Ready for a new year!

We have been having a rough month of December. We had a great Christmas with our family, but we've been having a lot of sickness and injuries in between. 3 weeks ago Lauren and Drew had colds and Lauren ended up with an ear infection. Then the week before Christmas she fell and hit her head on the coffee table. She ended up with a huge goose egg and a black eye. Two days before Christmas, Reagan got a stomach virus and as of yesterday, we're finally all over it (I hope!!). I'm the only one who didn't end up catching it, so I'm crossing my fingers that I'm in the clear now. The grand finale was Lauren falling off her booster chair on Tuesday and breaking her clavicle. She's now in a sling for the next 2-3 weeks. She is not a fan of it and I don't blame her. It's hard to play with toys one-handed and it's hindering her hair twirling ability.:) Thank goodness it's almost 2011. Here's to a healthy and injury-free New Year!

Cookies and Christmas Fun

We've been busy baking and preparing for Christmas. The kids love to help me with the baking, but it sometimes gets to be a little much when they're all around the island. I put them to work unwrapping all the kisses for the Peanut Blossoms the other day instead. Surprisingly, not one of them ate a single one. I couldn't believe it! I did reward them each one for their hard work.:) We also made our cut out cookies today. They won't win any awards for beauty, but they taste really good! It's one of my favorite traditions, because I remember doing it with my mom every Christmas and I'm sure my kids will do the same with their kids one day. We've been busy with our advent calendars, nightly Christmas books, and even went to Jolly Holiday Lights this year, which the kids got a kick out of. We've already celebrated Christmas with the entire extended Noteboom family and Ryan's parents and are looking forward to celebrating in Pella on Christmas day. I love the whole month of December, so I'm actually a little sad that the fun is getting close to coming to an end for another year! I signed the big kids up for softball and baseball this morning though, so I guess now we'll start looking forward to spring.:)

The kids got new pajamas and toys from their Great-Grandma Marge and Great-Grandpa Orville.

Even the animals praised him!

Luke and Reagan participated in our children's Christmas program last Sunday at church. It was about Christmas through the eyes of the animals. They all did a great job and it was worth the trip on the not so nice streets to see all the children praising God and celebrating the birth of Jesus!

The first snow of winter!

The kids have been waiting and waiting for it to finally snow. It did last weekend, but then it was too cold to play out in it! On Monday it reached 12 degrees, so I decided to let them venture out for awhile. They had a great time and enjoyed some well deserved hot cocoa when they came back in.

Personalize a free photo slideshow

Happy Birthday Dear Reagan

Wow! Yet another one of our children has hit the big milestone of "5". I'm not sure what it is about that age, but it seems significant to me. Maybe it's because she's now old enough to go to Kindergarten or they just seem to start branching out a little on their own at this age. It makes me a little teary-eyed to think about it, especially as I look back on pictures from the past 5 years. It really makes me stop and realize how quickly the years are flying by and the growing up she's done. Reagan at this age loves to learn. She is becoming very good at printing and letter sounds. She is excited to learn to read and is very curious about everything around her. She remembers pretty much everything she hears and learns. She loves babies! She would love for us to have many more, but she is content to hold her new baby cousins whenever she gets the chance.:) She is such a great big sister to Drew & Lauren (she even changed Lauren's diaper the other day just because she wanted to) and is loving towards her big brother (even on days he doesn't deserve it!). She is a sweet little girl with a mind of her own at times, but that's why we love her all the more. We are proud of the little girl she is and excited about the years ahead. Happy Birthday, sweet Reagan! We love you.