Our Christmas

This evening we celebrated Christmas. We've always traveled to our parents for Christmas, so this is the first time we have ever done it at our own house, and it was quite nice. We had a wonderful supper with a good steak, corn, salad, potatoes.

So after supper we sat down to open presents. We've had a gate around the Christmas tree because the boys would like nothing better than to tear it down and pull all the ornaments off, which would probably result in Finn trying to eat hooks. So Jon pulled the gate away and we pulled out the boys' presents. Ben began by tearing the name tags off (good thing there weren't more people involved in this celebration). Finn went right to the tree, which is his Everest. So while we got Ben to begin ripping paper and proceed to properly open his presents as a 2-year-old should, Finn spent the time playing commando in the tree. Jon captured him once to try and open a present, but it held no interest. He was so excited to touch the tree freely. I think he would have stayed in the corner behind the tree all night if he could have. When the gate finally went back up, he became interested in whatever Ben was playing with. We got the boys 2 potato heads with 5 "outfits," and they sat nicely playing with them for a long time. So the toys weren't all bad after all.

Jon bestowed upon me a beautiful cross necklace with diamonds at the tips and in the center.

We then had a bit of egg nog, which the boys couldn't get enough of, and some cherry pie that at least tasted decent. It was overall a very nice evening.

And Baby Makes Three

I think I've got all my Christmas letters either out or ready to go. It seems to take a lot to get everybody's address, order pictures, print letters, and print labels. Microsoft Office's mail merge is one of the best things in life. No more writing out addresses for bulk mailings (not that we do bulk mailings regularly). It's a lovely thing.

However, I have had little to no ambition lately to do much of anything else after chasing boys all day. We are having a baby on or about July 28 next year!!!!, and I am in the feeling yucky/tired stage. I remember when I was pregnant with Ben and would come home from work and sleep, and Jon would make his own supper. Those were the days!

Due to the snow and the lack of a winterized stroller, I pulled the boys to the post office today on the sled. I think they enjoyed it, though Finn couldn't hold himself up from the forward momentum and basically laid on Ben's lap all the way there. They were pretty cute all bundled up in snowpants and barely able to move. Maybe another day I'll get a picture.

I am currently attempting to potty train Ben. He is a willing learner, so we're making slow progress. I had planned on starting anyway, but my goal now is to get him trained before this baby comes. Hopefully it doesn't take that long, but one never knows.

Ben is also really into colors. He loves naming the color of everything. Between that and naming everything on the page, books take a lot longer to get through. (This is good because it occupies him on the potty.)

Finn has a bad cold and is just a miserable little boy. He is still working hard to keep up with Ben and people have commented how active he is for his age. He's still getting into everything and we love watching him run away when he knows he's in trouble.

So that's what we've been up to. Merry Christmas to all!

It's A Little Windy

We're currently in a blizzard watch until midnight tonight. It's been rather windy and we have some very high drifts on our yard. What a great excuse to stay in and do nothing! And for the first time in 2-1/2 years, I am cold. Let me tell you, I'm not really enjoying this new sensation. I've been wearing sweatshirts and putting blankets on.

Since I didn't get this posted before, we celebrated Finn's first birthday. He shares a birthday with my mom, and we were able to celebrate with my parents Thanksgiving weekend. I did a fish cake (with a lot of help from my mom) since Finn's favorite thing is his fishy.

Greetings From Iowa!

A couple of weeks have passed since my last post, and we are now officially citizens of Iowa. We moved down on Oct. 26 and have been quite busy. I rarely get online as we do not have internet in the house.

We had lots of people help us move in and begin sorting things to various rooms. Our congregation has been so wonderful to us. We are getting to know the people and the area a bit.

Jon passed his classical examination and was ordained on Nov. 8. He is now Rev. Spronk, which is somewhat odd sounding. Jon has been working on organizing his office and writing sermons this week. I have been trying to organize the house. The boys are having a great time and I could probably blog every day about them.

We put Ben in a big bed Monday night and he loves it. He had no problems with the change. The boys are sharing a room now, which doesn't always work out well, but hopefully their naps will sync soon. Their room is as big as ours, so they have plenty of room to play while I'm sorting through things. I have been working on painting some furniture and have finally finished the chest of drawers. It took a while since I did it after the boys went to bed. I did take advantage of the beautiful weather and did some painting in the garage last week. I can't believe how nice it's been! We had a beautiful 70-degree day for ordination, and we were thankful that some of our family could be here.

So that's us in a nutshell.

Just a note to Kris since I finally read your blog-your hives would not have lasted so long had you sat and watched U2 videos. Remember that if it happens again.

Fall Is Here!

Starvin' Marvin

So this morning I'm cleaning in the living room, and I come into the kitchen to find Ben sitting on a stool eating Goldfish out of the box. Okay, no biggie. He has a few and I put them away. Pretty soon I come out of the laundry room to find him standing behind a chair (I almost didn't see him), and he stops chewing when he sees me. He's eating big marshmallows and probably has 2 in his mouth. So I put them on a higher shelf. A bit later I was in the bathroom cleaning, and here he comes with a box of graham crackers. Is he just starving, or is he eating because he can?

Okay, so I realize it's been a while, but honestly, I haven't had much to say. The days are getting cold and have been rainy, so we're kinda stuck inside. The boys seem to be rather crabby, and I think the weather could be a factor. Yesterday we woke up to frost; however, it turned out to be a beautiful day overall. I spent the afternoon and evening sanding some bed frames we bought at an auction, and the boys were able to be outside with me. I'm actually very excited about the furniture. We hope to start Ben in a regular bed after we move. We also got a chest of drawers that I have to work on today. Jon's mom will be helping me with this as it will require some stripping. I'm thankful to have the help (and the tools) here. Hopefully we'll get to painting this afternoon. Since we can't really restain it, we got a dark brown paint that I think will look very nice.

Tomorrow (Friday) will be my last official day of work, though technically the work never ends with kids. I am very excited for this. I will miss my job, because I do really enjoy it, but it's time for me to focus on the boys. We're moving in a little over 2 weeks! So I think organizing the house and taking care of the boys will be its own full-time job.

Finn is full out walking and just loves it. He loves to carry things around and just pace around the house. He does this most often while eating an apple slice. The boys have also been enjoying the Twins games. They each have a hat and love to wear them. Finn has not been one for hats, but he loves having that on. And they both look so cute! I promise, I'll get pictures on soon.

Ben is beginning to quote books at random times. He loves to read books and always says "The end" when it's done. He's actually doing well with numbers. He knows where 5 comes, but 9 seems to be his favorite right now.

Please pray for us as we make final arrangements for moving and prepare for our new home.

Timeout

We've started giving Ben short timeouts because he has a problem pushing, kicking, or hitting Finn and/or wrestling him to the ground to keep Finn away from "Ben's toys." This morning he did it, so I went over to him to get Finn away from him and to talk to him about pushing.

As soon as I knelt down by him, Ben: "Timeout?"

Me: "Do you want a timeout?"

Ben: "No. Don't push baby."

That's All, Folks

Last night as we finished supper, Jon read a passage from the Bible. When he finished, he closed the book and set it down. Ben looked at him and said very matter of factly, "The end, Daddy."

Remember Your Friends

I went out Friday night with my 2 best girlfriends I've had since high school. They live in the area where we are this summer, and we finally all got together. We went out for supper and played cards, but the best part of this was talking. We caught up on each other's lives, which I find is just not done as well by email. There are things you share verbally that you wouldn't write in an email. We talked about our past, some of our high school days, and our futures, as we each have some life-changing things ahead of us. Somehow we always end up laughing to the point of tears.

This short evening together really drove home to me the importance of friends. It's not that I never realized it, but having been away from these gals makes it so much greater to be able to see them. Many people think that when they get married their spouse will fulfill their every relational need. I don't mean to be preachy, but I just want to stress the importance of friends and keeping them close, no matter what happens in your life.

Mr. Independent

Our sweet little 9-month-old is growing up. Though he is a bit clingy lately, he is trying to be very independent. He loves to mess with the keyboard and mouse, and he will take my hand and move it out of the way to get to them. He knows where he's not supposed to be and goes there anyway, like playing with the toilet paper. He has been taking a couple steps at a time in the last week and is well on his way to walking. Now he just needs to learn to go down stairs. Head first is not the answer I'm looking for. My favorite part of this new independence is that Finn does not like to be fed. He has to do it himself (except for cereal in the morning-he must know the routine by now). If I put food in his mouth, he will spit it out and put it back in himself. If it's on a spoon, like applesauce, he just refuses it. He gives a deep blink of refusal and will push the spoon aside with a casual wave of his hand. It's a good thing he's pretty cute and still likes to cuddle once in a while. He's still my baby, after all.

Ben is 2!

Ben turned 2 on Saturday, but since we were leaving Friday for a weekend trip, we celebrated Thursday evening with Jon's parents, grandmas, and grandpa. We had brats and hot dogs and a couple of salads. I attempted my first cake, which I'm not exceptionally proud of but which turned out decent. It is a castle, in case you couldn't tell. Ben especially liked the Dots. My birthday was on Thursday, and Jon gave me the plaque you see in the picture.

Our Mini Vacation

We took the boys on our own mini vacation this past weekend. We headed up to the Twin Cities for the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and the state fair. We headed up Friday and met with my mom, brother, and sister that evening to celebrate Ben's birthday and eat some cake and ice cream.

Saturday morning we headed out to the Ren. Festival. They had a great promotion of bringing canned goods and getting $5 off a ticket, so being the good Dutch people we are, we eagerly complied. The day was somewhat cool in the 60s with some sunshine. We figured it was better than searing hot, especially trying to push a double stroller up and down hills. The boys did fairly well, though they got sick of sitting and we ended up only going to 1 show. Plus Ben was crabby because he needed a nap. We ate chili in a bread bowl and a turkey leg for lunch, and we ended our day with a sparkling apple cider float with cinnamon ice cream. Interesting is the word I would use to describe that. We got a couple of souvenirs, including some wooden swords that the boys will receive in the future. When we got back to the hotel, we all napped. We had pizza for supper, and then the boys got to swim with their cousins.

Sunday we headed to the state fair. As we made our way to the ticket window, a lady came up to us and asked if we had bought tickets. We said no, and she handed us a ticket and said, "Here's a free one." What a wonderful gift! We weren't sure if we looked pathetic pushing 2 kids in a stroller or what , but it was a prepaid nonrefundable ticket. So we spent our day pushing through record crowds to look at pigs, cows, sheep, and horses. We looked at tons of stuff for sale and ate great food including but not limited to fries, a Pronto Pup, a rhubarb-strawberry malt, and Sweet Martha's cookes. The boys enjoyed the fries and malt the most, I think, though Ben did quite enjoy the cookies. Finn didn't like the warm chocolate. We headed home Sunday evening. The boys were definitely sick of sitting. We stopped at a McDonald's for the playland, and Ben actually cried when we pulled him out of there. He was just figuring out he could climb up and go down the slide.

We had a good trip, but we definitely packed a lot in for 1 weekend.

We Have A Call

Jon and I are very excited to announce that we have accepted a call to the Christian Reformed Church of Austinville, IA. We are beginning preparations already, though we won't move until the end of October. If you are asking yourself where Austinville is, my advice to you is to Google it.

Please pray for us as we make plans and arrangements for moving. Yay for a house!

Laughing

The other night I was giving the boys a bath. Jon was talking to someone in a nearby room and he was laughing. Ben said, "Daddy laughing? Ha! Ben laughing." Then he kept saying "Ha! Ben laughing."

If someone does something, Ben has to do it, even fake coughing and sneezing. He's such a little mimic now.