merry christmas!

Merry Christmas...from our family to yours!

getting ready for christmas!

Koen "helped me" with the lights...

The finished product...

New stockings for all of us this year! Can you guess which stocking belongs to each family member?

I got this Nativity set for Christmas last year, so it's my first year that I am using it. I love it!!

Decorating the Princess castle (aka Gingerbread house)...Landon was a great sport about this one. Probably helped that I let them eat any candy they wanted...

Finished product...

american thanksgiving

For American Thanksgiving this year we were THRILLED to have Shaun's parents come out to visit us for a few days! We had a great time eating a tasty Thanksgiving dinner, sightseeing in Vancouver, watching hockey & movies, shopping, and just being together! I didn't actually get too many pictures except for our day in Vancouver...we were just having too much fun! :)

(calmly) waiting for Grumpa & Gramma to arrive at the airport...

Koen just walked right up to Grumpa and lifted his arms to sit in his lap. So cute!Eating our TASTY Thanksgiving dinner...turkey, Grandma Vesely stuffing (which was out of this world good!), mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli, and peas...YUMMY!

Nice face, Shaun! :)

Stuffed!

Out for lunch at White Spot in downtown Vancouver...more yumminess.

We drove through Stanley Park and stopped to take a few pictures. A kind man asked if he should take a picture of all of us, and when he was about to snap it he said, "Say sex!" So we all laughed...I think the picture turned out well!

A rare shot of all five of us...

"Mom, take a picture of me!"

Cuteness.

Showing me the beautiful, bright leaves...

The biggest leaf ever! Landon was thrilled!

After Stanley Park we drove over to the Olympic Torch because we had seen it lit from across the water. It is not normally lit up but was that weekend for the Grey Cup.

More cuteness.

We had such a great time with them and wish we could have fun adventures like this with them all of the time! :)

hand, foot, and mouth...again

Oh dear. Now it's Koen's turn. :( He is just miserable today. Last night he was up every few hours just crying. Nursing is not consoling him, which it normally does. And now he has small blisters forming on his hands, bum, and knees. Poor, poor baby. I guess it means another week confined to the house. Anyone have any ideas to keep us entertained?? I'm getting a bit stir crazy.

lately...

Sorry I have been so MIA on this blog! Here's what we've been up to:

- learning to live in a school schedule! Natalie is LOVING Kindergarten at Abby Christian. She is there on Tuesday and Thursdays for the full day, and some Mondays. Her teacher is fabulous!
- I have been going to the gym 4-5 mornings a week, which has been lots of work but I love it! I have also cut out all refined sugar (since Sept 21st and going strong!) and have lost 10 pounds. I feel great. My clothes are all getting too big for me, and I feel so much better. I am now running a mile without stopping (a first ever for me!) and I think I may be even starting to like it...shhh! I didn't just say that, did I?!
- the wonderful fall germs have hit us! We have all had nasty colds the last couple of weeks, and this past week Landon came down with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. Poor guy has blisters all over his hands and also in some other random spots on his body. Thankfully he seems to be back to his normal self, with the exception of his hands bothering him when trying to play or when washing his hands. I am just hoping that Natalie and Koen can make it through without catching it too...

Things we are REALLY looking forward to...
- Gramma and Grumpa are coming to visit for American Thanksgiving! Yahoo!!! That is only ten days away! We can't wait to see them and spend time together!
- Julene and Chris (and family) are moving HOME!!! This is the best news ever, as we never, EVER thought we would live in the same city, or even the same country for that matter! We cannot wait to see them regularly, and not just for short mini vacations every other year or so! :D

halloween 2011

This year we had the privilege of going trick-or-treating to Papa and Mimi's house!

We had a beautiful princess...

A farmer...

And a "working man"...

It's called FREE costumes, folks. :)

Grandparents and kids were happy...see below. :) Actually, here they were laughing at Koen J's cheesy smile he'd give when we put his hat on. Love. Him.

Mom and Dad watched Koen for us so we could take Nat and Landon out around their neighborhood for some more treats. Good times!

And here's one of me and my cute little farmer. :)

my 31st

Somewhere in the middle of October was also my 31st birthday! I had a special day shopping with my Mom (and Koen) in Bellingham, and then in the evening Shaun surprised me with tickets to the Canucks game...which unfortunately they lost 4-0...thankfully that was the only bad part of the day! :)

canadian thanksgiving

(Only a month late on this post...ha!...seems to be a trend in my blogging lately!)

It was wonderful being home for Canadian thanksgiving this year! We celebrated with my family on Sunday afternoon, and we had a relaxing, yummy dinner!

It was a beautiful day out, so we spent some time with the kids in the backyard.

Leaves were collected...
Old toys were played with...
Koen practiced his walking with Mimi...
And the grown-ups chit chatted...
Babies were happy...
...and then we ate our delicious dinner!

And posed for photos on Papa & Mimi's soon to be old couches...and our soon to be "new" couches! Yay!

oma's wedding!

On a nice day in September, my Oma got married. I never thought I'd see the day when I would attend my own Oma's wedding! But she has fallen in love with an old friend, and since they were both widow/er's, they decided to spend the rest of their lives together. How cute is that? Abe is a wonderful man, who treats her like the special she woman she is!

Aren't they so cute? :)

During the ceremony...

The great grandchildren were the flower girls and ring bearers. Aren't they sweet?

More cute great-grandkids...

Getting them down the aisle was a bit of a nightmare...they all suddenly froze and didn't want to do it. So half of the adults in the family ended up walking down with them too! It was hilarious. I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face...

More cuteness...I love my Oma's laughter!

Grandkids (from both sides) singing some songs at the reception. :)