Ian & Helena

Well, it’s been a bit, but I wanted to post before we head off on our Christmas holidays!  We are leaving Friday to drive to B.C. (we’ve opted for a one night hotel stay to break up the trip…our first time doing this!), where we’ll be spending the next week or so with the whole family, as well as Beppe, Feenstras and Rick Abma’s family from my mom’s side.  I am looking forward to seeing Aviendha in particular since she’s so close in age to our kids (and you too ofcourse, Sara).  I’m very excited about spending time with our family again (it always feels like a long time when we’re so far away), and hopefully you can expect a post coming up soon from my parents.  Mom’s eager to learn how to post, and I think dad’s just eager to read everyone else’s news!  So we’ll get something going there.

 We weren’t going to put up a Christmas tree since we won’t be here over Christmas, but Ian decided to take Rory out to work with him for a couple hours and they picked out a tree top that suits our coffee table just nicely.  The kids seem to like it as the girls now say “tree”, and Rory says something that we’re pretty sure means “Christmas tree”.  Very cute.

Ian’s work (Weyerhaeuser) puts on a Christmas party for all the kids’ employees.  Somehow they missed putting us on the list (all the kids get gifts) so our kids all the got blankets (the extra gift), but luckily they are too young to care.  Everyone was meant to sit on Santa’s lap for a picture when they got their gift.  Our turn was somewhat traumatic for all involved, but we made it through. 

We are healthy and enjoying a bit of a swing upwards in the temperature, so we are going out for walks again.  I also found a gym in town that has childcare during some of their classes, so we have signed up for that.  Initially they told me I had too many babies to participate, and then said I could come to one class for free so they could see how my kids did.  I was so nervous for them - it was their first audition to see if they would pass the test to be let into the gym childcare!  Anyway, they passed with flying colours (ofcourse…who wouldn’t love these cuties), and with the help of a couple friends who put in a good word about how good my kids are, we are now signed up for next year (with the understanding that if they cry too much I will have to leave the class)!  I wonder if the people with two babies had such a hard time….

Here’s a few more cute photos.  They’re growing so fast!

Breanna hugging her doll

Rory playing with his friend Campbell

Stevie at snack time

All the kids snuggling in mom & dad’s bed.

The girls’ walking is coming along slowly but surely.  No one’s running across the room yet, but Stevie has taken as many as 10 steps, and Breanna is standing up without holding on for longer and longer.  Rory is toilet training and doing awesome!  He was dry for one week (with us reminding/bringing him to the toilet).  We thought we’d try to see if we could get him to announce the need to pee since he was dry the whole week, and he has been having a few more accidents with that method, but still doing amazing, in our opinion!  I also took Rory out with our church choir to sing carols at some of the old age homes in town, and he was the star of the show.  He knows some actions to Away in the Manger and he wasn’t even too shy to perform them!  I think grandma and grandpa will be pretty excited to see that.

Well, that’s about all for now…We wish everyone safe travels as we get together with different parts of our family in this next week or so!  Merry Christmas!

So, not to be outdone, Stevie has taken her first steps today!  So it won’t be long until we’ll have three little one year olds toddling around - this is the beginnings of our pro-athletes!  While Ian was working & missed Breanna’s first steps, I must have been looking the other way, because I missed Stevie’s first (It happened at church).  But Karen and Ian were there to witness and report all the details to me, and I guess I’ll just have to wait for the second round. 

P.S. We also had a nice treat this weekend since Karen volunteered to babysit while visiting this weekend and Ian and I had a lovely dinner out and a romantic trip to Walmart (yes, that is the big attraction in Edson…).  Thank you Karen!

Well, this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but Breanna did complete one full step as she was moving from standing next to the toybox to me today!  Yeah Breanna!  What a champion!  We of course had to call grandma and grandpa right away and leave them a message.

The girls are getting more and more active - they’re working themselves into the crawling stage.  Now that they’ve mastered the stairs, they’ve decided to take on the kid chairs, the kid table, and the ledge in front of our fireplace.  They’re very cute, until they get mad because they can’t quite figure out how to get down!  Even then they’re still pretty cute, but don’t tell them that

Rory has developed his first official fear.  And I don’t blame him…it is pretty scary….it is… dut dut-ah…an inflatable, purple butterfly, with pretty flowers printed on it, and it makes a dainty ’squeak’, if you squeeze it.  Yes, it is terrifying!  We thought we’d teach him to kick it, so he wouldn’t be scared of it (since he’s stronger than this particular flimsy plastic toy filled with air).  He begrudingly ran up to it, kicked it, and ran away shrieking before he had even finished his kick.  We just wanted to howl in laugher, but he’s honestly afraid…this one’s not a faker!  So we had to have our laugh a little later.

Here’s a few pictures of our last few days:

Stevie

Breanna

Rory decorating his gingerbread house; Rory eating his gingerbread house (smart boy); The house that mom saved (poor Rory).

Stevie                  Breanna

Spaghetti night.  Breanna diligently tries to use her fork; Stevie goes goes for it!

Hello everybody,

Well, after going through a round of most everybody being sick, we are all back on our feet again, and ready to take on this darn winter weather!  It is a lot of work to pack up all three kids in their winter gear to get out, but we do love it (although it is too cold for walking…we’re having -26 weather the last few days). 

Last weekend, as Karen’s post says, we went to Edmonton to celebrate her birthday.  The kids enjoyed visiting with their aunts and uncles, and we had a great time acting out our ‘murder mystery’ and going out for beers (we changed out of our costumes, for any of you who were starting to get concerned about our sanity).  The following day we headed back to Edson because Rory was invited to his first birthday party!  His friend, Campbell, turned two, and his parents invited about 5 other 2 year olds and their families.  We had a great time, and since then Rory can talk about nothing other than, “Mambell” this week.  (It helps that this family also goes to our play group, church, and we shared a babysitter this weekend, so Rory saw his friend a lot).  We’re looking forward to Rory’s second birthday, and I’m sure my parents are too because we will be visiting them when it comes around!  I have a feeling he’s going to be spoiled rotten!

Breanna    Stevie 

Yes, he’s shaved that beard off now!

Ian and I have been keeping busy with our sports and me with my music and volunteering as well.  Our calendar for December is already nearly full with all of the Christmas parties/get togethers that are happening.  But we are looking forward to all the festivities.  We are really blessed that while our kids love their routine, they do amazingly well when we throw something new at them!  Our church held a silent & live auction to raise money for our church roof (it’s leaking) this Saturday. Ian volunteered and I willingly spent our money   We raised $11,000!  So, that’s all for now.  Other than, you guessed it…more snow .     

 Brent and Ian showing off their fashionable shoes

 The Vander Veen sibs (this is at Shaun’s house - Theresa’s boyfriend)

  Playing with Rory

Ha ha!  Well, we gave it a go, and despite the title, it was a hit and not even too bad to clean up!  Rory was in his glory, “scooping” and “dumping”, and Breanna loved pretending to eat.  Our little wildcracker Stevie loved to run her fingers through the rice, sending it flying out each end as she moved, so she didn’t last too long .  Here’s a few pics

 (Rory in his fort)

Rory’s first haircut

 Stevie has been really sick the last 48 hours or so, but is just starting to keep her food down again.  And all three kids have bad colds too!  So, with the cold weather and body fluids flying all over the place, we’ve been stuck inside the last couple days (skipped church, skipped music lessons), so my big treat was to get outside and shovel today…yes, more snow.  I’m definitely starting to feel a bit trapped, as I’m sure the kids are too!   Don’t you wish you were nearby to babysit???

Hope you all have a great week!

P.S. I know Karen hasn’t posted for a while (she’s currently in Hawaii with her boyfriend’s family…hmm….I’m just a little jealous), so I’m hoping she won’t read this too soon, but it’s her birthday on Saturday so if you can, send her a birthday wish!

Well, I haven’t posted for a while now since there hasn’t been too much happening, but Brian and Deb’s latest post has inspired me to write…if you have no news, you can still make something up (haha)!  But since I’m not feeling so creative today, you’ll have to live with the plain old boring facts for now:

The kids are doing quite well (other than Stevie having a whole body rash that the doctor says we can do nothing about - but it doesn’t seem to be bothering her at all).  Stevie and Breanna keep practising walking around the furniture and standing up, but no matter what antics we try to get them to walk around the room, they’re not impressed enough to try walking on their own yet….

Rory is venturing out into two word phrases, such as “No, mom” (I love that one), and “more milk”.  He’s still learning a couple of other words each day too yet!  I don’t know how kids do it!  He was helping me shovel snow today (yes, we had another dump), by pulling the loose snow back into the path I had just made.  Yes, I was really excited about how much he is helping!

This afternoon we are going to try playing with a rice table - sounds messy, hey?  I don’t know if I will regret this idea or not - I’ll let you know.

Anyway, the one peice of news we really have had this past week is that the kids have come one step closer to becoming legally ours…a judge granted the provincial government total guardianship of the kids, which they intend to pass on to us as soon as possible (which will be a number of months yet).

Well, that’s about all for now!  Hope you are all doing well!

Hey all, we have just had a nice week visiting with Ian’s parents (from Smithers, B.C.).  This past Wednesday we attended our weekly play group dressed up for Halloween.  The kids looked so cute!

Also, I wanted to show you a before and now picture:

Last week:

This week:

(Same back deck)

Yikes, hey?

Well, because they say more than a thousand words and our kids are just so darn cute, here’s a few more:

And Stevie feeding herself:

This is just a repeat; I just figured out how to post pictures so you can look at them a little closer up.  Helena

   Breanna

      Karen, Heine, Thomas

    Theresa cooking Thanksgiving dinner

     Breanna and Stevie all ready for winter

     Family Hike (Shaun is the guy in the back row)

   Rory giving grandma a tatoo

  Stevie’s first birthday

 Thomas and Stevie, playing peek-a-boo

     Karen and Stevie raising the roof

   Stevie standing on her own

   Thomas, Ian, Bonnie

Sorry about that!

Well, we had a very busy Thanksgiving this year, as we hosted my entire family at our house, including some friends & boyfriends.  (Although Theresa took charge of the Thanksgiving dinner).  It was a great weekend, and we also took the opportunity of having everyone together to celebrate Stevie and Breanna’s first birthday (which is actually Oct 14).  I’ll post a few pictures of the weekend, and I’ll just give you a run down of the non-family members you may see in the pictures (Micah - Theresa’s friend, Shaun - Theresa’s boyfriend, Brent - Karen’s boyfriend, Jay - Ian’s brother).  The rest are hopefully easy to pick out!

Hey all,

I’m loving this idea!  It’s great to be able to keep updated with everyone and I love the pictures! (Thanks for helping Josh & Vicki out Deb).  Since we just sent out a huge group announcement, there isn’t too much more to update you on, but I’ll give a couple lines about each of us.

Ian’s working in forestry for Weyerhaeuser, supervising the log hauls they do.  He’s been doing this for nearly two years now, and generally likes his job, especially the bush days.  Ian is a great dad and takes advantage of his evenings to spend time with the kids while they’re awake.  He is also doing some hunting and shot a deer last week, which we will freeze and use all winter round.  Ian will be starting up rec volleyball in the next couple weeks, and he gets together with friends to play risk every now and then!

 I am enjoying being a stay at home mom.  The kids keep me fairly busy, and we try to get out regularly, either to play group, to our music class, or just walking and doing errands.  In the evenings I am either catching up on the day’s chores, playing soccer, taking voice lessons, or reading (I’m part of a book club).  Ian and I do get a chance every now and then to get out on our own too, and this summer we ran a half marathon together. 

Rory is talking up a storm.  His latest words are ‘off’, ‘up’, and ‘out’, and ‘walk’.  He recently moved from his crib into a big boy’s bed, and he did really well.  We are also working on a bit of toilet training.  He uses the potty on a regular basis, but only when we tell him to so far.  But he’s definitely got the idea of it!

Stevie cut her first tooth this last week, and is working on her second.  She is an active crawler, and pulls herself up to stand at furniture.  She loves playing pat-a-cake and playing peek-a-boo.  ‘Boo’ is her first word so far!

Breanna is becoming quite sturdy at standing now, although she still needs the support of furniture or some other object.  She is becoming quite a cuddly little girl, and she loves to laugh and play with her siblings.  I’m pretty sure Breanna will have teeth very soon as well!

Anyway, that’s the update…our pics are too big to post, so I will adjust them and put a few up another day!

Take care!

Helena, Ian, Rory, Stevie, & Breanna