Christmas Day 2008

Christmas day was a busy day, but a very fun day filled with lots of good food and memories. The day began with Joshua opening up his presents from Cory and I. He was thrilled to get a huge Playmobil police set, a Playmobil hay wagon and a load of rocks, new books, the Candyland game, and his very own Jellycat Bunglie Cat (thankfully we could now return Owen's after 6 weeks)! He even got to unwrap a littler Jellycat for the baby. After present opening Joshua and I lit our Advent wreath, including the Christ candle for Jesus' birthday and sang the song we sing with lighting the candles with the addition of singing happy birthday to Jesus. Then I re-told all the stories from the previous 4 weeks of Advent (that he's already heard numerous times at both home and school) and told the story of Jesus' birth. It's amazing to me how much more Joshua was able to recall and help tell the stories this year than last year! I'm so glad he loves this tradition of Advent, because it is one of my very favorites and allows us the time during this busy season to prepare our hearts for Christmas.
In the early afternoon we headed to my uncle and aunt's house to celebrate with extended family (my mom's side). The food was delicious and overwhelming as usual and it was nice to catch up with people we don't see so often. Our lucky little boy got a Build-a-Road set from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma as well as some money for his bank account. He was also fortunate to receive a Playmobil tractor and trailer with logs from Uncle Steve, Aunt Cher, Matt and Rachel as well as a cool remote control car that does tricks from Uncle Jim, Aunt Nancy, Danielle, Whitney and Mark (Whitney's fiance).
After that party we were back over at Grandpa and Grandma Hager's in the evening where the cousins exchanged gifts with one another. This year Joshua was excited to buy for Nicholas and for Owen (okay, technically baby Hager had Owen's name, but since the baby is not aware Joshua got to pick out and sign his name to Owen's gift). This was the only gift exchange of the night seeing we had already had the Hager family Christmas so it was nice that the kids got to focus on the one gift they gave and the one they received.
All in all it was a very busy season, but one we enjoyed immensely! We are so thankful we are able to celebrate Christmas and remember Christ's birth with those we love around us. The video below shows a smattering of our Christmas Day celebrations.

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Christmas Eve 2008

The day started with Joshua opening his stocking in the morning (as to spread things out over two days). He was thrilled to find some chocolate, two cars (one with a trailer and tractor), two puzzles and lots of new underwear (yes underwear is exciting at 3 1/2 years old, especially when it has tractors, trucks and race cars all over it). Most of the afternoon Dave and I spent at my dad's condo preparing the big Christmas Eve dinner that is a Gronsman family tradition. The evening then consisted of our delicious food (salad with cranberry goat cheese and crostinies, citrus marinaded pork tenderloin, fennel potato au gratin, and herb beans) and opening presents. Joshua was thrilled to get a new power tools workbench and cars bath soap from Papa, the Playmobil motor home from Uncle Dave and a new book about cars and trucks from Uncle Phil and Ciejae! Besides opening his own presents Joshua felt compelled to help everyone else open theirs! He especially liked giving Papa the special mug he painted at Naked Plates. Joshua had picked out a mug with a cat face on it and specifically painted it to look like a stuffed cat my dad has at his house named Cameo. We had a wonderful evening together! (Again, the video below may only be of interest to those who attended)

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Welcome Home Dave!

Tuesday morning my brother Dave flew in from New York City and Joshua and I were able to pick him up from the airport. Joshua gets to talk to uncle Dave on the phone periodically, but getting to see him in person was much more exciting! We watched his plane land from the viewing deck above and then went down to meet him. I wish I had had my camera out at that point (but the airport was filled with people and I was more worried about keeping Joshua by my side than taking a picture) because as soon as Joshua spotted Dave he ran full-force at him and threw his arms around him! It was really cute! We ended up spending lots of time with Dave throughout the time he was here and Dave was definitely the apple of Joshua's eye during that time! Several times Dave was the one requested to play with Joshua or sit by Joshua or read him stories. I'm so glad that we were all able to spend time together, especially for Joshua's sake! That little boy sure does love his Uncle Dave!

Hager Family Christmas

Due to the holiday season being so jam-packed with get-togethers we try to spread them out a bit so we can all enjoy. The Hager family Christmas was last Saturday night. We enjoyed dinner together and then dad and mom/grandpa and grandma gave out gifts. Joshua received a little digital camera and new race car PJ's. In fact, all the grand kids got PJ's this year! Cory and I got items for the new house and baby that weren't a big thrill, but things we need. This year the grand kids all painted grandpa and grandma something at Naked Plates as a special gift and they were very excited and proud of their work when their gifts were opened. We had a great time celebrating together! (Warning: the video below may only be of interest to those who attended)

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Snow Day!

Even though it wasn't a school day for Joshua on Friday we were excited to have a snow day! With 12 inches of snow falling in a matter of hours what were we to do? First off we decided it was a definite pajama day which Joshua took to an extreme as he didn't change out of his pajamas until a bath that night and then it was back into another pair of PJ's! He also decided that we could make a special treat of chocolate covered pretzels complete with sprinkles (thankfully we had all the ingredients on hand)! We did eventually go outside in the afternoon after the snow had stopped falling to snow blow and play too! At night we all sat around the coffee table and ate supper and watched Finding Nemo. We had a great snow day!

The walls have color!

We visited the new house last night to find that most of the stain work was completed and all of the paint (except for touch-ups that will come later) is done! It is really starting to come together now! It's hard to pick paint colors from little chips and envision what it will look like in an entire room, but we were happy with our choices. We also found that they started laying the hardwood floor in the kitchen, half bath and garage entry which wasn't supposed to begin until next week. It's nice to see that things are a bit ahead of schedule! Next week the floor will be completed and the dishwasher and microwave will be installed. On our own we will also be installing the tile back splashes in the kitchen and bathrooms soon (with the help of Shawn and Erin seeing as they've done this many times). We look forward to a month from now when things will be totally completed and final inspections will occur followed by occupancy!

Kitchen

Laundry Room

Living Room (with custom railing)

Half bath inside garage entry.

Baby's room (obviously not the pink we had hoped for, but a cute blue!)

Joshua's Room (almost ready for his new loft bed!)

Kid's Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Good as new!

The dentist swiftly took care of Joshua's teeth yesterday afternoon. He filled them and then sanded them a bit to smooth them. Joshua was not one bit scared and actually sat very still the whole time they worked on his teeth. I was very proud of how well he did as I envisioned that this could be a very scary and traumatic experience that would invoke some poor behavior (I did try to prepare him ahead of time so hopefully this helped). He did so well that the dentist told him he could pick out not just one, but two toys out of the treasure chest since he had been such a good patient! Now he has teeth that look amazingly normal despite what happened to them! His teeth are still a bit sore and sensitive, but overall there was no real harm done that couldn't be fixed!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth . . .

IN TACT! Unfortunately for Joshua that won't be happening this Christmas as this morning he slipped and fell walking up the steps into school. Poor guy really hurt himself! I immediately picked him up and carried him inside as he covered his mouth. I laid him in my lap to check out his mouth and saw blood. The cut under his lip was bleeding all the way through to the inside of his mouth. I sat him on the table to clean the cut and then inspected his mouth further to find a piece of his tooth on his bottom gums. Poor kid chipped his two front teeth! His teacher Miss Jessie and I calmed him down and we got some children's Tylenol; so I did end up leaving him at preschool as it was their last day and they were going to have a birthday party for Jesus that he was very excited about, but felt bad for him. Thankfully he has some very loving teachers who cuddled him and hugged him throughout the morning and even let the little stinker stay inside for recess! He keeps saying, "my teeth feel funny." He complains that it still hurts when he tries to bite into foods that are even semi hard. Thankfully I called the dentist right away after it happened and Joshua is now scheduled to see him late this afternoon to get his two front teeth smoothed out. Let's hope they look a bit better after our visit than they do right now!

Christmas Exchange with Friends

Since Christmas Eve and Christmas seem to be busy for every one's schedules Kim and I decided that this year Joshua and Ally could exchange gift a couple weeks early. They were in town last week and stopped over on Friday morning. Joshua totally understands the whole gift thing this year, so when he found out Ally had a gift for him he begged non-stop to open it right away. He loved the Lego set Ally gave him and we immediately had to create a construction vehicle. Even with directions this was a challenge for me as Kim can attest to! Ally enjoyed her play makeup and her Hungry Hippos game too! The kids, including Owen who I was watching that day, had a blast together. What boys wouldn't enjoy playing with a girl who loves cars just as much as they do?!?! Kim and Ally also brought a present for the baby and spoiled him with lots of new clothes! The talented woman she is, Kim created a few hand-crafted items for me to enjoy as well. A huge thanks to Kim and Ally for stopping by and spending time with us!

Annual Christmas Tree Gathering

So I failed to remember to post this video I created earlier about our tree gathering adventures this year. Each year we usually head to Lenderink's Tree Farm to pick out and cut down our tree, go sledding and roast marshmallows. Well, this year things took a bit of a twist. The Saturday morning we were going to meet Shawn, Erin and Owen at the tree farm they called us. They had dropped their car off at a tire store in Caledonia and the owner of the store told them about property in Middleville that he owned that was an old Christmas tree farm he was making into a sub-division. He told them they could go there and cut down a tree or free. So, Erin called us and being the Dutch family on a budget that we are we jumped at the free tree idea (let's face it, we didn't want to pay much for a tree to put in this dinky rental house. Not to mention the tree will come right down after Christmas so we can pack and move)! Off to Middleville we went in search of our perfect Christmas tree. The place was filled with lots of gorgeous trees of all varieties, shapes and sizes. After walking around for a while Cory and Joshua found our perfect tree. Once the search was over and the trees were securely in the vehicles it was time for sledding. There happened to be a pathway through the tree farm that was perfect for sledding! The boys (yes, the big ones included) had a blast riding down the hill and playing in the snow! Check out our adventures in the video below.

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Like mother . . . like son . . .

Cory has been taking belly shots of me for the last several weeks now. Erin did this with my last pregnancy and put all the pictures in a book as a keepsake. This time my pregnancy journal has a space for pictures every week. Sometimes Joshua feels the need to be in the pictures but on this particular day he felt he should have his own belly shot taken (he had stuffed the kitty he borrowed from Owen up his fleece)! Guess he just wanted to be like mommy. What a nut!

Celebrating Saint Nicholas Day

Saturday was Saint Nicholas day and as is our tradition we celebrated by having Joshua put his shoes outside his bedroom door before bed Friday night. Since they had already celebrated Saint Nicholas Day in school and read the book we have I just talked with Joshua about it and prepared him. When Joshua woke up on Saturday morning he literally jumped out of bed to find out what Saint Nicholas had left him in his shoes! He usually finds a small gift as well as some candy and money in his shoes. This year Joshua was excited to find that Saint Nicholas had left him a trailer for his Playmobil tractor, a chocolate, a sucker and two quarters!

Special treats awaiting Joshua on Saint Nicholas Day.


Discovering the candy and money in his shoes!

What did Saint Nicholas bring me?!?!

House update

Friday night after the parade we did our weekly check in on the house. The trim work was finished, the crown molding was put on the top of the kitchen cabinets and the custom work, which includes the railing, bench and locker, was done being built. Our paint choices have been finalized and we were actually able to keep it to the allotted three colors that stayed in the budget. The last item we have to pick out is hardware and that list should be to us this week so we can go make our choices. Sometime around New Years we hope to be able to install the back splashes in the kitchen and two bathrooms. This is something we decided to do ourselves to save on labor costs which were not cheap. Final inspections should be mid-January with move in soon after! Crown molding on kitchen cabinets.

Custom built bench right inside garage entry.

Custom built locker right inside garage entry.

Christmas Parade

Friday night we met Shawn, Erin and Owen for the Caledonia Christmas parade. It was really chilly even though we were as bundled as possible. We saw some firetrucks and some floats and the boys even got some candy tossed to them. We quickly found out a few things - parades in the winter are quite short, you freeze no matter how many layers you wear, and picking up candy with mittens on isn't the easiest task! Joshua's assessment of the night - "that parade was too short" and "I got lots of candy". It was a fun adventure, although I'm not sure if we will return next year for the festivities.

It's a BOY!

Yes, the ultrasound yesterday revealed that we will be adding more blue to our house. This baby is healthy and developing well. It has all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. The ultrasound technician got all of the needed measurements - the doctor said we have one cooperative little boy (let's hope this remains so outside of the womb)! We are very grateful and very blessed that all is well with this little one. However, I'd be lying if I said we weren't all (including Joshua) a bit disappointed that this is not a girl. A few tears have been shed knowing a little girl will never be in our family (I'm not taking the risk of having a 3rd and it being a boy too). People have told me that there still is a chance it may be a girl, but once I can figure out how to scan and load the ultrasound pictures you will see why there is no doubt that it is a boy (Cory calls it the "money shot" and it's very clear). When Cory says "uh-oh" during the ultrasound before the technician even says a word you know it's pretty clear! All is well and now I need to adjust my thinking to having two boys. A little shopping therapy helps with this! We abandoned the thought of using Joshua's old bedding (it did get almost 3 years of use and is faded) and got a new bedding set for the baby's room last night to cheer ourselves up. Stuff has definitely changed since I had Joshua and the boy things are actually much cuter and more modern looking (and not just covered with balls, animals, trains, cars or planes) which is very nice. So, our family will be complete in April when this little boy arrives. I do look forward to our boys having a wonderful and very special relationship like their dad and his brother have (after many years of fighting I'm sure)! Several years of dealing with too much testosterone in my house is now in my future!

Anticipation

With great excitement and anticipation (and a bit of anxiety) we look forward to my ultrasound tomorrow afternoon. It will be such a thrill to see all of this little being's parts moving around! I also worry about if they will find any abnormalities. We are praying for a report of a healthy little baby that is developing well. Joshua gets to be a part of this so that perhaps a bit more of the reality of the situation sinks in for him. He is very excited, but I'm not sure he totally understands the gravity of he situation and I know he has no idea how much it will effect his little life. We asked him last night if he thinks the baby is a boy or a girl to which he responded, "I don't know what the baby is". He keeps flip-flopping his thoughts on this so it will be interesting to see his reaction when we do find out the gender tomorrow. I too go back and forth in guessing between boy and girl. Any guesses??

First taste of snow this year

Last night Joshua just had to get all bundled up and head outside to play in the irresistible snow that had fallen. He likes trying to dodge the snow that is flying out of the snow blower and even purposely stops to get hit by it at times. We played a little snow baseball and then Joshua decided daddy should help him make some snowmen that were taller than him (he and I had made a small one shorter than him the week before). After lots of rolling and packing the snowmen took shape and were completed with cracker eyes and carrot noses (Joshua requested there be no mouths). However, the snowmen didn't last long. By bedtime last night one snowman's head fell off and the other had quite the lean. So this morning we turned the snow people into an arch that Joshua could climb on, sit on and crawl through. I'm sure we will have many more snow creations in our future as winter is just gearing up!

Building the snowmen with daddy.

Posing with the final product.

Our re-creation of the snowmen into an arch.

House progress. . .

After two weeks we finally remembered to bring the camera to photograph the progress they've made. We now have a garage door, a front porch and walkway poured and stone on the front of the house. Inside the tile floors are done in the entry, laundry room, master bath and kid's bath, The cabinets are installed in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. Trim work has begun and will continue this week. Hopefully the siding and deck will be completed soon too.

Master Bedroom


Master Bathroom

Kid's Bathroom

Kitchen

Joshua's Room

Baby's Room

Living Room

Laundry Room

Giving Thanks

We have a lot to be thankful for and were glad to spend the day pondering all we are blessed with. Yesterday was a day spent with family enjoying each other's company and feasting on some delicious food! Who wouldn't be thankful for that?!?! We started with lunch at my Uncle Steve and Aunt Cher's house which was quite the spread. After filling up our bellies Joshua was in search of trucks to play with. According to his thought processes every house should have trucks for him to play with. Being the gracious host that he is, my Uncle crawled in their attic after lunch and dug out a ton of my cousin Matt's old Playmobil trucks. Joshua was THRILLED!!! He kept telling us he wanted to stay at their house forever. What little boy wouldn't with all those cool toys! The funniest part was that not only was Joshua having a good time with the Playmobil toys, but my cousins Matt, Rachel and Danielle were having just as much fun with them. I think these guys played for over an hour together before we packed things up!

Then it was on to Grandpa and Grandma H's house in the evening to eat some more and for Joshua to play with his cousins. Again, it was nice to have some time with family and the kids had a great time as usual. It was off to bed after a long day as all of us were tired and very full!

Oh and another highlight of the day for Joshua was when Matt asked him to be in his up-coming wedding this summer! Joshua isn't really aware of what he will be doing, but I do know he is very excited because he keeps telling us, "I get to be in Matt's wedding. Mommy doesn't and daddy doesn't, just Joshua. I'm special!" Today I even showed him pictures of Matt in mommy and daddy's wedding so he could start to gather an idea of what is to come. What a blessed little boy to be loved by so many!

"Can we make a pumpkin pie?"

Joshua asked me this question weeks ago. I have no idea where he came up with it since he's never had pumpkin pie. So, when they made a pumpkin pie in preschool last week I thought that perhaps I wouldn't have to do the same, however Joshua took no part in creating the pie at school of course because he was busy doing his own thing while other kids helped. When my aunt asked me to make dessert for Thanksgiving I happily obliged since I can bake and enjoy doing so. Joshua and I set about making a couple of pumpkin pies this morning. He loved pouring, mixing and beating all the ingredients together. Now he can't wait to taste his creation, too bad he has to wait until tomorrow!

Getting out his energy!

This morning Joshua and I met a few MOPS friends at For the Kidz a gymnastics place for young children. It was a Bright Beginnings play group day there so we were able to play for an hour for only $3! It was filled with people which might sound chaotic, but in reality it wasn't that bad. I did stick with Joshua most of the time because he isn't a fan of huge crowds and people in his space and can sometimes freak out over this. He had a blast running around, jumping on the trampolines and into the foam pit and climbing on the big inflatable obstacle course. It was a great way to burn some energy on such a cold day! During our time there he kept saying, "I love this place". When I told him that maybe some night we could go there when they had open gym he got very excited. Perhaps we will have to look into a class for him there in the future when we live closer too.