Spring Birthdays and Spring Visits

It truly has been a very busy spring. Spring always is for us. We have 4 family birthdays and usually the "good old faithfuls" come by for a visit. Cor has been traveling a lot lately making life seem all the more busier. Spring ball with 3 kids is fun and great for the kids, but we are always happy when it is over as well. For some reason, I don't have pictures of Cor's 37th birthday or Asher's 10th birthday. Cor won't forget that party though. He was in charge of 8 boys all.by.himself. Bless his heart! I was at a ball game with Arianna.

Arianna's 12th birthday, she got spoiled of course. Birthdays are very special events!

Julianna turns 6!!

her friends

she has wanted rollerblades for a LONG time! She looks thrilled

My mom and her cousin from Holland, Tante Eef, came for a quick 4 day visit. We had a lot of fun touring Jacksonville and St. Augustine. She doesn't speak too much English, and I don't speak too much Dutch, and my mom can speak both but she was a horrible translator!! But we made it through the week just fine. Julianna told Tante Eef that our dog was English. We laughed so hard! I remember Tante Eef visiting our family when I was a little, so her visiting me now was really special.

Mom, me and Tante Eef in front of beautiful Flagler College

Cor is always loved!

Jon and Kelley came for a week long visit. We always have a great time with them. Thanks for using your vacation time to visit us. We love being together and the kids just have a blast. The kids are getting older making the visits a lot easier. We even went out for dinner one night and didn't have to run out with any crying kids or tantrums. We definitely made 10 kids look easy :)The other patrons laughed at our two families and tried to pair the kids with the parents. They did a great job too!

all crammed in our little breakfast nook. We ate all our meals together.

apparently the kids like it crammed because here they are in the kiddie pool intended for Anna Grace and Nicolas!

still not sure why they sat in that little pool together

the gang minus Anna Grace who was miserable :(

Nana and Papa(Cor's parents) came for a visit the middle of May. We had a great time with them and were spoiled by them!

Playing spoons was a hit!

as was playing basketball in the pool

The kids had a piano recital when they were over. They were proud to perform what they had learned!

this and that

I am so very thankful that it is almost March. It has been a long, cold winter for me. I don't enjoy being chilled at all. I love the heat and the sunshine, the pool and the beach. Last week the weather changed and I can feel spring in the air! We've had a few gorgeous days lately so we spent them outside and at the beach.

This month we've enjoyed a weekend in Orlando visiting our friends, the Sawkins. They've been coming to Florida for vacations for 9 years and we always catch up right where we left off the year before. We met them 14 years ago when we were young and newlywed! They were young too but not newlyweds and parents of 2 sweet girls. They also spent a weekend at our house.

My nephew Aaron and niece Ashley and baby Ashton visited us again this past week. It's always a fun time. Thanks for taking our family pictures, hopefully some turn out! Love it that you visit us.

Baseball season is in full swing again. 3 kids on 3 different teams means most evenings are spent at the ball field. It's busy but excellent and fun for the kids. Not so fun for AnnaGrace though.

no more relaxing at the pool, before Ashley and I knew it, the kids were in the pool.

Anna Grace seems to be enjoying herself immensely! Got to teach her how to swim this year.

monkey see monkey do...

will she be left handed? her daddy hopes so!

happy go lucky Julianna

our happy wanderer. She is content to just walk around all.day.long. swinging her arm!

our 4 legged friend, whom I'm actually starting to like

a relaxing way to read?

beautiful hats made by a special friend...thank you Jen!

just too darn cute not to add

me gloating...

beautiful St. John's river

glad they think so!

Us!

the boys..Asher (9)

the girls...Arianna (11), Julianna (5) Anna Grace(14mths)

the dog!

Tucker (9 mths)

Candy Cane Tour

We went on a field trip to Sweet Pete's. We watched how candy canes were made. All the candy in Sweet Pete's is made using organic products and natural flavoring and colors. The red color in the candy cane is from beet juice and the green is from spinach juice. The kids enjoyed this trip to kick off the holiday season. The house was so cute, I had to take lots of pictures! Enjoy.

pouring out the sugar

adding the color

pulling the sugar to expand it

twisting the colors together

extremely time sensitive job, the candy needs to stay warm.

He was moving quickly

the kids were able to form their own shape

Asher's teeth...years of progress

Baseball injury July '08

Asher has all his baby teeth including an extra one

Sept '08

goodies from Holland...last picture we have with

Asher having all his teeth

Nov '08

missing (R) central incisor

Nov '09

still missing same incisor and left and right cuspid

and left lateral finally coming down but not really noticeable beside

that HUGE central!

May '10- very nice progress already

braces and left lateral down nicely proportioned to the central

(thank you orthodontist)

June '10

surgery to open his gum, attach a bracket and chain to his central incisor, and extract 2 extra teeth. He handled the surgery quite well. His central incisor was way up high, almost in his nasal cavity, and projecting straight out. So surgery was our only option. The orthodontist later attached the chain to a bracket and gradually started pulling his tooth down. His monthly visits were very painful.

Sept '10

tooth coming down

Dec '10

tooth down and lined up properly!

It's been a journey. It's been a long time since we've seen Asher with 2 front teeth! We really can't believe how different he looks now. It's amazing what all the payments have done!! He's always had his dimples...what a cutie pie!