Meeting Joshua

This past weekend was quite an adventure! We drove up to Dallas to meet baby Joshua, Paul and Cristy's little guy. We drove into a crazy ice storm. It was a very stressful drive once we hit Dallas. But we were blessed the whole time we were there and traveled around safely. Andy definitely is an awesome driver!!! We were planning on attending Joshua's baby blessing, but church ended up being cancelled. So, we just made it a fun weekend to see Paul's family. 

Here are a few pictures of us meeting Joshua:

Aunt Cristy and her mom put together a fun activity for the kids, making gingerbread houses. The older 4 kids enjoyed decorating their houses:

 

 

The 2 almost 2 year-olds enjoyed supervising and sampling:

 

Ian and Jacob had a lot of fun together, while Aaron, Ashlyn, Audrey, and Rachel enjoyed playing with one another as well. We really enjoyed ourselves (when we weren't in the car driving around Dallas).

We didn't put our gingerbread house together until we got back home. Here's the finished product:

It was so much fun to spend time with Paul's family and meet Joshua. We are hoping the next time we go visit, the drive will be less stressful... :)

Sinterklaas

December is full of celebrations for our family. The first one is a visit from Sinterklaas. It's a Dutch tradition that we have continued since moving back to Texas. The girls get really excited and I think next year Ian will catch on as well. It's fun to have memories and traditions from Holland. The tradition usually occurs on the evening of December 5th. Sinterklaas leaves toys and treats for children on their doorstep that evening. We keep it fairly simple, since Christmas is just around the corner. Once it got dark our children put their shoes out on our doorstep and waited for a knock. We kind of combine 2 traditions here. In Holland, they leave their wooden shoes out for weeks before December 5th and each morning they get a little something. We figure it's asking too much to have Sinterklaas come to America every night, but we do expect one visit from him on December 5th. Here's a video right after the knock:

This picture tells you a lot. Audrey's already opened her present and is ready to take off her pajamas and put her new ones on. Ian and Rachel are just getting started...

Ian opening his present:

Rachel opening her pajamas:

Everyone got new warm pajamas, a chocolate letter, and yummy cookies called kruidnoten. Yay, for Sinterklaas!!! 

  

Audrey already enjoying her chocolate letter:

Ian scores because he gets 2 letters in his package. We thought it was a fluke last year, but have discovered that's just how it is. Lucky him!

After a few bites of chocolate, everyone slept good in their new cozy pajamas. We love celebrating Sinterklaas!

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving week up at my parents' home. Things had kind of blown up at work for Andy, but finally late Sunday afternoon it was determined that we'd be able to go. The girls had the whole week off of school, so it's nice to be able to take advantage and enjoy a whole week up there. We ended up driving up pretty late Sunday evening. We debated waiting until Monday, but the weather was going to get colder and we didn't want to deal with icy roads. Plus, Andy kind of needed to be on his computer working Monday and Tuesday. So, it all worked out in the end. The first couple of days up there were really cold. We spent a fair amount of time inside. Grandma always has little projects and new toys for the kids to discover and enjoy. Ian, however, favors his papa. Here's what happens when Papa tries to escape for a little nap:

One afternoon while Ian was napping all the girls headed to the grocery store to pick up anything and everything we might need. :) The girls were thrilled that Grandma's store had little shopping carts. They felt like there were at the Children's Museum, but it was even better because it was the real deal and it wasn't super-crowded.

 

Rachel would bundle up and go outside to rake up leaves and then play in them:

 

While Rachel played outside in the cold Ian, Audrey, and I enjoyed the warmer temperatures inside:

Another afternoon everyone got to help Grandma with Thanksgiving preparations:

The Mackay family joined us later in the week. By then the weather had warmed up a bit and the kids had a lot of fun playing outside. There were enough bikes for everyone and they all enjoyed racing down the driveway:

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, as always. Andy and Craig helped my dad with a few projects. I think a favorite project of everyone was gathering up the leaves. Lots of fun was had as the kids stopped riding down the driveway and started riding down the little hills on the lawn down to the piles of leaves. I missed the dads doing this, but supposedly they had a lot of fun riding the kid bikes into the leaves as well. On Saturday morning Ian woke up just not himself. My mom and I took him into Longview to an urgent care place. Everything checked out, but they still gave him some meds. Just gunky stuff... On the way back from Longview, Grandma stopped and bought a little car. Ian cried the last 20 minutes home because he wanted to be in the back, in the play car. Luckily he survived and enjoyed the car before it got dark that evening.

On Sunday we all packed up and headed back to Houston. It was definitely an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Lots of fun is had by everyone. The kids enjoy playing together during the day and the adults have fun playing games in the evening. We're hankful my parents live somewhat close and we're able to make these little trips a few times a year.

Audrey's Dance Recital

Audrey has chosen to take ballet and tap classes this year. She loves to dance and loves her classes! Her favorite is tap, but she also enjoys ballet. I was a bit worried paying too much money for anything, since gymnastics kind of bombed out last year. So, we decided to do the YMCA this year. It has been perfect for her. She loves her teacher and the small, simple setting has given her the opporunity to gain confidence. Next year we may try the dance studio Rachel went to. We'll see... I don't know if she's ready for the big stage yet. For now, she's enjoying dance at the YMCA. Here she is at her Christmas Dance Recital:

I had done Audrey's hair in pigtails and then we got there and one of the mothers had made a bow for each of the girls. So, I quickly turned her pigtails into a ponytail and we used that bow. :) Audrey was in a  really small class, which was nice. Here are the 4 girls:

The videos are fun to watch. Audrey's watching her teacher the whole time and taking cues from her. There's also a few times when she makes sure others are doing what they're supposed to be doing. For only having 10 dance classes at this point, I think she did a great job!

Audrey's recital ended up being on one of those crazy work Saturdays for Andy. And the recital was at 2 pm. So, I actually put Ian down for a nap and got a babysitter for him. Nice babysitting job, to sit at someone's house while the baby sleeps! :) Andy met us at the YMCA for the recital. I was worried he was going to be late, but he got there just in time and then he had to return to work right after the recital. Luckily he came through with flowers for the dancer:

Audrey had reminded her daddy several times that he would need to get her flowers. You see, she still remembers Rachel getting flowers when she had a dance recital. Audrey was also thrilled that Aunt Natalie and Chase came to watch her perform. I have a feeling dance is going to be Audrey's thing.

Breaking and entering???

 

As we climbed into bed last night, we heard some noise up on the roof. Andy went over to the window to investigate and caught a raccoon trying to get into our attic. I guess the cooler weather makes them look for warmer places to live??? We were able to scare him away by turning on all the outdoor lights. Andy went out to investigate once the coast was clear, and tons of installation had been pulled out and a hole had been started. Andy was worried further damage would be done if the raccoon decided to come back and we didn't want the raccoon to succeed at getting into our attic. That would make this little project a BIG project! So, he got to work. He had some leftover chicken wire from our shower remodel and put that to use. Luckily hammering the chicken wire to the roof eave didn't wake up any of the children. For now this should work to keep the varmint away. We got to bed around 1 am and luckily didn't hear the raccoon the rest of the evening. This time we can't blame our kids on being tired... :)

Pilgrim Audrey

Audrey's the cutest pilgrim I know! I had so much fun today going in to her preschool and helping out with the Thanksgiving Feast. It was fun to watch her interact with her classmates and see how much she enjoys preschool. It's been an adjustment for her. But she's stuck with it and now LOVES it. I'm so glad that I get to have the opportunity to help out with little things like this at her school.

Oyster Creek Park Fun

Once the weather gets a bit cooler we enjoy going to a local park on Sunday afternoons. Sometimes we're even able to meet up with friends. The park has trails, a creek, and green area to play on. There's always lots of turtles to see and once we even spotted an alligator. We enjoy a variety of activities from riding bikes to playing soccer to throwing a Frisbee. Here are a few pictures of our adventures this past Fall:

Ian checking out the water (luckily he was very cautious):

Don't you love Audrey's pose?

Rachel busy playing soccer with Daddy:

 Ian joining in on the fun:

Rachel red in the face from running with the soccer ball:

Ian and Daddy:

Taking a break from playing Frisbee:

Audrey all posed next to Ian:

Once upon a time Andy and I would take walks along the trails on Sunday afternoons with baby Rachel in her stroller. It's crazy to think that now we take three kiddos to play with at this park.

Nhung's Visit

My friend Nhung came to visit me this month! She came last year and while flying back to California she volunteered to get bumped so she could earn a voucher. Well, she spent that voucher on coming to visit me again. It's so enjoyable when she comes to visit. This time she flew in on a Wednesday and flew home on a Monday. With kids and school schedules, we just did a lot of hanging out those first couple of days. She tutored me on making Vietnamese egg rolls again. Yum, yum! Andy tried to get home each night at a decent time, so we could get out for dinner and girl talk. On Saturday we escaped for a quick getaway to North Padre Island. One the way down, I introduced Nhung to Buc-ee's which is a Texas-sized convenience store. It's fun to wander around and get treats at. I actually purchased the girls some cute baseball caps while there. Poor Ian... Here's a few pictures of our adventure to North Padre Island:

The hotel pool with the beach a few steps away:

Just sitting and enjoying:

The sunset:

Our attempt at a picture together:

We discovered North Padre Island doesn't have a ton to do. I'm sure it's busier in the summer. The weather was actually pretty nice, but we didn't bother getting in the water. We enjoyed just sitting on the beach and chatting. We then had quite the adventure finding a restaurant to eat at. We had to go back to the mainland and it took awhile to find something. But once we did, it was good. We enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday. Oh, it was nice! And took our time checking out. Sunday morning we ventured to a local omelet place. It was a yummy breakfast, well, almost lunch at this point. We did a little shopping and then headed back to Houston. Nhung flew home on Monday. We always enjoy her visits. It's a nice break for me from the realities and responsibilities I have. My girls adore her. They love that Nhung comes to visit them. As always, the trip went by too quickly. Next time, I need to fly out to visit her!

Sometimes...

Sometimes when things aren't going my way, I wish I could handle it in a similar fashion...

Someone got caught...

This little guy has turned into quite the climber!!!! I'm not a fan of this new phase at all.