Words from the Wiersemas

Tuesink's Farm

2010-08-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to go to Tuesink's Farm for the past few weeks, and tonight we finally had a free night to go and venture out there. I knew Lily would love it, as she is very into farm animals right now...and here are some pictures to prove it.
Don't mind her face in some of these pictures, she fell today while playing inside and got a good scratch down the left side of her face...oppsy!

Daddy teaching her how to feed the sheep and goats...a little unsure at first, but that didn't last too long!

This girl loves her ducks...

Trying out the ponies...not so sure about them.

Taking a hayride with bunnies. You kept trying to pick them up all by yourself :) They were so cute...i loved them!

A few more pictures with the goats/sheep...your favorite part of the whole night!

We had a great night!

corn on the cob...

2010-08-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

Although Lily only has two of her bottom middle teeth and 4 on the top in the middle she can still master the corn on the cob. She loves to eat it...she think's it's the greatest thing ever!

she is saying "cheese" hehehe :)

isn't she the cutest thing ever?! :)

It has been AWHILE! :)

2010-07-15T16:56:00.001-07:00

Well can i use the excuss that our labtop was broken and getting fixed for 3 weeks?! I have been bad at keeping up this blog this summer....i guess i got caught up in finishing up the school year, and now spending my days with my girl. I am not even going to try to play catch up....i'll just post some pictures of the fun we have had so far this summer! :) Lily is quite a little character these days. She is sweet as ever, but also definatly knows what she wants. She is starting to talk more and more, and i see these little signs of a "big girl" and not a baby anymore. This makes me a bit sad, but she is my love no matter how big she gets!

Yummy! I LOVE popcicles! However we have now switches to "ice-pops" these are much cleaner :)

Going for a walk at the beach. Daddy doesn't like to go to the beach so we don't go often :(

Sprinkler Fun! :)

"Ride?" that is what you say every time we are outside....you (and ella!) LOVE to go for rides on the golf cart!

We have spent many of our weekends up at Grandma and Grandpa's cottage on Big Star Lake. You LOVE to be there...playing in the water, in the sand, going on boat rides, playing on the slide...but most of all you love to play with your cousin Ella while we are there. :)

A few weeks back we went camping at Wolf Lake in Muskegon with our friends. we had a great time and all the little kids did great!

Lily just taking drink break!

some of the moms and the kiddos...

Playing at the beach!

I put Lily down for a nap one day and found her peeking at me :) that little stinker figured out how to move the curtins! Needless to say i had to more her pack n' play afer that :)

"Uh-Oh"

That is a snip=it of what we have been up to...i will try to keep up with this better!!

Tulip Time 2010

2010-05-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

This Tulip Time has been a bit more "busy" than it was last year.

Last year, lily sat so nicely and would sleep through the parades...

This year, she is a walkin', movin' girl who does NOT want to sit!

We went to the Wednesday parade with friend, and then on Thursday we sat with my family. I am skipping the Saturday parade, because the weather is going to be yucky, but also because it is more work than fun to take her to the parades this year. She gets mad that i won't let her walk down with road with the "parade people". So, hopefully next year the parades will capture her attention a bit more :) On Wednesday night we went out for dinner with Brad, Jill, and cousin Ella. After dinner we headed down to the park to take some pictures. Neither Ella or Lily wanted to sit still, so the pictures are VERY limited of them, but oh well :)

Can you tell that she doesn't like to "sit"...she was less than pleased that i grabbed her to try to take a picture :)

Because i love to "look back": here is Lily this year

And here she was last year :) oh how time flies!

Lily's 1 year pictures

2010-05-05T04:49:00.001-07:00

Last week i hosted a Picture Party with Christy Pacanowski. My job was to find people to come! I assigned people a 15 minutes photo shoot with her, made sure they knew all the info, helped Christy on the day of, and from here i will collect their money, and deliver their pictuers when they are ready. We had to cancle our first assigned day because of the weather, but to be honest i think the day we ended up having out pictures on was PERFECT! I know i had a great time, the pictures are WONDERFUL as always, and i give many many many thanks to Christy :)
Here are a few to peak at. If you want to see the rest of our families you can go to her website..... www.christypacanowskiphotography.com and the password is wiersema.

2010-05-05T04:49:00.000-07:00

New shoes and the park...

2010-04-27T14:10:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back i was at Target and i spotted these tennis shoes for Lily. I showed them to her and tried them on, and she seemed very pleased with herself! :) She seems to think that she is very cool when she wears them, so that night we thought we could go to the park (The Groove) and play for awhile. Here are some pictures of our park fun.

Her new shoes...aren't they so cute?!

Walking to the swings with daddy...

Time to play on the swings! this is by far her favorite part of going to the park to play!

A quick picture with mom...this is a rare thing, as i am the one always taking the pictures!

Time to go home...we will come back a different day!

Where does the time go?!

2010-04-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so i will confess that i have beena HUGE slacker on this whole blog thing. I'm not even going to try to make up for the lost time...i will just start now and hopefully do a better job at updating :)

We celebrated lily's birthday last week...i honestly can not believe that a WHOLE year has passed since she was born. I have loved and cherrished every since moment that we have been blessed to have her in our lives and i look forward to so many more years.
Here she is just hours old....

And here she is one year later...

I miss her being little, just having her lay in my arms and sleep :) but she is such a riot and so much fun now that i wouldn't trade it for the world. She is a very happy and content little girl so it makes loving this stage a bit more easier :) She took a few steps yesterday, but still prefers to crawl around at lightning speed. She is saying more and more words all the time. She can currently say: mama, dada, dog, cat, hot, nigh-night, thank you, yes, she can quack like a duck, moo like a cow, and bark like a dog. She is eatting most "big kid" foods, and still gets bottles. She goes to the doctor Friday, so i'm assuming she will start drinking MILK and no more formula then. We will see!

Here are some pictures from the Koning birthday party...we are having a party with the Wiersema's this comuing weekend.

Walking

2010-04-13T18:32:00.001-07:00

Lily has finally decided to walk unassisted....i did have to brib her with a peanut butter cup :) but she still was walking. She would take 10-15 steps at a time...what a smartie pants.

"Doggie"

2010-03-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

Lily has been able to say "doggie" for awhile now. We have a picture of Macie on our wall...haha yes we love her this much! :) Lily LOVES to look at Macie's picture and go up and give that picture a kiss. She loves dogs...and animals in general. Ever since lily was about 3 months old they would play together. Lily would try to pull Macie's ball out of her mouth, and play with her. Now that Lily can move around they seem to have more fun together. Poor Macie puts up with a lot of abuse: pulled ears, hard pats on her back, occassinally being laid on, and now Lily tortures her by trying to get her food (YUCK, but lily manages to get a piece in her mouth every day!) Here are some pictures of my two "girls" :)

Kisses for Lily :)

Kisses for Macie :)

Water Bottles are so much fun!

Hum....what do we see outside today?

Last of all... a picture of miss lily- she is growing up MUCH too fast!

It's been awhile :)

2010-02-27T12:32:00.000-08:00

Life is just passing us by over here at the Wiersema house! I can't believe it is almost March, and that my baby girl is almost 1! Lily continues to be a happy and content baby, she LOVES to play, read, and explore. She is happy to play alone, and can entertain herself (i think this is very important and i'm so glad she enjoys this!) She is a jabber box and can say: mama, dada, doggie, cat, hot, baba (bottle), and she can bark like a dog, moo like a cow, and quack like a duck :) She LOVES to climb the stairs, crawl under the table and between the chairs (although she often gets stuck), she LOVES the water and loves to take baths, and most of all she is starting to eat real food! As some of you know, this is a huge accomplishment for little miss lily. She has always had such a bad gag reflex, and any texture or thickness to food would cause her to gag and throw up. She still eats mostly baby food (because she only has 4 teeth), but she also enjoys: blueberrys, potatoe chips, yogert, veggie straws, mac n' cheese, pizza, and bagels. Of course she eats most of those with the smallest of bits....but she is still eatting them :) Here are some picture from the last litle bit!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-05T06:40:00.001-08:00

We had a great time celebrating over the holidays. We only bought Lily 1 gift this year...we figured she didn't know the difference anyways :) She loves her knew toy...it is definatly one of her favorites!

We celebrated Christmas with my parents on x-mas morning...

Lily opening her stocking from grandma and grandpa... M&M's (mommy ate these)

Some books to read

And and ornament

Grandma and her girls (yes Macie is in there too! haha)

Lily got a ride on/ walk behind toy...

Lily with her baby Stella doll which she loves. She always gives her kisses...it is very funny. And she also has a backpack to carry her in. Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?!

and... the sand and water table to play with when it gets warm out! This will be great to put on our deck!

Grandpa, Grandma, Ella & Lily

(we celebrated x-mas with jake's family a few weeks back and sadly i forgot my camera that night!)

2009-11-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

Lily and Ella get to spend alot of time together each week. Lily goes to Auntie Jill's house on Wednesday mornings when i go to work and Ella comes to our house on Friday mornings while Jill goes to work. Over the past few months the girls have started to "play" with eachother and it's been fun to watch. Last week i found the girls tearing into my magazines/caelogs. Ella was showing Lily the joys of ripping paper :) I figured there are worse things and let them have a good ol' time doing this. At least they are practing those fine motor skills by tearing paper! :)

Ella wanted to give Lily a kiss...but Lily wasn't so sure she wanted a kiss from her cousin!!

Lily started crawling last week...she started out slow, but now is off like the wind. She also loves to pull up and stand on anything....the coffee table, the fireplace, her toys, us,...anything. She thinks she is big stuff!

What i'm up to at 7 months...

2009-11-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

It boggles my mind that my baby girl is already 7 months! I remember when we took her home from the hospital and it seemed like it would be forever until she would sit up, crawl around, eat baby food, and "play" with us...however the time has come and gone for many of those things. It makes me sad that my baby is becoming less and less of a baby and more and more of a big girl, but she is so much fun and we are enjoying this stage with her more than ever. Here are some of the things she has been up to over the past month or so...

She has finally decided to like babyfood...bananas and oatmeal cereal are her favorite by far, but she also doesn't mind green beans or applesauce. Sweet Potatoes, and carrots didn't go over so well...but we will try them again soon :) Here is a picture of her during her "Gagging" stage. Jake and I would sit and laugh and laugh when we would feed her...you will see why :) I have decided that it wasn't that she didn't LIKE the food...it's that it just took her a while to get use to it. Each day it gets better so we are happy about that!

She LOVES to play. Often time people want to just hold her and walk around with her, but she would much prefer to sit by herself on the ground and play with her toys. She likes to sit next to her basket of toys at home and pull them out and stand up using the basket to help. She things she is so big :) She loves to read her books and she loves to be read to. Her favorites are "Goodnight Moon", "I love you through and through" and "baby colors". (yes she has favorites...i know this because she will sit and listen to certain stories and not others...very smart baby haha)

Cousin Ella is letting Lily borrow one of her toys for awhile...Lily loves this toy and plays with it several times a day! We will need to invest in one of these the next time around....but are happy that Ella is such a good sharer and letting us borrow it for now.:)

Listening to lily is one of my favorite things ever....here she is laughing and laughing while daddy tickles her :)

Lily is on the move...she can get just about anywhere between rolling, scooting, sitting up and flopping back down. She will be crawling any time...it is still just a matter of figuring out how to go forward :)

fianlly, lily loves to have her sippy cup...at this point it is more of a "chew toy" but when does get water out she thinks it is pretty fun!

Holloween

2009-11-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

This Holloween lily was a caterpillar. As you can see, she was very excited about this :)

My Grandma Essenburg was in the hosptial because she had her shoulder replaced so we thought we'd stop with brad, jill, and ella jeanne to visit.

Going to visit with grandpa and grandma koning...

Both girls were curious as to what the other one was wearing...

and then ella decided she wanted lily's "feelers"....YANK :)

All tuckered out from a fun afternoon...

6 months old and happy about it!

2009-10-30T05:37:00.000-07:00

Lily went to the doctor this past week for her 6 month check-up (although she will be 7 months next week). She checked out great and aside from having a little bout with croup a few weeks back she has been healthy thus far. She weighed in at
17 lb 9oz which is the 70% and her height was 26.5" which is the 75%. We have been giving her rice ceral now for a few months. She is not a fan of it, and i started baby food this week and she gags horribly on this as well. I have decided that it isn't that she doesn't like the taste it is that she doesn't like to swallow it. She has a horrible gag reflux. I know it isn't the taste because she LOVES to suck of "big people food" but once we try to have her eat her food it's worthless. She not only gags like it is the grossest thing ever, but it often is followed by vomitting. She seems to go okay if i totally delute it so its very liquidy...but ugh what a pain. Any helpful ideas?
I will leave you with some recent pictures of out little toots. She is such a HAPPY and content little girl. She loves to "talk" to us, clap her hands (a new trick that grandma koning taught her!), jump around, and try to crawl. She almost has the crawling thing down...in a couple weeks she'll be flying around i'm sure.

Happy as can be!

Daddy's attempt at making Lily a "hunting girl"....it isn't gonna happen :)

Playing outside with Macie...

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to go to Post Family Farms with Brad, Jill, and Ella. Neither of us had been there before but i have heard great things about it from several people. We had a great morning watching the goats, taking a hayride, picking out pumpkins, and of course eatting the yummy pumpkin donuts and apple cider! This might just have to be a new fall tradition.
Here we are spending some time by the goats. They had this really cool contraption where the goats can walk up this ramp and eat the food out of a little can. I should have gotten a picture...of well! Lily liked to watch them walk around...Ella loved letting them lick her little fingers! :)

Enjoying the hayride on our way out to the pumpkin patch...

We found our pumpkins!! Yeah! Here is Lily with her little pumpkin she picked :)

A family shot...

Enjoying the hayride back and relaxin with dad...

Lily and Ella playing on the hayride...aren't they cute! Ella loves to point at lily and laugh and Lily just stares back at Ella... :)

Yeah!!! i have such a fun time at the farm today! Can't you tell?!

6 months old....

2009-10-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

Time flyes that is for sure! Lily just turned 6 months on oct 3 and i had her 6 month pictures take yesterday. Christy Pacanowski is wonderful....and as always we love the pictures she took!
Here are a few that she posted for me, but if you want to check out the rest of Lily Pie you can do so by going to her website
www.clpphotography.com

click child and family site...then click on "the client" and the password is lily.
Enjoy!

Changes...

2009-09-23T11:31:00.001-07:00

It's been about a month since i last updated and in that short time i feel like Lily is starting to become so much more of a little girl. She still is all baby, but she is starting to reach milestones that are exciting to see...but yet a bit sad because she is growing up way to fast! In a couple week she will be 6 months old...where does all the time go?! She is a fantastic little baby...happy as can be, and she loves her mommy :) When she is playing with her daddy I often times need to be out of the room or sitting right next to them, because otherwise she whines until i pick her up. However, no one can make her smle like her daddy can! She loves him to peices and is always excited to see him when he gets home from work.

About a week after she started rolling around she thought she should also start sitting up like a big girl, so right about at 5 months. She is now fairly stable and i dare to let her sit up without me being right next to her to catch her fall. She seems to really enjoy sitting up and playing with her toys and reading her books!

She also now sits in her high chair to eat. She LOVES LOVES LOVES sitting at the table. We love our Tripp-Trapp High chair...she is at table height and we don't have to have a honkin' highchair in our house. It sits at our table like a chair. It's perfect and she can use it for years to come (it can transition to a toddler chair also).

Macie wanted to come and say hello :)

Our upstairs in finally complete. It was a long time coming, but Jake did most of the work himself. So, about a week ago we moved Lily up to her crib. She seems to like it up there :) She sleeps through the night most nights, but ocassionally will wake up once to eat still. It's so nice not having her in our room anymore. We don't have to tip toe around before bed, we can turn the lights on, and even watch tv in bed again.
Peek-A-Boo...I'm awake! :)

Rolly- Polly!

2009-08-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Lily had been able to flip over from tummy to back for about a month now...but she fliped over from back to tummy for the first time yesterday. Today she has done it several times and seems very please with herself each time she does it!

When daddy is away...the girls will play!!

2009-08-19T17:20:00.000-07:00

Jake has been up in Canada bear hunting and fishing since Friday...and will be gone until late saturday night. This trip has been planed for almost a year, so I knew through out my whole pregnancy that i would be left by myslef for a week with a 4 month old. All in all it's been great. We spent the weekend up at the cottage like normal and i had a babysitter come to give me a break on Monday morning and then my mom took her this morning for me. I never realized just how long the days can seem when you are the only parent! I'm sure glad i don't have to live like this all the time! Lily is also starting to get a tooth in, so that has caused her not to sleep normal...which can be hard when you are the only one here! We are surving though :)

I had ordered Lily an excersaucer and it came this week. It is a life saver! Jake didn't think it was a "necessary" toy...but i beg to differ! Lily loves it! She can sit up and play...and there are so many different toys for her to play with. She can easily turn herslef all around to get at whatever she wants.

We also got her ears peirced tonight! Jake and I have been talking about it and decided that 4 months was a good time to do it. Our neice Ella had it done at that age and it worked out great. She was too little to pull on her ears and she didn't even know they were there. The more we talked about it, the less Jake wanted to do with it. He kept saying, "I'm not going with...all your doing is hurting her!" So he said it was ok that i go while he was gone because he wasn't going to go with me anyways. My mom came with us tonight and everything went great. We both actually thought she wasn't even going to cry at first because her recation was so delayed...but then of course the tears came. After we were finished she drank her bottle and was perfectly fine. Jacob...if you are reading this she did great! I can't wait for you too see her pretty ears! :) I should make Jake take her to the doctor to get her shots next time because that is alot worse than having her ears peirced!
This is BEFORE....she has no idea what is coming!

During....

All done and good as new!

All in all it's a been a great week home with just me and lily...but we sure are ready for her daddy to come home! :)

4 months and rice cereal!

2009-08-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lily went in for her 4 month check up this past friday...but really she was 4 months and 2 weeks at her appt. Everything went well and she check out great! She is now 14lbs 10 oz and 25 1/4 inches long. That puts her in the 60% for weight (the first time she is above average for her weight) and the 75% for height. She is such a joy and such a content and happy baby. It is hard to believe that she is 4 months old already...time is flying by!
We also started rice cereal with her this past week. I actually started giving it to her before i went to the doctor because Jake is out of town this whole week hunting and we thought it would be fun to give it to her before he left. She seemed to like it the first night..probably because it was something new. However, every time since then she doesn't seem to be a fan. I seriously sit and laugh my head off at her when she eats because as soon as i put it in her mouth she sticks her tounge out as far as it can go and just leaves it there like she is waiting for the food to fall off. haha. I really need to try to get a picture of this! Anyways...we love her dearly and enjoy each moment we have with her.

Piggies!!!

2009-08-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

Within the pas week Lily finally has "found her piggies"! When she is laying on her back she goes right for her feet and tries to shove them in her mouth. I guess we are done putting "pretties" (nail polish) on her toes for awhile!

Welcome Home!

2009-07-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

My sister Kylee has been in Australia studying abroad since February. She finally is back in Holland after finsihing up her classes, staying around for some extended time of traveling around Australlia, making a stop in California to see some friends, and is now finally home! We were excited for her to come home and finally meet Lily! She had seen her on Skype...but it's not the same :)
She stopped by here this morning...Macie couldn't get enough love...it seemed that she had saved up 5 months worth of kisses (licks) for Ky haha, and Lily loved snuggling up with her! We can't wait to hear all the fun stories and adventures from her time away. We are so happy you are home Ky!

Here are also a few pictures of my two girls playing together :) Lily loves Macie and Macie loves Lily. Macie loves to lay by her, give her lots of kisses, and doesn't seem to mind when Lily gets ahold of her ears :) They are going to be best of friends! :)

Totally Kissable!

2009-07-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

We had Christy Pacanowski take some photos of Jake's family and i wanted to have a few of my sweet little Lily...this is my favorite by far. MMMMM...how could you not just want to snuggle and kiss this little love.
One of the little girls (ok so she isn't so little anymore) i babysit for said, "Lily is a little buddle of sweet baby love." I couldn't agree more!

3 Months already....

2009-07-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is already 3 months old! We have been having so much fun with her and she is now able to do so many new fun things! She is a very happy baby and loves to smile, coo, and play with us. This weekend at the cottage my mom taught her how to do the "motor-boat" with her lips...it is seriously the funniest thing ever! Lily tries so hard to copy all the things we do with our mouths...she is a very funny baby. Today we were playing on the floor and i couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of my precious love...enjoy!!

Lily's Baptism

2009-06-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday night, June 20, Lily was baptised at our church. It was a nice service and we were happy that both of our families were able to be there to support us and love on Lily :) We were asked to choose a bible verse for Lily...as we choose Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a furute." Lily we know that God has big plans for you in your life. Although you may only be a tiny baby right now, you will grow up and we pray that you follow God will for life. You are a very special little girl and we can't wait to see who you will become as a child of God! We love you so much!!

All ready to go to church...wearing mommy's (and auntie Kylee's baptism dress)

Praying over our baby girl- yes she did scream through the whole thing :)

Hanging out with my favorite cousin Ella!

1st swim of the summer

2009-06-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to take Lily over to the pool to go swimming! It was very warm and sunny out today, so we thought it was the perfect time. The pool was a BIT chilly, but not too bad. At first she was a bit unsure and thought she had to cry a litle :) but she quickly got over it and enjoyed her time swimming with her daddy! She LOVES bath time, so i was knew she would love the pool too!

Here she is all ready to go in her little swimmin' suit!

Testing out the water with mommy...

Swimming with daddy...

2 Month Check Up

2009-06-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctor today for Lily's 2 month check up, although she is 9 1/2 weeks old. It was a very sad time, because she had to have 3 shots this morning. She was not a fan...and her little cry was so sad. You could tell she was crying because she was "hurt" and it broke my heart. Although, she did fine it wasn't a fun doctors visit. Today she weighed in at 10lbs 10 oz. and was 23 inches long! She has made some good gains and Dr.Worpel is happy with her progress. She is now in the 37% for weight, 25% for head curcumfernce, and 70% for length! :)

She has changed so much....here she is in the hospital. 6lbs 12 oz...19 inches long

And here she is at 2 months old...10lbs 10 oz....23 inches long

Too cute not to post :)

2009-06-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

Enjoying some tummy time! Some times i am just amazed that this peanut is all mine..look at those BIG eyes... :)

7 1/2 weeks...

2009-05-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go?! Part of me can't believe that it's only been 7 1/2 weeks since Lily was born, and then another part of me feels like she was just born yesterday! We have been having so much fun with her at home. It's fun to watch her grow, change, and start to do new things! I might be biased because i'm her mom...but she gets cuter every day...and sometimes i still can't believe she is mine :)
Here are just some pictures of what we've been up to!

Our jogging stroller arrive a while back and we have enjoyed taking walks and runs with her in the jogger. She does great in it...even though the instructions say not to use with kids under the age of 6 months haha.

Over the past week or so she has really started to smile. It is so fun and sometime funny to see her do this. I keep trying to catch her smiling but it's hard! this is as close as i could get it with the camera.

This one is totally goofy i think...don't mind the bad lighting...

Hanging out with dad...

Here she is trying on her life jacket for our summer weekends at Big Star...she wasn't a fan, but she'll have to get use to it!

Since we have brought her home from the hospital Lily has slept in her vibrating chair...she did not like to lay flat on her back. However...i have been t
wanting to break her of this habit, so i have been putting her in the pack in play on her back for naps for the past week. Last night i decided to try having her sleep in there and she did great! Yeah...one step closer to the crib! :)

Tulip Time

2009-05-10T13:56:00.001-07:00

Although Lily is only 4 1/2 weeks old i wanted her to wear a little dutch costume for Tulip Time. I toyed with the idea of putting her in an American Girl Doll costume...but it would have fit her, but then I was able to borrow one that was small enough for her. I have to say she looks a little silly...but also very cute :)

We wanted to try to get a picture of Lily and her cousin Ella together...but, it didn't work out so well :) When you have a baby who can't sit up by herself and another baby who only wants to come by her aunt betsy...it makes it hard to get a good picture.
"Why are you doing this to us...we don't want our pictures taken!"

Baby Jogger...

2009-04-30T08:29:00.001-07:00

Alrighty...I am looking for some help from those of you have a jogging stroller. I thought I had decided on the jogging stroller that i wanted, but I am not sure about it anymore. The only thing it has to have is a carseat adapter...Lily is much too little to just ride like a big girl yet :) She still needs to sit in her carseat. I also don't care if it folds up nice or not, because i will be using it as a running/jogging stroller only. I am not going to be taking it in my car, etc... I run about 5 miles 4-5 times a week (well i might need to work back up to that now haha) so i'm not like a marathon runner or anything and i don't want to spend $300 on this stroller.
Let me know if you have one that you love. I've been doing alot of searching and reading reviews online and i just can't decide!

Lily's 1st Photo Shoot

2009-04-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

I had recieved a photo session as a baby gift from a friend. Over the weekend Tonya, from Tonya Marie Photography came to our house and took her pictures. If you are interested in seeing her online gallery you can do so by going to this website www.tonyamariephotography.com/gallery

You will need to create your own account before it will give you access to the pictures. Once you create and account and a password you will be asked for a code. The code you need to enter is Lily.

Enjoy...i think they're pretty cute...but i'm also the mom, so maybe that doesn't count! :)

On a side note- We went to Lily's 2 week check up yesterday and we got a good report from the doc.
She is now up to 7lbs 13 oz (she was 6lbs 12oz at birth)
and she grew and inch since we were there last!
I was happy to see her weight gain...because this little one has been spitting up often. Although she seems to have some reflux issues, it appears she is getting enough food based on her weight gain. We are going to try some meds to see if it will help with the spitting up, so we will see :)

2009-04-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 weeks at home with Lily and things are going great. She is a very content baby and i hope it stays that way! She really only fusses and cries when she is hungry or need a clean diaper. She is a good eatter...although we are dealing with some refulx issues i think, and she is a good sleeper- at night she sleeps for 3-4 hours at a time and only wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep.
We are having alot of fun with her at home...here are some pictures from the past couple weeks.

Aren't I cute in my little outfit?! Mommy thinks so!!

Today Lily decided to suck her thumb! I usually have her hands covered up so she doesn't get a chance to put those fingers in her mouth...but it looks like we will have a thumb sucker!

As you can see, she is not a fan of bath time!

We had her pictures taken yesterday by "Tonya Marie Photography" and we should be getting a preview of these in the next couple days...i will post the link when i get it!

Meet Lily!

2009-04-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

I will write more later...but i thought i would post some pictures of our little girl. I ended up getting induced on Friday April 3 because my blood pressure was still high. We went into the hospital at about 11:30 am and she was born 12 hours later at 11:25pm. She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long. It is still hard to believe that we have a girl...i was almost certain it was going to be a little boy. Anyways...here are some pictures.

April Fools???

2009-04-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today I am offically on Spring Break and maternity leave from school. It feels good to have finished up my loose ends at school and now I can focus on other things. We also had a doctors appointment today...but it ended up going a little different than we planned. We went into the room, the nurse checked my protient levels...which were good, and then went on to take my blood pressure. I've never had a problem with blood presure, so i figured that they would say, "looks good" like they always do. But...she asked me to take my sweatshirt off so she could take it again...then she did my other arm. Apparently, my blood pressure was in the 150/100 range. (She said a good range is 120/80...which mine usually is). So...my doctor came in, checked me, said i was 3 cen and that she could break my water if she wanted to. (which i assume means i'm thinning out more and more). then we disscussed my blood presure issue. She siad it was too high and wanted me to get looked at. She sent us over to the hospital where i got hooked up to the monitor and had some blood work done. If my blood presure didn't go down or my blood work came back bad then she was going to break my water and go from there. After sitting in the hospital for 4 hours, it went down enough to allow me to go home, and my blood work was good. I am on "bed rest" with the exception to get up to eat, shower, and go to the bathroom. I am going back in on Friday to the doctor to get my blood pressure checked again. At my appt (before getting sent to the hosptial) my doctor told me to take my bags with me if i come back Friday...so she may just break my water on friday.
So....while sitting at the hosptial my mom called to see how my appt went, and she thought i was giving her an "April Fools" joke...i had to assure her a few times i wasn't. :)
So...here I sit at home. We will see what happends Friday.

Heading in the right direction...

2009-03-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

I didn't update after my doctors appt last week, because there wasn't much to report. Last week Friday i was told that the baby was low enough to "feel" but i really hadn't begun to dialate yet. Today, i went in and she told me that I was 1 centimeter dialated and 70% effaced. She said she is happy with the progress i have made in the past 5 days. She said that she could feel the baby's head and that she didn't feel any hair. (Jake was bald for quite awhile i guess...so this baby must take after him :) haha) I have been feeling some mild contractions throughout the last week, but nothing worth paying attention to :)
We went to our childbirth/parenting class on Saturday which was a LONG LONG day. For those of you who reccomended it...i do agree, it's best to just get it done with in one day as oppose to 5 weeks. However, to those of you who said we would get out early....we did not. We were there from 8am-5pm. I found the morning section on "laboring" interesting and informative, but the afternoon was a waste of my time. I didn't need to sit there and listen how to take care of my kid. I already know how to give it a bath, change it's diaper, put it in a carseat, swaddle it, etc. But oh well.
well....we are in the home strech and will hopefully be snuggling a little one in 3 weeks or so!

"Do unto others..."

2009-03-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

I am finding it interesting and amazing how kind people have been to me in the past two days. Last night we went out for dinner to Googs. When we sign in the hostest tells us it will be a 20 minutes wait. We say ok, and move to the side. The owner looks at us and then say, oh i have a table come with me. I'm like sweet?! We didn't think much of it...except that we got in way before all the other people waiting. THEN, tonight we went out to Phil's in Saugatuck (yummy) and we again were told it would be about 20-30 min. There were no seats at the bar, so we were just standing waiting to be seated. After about 20 minutes the hostest says, "it will only be a little longer...there are two people in front of you." She walks away, but comes back and tells us that there is a couple who wants to give us their table. Me and Jake just kinda look at each other but say ok. The lady who is getting up from the table said, "We were here a year ago, i was pregnant and ready to burst, and all i wanted was to sit down. So we would like to give you our table and we'll wait."
We decided that after this baby arrives we will need to "pass on" the kindness to some other pregnant lady :)
(Although i am truly amazed at people's generosity...it makes me wonder how huge do i actually look! haha)

35/36 weeks

2009-03-06T07:46:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture for all of you who have been hounding me to post another one. Here i am finished with another week and onto week 36. Only a few more to go!

In the home strech....

2009-03-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

It is hard to belive, but we will be snuggling a little baby in a few weeks! Now that i am in pain with every step i take i am ready to have this child. Over the past few days it has become more and more painful to walk and is extreamly comfortable. I went to the doctor this week and she said the baby has dropped down a considerable amount, and that is why i have been hurting. I start going each week now and will get checked at each visit. She also estimated we will have a 7-7.5lb baby...but you know how that goes. I think they told Jill that too and Ella was 9+...haha hopefully we are a little closer to 7 for my sake :) haha.
Many of you have been asking for a picture...i will do my best to get one up in the next few days.

A shower for baby

2009-02-28T16:36:00.000-08:00

I can not say thank you enough to Jennifer for the wonderful baby shower today. Everything was great...great food, great friends/family, and great gifts! I really haven't gotten much for the baby yet- some of that has to do with not knowing the sex of the baby and some of it has to do with procracination. :) However, after getting home from my baby shower today i had alot of fun relooking at all the fun stuff. We got a baby jogger (which will be the key to getting back into bathing suit shape...i actually have been having the itch to run again, so this is a good thing!), a baby swing, lots of cute little outfits/jamies, diapers, wipes, baby toys, baby monitors, blankets,and so much more! One gift that will be treasured forever is a newborn photo session with Tonya Marie Photography. (Thanks Jen!!!) I can't wait to have these done...but i guess i first need to have a baby right?!
I feel blessed to have such great family and friends...thanks for loving on this baby even before he/she is born! Only a few more weeks and you will get to meet him/her!

Busy, Busy, Busy.

2009-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

When i left the doctors office today i left with these words from my doctor..."I've measured and listen to lots of babies today, and yours in one of the busiest i've seen yet!" All i am thinking is...OH BOY! This child of ours must get that from me...growing up I was always busy...and couldn't sit still. My mom might have said i was a bit hyper-active- I do recall her "threatening" me with Ritalin if i didn't settle down haha. Oh well, i guess there are worse things than a busy baby...at least the heart beat is good and strong (128 again this time). My doctor did say that when i do into early labor i will probably have a hard time realizing that i am actually in labor, because those early labor pains feel like the movements that i am feeling all the time with this busy baby. So...we'll see how that all goes! Currently she said she thinks the baby is about 4lbs..but over the next few weeks he/she will put on most of it's weight. Everything looked good. I am happy to say that it is head down! That was the first thing she checked for me today :) she knows how i am worried about that haha. I didn't want to have to have her turn that baby in my belly! But, as long as it doesn't decide to change positions we should be all set.
I think it's kinda crazy that i begin my 34th week tomorrow....it seems to be flying by. I guess i should probably go buy some diapers and such in the next couple of weeks. The nursery is still a work in progress, but it's ok. It will get done eventually!

Oh Baby...

2009-02-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend i have grown MUCH more uncomfortable. Either the baby has moved much lower or my stomach has been streching constantly. Either way, i am very uncomfortable. Maybe this is how it will be until the end, i am not sure. He/she moves constantly now...sometimes it's painful. I'm getting to the point where i am ready to be done with it and meet this little baby. However, i know a few more weeks in the belly will do this baby good.
On another note...Kylee leaves for Australlia this week. She will be gone until July sometime. It is kinda bitter sweet, because she will not be here when this baby is born, but going to study abroad has been something she's always wanted to do. Kylee, we hope you have a great time, be safe, and when you come back you'll have a new nephew/neice to snuggle with. :) (and babysit hehe...you know i will be hitting you up to be the little babysitter when you get back!)
This warmer weather has be WONDERFUL! It is making me anxious for spring/summer to come. Soon enough, soon enough. :)

What's a girl to do?!

2009-02-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

So...i often wonder why guys act like they are dying when they get a stupid little cold?! It drives me nuts...when Jake gets a little bit sick he pulls out all the stops: he's a medicine junky (where i am not), he has to gargle warm salt water, take hot hot showers to "clean out his nasal passage" haha, and on top of that complain that he has such a bad cold, or is so sick.
It makes me sick listening to him whine :) Why are guys such sissies?!

Grandma: I remember...

2009-01-28T04:26:00.000-08:00

Here are just a select few of my favoirte memories of my Grandma Koning:
- Sitting with you on the piano bench while you played and sang out of that old piano book. I always loved the song with the picture of the bird on the page.
- I too, like Brad, remember drinking coffee out of the tiny coffee cups! This is something that I will always remember. I don't think i really even liked the taste, but i thought it was so cool to be drinking from those little cups.
- Making cookies with you when we slept over.
- Your kissess... you always made a kissing sound while kissing us.
- Playing "SORRY" against you and grandpa.
- Putting on your make up...i can still smell the powder smell in your bathroom.
- Going school clothes shopping each year...we could always pick out 1 new outfit.
- Playing miniture golf at Yogi Bear with you and grandpa.
- Kim and i playing dress up in your clothes, and then walking around your neighborhood with baby dolls prentending we were moms.
- I too, remember watching Psalty...those were my faovite movies and tapes to listen to.

Thanks for the ALL the great memories...we will miss you!
Love,
Betsy

Changes...

2009-01-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

As many of you know...we didn't finish out upstairs when we built our house. We figured that at the time we didn't need it, and we might as well save some money and just leave it unfinsihed. Because we chose to not finish it, we had to put a door at the top of our stairs...however we are now in need of another bedroom. Jake began working on it a couple months ago...framed in the closets and the bathroom. He then drywalled the whole thing (with a little help from some friends), and now we are having someone come in and tape/mud the drywall. I always knew that when we finished the upstairs, i wanted to take part of the wall down to open it up a little bit (get rid of the door, add a railing, etc...) The wall finally came down yesterday and i am so happy about it! I love how it looks (well, how it will look haha), and i can't wait until it is completed! We still aren't sure if the whole ordeal will be 100% complete when the baby arrives, but that's OK...he/she will be sleeping with us for a while anyways.
Here are some fun pictures of the progress.

This before we took the wall down...

This is after the wall is down. It's kinda hard to tell, but in person it looks much more open.

There isn't much to report on baby w...everything is about the same. He/she is now sitting like a "u" shape with the head up, butt down, and then the legs up on the other side. The doctor said not to worry about it...the baby has plenty of time to flip over. I however am secretly worried it won't. It all started a few months back when i was watching "A Baby Story". The lady on there was getting ready to delivery, but the baby was breach. The doctor decided he wanted to try to turn the baby...let's just say that that image has forever been engraved in my head!!! haha...i have heard of this before, but obviously, never seen it. This poor lady was screaming in pain as two doctors pushed her stomach in the weirdest way to turn the baby 90 degrees. It worked, but my gosh...i wouldn't wish that on anyone. SOOOO needless to say, when my doctor said my baby is not yet "head down"....i secretly think back to that horrible image!!! Here is a 30 week pictures.

Blog Background...

2009-01-08T17:33:00.001-08:00

I have been wondering how some of you get those really cute backgrounds for your blogs?

27 weeks and counting...

2009-01-06T16:33:00.000-08:00

I have been getting some grief from some of you out there asking to see pictures...so for those of you who live near or far, i am hoping these will do :)
We went to our doctors appt today and everything is continuing to go well. I had my glucose screening test today, and i passed with flying colors. Candace was telling me how horrible the orange drink was, but i honestly didn't mind it. Anyways...I am glad that i don't have gestational diabetes and i can continue to eat whatever i want :)
I, along with my doctor, was surprised to see that i had lost 2 lbs since my last appt...i actually don't mind...that means i've only gain about 12-13 lbs so far...at least it's not too much extra fat and it is mostly baby. :)
The baby is sitting very low (old wives tale would say it's a boy)...and it is kind of laying on an angle right now. In the past few days it hasn't been uncommon for me to feel alot of pressure on my belly and then i look down and there is a huge bulge on the right side of my tummy. The baby obviously likes to stick it's butt out i guess :) It is moving constantly...does that mean it will always be such a wiggle worm?!
She said i am measuring a week ahead, so i guess either i MAY have the baby a tad early, or it's gonna be a large baby. Lets hope for the first option. After hearing about Jill having to push out a 9+lb baby i'm not sure i want to go through that as well :) Although...Ella is totally a keeper!
My belly is growing by the second...here are a couple pictures for those of you who have been asking.

Miss Ella Jeanne

2008-12-09T17:22:00.000-08:00

Jill had to go back to work today, so i am now watching Ella on Tuesdays! Today was a great day...and it was wonderful to be able to snuggle with her and not have to share her with anyone! :)
Macie had a rude awakening, but quickly got use to her. For some reason she thought she needed to bark at her for awhile...even though she has been around her many times! I'm not sure what was up with that. Having Ella here will for sure help Macie get use to having a baby around by the time our little one arrives.
Today Ella and I made some banana bread :), folded some laundry, changed the sheet on the bed, and of course Ella found some time to snuggle up with Macie! :) (don't worry brad...i was sitting right next to them the whole time!)
We can't wait to see you again next week! :)

chicken legs??

2008-12-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

So i guess this is what we get for laughing at how silly Ella's long legs are :) We just got back from our doctors appt and they had the "summary" from our ultrasound. Our doctor was laughing when she came in, and couldn't wait to show it to us. She showed us the percentile for the baby's head and belly...both were in the 50%ish rank...then she showed us the legs...and they are in the 97%!!! yes that is a 9 and a 7... haha...I just thought i would share this silly tid bit with you. Maybe that would also explain why sometimes i complain about the kicks hurting me...those dang legs are so long! :)

PINK....or.....BLUE???

2008-11-19T10:53:00.000-08:00

Pink of blue...do you wish you knew?! Well...we do have some news for you. We are having a.....surprise :) We have decided NOT to find out what we are having. We just got back from our ultrasound and everything looked good. We could see all the little bones, organs, parts of the brain, heart beating strong etc... It was pretty amazing to see how much he/she has grown since we last got to see him/her 12 weeks ago!
The heart rate was at 141...and my due date was showing a few days earlier...April 6. We can't wait to meet this little one! I will post some of my ultrasound pictures soon.

Quote of the day...

2008-11-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

So...I was complaining how my lower "abs" hurt like i did a bunch of sit ups...and i of course know it's my stomach stretching it way out. So... Jake keeps telling me to put lotion on my stomach :) haha I finally asked him if he was worried about me getting stretch marks or something and he laughs and said, "Honey 90% of people probably get them...and if you do I will still love you."
It's a good thing he told me that because i wasn't sure :)

Suggestions Please...

2008-11-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

Ok....so I thought i should at least look at when they are having the good ol' pregnancy classes at the hospital. I noticed they have two options. I can't remember what some of you did...so please let me know what you liked best!! :)

Option A: You can go for 1 day....8-5 and have it over with.

Option B: You can go 1 night a week for 5 weeks.

Jake isn't going to like either option so....:) Let me know what you liked best.

Baby is growing...

2008-11-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

I had another doctors appt today. (18 1/2 weeks) There really is no exciting news to share...except that everything "looks"/sounds great. The heart rate decreased this time again (she didn't tell me the heart rate though.) She predicts a boy based on the "old wives tale" of heart rate=gender. Honestly, would the Wiersema boys produce anything BUT boys....hopefully someday mine does haha :) I always find it so funny how excited my doctor acts when she measures the growth of my uterus. She always has this huge smile and is like "it's all the way up to here!" haha...i guess she is just happy to see that the baby is actually growing inside this belly of mine.
We have our ultrasound in 2 weeks....you'll have to check back to see what we are having... :)

2008-10-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Many people have been asking me to put up "belly pictures". Some of you were able to be pregnant in the summer so you had nice tan bellies...I on the other hand am pregnant in the fall/winter, so my belly is anything but tan. You will not be seeing bare belly pictures of me online. However, here is a picture of me today....17 1/2 weeks. We go to the doctor again next week, so hopefully we get another great report! Our ultrasound is only 2 1/2 weeks away...we can't wait to see our little peanut again! Last time it didn't look like a baby, so this time it will be much more fun!
On the upside things have been going great- I'm feeling great (besides having a cold, that i have a feeling with be with me throughout the winter), and i'm not as tired either.
Jake has begun on the upstairs again, a few months of hard work and it should be ready for the baby. :) It will be fun to be able to set up the crib and put all the little baby things up there (not that i have anything yet...but hey we have lots of time).

Baby W.

2008-10-08T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well we went in for another appt. today- i am ending my 14th week.
Everything looks good in there...the heartbeat is down to 156 and everything else is fine. I don't have alot of new information to share! We will get to have another ultrasound in 6 weeks...we are still undecided as to whether or not we will find out what we are having. Jake wants to, but I've always said i want it to be a surprise. We'll see...it might be a spur of the moment decision. I'm not sure i'll be able to pass that information up, if i know it is sitting right there in front of me!!!

Great News....

2008-10-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Jake's dad got his biopsy results back yesterday. The doctor said that what he has is a very rare tumor. It is not cancerous, and because it is so small and not impacting him in any way, they are just going to monitor it. So, at this time there is no surgery, chemo, radiation, etc... They will still be going to U of M Thursday to talk with some doctors there. Thank you for your prayers!

Wecome to the world!

2008-10-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

Ella Jeanne Koning is FINALLY here. Jill is probably more relieved than anyone. He doctor had been telling her all along that she would go early (like a few weeks early), and then low and behold she is actually 4 days late.
We went to visit last night....Ella is a cutie, it's so much fun having a little baby around again! I don't have too many pictures, but i will get more this weekend after they get home. Jake is actually up north hunting this weekend, so he hasn't been able to meet her yet...i guess that just means we'll have to go visit her again very soon!:)

9lbs. 4oz. 22in long

so far, so good...

2008-09-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Dave had his biopsy done on Thursday. Everything went really well. He was able to come home from the hospital today (Friday) and he's doing really good. He feels good, not in too much pain, and i'm sure he's relieved that at least part of the process is done.
We are now in another waiting game....the biopsy results have to be sent over to Mayo Clinic, and we probably won't hear back from them until the middle of next week. I ask that you continue to pray that the tumor is not cancerous, and that is can be easily and safely removed.

Please Pray...

2008-09-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Within the past week we have come to find out that Jake's dad has a brain tumor. As you can imagine this is a shock and not at all what we expected. I ask that you please keep him and our family in your prayers.
He goes in this Thursday for a biopsy...please pray that everything goes well, and that when all is said and done, the tumor isn't cancerous.
This will be a long week of waiting....

Sneak Peak

2008-09-12T14:21:00.001-07:00

As i mentioned in the post previous to this, we were able to have an ultrasound of our little one at our last visit. There is a bit of glare because i had to take a picture of it. (I don't know how to scan it into my computer.) However, you can still see the baby right below the glare. He/she still looks little bit like a tadpole :) but when they were doing the ultrasound it was kicking and moving around, so then we got to see the little arms and legs.
This is a picture at 11 weeks...

First comes love...then comes marriage...then comes a BABY in the baby carraige!

2008-09-10T11:40:00.002-07:00

I've been wanting to post for several weeks now, but i also wanted to wait to make sure that everything is growing well inside my belly! We are thrilled to be having a baby..he/she will be joining up at the beginning of April! I've known i was pregnant since the beginning of August...so it's been tough not to blog about it! However, we went to the doctor today and everything is just fine! I thought i was only going to get to hear the heartbeat, but in fact we were able to have an ultrasound! It was the coolest thing to see our baby up on that screen...and then we could see the little heart beating away. I know alot of you scan your ultrasound pictures in, but i don't know how...sorry! Right now the baby is about 10 weeks, and it just looks like a little bean with an over sized head! haha.
Over the past week i have started to feel MUCH better...previous to that, well that's another story. My days consisted of laying on the couch or by the toilet. I'm hoping that the sickness part is over, lets keep our fingers crossed!
I will keep you updated on my gorwing belly and the beautiful baby inside!

2008-09-10T11:40:00.001-07:00

Where has summer gone?!

2008-09-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday, i was finishing up school, cleaning out my classroom, and anxious to spend my days sleeping in, and at the pool. Now...3 months later i am setting up my classroom, and anxious to meet my new kids! Preschool starts on Monday, and i'm ready to get the year off to a good start. Although, I still feel a little lost, i'm sure after the first week i'll feel much more comfortable. I think i'm too worried at following what the other teachers do, and instead i need to come up with a routine that works for my classroom and my kiddos.
We have had a great summer...most weekends were spent up at the cottage on Big Star. We were able to make it up there a little bit more this year (we didn't have as many weddings to go to), so that was fun to spend time up there. Macie loves being at the cottage and it's nice to just "get away".
We are anxiously awaiting the birth of our niece in a few short weeks. We can not wait to finally meet her and hold her and give her lots of love! I think i may know her name...but i guess we'll just have to wait and see :)

2 year anniversary

2008-08-12T10:55:00.001-07:00

Here I am on my 2nd anniversary...alone. Every other year Jake, his brothers, dad, grandpa, friends, etc... go to Canada fishing for a week. I'm not sure why i didn't give this any thought when we were picking our wedding date, because every other year i will be home without Jacob on our anniversary. I suppose there are worse situations, but i am missing him :) He left on Friday- 5 days down, 4 more days to go.
I talked to him this morning, which is actually a treat. They only have an "air phone" up there, because there are no land lines or cellphone towers. There is a huge delay when you talk, but it was still nice to hear his voice. And then, this afternoon i heard a knock on the door and there was a delivery man with a dozen roses.
At least i still get "presents" even though i'm alone :)

"When daddy is away....the puppy will play!"

2008-08-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

Jake left this past Friday to go fishing in Canada for the week. Since he has left, Macie has slept with my every night :) She seems to love it, all sprawled out in a big bed; as opposed to sleeping in a little cage! My intention was not to let her sleep with me every night, but it has been working out pretty good. Jake usually gets up for work around 5:30, lets the dog out, feeds her, and then she snuggles up with me for a few more hours in bed. I knew that she would be awake and barking early if i put her in her cage...so i just let her sleep with me! :) She sleeps like a little baby, and doesn't wake up until 7:30-8:00.

Boy is it going to be a hard day when her daddy gets back from vacation and she is back to sleeping in her cage :)

Golfing....

2008-08-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend i babysat Rach and Aaron (Abby got to go to Boston with her mom and dad). We were looking for some fun things to do with the kids, so Jake and I took them golfing and then to the pool for the afternoon on Sunday. Here are some photos from our game of golf!

Rachel LOVED the
ball washer! :) She
always wanted her
golf ball squeaky clean!

Aaron in
Action

Rachel Enjoyed
putting with us
on the greens

Rachel was telling me the story about the little princess who lives in the flower, and the white part is her dress. I had never heard that before, but she was right! Each white flower has a tiny red flower in the middle (the princess). What a little smarty pants! :)

Boring....

2008-07-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been told to update, but unfortunately I live a rather uneventful life :)
This past week I've been working at school alot, getting my classroom ready for the school year. Besides working on school stuff, babysitting, working at the Club House, and hanging out at home with Jake and Macie not much has been going on.

Camping Pictures

2008-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

We are back from Virgina, and we had a GREAT time! The weather was perfect, it was great to spend time with Jay, and we had so much fun biking, hiking, hangin out by the fire, and being with friends. Here are some pictures...I didn't take my big camera on the hikes, so when i get some of those pictures for our friends, i will post those as well.

This is our truck and trailer with all our crap! Stopping for breakfast on our way down!

Our Camping Site.... Our first drink after everything was set up

Hangin' with Jason...time for burgers! Campfire time....

MORE PICTURES TO COME....

OH....A CAMPING WE WILL GO....

2008-06-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, 12:23am just waiting for the time to tick past. It has been a LONG day, and I'm ready for some sleep...but it hardly seemed worth laying down in bed for 40 minutes. We are leaving at 1:00am to go visit our friend Jason out in Virgina! We are really looking forward to getting there, hanging out with him, and enjoying God' s beautiful creation! I had a full day of...(a) finishing yard work (b) getting groceries for our trip (c) getting cash... a must :) (d)doing laundry and packing clothes (e) packing all our CRAP for tenting for 4 days.

Well, it was 7:00 at night and our friends/cousins Sarah and Aaron dropped off all these stuff, and Jake and I started to put it in the truck. We finally realized we wouldn't have enough room. We call Aaron, he goes and get a trailer from his mom, and by now it's dark out. We repack, and this time, we just fit everything. YEAH!! By now it is 11:00. I still need to empty the dishwasher, run another load, pick up the house, shower, and make sure everything is ready.

So...here i am at 12:28 showered, house is picked up, dishes are cleaned and put away, and I'm waiting for Sarah and Aaron to show up so we can hit to road! I'm sure we will have a great time...but it will be an adventure. We are camping in tents (not really my thing), plus there is no water or electrical hook up....oooo goooood! haha. I guess this is what you really call camping. Oh well, it will be wonderful to see Jay, and we are looking forward to hiking, biking, tubing down the river and hanging out! I'll post pictures next week when we get back!

No golfers...and I LOVE it!

2008-06-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

I guess the saying, "when it rains, it pours"...is true over here at Winding Creek. After the storms Saturday night and Sunday the course has been closed (probably will be opened tomorrow?? I dunno...) Anywho, almost the whole gold 9 was/is under water, and we had/have many new "ponds" behind out house! I have to say, i do not miss the golfers one bit...is that bad?!
Yesterday and today i have been able to take a few walks on the course and not be afraid that i will be hit by a ball, and i could let Macie run free! I love how quiet it is, and there aren't people always behind my house! If we ever move, it will be to a house with land and no people to bug us :) hehe.

TAGGED....

2008-06-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

So, i've been tagged and i need to come up with 5 things about me. Hum...where to start.

1. Starbucks is my weakness...We have a espresso machine at home that i use daily, but for some reason i still find myself going through the starbucks drive thru regularly! yumm...

2. I love my family (extended- parents, and siblings) and immediate (Jake and Miss.May). I can't believe that it's almost been two years since Jake and I said , "I DO"....the time has flown on by. And as for Macie May, she is my baby love for the time being. I love coming home and having her looking at me from her kennel, and then running to me, with her little booty just a waggin'...at least someone is always happy to see me! :)

3. I love my friends. I think that it is so special that we still have a group of 8 of us that still hang out from our high school days. I love that we laugh and laugh with each other, and have so much fun! Even though we may not hang out every week anymore, the times we are together are always so much fun! I love ya girls!

4. Some of you may not be awear by i do not like being outside when it's dark outside. Even to this day, when i bring Macie outside before bed, i am constantly looking around to make sure no animals are gonna get me! haha...i think it all goes back to the time I was in Cali when I was younger and i could hear all these coyotes...i thought they were going to eat me up :)

5. I can't wait to meet my new little niece in September. I can't wait to hold that little baby in my arms...and who knows, maybe i'll have some of my own some day ;)

A new look....

2008-06-01T16:53:00.001-07:00

This weekend we decided to start some of our landscaping.

Friday night we went out and bought the plants/trees for the front of our house.
We got home at 7:00, planted all the trees and plants, and finally got done and ate dinner
at 10:30 at night. Then Saturday we woke up and barked all the stuff. It took a bit of time,
but the end result looks great. Now we need to go get some perennials, for the front
of the house! Here is a look at our "new" front yard.River Birch & Globia Blue Spruce

Boxwoods...it's hard to see :) They are small, but they will grow!! :)

Holly

More Holly & Japanese Maple Tree
Front View...our grass is coming in, we have some landscaping,
now we need to finish those pillars :)

Cottage Weekend!

2008-05-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

We headed up north for 3 days this past Memorial Day weekend. It was so nice to get away, hang out, and enjoy the beautiful weather! Last summer we weren't able to be up there that much between all the weddings, bachelor/bachlorette parties, etc... so we are hoping to spend more time up there this summer.
I was wondering how Macie would do up there, because last summer she was only up there once or twice, and she was only a few weeks old then. Last summer her little legs would fall through the cracks in the dock, she didn't sleep well at night, and she couldn't swim! Last year, Jake and I took off on the SeaDoo and she jumped in after up and sunk right to the bottom! Brad had jumped in after her and got her, but she couldn't figure out how to swim...so i was anxious to see if she picked up that skill yet ;)

Even though the water was freezing....Kylee and I put her and and she swam to shore ;) what a good puppy :) She loved playing with the big dogs next door, she loved the boat rides, and she loves having so much attention from everyone! Hopefully it will be a good summer!

Here are some pictures of our baby :)

Hanging out on the beach...

Not quite sure what to think about the water/little waves...

YEAH...I can swim!!!

New Job!!!

2008-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Next year I will be teaching preschool three mornings a week at Zeeland Christian! This is a job that I wanted last year, but didn't get. Then, last week Friday I got a call from their preschool director asking if i was still interested in the job. Of course i was!! So, I went in for an interview, and then got asked to come back and meet with the principal as well. When she called me back to see if I'd like the job, i could believe it!
I am really looking forward to the school year...after summer of course! :)

She thinks she SO tough!

2008-05-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

About a week ago we were over at Jake's parents house, and he decided to go get one of his deer head from their basement and take it over to our house. (Those of you who know me, know that i was less than thrilled with this...i thought they looked lovely over there at Mom and Dad W's house!) Anywho, so he comes up the stairs and starts running after the dogs with it. Macie is having a fit just barking away. Since then, Jake has taken yet another deer head back to our house. For some reason, every time we go down stairs to take Macie outside, she runs as fast as she can and tried to get the deer hanging on the wall. She thinks she pretty tough! :)Barking away....She is quite the jumper ;)

The end is in sight...

2008-04-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, the upstairs has been put on hold. Because the weather has been so awesome we thought we better get going on our grass. So, last week we had a few more trees cut down and Jake cut them up and ground up the stumps. Now, he is getting the blacktop ready so that in the new week we can finally get some grass seed down! It will be wonderful to look out at nice green grass, instead of nasty black dirt with sticks in it! Here are some photos of Jake working.The trees in the back that were cut down...
Jake spreading the black dirt....

What a day...

2008-04-10T17:56:00.000-07:00

For the past week me and jake have been in Vail, Co with the Haworths. I had a great week relaxing, hanging out with the kids, and enjoying my time away. Jake spent his days on the slopes with Matt and occasionally the kids. All is all it was a great week. The trip home today was less than desirable though. We woke up this morning at 4:00 am in order to get out of the door and to Eagle airport (about a 40 minutes ride) for our 6:30am flight to Denver. Last night Jen checked to make sure the flight was still coming in, because we were suppose to get alot of snow. The computer said that the flight was in the air and headed to Eagle (Vail), so we figured everything was set. We arrive at the airport at about 5:45 to find out that the flight has been canceled and there isn't another flight until Monday afternoon (and only 2 seat are available...we have 7 people). The lady at Eagle tells us that we can drive to Denver (a 2 hour drive on a good day) and make our connection flight that leaves at 11:35. We got in the car and start driving to Denver. We are now headed in the same direction that we just came from...so we really just drove 1 hour and 1/2 for no reason. We are taking out time, because we figure we have plenty of time to make it. On the way however, Jen decides to call her travel person to verify the flight time....and low and behold we find out the connection flight we were suppose to take is at 10:08 NOT 11:35. We continue on our way, not sure that we will make it in time. The roads are horrible, and it has been snowing all night. We end up pulling into the airport and unload our bags at 9:10am. (Out flight leaves in less than 1 hour). We wait in this long line to check our bags...it is now 9:30ish. We get up to check our bags and the man tells us we can't check them, because we are too late. We are like, "You've got to be kidding me". Finally the man says he will put our bags on a different flight and we can run to catch our flight at 10:08...Me, Jake, and the 3 kids start running...Jen continues to check the bags and wait for Matt who is returning the rental car. We run to security, and ask to be rushed through since we only have 15 minutes to make our plane. We get through security, get on the tram, and get off at concourse B. We look at the monitor and out gate number is B92...we are currently at B2. We tell the kids to run and follow us. We are running through all these people, Rachel is asking me if we can walk, and i tell her no :) She then asks me if I'm tired and i say yes, she says she is too :) Anywho...we finally get to B92 at about 10:05...the lady says that the door is closed and we can not go on our flight. I looked at her and said,"you've got to be kidding me, the man at the check in said the flight would wait, and we just ran all the way here to be told that we didn't make it?" She then tells me she isn't working on our flight, but the flight next door...so i ask a man if he could please go see if we could still board. A few seconds later the pilot comes down and says, hurry up, we can't just wait until 3:00 (it's only 10:10 haha) So Me, Jake and the kids board the plane. Matt and Jen had not made it yet. I left Matt a voicemail telling him that if they miss the flight i'd take the kids home with us. about 4 minutes later on come matt and jen...i guess they weren't going to be let on either, but Matt kept saying, our 3 young kids are on there without us...it finally worked! AHHHH....we made it. We get to GR and we don't have our bags....we knew this though. We find out that they will be coming on the 6:30 flight, and we can come back and get them then. We all go home and me and jake decide to go back out to GR to get our bags at 6:30. We show up and our bag do not come off the plane...i go ask someone and i am informed that the plane was delayed and now they wouldn't be coming in until 9:30 tonight. I couldn't believe it...just another thing to add on to the day. Needless to say, i am NOT going back to GR tonight...the luggage will have to wait until the morning. I think i will go to bed and get some sleep!

Celebrate!

2008-03-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

After being friends with someone for 24 years it's so exciting to finally have them become your cousin! :) Me and Sarah have been friends since i can remember. We were in preschool together, and we've been friends since. Although we may have caused some mischief once in a while, i wouldn't trade any of our memories for anything. When we were younger i remember all we wanted was to be sisters, and now that we are older, we have finally become cousins (through marriage). Sarah and Aaron got married yesterday, and it was the perfect day! Fresh snow on the ground, sun in the sky, and friends and family to share the day with. She made a beautiful bride and I feel honored and blessed to have been a part of her special day!

HELP!

2008-03-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

AHHH, so Jake has been bugging me about getting another dog. I find this interesting, seeing as how he puts up a fuss when i ask him to put Macie out for me. His answer to that is, "Macie is your dog, I want one for ME!" First off, we all know that if we would get another puppy i would be the one taking care of it, and second of all, when they are just puppies they are so much work! So anywho, here is out little baby :) MACIE. She is now 9 months old. ...7 lbs. Here is the dog that Jake wants to get ;) We are "looking" at a Red Male.

This is the little red male mini. He is so stinkin' cute isn't he?

Ok, so i really can't believe i'm even contemplating this :) I feel like i'm becoming the "dog lady" and i don't want that! AHHH, give me your opinion. PLEASE!!! Two dogs, or just stick with the one?
I'm sure Macie would love a friend, she LOVES playing with Jake's parents dog (also a mini daschund) but ahhh do i really do this?

ready, set, go!

2008-03-07T17:17:00.003-08:00

So, we have begun to work on the upstairs. I actually should say JAKE has begun ;) it's not really a "we" effort. Basically i spend the money and Jake does the work :) hehe He has been busy framing in the bathroom and one of the closets. Next will come insulation, then drywall, then flooring! I have to say, i am a little shocked that he has actually started. We've always said that this spring we would finish the upstairs (and maybe the basement), but in the back of my head i never knew if Jake would follow through with it. I'll post pictures as things start shaping up.

Here is a picture of inspiration for the kids bathroom. Once it's done, we'll see how it compares ;)

I am surviving!

2008-02-28T11:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it through the first week of teaching. Today I had the most behavior problems thus far...but it could be because they are getting more comfortable? I need to have a better behavior plan in place, because we definitely need something. Aside from that, I'm having a blast, the kids are adorable, and everything is going great!
Nothing new is going on by our house...we've been getting plans in place and our ideas on paper to finish the upstairs. Once we get that tax money back, we'll be starting on that! :)

Teaching!

2008-02-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

I went in for an "interview" today for an early childhood special education subbing job until the end of the school year. It's mornings only, and i only have students Monday thur Thursday. Friday is a planning day. It will be at Lakeview Early Childhood Center within Holland Public Schools. I'm feeling a bit overwhelemd right now, because this class is a brand new class of 3 year olds. The kids that will be coming into my classroom are brand new to the school system. This weekend will be full of planning, planning, and more planning. Wish me luck... :)

Happy Birthday To ME!

2008-02-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Last night we went out for dinner with my family for my birthday.
Kylee got me a shirt...i don't know why everyone thought it was so funny ;)

And with some of my birthday money i went and bought an ipod nono.

I also got the gift of a life time and found out
i'm going to be an AUNT! :)
Brad and Jill are pregnant and due at the end of September. I am so excited to meet this little baby- what a perfect addition to our family, and an even more special birthday gift for me!

Where to Start?

2008-02-12T06:44:00.001-08:00

After seeing all the people who are now blogging, I decided to be a follower and start this blog. :) After reading other people's blogs, i thought, what the heck...i'll start one for our family. I might be the only one who reads it, but that's ok! I figured that this is a good way for family and friends to see what is happening in our lives and it gives me something to do! haha. I hope you enjoy reading this as it is updated...i'll post more later!