Hello Again

So much for my New Year's resolution. It's been waaaay too long since I've posted anything here. To tell you the truth, I just don't have the patience for dial-up internet. In case anyone out there is still checking this blog, I decided to finally post a few pictures.

We're having a wonderful summer - the best summer we've had in a long time. It's so nice to not worry about where we'll be living or where Spencer will be working. Jenna turned one, and Grant turned three - I can't believe it!

Friends from Florida came to visit at the end of June, and it was so good to spend time with them. The weather was so nice and not too hot. It was good for them to get a little break from the heat and humidity of the South. We ate a picnic at Holland State Park and then went to Dutch Village. Spencer and I haven't been there since we were kids, and we thought out kids would have fun.

We just got back from a fun family vacation at my parents' cottage. Our family, and both my sisters' families were all together for the whole week. 9 kids ages 6 years - 2 months can be a little crazy, but it was worth it. The weather was perfect so we spent a lot of time in the water.

I've been hanging all our laundry out on the clothes line, which I love to do, and I attempted to plant a vegetable garden for the first time. It's actually doing pretty well, except that I planted the pumpkins way too close to everything else, so they're starting to take over the garden. The tomatoes are also too close together and way too big for the little cages I put around them. Hopefully they still produce lots of tomatoes, because those are Spencer's favorite. Brendan really enjoys going out to pick lettuce or beans for our dinners. I'm already making plans for next year's garden, which will be much bigger.

Jenna and Mommy sitting by the birthday cake Mommy made.
Grant really wanted Buzz Light Year on his cake, so I did my best.

Brendan and Grant looking very patriotic on the pontoon boat during the July 4 boat parade.

In front of Big Red at Holland State Park.

A Little of This... A Little of That...

It's still cold and snowy. Brendan and Spencer both had a snow day last Wednesday, so we had a fun family day. We started out the day with a big breakfast of eggs and sausage, Brendan and Grant's favorite. Then we hooked up the Wii and played it for the first time. Brendan did really well in the bowling, beating Spencer for a few games. Spencer insisted on playing until he won a game, which took a while. We ended the day by watching some home videos that we took when Grant was a baby - what a little "Michelin Man" :). It was a really fun day.

Jenna is great at pushing backwards, but still not going forward. She is such a happy baby.
Playing the boxing game on Wii.

Building a house of cushions.

Grant FINALLY decided that he wanted to try playing outside in the snow. This whole winter he cried every time we tried to put any of his snow gear on, but this time he was more than willing to wear it. He had lots of fun playing with Spencer and Brendan, and he was so cute trying to run through the snow.

New Years Resolution

I will try to update the blog more regularly…That’s my New Years Resolution. It’s been a long time since I’ve written anything – sorry about that. Life was a little crazy in the Terpstra household around the holidays. We had lots of parties to attend, and we were trying to unpack and get settled into our new house at the same time. It feels like we’re finally settling into a routine, and most of the unpacking is done. There are just a few pictures that still need to be hung up and a couple closets to organize.

We are really enjoying our “new” house. It’s the biggest house we’ve ever lived in, and it’s so nice to spread out. It’s been great for the kids to each have their own rooms and to even have a room just for toys. We even have a large, partially finished basement, a two car garage, and a sunroom which we are excited to use this Spring and Summer. We feel very blessed to be able to live here.

The kids are all growing and changing so fast. They have really adjusted well to the move. Brendan still loves school and everything about it. He just started riding the bus to school, which picks him up and drops him off right in front of the house. He was able to invite a friend over to play this week, which he just loved. His favorite thing to do lately is go sledding with Spencer on the little hill right by the house. Grant loves having all his toys back again. He spends a lot of time taking toys out of the playroom. He has also been spending a lot of time doing puzzles, which he is very good at. Jenna is now almost 8 months old already. She sits up on her own and rolls all over the floor. She hasn’t started crawling yet, but Brendan is working on that with her. She is a great eater, she’ll try anything, so it’s really fun to feed her. She’s also starting to take longer naps, so she finally has a good eating and napping schedule.

We had a very fun Christmas. It seemed really special because it has been 3 years since we’ve been able to celebrate Christmas in our own house. We spent a lot of time creating new traditions and just playing together. It was so nice not to have to spend 2 days traveling just to see family. Instead, we were able to drive back to our own house after each party and put the kids to bed in their own beds. Here are a few pictures of the kids at Christmas.

Jenna is looking pretty and festive in the Christmas dress that Renee' gave to her.
Posing in front of our Christmas tree after decorating it.

Jenna, Grant and Brendan in front of Grandpa and Grandma T's tree. I just love how cute they look after their baths and in their pj's.

Home Sweet Home

It looks like we FINALLY found a place to live. Our search for a home has been quite a journey. As soon as Spencer found out he got the job, we started looking for places to rent. When we discovered that it would be cheaper to have mortgage payments than to rent, we decided to look for a house to buy. The first house we found did not pass the home inspection, so we put an offer on another one that passed the inspection. We were so excited to be home owners again. Just 3 days before we were going to close on the house, Spencer was told that he might lose his job due to budget cuts. He was told that if he didn't lose his job now, he might lose it before next school year. We got scared and decided not to buy the house or any other house. So back to looking for a place to rent. We were having a hard time finding something that we liked that was in a good location that was in our price range. After a couple weeks of looking, we found an old 5 bedroom farmhouse that we really like. It's by far the biggest house we looked at, and it's also in a great location, very close to Brendan's school, and just 18 minutes from Spencer's school (according to yahoo maps). Hopefully we'll move in about 2 weeks.

Pumpkins and Costumes

The boys had fun picking out their own pumpkins at the stand across the road from Grandma VanKampen's house.

Daddy had to help Grant with the slimy stuff as he wouldn't come near it. Brendan just got right in there and dug it out himself.

Jenna even got her own pumpkin.

Officer Awesome from the Halloween Police, Cowboy Brendan, and Sunflower Jenna

A Beautiful Fall Day

Jenna's Baptism

Today Jenna was welcomed into the family of God at Haven Church. She was very good, and Pastor Randy was very considerate to do the baptism at the beginning of the service since she was getting fussy and ready for a nap. We had lunch with family afterwards, which was lots of fun. We're glad everyone could come and celebrate this special day with us.

We found Jenna's outfit at the Zeeland Christian Craft Show.

(I did not make the outfit or the cake.)