Tis the Season - Part 2!

Well, the holidays are over, and the feeling is bittersweet. While I am disappointed that this time spent with family that I cherish so dearly is over, it is nice to return to some type of normalcy again, too. We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas season. When I left off in my last post, Eric and Grant were in the process of making Christmas cookies together, and, despite Grant's lack of attention to the task at hand (he was too anxious to eat the cookies, rather than work on decorating them), they turned out great, and they were delicious!

We had a number of other parties over the past week. On Christmas Day we went to the Buteyn Christmas party (Eric's mom's side). It was great catching up with many of Eric's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and also fun playing the annual "anything goes" volleyball game. Aunt Lori even hauled out her ancient video camera to try and catch some of the action. Had to plug the thing into the wall!! Too funny.

Christmas night was spent at my grandma's condo with my mom's side of the family. As always, my grandma goes above and beyond the (great) grandmotherly call of duty with the giving of gifts. She just loves Christmas and seeing her great grandkids open presents (and she does a darn good job of picking out great gifts!). Christmas night is our annual huge BINGO night as well. It's such a blast, and grandma, again, outdoes herself with the huge variety of prizes (all scored at great bargains according to her - she starts shopping for next year's party the day after Christmas - he! he! We ended up with a nice Columbia fleece, some bath towels, men's button down shirt, a fleece blanket, children's book, some Target gift cards, and more!).

The night after Christmas was spent at my parent's house celebrating Christmas with them and Kathi, Chad, and Brielle. Had a difficult time getting a good family pic in front of the tree, as seen below, but we had a wonderful and relaxing evening.

We gave my dad money towards the purchase of some new sunglasses and wrapped it up with these beauties from the '80's that my mom still had in her "dress up" box.

Our little girl loves walking around with her dolls and bottle!

Sunday noon was spent with my dad's side of the family at my grandparents' house. We don't get the opportunity to see my aunt, uncles, and cousins on this side very often, so it was great catching up with them again! In addition to a gift exchange, we play BINGO at this party, too, but with a little different twist. All gifts are wrapped in newspaper so nobody knows who brought what gift. It's pretty intense, because there are generally pretty good amounts of money in some of them and there are also some prank gifts, too.

Grant opening up his highly desired Thomas wooden roundhouse from great grandpa and grandma to add to his train set.
Grandma opening up her Hope sweatshirt. She and Grandpa go to all the Hope b-ball games. Still die hards even after both of her granddaughters have been "retired" from Hope sports for over 6 years now (they came to just about every one of our home games).

We went to the Holland Aquatic Center on Monday with Chad and Kathi and had a riot! Because of the holidays, the hours were altered a bit, so instead of going to the preschool swim time there was open "splash zone" for all. Grant loved going down the little slide and playing with the basketball hoop, and Brooke just adored being in the water, giggling as she walked around.

We loved it, too, though, because we tapped our youth and decided to do some of the open water activities. Below is some video of us running across the giant roller. I feel like I was in a scene of the TV show Wipeout. It was so much fun!

Tis the season!

I absolutely LOVE this time of year!! We are so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to share in the joys of the season. Boy have these past few weeks been as busy as ever (and there are still many parties to be had yet!). Here's what we've been up to:

We started off the Christmas party season with our annual friends party. We hosted this year and, as always, had a great time. The kids sure are growing fast. Here's my attempt at a picture of all of them (Isaac wasn't too thrilled of the idea of a picture):

Brooke (1), Grant (3 1/2), Isaac (3 1/2), Cole (20 mo.), Hannah (3), Reese (3), Morgan (3 1/2), Grady (18 mo.)

Santa came and visited the group and brought some small gifts. (If you look close enough, you will indeed see that my brave husband donned the Santa suit, borrowed from Dick V.D. at church. You will also notice that the closest thing we had to a Santa bag was a burgundy colored pillow case!). The kids had a blast, and Grant didn't even realize that his daddy wasn't around.
We went to visit Santa (a.k.a. Dick VD from church) a week ago Sunday; although Brooke was not too fond of him this time around.

We had a Christmas party with my mom's extended side last Friday. No pictures of that, though.

This past Sunday was the Christmas program at church. Grant has the same songs/speaking part as last year, because he's still in the 2-3 age group, but he did a much better job actually participating this year instead of just standing up on stage.

Monday night we got together with Eric's immediate family. We had Vitales pizza (yum!), opened gifts, and just enjoyed each other's company. Grant loves to hang out with his cousins, and there is definitely no settling down when they all get together! Love it.

Eric's parents and their grandchildren

Wednesday night was the Petroelje extended get-together. Growing up in a small family, I never experienced parties where we had to rent out a church facility in order to all be together. It is so much fun! It was so nice to be able to see everyone all together, as it doesn't happen too many times during the year. It's great, too, to be in a big gym where the kids can roam, play kick ball and basketball.

I just had to get a picture of the place settings (there were a few families even missing!).
Some of the Petroelje clan (the others were all playing kick ball at the time on the other end of the gym)

We've also been able to experience some "us" time these past few days, too, with both Eric and I being off from school. Eric and Grant went sledding together yesterday down the road on the neighbor's hill.

I just think this picture is so cute (aside from the fact that my husband is decked out in hunting garb - and hasn't gone hunting since his college days)

Also, we took a trip to Crazy Bounce this morning and had a riot! The last time we went Grant wasn't really old enough to enjoy all the bigger slides. However, he went on every one of them this morning (even the shark - which he was vehemently opposed to when we first arrived - he was afraid it was going to eat him!). Thanks Mom and Dad G. for the gift certificate for Halloween so we could enjoy this very cheaply!! :) Here are a few shots of us in action -

Eric and Grant are also in the process of making Christmas cookies, so I will update you on how that turned out in my next post!

With all the "busyness" of the season, may we remember the true meaning of Christmas!

May you all have a very blessed Christmas!

Happy 1st Birthday Brooke!!

I stand in awe at the speed this past year has traveled. It just seems like yesterday I was holding a little baby in my arms, and now, it's a year later, and I am again holding my little girl in my arms - not because she enjoys cuddling, but because she's sick. Yes, Brooke celebrated her first birthday today with a fever of 103. She slept much of the day away, and when she was awake she either lay in my arms or on the floor cuddling with her blankie and doll. Poor thing. It's a good thing we celebrated her big day this past Saturday. We had our families over for dinner, cake, and presents. There was one stark contrast between the day Grant turned one and Brooke's 1st birthday - the eating of the cake. Grant devoured his (devoured might even be a gentle way to put it). He inhaled the thing and wanted more. Brooke, on the other hand, played with hers. She made much more of a mess, because she rubbed the frosting between her hands and then proceeded to gel her hair with it. Finally, after my mother-in-law gave her a taste of the cake on a fork, she realized that this did indeed taste good and began to eat it.
We had a wonderful time! Brooke was showered with so many thoughtful gifts. I now need to invest in larger toy tubs! :)

Dinner quarters were a bit cramped, but we managed to fit 17 of us in the dinette. Good thing we all love each other! :)

The birthday hat lasted a whole two seconds!
My mom made a very delicious chocolate cake!Gorgeous, don't you think!?
Opening presents with greased up hair! (who needs to bathe?!)
Aaron being silly in a box that one of Brooke's presents came in.
Kissing the doll that my grandparents bought her. How cute!
This is how I found Brooke last night about an hour after she had fallen asleep. Not sure if you get the full effect, but she is literally standing on her feet with her butt straight up in the air.
Me and sick little B. (funny, but I, too, was sick like this on my first birthday - a long, long time ago) Yes, she stayed in her jammies all day today. :)

Brooke has been an absolute blessing to our family. She is such a lovable, happy, and easy going little girl. We love you Brooke!

Putting Up (Taking Down??) The Christmas Tree

I always try to put up the Christmas tree and my household decorations the weekend following Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the holidays; however, putting up my Christmas tree is not much to be desired. It's a pain in the rear end to assemble. Grant is at an age where he can actually "help" me decorate without being a detriment to my efforts. So, I charged him with putting on the unbreakable ornaments. He did a pretty good job, but as you can see below, we still have issues wearing pants around here. :)

Brooke, on the other hand, is at an age where the tree is just one giant temptation. She woke up from her nap and beelined right to the tree to start picking things off. I guess I'll have to elicit her help once the holidays are over! :) (by the way - she, actually, doesn't mind clothing - I just happened to have bathed her prior to this picture being taken and hadn't yet put jammies on!)

Halloween Pics

Here are a few pics from Halloween. Cannot believe this is Grant's 4th Halloween!! My little man has moved away from animals this year (has been a cow, lion, and monkey) and opted for a pirate. Had to laugh, because I asked him after daycare one day what his buddy Eli was going to be for Halloween, and he told me that Eli was his matey. Too funny! :) (Don't ask me why he's placed a bear sticker over the crossbones of his eye patch. I was instructed that I could NOT take it off.) I just loved Brooke's little flower costume, too. I know I'm biased because I'm her mother, but she looked so darn cute in it!!

Does Brooke look at all like a bunny rabbit to you?? My grandpa kept saying over and over when we stopped by how cute the little bunny rabbit was. Love that man, but not sure where he got bunny from! :)

Had to get a picture with Reese the Cinderella princess!

And had to get a picture of Hannah looking oh so adorable when she stopped by with her chicken costume!

Kathi so graciously dressed Brielle up in her penguin costume for us when we got together in Ann Arbor. So adorable.

Unrelated to Halloween, but had to get a pic of the kiddos playing in leaves. They were soooo dirty when all was said and done, but we had great time (when Brooke wasn't eating the leaves, at least).

And....she's off!

I knew this day would come. And, as much as I was not looking forward to it, it is upon me. My little girl is no longer a baby. Sigh... At 10 1/2 months, Brooke is now walking. With Grant, this big milestone was full of excitement. However, I feel totally different with Brooke. Not that I am not thrilled to see her eyes light up and her grin get so wide as she puts one foot in front of the other, as if to say "Hey mom, look at me!" She's supposed to be my baby, though - not my big girl on the move! Where has the past (almost) year gone???? OK, enough of the sappy stuff. Here's a clip of her in action.

(After taking this clip, she proceeded to walk about 15 steps across the living room. Goodbye mommy's freedom!!)

In other news, we spent this past weekend in Ann Arbor visiting with Kathi, Chad, Brielle, my parents, and Chad's family. Kathi and Chad went to the Penn State vs. Michigan football game, so we decided to pack up the house (literally!) and spend a few days/nights hanging out with them at a hotel. Grant and Brooke LOVED the pool. Wish we could have spent more time in it. Saturday we tailgated at Chad's sister, Bethany's house. Bethany is a senior at U of M. It was so nice of her to have the whole bunch of us over (had to laugh, though - when we got there, Grant asked where the toys were and if she had a train table!). I hate to admit that spending time on a college campus sure made me feel old! We ate lots of good food and had a good time. On Sunday, we went to Cabela's, as our hotel was in Dundee, and none of us had ever been there before. While I'm not a hunter or a fisherwoman, it was a cool store to see.

I was a terrible photographer this weekend and did not get very many pics at all. I only had my camera out on Sunday when we were in Cabela's and I cannot seem to upload those pictures to the blog right now.

A Great Fall Day!

Last week Saturday was one great example of why I love fall so much. Although the weather was cooler than hoped for, we had a great day taking part in "fall" activities. In the morning, we bundled up the kids and headed out to Crane's Orchard to pick apples with friends.

Here is a lovely picture of our son pre-apple picking. He was very excited to put his boots on and go outside, but really wasn't too thrilled about having to dress the rest of his body. Notice the boots are on the wrong feet. :)

While Honeycrisps were no longer being picked, we did find the rows of Honeycrisp trees and managed to snag a few stragglers that were left on the tree, in addition to picking many other tasty varieties. Grant had a grand old time eating apples to his heart's content. I think he downed about 5 or 6 of them, and while I was worried how his digestive system might respond to apple overload (catch my drift, here?), we didn't have any disasters in the end. :)

Brooke really did like the apples, although you wouldn't guess that by looking at this picture.

Hannah, Reese, Morgan, and Grant

the best family pic we could get

After apple picking, we went over to Eric and Marcy's house for a late lunch and pumpkin carving. The meal was delicious and the pumpkin "carving" lasted a whopping 3 minutes, max. The kids quickly drew pictures on their pumpkins and then darted off to play on Reese's new monster size swing set. No carving actually even took place! Oh well...maybe next year.

as you can tell, girls must have more patience than boys - Grant and Isaac are already off playing on the swing set

Uncle Kurt the story teller

That evening we headed out to Post Family Farm with "fusion", our marriage and family ministry group from church. We enjoyed a hayride (but got stuck in the mud about as far away from the farm as you could get and had to all bail out into the pumpkin patch while the driver tried to get the wagons out - too funny). Grant loved riding the pumpkin train, and it was fun hanging around the bonfire roasting marshmallows and enjoying hot chocolate.

Needless to say, we were pooped upon arriving home and bedtime called for all.