him. Next year he will be in all day, every day kindergarten and he definitely seems ready.

We struggled with anxiety with Henry this year and had him tested for a few things including ADD, ADHD, Sensory disorders and anxiety. The only one that came back as a definite issue was the anxiety which wasn't surprising at all to us. We have implemented different strategies right now and he's actually been doing very well lately. We are aware of what we need to do when his anxiety gets out of control and hopefully will be able to help him keep things in check.

Henry also continued to go to speech classes twice a week this year. He was pulled out twice a week for about 30 minutes each time at school. He has really enjoyed working with Mrs. U the last three years and will really miss her. She has also been a blessing to us, helping Henry with his speech development. He still struggles with beginning sounds and transposes some letters so he will definitely continue to have speech therapy next year. We are so blessed that the schools offer such great services for him!

Henry is such a wonderful kid! He's sweet, loving, sensitive, helpful, caring, creative, artistic and his attention to detail is amazing! He loves Sammy, loves to draw, grew two flowers from seeds with care and love, watering them and moving them to the sun daily, he is amazing with Johanna, addicted to the iPad and a crazy whiz at math. I love him more and more every day!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Tulip Time 2011

Another Tulip Time is in the books here in Holland! We had another fun week that was even better because of beautiful weather!

We started last Saturday by going to Veldheer Tulip Gardens with my parents, Joel, Kelly and Mila, Rebecca, Joshua and Luke to buy wooden shoes for the kids. Johanna and Joshua wanted nothing to do with the wooden shoes so we decided not to get them any this time, but Abigail, Henry and Mila each got a pair.



I didn't get Hanks a costume this year and even though he could have fit into last year's costume, he really didn't want to and I didn't want to push it. :) Mila is wearing the costume that we had made for Abigail eight years ago that she and Johanna both wore.
This girl really, really is something else!
The gang...you didn't really think that we'd get a picture with all six of them looking, did you?

Luke...11 months old and still a love.


On Thursday Abigail marched in the parade again. It was 80+ degrees and super muggy but the kids still loved marching and did great!
Abby (7), Bebe (6) and Sylvie (4) before the parade.Abby and part of her class before the parade started. Notice how they don't look like they are going to die of heat exhaustion...yet!
Abby and her "boyfriends" Henri, Theo and Sam. She loves these guys-they are great friends!
Walking in the parade...next to Henri of course!
Abigail and Max VanVliet. Joa and I have pictures of these guys together every year from the past eight years. We always say that we'll show them at their wedding!

Thursday night I had the night off so we went downtown for junk food. Henry really wanted to go to the carnival so we gave in and bought wristbands for Henry and Abby to go on the rides.

They loved the swings! Henry did this one twice he liked it so much!


Johanna was too little for any of the rides (except the carousel which she could go on with a parent but would end up costing $6!) so we pacified her with a lemonade instead. She loved it!

Abigail's last ride (twice!) was Pharoah's ship. She loved it! She was scared at first, but then was all smiles as the rode it the second time.

I didn't get the traditional tulip pictures this year. Partially because Henry didn't really have a costume, but also we were just pretty busy this week. I'm okay with it though since we got some other great pictures!

Mother's Day Tea

Henry's Young Fives class had a "Mother's Day Tea" this week at school. All the moms got dressed up and joined their child for songs, crafts and tea on Tuesday afternoon. It was such a wonderful, fun afternoon. It was so great to see how Henry has grown this year...he is so ready for kindergarten! A year ago we were so undecided on whether to send him to Kindergarten or Young Fives and we are so thankful we went with Young Fives. He has truly grown this year and we have all been blessed by his amazing teacher! He only has four more days of school left...I don't know who's more upset - him or me!Singing one of their favorite songs. They would do a Bible verse in between each song. So cute!

"Skin-a-ma-rinki-dinki-dink, skin-a-ma-rinki-do, I LOVE YOU!"

This was the beginning of a craft we did. It started with his handprint on a piece of paper.

And ended up a flower that we made together. I loved creating with my awesome artist!
The tables set up for our tea party...so fancy!

This is one of the adorable things that Henry made for me. So darn cute!

Each place setting looked like this. The folded doily has a tea bag inside. There were mints in the container in the upper left.
Henry opted for pink lemonade over tea...no surprisingly at all. :)
The kids made these adorable flowers for their moms. He was SO proud of it...and should be! I love it.

What a wonderful day with my incredible son!