Cheerios

Liam is getting the hang of feeding himself Cheerios.  He already has the hang of being ridiculously cute.

Holland Christmas parade

Tonight we took the kids downtown for Holland's Christmas parade.  Note to self: Arrive early next year.  Unlike the other parades, which start in Zeeland and end in Holland, the Christmas parade starts downtown and arriving a few minutes late results in a long search for a parking spot and missing the beginning of the parade!

Playing school

This is what happens when the kids play school.  I think it's quite cute.

O Christmas Tree

I recently asked Dan if he ever wished we had a real Christmas tree so we could have the seemingly magical experience of cutting it down together as a family.  He promptly replied, "No!" without hesitation.  So, assembled our Christmas tree as a family and decorated it as we've done years past.  Those can be magical memories too, right?!

Kerstmarkt

Today we stopped by the Holland Kerstmarkt to visit a friend's booth and pick up some yummy treats.  We also warmed ourselves in the warming booth on this windy, chilly day!

Liam's first Thanksgiving

Today was a great day of family, food, and celebrating the many things and people for which we thank God.

 

 

Liam joined in the fun of his first Thanksgiving by eating pureed turkey and sweet potatoes... and by being ridiculously cute!

 

Hmm... seems like we've seen that shirt before... :)

A break for the chefs

Today is the official day-before-Thanksgiving baking day.  We took a break from the kitchen, however, to head downtown for lunch and a little shopping with Dan's parents.

Don't worry, we didn't make the kids slave away in the kitchen too much.  They found time to play, too!

Storytime with Bada

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year and Dan's parents arrived to our house tonight.  Lillian and Bada love to tell stories together before bed!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, the end of school today marked the beginning of Thanksgiving break!  Woohoo!  I've taken a day off here or there for doctor's appointments, but tomorrow will be our first official day off from school.  It will be great to enjoy five days together as a family!

Wands, photos, and cars (oh my!)

I glued both wands last night and hoped that Caleb's would suddenly start working but had no such luck.  The kids instantly wanted their wands when they woke up and Caleb was disappointed that his still wouldn't work.  He started playing with it anyway and guess what?  It lit up!  I don't know how long it will continue to work, but right now I have one excited boy!

After church I took some pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards.  I'll post my favorites when it gets closer to Christmas, but here are some of the outtakes for now.

 

 

We ended the day with some playtime outside.  The kids love their cars!

 

 

Holiday open house

Tonight we participated in downtown Holland's holiday open house for the first time.  For various reasons we've never participated in this event before but I'm glad we finally did!  The christmas lights were up, carolers were singing, there were free treats to enjoy, and we had a great time!  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but snapped some quick pictures of the kids with their new wands once we got home.

What you can't tell from the picture is that approximately two minutes later both wands got broken.  The kids got carried away and accidentally cracked both wands in half, hanging by the wires inside.  Lillian's is still lighting up and seems reparable.  Caleb's, however, is no longer lighting up.  Both kids cried quite a bit, which made bedtime interesting.  We'll see if the glue gun can come to the rescue!

Hudsonville Christmas Parade

This morning our church participated in the Hudsonville Christmas Parade.  It was cold but the kids were very excited to see and hear Daddy in the parade!

 

 

 

Afterward we went to the firehouse for doughnuts, hot chocolate, and a visit from reindeer!

 

 

 

The doughnuts were yummy but everyone was getting hungry for lunch so we extended the festivities and stopped at McDonald's.  It was a fun and festive morning!

Logan's

I recently won a gift card to Logan's at my school.  Caleb LOVES Logan's for their peanuts and rolls, so tonight we went there for dinner.  The lighting was terrible for pictures but you can still see our goofy kids!

 

 

Half birthday

Today Lillian celebrated her half-birthday by eating half of a cupcake for dessert.  Our little girl is 5 1/2!

Beauty

The kids have been enjoying eating the cupcakes.  I know I'm partial, but isn't Lillian beautiful?

Go banana!

I decided to let Liam try something new this morning.  Instead of giving him applesauce or jarred, pureed fruit I mashed up a banana and fed it to him.

Don't let his sweet smile fool you, this is how he really felt about the experience.

Cupcakes and more flying

Tonight the kids and I baked cupcakes.  They had a blast decorating them (and sampling them along the way)!

 

After putting the big kids in bed, Liam and I had some fun as he got to do some "real" flying!

Flying

Each of our kids has gone through a pre-crawling phase during which they look like they are trying to get airborne.  Liam is in the midst of it right now and it is quite hilarious.

Book It! and JP's

This afternoon Lillian and Liam had some bonding time after school.

We also took a special trip to Pizza Hut to redeem Lillian's first Book It! certificate.  She earned it by being read to on nearly every day of the month of October.  I have fond memories of Book It! as a kid and was excited to learn that Lillian's school would be participating.

Afterward we went to JP's.  JP's has been a pretty important location in the relationship between Dan and me.  Our first date took place at JP's just over 13 years ago on October 29, 1999.  Eight years later we closed on our house in Holland on October 29, 2007.  A few days later we enjoyed an evening at JP's with Dan's mom as she helped us settle into our new place.  Last week was busy so we celebrate our October 29 anniversary tonight with a family trip to JP's!

 

Seven months old (belated)!

Liam turned seven months old recently but the dark, busy days caused me to keep delaying his official crib pictures.  Today I finally seized the opportunity!  Liam continues to be our big, happy guy.  He is still on the same schedule as he was at six months old and, thankfully didn't gain much weight since then. He is getting better at sitting up but still can't do it independently.

 

Lillian wanted to get in on the action, too!

 

We love you, Liam Daniel!