Trick or Treat!

We had a night filled with many treats and no tricks! A success in my book.

The best part of Halloween...

Jackson: Getting so much candy!
Will: Knocking and getting candy.
Avery: Jury is still out on that one, she was one grouchy kitty and in bed by 6:45. Maybe next year!

Back to school and back to blogging

After a 4 month break it is time to get back into the swing of things, don't you think? In regards to both blogging and school! :)

Jackson--
Officially a 1st grader. After letting his friends get a 2 day head start (thank you fever), 1st grade finally began. He loves it and is totally exhausted by it all at the same time. His favorite part, recess of course. Doing paperwork comes second place. (Really???) We are not playing soccer this fall (mom missed the sign up) but are staying plenty busy getting into all kinds of bigger kid trouble with a few of the neighbors. Lego creations and making books are favorite pass times. The tooth fairy has visited twice and I'm quite sure he grew at least 3 inches this summer (or at least since the last time he wore pants...)

Will--
When I asked him how his first day of school was I got an enthusiastic "Awesome!" In all honestly I had a hard time dropping him off the first day, I had to keep swallowing the lump in the back of my throat. But he LOVES it and it is so good for him. He makes it his business to keep tabs on everyone in the class, making sure I know who was just a little bit naughty because they didn't sit "criss-cross applesauce" and who got to be the helper with their mom. His favorite part was the bear hunt they took on the first day. We've read "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" so many times since he now can "read" it by himself. This summer he's gotten so brave in the water. He even went down the slide at MVP...over and over and over again! He's still proves to be an animal and bug lover and this summer we rescued monarach butterflies off the beach, a praying mantis out of the parking lot of Walmart and a grasshopper out of the yard. Not to mention the many caterpillars we watched make cocoons and turn into moths.

Avery-- A full time walker! Just in the last couple weeks she's discovered that her feet were made for walking and I'm sure it's just a matter of weeks before she figures out running. Grass, sand, woodchips, nothing deters her from walking and it's funny to watch. This girl is into EVERYTHING!!! She empties the tupperware cupboard daily, can climb on the kitchen and deck chairs (not to mention the table), and thinks she can walk down stairs. She loves the beach and the water! She loves to eat sand and every other snack that might be packed in the bag. Lately she carries a bag over her shoulder wherever she goes (yes, like a purse) and puts stuff in and out. Her favorite purse item is an empty dental floss container. She likes to push her baby doll in a stroller and I've seen her trying to carry her baby up by her shoulder. I'd like to know who taught her this?

Dave and I continue to keep busy too. HC fall sports are in full operation which makes for busy times for Dave. He still continues to "need" a boat in a bad way and we now own most of the equipment necessary for the boat, but no boat to put it in. I'm babysitting 2 days a week, enjoying the afternoons when I am not outnumbered, and training for a half marathon in a couple weeks.

Phew...there's life in a nutshell. Hopefully the next update will be sooner than 4 months from now.

A tisket, a tasket

We had a wonderful Easter. My "basket" is full and I feel blessed. Here are some pictures of my favorite memories of the day.

Some bunny loved their first Easter Basket filled with a pair of shoes and a paci. What's not to love about that? However the jelly beans in her basket from Papa and Mema were the real winners!

Some bunny else drew this picture during church.


And some bunny else helped his birthday buddy, Grandpa, celebrate his day.

And somehow I think it might be easier to get 3 real bunnies to sit and cooperate for a picture.

In taking some time to prepare for the real celebration of Easter the boys and I made Ressurection Rolls. These were a huge hit and provided a great teaching moment. We also spent some time reading The Jesus Storybook Bible. I love, love, love this Bible! Sometimes when I read it I think it is as much for me as it is for the kids. You know when you hear or read something that you've heard a million times before but one day you hear it with new ears? This book is like that. Every time I ready it.

A wonderful day with a wonderful family celebrating a wonderful and very much risen Lord!

42 days

Someone around here has been making a list. And no doubt, he's been checking it twice. He's also been making a list for his brother and his sister. Isn't that nice of him? Here is Will's list until I suggested that we should maybe ask Will what he wants for Christmas instead of just making a list for him. The solution? It is now a list for both of them.
And for those of you who might have trouble reading a copied Toys-R-Us or Target or Walmart catalog, here you go.
New! Tomica Hypercity
New! Imagniext
New! GeoTrax Imagniext
New! Thomas Wooden Railway
New! Tomica Hypercity (in case you missed that one the first time...)

And Avery's list
It seems that she's asking Santa for a Baby Alive and a Baby All-Gone. How about you? Have your toy catalogs come in the mail yet? Have you spent hours looking through them? What is on your Christmas list this year? If you're not sure, just ask Jackson. I'm sure he'd be happy to make a list for you too.

p.s. A note to grandparents...we'll soon be coming up with a more realistic, mama approved Christmas list. No doubt each of these toys would also require a small addition to the house.

p.p.s. 42 days until Christmas!

Bath-tized

According to Will we had a "bath-tism" on Sunday. (I think Jackson said that once up a time too.) Avery was her usual smiley self and looked beautiful in RoseAnn's baptism dress. It was a great service and wonderful to be surrounded by so many family members and friends. Our minister encouraged us to celebrate each of the kids baptisms to remind them that they belong to Jesus. I love the idea of this tradition and we look forward to celebrating each of the kids baptism birthdays through out the years. Happy Baptism Birthday, Avery Anne!

The Big 1st day

We've had quite a few milestones around here in the last couple weeks, but this one deserves a post all of its own. Jackson has now graduated from being a preschooler to being a big time, hot stuff kindergartner! He LOVES it. Here are a few pictures that highlight his first day.



Some reflections on Kindergarten so far...
- We got to go out to the playground 3 times today!!!
-Chapel was my favorite part of today.
-I get to sit next to my new friend Harris. (I don't think he sits next to his friend Harris anymore...)
-But how come all the other kids get to wear junky clothes to school!!!!

His teacher Mrs. Johnson said he is doing very well. He is social and smiling. And therefore not sitting next to Harris anymore! :) He is also a very engaged learner which is music to his teacher mama's ears.

Apparently

Apparently the end of your nose is a great place to wear dirt.


Apparently you shouldn't ask kids to say cheese when taking their picture. You might just get what you ask for.


Apparently Silly Bands are so cool even babies need to wear them

Look-a-like contest

What is your vote?

Does she look like brother number one...

Or brother number two...

1 month

Avery Anne,
You've had a busy first month of life. You've had lots of people come to love on you, had your belly button cauterized twice, you sported your first bathing suit (see picture #2 above), I'm quite sure you've gained almost 4 pounds (mostly cheeks and chins), been to the beach (at less than 2 weeks old), been on vacation to Duck Lake (at 3 weeks old), and gone to Arcadia for the 4th of July (at almost 4 weeks old), and just last night you slept for 7 hours in a row! What a lovely surprise for me. :)

I'm guessing that you weigh close to 10 pounds, you can still wear newborn clothes but now fit in the 0-3 month outfits too. You wear a size 1 diaper, and still sleep for much of the day. You are often awake in the morning and again in the evening, but the afternoon you reserve for snoozing. You go to bed around 10pm and I usually feed you between 2 and 3am and then again between 5 and 6am. You've started giving us your first smiles which we LOVE. You have beautiful blue eyes and haven't really lost much of your hair. We are working on developing a love (tolerance is maybe a better word) for the car seat but are glad that you take a paci. Your brothers love to hold you and they often laugh at the silly faces you make. Jackson likes to help you out by covering you up and giving you your paci when you spit it out. Will has been renamed "Captain Obvious"..."Mom, she's crying", "Mom, she spit her paci out", "Mom, she just pooped".

We are more in love with you every day little girl and we are so glad you are part of our family!

p.s You might not know it yet, but you have the best big brothers in the world.

A day in the life of a two week old

Our sweet princess has had a busy two weeks. She spends most of her day sleeping. I think the record for being awake (in one stretch) is about an hour. She is also growing like a weed. She is now weighing in a whopping 7 pounds, 4 ounces! This is the girl everyone was so worried about because she was busy loosing weight when she should have been gaining. She is up a full pound in one week. Good work, girl! We are loving on her every minute we get and feel so blessed.

A big brother update. Jackson is totally smitten with her. He loves to hold her and to give her kisses. He has transitioned into the role of big brother times two quite easily.

Then there is William. While he loves "sissy", he's a bit put out at the same time. He too loves to hold her but he's had his fair share of tears as well. He likes to play house and wants Avery to be the big brother and he wants to be the baby. He still calls her Sissy because most of the time he can't remember her name. I even heard in the middle of prayer, "Thank you God for Mommy, Daddy, Jackson, Me, Fudger and...Mama, what do we call her again?...oh yeah, thank you for Avery Anne Engbers. Amen."

Family picture

This is quite possibly my favorite family picture ever! Thank you Jackson.

Taking time to smell the tulips

Late last week, all three boys dressed in their finest dutch apparel and we headed downtown Holland to Tulip Time. They all looked stunning! (Me and my big belly were glad to not have to try and fit into anything but a stretchy pannel.) RoseAnn made each of the boys' costumes and the town of Holland was definitely impressed with her handiwork. My handsome boys (all three of them) made the tulips look all the better!

A free picture collage by Smilebox



Five and Fabulous!

I have been telling Jackson for weeks that he's not allowed to have a birthday because there is NO WAY we can have a 5 year old at our house. Really, where does the time go? I can hardly believe the boy is five.



Dear Jackson,

What a spirited child you are. You are full of energy, always full of ideas, creative, and playful. You have a vivid imagination and you have an energy that is contagious. You are a determined fella. You are often frustrated to be only 5 and not a bit older so that you can make more of the family decisions! :) You can also be so incredibly sweet. You like to tell me I'm beautiful (which I obviously love), you have a tender heart for young children, and you love our time to snuggle at the end of the day.

Your current favorites are riding bikes (and you LOVE your new big bike) and playing GeoTrax. You also like to color and love to read books. We are reading Charlotte's Web, your first chapter book and you have really gotten into it. You are starting to read some words on your own and I don't think it will be long before you start reading all on your own. Your teachers say you are doing so well in Spanish Emergency and you are more than ready for kindergarten.

Jackson, Daddy and I love you so much. We are proud of you and know that God has great plans for your life. We are excited to help you grow into the plans He has in store for you. We pray for you each day and we are so glad you are part of our family. Happy 5th Birthday!

Hugs and kisses,
Mom and Dad

Because money doesn't grow on trees

The following conversation took place in the car yesterday afternoon.

J: Mommy, can I get a Gator for my birthday?
(We were recently at a friend's house and this friend has a Power Wheels Gator. This apparently is the most coveted toy an almost 5 and almost 3 year old can think of.)

Me: Sorry honey, Power Wheels cost too much money.

J: No, no, mom you don't have to buy it. Someone else will just get it for me.

Me: Oh really. Who do you think might get it for you?

J: Probably Me-ma and Papa.

Me: Do Me-ma and Papa have a lot of money?

J: Yeah, I think so. Um, maybe I better call and ask them.

Me: Sounds like a good idea.

J (Leaving a message for my mom): Hi Mima, this is Jackson. Do you have like $100 or like $1,000,000? Bye!

I'm still laughing just thinking about all of this. It's not surprising that he seems to have it all figured out! Right down to the number of dollars one might need to buy the coveted gator!

Happy Easter

Just a few of my favorites from Easter morning. Enjoy!






And just because we can't go more than 2 minutes without being silly...! :)

This one is for you Dad

WARNING: Picture heavy post. Unless you are a grandparent or are as much in love with my children as I am, you may want to scroll quickly.

After some gentle prodding from a certain someone I figured it was time for another post. We've traveled some, the weather has been lovely, and we've been doing a lot of hanging out at home during Spring Vacation. Dave has been home a lot and the boys have loved every minute of it (me too!).

Our travels took us to the Fredrick Meijer Gardens for a day filled with beautiful sunshine and butterflies.


We also traveled to Chicago for a mini vacation. We ate Giordano's Pizza until we were as stuffed as the pizza, walked down Michigan Avenue and visited Nike Town and the Lego store. Much to my disappointment not one foot was set in Crate and Barrel. On our second day we went to the Shedd Aquarium. The boys loved it, however, when I asked Will what his favorite part of the trip was he was quite positive the best part was jumping on the bed at the hotel room.


Clearly all the jumping on the beds wore them out!

And a few from the Aquarium. Most of the pictures didn't turn out so well because of the lighting inside. Sorry.



And this is why children under 3 are free. Because they fall asleep approximately 3 minutes before the dolphin show even starts.

We took some c-u-t-e pictures on Easter (not to toot my own horn or anything) and had a little pajama party with cousin Bradley yesterday, but I'll share those pictures another day. I wouldn't want to cause permanent damage to anyone's retinas.