Ian & Helena

Here’s a few of camping with aunt Theresa, Shaun, aunt Karen, Brent, & some friends:

B,S,R eating breakfast.

Breanna playing near the water; Rory venturing in with aunt Karen; Rory carrying (spilling) water; Stevie playing near the water; Stevie & Breanna playing in the dirt; Stevie swimming with aunt Theresa - Stevie was the bravest and went most of the way in!; Stevie napping in Shaun’s tent. 

We had a great time camping with them - the kids just loved being able to wander around the campsite and play at the campground/beach.  It was really nice to have other people around to help out too!

 Stevie playing

 Breanna playing outside; helping mom & Stevie make aunt Renee’s birthday cake; helping make biscuits; sitting on the potty.

Rory playing in the backyard.  Do ALL boys have to do this????

Stevie and Breanna looking cute in one of their twin outfits.

Stevie, Rory, & Breanna playing in the ball pit we received from Stevie’s foster mother.

Just wanted to share a few of the photos that we have.  I love being able to watch the kids try new things, and so far I love camping with them too!  We’re heading out soon for a full week in July, so we’re hoping for some decent weather!  We just bought our family size tent and stove since our two-person style camping was not going to work for all of us

 Helena

Well, we had a great time camping with the gang on the long weekend.  For those of you who don’t know, mom & dad have, for years now, gone motor-bike camping on the long weekend, with about half of Agassiz and a few people from Minnesota (my mom’s sister & family).  Anyway, after a long hiatus of joining them, we ventured out on our first real camping trip with the kids.  And they loved it! 

Here’s, Rory, Stevie, & friend Cayden playing in the soot-like sand/dirt.  Amazingly dirty, but they had a great time!

 Stevie heading down the ’slide’ 

 Rory in his favourite position - with a vehicle, but especially a big truck! 

Breanna participating in our annual spa afternoon, where we wash each other’s hair, give facials, and this year foot baths, hand massages, and toenail painting! 

 A few pictures around the fire and doing lunch dishes (keep in mind that we may not be looking our best after a few days without showers:)):

Funny, we really have no pictures of the bikes!  Stevie was the bravest of the kids and took a little ride whiel uncle Thomas held her, and Breanna didn’t seem to mind sitting on them too much.  Rory was all talk before hand - go fast motorbike, he’d say, but once someone fired one up he wanted nothing to do with them anymore.  But all three kids definitely got a little more comfortabel with the bikes over the weekend, and now Rory’s toy bikes have a lot more meaning for him, I’m sure.

The kids were actually all a bit sick on the weekend, and Rory said the cutest thing.  We had soup for lunch, and later when I checked on him napping, he was sitting up, and he looks at me and says with a mournful look, “spilled soup!”…he’d thrown up in mom & dad’s trailer.  But we were pretty lucky during travelling times though; no one spilled soup in the van.

We stayed at mom & dad’s cabin on the way there & back and it was neat to see the kids’ reactions since they have little memory of it from last year.  Rory was just enthralled with the wildlife, and the boats, of course!

We’re heading out this weekend again to camp with Theresa & Shaun, Karen & Brent, & some friends.  We’re looking forward to it now that we’ve got it figured out a little!

Well, we’ve had a sick couple of weeks here at our household.  It all started with Ian getting strep throat and tonsilitis two weeks ago and ending up taking nearly a work off of work before it started to get sorted out.  The following week Stevie was sick, and then this past weekend, Rory, Breanna, and I were sick.  The kids all had/have fevers & colds, but I managed to escape with just a cold, I think.  Breanna seemed to be worse again today though, so even though I thought we were all getting better, it seems it’s still hanging on a bit.  It’s so sad when they’re sick.  The kids all took their turn just laying on me or Ian and sleeping through most of the day.  The girls are also pushing out six teeth each, which I’m sure doesn’t help matters.  So we’ve been up numerous times each night as they struggle through whatever they have (we took Stevie to the doctor, but he said it wasn’t strep throat, which we’re pretty glad about). 

 I took my fitness theory test this past weekend, and although I haven’t received my results yet, I felt pretty good about it.  And I’m going to be starting teaching portions of my girlfriend’s class as soon as the kids are over their sicknessess (I was supposed to last Thursday but haven’t been able to go since then).  Anyway, against my better judgment, I’m posting this picture of Theresa helping me out when she was over a couple weeks ago by letting me lead her through a warm up.  Our ’steps’ were definitely sub-par, but we had fun giggling over it and Ian couldn’t pass up capturing the embarrassing moment.   Rory thought it was pretty fun, though…he was game to try all the moves!

 It actually reminds me of when Theresa & I were in Ontario visiting while we were at Ottawa U, and helping out with barn chores in some very sexy spandex and sweaters we were able borrow - we thought it would be a great look for a new farm themed aerobics video.  If only I could find those pictures to post (…as if I’m going to look too hard).

 I also just wanted to share with you all that my two year old son has officially outsmarted his mother already.  This kid is amazing.  While I may know the odd fact or two about life, Rory knows his cars.  We were going for a walk one day and he points at a parked car and says, “Pake’s car”.  Sure enough, I went over to have a closer look (truthfully to go and memorize the make of the car written on the back so I could go home and double check with Ian); it was the same vehicle that mom & dad drive.  And he’s done it not just once, but numerous times - when he sees a vehicle of the same make & colour of someone we know (even when we may have only seen it once or twice), he says “Amy’s car”, or “Campbell’s car”.  It’s ridiculously cute!  Unbelievable that my two year old has left me in the dust already…I thought I had a few more years to prepare for this sort of thing!  But don’t worry.  I’m still better at puzzles than him.  Haha.

In other news, both Breanna and Stevie have done their first pee on the potty.  We are NOT in training mode with them, but they just love imitating so much that they ask to go on all the time, and I guess they just got lucky!  So, we’re hoping this will mean early & speedy toilet training so we will be able to salvage our bathroom from the mounds of cloth diapers that our two little monkey’s manage to use up!  Yeah!

 That’s all for now!

I hope you all enjoyed a fun, relaxing Easter weekend, especially for those of you who got together with family!  We got lots done around here including lots of play time and some special outings with just one kid and mom or dad!  Pretty fun!  We also made Easter eggs, gifts from grandma & grandpa Kwantes, and worked on special wooden puzzles from them. 

Rory (Breanna behind him)   Stevie

 We also took a family picture since we happened to be up early Easter Sunday and had the time to get everyone dressed up a bit and even did the girls’ hair!  We tried to take pictures outside, but it was so sunny that everyone was just squinting in all the pictures.

And I just had to add these cute pictures of Rory and his friend, Campbell, when he came over to play last week.  It’s so neat to see them actually playing together now; they were taking turns on the track and building the tower together.

We have recently been making the switch to big beds for the girls; we started with Stevie and then Breanna too, in order to get prepped for camping this summer (we don’t want to have to lug the playpens around anymore!  I can’t believe we still needed three last summer)!  Anyway, it has been going quite well, although Stevie is really enjoying her freedom and pops out of bed at some of the funniest times.  It’s so interesting how different they all are; Rory & Breanna took to it by the book - repeated attempts and then once they got it they stayed, whereas Stevie just comes out at random.  Kinda cute though when she’s still half asleep and wandering out looking for you (as long as it’s not the middle of the night)!  The girls also just recently reached 100 words each - they are quite the little chatterboxes - one big part is how much they love to imitate their older brother.  Breanna also did her first pee on the potty tonight…we’re not working on training her, really, but she’s taken an interest in the potty, so we sometimes sit her on it when we’re changing her diaper anyway.  I don’t think she really knows what she’s doing there, except that she always gets books read to her for some strange reason!!! 

Rory’s doing really well, too.  He’s starting to speak in short sentences ”Sha-Sha (Theresa) sleeping bunk bed” (he was so excited that aunt Theresa slept in his top bunk bed when she came over), or “Stevie push Breanna” (he loves to ‘tattle’ already - nothing like his mother as a kid, I’m sure).  He’s also getting good at going for walks now that the snow’s melted and I can definitely see a difference from last year, since he’s not getting distracted every 10 seconds (which was cute, just now we can actually go places). 

 Anyway, I could go on about my cuties forever, but I’ll try to contain myself! 

We are really looking forward to some camping & other holidays this summer, especially time at the cabin!  What do the rest of you have planned for summer holidays?

Helena

P.S. I just thought I’d add that since this is the only blog I maintain, I give the address out to friends & family outside of the Vander Veen family, incase some of you are wondering why I add info about people you may not know  

So mom & dad just left this afternoon to move along in their holiday.  We had a great time visiting with them, and they helped out so much!  They babysat while Ian & I got to go snowboarding on Wednesday, and managed to make 2 dinners, build us shelves, repair holes in our ceiling downstairs, and numerous other odds & ends to help out.  What a treat!  We got to take the kids swimming too (which we so far have not attempted with just the two of us), and of course the kids got spoiled by Pake & Beppe all week, and loved it to bits!  The kids loved spending time with them, although Breanna was still a bit nervous about Pake’s beard…who can blame her

A couple weekends ago Ian went to Valemont, B.C. for a back country snowboarding trip…here’s him & his friends getting ready to head out

And I have to include this cute picture of Rory playing with the wheelbarrow grandpa K made for him.  It took him a bit to figure out that you have to lift it to push it, but he’s got the hang of it now!

The weather outside is slowly but surely turning to spring weather, and we’re enjoying it immensely!  Lots of walks and playing on the deck.  My course is going well, although it’s got a lot of material in it, especially for a girl who avoided biology at all costs in high school.  I’m actually just procrastinating on studying right now, so I guess I should really get to it.  Wish me luck!

I’m feeling like I’m posting all the time now, but it was part of my plan to not have such long posts, so I hope no one minds too much!

Yesterday a friend of mine dropped off her kids’ old kitchen set, which has become a very hot item around here!  The kids played with it and the dishes for quite some time yesterday, and Rory’s becoming quite the creative cook!

 I also received in the mail my package for the Fitness Leader course I am taking, starting March 1st.  I’m doing it by correspondance, and my plan is to head into group exercise (i.e. step classes) or possibly aquasize or something like that.  I’m excited but quite nervous too.  I won’t be doing anything other than taking classes and practising until September or so, because I was also accepted to receive parental benefits until then, which is nice for the pocketbook!  And the job will be good too, because it will only be a few hours a week, and I need to get my exercise in anyway.  And the main gym in town has childcare as well, so that will work out quite conveniently if I can do a class there.  Anyway, that’s my news…wish me luck!

 Ian played in a volleyball tournament this weekend, and after numerous games back-to-back was pretty sore afterward!  They won the tournament though!  He also received a good annual raise this week and a bonus (mainly because we’ve had such cold weather this winter so they could get a lot of wood in), and a little financial incentive always makes you feel a little better about your job!  Although he seems to be enjoying his job anyway.  In a few more weeks it will be too warm for logging (spring break-up), so that will take a lot of pressure off him and some time to do the catch-up stuff that tends to be set aside for higher priorities. 

And we’re looking forward to going to Edmonton this weekend to see the fam. and check out the dinner theater (well, we’ve decided to go to the brunch version, partly because we love breakfast foods so much!)  So we’ll let you know what we think afterward.

The girls’ hair, not my post.  I spent a little time doing the girls’ hair yesterday and they looked so darn cute!

  Breanna

  Stevie

 But it didn’t last long…  by the end of nap time they had pulled everything out and their hair both looked more like this:

 It made me laugh:)

And here’s just a cute one of the girls & I playing at the playground nearby.  It was our family day activity together (for those of you who don’t know Alberta has a stat holiday called Family Day added in - pretty cool, hey?), although we do go there quite regularly now that the temperature is warmer and the girls can manouever their way around a bit!

Not directly for us, but we are so excited that the kids have their third first cousin, Natalie Jade!  She was born on Feb 16, healthy and cute!  Selfishly, we are pretty excited that the girls will have a playmate so close in age!  And we all know how important cousins are!  Here’s a pic of Ian’s sister, Eileen, and family a few days after Natalie was born.

And while I’m sharing other people’s news, I thought I’d post a pic of the beautiful gift that Brent gave to Karen on Valentines day.  I asked her to post it, but I think she’s ignoring me…

Beautiful, hey?

So far we are having a lovely day today!  We received a package from my parents filled with Valentine goodies for the kids, and they loved tearing into them and eating the snacks, of course!  Rory was pretty excited to see an R on his cookie! 

We’re going to make a Valentines Day card for Ian this afternoon with some of the stickers.  He’s out of town for a couple days for work this week.

This past weekend Theresa & Shaun came up to visit with us, which was really fun.  Theresa and I got a good start on painting our garage while Shaun & Ian held down the fort with all the kids.  On Sunday, Jay (Ian’s brother) and his girlfriend Fran came up to visit and we all went swimming together.  The pool in Edson just opened after 8 months of renovations, so it was crazy packed in there.  It took a bit for the kids to get used to it, but they seemed to enjoy themselves, especially in the hot tub!  It’s nice to have so much family just a couple hours away, and nice to meet Fran too!

Then on Monday Breanna and Rory stayed with friends for the day, while Stevie and I headed into Edmonton.  Stevie had an eye appointment which revealed that she has great eyes and no problems.  Then we spent the afternoon shopping and then headed over to aunt Theresa’s to make Thai dinner.  It was a great day for both of us, although as you may be able to detect, Stevie did give herself a black eye by falling into one of the display shelves at one of the stores we went to.  Anyway, we found a great outlet store where cute, brand new clothes are on sale for as low as $2.50 (Breanna’s skirt).  Here are the kids in their new duds:

And here’s one Stevie building a tower last week:

  Perhaps we have an architect on our hands!!!

I hope you all have a great Valentines Day; we’re sending out our love to all of you!

Helena, Ian, Rory, Stevie & Breanna

I should almost be writing a little more often, because by now I have so many pictures that I want to share it ends up being a long post!  Anyway, here goes, along with our events of the last couple weeks!

 A couple weekends ago I went to a faith exploration course at our church (United), so Ian took the kids on a whirlwind of a weekend with dad!  I came home to find our furniture all rearranged and this beautiful ‘helmet’ cast aside.  Ian also planned a sledding outing with the kids that I ended up going along with since I got out early.  Isn’t it a blessing when there’s two parents to input different ideas & styles into our kids’ lives!  I think the kids had a blast with Ian.

Then this last weekend Karen & Brent stopped by on their way out snowboarding.  We would have loved to join them but couldn’t arrange babysitting this time; instead we enjoyed a nice dinner & game with them (did you know Brent likes pickle & peanutbutter sandwiches?)  The following day friends from Drayton Valley (our last home) came up to visit along with their two kids. We headed out to the playground.

(Breanna & Stevie - and yes, we tape Breanna’s mittens on…it is so hard to find a decent pair!!!)  Since it’s been a lot nicer here and the girls are walking a lot more now, it is much easier to get outside to play.  We’ve scraped off our slide and pulled out a bunch of toys so we are back in outdoor play times!

We’ve also started up a new project (yes, I say we, but so far I’m pretty much just the muscle for lifting boards on the ceiling) of giving our garage a new look.  We are getting rid of the saggy, old drywall and covering everything up with OSB (Ian got a good deal from work).  Then I’m going to paint it all and Ian’s going to build some new shelving.  It’s our evening/weekend project, and Ian has been very dedicated to keep working at it (you know those evenings where you just want to sit on your butt…)

Here’s a mid-way picture.  We still have a long way to go!

  You can also see our triple stroller on the bottom there…I LOVE that thing.

The girls of our family (Breanna, me, Stevie)

Then tonight we were just playing around with the camera a bit and accidentally took this scary picture:

 But don’t worry; pictures can lie. Here’s one to prove Breanna is actually healthy!

A couple more cute ones:

No place better than box to hide in (this is Rory’s favourite thing lately…I’m just waiting for the day it happens when we’re out somewhere…I’m keeping an extra eye on him.  Unfortunately, I still have not grown those eyes on the back of my head that my mom always told me mom’s have (or was she LYING!!!)

 Dad’s new boots! 

Well, that is all.  We have plans to go to a couple dinner theatre’s in the next few weeks, and Ian has a volleyball tournament coming up too.  So on goes the fun!  I love hearing from you all, and I’m very intrigued about the can…