Belated Christmas 2009

Better late than never? Although I have lots of excuses as to why I'm posting our Christmas adventures SO late, mostly I was just being lazy. I debated whether or not to even post anything at this point, but since I want to save this blog as a family "scrapbook" of sorts, I guess I can't leave out Christmas 2009! (Sorry, most of the pictures aren't great quality b/c I lost the battery to our camera and had to use the photo feature on the camcorder).

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Riding his new scooter in the kitchen. For some reason I only took video of his favorite gift from "Santa", a blue electric guitar!

CHRISTMAS DAY with the FREGOS

My adorable niece Mya and nephew Owen.

Carter tackling Owen

(this is typical behavior between Sam and Carter, but Owen didn't think it was very funny.) :)

CHRISTMAS in TENNESSEE with the BECKHAMS

Bubble wrap! Who needs presents?...this was way more fun!

Carter loved Grandma's whirlpool

He also loved the cat door!

Happy 40th Anniversary Sonny & Ellen!

BACK HOME in MICHIGAN

CHRISTMAS PARTY #2 with the FREGOS

Grandma Judy with her boys

Sam & his cousin Mya wrestling

Yeah! A phone that lights up and makes noises! Maybe he'll quit stealing ours?

Grandma & Grandma & all the grandkids

Jon, Jen, Mya & Owen

The Beckham Family

We also celebrated the January birthdays...Jon turned 30! and Alex turn 16!

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Thanks everyone for spoiling us and our kids. We are so loved and blessed to have such wonderful families! Happy Belated 2010!

Crash

Almost 2 weeks ago, on December 8th...I crashed Rhonda the Honda, my little Silver Bullet of over 10 years. :(

BEFORE

AFTER

THE STORY

My little silver Honda Civic was the first car I bought after getting my first teaching job back in 1999. I bought it brand new from the Honda Dealership in GR and I was on cloud nine. 83,000 miles later without ever giving me a single problem, I feel like I let her down. Sadly, I think it was totally my fault. But when asked what happened, I really can't figure out how it all went wrong. I take this way to work everyday...it's a country back road and I must have been daydreaming or distracted by something when the person in front of me put on his blinker to turn left. I slammed on my brakes, started skidding, crossed the center line and was going head-on at a truck. Luckily he was able to swerve onto the shoulder and narrowly avoided me, but I still crashed into the left rear bumper of the car in front of me and totaled the right side of my car. The good part is, no one was hurt. I am very thankful for God's protection that day. It still scares me how fast it all happened and that my life or someone else's could have ended in the blink of an eye. The other positive is that the insurance company gave us a good settlement and we got to go car shopping!

THE NEW CAR...

It's a blue Ford Freestyle and I LOVE it! (the papework seriously said "U of M blue", that's how I knew it MUST be made for me!) We had recently started talking about getting a vehicle more suitable for a family and this baby seats 7! No, we are NOT having more kids, but now I'm an official "soccer mom" and can transport Sam and a few buddies. NOTE: it is NOT a mini-van! I'm still half-way cool.

Stay tuned for more blog updates tomorrow or Tuesday. I've fallen way behind because I've been consummed with finishing up the school year, finishing assignments for my grad. class, Christmas shopping and car shopping. I think I can finally breathe a bit and focus on the true meaning of Christmas...Jesus and family.

Fun Wintery Weekend

It's been a good weekend. Now, the children (and daddy) are nestled all snug in their beds, while mama is finishing up grad work, lesson plans, and enjoying the quiet and twinkling lights on our perfect little Christmas tree. Taking a time out to download some of the pictures of all our fun (aka I'm procrastinating)...enjoy!

All bundled up and ready to pick out the Christmas tree at Teusink's Farm

The "one"...small but mighty! (Did I mention how cold is was? BRRRR!!)

Warming up in the lodge with donuts and hot choco

Carter & Santa...gotta love that smile!

Next, time to feed the goats.

Carter loved sticking his fingers through the fence and giggled every time a goat nibbled at his mittens.

Grandma Judy and Carter on the hayride (fun, but COLD!)

Feel the love...we huddled together to keep warm.

The annual family pic

Brian appeasing me and my obsession with having a real tree!

Carter got to watch the decorating fun from a "safe' location.

Sam did a great job "helping" this year.

Carter, on the other hand, wanted to help and has already broke an ornament. Something tells me it won't be the last!

The finished tree. (Yes, I'm wearing my Mrs. Claus apron!)

My cute little stinker.
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Not like there's not enough going on, but we're also in the process of doing some light remodeling to the kitchen. In an attempt to create some more space in our entryway, we had the dishwasher moved to a different location and cut the counter at an angle to increase the entry into the kitchen. We also had some shelving added (not quite finished yet) for wicker baskets to store hats, mittens, etc. I'm REALLY happy with the change!

THe new WIDER opening to the kitchen. No more bruised hips or traffic jams!!

The shelving upclose. Still waiting for the second shelf to be installed so for now the baskets are piled on top of each other.

Dishwasher moved to new location (previously a mini-desk area that we used to store garage cans under instead)

Here's my new wall decor and the beginning of the new white painted trim. Not quite done with that either.

Well, gotta get back to working on projects for my grad. class. Or maybe I'll waste some more time picking out new countertop and backsplash!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I'm not a fan of snow, but waking up to the white blanket covering our yard and watching Sam play in it for hours put me in the Christmas spirit. (Sorry Jen, I just read your blog a little while ago and I'm really not trying to rub it in.) Unfortunately I couldn't find my camera anywhere, so no pics to prove how beautiful it was. Finally found my camera this evening in the garage in the basket under the stroller. Oops! Guess I left it there from the Parade of Lights that we attended a couple of days ago...when it was MUCH warmer! We met my parents downtown and the kids had a ball watching all the big trucks go by with lights. Sam especically loved all the candy being thrown around and anxiously waiting for Santa to appear. I must have some serious Kleinheksel blood in me, because the battery in my camera went dead before Santa appeared. I got some cute pics on my mom's camera, but she'd actually have to remember how to download pictures, so I kind doubt I'll ever get those! (Come on mom, now that I've called you out on my blog, you have to try and prove me wrong!!) :)



Uncle Alex...a true Dutch drummer boy.


Here comes Santa!!!

Tomorrow we're heading to Teusink's Farm for our annual trip to pick out the perfect tree. Sam has been counting down the days and is SOOOO excited. Hopefully it won't be as cold as last year!

Also, we've been having some light remodeling done to our kitchen. I'm so excited about it! Today we had the dishwasher moved to a different location and opened up the entry space into our kitchen while adding some extra shelving for storage. Will post before and after pictures soon. I've got to go work on 3 projects for my grad. class that are due next week. No more procrastinating! :(

Halloween

This year Sam wore his Batman costume (2nd year in a row) and Carter was his sidekick Robin. I don't know why I didn't think of the Robin costume last year, but it just hit me and I acutally made it all myself. I'm usually not a "crafty mom", but I figured out how to create this costume without having to use a needle or thread! I thought it turned out pretty cute and a lot of people got a good laugh when they saw him. I couldn't believe it, but he actually kept the mask on!

Batman and his trusty sidekick Robin








It was a pretty chilly night, but the boys had fun. Carter was clueless as to what in the world was going on, but Sam was really into it this year. For weeks he's been asking "how many more days until Halloween?" We FINALLY made it to the big day and he was so extremely hyper all day...I was a little worried about what would happen when he started consuming all the candy. Luckily, he only ate a few pieces before bedtime and promptly crashed. And despite the change in time, both boys slept until their normal wake times today! YEAH! Momma enjoyed the extra hour of sleep!
"Trick or Treat!"

Brrr!

Sam's kindergarten teacher Mrs. Bos

The "Scary House". Sam refused to go up to the door by himself. After they removed their freaky masks, he braved the long walk with daddy close by, grabbed the candy, and quickly walked away without saying thank you!



A couple of days before Halloween, we spent 2 different night carving pumpkins...

Sam loved carving his own little pumpkin. This was the first year he was able to do most of it on his own!

The "Big Pumpkin" was so gooey!

Carter didn't necessary care for the gooey part, but he did enjoy trying to throw things inside the pumpkin such as...

his plastic bowling ball,

a weeble wooble and...

my favorite brown boots!


Look mama, it's "hop"! Very "hop"! (Carter's new word for hot. Previously he could say "hot" just fine, but recently he changed it to "hop". ??)

After all the hard work, Sam decided to ruin the fun by having a fit over something silly. Thus, he's not in the yearly pumpkin picture. :( Hopefully next year we can resume the tradition.


Hope you all had a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!