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.

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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.

Practice make perfect

Since Reagan did such a marvelous job of being a flower girl in September, she got to try out her skills again! Ryan's cousin Abby was married this past Saturday, and Reagan was honored to be the flower girl for them. Unfortunately, our camera batteries were dead and I didn't realize it until we were at the church, so I didn't get very many pictures. Here a couple of cute ones though. Congratulations, again, Abby and Sam!

The crunch of fall

The last of our leaves finally fell from the trees and and thus began the huge undertaking of raking them all up! Ryan took the afternoon off work and we finished right before the sun went down. I think he ended up with at least 10 large piles for the kids to jump in. We have a good system down though. He rakes...and I watch.:) Not really. I hold the large piece of plastic and then we haul them into the corner of the yard where we dump them into a fenced off area. We're too dutch to pay someone to haul them away.:) The kids had a great time jumping in all the piles, although a few of them (namely Drew) almost got raked up themselves a few times!

I think she was momentarily distracted by a plane overhead.

Is it more effiecient to rake as you sit in the pile?:)

Trick or Treat

What do you get when you cross Spaghetti & Meatballs, a lion, a Care Bear, Darth Vader, Bob the Builder, Super Jacen, and Spiderman? If it's any night other than Halloween, lots of strange looks, but on this particular night, lots of smiles and candy!
This was Drew & Lauren's first time Trick or Treating and the quickly caught on!

We ended up trick or treating in Orange City this year. It was a last minute decision and the costumes added to our luggage load, but it was well worth it. The kids had a blast and it was a beautiful evening. There were lots of family members who were excited to see the kids in their costumes. We even got to take a picture with some of Ryan's cousin's kids (see pic above). Reagan's costume was pretty much falling apart by the end of the night from taking it on and off so much to get in the van, but most people knew what she was and were impressed.:) They're loving all the candy..and so am I (ha!)