Ian & Helena

Ian’s parents were here last week, and they gave us this beautiful sled that not only has side supports, but also fits all three kids in it!  We’ve been taking it out and this is a shot from the other day after going to the playground.  It’s a bit of an adventure keeping the girls’ mitts and boots on, but we keep it short and they seem to love it!  It’s clear Stevie has the best seat in the house there!  Poor Rory, he always gets the back.

Then the other day I was doing my hair in the bathroom and I noticed it got really quiet!  So I went to check, and found all three kids playing behind a chair in one corner of the living room.  And they weren’t even up to trouble!  Just working on a shape sorter back there.  Must have been cozy.  By the time I got the camera though they were already heading out to see me.

And here’s a couple of cute pictures.  Rory saying cheese, and Rory & Stevie playing.  Those two love to rough house with each other.  They giggle like crazy, even though it’s usually Rory sitting on top of Stevie.  She is one tough cookie!

Yes, folks, at risk of jinxing his amazing progress, I believe that I can officially announce that Rory is potty trained!  I know you may not be as thrilled as we are, but you would be if you had to change 18 diapers every day!  I was thinking of making this a bit of a graphic posting (we have some hilarious pictures as well), but I think I will spare you all that bit of joy and save it for another day.

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!

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: