Fun With Christmas Presents

Starting off the day as a princess in her new castle.

Taking a break from being a princess to play soccer.

Time for some baking.  And making kefir :)

Holleboom Family Christmas Party

Yesterday was our last Christmas celebration.  We headed to Grand Blanc in the afternoon to gather with all of the Hollebooms at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  As usual the kids all had so much fun and went non-stop.

We started with gifts.  Everyone was beyond generous.  It took almost 2 hours to get through them all!  Rebecca got princess Memory, a Belle doll, a princess castle/tent, a set of mixing bowls and measuring spoons/cups to help Mommy in the kitchen, some books, a tote, a Calvin sweatshirt, a flashlight, a soccer goal and a real soccer ball.  The baby got an adorable duck sleeper, a color book and a hungry caterpillar book and shoes.  I'm sure he/she will love them :)  Justin got jumper cables, a Carhartt jacket and a Calvin hat.  Mary got a set of stainless steel pans, a gift card for maternity clothes, a cloth diaper hanging bag, a food scale, homemade vanilla (thanks, Sara!!) and a Calvin sweatshirt.  I'm sure I forgot to mention something, but it's hard to remember everything.

After gifts we had another yummy dinner with ham, meatballs, chicken dip, egg casserole, veggie casserole, jello, baked beans, rolls, banana bread, raisin bread, apple pear pie, brownies and cookies.  And yet again Rebecca probably left the party hungry :P  She was too busy playing to eat.  She spit out almost everything she put in her mouth.  But did manage to keep down some ham at least.

Rebecca had such a fun time with her cousins.  It was a treat to see them two days in a row.  She even ended the night with a quick game of limbo with Carson :)  We left Grand Blanc around 8:45 pm.  Rebecca was pretty wound up for a while, but finally totally crashed around 9:30.  She was out cold, and we were able to put her right into bed when we got home.

It's been a very busy week of parties and celebrating the birth of our Savior with our family.  We feel so blessed.  Today we are looking forward to relaxing, playing with new toys and going out to eat...taking a total break after a week of cooking, baking, hosting and traveling.  Hopefully Rebecca can catch up on both her sleeping and eating :)  And we're already anxious to see the Holleboom family again on January 8.  We'll be going to the Calvin basketball game...all dressed in our new Calvin gear :)

Van Heukelum Christmas Party

Yesterday we went to church in the morning and then hosted my extended family Christmas party in the afternoon/evening.  Half of my relatives weren't there, so it wasn't too large of a crowd.  It was a lot of fun to see everyone.  The cousins all had a blast as usual.  And we are excited that we get to see them again today.

We enjoyed a great time of fellowship and a huge spread of delicious food.  I think the only one who left the party hungry was Rebecca :P  She was way too busy to eat.  At least she enjoyed some of Aunt Sara's salmon spread for a bedtime snack.

We have our last Christmas party today in Grand Blanc.  I'm sure it will be fun filled chaos as usual :)

Voogt Family Christmas

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas with all of the Voogts.  We started the party with egg nog, cookies and the Christmas story (the birth of Jesus), followed by a couple Christmas songs.  Rebecca is not a fan of singing in a group.  So she wouldn't join in.  And she was adamant that Mommy not sing either.  But she sang plenty of solos for everyone the last couple days :)  Then we opened presents.  Everyone got great gifts and we are thankful for a generous family.  Rebecca loves her little piggy bank (thanks Uncle Kevin!!).  She likes to put coins in.  She will also have tons of fun with her cupcake set, Little People farm, pots and pans, books and balls.

After presents we had a yummy dinner of ham, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, beans, fresh fruit salad and rolls.  Once dinner was cleaned up we enjoyed peppermint stick buster bars for dessert.

We spent a little more time visiting before Justin's siblings had to be on their way.

We had a fun time celebrating with family.  We will be saying goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma this morning.  Rebecca will be sad about that.  She has had a blast with them here for a few days.

We look forward to our last two Christmas celebrations on Saturday and Sunday.

19 weeks 2 days...Ultrasound!

We had our 20 week u/s this morning.  The baby looks great!  He/she is in the 90th% for size and was moving all over the place.  We are looking forward to welcoming this little one into our family on May 6, 2011.  Here are a few pictures of the baby's acrobatics. The first one shows the legs up by the face.  You can see the hands/arms well in the other two.

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday we had our first of several Christmas celebrations.  We celebrated as a family.  It was fun to relax and spend time as a family.  Rebecca was so excited to open her presents this year.  Although she was still a little hesitant at first when it came to actually tearing off the paper.  We all got some wonderful gifts and feel very blessed.

Today we will get our 2nd celebration...our ultrasound to see the baby.  We are all beyond excited.

Grandma and Grandpa Voogt will be here tomorrow.  The Voogt party will be Wed.  Saturday we'll be celebrating with the Van Heukelums. And Sunday we'll be celebrating with the Hollebooms.  Lots of fun, family and food.

Rebecca got some really fun presents yesterday: a princess puzzle, princess tic-tac-toe, Toy Story Memory, a Dora jump rope, a baby Belle doll, a castle building set, finger paint, a wedding Barbie set (with bride, groom, flower girl and jr. bridesmaid), a play stand mixer, 2 matchbox cars, strawberry shortcake and orange blossom dolls and a doll house!  The doll house was the big finale :)  Rebecca wanted to play with it the rest of the night.  I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time upstairs playing from now on (it's in her bedroom).  She also really loves her stand mixer.  She got to work baking cookies as soon as she opened it :)

Mommy and Daddy got some fun gifts too, including sewing gadgets, cloth diapers, sprouting lids, clothes, books and a djembe drum!  That was Justin's big surprise this year.  Now there will be even more dancing and music in the house :)  Rebecca already likes to play the drum while singing the ABC's (video to come).

We had a wonderful day celebrating as a family yesterday.  And we are looking forward to celebrating with the rest of our family over the next week.  Be sure to check out the photo album for pictures.

And just as a little update on other things Rebecca has been up to lately...she is very into reading her Bible.  Her favorite story is David and Goliath.  She likes to be Goliath :)  She got all dressed up in her bronze coat of armor, helmet, sword, spear and shield the other day.  And Paul (her monkey) is usually David.  He carries a little shepherd's bag with "stones.  Another favorite is to take the kitchen dish towels and smack them on the floor...she says she's Elijah hitting his coat on the Jordan River to make the waters part :)  I even heard her the other day saying she was walking on water.  Ahhh, the faith of a child.

Rebecca has also been trying to imitate Mommy more lately.  She decided that she was going to put on her own makeup.

Rebecca is making great progress with potty training.  She wears underwear most of the time.  And stays dry most of the time.  She is very proud of herself and likes becoming more and more independant.  She is really looking forward to trying out her big girl bed next month.

We feel so blessed to have our little girl and a brother or sister on the way (a sister if you ask Rebecca:).  God is good.  Merry Christmas.