Christmas time

Whew! Last week was fairly busy with lots of Christmases and late nights for the kids. Tuesday started the celebration with Christmas with my Grandpa Miller and my dad's siblings and family. Gretchen and Trevor see this side of the family about once a year. Therefore, it took a little time for them to relax and feel comfortable with them. By the way, Karen, Gretchen is still talking about playing with the nativity scene and that "lady." :)

Wednesday evening was spent with my parents and siblings. The kids really enjoyed this Christmas but Trevor is still looking for those silly "baas."

Uncle Matt, you're taking too long to get my present out of the box.

Thursday morning was spent just us as a family opening presents. Ray had made the kids a table with drawers to put their toys into. Trevor seemed to think he fit in better.

The rest of the day was spent with Ray's mom, step-dad and siblings. This was a rather difficult Christmas. It's been less than a year since both grandma and grandpa passed away and by far the 1st holiday after is the toughest.

Friday evening we got together with Ray's dad and step-mom. Gretchen really enjoyed playing with Ray's half-brother Andrew and Ray's dad.

Saturday evening was spent together with Ray's uncle and his family. The kids know Uncle Greg as the man with the pool. Trevor even pointed to it and asked about it on the way into the house. He's going to be very excited this summer.

Sunday afternoon we ventured out to see my Grandma and Grandpa Birky and my mom's siblings.

Monday and today were spent recuperating. Late nights make for tired little kids. We really enjoy our schedules around here.

Editor's note: the computer is being slow and I'm not patient enough right now. More pictures will come. I promise, Carrie. :)

Christmas Pictures

Enjoy our Christmas pictures!

Pictures of Mr. T

It's cooking time! He can't be left alone in the kitchen anymore. He figured out how to turn the stove on. :(


That's one good lookin' turkey!

I turned around to put the dishes in the sink and found him attacking my spatula. As you can see, it passed the test.

That's him enjoying a cracker with peanut butter. He ate the pb off the cracker and handed it back to me for a refill. He knows what's good.

All dressed up for church.

update

It looks like it's time for an update. The kids are still fighting the nasty runny noses and cough. I'll be happy when I'm done chasing little kids around the house with Kleenex. I'm just glad there's no vomiting or diarrhea involved. Amazing enough honey seems to be working wonders for Trevor's cough. I think he really enjoys his "medicine" too.

Gretchen woke up this morning and probably thought she had died and gone to heaven. It was snowing. By breakfast time she was already making plans as to what she was going to do with the snow this afternoon. Little did she know it was the wet type of snow and wouldn't cooperate very well for her to make snow balls and snowmen. At lunch time, she was begging for me to go downstairs and get her sled out for Trevor. She doesn't want him to walk in it; he'll be riding instead. :)

Trevor has really turned into quite the monkey lately. Saturday and Sunday mornings he enjoys helping Ray make breakfast. It's the guys turn. He grabs Gretchen's red chair from her desk and drags it out into the kitchen so he can stick his little head over the counter and see what is going on. He then proceeds to claim that everything is "hot." Yes, even the snow this morning was "hot." I caught him this noon with the red chair by the dish rack unloading and playing with the dishes I had washed this morning. Everything was "hot" and then ended back in the sink for round 2 of washing. We don't need more sickness in this house.

Trevor has caught on quite quickly to "blowing" his nose. We've been struggling with Gretchen to blow her nose to get the yuckies out. He came over to me last week one day and tried to "blow" as best he could. Ray found this to be amusing this past weekend. Trevor has also learned with this colder weather comes mommy's cold hands. He is quite the mover when it comes to changing the diaper. He'd rather run around in a wet and/or stinky diaper than to have the wrath of mommy's cold hands. It's daddy duty when he gets home from work.

I'd add some pictures but the camera is upstairs and I'm downstairs in the "dungeon" and it's rather cold down here. Just imagine 2 little kids running around bundled up with 2 red noses and you've got them. Time to go back upstairs, thaw out and get something accomplished why the peanuts take a nap. til next time.

Trick or treat

I guess it's time I get around to putting up Halloween pictures. Both the kiddos are fighting running noses and coughs this week. :( The joy of chasing after runny noses hasn't left much time for anything else.

First stop on Friday night was to my mom and dad's. Mr. Mickey Mouse was worried more about the sheep than he was about trick or treating. Such a silly little boy.

Then there was little Miss Jo Jo the clown who didn't want to cooperate for a picture. She had practiced all day saying "trick or treat" but when it came down to it she didn't want to say it at all. She did remember to say a "thank you" here and there. :)

Next stop was to Ray's mom's house. She lives in a subdivision and they roughly get around 300-400 kids on Halloween night. Unfortunately she, grandpa and Aunt Lynnette were not around. They had left with the marching band that afternoon for the state competition. Uncle Roger was filling in handing out candy.

We walked around the block and then called it a night. Ray and I were both amazed at how much candy the kids got. We chuckle about how long it will last them. They know they get a piece after nap time each day.

On Sunday, the kids dressed up one last night for Ray's mom and sister. Trevor didn't last long in his Mickey Mouse suit. I'm hoping next year he understands what is going on much better.

a day in the life of Trevor

Gretchen spent Friday with Ray's mom so I thought I'd give a little insight on a day with Trevor.


It was cleaning day so I was lucky to get a morning nap out of him so most of the cleaning got done during that time. This gave us the chance to spend the rest of the day just the 2 of us. When he woke up from his morning nap, he had to do the usual check the house to see if Gretchen was still here or if she had really left. Once he checked the house out, he knew it was his turn to take over the house and toys. :)



I caught him having a chat with the driver of his dump truck. I didn't think much of it until later in the day. I think he was having a chat about who the "real" driver of the dump truck was. And Trevor made sure he let him know. The driver was later spotted being thrown under the couch.



After our bellies were full, Trevor settled down for an afternoon nap which gave mom a chance to finish cleaning. He's a very active 15 month old so mom also needed a break. Trevor has started this new habit of looking at books. It's fantastic; however, there are many days after nap when I find lots of books in his crib. It makes me wonder how long he really did sleep.



Once he was up and moving again, it was time for a snack and drink in our sippy cup. Oh and of course, we watched Ellen. The little boy loves to dance.



There were many hours spent playing with tractors and balls. The sound effects that come with them are priceless.

And I can't forget giving lots of kisses to Abby.

just another week

Well, it's been a LONG week. Ray has been working for his uncle putting heating and furnaces into homes. He's been working 11 hour days. It makes the day seem long and I know the kids get antsy to see him. Today, for example, as I was making lunch Gretchen made the comment "I miss daddy." She also informed me at bedtime tonight that daddy will be home 2 days this weekend.

With the weather changing to more fall like, it's a challenge to keep the kids entertained. I made an attempt at making homemade finger paint on Monday for Gretchen. She really enjoyed it but the paint didn't set like I would have liked it too. It kept her entertained for a good 1-2 hours.




The play-dough seems to be getting more use out of it as well. Gretchen was playing with it one morning this week and Trevor decided he wanted to try it out too. I put him in his highchair and gave him a little bit. It took him just one time to put the play-dough in his mouth to realize it was not something he wanted to eat. Silly boy.



Gretchen has been in a singing mood lately. It's hilarious to hear her sing. She puts her own little words in here and there. Last week while I was putting laundry away, I happen to overhear her singing "Jesus loves me" to Trevor. I think mommy even got a little teary eyed hearing that one. She also informed me she loves Trevor and didn't want to replace him. That's good to know. :)



This morning the kids were getting antsy inside so I decided it was time to go outside and tackle some of those leaves. Gretchen has been asking all week when daddy would put them into a pile for her to jump on. I figured I could handle this task. Little did I know the kids would fight about whose pile was whose. What a treat that was.


Just another week for the Van Daele's. :)

Crazy weather

It's really hard to believe it's October and it's still 80 outside. The kids love being able to still play outside. I, however, hate the mosquitoes that come with this time of the year.



This week we're happy to have Ray at home. He has a week off from work in order for the company to get parts so they can keep going. It gives us a chance to have lots of family time. It's definitely needed!


This afternoon he tackled mowing the yard. The kids loving being outside with daddy when he mows. I honestly think it's the highlight of Trevor's week sometimes. He doesn't understand that it is a lot easier for daddy if daddy doesn't have to try and carry him around the yard. He enjoys pushing his own little lawn mower around but his favorite thing would be the rocks. He could spend hours just playing in the rocks.


Then you have Miss Gretchen who had to bring her dolly out. She needed to go for a swing in the baby swing and then down the slide with Gretchen. She had to make sure that dolly didn't get dirty at all. She'll be a good mommy when she gets older.


This past Saturday Ray's sister, Lynnette, had a Halloween party for the band. The kids had a blast! Gretchen reminds me everyday of the hay-ride she got to go on. It was the 1st one for both of them. They both enjoyed the attention they received from all of the girls impressed with how cute and adorable they were. If only they knew. :)

Last week I purchased my first official running shoes. I used to go to the college rec center 3x a week to swim. With money being tight, we decided I would skip out on it this semester and try the treadmill in the basement instead. It's been going okay so far. I think the treadmill is winning with my legs being sore most days. I just hope they don't fall off.

Little things

It amazes me how the littlest things amuse my kids. For example, earlier this week the next door neighbor brought over a dog bed for us. Here's the thing our dogs are huge and this bed is little. They are a nice Hispanic family and she works at PetCo and they were going to just throw it away. She and her kids brought the dog bed over and Ray tried to explain that he thought it was a little small for our dogs. She told him to give it to someone who has a dog then. Ray politely took it and told her thank you. We put it on the kitchen floor and contemplated who to give it too. After several minutes of staring at it, Trevor decided it was perfect for him. He goes and just plops himself down in. No big deal; I know it's clean and no dog has used it. But yet it gets better. He now drags this bed around the house with him. He thinks it's the greatest thing in the world. I hate to see what he does the day we give it away. I think he's getting a bean bag from mommy and daddy for Christmas.

And we couldn't forget about Gretchen. I started working on applesauce this week. I try to do most of it while the kids are taking their naps. It's alot easier this way. Wednesday afternoon after nap time Gretchen comes out to the kitchen to see what I was doing. Of course, this is the same day I manage to cut my finger while cutting the apples. She sees the band-aid on my finger and gets currious.

G: "Mommy, why is SpongeBob on your finger?" (The Spongebob band-aids were the only ones I could find at the time of the incident.)

M: "I cut my finger while cutting an apple."

G: "Can I see it?"

M: I cautiously open the band-aid so she can see it. "There it is."

G: "Put that band-aid back on. It's yucky. Can I kiss it? It help."

No healing powers from her. The cut is still there but that's my little nurse in action.

Wednesday night she got to go with my mom to church for a children's night. Grandma is her teacher. It's the first 3 Wednesdays of the month until April. She's very excited about this! She woke up Wednesday morning and right away asked me if today was the day. That's all I heard about all day; Grandma was going to come pick her up. She was so thrilled! When she got back home Wednesday, she kept playing the night over and over and over to Ray and me. We had quite a time getting her calmed down to go to bed. The past few mornings when she wakes up she asks me if it's Wednesday yet. Watch out Grandma she's ready again.

It's the little things that count.

baa and growl

I know you are probably wondering what in the world is up with that title. Well, on our ride to Nappanee on Tuesday to get our haircut, Trevor was looking out the window saying baaa to everything. Gretchen was trying to convince him that not everything was a sheep. He, however, enjoyed his baa time the entire way there and home. Along the way we passed by some horses. Since Gretchen was little she has always called them "yippees." I told her there were some "yippees" ahead on her side. She informed me they are now called horses.


Then comes yesterday at the grocery store. Everything in the parking lot was a baa; once again Gretchen tells him there are no sheep at the store that those are cars instead. She goes on to tell me that Trevor is very confused with his animals.

Now comes the growl part. Yesterday morning Gretchen was sitting on the couch drinking her orange juice and Trevor was in my lap on the rocking chair. He proceeds to get down from the rocking chair and heads towards the couch to see her. She tells him "no" that he couldn't get on the couch and he then growls at her. I kid you not, he growled at his sister. Gretchen and I were both stunned at what he had done. He then does it again at the dogs. They didn't find it as amusing as Gretchen and I did.

Last night while shopping at Wal-Mart, Ray was holding Trevor and I had Gretchen in a shopping cart. Ray and Trevor started to go look at clothes and Trevor turned towards another shopping cart and goes "cart." Sure enough the little stinker wanted to sit in his own shopping cart.

I guess it just goes to show my little people are starting to grow up. :(

Ball or Apple???

Yesterday we headed up near Corey Lake in Michigan to pick apples. Or as Trevor likes to say ball. He was amazed by all of the balls. We pulled into the orchard and Gretchen knew right away it was apple time. I gave Trevor one and his eyes lit right up; "ball" was all he could say. Gretchen spent most of the morning trying to convince him that they were apples not balls. At one point she told me that he just doesn't get it. :)

Luckily this year was a good year and the apples were every where and didn't take too long to fill the back of the Tahoe. (Yes, I said fill.) Last year was a light crop and it was pick and miss with the trees. The next few weeks will now consist of making and freezing applesauce and trying to make as many dishes as possible with apples in them. Gretchen seems to think we need to eat them at all 3 meals as well as snack time.

A tradition that started while picking apples is that the kids love to sit in the front seat and "drive." Trevor had a blast doing it this year. Gretchen didn't seem to interested in doing it this year. She was busy playing with the apples.

I'll leave you with my little driver asleep. Too much sun and apples makes for one tired little boy.