Halloween-Part I

Pumpkins!

I'm not a big fan of Halloween. In fact, I don't even like scary movies. Don't even get me started on the "meaning" of it. However, I love to carve pumpkins and celebrate the fall with my kids. Here are this year's creations:

First Day of School -2009

This is Bri's first day of School. She is in Pre-K at Grandville Christian School. It's hard to believe that I am at the place in my life where I have elementary-school aged kids. What's even crazier is that both Jeff and I attended Grandville Christian.

This photo may seem silly, but it is very important. My mom would take this photo of me each year on this very same front porch...did I mention how strange it is that I'm the mom now?

Of course, Nate needed to get in on the photo action as well.

At the entry way--During orientation (a few days prior)There she goes..my big girl heading down the hallway to her first day. (with Eli Mulder).

Welcome, Baby Kam!

The newest edition to the family made his debut. Welcome Kameron John Muilenburg! The kids could hardly contain themselves on the way to the hospital
The needed to check out every inch of him. Thankfully, he obliged.
Here, Bri is checking out his fingers.
Nate giving the toes a once-over

"awwww" was said very frequently by both kids.

Camping at Gun Lake 2009

This is, hands-down, what vacation should look like!The two boys getting ready for a bath...hmmmm which one is which?Uncle Bruce brought Great-Grandpa Elzinga's cane poles out to the lake.

Here Bri is, fishing in the channel.Nate giving it a shot, with some help from daddy.
Nate managed to get a bit ahead of himself on the road

Fishing with Grandpa

At Bri's request, Grandpa Don and mommy took her fishing. The trip started out with a special treat; thanks to locking airbags, Bri could ride her booster in Grandpa Don's truck. The drive alone brought on major cases of the giggles and "look at this!". She had never been so high up in a vehicle, let alone able to see the entire view.

For bait, we used wax worms. Here you see Bri pointing to them.

She would go as far as to hold the container of worms,

but was really not interested in touching them.

She did, however pick out the "right" ones.Obviously her choice in bait worked. Here she and Grandpa are posing for a shot with her first fish of the night. Notice how she's leaning away from it?

She still will have nothing to do with touching them. Unfortunately, you can't see her face; but Bri is facing the shore and shouting

"Here fishy fishy...glub, glub"I absolutely love this photo. It gives me a smile each time I see it. Bri loves to do everything just like Grandpa. See how she's standing on the ledge in the boat, just like him?Bri is an expert at navigating with the fish finder. Every time she sees a blip she say "that's a big one, get it Grandpa!"Watching the bobber.

I even manged to get a line in the water a few times.Silly face! Look how dark it is getting in this picture. Grandpa kept saying "Bri, do you want to go home?" and she'd always respond. "Nope!" Toward the end of the evening it was getting a bit chilly,

Bri pulled her fleece over her life jacket.

Father's Day 2009

This father's day I was totally on top of it. I picked out gifts long ahead of time, had them wrapped, and even had cards.

Boy was I suprised when Dad Koetje opened his gift and found a piece of garlic bread in a sandwich bag.... Bri had "Packed" it in there so she wouldn't forget it. Oh well, who wouldn't want cold garlic toast with their polo shirt?

Bri also picked out Dad Kooistra's card. She found one of a man fishing and when you tilt the card the man pulls the fish out of the water. She knew it was perfect.

In the evening my folks came over to our house for dinner and the kids played outside. Here are a few shots from the night.

A step back in time

When I was a kid I absolutely LOVED the muppets. Yup. The muppets. Especially Miss Piggy. Tonight I watched "The Muppets Take Manhattan" with my kids.

It was so strange I think it's been more than 2o years since I've seen that movie..and I still remembered much of it! Bri wasn't so sure what she thought - she really did not like Animal. She thought he was a scary monster.

Nate, on the other hand was singing (loudly) and dancing along to all of the songs.

All in all it was wonderful to share something from my childhood with them.