The DeJong family has coordinated so that each year we spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas all together and the other holiday we all go and spend with our in-laws. On years like this one where we are scheduled for Thanksgiving together we actually do full holiday weekend that incorporates Thanksgiving and Christmas which we have named Thanksmas. This year was a great one!
Thursday:
We all gathered at Dad's house for Thanksgiving. Andy and Hillary (or I should probably say Hillary (with some help from Andy)) were in charge of the meal. No, they didn't draw the short straw, they actually claimed it last July. So we all kindly stayed out of their way, although I did end up peeling a few potatoes, and they worked for 5 hours in the kitchen.
When we all gathered to sit it was the first year we no longer all fit at one table. There were ten adults, 3 kids, and 3 babies. So the babies who were awake sat in a high chair or booster seat removed from the table, and Michael and Cody sat at a small desk in the kitchen.
The meal was delicious! I love Thanksgiving food. Perfect turkey, creamy mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole, green beans with almonds, stuffing that turned out great with apples, cranberries, and of course gravy to cover it all!
Friday:
Michele, Emily, and I fed our babies early and headed out at 6:00 for some shopping. We drove east of Lansing to an outlet mall and hit the deals. I left with clothes for every member of my family and the last Thanksmas present I was in need of for Jon. And we got to spend some great girl time without kids.
Then Grandpa and Michael went out and got a Christmas tree and we spent the afternoon decorating the house for Christmas.
Saturday (Christmas!):
Tim and I were in charge of a Christmas brunch, so I started the day with a trip to Meijer. Then we made egg scrambles, pancakes, french toast, and friut salad. This was followed by Christmas presents. Michael got a new football and video game. Jon got some Thomas trains and Buzz and Woody from toy story. Becca got a new snugglie and her first baby doll (although she slept through the whole present unwrapping session and her brothers got to open all of her gifts).
The adults then did a gift exchange. We had a white elephant style game but we bought all fun and "nice" gifts. Tim and I ended up with some poker chips, Phase 10 twist, and some great snacks. Michael of course thought we had hit the perfect jackpot! lol
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
We have forward motion
For Michael there was this elephant shape sorted toy that he loved, but he loved it empty. Every time we put the shapes in he would immediately bang on it's nose where the shapes came out until they were all on the floor. So we started putting it just a bit out of his reach and he learned to crawl towards it to satisfy his OCD about it.
For Jon, nothing was more enticing than a tower of blocks he could knock down. We built the tower just a bit in front of him and he instantly figured out how to crawl to get to it.
We have been working for weeks to find that special object or person that would get Becca to try crawling forward, and yesterday I finally found it - her snugglie! Let me tell you that it required a lot of enticing though. She is so good at getting where she wants through rolling. She saw me holding the snugglie. She rolled once over and back and looked up to eye the prize again. Rolled over and back again and again, each time rotating herself a bit until she was sideways. Then she rolled and rolled across the room to me and the object of her desire. So I had to get more tricky. I had to keep moving the snugglie to be right in front of her after each roll. After some fussing about it, she finally crawled forward and grabbed it from my hands. We knew she could do it!
For Jon, nothing was more enticing than a tower of blocks he could knock down. We built the tower just a bit in front of him and he instantly figured out how to crawl to get to it.
We have been working for weeks to find that special object or person that would get Becca to try crawling forward, and yesterday I finally found it - her snugglie! Let me tell you that it required a lot of enticing though. She is so good at getting where she wants through rolling. She saw me holding the snugglie. She rolled once over and back and looked up to eye the prize again. Rolled over and back again and again, each time rotating herself a bit until she was sideways. Then she rolled and rolled across the room to me and the object of her desire. So I had to get more tricky. I had to keep moving the snugglie to be right in front of her after each roll. After some fussing about it, she finally crawled forward and grabbed it from my hands. We knew she could do it!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Together at Dad's
Here are some photos from our time together at Dad's two weeks ago.
The grandkids had tons of fun together:
And we all pitched in a got a TON of raking down while the little ones slept.
Michael helped out, but was way more excited about jumping in the leaves.
Grandma Great also stopped by for a while and got to hang out some with Becca:
Of course, we tried to get a picture of all the kids together, but it is near impossible (ok maybe entirely impossible) to get six kids under six to all look the same way and smile.
And the weekend ended with some trick-or-treating. We had spiderman, a lion, two monkeys, pooh, and piglet. Can you guess who is who?
Last year when we went Cody was pretty unsure about the whole thing, but this year he jumped right in at the first house and gladly accepted the candy. It was Jon that was baffled by the whole process. When people would hold out a piece to him he would take one out of his pumpkin basket to show them, as if to say, "Cool, I have one too!"
The grandkids had tons of fun together:
And we all pitched in a got a TON of raking down while the little ones slept.
Michael helped out, but was way more excited about jumping in the leaves.
Grandma Great also stopped by for a while and got to hang out some with Becca:
Of course, we tried to get a picture of all the kids together, but it is near impossible (ok maybe entirely impossible) to get six kids under six to all look the same way and smile.
And the weekend ended with some trick-or-treating. We had spiderman, a lion, two monkeys, pooh, and piglet. Can you guess who is who?
Last year when we went Cody was pretty unsure about the whole thing, but this year he jumped right in at the first house and gladly accepted the candy. It was Jon that was baffled by the whole process. When people would hold out a piece to him he would take one out of his pumpkin basket to show them, as if to say, "Cool, I have one too!"
Over a year
It has now been over a year since my mom passed away. I miss her terribly. We got together with my family two weekends ago and shared stories which was good, but would have been better if she had been with us. My dad talked about how much fun he has this past year with the new grandkids. We know how much my mom was looking forward to their arrival and that she would have had a blast with them.
Phillipians 1:21-26 says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me."
I use to read this completely baffled. There was so much I wanted to do in life - for me and for the Lord. How could I think it would be better to die and be with Christ. I knew I would get there eventually, so why not hope to remain on earth as long as possible? I prayed many times that I would grow to understand those verses. The older I get, the more I truly relate to those passages. I know that life can be hard. I see a lot of fun and joy, but I also see the pain and troubles. Life with Jesus in heaven is going to be amazing and more and more I just can't wait to get there. Now that my mother has passed away the longing for me becomes even stronger. Yet I know that I am not done here. I have kids and a husband that need me here and the Lord has more for me to do. What a comfort though when I think about my mom. She would have been so happy spending time with family this past year, but instead she has been even happier in heaven with Jesus - "to die is gain."
I have been moving forward this year. I still daily miss her. I miss talking to her most of all about everything from kids to work to church to life. I still cry about it, but the tears are more of a weekly event not a daily event any more. A couple of months ago I was finally able to put up some pictures of her around the house. I love seeing her face, but I am reminded of the grief every time I see the pictures. She has left a hole in my life and that hole aches when I see her. But I'm also so glad I had her for as long as I did. As my sister said, I would never have wished for a different mother. She wasn't perfect but she was amazing.
Most of all when I think of her I long to be more like her. While I'm sure she lost her temper with us, I remember her being so calm and patient. I want to have that patience with my kids. She worked to support and lift up people all the time. And I remember her every morning with her Bible, praying for people in her life. I want to pray for people like she did. So family and friends who are reading this - I am praying for you all.
Let me end by showing you the picture I chose and framed to hang up in our living room. I love you mom.
Phillipians 1:21-26 says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me."
I use to read this completely baffled. There was so much I wanted to do in life - for me and for the Lord. How could I think it would be better to die and be with Christ. I knew I would get there eventually, so why not hope to remain on earth as long as possible? I prayed many times that I would grow to understand those verses. The older I get, the more I truly relate to those passages. I know that life can be hard. I see a lot of fun and joy, but I also see the pain and troubles. Life with Jesus in heaven is going to be amazing and more and more I just can't wait to get there. Now that my mother has passed away the longing for me becomes even stronger. Yet I know that I am not done here. I have kids and a husband that need me here and the Lord has more for me to do. What a comfort though when I think about my mom. She would have been so happy spending time with family this past year, but instead she has been even happier in heaven with Jesus - "to die is gain."
I have been moving forward this year. I still daily miss her. I miss talking to her most of all about everything from kids to work to church to life. I still cry about it, but the tears are more of a weekly event not a daily event any more. A couple of months ago I was finally able to put up some pictures of her around the house. I love seeing her face, but I am reminded of the grief every time I see the pictures. She has left a hole in my life and that hole aches when I see her. But I'm also so glad I had her for as long as I did. As my sister said, I would never have wished for a different mother. She wasn't perfect but she was amazing.
Most of all when I think of her I long to be more like her. While I'm sure she lost her temper with us, I remember her being so calm and patient. I want to have that patience with my kids. She worked to support and lift up people all the time. And I remember her every morning with her Bible, praying for people in her life. I want to pray for people like she did. So family and friends who are reading this - I am praying for you all.
Let me end by showing you the picture I chose and framed to hang up in our living room. I love you mom.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
News break
Just wanted to interrupt your regularly scheduled day to let you know that Becca just learned how to pull herself back up into a sitting position after being down on her stomach. This is a skill that I'm not sure either of our boys learned until well after a year.
I've been told that girls are often much quicker at talking but in this area Becca seems to be following in her brothers' footprints. None of my kiddos were big babblers. They like to sequel, blow raspberries, and for Becca right now, make fake coughs. However, there really is almost no "babababa" or "mamamama." Instead Becca seems set on out doing her brothers in the movement area. She rolled earlier than either Michael or Jon and is 400 times more mobile than either of them were at this age. She can roll an backwards scootch all over the house. And now she can get back to sitting too! Way to go Becca.
I've been told that girls are often much quicker at talking but in this area Becca seems to be following in her brothers' footprints. None of my kiddos were big babblers. They like to sequel, blow raspberries, and for Becca right now, make fake coughs. However, there really is almost no "babababa" or "mamamama." Instead Becca seems set on out doing her brothers in the movement area. She rolled earlier than either Michael or Jon and is 400 times more mobile than either of them were at this age. She can roll an backwards scootch all over the house. And now she can get back to sitting too! Way to go Becca.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Fall is Here
September seemed unbelievably warm this year, but fall has finally arrived the last few weeks. And we have done a few traditional fall activities.
1. Fall is a beautiful time to take pictures and I had a great photoshoot with the kids outside by some pumpkins. Unfortunately we never found the time to go to a local farm to pick out our own, so I had to get mine from Meijer this year (shhhh - don't tell anyone), but the kids loved playing outside with them just the same. I will show off some individual shots once I have time to play around with them more, and family will be getting some prints, but here is one of all three together.
2. We raked leaves and the boys had a blast jumping in them. When I first got the pile finished I told Jon to jump in it and he looked at me completely baffled. But as soon as he saw Michael do it, he was all about it. They had so much fun.
3. We carved pumpkins. Ok, well I guess we actually carved A pumpkin. I bought three pumpkins this year - one for each kid, however I was not that adventuresome to carve them all. I knew that I'd end up do at least the last and probably the last two by myself, so we drew faces on Jon's and Becca's and carved Michael's.
Michael drew the face for Becca and Jon and I drew a face on his.
Then we cut open Michael's to clean it out. Jon reached right in and grabbed handfuls of goop, getting his whole arms just covered and loving every minute of it. Michael reached in and touched it (and I think he got this far only because he didn't want to be outdone by Jon) and announced that he would like to use a spoon to scoop things out. So while Jon pulled out handfuls of pumpkin innards, Michael cautiously scooped out one or two seeds at a time. Such different personalities.
Here are the finished pumpkins:
1. Fall is a beautiful time to take pictures and I had a great photoshoot with the kids outside by some pumpkins. Unfortunately we never found the time to go to a local farm to pick out our own, so I had to get mine from Meijer this year (shhhh - don't tell anyone), but the kids loved playing outside with them just the same. I will show off some individual shots once I have time to play around with them more, and family will be getting some prints, but here is one of all three together.
2. We raked leaves and the boys had a blast jumping in them. When I first got the pile finished I told Jon to jump in it and he looked at me completely baffled. But as soon as he saw Michael do it, he was all about it. They had so much fun.
3. We carved pumpkins. Ok, well I guess we actually carved A pumpkin. I bought three pumpkins this year - one for each kid, however I was not that adventuresome to carve them all. I knew that I'd end up do at least the last and probably the last two by myself, so we drew faces on Jon's and Becca's and carved Michael's.
Michael drew the face for Becca and Jon and I drew a face on his.
Then we cut open Michael's to clean it out. Jon reached right in and grabbed handfuls of goop, getting his whole arms just covered and loving every minute of it. Michael reached in and touched it (and I think he got this far only because he didn't want to be outdone by Jon) and announced that he would like to use a spoon to scoop things out. So while Jon pulled out handfuls of pumpkin innards, Michael cautiously scooped out one or two seeds at a time. Such different personalities.
Here are the finished pumpkins:
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Keeping Up with the cousins
Last weekend we went out to visit Brian, Emily, Cody, and Allie. We had a blast playing at their house and then getting all bundled up to go out to a Central Michigan football game.
The little girls were adorable together. They sat on the floor and played musical toys to the mouth, took turns sitting in the booster for some baby food, and snuggled with moms at the game.
Three days after coming home, it seems that Allie has rubbed off on Becca in one small way - Becca got her two bottom teeth!
Sunday night poor Becca was awake in the middle of the night crying and unable to go back to sleep. We had no idea what was going on and simply could not stop the fussing. Turns out it was probably those pesky teeth. Tuesday morning Becca bit down on my finger and low and behold there were two small sharp objects poking through her lower gums. Our littlest one is growing up!
The little girls were adorable together. They sat on the floor and played musical toys to the mouth, took turns sitting in the booster for some baby food, and snuggled with moms at the game.
Three days after coming home, it seems that Allie has rubbed off on Becca in one small way - Becca got her two bottom teeth!
Sunday night poor Becca was awake in the middle of the night crying and unable to go back to sleep. We had no idea what was going on and simply could not stop the fussing. Turns out it was probably those pesky teeth. Tuesday morning Becca bit down on my finger and low and behold there were two small sharp objects poking through her lower gums. Our littlest one is growing up!
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