These are just a few highlights; I’ve missed lots, but a lot of it you are all caught up on now that we have this blog!
Jan 30 - chimney fire. Had to move out and live in an apartment while repairs took place (other than smoke damage the only damage was to the structure of the house….luckily…fire chief said that another five/ten minutes and the whole house would have been gone - yeah for Edson volunteer fire department)!
(I’m sure a lot happened in this inbetween time, but it all seems to be forgotten in the wake of the big stuff!)
June 29 - Officially matched with our three children! We hadn’t met them yet, but we saw a couple pictures that day and could imagine no others.
June 30 - Weekend at the cabin with mom, dad, and all four of us kids. Wakeboarding, skiing, watching fireworks, and just hanging out on the deck having slookies (yup, i have no idea how to spell that!).
July 4 - Moved back into our house after the fire while our carpet was still being laid. We had to unpack everything and try to prepare for three children, both emotionally and physically…luckily our church was extremely supportive in bringing us highchairs, cribs, etc. to use! That was a crazy, crazy week, because it was also my last week at work with very little notice so I had to wrap everything up quickly!
July 8 - Met our beautiful children for the first time, and spent the rest of the week getting to know them and spending time with them in their foster homes. A pretty intense week for everyone, but we were so excited that we just went on adrenaline, I think!
July 14 - Delivery day - Our family was united together!
August 18 - went on holidays to visit our families (two weeks). Our first road trip with the kids, and the first time many of our extended family member met them. We spent time at Chase, in 100 Mile House, and in Smithers.
October 14 - Stevie and Breanna’s first birthday. For Thanksgiving the week before Pake and Beppe and all the VanderVeen aunts and uncles came to visit and celebrate the birthday. Afterwards Grandma and Grandpa Kwantes came to do the same.
October 19 - Helena’s 27th birthday
December 22 - left for Christmas holidays to visit Pake and Beppe. We had a great, busy time. We spent lots of time with family, and the kids were spoiled with attention. Ian and I had a babysitter (Greta Wikkerink) while the whole family went skiing/boarding. That was great day. We also had a lot of fun on Boxing Day - mom made brunch for us and a lot of friends (she is one wicked egg cooker!) and then we all played a game that mom made for us - the Amazing Race. I should also mention that my team of Brent (Karen’s boyfriend), Jack Striker, and I won, but naturally you’d probably assume that such a stellar team of strength and wit could do nothing else. We also went to Sophia and Auke Feenstra’s boxing day bash and had a blast. For Rory’s birthday (Dec 28) we went swimming at the wave pool (our first time with the kids since our local pool has been closed for renovations for nearly 9 months now). There were seven kids under 2 and 8 adults, so the kids were in their glory with slides, hot tubs, and all the attention they could dream of! We also went to Abbotsford to visit aunt Pam and uncle Colin (Ian’s sister) and went swimming again, and visited with another adoptive family we’ve gotten to know a bit. On Saturday we were just unwinding, and Mom and Dad volunteered to babysit while we took the afternoon/evening to ourselves. We did a bit of shopping, had Thai dinner (delicious) and watched a movie (Blood Diamonds 0 recommend it, but be prepared for a LOT of violence) . Overall it was a fantastic week. I’ve posted a new page with all the Christmas pics. Hopefully mom and Karen will add a few more on their sites, since I’ve missed some of our fun events!
I hope that you have all had a great 2006 as well, and hope that you find more of what you love in 2007!
