On the Road Again

We're heading up north once again. The packing is done, for the most part. The bathroom is clean, now I just need to clean the rest of the house. There's something nice about coming home from vacation to a clean house. Spencer and I are both exhausted after trying to get everything in perfect order before we leave. I still feel like I have a lot to do tomorrow before we go, so I can't relax yet. It hasn't helped that Grant isn't feeling well. He started getting a fever yesterday and still had it today. He must be coming down with something as it seems like his throat hurts. At least he'll have lots of time to rest during our long ride.

We're so excited to to see everyone again. The cold Michigan weather will take some getting used to as we've had temps in the mid 70's all week. I think that will help it feel more like Christmas, though. Brendan just can't understand why they celebrate Christmas in Florida if they don't get snow :).

Playing Post Office

One of Brendan's favorite things to play is post office at a little end table in our living room. He likes to write notes to everyone in the family, put them in envelopes and deliver them. He now has a new employee that also loves to work in the office: Grant. His job description is to get into the chair without help and make the notes colorful with whatever marker or crayon is nearby. Both employees need to work on their organizational skills, as their office area often looks in disarray.

Christmas Parade

We attended the Starke Christmas Parade this afternoon. The boys had a great time watching floats, old cars and fire trucks. The best part was all the candy that was handed out. We stood at the very beginning, so there was plenty and they were being very generous.










"Look at all our candy!"

UNO

Playing Uno has been the favorite activity for Brendan and Spencer for the last two weekends. In this time they have played over 100 games!! They keep score, and the player that reaches 500 points first loses. It keeps Brendan occupied and helps him with his math skills. It's also a great memory for both Spencer and Brendan.

Thanksgiving Vacation

We had a great week in Michigan, spending lots of time with family and friends and worshipping at Haven. Brendan loved playing out in the snow. Grant and Brendan both had a great time playing with grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles. Spencer and I enjoyed a few nights out without the kids. We especially had fun telling everyone our good news that we're expecting a baby in the first week of June. We give all the glory to God that our old car with over 130,000 miles ran smoothly, and we stayed safe while driving home in some nasty weather. (Timmy, we're taking good care of your car :).

Building a snowman with Grandma T.

Cuddling with Aunt Marci

Brendan is showing Grandma how well he can read.

Congratulations Spencer!!!!

It's time for me to brag on my husband. He called me from school this afternoon to see if I had started dinner yet for tonight. I told him that I hadn't and asked why he needed to know. He then told me he was voted "Teacher of the Year" at the high school! I'm so proud of him!

We're Heading North!

Just one more day before we start on our long drive to Michigan. We're all very excited to go since it's been almost 4 months since our last visit. Hopefully we'll be able to spend lots of time with friends and family during the week. We hear there's supposed to be some snow and cold, so Brendan will be excited, and Mommy will be COLD. I spent the whole day today packing and cleaning the house, so I feel like I'm ready to go. Please keep us in your prayers while we're on the road. We can't wait to see many of you!

Thanksgiving Tree

Brendan had a lot of fun creating this Thankgiving tree. He loved picking out sticks in the yard and trying his best to trace leaves. He left most of the cutting to Mom and Dad as that took too much time. He had the most fun writing out things he was thankful for on each leaf. It was a fun Saturday morning project.

Park Pictures

Every Fall I try to take some pictures of Brendan that I can pass out to relatives. This time I also included Grant. We went to a park near the river, and I tried to capture Grant while he was on the move constantly. Brendan doesn't move around like he used to, but with the 3 second delay on the camera, he has a hard time keeping his eyes on the camera for each picture. Thank goodness for digital cameras that allow you to delete pictures without developing them. I probably took over 100 pictures, and got a handful of good ones. Here are a few of them.

Little Cowboys

The boys had a fun night of trick-or-treating, bounce houses, pony rides and games downtown tonight. Brendan is so in love with his costume that he wants to wear it ALL the time. Grant, on the other hand, would rather not wear his. He absolutely refuses to let the cute red cowboy hat even come close to his head. He did learn to say "yee-haw", which is so cute. Brendan's happy that the Halloween fun has just begun. We still have an event to go to at the library and a few houses to trick-or-treat at this week.

Tinkertoys

We got out the Tinkertoys today, and both boys had a lot of fun playing and creating with them. Of course, I have to keep a close eye on Grant because there are a lot of small pieces that he could choke on. Brendan and Mommy built a truck, and Grant just had fun trying to get the sticks into the small holes and banging them like drum sticks.

Team Work

It always warms my heart when I find my boys playing nicely together.

Brendan likes to help Grant with his shape sorting skills.
Brendan brought home this life size picture of himself from MOPS yesterday. He and Grant are putting some finishing touches on it.
They needed Daddy to reach some of the higher spots.

Grant and Brendan Are Growing Up

At almost 16 months old, Grant is at such a fun age right now. It seems like he's learning a new word or skill every day, and his true personality is showing more and more every day. He's also getting cuter and smarter every day (I might be biased). We love him so much.


Favorite toys: pickup trucks, John Deer tractors, soccer balls and base balls (the soft kind), shape sorting toys, Brendan's train set and books.


Favorite activities: moving objects from one place to another, playing ball outside, which basically means he walks around holding a golf ball or baseball in one hand and a golf club in the other. He also loves to giggle at his brother and look at books.


Least favorite activities: Haircuts - I just gave him one tonight, and it was a huge challenge to cut hair while he's screaming and thrashing about.


Favorite words: ewww (I said that a lot a couple weeks ago when I was constantly wiping his nose), whoa (He says that a lot when I'm driving for some reason), wow, ow, tractor, cracker, candy, mul (milk), oos (juice) o-mul (oatmeal), tuch (truck), catch, ball, mommy, daddy, es ?, dis ? (he has a lot of jibberish that we can't figure out).

Brendan is now 5, which is so hard for me to grasp. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home from the hospital. Our lives sure have changed a lot since that day. He has both amazed us and frustrated us many times in the last 5 years, but we love him more every day. He's becoming more mature and responsible, helping out around the house whenever he can. He's also becoming quite a good little reader.


Favorite toys: Anything Lightening McQueen, "office stuff", books, GeoTrax and bike.


Favorite activities: Playing any game with Mom or Dad, having books read to him, riding bike, playing baseball and soccer in the yard, playing at the park with his friend, going to Sunday school and anything church-related and watching TV.


Least favorite activities: Eating casserole, shopping at Walmart and going to the doctor.


Favorite words: all of them. He loves to talk more than any child I have ever met. When he is out of the house for any length of time, I am always struck by how quiet it is.





That's just a little overview of my handsome, smart, creative, fun, sweet, energetic.... little guys. They can be the best of friends one minute and the worst of enemies the next. Life is never boring in our house, and that's the way we like it. We thank God for them every day.

A Cooler Day

We're so excited right now because we can turn off the air and open all the windows in the house, and it actually feels very comfortable. Today is the first day, probably since April, that the temperature is supposed to stay below 80. It looks like it's going to stay this way for a few days. Now we'll be spending a lot more time playing in the yard and going to the park, and our walks in the evening will be comfortable. Summer in Florida is a lot like winter in Michigan. It's just so hot that we don't want to spend much time playing outside and we feel cooped up. But at least the sun shines almost every day, which is not like Michigan at all.

More Pictures

Disney Vacation

We just got back from a fun weekend at Disney's All Star Music Resort and a day at the Magic Kingdom. The weather was perfect for swimming and almost no rain during our day in the park. We all got to see and ride many attractions at Disney. Brendan said his favorites were Dumbo and Aladdin's Magic Carpet rides. Grant's favorite parts were naps in his stroller and opportunities to be out of the stroller and trying to wander away from Mom and Dad. Mom and Dad really liked anything that had air conditioning.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie was a lot of fun, but Grant wasn't so sure about Minnie.

Riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet, one of Brendan's favorites. Daddy liked it even better because they waited for less than a minute to get on.

Grant fell asleep not long after we got in the park. (He had a rough night).

Time to put Grant to work.

After a long day in the park, Mom and the boys are relaxing during the bus ride to the hotel.

Happy Birthday Brendan!

We can't believe he's 5 already! Oh, how quickly time goes by. Brendan had a fun birthday, with lots of gifts, cards and money coming in the mail, phone calls from family and a trip to Disney.

He got a new, bigger bike, which makes him go much faster and makes Daddy really run to keep up.

Opening a present from Grandpa and Grandma Terpstra that he got in the mail.

I made this cake with Mickey Mouse on it because Brendan was going to spend his birthday at Disney World Magic Kingdom.

A Day at the Park

Our friends took us to a beautiful park on the river. The weather was perfect for playing outside all morning. The boys had lots of fun playing on the toys, feeding the fish, walking on the pier and eating a picnic lunch.

Playing Outside

A Lesson Learned

What's the lesson? Never let your toddler play with your keys when there is a remote entry on the key ring. Grant was fussy while we were making a quick trip through Walmart, so I gave him the only thing in my purse that was somewhat safe, my keys. He ended up chewing on the remote the whole time. I was so absorbed in my quest to find bargains, that I didn't notice. When it came time to get into the car, the remote wouldn't unlock it, so I had to use the key. Not a big deal. The problem came when I started the car. That's when the incessant beeping began. I tried turning the car off, pushing the horn button on the remote, looking in the manual -nothing worked. After lots of funny looks from people in the parking lot, a near panic attack from me, and two upset children, it finally stopped. I think I learned my lesson.

The fun didn't stop there, though. We were almost home when a cute little squirrel ran out in front of me, and I heard the bump, bump of the tires. Poor thing!

A Great Movie

Spencer and I went on a date last night. It was so nice to be out of the house without the kids and spend some quality time together. We went to see Fireproof, which just opened last night. What a great movie! It's made by the same people that made Flywheel and Facing the Giants, two excellent movies. Check out the website if you want to see what it's about. http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

We're going to Disney World!!!!

This morning we told Brendan the good news that we're taking him to Disney World for his 5th birthday in two weeks. The look on his face was priceless. I don't think he completely understands what we're doing, but he's still excited. We'll be staying two nights at a Disney hotel and spending one day at the Magic Kindgdom. They have some great Florida resident discounts going on in October, and we want to make sure we go there before we move back up North. Grant was a little confused by all the excitement this morning, but I think he'll have fun at Disney, too.